Beha’alotcha – June 24, 2016
S.T.A.R.’s upcoming exciting events:
This Shabbat:
- Friday Candle Lighting: 7:50 pm
- Shabbat Ends: 8:53 pm
Torah Message:
Thus
“…And Aharon did thus” (8:3)
At the beginning of time there shone a unique light called the “Ohr Haganuz”, the Hidden Light. With this light you could see from one end of the Creation to the other. It wasn’t that the light was super bright, but you could see the connection between cause and effect.
We live in a world of darkness where events can sometimes seem random and cruel. This is because that light was hidden. Even though the Creator hid away the Ohr Haganuz after it had shone for thirty-six hours, there are times when you can still catch glimpses of its hidden glow…
On the first night of Chanukah we light one candle; on the second night two. Thus after two nights we have lit three candles. If you continue this calculation you will find that the total number of candles that we light on Chanukah is thirty-six. The thirty-six lights of Chanukah correspond to the thirty-six hours during which the Ohr Haganuz shined.
“…and Aharon did thus.”
Rashi comments: “This verse recounts the praise of Aharon, for he did not change.”
If you look at the Genesis account, the phrase “And it was thus” is appended to every creation that the Torah speaks of. Every creation, that is, except one. When the Torah says “Let there be light!” the phrase “And it was thus” is missing. The reason is because G-d hid away that original light.
It re-appears in the light of the Chanukah candles.
And it re-appears in the light of the Menorah.
When Aharon lit the Menorah, he caused a tikkun in the world, a spiritual repair that brought back the light to its original pristine state. Aharon’s lighting brought forth a light that “did not change” from the radiance of the Ohr Haganuz.
When the Torah says, “And Aharon did thus,” the ‘thus’ is referring to Aharon returning the light to its state of “And it was thus.”
- Sources: Amodea Sheva; Malbim
Nasso – June 17, 2016
S.T.A.R.’s upcoming exciting events:
This Shabbat:
- Friday Candle Lighting: 7:48 pm
- Shabbat Ends: 8:52 pm
Torah Message:
Preaching to the Unconverted
“…When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit by committing treachery towards G-d.…” (5:6)
Becoming Jewish is a “tortuous” procedure. The degree of sincerity and commitment that a non-Jew must display to prove his or her bona fides might well prove too much for those of us blessed to be born of a Jewish mother.
Thus, when a convert is accepted, the Torah charges us to “love the stranger” (Vayikra 19:34). Interestingly, the mitzvah to love our spouse is learned only from the general rule of “You shall love your friend as yourself”, whereas the imperative to love the convert is stated explicitly. In fact the Torah warns against cruelty, oppression, or unkindness to a convert 36 times!
Rashi explains that the seemingly general term of one committing “any sin that men commit by committing treachery towards G-d” means “theft from a convert.”
Someone who steals from a convert desecrates the Name of his G-d in the eyes of this convert who has come to seek refuge under the wings of the Divine Presence. For this reason the Torah uses the verb me’ila, which denotes misappropriation of Temple property and the like. Thus, someone guilty of such an offence must bring akorban chatat (a sin-offering) — the punishment for Temple property misappropriation.
- Source: based on the Tzforno as seen in Talelei Orot
Bamidbar – June 10, 2016
This Shabbat:
- Friday Candle Lighting: 7:46 pm
- Shabbat Ends: 8:49 pm
Torah Message:
Stand Up and Be Counted!
“But you shall not count the tribe of Levi…” (1:49)
The Midrash comments: “And the Levi’im will be to Me” — the Levi’im are Mine, for all those who come close to Me, to Me I will bring them close, and they brought themselves close to Me. (Bamidbar Rabbah)
Sometimes it’s not enough to just stay in the background and keep out of harm’s way. Sometimes you have to stand up and be counted.
Sometimes a person sees a flagrant desecration of G-d’s Name, when errant ideas are purveyed as “Judaism”, such as when “reformers would emasculate” and try to change the Law of the Torah or the spirit of the Torah. It’s not enough just to ignore them and turn the other way. A Jew has to stand up and be counted.
