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TALES
FOR THE SHABBOS TABLE
This week's section teaches about Jacob's
perilous and frustrating
adventures in the home of his crooked father-in-law, Lavan.
He was tricked
into working twenty years non-stop, cheated hundreds of times
and beset with
problems day and night.
This is very depressing. After all, Jacob
was only doing G-d's will
establishing the Jewish people! Why so many troubles? What is
this supposed
to teach us?
And how Jacob got there in the first
place is also very strange:
In last week's Torah portion we learned
how Asav decided to kill Jacob
because he tricked him out of their father's blessings for success
and
victory. So we see that Asav, as evil as he was, really valued
these
blessings.
Then we were told that when Jacob's mother,
Rivka, discovered Asav's evil
plans she seemingly disregarded the blessings and told Jacob
to flee for his
life (to her brother Lavan's home) ...
So it seems that while Asav believed
in the blessings, paradoxically Rivka
did NOT!! And that is what brought him to Lavan's house.
To understand all this, here is a story.
Boruch was in trouble. His daughter was
getting older and he had no dowry
for her wedding, in fact he and all the Jews in the area didn't
even have
enough to live on. And it was all because of the cruel Poritz
(Landowner).
First of all he charged such high rent
that it was almost impossible to
live. And to make matters worse he regularly imposed strange
fines and
penalties on the Jews to cover his lavish spending sprees and
gambling
debts.
Now Boruch's daughter was over twenty
five years old and a matchmaker came
up with a good suggestion!!
Oy! A good suggestion!! But all poor
Boruch had to offer were debts! And the 'suggestion' himself
wasn't much better off.
With no alternative Boruch set out by
foot to see the great Tzadik (Holy
Jew) Rebbe Elimelich of Lazinsk [One of the foremost pupils
of the Magid of
Meseritz, the successor of the Baal Shem Tov].
Boruch was very timid by nature; maybe
too timid, and he hated to bother the
Rebbe but the evil Poritz was driving all the Jews into destitution.
The
Rebbe was the only one that could help.
Two days later Boruch was standing before
the holy Tzadik humbly pouring his
heart out. Just to stand before such a holy genus was a humbling
experience
how much more so to beg like a pauper.
The Rebbe heard the story and smiled
assuring him that there was nothing to
worry about. Then he took three ten-kopek coins from his desk
drawer and put
them on the table before Boruch as if to say.. 'Here's what
you've been
waiting for'!
Boruch looked at the coins and didn't
know what to do. He had no business
sense whatsoever but he realized that something crazy was going
on here.
Did the Rebbe understand what he said? A wedding costs at least
a thousand
Kopeks. and what of all the other Jews? What could he possibly
do with
thirty Kopeks?!
But hoping that the Rebbe didn't notice
his confusion, he took the coins as
though they were worth millions and forced a smile as he backed
out of the
room trying his best to look grateful.
Trodding slowly on the road back home
he couldn't help thinking about the
future. What would he do when he arrived home? What would he
tell his wife
and daughter? What would he say to his friends? He had just
left the city
boundary when he heard someone yelling from behind him.
"Hey, Hey there!! Hey, Stop!!"
He turned to see one of the Rebbe's Chassidim
running after him waving his
arms. He waited for the Chassid to arrive and catch his breath
but he was
still huffing and puffing as he spoke.
"The Rebbe sent me.. to say that
he gave you ...too much. He wants you
to.... to give back one of the coins. That's what he told me
to tell
you.... I should take back one of the coins."
Boruch dutifully took one of the three
coins from his pocket and returned
it. The Chassid put it in his own pocket and then with a brisk
'Thank you,
have a good journey' ran back to the city leaving the perplexed
Boruch alone
to resume his trip... ten Kopeks poorer. Now he was really confused.
But
the idea popped into his mind.. Maybe he shouldn't be. Maybe
he should
think more positively.
An hour later he happened to pass a group
of three young gentile ruffians
huddled over a bonfire by the side of the road. "Oy!"
he though to himself.
"This means trouble!"
But instead of cowering as usual he put
his hand in his pocket, felt the
coins, remembered the Rebbe's face and stood straight, smiling.
