Parashat Hashavua

Portion Emor - and Lag BaOmer This Week - Two Portions of Holy People -Two versions of holiness?

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 18:08
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 Portion Emor - and Lag BaOmer This Week - Two Portions of Holy People -Two versions of holiness?
 
 
It's funny how LAST week in Israel we read the portion "Kedoshim" (Holy People)
and this week in Emor it says in a few places "Be Holy"! Why not put hese items in the same Portion?
 
 
The head of the Shaalvim Hesder (1/2 army) yeshiva wrote this week (and I paraphrase)  about:
 
"Holiness before G-d - and Holiness between People"
 
He writes this explains the difference in rules between the Sabbath and the Holidays
 
Sabbath you need to feel close to the Almighty
 
Holidays are HALF TO FEEL THE HOLINESS OF BEING CLOSE TO PEOPLE
    
Rabbi Lasri on the radio this AM mentioned that 
when the Rabbis of the Talmud disagree
on the rules they are deciding for the Torah
 
some of the Rabbis (like Rabbi Yehuda) are dealing WITH THE EXISTING STATE
 
while others - Like Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai - the Master of the Secret Kabbala
 
decide according to the HOLINESS IN THE TORAH AND THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL 
   
 Is the world heavenly or is it mundane and what you see is what you got?
 
According to the Torah we the Jewish People are all supposed to be a holy nation
 
 The portion of Emor ends with the Jewish Holidays reviewed
 
and with Shavuote coming up in a couple of weeks
 
we should all remember how great throngs of Israelites always came to the Temple in Jerusalem
 
shared meals and returned lost items AND 
 
SANG PRAISES IN THE TEMPLE TO THANK THE ALMIGHTY FOR WHAT WE HAVE
 
This Shabbat and Next Thursday Lag B' Omer we can start
 
getting ready for the great Holiday of Receiving the Torah
 
By thinking and preparing a little - both for the world we see -
 
and for the world as wonderful as it can be with the help of G-d
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion Tazria - Lepers and Laws for Today

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 18:07
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 Portion Tazria - Lepers and Laws for Today
 
 
Portion Tazria in Israel this shabbat– and in the Diaspora a week Behind? 
Because Israel has 7 days of Passover and the rest of the world celebrates 8! Including last Shabbat!
/
Leprosy was a MAJOR illness in previous generations – and the Concept of Leprous Regimes in the world is still with us.  So many wars and despicable rulers and armies.
 
So the Torah teaches ... and the Rabbis explain ... and our JOB is to be a Light unto the World.
 
Imagine if Gaza were in Syria - at least a million would be dead by now! That's why Egypt refuses to take BACK the Gaza they ruled until 1967!
 
 

The spiritual Wars of Today and the Laws of Moses:

Rebbe Nachman of Breslav told his student Rebbe Noson that 
the laws of Leprosy in this week's portion can be looked at as
 a metaphor for the Battle of the Righteous against the Stern Decrees in Life.
 
 
Why after the world defeats ISIS in Syria and Iraq does Assad pull out his Chemical War Machine to kill those he doesn't like?
Every day is a TEST – of our View of the world and our Reaction to Life!
 
Meanwhile the leprous leaders Asad and Putin have not been stopped - but only the Almighty sends the Priests to Heal the Disease (leprosy years ago and now - 
The same kinds of crazy rulers as always?
 
Maybe the US and England and France can do something because the weapons of mass murder never were destroyed-
as promised 10-15 years ago.
 
 
Maybe Israel and A FEW Arab states will form an alliance to end war mongering in the Middle East 
(Egypt and Israel - and sometimes Jordan - seem to have it together).
 
The law is "if it's not clear - the leprosy - 
the Priest orders a waiting period..."
 