The tribe of Levi was exalted amongst the Jewish People because they were not involved in the sin of the Golden Calf. However, certainly there were many individuals who also refused to be drawn into idol worship. Why, then, weren’t they rewarded in the same way as the tribe of Levi, to be appointed “over the Tabernacle of Testimony, over all its utensils and everything that belongs to it?” (1:50)
When Moshe came down from the mountain and saw the B’nei Yisrael cavorting around the Golden Calf, he shouted, “Who is for Gd — to me!” (Shemot 33:26). It was only the Tribe of Levi who answered the call as one man. It was only the Tribe of Levi who “brought themselves close” by standing together with Moshe.
Sometimes you have to stand up and be counted.
- Source: Based on the Chiddushei HaRim
Bechukotai – June 3, 2016
This Shabbat:
- Friday Candle Lighting: 7:42 pm
- Shabbat Ends: 8:45 pm
Torah Message:
Joe’s Horoscope
“If you will follow My decrees…” (26:3)
Joe Cohen is forty-two and a half years old. Joe is an extravagantly generous person. He makes the mitzvah of charity his special province. He neither neglects nor rejects any worthy cause. His house and his heart are open to all.
If you were a stargazer and could look into Joe’s horoscope you would see that Joe was not destined for a long life. Joe’s “mazal” is anything but “tov”. In his mazal, in his horoscope, it says that Joe will die at the age of 43 from a heart attack. However, seeing as our own individual horoscopes are not published in the papers, neither Joe nor anyone else has any idea about Joe’s imminent demise. Joe’s forty-third birthday passes with the usual birthday gifts, meaning large anonymous financial gifts that Joe gives to charity. Joe’s 44th birthday passes in much the same way. So does his 45th, his 46th and his 47th. In fact, not until his 90th birthday does Joe take his leave of this earthly stage, and is brought to the World of Truth.
Simon Shmuzer loves to talk. Unfortunately the vast majority of what emanates from Simon’s mouth is putting down other people behind their backs. Simon has developed subtle, and not-so-subtle, character assassination into a fine art. A look at Simon’s celestial horoscope would show that Simon is supposed to live to the ripe old age of 89. However, when he turns 47, suddenly Simon develops a malignant disease of the larynx and passes away quite suddenly.
What happened to Joe’s and Simon’s horoscopes? Should they look for new astrologers?
At the beginning of this weeks Torah portion the Torah gives a detailed picture of the bounty that awaits us if we keep the Torah: “rains in their time; the Land will give its produce the tree its fruit; You will lie down and none with frighten you; I will cause wild beasts to leave the Land, and a sword will not cross your Land; You will eat very old grain (which will remain fresh and improve with age) so that you will have to move it to make way for the new harvest….”
If you look at all these promises, they all refer to this world. There is not one mention about the reward that we will get for keeping the Torah when we get to the World of Truth.
Why not?
The Torah doesn’t deal with the rewards and punishments of the Next World because it’s obvious that the proper place to receive the reward for our performance of spiritual tasks is in a world of spirituality. The next world is a totally spiritual world designed and constructed with the sole purpose of rewarding or punishing us. The Torah doesn’t need to stress the fact that we are recompensed there. Where else would we expect to receive the results of our spiritual actions if not in a world of spirituality?
The surprise is that we are rewarded and punished for spiritual things here in this physical world too. Now that’s something we would never have known had the Torah not told us.
However, we don’t see that we are rewarded and punished here in this world for our actions. It all looks perfectly natural. It all looks like the “way of the world”.
No one saw anything miraculous about Simon’s demise, or Joe’s longevity. After all, many people die young and more when they are old. And yet both Joe and Simon experienced miracles. We would never know about those miracles had the Torah not spelled them out in this week Torah portion.
- Source: Ramban’s Commentary on the Chumash
Behar – May 27, 2016
This Shabbat:
- Friday Candle Lighting: 7:38 pm
- Shabbat Ends: 8:41 pm
Torah Message:
Of Faith and Trust
“But the seventh year shall be a complete rest for the Land. A Sabbath forG-d.” (25:4)
Sometimes trusting G-d isn’t so easy.
