Parashat Hashavua

Portion of Lech Le Cha – Abraham and US Today

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:47
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Portion of Lech Le Cha – Abraham and US Today

I was asked to speak at a Bris yesterday for some English Speakers. An Israeli Rabbi had spoken and said "the (security) situation is difficult but don' worry".

I was thinking WHY we need not "worry".

I remembered that Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach was interviewed in the 1990's about the Arab attacks then, and he said things like (Quoted in the Zivi Richie book "PEACE" )

"We are the strongest people in the world. Just imagine the scene –
Esau came with 400 soldiers to attack Jacob and keep him from coming home to Israel. How could Jacob defeat his brother's plan?

Yet Jacob and his 4 Jewish wives and 11 children overcame Esau and his army!"
The confrontation ended with Jacob/Israel settling back home in the land of Canaan and Esau going back to Saudi Arabia.

Rabbi Carlebach also said in that interview -

 "We live in a world today where we don't need to apologize for being Jewish"

In this portion Abraham our forefather was/is commanded  that Jewish boys should be circumcised as part of the covenant between Abraham and the Almighty.

In some countries they are still trying to pick fights with the Israelite traditions and our Israelite nation – to the point of attacking circumcision and attacking us physically.

We simply need to remind the WORLD that ours is a STRONG and PEACEFUL tradition that THEY should learn – and RESPECT –
and maybe then there can be peace AND SHABBOS for the whole world.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion of Noah and Love

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:46
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Portion of Noah and Love

Did Noah love his kids?
Probably after they went through so much
So why did he get so drunk after the FLOOD?

Building a life after trauma is not so easy

Not for parents or kids

Or a nation under constant attack

What people néed are ACTS OF LOVING KINDNESS
To heal the soul

Acts like 2 of the sons of Noah

The book of Bereishis tells us of the traumas of
Building the Jewish People

But LOOK UP ALL the acts of Specially Needed Kindness

Love and Shabbos from Jerusalem

Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion Bereishis – Who's world IS it Anyway?

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:46
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Portion Bereishis – Who's world IS it Anyway?

Wherever I turn in my life I see a hand mixing in – I worked nights across the street from the World Trade Center – until just before that fateful day 9/11. I would have been going into the subway at the time it collapsed –except that my employers went bankrupt just before and let us all go! Someone called the shots and I survived – to hand out water  to thirsty people escaping the disaster.

Every day the sun shines and we don't die from Ozone poisoning I see the hand of the Almighty saying (and great people like Maimonides reminding us)– enjoy the sun – but don't overdo it. And make it BETTER!

Call it G-d call it fate – there IS more than we see – and it has been keeping us for thousands of years from destroying our world or – G-d forbid – each other. Thank G-d!

And this Shabbat we start learning the Torah of Mount Sinai and Moses and the Jewish People who miraculously escaped Egypt – AND NOW ARE BACK STARTING A NEW COUNTRY – ISRAEL – in our OLD HOMELAND – and the greatest GIFT the worlddoes NOT recognize – is that WE CAN START ANEW EVERY DAY! What a Blessing!  BEREISHIS – Beginnings.

Thank the L-rd for new days new beginnings a constantly RENEWING TORAH –
and for the Day of Shabbos when we can PRACTICE APPRECIATING ALL THESE.

Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion of Ha ah zee nu - what music! what a song!

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:44
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Portion of Ha ah zee nu - what music! what a song!


Well - Really it is not so complimentary to the Jewish People what Moses sings ...
it's not morose but it is haunting and to evoke emotional response!

Moses had a life full of complex relationships with the 12 tribes

but in the Torah we see that he dealt with it by SINGING A SONG OR THREE!

(and so should we)

As Rabbi Carlebach always said

if 2 people are talking at the same time - nobody gets heard

but if 2 people sing at the same time, they MAY create HARMONY
 
Let's do a little harmony here! Sukkot is a great time to start!!!!
 
shabbat shalom 

and love from the airport - on the way Home to the Holy Land

Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion of Va yay lech - sing a song of ... what?