May our Shabbos be a peaceful light to the world.
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion Tzav - Passover and Parents and Presents

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 18:07
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Portion Tzav - Passover and Parents and Presents
 
Time to Prepare
 
This week's portion starts out saying "tell Aron and his sons"
 
And continues in a bit "I give them the Matzos of the Mincha (an offering in the Temple – of the desert and later in Israel
 
And it ends with Aron and his sons being Installed in the Tabernacle – and FOREVER
 
So what's the difference between Aron and his family – and the rest of the Jewish people
 
And why MATZOS ? Couldn't the Almighty just leave it at "Temple Bar-B-Ques go to the Priests?" They need MATZA?
 
Okay next week on Friday Night we celebrate the First Seder – Matza – means Freedom and Responsibility and Family and – Afikoman presents for the KIDS? (Parents are allowed to get themselves Afikoman presents too! And maybe SHOULD!)
 
In the 10 Commandments it says "Honor your Father and Mother –
 
And in the Shulchan Orach (Code of Jewish Law) it describes HOW.
 
But the Portion IS A TEACHING from the Almighty and Moses that
 
Aron and the kids should NOT LEAVE THE TENT OF HTHE MEETING for SEVEN DAYS
 
And eat in HOLINESS (not too many off-color jokes) – and THAT may be the connection for MATZAS here –
 
Since the Installation was JUST BEFORE PASSOVER
 
Which should be celebrated SEVEN days (however you can)
 
AND WITH THE FAMILY – at home or away
 
And may we all get ready for a GREAT AND HAPPY PASSOVER
 
Love and Shabbos from Israel
 
 
 

Portion Vayikra Sacrifices

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 18:05
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Portion Vayikra Sacrifices   
 
  
  Nothing really is a make up for anything we do wrong
 
but
 
  the Torah taught the world about
 
forgiveness
  
  And how
  we need to sacrifice some times  ...  just so we can feel how
 
We affect the world
 
And each other!
 
The idea of a temple ...  Which  we saw in last weeks portion
 
Is to elevate us spirritually  
 
But if we " fall  " ...
 
then a little
 
extra giving of ourselves can    Fix things
 
so we learn:
 
Giving makes for forgiving ... in the Big Picture
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
  
  leaving for Nevei Daniel soon...
 
 

Portion: VaYakHel Pekooday and Parah

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 18:02
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Portion: VaYakHel Pekooday and Parah
 
Based on an Idea from the Local Jerusalem Papers today
 
When the Tabernacle was set up it was covered in clouds for a while -
SO PEOPLE WOULD CONSIDER THE HOLINESS and not just all the gold and copper
and fine work and artistry that went into the building of the Tabernacle!
 
 
The lesson:
Always THINK what is REALLY HOLY and don't just look at the OUTSIDES
 
 
 
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Teruma ; The portion of Getting the Temple Together

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 18:01
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Teruma ; The portion of Getting the Temple Together
 
 
There had to be donations -
and Everyone wanted to donate-
 
All our great great grandparents were in on the building of the Tabernacle- 
 
The Almighty suggested to Moses - and he inspired the PEOPLE to be CONSTRUCTIVE!
 
But TERUMA means "UPLIFTING" not "BUILDING" - and why?
 
The Israelites in the desert  needed:
 
Gold and Silver and Copper - 
 
sounds like the Commodity Exchange was pretty busy in the desert while they were building the Tabernacle!
 
While flying to NY yesterday I met some nice people from Michigan and we were talking a bit
 about some Torah thoughts
 
and about paganism versus Judaism in the Old Testament - and discussions in the Talmud.
 
What is paganism - avoda zara - STRANGE WORK or NEGATIVISM
 
Bottom line - 
 
YOU CAN SEE WHAT A LITTLE METAL CAN DO IF IT IS FOR WORSHIPPING THE ALMIGHTY IN BEAUTY
 
and you can see what evil can do with all that stuff
 
The FBI just arrested a teacher who was preparing bombs using students to get gunpowder for him and his brother
 
right HERE IN NYC - Pelham Parkway! 
 
