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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
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פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 18:45
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כניסות: 358
Portion Pinchas in Israel (Balak in the Diaspora) - Celebrating a Holiday? With Sacrifice?
If you get an 8 day holiday what do you do?
Do you chill all through?
Do you BarBque?
Do you Try to do something different each day?
Do you connect to the world by checking out nature or traveling -
or do you chill out keeping the world out?
Is it all the same - all 8 days? OR DO YOU CELEBRATE A LITTLE DIFFERENT EVERY DAY?
Parts of this portion are read on every Jewish holiday. What about the rest of the portion? Does it have a lesson for all our holidays too?
The week's portion in Israel starts with a covenant - that Pinchas and his descendants will be Priests
(even though his Dad married a convert BEFORE Mt Sinai). DONT FORGET TO STAY HOLY _
It gives ANOTHER DIMENSION TO HOLIDAYS
Then the tribes are all COUNTED - because Every PersonCounts! DONT FORGET TO CALL YOUR FAMILY AND SAY YOU
LOVE THEM EVEN IF YOU ARE ON VACATION!
It continues with the Almighty telling Moses to Install Joshua as the Next Leader of Israel.
BECAUSE A DAY WITHOUT RESPONSIBLE CONNECTION TO THOSE WHO LOVE AND NEED YOU IS NOT A FULL DAY!
And the portion ends with relating to ALL the holidays and all their sacrifices -
ESPECIALLY THE HOLIDAY DAYS OF SUKKOT!
Each day of that SUKKOT holiday has a different celebration! (And a Whole Set of Hallel sung).
BECAUSE EVERY DAY COUNTS FOR EVERYONE!
and each day is shared with praying for ALL the nations of the WORLD - and SACRIFICING A LITTLE FOR THE WORLD's SURVIVAL
ALL JEWISH HOLIDAYS NEED TO BE INFUSED-and shared-
with a FULL set OF JOY-
So on your next vacation/holiday - make each day count - for something
connecting us to our people and from that to the world…the environment … the concept of Holiness
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
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פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 18:44
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Portion Balak – My Bar Mitzva - and the Arabs in Israel
So this is my Bar Mitzva Portion, but I can never understand it. The world's greatest Israel hater (Balak the king) asks the world's greatest curser (Bilam the sorcerer) to help him knock off the Israelites before they get to Israel. Did he pay a down payment? Did they sign a contract? No!
Something is fishy here, and it gets fishier!.
There are offers of rewards by Balak, and there are limiting contractual phrases (like Bilaam saying "whatever the L-rd puts in my mouth I can say").
In my mouth? Is there a contract? Do anti-Semites believe their complaints - or is the truth that they use hatred to control others and push their greedy agendas?
G-d said "Don't go" to Bilaam. But then Bilaam gets the Holy One to change his mind. He is "allowed" to join Balak – but with some reservations? Doesn't sound like the G-d of Abraham Isaac and Jacob to me. And - Doesn't sound like the G-d who knocked off the Egyptian army at the Red Sea. !
What is the purpose in this strange story? And the purpose for today?
So my Bar Mitzva was on Thursday July 4th so family members wouldn't have to drive on Shabbat. I read the Torah, someone took a movie of my grandfather having an Aliyah – and ever since then I have wondered why that was my Portion.
So this week a son of friends called me before his unit gets settled in to Gaza. Great kid! And I shared what I had studied that evening from the Mahara"l of Prague. (I paraphrase here).
Bilaam pronouned curses that our Houses of Worship and Study be separated from the heart of the Israel-Almighty relationship – but the curses were turned into ETERNAL BLESSING for ALL Jewish Houses " Mah Tovu Ohalecha Yaakov…".
And his cursing of the homes of Israel was turned into blessings by the Almighty - "Mishkenotecha Yisrael" - they were and shall be blessed.
So who knows how to turn the curses of people who attack us into eternal blessings?
Reb Shlomo Carlebach ztz"l, taught us that when he went to Israel in 1967 after the Six Day War, that the Arabs he met in the former Jordanian Egyptian and Syrian territories were HAPPY that Israel won that war. The previous bosses kept them impoverished for their own purposes.
G-d's miraculous victory gave us an opportunity to forge friendships – and to turn curses into blessings of cooperation!
Okay – so politicians did not share Rabbi Carlebach's vision, and here we are today...
So today (Friday) one of my neighbors asks advice for a family member who married an Israeli Arab criminal and is estranged from her family.
So I said "Invite them – and him - over. I would like to meet them." He shrugged me off saying "You are American and grew up with gentiles and blacks and irreligious Jews – but here that won't work."
:So that's IT! It is my connection to the Portion of Balak!
Know the curses out there. There is the curse - BUT there is the promise that the Almighty can overturn every curse and forge them into blessings.