In this week’s Torah portion the Jewish People are told to put down tools once every six years and stop working the fields for a year. G-d tells them to trust that He will provide for them. In the sixth year, He promises that miraculously there will be a bumper crop. This will keep them going for that year, and the next year and the eighth year. Because, of course, seeing as nothing will be planted in the seventh year, there will be nothing to harvest in the eighth. In other words, one year’s crop becomes three. G-d says this is going to happen with clockwork regularity every seven years.
Sometimes, however, when it comes to our own lives it’s not so easy.
That’s the difference between emunah (faith) and bitachon (trust). We can believe that there is a G-d who created everything in existence, who continues to sustain reality from one second to the next, a G-d who rules over everything, everywhere, everyone, every second. But, when it comes to our own lives, we can still fall short in trusting Him when the going gets tough.
I’m often asked how Torah institutions, which receive little if any government assistance, manage to stay afloat financially. And we even are witness to a tremendous growth of the number and size of Torah educational schools worldwide, in addition to a growing number of families that are dedicated to Torah studies despite the high cost-of-living and no “natural” source of income to support a life of Torah.
How do all these institutions and families manage?
Well, let me tell you how one Rosh Yeshiva looks at it. This is a man who has on his shoulders the burden of supporting an institution whose yearly running costs are in six figures. On his last trip to America, he told his donors to prepare “tanks” to receive the outpouring of wealth that G-d is going to bestow on them.
Supporting Torah is a privilege, not a budgetary burden. In the desert, the Holy Ark needed no wagon to carry it from one encampment to the next because “to the sons of Kehat he (Moshe) did not give (wagons); since the sacred service was upon them, they carried on the shoulder.” (Shmot 6:9)
In fact, no one carried the Aron. The Aron carried itself, and also those who “carried” it. The Aron carries its carriers. The Torah supports its supporters, not the other way round.
Emor – May 20, 2016
This Shabbat:
- Friday Candle Lighting: 7:33 pm
- Shabbat Ends: 8:35 pm
Upcoming Events:
Torah Message:
Bored with Breathing
“And you will bring a new mincha-offering (meal-offering) to G-d.” (23:16)
Are you “burned out”?
You seem to hear that phrase a lot these days. I’m “burned out” from this; I’m “burned out” from that; I’m bored with this; it’s just lost its excitement for me.
Why do people “burn out”?
Take two people working hard. One is self-employed and the other is working for someone else for a salary. There’s a big difference between them. Someone who works for a salary often has no special, personal interest in the company other than that he wants it to exist in order to provide him with a living. And his “apathy” only increases if the company as a whole doesn’t excel in profits, and there is no bonus to look forward to.
Someone who is self-employed, on the other hand, will likely put his very soul into his work. He is the company. He enjoys the moments of triumph and he grieves over the disasters. But bored and burned out? Virtually never.
Unlike the salaried employee whose remuneration is fixed from the beginning, with only limited scope for profit participation, the self-employed person knows that the sky’s the limit. The company’s success is his success.
When we learn Torah we should think of it like it was our own business. In your own business, if things aren’t going right, who is there to put them right? Only yourself. If it takes extra time at the office, we would certainly, and gladly, put in the extra hours.
When we sit down to learn, do we mentally “punch in”? Are we waiting for the next coffee break? For the check at the end of the month? Or do we feel the exuberance and challenge of our learning as though it was our own business?
How does the Torah refer to the monumental event of its being given at Sinai?
“And you will bring a new mincha-offering to G-d.”
Why is the reference so oblique? It’s true that at the festival of Shavuot there is a command to bring a new mincha-offering to G-d. But is that the most conspicuous aspect of Shavuot? How about the giving of the Torah? Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to spell out that on this day the Torah was given at Sinai? And yet it is with these few covert words that the Torah hints to the central event of Judaism.
Why?
The Torah doesn’t specify the date of its giving because it doesn’t want us to feel that it was given as a “one-off” event. Rather, it wants us to feel like it’s being given to us every day,and for us to receive it every day as though we were hearing it for the first time at Sinai.