We need to teach that all the stuff in the world needs to be used to be TERUMA- meaning
 
(spiritually) UPLIFTING - like the Tabernacle (and the Temples)
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
 
 

Portion Mishpatim "tell it on the mountain" - And the souls of Nadav Avihu Pinhas and Elijah

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 18:00
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Portion Mishpatim "tell it on the mountain" - And the souls of Nadav Avihu Pinhas and Elijah
 
  
At a Bris ceremony we say "Ana has hem hoshiya NA"
 
And also on Rosh Chodesh .. like Next Week when I fly to N Y-
 
We say "Ana Hashem Hatzlicha NA" -
 
NA stands for Nadav Avihu (2 of 4 sons of Aron) 
(a friend pointed out yesterday that it says so in the Zohar).
 
 
Near the end of this week's portion
 
The Almighty tells Moshe to take Aron and his
two older sons (Nadav and Avihu) with the 70 elders 
 
Up on the mountain in Sinai 
 
(It doesn't say Joshua here - but 
we know he was always around from a later portion)
 
The Zohar ... according to my friend
David Chaim ... says that Nadav and Avihu had very great souls -
 
That they were sort of in training to take over later from Moses and Aron
 
BUT THE NEXT  YEAR THEY LEFT THE world in a fiery and sad situation
 
So why were they there now?
 
And what's that got to do with
 
Haman and his 50-amot-high gallows
that he tried to hang Mordechai on?
 
See me for the full explanation on Purim? But in general ...
 
What Haman tried was to delete Mordechai - who may have had a bit of
those High Souls -
 
from every (and the 50th) level of wisdom and holiness

BUT HE FAILED (on Purim we can discuss Parshat Shekalim donations ...)

So Nadav and Avihu left this world HAVING REACHED THE 50 LEVELS
 
(of holiness and wisdom and understanding)
 
and going up to Mount Sinai was a prelude to their going to heaven

and ALL OUR SOULS ARE CONNECTED WITH THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE
 
So Happy Parshat Shekalim (we read that in the Torah this Shabbat)
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
and Get Ready For Purim and "a little bit of SOUL"
 
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion Yitro Who's that Calling?

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 18:00
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Portion Yitro Who's that Calling?
 
 
In our portion
 
Yitro - Jethro the idol worshipper comes to the Israelites and Moses
 
Ostensibly  he JOINS the people and 
is now close to the Almighty and 
even advises Moses - Who ... remember ... is the Chief Judge 
 
and guide to and Transmitter of the L-ord' s will on earth.
 
Uh - he does what?
 
 
Why would the idolater
theHigh Priest of Midian 
come to share with the High Judge of the Almighty?
 And be ACCEPTED and BLESSED? And have a Portion named for him?
 
The Talmud Daf Yomi in Avoda Zara is replete with stories this week
 
touching on rules of herecy punishment - and salvation ...
And Rebbe Eliezer gets in TROUBLE
 
The Talmud says he met a heretic who had a GOOD interpretation of a Torah Passage - 
And we know that we are allowed to study what the gentiles may be able to teach us for the purpose of understanding how
BETTER TO AVOID BEING MISLED -
 
But Rebbe Eliezer was punished for ENJOYING what he learned from the heretic-
 
Which is something not wise - because we might LOSE FOCUS
 
Jethro - in leaving home to JOIN US in the desert - never lost FOCUS and-
 
obviously on a deep level - he came NOT to instruct Moses our teacher-
 
BUT TO HELP THE ISRAELITES
 
In a quote sent today from the Yeshiva Simchat Shlomo of my late friend Sholom Brodt zatza"l - with the words of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach zatza"l:
 
"The Ba'al Shem Tov is teaching that G-d is really calling us all the time,
 
 the only thing is that we don't believe that G-d is calling us.
 
The truth is that every holy thought that comes to my head is mamesh G-d calling me, it's mamesh G-d's voice.
 
 Imagine, suddenly I think I really should be better, it's really mamesh G-d calling me, but I think I had a good thought.
 
 If I would know it's G-d calling me I would jump out of my skin, so why don't we jump out of our skin?
 
