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Is it for you or for you? Lech Lecha 5787

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  When Avraham - the father of the Jewish people - is introduced at the beginning of this Parsha, he was already the greatest man alive. Earlier the only thing the Torah has told us about him is that he traveled with his father and family. Then we begin his story with Hashem appearing to him and telling him “Lech Lecha” (which can be translated as go forth, or go for you, or go to you) from your land, your birthplace and the house of your father.  From a simple reading of the verse and Rashi’s commentary, it would seem that Abraham needed incentives of personal gain in order to fulfill Hashem’s command. Rashi comments in this verse and the next that says “I will make you into a great nation and bless you and aggrandize your name…”. He says that “go for you” means for your benefit. When you travel to the place I show you, you will be blessed with becoming a great nation, with money, and with fame.  Now Avraham’s life seems to prove that he would have done anything for ...
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Your Good Choice, A Beautiful Sight - Noach 5787

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What’s the story with the rainbow?  After the Great Flood, Hashem made a covenant with Noach and all his descendants to never again bring a flood that would destroy all humankind in the world. The covenant included that the seasons would never cease.  As a sign of the covenant, Hashem said (Bereshit 9:12,13): “This is the sign of the covenant, which I am placing between Me and between you, and between every living soul that is with you, for everlasting generations.  My rainbow I have placed in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Myself and the earth.”   For many years I wondered about this.  What happened before the flood?  A rainbow is a natural phenomenon that happens when the sun’s rays are refracted by the clouds.  In Bereshit we learned that Hashem created the universe together with all of the laws of nature.  So what happened when the sun’s rays shone through the clouds before the Great Flood?  Did Hashem ch...
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Where Are You? - Bereshit 5787

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“Where are you?”  What a strange question for the omniscient G-d!  Adam and Chava (Eve) had sinned and eaten the fruit of the forbidden Tree of Knowledge.  Having ingested this fruit, they now had an awareness of the potential for evil and the feeling of shame.  As the verse states (Bereshit 3:7): “And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves and made themselves girdles. And they heard the voice of the L-rd G-d going in the garden to the direction of the sun, and the man and his wife hid from before the L-rd G-d in the midst of the trees of the garden.” Then Hashem’s voice calls out: “Ayeka - where are you?”  Then the story continues with the dialogue between Hashem and Adam, and eventually Adam and Chava being expelled from Gan Eden.  The obvious question is, did Hashem not know where they were?   There are various answers to this question.  Rashi, who consolidates the Talmudic a...
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A Great Sukkot Miracle has Happened - Simchat Torah 5757

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  I start with a wish for a “Gut Moed,” a good and joyous holiday.  This is a greeting that many write at the top of any correspondence during Chol Hamoed, the intermediate days of a holiday, to acknowledge that we limit our work during this time, and even limit what we write, as laid out in the Code of Jewish Law.  I am writing these lines on Wednesday, under the influence of the news of the miraculous salvation of many Jews on the Flydubai flight.  I imagine that by the time you read this we will know many more details of the whys and hows, but one thing seems to be sure:  We have witnessed an open miracle.  Miracles don;t have to be splitting the sea.  There are many examples of Hashem tweaking nature in a way that seems natural.  But as we say in the story of Purim, when Mordechai and Esther each “happened to be” in the right place at the right time, and so many other great miracles, everything just “happened to fit” and people and things happ...
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Changing Seasons, Perfect Balance - Sukkot 5787

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The Etrog is a unique fruit.  The Torah refers to it as “Pri Etz Hadar” - the splendid fruit.  That is the only description in the written Torah.  The Lulav is described as “Kapot Temarim” - date palm fronds, Hadassim (myrtle) as “Anaf Etz Avot” - a branch of a braided tree, and Aravot as "Arvei Nachal” - willows of the brook.  So how do we get from a splendid fruit to an Etrog?  Maybe a pomegranate is a splendid fruit, or a mango?  Well, I don’t think there were mangos in the Middle East in those days, but there were certainly lots of pomegranates.   The Talmud explains that the word “Hadar” also means “that dwells,” and the Etrog is the only fruit that dwells on the tree around the year.  Every fruit has a season, and if it is not picked at the end of that season, it falls off the tree.  Summer fruits don;t stay on the tree in winter and vice versa.  An Etrog, on the other hand, can stay on a tree through all the seasons. The Etro...
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Divine Providence, Kindness and Teshuvah - 5787

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I would like to share a story of Divine Providence and kindness that happened over the last few days. I am writing this on a plane heading back from a trip East. I went to Philadelphia for my grandson Dovid Abba Brownstein’s Bar Mitzvah and had planned to return today from Philadelphia.  (By the way I have to share that the highlight of the Bar Mitzvah was something that I have not seen before. The Bar Mitzvah boy made a Siyum (celebration of completion) of the entire six orders of the Mishnah. This is a monumental achievement for a 12 year old. @Proud grandpa.)  I changed my plans because my mother was taken to the hospital. She is thank G-d recovering and we expect she’ll return home today. (If you would like to say a couple of Tehillim for her that would be nice and I would appreciate it. I recommend chapter 20 and 99.  Her name is Rachel bat Mariasha. Thanks.). I got a ride from the Bar Mitzvah to New York  last night and was able to visit my mother, and am now o...
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A Rest for the Shofar - Rosh Hashanah 5787

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It’s Rosh Hashanah.  The Shul is packed.  The service went as expected.  The cantor for Shachris was wonderful.  The Torah reading was inspiring.  You even enjoyed the Rabbi’s sermon.  Now comes the moment you have been anticipating all season, the main Mitzvah of Rosh Hashanah and what defines it as unique among all holidays.  The blowing of the Shofar. You have told your kids that they need to be quiet at the special holy time of the Shofar blowing.   You have read the Chassidus about the significance of the Shofar.  How it creates a new “Ratzon” - will of Hashem, to continue giving life to the worlds.  That this Mitzvah affects the rebuilding of - in Kabbalistic terms - the holy Sefira of Malchut of Atzilut, crowning Hashem as our King and recommitting to His Torah.  The simple sound of the Shofar represents the cry of the essence of our soul, piercing all obstacles, and reaching the essence of Hashem.  Hashem takes great pl...
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