Someone I know subsidizes an art program for school kids from a rabidly anti-Jewish Arab town. Maybe that's their part in transforming hatred into cooperation. Maybe my part is now to meet the Arab criminal and make it possible for the children to be reunited with their people - and make the father a friend of Israel?
May we all live up to the opportunities in these times of Balaks and Bilaams. We have to somehow defeat the anti-Semites, and to put in some efforts to turn the cursing into blessings.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
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פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 18:44
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Portion Chukat in Israel So you call that a War?
When Joshua brought the Israelites into Israel there were seven years of war.
One Canaanite tribe made peace with Joshua.
Some families made peace with Israel. But those wicked controlling kings....fought in until King David's time.
But in this week's portion we see the Edomites refusing passage and refusing to even sell or trade with Israel or Moshe.
Then King Sichon refused the same and Attacked Us! What nerve from some abuser who conquered that land from our cousins!I
So we beat them And G-d let some of our tribes settle there.
And with King Og the same. After they attacked and we won, some tribe settled there.
Were they afraid that they couldn't allow monotheism living nearby?
Or are some regimes so abusive that they just control and squeeze their own people by using violence as their only means of government?
Sound like Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran ...And Syria?
In the Diaspora we read about Korach and his rebellion against Moses - and against G-dliness and Torah.I Holy trouble makers.
In Israel our portion ends on the beginning ... The beginning .... Of it being SAFE to be Israelites!!!
One fellow at prayers this AM remarked on all the DUALities in Judaism.
Even our bodies have 2 equal sides! One war with Sichon wasn't enough but right away another war with Og!
He also remarked on that "DUELing " in our history ...
But OUR duels are supposed to be for teaching Holy Ideals
And even when getting physical they have Holy Results!
Someone once complained at Rabbi Carlebach s Shul about Israeli soldiers - and the Rabbi got MAD!
Reb Shlomo Carlebach said all Israel are holy...
But the Israeli soldiers - they are the Holy of Holies!
Could there have been a holocaust if we had an Israeli army back then?
Remember what Smokey the Bear says and repeat to others.
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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
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פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 18:43
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Portion Korach in Israel Shelach abroad : Levites fight ... and did Moses play the trumpet
Shelach talks about the spies Moshe sent because he was hoping the people would soon enter Canaan
Korach is the leadership dispute against Moshe and Aron in the desert.
Both portions can be better understood by the following story of the first Hassidic Rebbe – Mendele Vitebsker - to move to Israel
The spies were basically afraid to leave the desert encampment and fight for the Holy Land promised to the forefathers and the foremothers.
So they maligned G-d's Holy Promised Land – a sad way to get out of having to move on!
Korach just wanted to be the leader of the nation – with no plan except to rouse rebellion -was it ego?- after all the hard work was done already (getting the Israelites out of Egypt)!
Korach – He Attacked Moshe the humble one who ran from any honor -
to blow up his ego
So one of the stories about the "Vitebsker" Rebbe was
About how hard he tried to get to Israel in about 1780!
Mendele Vitebsker finally organized a few Hassidim and enough money to buy passage on a ship (no easy airplanes then).
On their way to Israel what happens? A horrible storm threatened to sink the ship and drown them all
So Reb Mende Stood on the deck and said out LOUD – into the face of the wind –
RiBonoShelOlam
Master of the Universe – and the SEAS!
I shied away from ANY honor my whole life,
And
I often suffered for the Honor of the Land of Israel
Now that we are close you want to drown us?!
SO THE SEAS QUIETED DOWN and SOON THEY REACHED LAND
For the Honor of Israel
And Moses?
Levites in the temple sing and blow the trumpets - and Moses COULD have done that!
InIn Talmud Eruchin it does not say for sure if Moshe blew those trumpets (and I beleive it was because of hishumility)
May all our seas quiet down and bring Shabbos Peace to the World and an ending of ego-driven-leadership struggles!
Shabbat Shalom
Rabi Andy Eichenholz
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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
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פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 18:43
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Portion Shelach in Israel
So last time I was early arriving in the Ben Gurion
airport (just a little)
So where does a Rabbi feel at home while waiting?
(remember there are 2). Obviohsly in the Shul!
So as people are coming and going
to catch planes but still want to pray in a Minyan
What's my job?
NOW Connect this question to the 2 portions of the Torah – the one read in Israel this shabbat and that read in the "exile" this week!
Beginning Portion Bu haAhzzLoat Cha (with the Mitzva of raising the lights of the Menora... )
To the End of Shelach exhorting us to Wear Tzitzits
And (not to turn away) Lo Taturoo
And Uzchartem (REMEMBER THE EXHORTATIONS OF THE ALMIGHTY)…
GOT ALL THAT?
...
So a Little Sefaradi guy is staring from OUTSIDE the airport shul (he later said he was from uzbekistan )… So I grab him
for a minyan
NO No, he says. I just want to buy a
SIDUR.
