Parshas Vayikra

BS"D

This week (in addition to celebrating my wedding to Miriam, mazel tov!) we have the great merit to start a new book in the Five Books of Moses, the Book of Vayikra (which is also the name of the first parsha), which literally means, "And he called out", from the verse which states, "And He called to Moses, and the Lord spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When a man from [among] you brings a sacrifice to the Lord; from animals, from cattle or from the flock you shall bring your sacrifice" (Leviticus 1:1-2). As we see already in the first verse, this portion deals primarily with the laws of animal sacrifices, and the Book as a whole contains the greatest number of laws of all the Five Books, and is the most technical. In the verse quoted above, we find something very interesting in the Hebrew text, which should literally be translated as, "When a man will bring a sacrifice from you" (note the change in the order of the words), which seems to imply that the individual (and not the animal), is the one being brought as a sacrifice. If we also render the word for "bringing a sacrifice" literally, than the verse will actually read, "When a man will come close from you". From this verse we can now take many teachings about someone who wishes to "come close" to the spiritual, and connect with holiness. First and foremost, it should be from [amongst] YOU. YOU have the ability and the opportunity to come close and make a connection, and YOU were given all of the strengths and placed in the proper circumstances to achieve this goal. Therefore, we can never say, "When will I reach that level of the Forefathers [Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob]", but rather right now we all have everything that we need to "come close". Secondly, it should be FROM you, a piece of you that you are willing (or sometimes not willing) to sacrifice in order to come close. And this is why the verse continues, "from animals, from cattle or from the flock". Each of us has a body, an animal, with certain habits and tendencies, some of us are like cattle, big strong animals, and some us are like sheep, meek and quiet, each one of us knows in ourselves. And this means we're going to have strengths and weaknesses, maybe I'm like an ox with a bad temper, or maybe I'm lazy like a sheep. Whatever it is, we have to take FROM this "animal" and try to burn it up on the alter with spiritual fire and get it excited to come close, and the best way to do this is through study and stimulating our intellect in topics of spirituality and holiness, in general Torah, and in particular ChaBaD (an acronym for Knowledge, Wisdom and Understanding) philosophy. So I encourage everybody to go out an explore something that interests you. Chabad.org is a great place to start and of course Google, and I am always happy to answer questions.

Most importantly, I wish everyone a very meaningful and a restful Shabbos!
Eli

Candle Lighting in NY 6:48 PM (note the change of time to to Daylight Savings)

Parshas Yayak'hel-Pekudei

BS"D

This week is very special (in addition to my wedding!) as we have a double Torah portion, with Parshas Yayak'hel-Pekudei (literally "Assembled-Numbers"), from the first first verse of the two portions, which read, "Moses called the whole community of the children of Israel to ASSEMBLE, and he said to them: 'These are the things that the Lord commanded to make'" (Exodus 35:1), and, "These are the NUMBERS of the Mishkan, the Mishkan of the Testimony, which were counted at Moses' command; [this was] the work of the Levites under the direction of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the Kohen" (Exodus 38:21). Just from the names of these two parshas we can learn a lesson for our daily lives. Like most "double-portions" in the Torah we find that these two names seem to contradict one another. "Assembled" refers to taking many separate parts or individuals, and gathering them together into one unit, a community. Essentially, when we assemble, we submit our individual identity to that of the whole. On the other hand, "Numbers" refers to the counting of each individual part, separating it out from the whole. For example, we may have had a pile of dollar bills, and now that we go through and count it, it becomes X number of individual bills, each able to purchase some goods on its own, separate from the "assembly". What then, is the lesson that the Torah is teaching us, by contradicting these two concepts? That we must at one time be both an individual and a member of the community. That the community can not be complete without each individual (like a car engine, which needs many fine and intricate parts to work), and at the same time, no individual is complete if they are separate from the community (like a bearing which is useless outside of the engine). To fulfill this dual task is surely a great challenge, and the surest way to succeed to is if we connect our selves to the Torah of Life, which "elevates the soul over the body" (Tanya, Chapter 32), revealing its place in the One and Living G-d, the place where all Jews are brothers, and where all of Creation reaches its fulfillment.

I wish everyone a very restful and meaningful shabbos, and would like to extend an invitation to come celebrate my wedding with me this Sunday in Crown Heights at 5 PM at 770 Eastern Parkway, Lubavitch World Headquarters!
Eli

Candle Lighting Times for New York 5:41 PM

Parshas Ki Tisa

BS"D

This week's Torah portion is Parshas Ki Tisa (literally, "When you lift up", or "take the sum"), from the verse which reads, "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: When you take the sum of the children of Israel according to their numbers, let each one give to the Lord an atonement for his soul when they are counted; then there will be no plague among them when they are counted" (Exodus 30:11-12). This refers to the collecting of the silver half-shekel that was conducted to finance the building of the Tabernacle (and which we continue to collect every year).
Included in this week's sidra is one of the most perplexing stories in the Torah, the Incident of the Golden Calf. Barely three months out of Egypt, after witnessing the Miracles of the Exodus and the Splitting of the Red Sea, and the Divine Revelation at Sinai, the Jewish people fell from their great height and built an idol right at the base of Mt. Sinai. While there are many explanations of how this came about, what I would like to focus on is that which immediately followed: the supplications of Moshe Our Great Teacher to gain forgiveness for the children of Israel. Very famously, during Moshe's exchange with Hashem, Hashem offers to destroy the entire Jewish people, and to begin them again from Moshe and his offspring. In response, Moshe tells Hashem: either forgive them or take me out of your Book! Moshe cast his lot with his people, and in doing so established an eternal paradigm for leadership not only amongst the Jewish people, but throughout the world. To be a true leader is to be with your "flock" even in their lowest moments, even at the times when, on the outside, nothing looks right, and even when it means standing up to G-d Almighty Himself! And how does he do it? Because he sees into their essence, and he finds the place where they are truly "good at heart", and it is from this place that we can start to build and move forward.
So what do we do now, thousands of years later? Our sages teach that in each generation there is an embodiment of Moses, who leads the Jewish people, and also the nations of the world, in just this very manner. For our generation, this is the Lubavitcher Rebbe, whose expansive teachings and countless pieces of advice given over the span of 50+ years to millions of visitors and correspondents from around the entire globe continue to guide us in finding our essence, even during the most trying times. I encourage everyone to check out the following link to learn a little more about his leadership:

http://www.chabad.org/therebbe/default_cdo/jewish/The-Rebbe.htm

Wishing everyone a very meaningful and restful shabbos,
Eli

Candle Lighting Times for NYC: 5:33 PM