Parashat Hashavua

Portion of Ha ah zee nu - what music! what a song!

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פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:44
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Portion of Ha ah zee nu - what music! what a song!


Well - Really it is not so complimentary to the Jewish People what Moses sings ...
it's not morose but it is haunting and to evoke emotional response!

Moses had a life full of complex relationships with the 12 tribes

but in the Torah we see that he dealt with it by SINGING A SONG OR THREE!

(and so should we)

As Rabbi Carlebach always said

if 2 people are talking at the same time - nobody gets heard

but if 2 people sing at the same time, they MAY create HARMONY
 
Let's do a little harmony here! Sukkot is a great time to start!!!!
 
shabbat shalom 

and love from the airport - on the way Home to the Holy Land

Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion of Va yay lech - sing a song of ... what?

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:43
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Portion of Va yay lech - sing a song of ... what?
 
G-d commands the people to have a PUBLIC READING of TORAH by the KING
at the end of the seventh year (Smitta - like RIGHT NOW in 2015) - "HAK-HEL"

Moshe tells the people "I know you will not refrain from things you shouldn't do"
 
And he tells Joshua "be strong when you take the people into the Land of Israel"
 
Why connect these in this week's portion?
 
Yes - Moshe Rabaynu - the Master Teacher - warns all  Israel that he KNOWS they will "stray" as they have done in the past - and it obviously bothers him
 
So what does he do then?
 
He tells the people to keep singing this SONG he's written!!
 
His SONG (see next week's portion) filled with meaning and prophecy!
 
Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky - in his book of parables asks - 
 
so why tell Joshua Chazak V'ematz - to be strong and courageous (tough)? 
His stories are sweet and should be read - 
but I think I have an answer from the portion:
 
Whatever happens - keep singing!
On key, off key - sing with your Heart!
Sing a song of G-d's miracles - past and hoped for - 
 
and it will bring us to a better place, a Holy place and time
 
where we can join with a King of Israel in Reading the Torah 
 
at the Temple on the Day of Hak-hel!
 
Let's look forward to a lot of songs this Shabbat - in preparation for Yom Kippur
 
Love and Shabbos
 
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

PORTION NITZAVIM - Before Rosh Hashono‏

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:43
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As Rabbi Carlebach sang "Return Again ..
Return to the Land of your Soul"
 
and as the Torah says this week in a couple of places
 
"V shav Hashem ... "
The Almighty will RETURN YOU -
 
meaning (my interpretation)
the Almighty reminds us sooner or later who we are - hopefully not too late!
 
Because you can only live a wholesome life if you know who you are -
 
the People of the Book
the People of the Land
the People who are bringing REDEMPTION to the world - not wars and craziness we see or hear of.
 
MAY THIS LAST SHABBAT OF THE YEAR RETURN US TO APPRECIATE SHABBAT, ISRAEL, G-D, AND EACH OTHER
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion of Key Tavo – The Key to Entering the Holy Land/Garden of Eden

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:42
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Portion of Key Tavo – The Key to Entering the Holy Land/Garden of Eden

In the middle of the  portion – as the Almighty is challenging us to choose between an "eternity of the Garden of Eden" or "divine retribution"

We hear a basis for causing retribution might be
"because you did (do) not serve the L-rd with joy of heart"

And the end of the portion says
Hashem did all the MIRACLES so you can
"know that I am the L=rd your G-d"

So the great spiritual masters say
"all your prayers must be with JOY – thanking the Almighty for everything."
(not always as easy as it seems – YOU HAVE TO WORK ON HAVING SOULFUL JOY!) - so

LET's DO IT – and get ready for the highest High Holiday season full of Prayer and Joy"

Love and Shabbos from Jerusalem

Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion of : rhe Ay - What are blessings - and who has curses today anyway?‏

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:42
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Rabbi Shlmo Carlebach used to say:
 when you bless someone you can actually give them life - or
 save theit lives!
>
 He also quoted the Hassidic masters who said
"when you look at the "curses" (alluded to in this Torah portion) you can se that any curse can
also be a BLESSING if you know how that works
>
I never knew how it worked - so I looked deeply into the  portion again this morning.
>
> The Almighty says "See - I give you Blessings . and Curses
 the blessings on Har (MOUNT) Greezim and the Curses on Har Eval

Rashi and the kabbalists explain half the tribes stood on
 one mount and the other half on the second mount.

