Rabbi Levin's Blog

Throughout the month of Elul we heard the shofar every day, increased our prayer, study and Mitzvot, especially tzedakah.  We observed the holy days of Rosh Hashanah, when we recommitted to Hashem as our King.  Then we had seven days of teshuva, and then the day of Yom Kippur, fasting and praying and achieving atonement.  Now what?   Now we celebrate.  There is no question that our efforts produced great spiritual results.  The holiness of the days themselves brought new Divine energy to the world.  We are all on a higher plane, whether we feel it or not.  So now comes the beautiful holiday of Sukkot when it all comes together in a joyous festival.   The Sukkah represents a “hug” for each of us from Hashem.  Chassidus teaches that the covering of the Sukkah represents the cloud that was created by the High Priest burning incense in the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur.  The Torah tells us that the Sukkah is to remind us of the temporary dwelling that Hashem gave us during the 40 years our

Yom Kippur. What does it evoke for you?  It’s safe to say that most Jews have strong feelings about it. There are so many emotions that I hear expressed when I speak to people about this holy day.  For some it's “A day of awe,” a day of fasting, prayer, Teshuva (repentance) and beating our chests. For others it’s nostalgia and childhood memories.  One word I rarely hear, that deeply resonates with me, is “gift.”  While we do deny ourselves some physical needs on Yom Kippur such as eating, drinking, bathing, wearing leather shoes and more, it is not a sad day like Tisha B’Av, when we mourn the destruction of our Holy Temple.  Rather than lamenting our sins, negative actions, and our “sorry state of existence,” we celebrate the wondrous annual opportunity  to  atone and receive forgiveness from Hashem.  I heard a story about Rabbi Mendel Futerfas, the great Chassid who sacrificed everything to help Jews escape the Soviet Union, and subsequently spent years in a Siberian labor camp. H

Shabbat is a special day.  It is a day of rest from mundane and physically creative work.  We emulate Hashem, Who rested from creation on the seventh day.  In current times there is a movement to have an “electronic Sabbath,” because the world has begun to recognize the value of unplugging for a day.   But there is more.  According to Kabbalah, on Shabbat the world is on a higher spiritual plane and our soul experiences a completely different, uplifting energy than during the week, which mundane work would interfere with.  Even food on Shabbat has a different flavor  –  at least spiritually  –  and some would argue that it affects the physical flavor too.  Whereas during the week the Torah encourages us to focus on the nutritional value we get from food, on Shabbat there is an actual Mitzvah to enjoy the spiritually enhanced food.   So the world is different on Shabbat.  Throughout the week we are toiling to create our livelihood, transforming the material world into a vehicle for Hash

What can a loving parent do for a suffering child?  Of course whatever they can to alleviate the suffering, but beyond that, what helps the child most is the parent’s presence.  Imagine you are taking your young child to the doctor for their shots.  The child is crying in fear and in pain from the shot, and to add to this, the parents themselves are actually causing the pain.  The parent knows that the shot is necessary, so they hold the child in their arms and comfort them.  If the child had to endure this experience on their own, it would be much more difficult.   This helps explain a verse in this week’s Parsha, which contains a seeming grammatical mistake.  As always, what seems to be a mistake is actually a deeper message for us in our service to Hashem.  There are many layers of meaning to every word in the Torah, and often a word or letter appears misplaced in order to teach us something, and it is the Oral Torah that illuminates its meaning.   “Then, the L-rd, your G-d, will br