The Torah is our life’s breath. Even though a person breathes millions of times in the course of his life, does anyone get tired of breathing?Why not? Since we understand that our life depends on breathing, it’s not a subject for boredom. Boredom can only set in when a person sees something as optional. Breathing isn’t optional; it’s obligatory.
This is the way we should feel about the Torah, for it is our life and the length of our days.
Kedoshim – May 13, 2016
This Shabbat:
- Friday Candle Lighting: 7:28 pm
- Shabbat Ends: 8:29 pm
Upcoming Events:
Torah Message:
I-Sight
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart.” (19:17)
One of the most difficult emotions to deal with is resentment.
Resentment can come from many different sources. It can result from someone genuinely wronging us. Or we may feel wronged by someone even though an objective third party would say that we were being over-sensitive. Resentment can come from plain old jealousy of someone who is brighter than us, or seems to have an easier life, or is more successful. Or resentment can come for no good reason at all. It may result from the way that someone speaks or dresses or expresses himself.
The spiritual masters teach that this is the worst kind of hatred. In Hebrew it is called “sinat chinam”, literally translated as “free hate”. Hate that has comes from no injustice, real or perceived, but is just the way someone feels.
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart.”
In this week’s portion the Torah categorically prohibits that gnawing worm called resentment.
The Torah says that we mustn’t feel resentment. But isn’t that more easily said than done? How are we supposed to put this into action?
First of all, we cannot work on our feelings until we understand them. This requires objectivity and the help of someone who is impartial to help us objectivize our emotions. Only when we can delineate our feelings will we have a chance of changing them.
If this analysis shows that we have been genuinely wronged, the proper mode of conduct will depend on the circumstances. It may involve a direct confrontation, or a rebuke from a third party, or legal recourse in a Beit Din religious court. When we act to deal positively with our resentment in one of these ways, the poison of the resentment is very often vitiated or extinguished.
However, there may be circumstances where a genuine grievance has no outside recourse, and we may just have to forgive and forget. In this last scenario, (and in the others too) we should remember that it is G-d who runs the world, and we should analyze why G-d has put us in our present situation.
As far as jealousy is concerned, we should remember that each of us is on our own separate “monorail” in life. The fact that someone else has something that I don’t have, be it brains or money or looks, in no way means that they are taking away from me. The root of jealousy is a lack of trust in G-d’s Providence. Each of us is born with unique capabilities with which to fulfill our potential in this world. If G-dhasn’t given me something, it’s because I don’t need it to complete my mission on this earth.
And as far as sinat chinam is concerned, we should remind ourselves, that we are all created in G-d’s image. If there is something that I hate about my fellow for no objective reason whatsoever, it means that I am despising the image of G-d.
However, if we look carefully with a positive eye at those whom we resent and try to divorce our egos from our emotions, we might begin to see all kinds of positive traits that they possess.
It all depends on our I-sight.
Acharei Mot – May 6, 2016
This Shabbat:
- Friday Candle Lighting: 7:23 pm
- Shabbat Ends: 8:23 pm
Upcoming Events:
Torah Message:
Out on a Limb
“He shall don a sacred linen Tunic; linen breeches shall be upon his flesh…” (16:4)
The Talmud (Sanhedrin 49b) states that the first garment that the kohen puts on when he begins the Divine service is the breeches. It learns this from the phrase “upon his flesh” in the above verse. For the breeches to be “upon his flesh” it must mean that they are the first garment to be put on.
Which begs the question: Why then didn’t the verse list the breeches before the sacred linen Tunic?
The answer lies in the description of the linen Tunic as “sacred.” All the vestments of the kohen were holy; why then is the Tunic singled out specifically as “sacred?”
In the service of the Beit Hamikdash the kohen used his whole body — his thighs, his legs, his shoulders, his arms, and his torso. The service of the Beit Hamikdash sanctified those limbs that performed the avoda service, and the limbs in turn sanctified the clothes that covered them.
The holiness of the Tunic is because it covered the kohen’s whole body, whereas the breeches covered only the lower half of the body, and thus fewer limbs, and, consequently, had relatively less sanctity.