THE LEVITES were IN THE VALLEY BELOW and
said the blessings and the curses -

first turning to one mountain - then to the other
>
So I believe that one way to look at this is that

 when we look at each other with blessings in our hearts -
 it is a blessing

and when we turn away from each other it is a curse
(like in the old Dylan song

"how many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he
 just doesn't see"

There are a lot more ways to look at the Portion - all worth thinking about

Love and Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
on the way to Jerusalem to start the new month of Elul with some holy people

Portion of Devarim and ADHD Nation - Tisha B'av and Mourning

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:41
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Portion of Devarim and ADHD Nation - Tisha B'av and Mourning

If Jerusalem withstood the invading Sennacherib - why did it fall to the
Babylonians?

The prophets
said the nation acted rotten to its basic core - but what caused those sins?

And if they were so bad - how did we recover - and with the Help of
the Almighty - REBUILD the Temple and our Nation?

I believe the sins
that caused Jerusalem and the Temple to fall were NOT
inherent in our nation's soul -
but
were like a national "ADHD hormonal" affliction -
which caused havoc to our people - until some cures were discovered -

Mordechai (and Esther) medicine (as in Purim medicine);
Yearning to re-build therapy (as in Ezra and Nehemiah doctoring);
Research into Torah curative powers (as in the Mishna - Ethics of the Fathers,
etc).

Saturday we read
the Portion Devarim which starts with Moses reminding the
Israelites of their "imbalances" during the exodus-via-the-desert.

Saturday night we have an "almost" like Yom Kippur - a day of fasting - but

also a 25 hour day of mourning.

A couple of weeks ago I had the merit and sad task to eulogize a brilliant elderly friend.

A couple of thousand years ago there was only one lamenting Rabbi - Jeremiah the
Prophet. (He wrote the book we read Tisha B'Av night- Lamentations - Eichah - about the
destruction of the Temple and the downfall of our FIRST STATE of ISRAEL - may it never be repeated).

Today we are in a position to
finish the cure - re-build th Jewish People and the Jewish
State

with
Mordechai (and Esther) medicine - getting us to act together
Yearning to re-build therapy - going to Israel to visit and helping those who live that life and
Research into Torah curative powers - studying a little more Torah each day.

May we dance together at the
Holy Wall at the re-building of a Holy Temple.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion of Matos- Masei

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:38
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Portion of Matos- Masei
 
Based on Rav Moshe Tzvi Neriya 's works - 
 
What was the equivalence of the sin of Bilam and the Midianite women?
 
Instead of respecting the Israelites who endured 40 years in the desert to follow G-d's will -
they tried to destroy Israel 
and destroy the hope for a better world - the message of the freed slaves !!!
 
So in the war the holy Israelite soldiers had mercy on the women of Midian - but
 
Moses reprimands the army for allowing the Midianite women to be captured.
 
"It was they that caused a venereal disease! It caused 24000 Israelites to die!
 
Rav Neria about 40 years talked of the seduction of the Jews by the Midianite women -
 
and the cursing of Bilam the sorcerer 
(who STAYED OVER in Midian TO CURSE AND PLOT- against us - until he was killed)
 
Mercy and respect to the non-merciful and non-respectful was a danger then (as the Torah states in this portion)
and today? Iran? ISIS? 
 
What an important lesson this week's portion teaches.
 
The reasons we are in Israel and in the world - is
 
to teach something the world needs more of-
 
BASIC MORALITY - which MAY NEVER be COMPROMISED
 
So let us teach our children to respect - and to teach respect in the world - but not to legitimize destructive forces.
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion of Pinchas- Who was that Masked Man?

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:37
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Portion of Pinchas- Who was that Masked Man?

We see from Moses that we are all prisoners of inaction at times.
 
When the Moabite women lured even a President of a Tribe
to desert the camp blessed even by our enemies (Bilam the wicked wizzard - see last week) 
 
Moses did NOTHING -
 
but his GREAT nephew Pinchas
came OUT OF THE BLUE
and acted -
and it was enough to stop a plague - and earn Pinchas' family the high priesthood
(for most of history).
 
How can we defeat fear and indecisiveness? Because we MUST in order to survive.

We were given commandments to MAKE IT THROUGH THE YEAR - no matter what -

holidays and rituals and commandments to love one another -

and in this portion - Moses was told even to start to

"count the potential soldiers who may have to go to war to fulfill G-d's vision" (to enter Israel).