And it
worked!
The gentiles smiled at him and approached,
one of them holding up a leather
bag. "Hello there Jew! Want to buy a good purse?"
He took the bag and had a look. It was
truly a fine piece of work, well sewn
with golden inlays. He opened it to look inside and there was
money!!!
Several notes of large denominations in German currency!! It
was a small
fortune! The boys probably had no idea what they were but he
recognized
them.
"Sure, take those paper pictures
too." They said. "Just give us thirty
Kopeks and its all yours."
Boruch almost passed out! Thirty Kopeks??
Why that is what he HAD! "But Gevald! All I have is twenty!!"
He thought to himself and began to get depressed and confused
like always. But the coins reminded him to be positive. He remained
calm, closed his eyes and prayed for an idea.. And suddenly
he had it!"
"Listen fellows. You know what?"
he heard himself say confidently, "I don't
have enough for the bag. But I'll give you twenty Kopeks for
the pictures."
The boys looked at each other trying
to hide their obvious glee, they could
sell the purse twice!! They took the coins, shook the Jew's
hand and gladly
let him take the worthless pictures while they held on to the
purse and
watched Boruch turn and continue his long trek home.
As soon as Boruch was far enough away
from them he took out the bills and
counted. Twenty bills, each worth the equivalent of five thousand
kopeks.
It was a fortune!! He was rich!! He and his entire community
were saved! It
was a miracle!!
A few weeks later he returned to Lezinsk,
first to find out if anyone there
knew to whom the purse belonged and if not to give a big donation
and invite
the Rebbe to his daughter's wedding. But before he reached the
Rebbe's house
he felt someone staring at him. He turned to look and it was
one of those
gentile boys. Reb Boruch nodded and the boy began to talk.
"Hello there Jew. You're the one
we met with the purse right? Well you'll
never guess what happened. As soon as you left we got into an
argument
about how to divide the coins and the purse, you know, who gets
what. Well,
somehow the purse fell into the fire and well, that was the
end of it. We
just left it there to burn. Who would buy a singed purse?
Then, about five minutes later this huge
wagon comes storming up from the
direction of the city, stops where we are, and who gets out
but that devil
the Poritz. He was screaming ... about a purse. Even gave us
a few lashes
with his whip.
"Well, by that time it was just
ashes, only a few strips of metal left and
when he saw it he started cursing, jumping around and screaming
at us like a
mad man. for a stupid purse!! And he's supposed to be a rich
man!
"Then he jumped into his carriage
and drove back to where he came from.
Lucky he didn't continue, if he would have seen you he probably
would have
killed you.. He hates you Jews."
Suddenly Boruch understood. If he would
have had enough money to buy that
purse the Poritz would have continued down the road, found the
purse by him
and maybe even killed him.
The twenty Kopeks that the Rebbe gave
Boruch was enough money to make him change and succeed.
This explains our questions. The blessings
Jacob got from his father were
true; he was destined for success and victory. But they could
only be
activated when Jacob awoke his inner powers (like Boruch in
our story).
Jacob was the main founder of the Jewish
people; from him issued the twelve
tribes. And the job of the Jews is to bring TRUTH and LIFE into
the world.
(Yaakov represents Torat Chiam and Torat Emet; the True, Living
Torah
That is why Rivka sent him away. She
realized that Asav was only a catalyst to bring the blessings
that Jacob had received into reality. She knew that in order
to give power to the Jewish people in all future generations,
to bring Truth and Life into the world, Jacob had to first overcome
FALSEHOOD (in the house of Lavan) and even DEATH (by his brother
Asav).
G-d has spread us to the corners of the
earth for almost 2,000 years. We
have suffered terribly, beyond the power of words to describe
or the mind to
conceive. But we have inherited from Jacob the power to transform
it all and
reveal the innermost powers of truth and life (Yechida) of each
Soul and
pave the way for the ultimate world truth, Moshiach, and even
eternal
LIFE... the Raising of the Dead.