I forgot mine at home and I am going to Uzbekistan for two weeks!
Do I "sell" him one and give the money to the airport rabbi - I know his brother - or
offer him one of MINE, or
what?
Above I reminded us all "UZECHARTEM" – REMEMBER (to ALWAYS HAVE A SIDDUR AND TALIS WHEN YOU TRAVEL)
And to RAISE THE LIGHTS-
remind all those where you are going – about all the GOOD PRACTICES that you should NOT FORGET WHEN YOU ARE TRAVELLING THIS SUMMER.
To find out what I told him, you have to call… But Meanwhile
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
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פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 18:42
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Portion BeHaAhLotCha - by Word of G-.d: and All Those Prophecies
The books of the Prophets are not well known to even the religiously observant.
In general we learn a little about the prophecies in the weekly Haftora, and some references if we learn Talmud.
This year many weeks we read a different portion in Israel from the Torah portion read in the Diaspora, must make us wonder how the Torah "is Unity", and how we are taught that Shema Yisrael means that G-d is Unity, and how can the Kabala explain that "Israel and the Torah is Unity" (to say nothing of our concept that the world must be together to fulfill the G-dly purpose)?
Here this week in Israel I want to give a bit of insight from where we read potion BeHaAhLoatCha:
The Fourth Aliyah has a simple but DEEP
Meaning for us all in just one Sentence !
Al Pi Hashem, the (Israelites in the desert) camped and traveled by special Orders of the L-ord
Last week the Torah portion set the Camping formation of the Israelite Army - protecting the Sanctuary whih was built to travel in the desert
This week the Army's Traveling formation is set – and it is used for 40 years
I believe the whole Tanach ( all the Jewish Bible thru the Megillas and Tehilim ) need to be understood as a whole - to understand a small part of G-d's plan of UNITY of time and purpose
So this week I ask you from the Book of Joshua (which follows the 5 Books of Moses) – did the Army of Israel relate to the camping and the traveling formation of ther 40 years in the desert?
Next week's portion has the Haftora where Joshua sends 2 spies into Canaan, just as the Israelites are about to enter Israel and attack the Canaanites
Does Joshua keep the formation? Does he camp the same way during the following 7 years of wars and 7 years of dividing the land among the tribes?
The answer is in that one sentence from our portion BeHa ah LoteCha – that EVERYTHING DEALING WITH Israelite Camp Formation WAS PER THE DIRECTION OF THE ALMIGHTY.
And so with our OWN journeys and major changes in life.
We can look at everything in parts – but EVERYTHING CAN BE OVERCOME SUCCESSFULLY if we view the WHOLE as MUCH MORE THAN THE PARTS, and everything in our lives being totally interconnected.
The Israelites marched into Israel – after beating (against all odds) the attacking Amalekites, the armies of Og and Balak and Sichon!
Joshua now changes tactics, but the CAMPING and MARCHING FORWARD as per the Almighty's Idea - stays the same – and
Leads us with SUCCESS into the PROMISED LAND
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
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פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 18:40
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One More Time in Exile - Portion Emor - but Behar is the portion in Israel about a Nation of Priests and Nation of Mountains
So how does the portion of the Torah bring out Amazing and Magnificent from New Yorkers?
In Portion Emor:
The priests are told to stay away from "TUMA" - spiritual defilement.
TUMA could be described as "a withdrawal" from life (especially because it is related to dead people or things)
So what is LIFE anyway? A breath? A wonderful (Amazing) moment?
And why did the Rabbis decree that "outside Israel the land itself is a defilement?"
The Portion Behar:
It says "proclaim liberty throughout the land ..." HEY THAT'S on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia!
It teaches about liberation and sanctity of the land of Israel
AND EVEN THE HOMES IN THE CITIES!
Think about sanctity - and what Judaism and Jews are standing for in the world.
Now coming back from Washington DC a couple of days ago some guys were standing behind me saying
"we hate Israelis ... they kill Palestinian kids" (A STUPID LIE)
Now look at this news report yesterday from the Philadelphia of the Liberty Bell:
The Muslim groups responsible for an event featuring children singing about “chopping off heads” claimed participants’ “command of Arabic [was] not advanced” enough to understand the words.
By World Israel News and AP
Muslim leaders in Philadelphia apologized Wednesday for an event last month ...
so was that a lame excuse or what? AND which is more important -
teaching the sanctity of the land and the purity of LIFE -
or teaching children to be violent and hateful?
THE TRUTH:
Israel sends doctors to Africa
Israeli medical teams built a field hospital in Haiti
THE Only safe place for Arab kids to grow up is in Israel...
So love G d and love Israel for loving you and the whole world
The Gift of Israel from the Almighty is "magnificent ... Amazing ... and HOLY!!!
Does America get it???
Love... from New York
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