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:43
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Portion of Va yay lech - sing a song of ... what?
 
G-d commands the people to have a PUBLIC READING of TORAH by the KING
at the end of the seventh year (Smitta - like RIGHT NOW in 2015) - "HAK-HEL"

Moshe tells the people "I know you will not refrain from things you shouldn't do"
 
And he tells Joshua "be strong when you take the people into the Land of Israel"
 
Why connect these in this week's portion?
 
Yes - Moshe Rabaynu - the Master Teacher - warns all  Israel that he KNOWS they will "stray" as they have done in the past - and it obviously bothers him
 
So what does he do then?
 
He tells the people to keep singing this SONG he's written!!
 
His SONG (see next week's portion) filled with meaning and prophecy!
 
Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky - in his book of parables asks - 
 
so why tell Joshua Chazak V'ematz - to be strong and courageous (tough)? 
His stories are sweet and should be read - 
but I think I have an answer from the portion:
 
Whatever happens - keep singing!
On key, off key - sing with your Heart!
Sing a song of G-d's miracles - past and hoped for - 
 
and it will bring us to a better place, a Holy place and time
 
where we can join with a King of Israel in Reading the Torah 
 
at the Temple on the Day of Hak-hel!
 
Let's look forward to a lot of songs this Shabbat - in preparation for Yom Kippur
 
Love and Shabbos
 
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

PORTION NITZAVIM - Before Rosh Hashono‏

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:43
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As Rabbi Carlebach sang "Return Again ..
Return to the Land of your Soul"
 
and as the Torah says this week in a couple of places
 
"V shav Hashem ... "
The Almighty will RETURN YOU -
 
meaning (my interpretation)
the Almighty reminds us sooner or later who we are - hopefully not too late!
 
Because you can only live a wholesome life if you know who you are -
 
the People of the Book
the People of the Land
the People who are bringing REDEMPTION to the world - not wars and craziness we see or hear of.
 
MAY THIS LAST SHABBAT OF THE YEAR RETURN US TO APPRECIATE SHABBAT, ISRAEL, G-D, AND EACH OTHER
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion of Key Tavo – The Key to Entering the Holy Land/Garden of Eden

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:42
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Portion of Key Tavo – The Key to Entering the Holy Land/Garden of Eden

In the middle of the  portion – as the Almighty is challenging us to choose between an "eternity of the Garden of Eden" or "divine retribution"

We hear a basis for causing retribution might be
"because you did (do) not serve the L-rd with joy of heart"

And the end of the portion says
Hashem did all the MIRACLES so you can
"know that I am the L=rd your G-d"

So the great spiritual masters say
"all your prayers must be with JOY – thanking the Almighty for everything."
(not always as easy as it seems – YOU HAVE TO WORK ON HAVING SOULFUL JOY!) - so

LET's DO IT – and get ready for the highest High Holiday season full of Prayer and Joy"

Love and Shabbos from Jerusalem

Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion of : rhe Ay - What are blessings - and who has curses today anyway?‏

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:42
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Rabbi Shlmo Carlebach used to say:
 when you bless someone you can actually give them life - or
 save theit lives!
>
 He also quoted the Hassidic masters who said
"when you look at the "curses" (alluded to in this Torah portion) you can se that any curse can
also be a BLESSING if you know how that works
>
I never knew how it worked - so I looked deeply into the  portion again this morning.
>
> The Almighty says "See - I give you Blessings . and Curses
 the blessings on Har (MOUNT) Greezim and the Curses on Har Eval

Rashi and the kabbalists explain half the tribes stood on
 one mount and the other half on the second mount.

