Parashat Hashavua
Portion of Vayetzay – Was Jacob in the Garden of Eden – or only Adam and Eve (and the snake)?
As my Rebbe used to say – this is the deepest from the SOUL of the Torah (The Kabbalah)-
Each of the Fathers – Abraham Isaac and Jacob (with help from the spouses – note by AE)
taught us the SECRETS of PRAYER (based on the Talmud) –
Abraham taught Shacharit (morning prayers) Isaac
taught Mincha (afternoon prayer) and Jacob taught the
prayers we NEED to do at NIGHT.
But the Talmud says "The TORAH makes NIGHT PRAYERS (Maariv)
OPTIONAL –
but the RABBIS made the NIGHT PRAYERS IMPERATIVE –
and Required to be done before midnight!"
The Kabalah teaches us that eating from the Tree of Knowledge spoiled all our senses
EXCEPT the sense of SMELL (until maybe the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai – but
that's another story)
But in a nutshell (pun):
praying Maariv – at night – gives us a bit of the AROMA of the Garden of Eden –
You can SENSE an AROMA even in the dark
And that when we pray Maariv - DESPITE THE DARKNESS - we can
get just a WHIFF of the HOLINESS we need to bring to the
WORLD – and maybe the world will get it too.!
Keep on PRAYING like Abraham Isaac Jacom Sarah Rebecca Leah and Rachel!
Love and Shabbos
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
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Remember that the Almighty told Abraham to trust in what Sarah told him
In Hebron there will be thousands visiting for Shabat -Abraham's children
May we all have a safe and sweet Shabbat
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
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The Talmud Wisom teaches us that inviting guests is thus greater than Speaking to G-d? Why?
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach used to say - it is a GREAT thing to know what your Purpose is in this world.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
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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
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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
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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
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Portion of Ha ah zee nu - what music! what a song!
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
and love from the airport - on the way Home to the Holy Land
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
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