So when we meet with (G-d forbid) obstacles
and hardships we should remember
that we have the power and blessing of the Patriarchs to overcome
and
transform them, no matter how difficult they seem. In order
to bring..
Moshiach NOW!!
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad, Israel
http://www.ohrtmimim.org/torah
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TALES
FOR THE SHABBOS TABLE
This week we learn about Jacob's famous
dream; he saw a ladder reaching to the heavens and received
a strange promise directly from G-d:
"The land you are laying upon; I'm
giving it to you and your generations".
And in case you might think that this
does not amount to be very much (after all how much land could
Jacob's sleeping body cover) Rashi assures us that; G-d did
a miracle and "The entire land of Canaan folded up underneath
Jacob".
At first glance this makes absolutely
no sense.
What type of miracle was that? Why didn't
G-d just tell Jacob that the entire land of Israel would be
his (as he did to Abraham and Issac)? Why did He have to fold
it under him?
Even more, how was it possible to fold
the entire land of Israel? Did the myriads of people living
there fold too? When it folded, did it leave an empty space
where it used to be? And how did Jacob know it folded? Did the
place he was laying upon suddenly become miles high? And what
does all this have to do with the vision of the ladder?
To understand, here is an unusual story:
Zalman was on his way to the docks, his
ship was leaving in another hour and he had to hurry.
He checked his pocket again for the tenth
time to make sure his ticket was there and...there was the shipyard!
Just two days ago the Baal Shem Tov told
him that he should pack his bags and prepare for a dangerous
mission to, of all places, India but refused to divulge the
reason; saying 'you'll know when you get there'.
Zalman located the ship he was looking
for, boarded and in no time he was on his way to India!
It was the middle of the fifth night
at sea, Zalman was sound asleep when suddenly his room began
shaking and he was thrown onto the floor. Still half asleep
he put on his shoes and trousers and tried to open his cabin
door to go on deck to see what was happening when suddenly everything
seemed to turn over. The door flipped open and water began gushing
in. The ship was sinking!
He somehow pushed his way out and the
next thing he knew he was in the cold ocean with boxes and things
floating all around him.
He grabbed for dear life, luckily there
was a rope tied around a nearby box for him to hold. He was
alone, freezing and drowning in the black endless ocean. He
screamed "Help!" but his voice was lost in the roar
the waves and the rain. An empty lifeboat floated past. With
his last strength he reached up, grabbed hold pulled himself
up and over the side, covered himself with several blankets
from the survival box and, shivering with cold, fear and exhaustion,
curled up on the floor in a ball, said a prayer of thanks to
G-d and closed his eyes.
He didn't know how long he'd been asleep,
but what woke him up was that the boat wasn't rocking and it
was very warm. He removed the blanket. The sun was shining.
He peeked over the side of the boat.. He was on an island. Land!
Trees! He stood, raised his hands to heaven and yelled "Thank
you G-d! You saved me!"
He stepped onto the beach tired, hungry,
confused, and thirsty. Where was he? What day was it? How could
he exist without water, or food? Maybe there were wild animals?
He heard the bubbling of a brook nearby
and he walked in that direction. It was a brook alright and
right next to it was....a paved road!! The island must be inhabited
by civilized people! He was saved!
He drank his fill and began walking.
Then after an hour or so in the distance he saw a house! Several
houses! He approached the first one and..there was a Mezuzah
on the door! It was like a dream!! "Thank G-d!! It's a
miracle!!" he thought to himself for the tenth time as
he knocked gently at the door. It wasn't even closed. He pushed
it open a bit more and yelled in Hebrew, "Hellooo! Anyone
here?" But there was no answer.
He continued to the next house and the
next and the one after that, but they were all the same; the
doors were open, each had a Mezuza and each was empty.
He walked on until he found what looked
like a grocery store, took some bread and vegetables left a
note to 'the owner' listing what he took, went to a nearby house,
put a note on the front door that he was sleeping in their front
room, ate the food
and fell asleep; the first decent sleep he had in days.
Early the next morning he was awakened
by noise. He sat bolt upright, looked out the
window and...the street was filled with Jews, hundreds of them,
dressed in togas rushing in all directions.
