| Behar 5760 - May 19, 2000 |
| POSTCARD FROM THE ALEPH INSTITUTE |
The Hebrew month of Iyar celebrates Pesach Sheni, the second opportunity for those who missed the Paschal sacrifice at the Temple. Rabbi Mendel Katz, director of the Aleph Institute, understands a great deal about Jews who need a second chance.
Because it is There
Consider the case of Moses. Granted, Mount Sinai was no Everest. But G-d was coming down from the heavens--an infinite number of light years away. Couldn't He have descended another few thousand feet, instead of making an 80-year old man climb a mountain?
| FROM THE CHASSIDIC MASTERS |
The Fiftieth Dimension
When the First Temple stood, both the Sabbatical and Jubilee years were observed. In spiritual terms, this means that our relationship with G-d combined effort and subjugation with love and understanding. The love which transcends the self returned to fill the self.
At the time of the Second Temple, the Jubilee was no longer observed; but its 50-year cycle was still counted. Love and understanding were no longer manifest; but they still counted, still left their traces, in the service of effort and will. But when the Second Temple was destroyed, all that was left was the 7-year Sabbatical cycle.
A Rebbe Goes Shopping
Over the next few hours, several more packages arrived with the same message, each from a different store. When Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak looked over the names of the firms on the boxes, he realized that they were all of stores specializing in women's and girls' apparel. He presumed that his father had bought presents for his granddaughters, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak's three daughters.
The Cosmology of Prayer
A person is thirsty and weak; he needs the protein, calcium and vitamins contained in milk. He goes to the refrigerator, opens the door, takes out the milk container, closes the refrigerator, takes a cup, pours milk into the cup, lifts it to his lips, opens his mouth, tilts the cup and swallows.
To an observer, each action and its purpose is clearly understood. However, imagine watching not the person, but rather his shadow on the floor and walls. A distorted human shape would extend an appendage towards a strange form (the shadow of the refrigerator), cause it to change shape (by opening the door), pull something out, move it, twist it in a strange way and so on. Each of the actions would be quite incomprehensible.
We live in a physical universe which is really just a shadow of the spiritual cosmos.
A Blessed Curse
The exams began. That was in the summer of 1948; Stalin had already delivered his famous toast to the "great Russian people." Mikhoels had been murdered already. The epoch of Jewish newspapers, theaters, and publishing houses was reaching its last days. The era of the Stalin-Zhdanov ideological decrees against "cosmopolitanism" was beginning. Rumors spread that institutions of higher learning were going to be restrictive about accepting Jews, particularly in schools of nuclear physics.
Chapter Four
Rabbi Ishmael the son of Rabbi Yossei would say: One who learns Torah in order to teach, is given the opportunity to learn and teach. One who learns in order to do, is given the opportunity to learn, teach, observe and do.
He would also say: Do not judge alone, for there is none qualified to judge alone, only the One. And do not say, "You must accept my view," for this is their [the majority's] right, not yours.
The north-eastern Italian city of Trieste rests just a few minutes away from the former communist state of Slovenia, Yugoslovia. In past decades the lives of Italian Jews have been remarkably different from those residing north of the border. This Passover Rabbi Ariel Haddad, of the Chabad Center of Trieste, was determined to spend the holiday in the capital, Ljubljana, and conduct traditional Passover seders for this community of several hundred Jews.
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Behar
Leviticus 25:1-26:2
Week of May 14 - 20, 2000
The
Parshah In A Nutshell
Full
Parshah Summary With Commentary
THE REBBE: 50 YEARS
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