Renewable Energy - Vayakhel Pekudei HaChodesh 5786

-

 This Shabbat we read the last of the four special Parshiyot connected to Purim and Pesach, Parshat HaChodesh. This is in addition to the double Parsha of Vayakhel-Pekudei. 


Vayakhel and Pekudei are about the building of the Mishkan - sanctuary - in the desert, the place on Earth where the Shechina (presence of Hashem) was revealed. HaChodesh teaches us the Mitzvah of following the lunar cycle for our months and years, that the month of Nissan shall be considered the first month, and then the laws and practices of the Pascal lamb sacrifice that was offered the day before we left Egypt, and subsequently in the Holy Temple. 


There is a common theme that connects the three parshiyot. The Mishkan brought the light of Hashem into this physical world. There were ten miracles that happened there all the time, and when the people walked into the Mishkan they could actually see and experience Hashem’s presence.  


HaChodesh means “the month,” but it also means the renewal. In fact the months in Hebrew are called Chadashim because they represent renewal. This is why we follow the lunar cycle. The sun never changes. It rises and sets in its full glory every day. The moon, on the other hand, waxes and wanes, disappearing completely for a day before beginning to shine once again a day later. 


The solar cycle represents the static physical world. The moon represents the spiritual light that can bring new life and transform the mundane world into a place of goodness and holiness. 


This is the mission of the Jewish people, and the reason we mark the months by the renewal of the moon. 


Even the name of the month of Nissan, the first month, that we usher in next week, means “miracles,” and is the month of the birth of the Jewish people at the Exodus. 


(As I write this on a plane to NY to celebrate my youngest son’s pre-wedding “ufruf” - Aliya to the Torah, I am hearing reports of another miracle where a shooter in Michigan was eliminated before he could carry out his apparent plot to blow up a Jewish institution. May Hashem continue to protect us all in miraculous ways.)


This week I was involved in memorial activities for two individuals who I think embodied the concept represented by our connection to the new moon. We marked the Yartzeit of Chasha Smoller, an honored member of our community. As an adult she adopted a full Torah lifestyle, becoming fully observant of Yiddishkeit. 


What was remarkable about her was that the Chesed that she did in a quiet, humble way. She cared about anyone she knew who was in trouble. She would raise funds, and also contribute herself, to help individuals or families who were going through a financial crisis. I know about it only because she would come to me and ask if she can set up a fund at Chabad for this purpose. I was always happy to share the Mitzvah. She brought light and renewal to many people in their moment of darkness.


This week I also participated in the unveiling of the headstone of Professor Eliezer Zeiger. (He passed away on 2 Iyar, and we are planning to mark his Yartzeit over the Shabbat of April 18.)


Eliezer also adopted a fully Torah observant life as an adult. He was a highly respected member of our community, and of Chabad in S. Monica, where he lived during his tenured professorship at UCLA where he moved after serving as a professor of biology at Stanford. 


Eliezer founded the Torah Science Foundation, synthesizing Torah and science and showing that they do not contradict. He had a deep impact on many people with his teachings and his personality. 


I think it is remarkable when someone decides as a mature adult to adopt a lifestyle that is often seen as restrictive and misunderstood by so many. But the light that people like this bring to the world, often beginning with a little sliver of Torah study and observance, can grow and impact those around them like a full, bright moon illuminates the world at night. 


This is what the Torah portions that we read this week teach us. There is nothing stopping us from starting a new initiative and brightening up the world. It’s why we are here, and with dedication and work we can build a holy Temple to Hashem here on Earth. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sometimes Silence is the Answer - Chukat 5785

-
  (Dedicated to the memory of Rachel bat Yosef Shmuel. Beloved wife, mother, grandmother, teacher and friend. She passed away on Erev Shabbat and was laid to rest surrounded by her family and many, many friends in the Holy Land.) Chukat, the Parsha we read and study this week, talks a lot about death. Miriam and Aharon, two of the three greatest siblings of our people, pass away. And Moshe is informed that he will not live to take the Jewish People into Israel.  The Parsha begins with the laws of the “Red Heifer.” This was the cow that was slaughtered and then burned, and its ashes mixed with “living” spring water. The mixture was sprinkled on a person who had come in contact with a corpse, twice over a period of seven days, and he or she would then immerse in a Mikvah and thus be purified from the Tumah (ritual “impurity”) that came from contact with the corpse.  There is a fascinating Midrash that recounts a discussion between Hashem and Moshe. Hashem taught Moshe t...
Read more

Yes, There is a Hierarch! - Nasso 5785

-
Is sameness a good thing?  How about hierarchy?  Equality is the word nowadays, but what does true equality mean?  The Jewish nation was created with a hierarchy.  The 12 sons of Jacob, also called Israel, were the original “B’nai Yisrael.”  Jacob gifted Yosef a double portion, as the first-born of his beloved wife Rachel, making his two sons Menashe and Efraim heads of separate tribes.  Of the 13 tribes, one stood out, the tribe of Levi.   The Levites were chosen to carry the portable Sanctuary through the desert, and serve in the Temple as guards, singers, doorkeepers and more.  They lived in special cities and guided the people.  The leader of the Jewish people, Moshe, was from the tribe of Levi.  They stood out in their faithfulness to Hashem in Egypt and throughout the journey in the desert, by circumcising their children and following the traditional lifestyle passed down by Jacob.  They did not participate in the Golden ...
Read more

Your Choice to Accept the Facts - Va’etchanan 5785

-
I was approached by an author to give him my “elevator pitch” to prove there is a G-d.  An elevator pitch is a short 30 second hard-hitting sales pitch you could give an executive that you happen to meet in an elevator.  I told him that I can’t prove to you that there is a G-d, but you can prove it to yourself.  Faith in G-d is a choice we make.  We can have incontrovertible evidence and still deny it, because Hashem Himself created us with free choice and a voice inside us that questions. I recently heard a story about two people arguing about what a creature on top of the roof was, a bird or a cat.  As they were getting into a heated argument, a passerby suggested a simple way to settle the question.  He suggested they throw a stone onto the roof and see what happens.  If the creature runs away, it’s a cat, and if it flies away it is a bird.  What a brilliant idea!  So they threw a stone onto the roof, and the thing flew away.  “See,...
Read more