Similarly, a Sefer Torah has more sanctity than tefillin, and tefillin more than amezuzah. This is because there are more words of Torah in a Sefer Torah than intefillin and more in tefillin than in a mezuza; the more words of holiness, the more these words sanctify the physical vessel that contains them.
- Source: Ha’amek Davar
Tazria – April 8, 2016
This Shabbat:
- Friday Candle Lighting: 7:01 pm
- Shabbat Ends: 7:59 pm
Torah Message:
Body and Soul
“A woman who gives forth seed and bears a male…” (12:2)
“Says Rav Simlai, ‘Just as (the Torah describes) the formation of man after every domestic animal and wild animal and fowl in the sequence of the Creation, so is (man’s) ‘Torah’ explained after the ‘Torah’ of the domestic animal, the wild animal and the fowl’.” (Rashi)
The “Torah” to which Rashi refers is the set of laws of ritual purity, tuma and tahara.
The question arises, when placing the laws of man after the laws of the animals, why did the Torah chose specifically to speak of the laws of ritual purity? Why didn’t it choose to segue one of the other many Torah laws that apply to man?
Furthermore, why did Rav Simlai speak of the “formation” (yetzira) of man as opposed to his “creation” (bria)?
Man has two parts, a physical part and a spiritual part. Yetzira — formation — refers to his physical existence, whereas bria — creation — refers to his spiritual being.
Man’s physical formation indeed took place after the formation all the animals. However, the spiritual existence of man precedes all.
For this reason Rav Simlai used the word “formation” to refer to man’s physical side coming after the beasts, and for this same reason the Torah singles out the laws of ritual purity, for these laws are only applicable to the “animal” side of man.
- Sources: Chatam Sofer as seen in Talalei Orot
Shemini – April 1, 2016
S.T.A.R.’s upcoming exciting events:
This Shabbat:
- Friday Candle Lighting: 6:57 pm
- Shabbat Ends: 7:45 pm
Torah Message:
One Small Step for a Man
“Lest you become contaminated” (11:43)
The road to holiness does not start with lofty ideals or sublime thoughts. It does not begin with a mind-expanding revelation or a “close encounter”. It cannot be produced by psychotropic drugs, nor can it be experienced by climbing the Alps or the Andes.
True, gazing down from Mont Blanc or Everest may fill us with awe at the Creator’s handiwork. Nature can truly inspire closeness to G-d, but all this inspiration will vanish like a cloud of smoke if we lack the fundamental ingredients to concretize inspiration into actuality.
The road to holiness starts with a few small boring steps. Like being a decent moral person and controlling our emotions and appetites.
As Jews, we may not eat what we like when we like. On Pesach we may eat no bread. On Yom Tov we should eat meat. On Yom Kippur we may eat nothing. At all times we may not eat the forbidden foods that are the subject of this week’s Torah portion.
“Lest you become contaminated.” In Hebrew this sentence is expressed as one word: “v’nitmaytem”. The spelling of this word is unusual. It lacks an aleph and thus it can also read as “v’nitumtem”, which means “Lest you become dulled”.
In our search for holiness and meaning in this world, one of our greatest assets and aids are the laws of kashrut. Kosher food is soul food. Food for the soul. Food that feeds our spirituality and sharpens our ability to receive holiness. Food that is not kosher does the reverse. It dulls our senses. It makes us less sensitive, less receptive to holiness. A Jew who tries to find holiness sitting on top of some mountain in the Far East, living on a diet of salted pork, will find it impossible to achieve his goal. The view of Ganges or the Himalayas (or his navel) may titillate his spiritual senses, but he will find no growth or nourishment reaching his core.
The spiritual masters teach that if a person contaminates himself a little, he becomes contaminated a great deal. Spirituality is a delicate thing. It doesn’t take much to jam the broadcast from “Upstairs”. On the other hand, a little bit of holiness goes a long way. As the Torah teaches, “You shall sanctify yourselves and you shall become holy.” (11:44) A little bit of sanctity generates a lot of holiness. If we sanctify ourselves down here in this lowly world with all its barriers to holiness, if we guard our mouths, our eyes and our ears, then the Torah promises us that we will be given help to lift us to lofty peaks of holiness.
It all starts with one small step.