Portion of Yisro - Jethro - and the Women of Israel ...?
- פרטים
- קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
- פורסם ברביעי, 25 נובמבר 2020 08:20
- נכתב על ידי Super User
- כניסות: 335
Portion of Yisro - Jethro - and the Women of Israel ...?
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Portion of Yisro - Jethro - and the Women of Israel ...?
Portion of Mishpatim – SO MANY LAWS! A goat and a widow? Damages or kindness?
What is the connection in our portion this week between a goat and a widow? How can the same portion one second discuss laws of damages and in the next laws of doing kindness even to those you may not like??
When Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach sat Shiva for his twin brother he taught us very deep principles of the Tree of Life versus the Tree of Knowledge, things which we can use every day – but I can only mention a couple today.
He said (to paraphrase) that "Tree of Knowledge" things may give you a buzz – but they don't leave a good TASTE in your mouth or in your spirit like (the principles of) the Tree of Life. G-d gave us the Torah to give us LIFE.
Again to paraphrase – He said that when we celebrate Melava Malka – a LITTLE meal AFTER the Sabbath – we are celebrating that GOOD THINGS STAY WITH US FOREVER – the TASTE of the SHABBAT should not be lost.
I (AE) want you to know IT IS NOT COMMANDED IN THE TORAH to celebrate Melava Malka – a LITTLE meal AFTER the Sabbath – but if you REVIEW the portion the Torah the FEELING of Shabbat after sundown – you get a TASTE OF GAN EDEN, the Tree of Life – heaven on earth.
Reb Eli Chaim (said Rabbi Shlomo of his twin) added those customs that tasted the holiness of Gan Eden – heaven – and lived a heavenly life.
Every Torah law in this portion has a simple – and also a deeper AND TASTEFUL- meaning, whether it is the law not to hurt the widow or orphan, the law not to damage a neighbor's garden, the law requiring doing good for even people you may not like (we're not talking about helping evil here) – and yes-even the Mitzva of giving your firstborn GOAT to the Kohain (for his service as teacher and Temple functionary) - is a taste heaven.
ALL THESE MANY LAWS – the whole portion -they are a part of the STORY of Israel and a taste of heaven – may we be blessed to study, understand, appreciate, and share the INNER JOY and PEACE we can derive from each of them!
Shabat Shalom
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
3AM The Eve of Shabbat, in the cold of the New York Exile
Rabbi Shlomo in prison again on Portion of Toledot? What's really wrong with ISIS?
Well - not exactly - but he used to visit prisons a lot - sing, tell stories, give out hugs, etc.
There's the famous story about the murderer who told him after a little concert:
"If I had gotten some hugs in my life I would have never turned to crime"!
So - where did Esav go wrong when his twin brother Jacob went "right"?
Some say it's hard to be brought up by two great parents.
And the pressure of having a studious and brilliant twin doesn't make it any easier!
The portion says Isaac was going blind - he didn't "see" what was going on!
BUT WHAT AN WE LEARN FROM READING BETWEEN THE LINES -
and from our Masters of the Inside of the Torah?
From my friend Rabbi Shlomo Brodt who wrote:
Surely (Rivka our great great grandmother - Isaac's wife) prays up in heaven
that Eisav (Jacob's not- so good to us twin) and that all of us
will do tshuvah (repent) and ... will come to realize how much we need to be connected
with (the) real tzadikkim and tzadkkaniot (righteous people).
Surely she is praying that we will not stop praying!
That TODAY we need to SEE what's going on - in our families and around us -
and throw a little extra love out at the world!
The world is jealous of Israel - for turning a desert into a garden,
and for building a just society from people evicted from every continent - and of every skin color!
So they lie about us - and kill each other - and the leaders of the world blame the Jews for everything -
So let's ALL just TELL all the leaders to SEND A FEW HUGS (and a little SHABBOS)-
(not missiles, not rockets) to ALL the peoples being lied to by their greedy leaders-
and pray that this Shabbat the world wakes up,
sees straight-
tells the ISIS people that they can't kill because there are oil-rich successful Moslem countries around them,
and be a little extra helpful and LOVING to all those around us.
SHABBAT SHALOM from ISRAEL
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
Hello! It's Me - the Almighty!
Noah – where are you?
Are you asleep? IT's RAINING cats and dogs!!!
Noah get into the ARK already!
What was he waiting for? Was Noah afraid of the rain? Or was his family?
Or maybe he just couldn't tell that "this was IT?"
Rabbi Carlebach used to sing an old Yiddish song that went like this:
"Gevaltshe breede r voss shloft du" ….
(AE rough Translation – brother why are you sleeping? – meaning spiritually …)
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach always taught –
Just ike the WORLD NEEDS TO WAKE UP-
For each of us there is SOME time we have to wake up and make a GREAT move-
to do something IMPORTANT!
As the spiritual masters taught
There's a REASON we're all born here – we each have a PART TO PLAY-
Maybe Noah was delaying - TRYING TO WAKE UP THE WORLD
warning them year after year –
But they sadly didn't get it
(until it was too late)
Are you waiting for the Messiah to fix the world? Or some political party? Or the UN?
Or when your neighbor's kid needs to go to the hospital – do you take them – or give them the keys to your car?
We all make mistakes – but G-d gives us chances to fix things
so maybe Noah's special task was not to just save himself
but to START THE WORLD OVER.
We'll never know – but it's something to address in our own lives –
How to make that contribution to the world that we are here for
And we were granted the Shabbat as the Almighty's gift - a TIME to think about that!
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
Bereishis - Dance On!
Have you ever wondered why we need to sit in a Sukkah?
Rebbi Nachman of Breslov wrote - "if you're in it, you're a living torah!"
You are living the commandment with your whole self. (From Likutay Moharan #266)
What could be better? And even if we didn't do ALL the mitzvot -
Rav Yaskil of Elad says - the reason we "knock a little sense " into the Hoshayness
that we hit on the 7th day of Sukkos is -
that the Almighty created the world to knock a little bad out of evil and
knock a little holiness (with mitzvot) into the newly emptied void !
And if we danced a little with the Torah -
And if all we did was that -
That's Why We're IN THIS WORLD! To knock a little Holiness into it!!!
SO AFTER SUKKOS HOW CAN YOU NOT DANCE INTO THE FIRST PORTION OF THE TORAH?
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach would say - now that it's in YOU - the mitzvos you did in all the holidays -
and the Torah of Sitting in the Sukkah -
your feet are just programmed to dance into the next mitzvos!
What a world it would be if it were filled with Holiness and Dancing!
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbo Andy Eichenholz