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Essays on the weekly Torah portion, the holidays and Jewish thought.
Parsha Haazinu – Living in the Present On Yom Kippur we are given a respite from the obsession with the past and the anxiety over the future. We can live fully in the here and now, if only for a 24 hour period. To show how much we savor these precious moments, we sound the shofar at the end of the day and declare “Next year in Jerusalem! Parsha Haazinu – Rain or Sukkah The Sukkah conveys an overarching message of faith and trust in G-d exclusively. The Sukkah reorients our egocentric way of thinking into a G-d centric manner of thinking. The Sukkah reminds us of the way our own understanding and our own initiatives are inherently limited. The Sukkah is the antidot Parsha Haazinu – Return to Returning In the Age of Moshiach we will fully experience all of the qualities and all of the accomplishments of the past. The difference between the past and the future, however, is that in the past the world’s qualities were incompatible with progress. In the future, we will recapture the innocence of the p Parsha Haazinu – Repent Ye Non Sinners There are two levels of Teshuvah The lower level of Teshuvah with its focus on the remorse that we must feel for our past invariably evokes feelings of sadness and discontent. The higher level, by contrast, with its focus on our soul re- connecting with G-d, is punctuated with joy. It is akin to the Parsha Haazinu – The Last Commandment We are situated between the last moments of Galus-exile and the beginning of the Final Redemption. Because we are the “bridge” generation, we may experience conflicting and often diametrically opposing emotions. We can view the unfolding of events through the shaded glasses of Galus which make every Parsha Haazinu – Three Generations-Three Dimensions All areas of Torah knowledge are Divine. They nevertheless differ in the way they reflect the Divine. When one studies criminal law the mind is engaged with criminal behavior. We need to be reminded periodically that we are studying G-d’s wisdom. Chassidic thought, which describes the relationship b Parsha Haazinu – Tikkun Olam? In the literature of Kabbalah, Tikkun refers to the spiritual and G-dly sparks that are imprisoned in the physical world. All physical objects contain powerful sparks of holiness but are incapable of expressing themselves. By performing a Mitzvah, which invariably involves a physical object, we libe Parsha Vayechi – All of Jacob: Not Just Memories As we stand on the threshold of the “Messianic Age” we must be aware of our role as “Josephs” whose destiny it is to forge ahead into a new world. To accomplish this, we must be rooted in the past traditions of Judaism. We must also remember that nice memories of the past do not suffice to guarantee Parsha Vayechi – Creative Blessings Whenever possible we should make an attempt to bless one another, because the mere exercise of blessing has the capacity to actualize latent positive qualities. Our wanting behavior may belie the true positive motivation behind our actions. All that we have to do is remove the negative crust that di Parsha Vayechi – Did You Bring a Gift for Moshiach? Moshiach is the ultimate synthesis of the greatest power of leadership and the ultimate level of goodness and holiness. Moshiach is called Peretz because, as the word suggests, he can break through all barriers. He can therefore penetrate even the toughest personality and excavate that individual’s Parsha Vayechi – Don’t Inhibit It is crucial that our diverse talents and competing approaches do not lead to disharmony. It is imperative that there is a sense that all these different roads roads must lead to one goal: making the world a place where G-d’s presence is revealed, which is Judaism’s view of the Messianic Age. To fa Parsha Vayechi – Fish on Dry Land There are hidden realms of our personality that we may never discover that they exist. While Freud spoke of how the subconscious affects our conscious minds, there are hidden parts of our psyche and soul that will forever defy exposure. The greatest blessing we can give someone is that they realize Parsha Vayechi – Haste Does Not (Always) Make Waste In these last moments of exile, every Mitzvah carries far more weight than at any other time in our history. Even one seemingly “insignificant” gesture—consistent with G-d’s will conveyed to us through the Torah—can forever alter the nature of existence. One Mitzvah, the Talmud writes, can transport Parsha Vayechi – Jacob and Joseph For the Jews to have the spiritual capacity to be liberated from Egypt, they needed an "outside" force. Jacob, in his rightful place - the Holy Land of Israel - served as the reservoir of strength, hope and inspiration for his children. For the Jews to have the spiritual capacity to cope while they Parsha Vayechi – Jacob Never Died! The definition of truth is not simply the opposite of a lie. The “true” meaning of truth is that it is consistent. If something ceases at a certain point then it is not pure and unadulterated truth. Parsha Vayechi – Messianic Beauty and Harmony Jacob’s trait of tiferes, translated as beauty or harmony could not degenerate into evil. When a trait is so nuanced and balanced it leaves no room for degeneration. Gevurah-judgment limits the excessive potential of chesed- kindness and, conversely, chesed suppresses the explosive potential of gevu Parsha Vayechi – Miracles and Nature The fact that we survived our difficult exile can be attributed to two causes: miraculous or natural. It was a miracle that “one lamb surrounded by seventy wolves” survived, as the Midrash puts it. There is also a “natural” explanation for this phenomenon. The dedication of the Jewish people to the Parsha Vayechi – No Evil Eye! Optimism brings positive results. This does not mean that optimistic people cannot be harmed. Joseph is a perfect refutation of this notion. He was thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, and tossed into prison. What optimism does help is to deflect the negative energy—not negative actions—generated b Parsha Vayechi – Open Eyes and Hearts When we look around us, we might imagine that the world is in state of spiritual decline and that we are so far from the state of Redemption. Despite all the negative phenomena of recent times we must realize that, on the contrary, the world has changed for the good. Parsha Vayechi – Probing the Inner Recesses of the Soul Joseph’s crying was a cathartic process that enabled him to search his own soul for any trace of revenge that he might have possessed in his subconscious.