It looked like a scene from thousands
of years ago. Some were carrying food, others pots, some other
things! He went outside and tried to stop someone, but everyone
said the same thing, "Shabbat!! Soon will be Shabbat! Have
to rush, sorry!!"
Someone stopped for a moment, asked our
Chassid if he would like to go to the bathhouse, gave him a
change of clothes and rushed away with our hero hot at his heels.
Things were so intense that it was impossible
for him to get a word in, so he just followed his new friend.
They washed, immersed in the Mikva, put on new garments and
rushed out. In minutes they were sitting in the Synagogue that
was rapidly filling with people.
He tried to strike up a conversation
but to no avail, everyone was reading from scrolls and preparing
seriously for something. Suddenly the room fell silent and a
holy man appeared at the door, it must have been the head rabbi.
His face shone and his white garments and heavenly gaze made
our Chassid feel he was completely in another world.
The Rabbi walked slowly to the front
of the room, took his place and the prayers began. The cantor
had a beautiful voice and the melodies were nothing short of
celestial; our hero was hypnotized.
The prayers ended, and before he could
come to himself the man sitting next to him invited him to his
home for the Shabbat meal and he readily accepted. 'Finally'
he thought to himself, he could find out what was going on.
But it wasn't so simple.
As soon as they left the synagogue his
host began asking all sorts of interesting questions and giving
even more interesting and unique answers on the weekly Torah
portion.
In fact it was so interesting that after
the meal was finished our hero realized that he had not spoken
a word and was so tired he couldn't keep his eyes open.
This same scene was repeated the next
day; beautiful melodies, wonderful words of Torah, delicious
food, overwhelming exhaustion and sleep, but no chance to get
information.
That evening, after the Shabbat, he found
himself standing in the Synagogue with several hundred people
forming a long line; any moment the Rabbi would enter and say
'Havdala' (a short benediction made over wine after Shabbat
ushering out the holy day) and the long line was because everyone
wanted to dip a finger in the Rabbi's wine.
"Now", thought the Chassid
to himself, "after they finish I'll have a chance to talk
to someone!"
The Rabbi entered, walked to the front
of the line and faced the people. He filled the cup with wine
lifted it, said the "Havdala" prayer, drank and left
a bit of wine in the plate for people to customarily to dip
their fingers in it and pass it over their eyes for good luck
in the coming week. But as they did so, one by one they disappeared!
The Chassid watched in horror as the
line became shorter and shorter before him until he was standing
alone facing the Rabbi. But before he could utter a word the
Rabbi smiled, dipped his finger in the wine, passed it over
his eyes and .. disappeared!
The Chassid was alone!
The next week passed as the first. He
was alone in the village; he took food from the grocery and
continued signing. Suddenly on Friday the streets were filled
with people again, rushing about to prepare for Shabbos with
no time to talk to him.
He went to the Mikva, then to the Synagogue.
Everything was exactly the same as the Shabbat before. Try as
he could it was impossible to talk to anyone. Until finally
came the moment he was waiting for. He stood at the end of the
line as the Rabbi made 'Havdala', watched as the people disappeared
before his very eyes and after a short wait was again standing
alone before the Rabbi.
The Rabbi again smiled and dipped his
finger into the wine, but before he could touch it to his eyes
the Chassid grabbed both his arms and yelled "NO!! I'm
not going to let you go till you tell me what you are doing
here. Who are you? Where am I? I want some answers!!"
"Alright," answered the holy
Rabbi, "I promise you that I will tell you, you can release
my arms. You have my word."
The Chassid let go and the Rabbi began.
"The people you see here are all.. Dead!"
"We are a community that died some
2,500 years ago. We lived in Jerusalem and when we saw that
people were turning to idolatry and other transgressions we
tried to make them stop. But no one listened so we decided to
uproot ourselves and make a new village in the desert far from
humanity.
"Then, one terrible day we saw smoke
coming from Jerusalem, we sent a runner to find out why. When
he returned, half dead, with the news that the Temple had been
destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian armies everyone became
depressed and within a year we all died from melancholy and
broken hearts.