 Very simple, because we never call G-d by his name, so we don't believe that he calls us by our name,
 
 but if you are on the real oneness calling G-d name, calling G-d on his level then you understand that G-d is calling you back. This is very deep stuff."
 
So Jethro - Yitro - "got it" - and
 
Moses (Moshe Rabaynu) got it years before at the burning bush
 
And if we drink in the wisdom of the Ten Commandments in this week's portion -
 
we can ALL be closer to that CALL FROM the ALMIGHTY

 
 
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
 

Portion BeShalach – Jerusalem by the Red Sea

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 17:59
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Portion BeShalach – Jerusalem by the Red Sea
 
The Portion of Leaving Egypt starts "Pharoah sent us out" but really the Almighty BROUGHT us out (like it said in last week's portion) – and that's the difference between  how the Pharoahs of the world see things and how our sages try to teach us to look at things.
 
Pharoah still thought he owned his Israelite slaves – or did he? After a few days his spies told him we were gone – and his ego got the better of him DESPITE the 10 plagues!
 
The Bal HaTurim (lived about 500 years ago) wrote – based on the Song by the Sea (that Moses led and then Miriam orchestrated with the women) – says the song tells
 
"you (Almighty) set your throne by your actions (the Israelites crossing the sea on DRY LAND while the Egyptians drowned)" – and the mystical numerical number of BESHIVTECHA
 
Equals the numerical value ZION JERUSALEM! (The true seat of the Almighty's throne).
 
Let the Pharoahs of the world complain and criticize – BUT JERUSALEM IS OUR CONNECTION
 
To holiness and the Almighty above.
 
COME VISIT – OR STAY (and Birthright is now open to age 32)
 
Love from Israel
 
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
On the way to Tiberias and the sea of GALILEE for Shabbat

Portion Bo ...(Why) everyone - even Pharoah - has a Bad Day sometimes

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 17:59
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Portion Bo ...(Why) everyone - even Pharoah - has a Bad  Day sometimes
  
  
  We all have bad days. 
  
  Moses had a bad day when the burning
  bush said he had to go back to Egypt
  
  Aron had a bad day when Moses did not
  come down from the mountain in time to
stop the golden calf  thing
  
 Abraham had a bad day when THAT Pharoah
  kidnapped Sarah
  
  But these and many other tough times - we learn from the Torah -
 
were overcome by looking at the Almighty s Big Plan  - for Israel and Torah
  
  (Some of the PLAN Is Foretold to the World and us  in a later chapter)
  
BO -  the name of the Portion  - means COME ... 
 
So the Almighty says " Come (With Me) to Pharoah ...(I will be with you)" 
 
RABBI ELIEZER WEISS says it means FOR US today too!
  
 
But Pharoah had no room for anyone  but  himself and  his hoodlums - 
  
Even when THE CHARTOOMIM - SORCERERS AND
  TRICKSTERS - when even in last week's portion
 said the plagues were too much and  to let Israel Go
 
He still had NO ROOM FOR THE ALMIGHTY 
(or even his CHARTOOMIM advisors, who were still scratching from the lice ...)
  
Life can be   Frightening sometimes
 
But if we rememeber the Almighy is With Us 
and we see part of The Plan (because we are still HERE, and not the Pharoahs)
 
Then despite the weather and the world 
we should all have a good Shabbos
 a good day ... 
and a better life - trying to Live the Plan
 
 
  SHABBAT SHALOM
 
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
 

מאמרים נוספים...

  1. Portion Vah Aiy Rah Getting out
  2. Portion Shemote – Jacob and I were in Egypt with King Tut AND the Beggars
  3. Portion VaYeChee – And there was (still) Life
  4. Portion VAYIGASH Kever Yosef - my brother's tomb - is Burning
  5. Portion VaYishLach was Dina a girl or what?
  6. Va yey Ttzay - A kiss is not Just a Kiss
  7. Portion Chayei Sarah - What a Weekend
  8. Portion Vayera - turn turn turn
  9. Portion LechLecha
  10. Portion Key TayTzay - where we Goin' Out