THE LEVITES were IN THE VALLEY BELOW and
said the blessings and the curses -

first turning to one mountain - then to the other
>
So I believe that one way to look at this is that

 when we look at each other with blessings in our hearts -
 it is a blessing

and when we turn away from each other it is a curse
(like in the old Dylan song

"how many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he
 just doesn't see"

There are a lot more ways to look at the Portion - all worth thinking about

Love and Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
on the way to Jerusalem to start the new month of Elul with some holy people

Portion of Devarim and ADHD Nation - Tisha B'av and Mourning

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:41
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Portion of Devarim and ADHD Nation - Tisha B'av and Mourning

If Jerusalem withstood the invading Sennacherib - why did it fall to the
Babylonians?

The prophets
said the nation acted rotten to its basic core - but what caused those sins?

And if they were so bad - how did we recover - and with the Help of
the Almighty - REBUILD the Temple and our Nation?

I believe the sins
that caused Jerusalem and the Temple to fall were NOT
inherent in our nation's soul -
but
were like a national "ADHD hormonal" affliction -
which caused havoc to our people - until some cures were discovered -

Mordechai (and Esther) medicine (as in Purim medicine);
Yearning to re-build therapy (as in Ezra and Nehemiah doctoring);
Research into Torah curative powers (as in the Mishna - Ethics of the Fathers,
etc).

Saturday we read
the Portion Devarim which starts with Moses reminding the
Israelites of their "imbalances" during the exodus-via-the-desert.

Saturday night we have an "almost" like Yom Kippur - a day of fasting - but

also a 25 hour day of mourning.

A couple of weeks ago I had the merit and sad task to eulogize a brilliant elderly friend.

A couple of thousand years ago there was only one lamenting Rabbi - Jeremiah the
Prophet. (He wrote the book we read Tisha B'Av night- Lamentations - Eichah - about the
destruction of the Temple and the downfall of our FIRST STATE of ISRAEL - may it never be repeated).

Today we are in a position to
finish the cure - re-build th Jewish People and the Jewish
State

with
Mordechai (and Esther) medicine - getting us to act together
Yearning to re-build therapy - going to Israel to visit and helping those who live that life and
Research into Torah curative powers - studying a little more Torah each day.

May we dance together at the
Holy Wall at the re-building of a Holy Temple.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion of Matos- Masei

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:38
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Portion of Matos- Masei
 
Based on Rav Moshe Tzvi Neriya 's works - 
 
What was the equivalence of the sin of Bilam and the Midianite women?
 
Instead of respecting the Israelites who endured 40 years in the desert to follow G-d's will -
they tried to destroy Israel 
and destroy the hope for a better world - the message of the freed slaves !!!
 
So in the war the holy Israelite soldiers had mercy on the women of Midian - but
 
Moses reprimands the army for allowing the Midianite women to be captured.
 
"It was they that caused a venereal disease! It caused 24000 Israelites to die!
 
Rav Neria about 40 years talked of the seduction of the Jews by the Midianite women -
 
and the cursing of Bilam the sorcerer 
(who STAYED OVER in Midian TO CURSE AND PLOT- against us - until he was killed)
 
Mercy and respect to the non-merciful and non-respectful was a danger then (as the Torah states in this portion)
and today? Iran? ISIS? 
 
What an important lesson this week's portion teaches.
 
The reasons we are in Israel and in the world - is
 
to teach something the world needs more of-
 
BASIC MORALITY - which MAY NEVER be COMPROMISED
 
So let us teach our children to respect - and to teach respect in the world - but not to legitimize destructive forces.
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

מאמרים נוספים...

  1. Portion of Pinchas- Who was that Masked Man?
  2. Portion of Balak and July 4th - Looking Inward or Looking Outward
  3. Portion of Chukas - Holy (RED) Cow, Batman!
  4. Korah versus Aaron – What a (NOT) fight!
  5. Portion Shelach - The "BUT's" of the Spies
  6. Buh Hah Ah Lowt Cha - The Ark and the Father in Law?
  7. Portion of Bamidbar
  8. Portion Bechukotai – What's that? A "holocaust-syndrome"!
  9. Portion of Behar In Israel Emor in America
  10. Portion of Emor – What a Feeling!