"Of course anyone that mourns so
deeply for the Temple certainly has a place in the world to
come. So when we were in heaven. They made us a deal; either
we could remain in heaven until the raising of the dead or we
could stay in heaven for six days of the week and one day we
could spend the Shabbat in this world, and we chose the latter;
nothing is like Shabbat in this world.
"But" The Rabbi changed his
tone and became very stern, "Now that you know our secret
you have to make a decision. Either you can live as we do; six
days in heaven and one on earth, or you must leave!"
"Leave?" Said the Chassid,
"How can I possibly leave? I can't possibly sail home.
I'll die out there at sea."
"No," answered the holy man.
"I have here a piece of parchment with a holy name of G-d
written on it" He produced the parchment from under the
table before him. "If you look at this name and then imagine
where you want to be, you will actually be there in a matter
of moments."
The Chassid saw that the Rabbi was serious
and that now he had to make a decision. At first it seemed obvious.
'I'll choose to live like them!! I'll be in heaven six days
a week! Eternal bliss!!' But then he thought again.
'Hey!! What do I care about bliss and
heaven?' he said to himself.
"I want to be with the Rebbe; with
the Baal Shem Tov in Mezibuz.".
"Good" Said the Rabbi "Take
this parchment, look at the letters on it till you've memorized
them. Then close your eyes and imagine the place you want to
be. Under no circumstances open your eyes until you feel your
feet firmly on the ground. Do you understand?"
The Chassid said 'yes'.
"Oh! One more very important thing.
When you arrive at your destination you must immediately, before
you do anything else, throw the parchment toward the sky and
a hand will come out from heaven and take it. Do you understand?"
Again the Chassid said yes. The Rabbi
gave him the parchment he memorized the letters. Suddenly everything
became dark and he was surrounded by fire. He closed his eyes,
imagined Mezibuz and felt his feet lifting off the ground and
wind rushing by him. He held on to the parchment as his only
connection to reality and then .. His feet were on the ground.
He opened his eyes and .. Mezibuz!!!!
He was back home! He couldn't believe it!!! Then he remembered
his promise to the Rabbi. He took the parchment and drew his
arm back over his shoulder to throw it but ... someone grabbed
his hand from behind!!
"NO!! Let go!!" He screamed.
He turned around and saw .. The Baal Shem Tov!
"This is what I sent you for"
the Besh't said with a smile. I need this parchment to save
Jews. The Rabbi won't mind.
This is a strange story, right? But if
we think about it maybe it's not.
The Talmud tells us (Ketubot 104a) that
Rabbi Yehuda Ha Nassi would return home every Shabbat after
he died and was buried and make Kiddush for his family! And
we know that Elijah the prophet actually went up to heaven in
his body, (as did Rabbi Yeshua ben Levi and others, and they
all came back) and returns for every 'Brit' (Circumcision).
Similarly the Torah tells us often that
long journeys were made in miraculously short time, like Abraham's
servant Eliezer (Gen. 24:32).
And the Talmud tells us that the Holy
Ark in the Temple actually took up no space in the Holy of Holies.
All this comes to show us that we have
no idea what holiness ("Kedusha") is.
This explains how the land could have
folded up and why it did so.
The land of Israel is Holy. In other
words it defies all laws of nature. Just as Jacob was holy and
defies all laws of nature (Jacob never died (Taanit ect) .
And that is what G-d showed to Jacob.
The Holy land of Israel belongs to his offspring (Bne Yisroel)
alone because both of them are HOLY; above all laws of time
and space.
And to prove it G-d folded the land with
everything on it under Jacob, made him aware of it, and nevertheless
did not remove anything from its place.
And this is the connection to the ladder.
The ladder represents all the spiritual worlds, the entire gamut
of creation 'from earth to the heavens'.
But Jacob's connection is directly to
THE CREATOR. And the Creator can do what He wants with His creation
both spiritual and physical.
That is what the Lubavitcher Rebbe has
told us time and time again. "Every Jew is holy, above
all laws of nature. And therefore each Jew, even the simplest,
has the ability to miraculously change the entire world by one
good deed.