We fix the world by tuning in to the Torah way of life - following the Almighty's commandments -
 
and thus
taking steps to overcome the difficulties the challenges and the twists and turns of fate that confront us.

Shabbat Shalom
 
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Portion of Balak and July 4th - Looking Inward or Looking Outward

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:36
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Portion of Balak and July 4th - Looking Inward or Looking Outward


What was the pirpose of the Declaration of Independence of the 13 American states?
Were the signers looking into themselves? Or to the world? Or both?

 American Independence Day - and the Blessing of 

 " How Goodly are
 your Tents oh Jacob - your dwelling places oh Israel"

The Torah teaches that

 Wicked Wizzard Bilam tried to curse -

 He only saw the
 tents - from outside the camp of Israel in the desert - and tried to focus on them -

 But he was FORCED
 (by the Almighty turning his attempts to curse
 into a CLEAR PROPHETIC VISION-)

to connect to the INSIDE goodness of Israel-

 whose only desire is to dwell peacefully

- and today

 Even in the (exploding) desert that is our world.

 Israel and peaceful dwelling

 is the hope for mankind -

 making the deserts bloom and helping to feed many all over the world

 America has been a major supporter of that dream -
 and
 we need to all strengthen that support of the
 prophetic vision of peace.

 The wizzard stuff and Bilam's donkey we can leave
 to Harry Potter...

 Shabbat
 Shalom

 Rabbi Andy
 Eichenholz






  we are commanded
  rav shlomo
 - the inside of the inside of what's in your
  heart



  bilam the evil sorcerer sees
 only

  How Goodly are your
 Tents oh Jacob
  dwelling plaes oh Israel

  he tried to curse - but even
 though he only saw
  the tents - from
 outside the camp of Israel in the desert -

 he was FORCED to connect to the INSIDE goodness of
 Israel-
  whose only desire is to dwell
 peacefully

  in the desert
 that is our world

  in
 Israel that is the hope for mankind

Portion of Chukas - Holy (RED) Cow, Batman!

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קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
פורסם בשלישי, 01 דצמבר 2020 00:35
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Portion of Chukas - Holy  (RED) Cow, Batman!

 Why are  some animals not kosher,
why are there rules of ritual  purity, and why does the portion tell us of the passing of
 Aron, of Miriam,
and of capturing the first parts of the Land of Israel?

THESE ARE THINGS WHICH TEACH US A JEWISH WAY OF LIFE!

 I just came from  a Bris today,  and last night was at a Sheva Brachot
 (after a wedding), after I was at a class in the yeshiva I've been with  since the seventies.

 Judaism's Laws create a HOLINESS -
as Maimonides declares in the first part of his  compilation of all the Laws of the Torah -
Yad Hachazaka -

that our purpose is to understand and get CLOSE to the L-rd of Creation.

  This week's portion is called "laws you just have to   believe  in "- That's what "chukas" means.

It talks about laws and HISTORYwe can't really understand,
but if we just FOLLOW these laws - we will get close to the Almighty.

 Really -can we KNOW the "meaning" of any laws of the Torah - except on our level?

 At some level - the WHOLE TORAH NEEDS TO BE "UNDERSTOOD" AS UNKNOWABLE.

It's like LOVE.

We love our sisters like Miriam, we love our brothers like Aron,
we love the Land of Israel - and all the gifts from the Almighty - every minute of our lives -

and we enter a SHABBOS of holiness every week - and it gets us ABOVE THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF THE WEEK - and gives strength for the following week.

That is the Jewish way of LIFE.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Andy Eichenholz 

מאמרים נוספים...

  1. Korah versus Aaron – What a (NOT) fight!
  2. Portion Shelach - The "BUT's" of the Spies
  3. Buh Hah Ah Lowt Cha - The Ark and the Father in Law?
  4. Portion of Bamidbar
  5. Portion Bechukotai – What's that? A "holocaust-syndrome"!
  6. Portion of Behar In Israel Emor in America
  7. Portion of Emor – What a Feeling!
  8. So many Mitzvot in this Double Portion - and they ALL point to how to be "holy" TODAY
  9. Leprosy and Health? Double Portion Tazria Metzora
  10. Portion of Shmini in Israel - Crossing the BLACK Sea? Not the RED sea?