May we soon see the greatest miracle
of all time, the raising of the dead in the Holy land after
the arrival of ...
Moshiach NOW!!
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad Israel
Torah Online Site: http://www.ohrtmimim.org/torah
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TALES
FOR THE SHABBOS TABLE
This week we find Yaakov
in flight from his murderous brother Esav, on his way to his
Uncle, Lavan's house
The Torah tells us that before he reached
his destination he put rocks around his head, lay down to sleep,
got a vision of G-d, and upon awakening, declared that the rock
will be "the House of G-d".
Rashi explains that Yaakov put the rocks
around his head to protect him from wild animals and that the
rocks united to become one rock before he blessed it.
What is going on here? Why did Yaakov
surround just his head with rocks, why not his entire body?
Why did the rocks unite? How can one rock be a house? And even
more important; what does all this mean to us?
I would like to explain with a story.
December 1700. It was a cold winter in
Poland, and a blanket of snow covered the entire country. The
city streets were filled with people bundled up in fur coats,
and the countryside peasants were busy warming their homes with
wood, and themselves with vodka. The holiday season was approaching,
and everyone was in good spirits.
But in the Jewish Ghetto in Krakow it
was much different; gloom and fear filled the air and moaned
from every corner. The only thing that gave them a bit of joy
was being taken from them; the children were dying of smallpox.
It was the beginning of an epidemic.
The doctors were helpless to stop it, and the various home remedies
did nothing. Everyday the town was visited with more heartbreaking
tragedies. The only one they could rely on, as usual, was their
Father in Heaven, and He didn't seem to be helping much either.
The Rabbi of the community had declared
a fast day, then another, then three days of prayer and self-examination.
But nothing seemed to work. A week of supplication was announced,
but before it began, the elders of the community decided they
had to make a "Shaalas Chalom" (a request for a dream).
It was a drastic move, but they had no
other choice. They purified themselves, fasted, said Psalms
non-stop, immersed in a Mikva, and then requested from G-d,
according to ancient Kabbalistic formulas, that He send them
some sort of sign that night in their sleep.
And that night they all had identical
dreams.
An old man in a white robe appeared and
said:
"SHLOMO THE BUTCHER MUST PRAY BEFORE
THE CONGREGATION!!".
Early the next morning they met in the
Shul (synagogue) and compared notes. It was clear what they
had to do.
The twenty of them solemnly walked to
Shlomo's home and knocked on the door. When his wife opened,
she almost fainted at the sight of them.
"Ye..yes?" She stammered, pushing
her loose hair under the kerchief on her head.
"We want to speak to your husband.
Is he home?" Said one of them, smiling and trying to be
as pleasant as possible. "May we come in?" asked another.
Shlomo came to the door, invited them
all in, shook everyone's hand, ran around looking for chairs,
and when they were finally all seated one of them began;
"Shlomo, we made a Shaalas Chalom
yesterday. We asked G-d to tell us what to do about the epidemic,
and last night we all had the same dream. We dreamed that you
have to lead the prayers today."
Shlomo was dumbfounded. If it weren't
such a serious matter he would think it was a joke.
"I...should lead the prayers? Why
I....I can't even read properly. I can't. I mean, what good
will it possibly do?"
The elders looked at poor Shlomo and
they took turns trying to convince him. "Listen Shlomo,
just come and do what you can. You don't have to really lead,
just pray in front of everyone. Maybe there will be a miracle,
maybe you will begin to read. Just come and give it a try. Everyone
is in the Shul (synagogue) waiting. Just come and say a few
words. Anything is better than what we have now."
So Shlomo, with no other choice, left
his house and accompanied them. But no sooner had they entered
the crowded Synagogue and closed the door behind them then Shlomo
suddenly broke away, ran back outside and down the street, out
of sight.
What could they do? He disappeared. They
didn't even know where to look. They had no choice other than
to wait.
About half an hour later the door opened
and in came Shlomo pushing a wheelbarrow covered with a cloth.
All eyes were on him as he went up to
the podium, pulled off the cloth, and lifted an old set of scales
out of the barrow. He brought his
butchers scales into the Shul!
They were pretty heavy but he lifted
them over his head and although his face was contorted with
the effort, it was obvious that he was crying too.
"Here" he yelled out to the
ceiling. "Here, G-d! Take them! Take the scales! That must
be why you want me to lead the prayers, right? So take the scales
and heal the children! Just heal the children. Okay?!!"
He was crying pretty loudly by then and
the whole place was dead silent. A few men rushed over, helped
him put the scales on a table in the front of the room, and
the congregation began the prayers.
The next day all the children got better.
You can imagine the joy and festivities
that followed. They even made a nice glass case for the scales
and left the whole thing there
permanently for all to see.
But after a few days when the excitement
died down, the elders had to admit that they couldn't figure
it out. After all, there were tens of shops that used scales
in the Ghetto and all of them were owned by G-d fearing Jews.
What could be so special about THESE scales?
The answer was soon in coming. When they
went around checking all the other scales, they discovered that
every one of them without exception was a bit off, certainly
never enough to constitute bad business, but
inaccurate nevertheless.
It seems that Shlomo used to check his
scales twice every day, "That's what G-d wants" he
explained, "I just check and don't ask questions",
while the others checked only occasionally.
The legend has it that these scales remained
proudly displayed in that Shul for over two hundred years until
the Germans destroyed everything in WWII.
That answers our questions.
Yaakov was founding the Jewish people.
He knew that the essence of Judaism is Avoda; sanctifying the
world through devotion to HaShem in even the most mundane matters
and despite all obstacles.
But he also knew that crooked Lavan,
the master of worldly affairs, would try his best to make him
compromise his goals, and against such a seasoned charlatan,
he didn't stand a chance.
Therefore he surrounded his head with
rocks; he protected his thoughts and ideals with unquestioning
service of G-d (like Shlomo the butcher in our story), and that
was sufficient protection to enable him to unify all that he
would do (all the rocks became one).
But that isn't all. His real goal was
to make the physical world a "House of G-d". To reveal
G-d down here, first of all on Mount Sinai, then in both Holy
Temples, and finally in its most complete form, with the arrival
of Moshiach.
As we say twice daily "Listen Yisroel
(referring also to Yisroel our forefather) G-d is ONE"
What it means to us is of utmost importance:
Today, more than ever before, we need unquestioning and uncompromising
faith that just one more deed, word, or even thought, will reveal
Moshiach. We can fulfill Yaakov's dream and bring....
Moshiach NOW!
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad Israel
Torah Online Site: http://www.ohrtmimim.org/torah
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TALES
FOR THE SHABBOS TABLE
This week’s section
speaks in detail of the births of the children of
Yaakov, after whom would be named the future tribes of Israel.
Strangely, at each birth
the Torah repeats the phrase: “She became pregnant and
she gave birth”, and then gives a reason behind the name
chosen for each child.
What is the purpose of
all this detail?
G-d could have just listed them with their mother’s names
in their order of birth, and put the details in the Midrash
or the Talmud (for instance as it does with the story of Avraham
being thrown in the fiery furnace)?
It can’t be because
the sons of Yaakov were so special; except for Yehuda and
Yosef, most of them either play very minor roles in the Torah
or are not mentioned again at all.
And why does it repeat so many times: “She became pregnant
and gave birth”?
I would like to answer
with a personal story.
One afternoon, about
ten years ago, I entered the office of our Yeshiva and checked
the voice mail on our telephone. The first message was, “My
name is Zahava and my phone number is 9876544.”
She obviously had the
wrong number, so I decided I’d do her a favor and call
her back. I called the number she left, and when Zahava answered
I tried to explain to her that she had made a mistake.
“One minute”
she said, “This is Kfar Chabad, right? I want to speak
to Kfar Chabad.”
When I answered in the affirmative, she continued, “Good!
Well, I have a friend called Sara. She’s pregnant and
says she can ’t afford another child, she already has
three and her husband doesn’t earn
much, so she decided she wants to make an abortion. I tried
to talk her out of it, even sent rabbis and experts, they
talked to her for hours but nothing worked. Now she says that
the only thing that will change her mind is if the Rebbe of
Chabad himself calls her and personally tells her not to do
it. And that is why I called you. You’re Chabad, right?”
I explained to Zahava
that the Rebbe is very busy, that he prays, learns and teaches
Torah non-stop and also answers about one thousand letters
and requests each day, so it’s unreasonable to expect
him to call people back on the phone.
I suggested that I was willing to send a fax to the Rebbe
explaining Sara’s situation and ask for a blessing that
the next person that speaks with her should succeed in convincing
her to have the baby.
Zahava agreed, I sent
the fax, and in just one hour later I received a call from
the Rebbe’s office that the Rebbe gave an answer!
The Rebbe wrote, “Is
it true that people spoke to her seriously and did not succeed?
I will pray for her.”
I immediately called Zahava
and excitedly read her the Rebbe’s answer.
For a moment she was silent and then she slowly said, “Is
the Rebbe saying that I’m lying?! That no one ever spoke
to Sara!?”
I really hadn’t thought
about it but I realized that she had a point. I
tried to make up another possible explanation but she cut
me off.
“The Rebbe sits
over there in New York, how can he know if I’m telling
the truth or not.”
There was silence for a minute; I didn’t know what to
answer.
Finally she said, “Well
Rabbi, I want you to know that there is no Zahava…. I
am Sara. And no one ever spoke
to me about not having the abortion. I don’t know how
the Rebbe knew!
But one thing for sure
… I just got the answer, in person, from the Rebbe I
was waiting for. Please tell him that I’m not going to
do the abortion.
Tell him that I decided to have the baby and HaShem will help.”
I faxed in what she said
and three hours later I received yet another reply:
“Thank you for the
good news. It is written in a Mishna of Tractate
Sanhedrin that anyone who saves one Jewish soul it is as though
he saved the entire world. Please tell her that she has just
saved the entire world. And with that merit, G-d will send
her blessings of success, health and Nachas.”
The Rebbe stopped everything
he was doing and did a miracle to save an unborn child.
So it is in our case:
The sons of Yaakov are called 'Bnei Yisroel'; they
represent all the Jewish people.
They were all born in
the most adverse conditions; in a hostile land ruled by the
evil, dishonest idolater, Lavan.
No normal person would
want to have children in such a terrible environment.
But the Torah informs
us that Yaakov and his wives were not normal people; they
were Tzadikim, and they knew that the future of the world
depends solely on the Jewish people.
That is why (excepting
Zilpa) it repeats, seemingly redundantly; “She became
pregnant and gave birth”.
To them, every pregnancy
and every birth was a miracle. Each and every child was a
new and unique way to benefit the entire creation.
(And because a name indicates something of a person’s
personality and special job in the world, therefore the reason
for each of their names is written in the Torah.)
This also explains the
saying of the Chabad Chassidim “As much as we exalt and
adore the Rebbe, the Rebbe infinitely more so values and idolizes
each Jew”(As our story about Zahava shows). Because we
do not know what a Rebbe is (we can only guess) but the Rebbe
does know how infinitely precious each Jew is.
And, like Yaakov ‘Avinu’
in our parsha, it is the Rebbe’s goal to arouse (to make
‘pregnant’) and reveal (‘give birth’to)
the Jewishness latent in every Jew.
The Rebbe explains that
this is the reason that Yaakov surrounded his head with rocks
when he lay down to sleep on his way to Charan (In the beginning
of our section).
Yaakov was protecting his ‘head’ i.e. his thoughts,
ideas and goals from becoming ‘natural’.
And the only way to do this is with Rocks; surrounding one’s
understanding with complete, unquestioning, stubborn devotion
to doing what G-d wants; making this world into a holy place
(something like it was in the Holy Temple) without reckoning
with any obstacles.
It all depends on us,
Jew and gentile alike, to do all we can to assist the Rebbe
in this holy goal. Only we can arouse the Jewish people to
be what Yaakov dreamed of; a ladder connecting the heavens
and the earth, and perfect the entire world with the arrival
of (see end of Rashi on 33:14).
Moshiach NOW!
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad Israel
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