Parshas Nitzavim
Chaf Vov 5765
Volume 1
Issue 53
The Connections people
Chinuch Yaldei Hashluchim:
Rabbi & Mrs.
Mendel & Sara Shemtov Rabbi & Mrs.
Kasriel & Chana E. Shemtov
Connections:
Mr. & Mrs.
Yochanan & Peri Brook
Mr. Mrs.
Zalman & Raizy Cousin
Chinuch Yaldei Hashluchim:
Rabbi M. Shemtov
Rivky Lokshin
Dabrushy Pink
Aydla Vechter
Connections
Proof-Readers:
Rabbi A. Lipsey
Mrs. G. Junik
Rabbi L. Zirkind
Va’ad Hashluchim:
Rabbi Y. Deren
Rabbi O. Goldman
Rabbi Y. Greenberg
Rabbi B. Levertov
Rabbi Y. Shemtov
A project of
CHINUCH YALDEI HASHLUCHIM
cyh@shluchim.org
a division of
THE SHLUCHIM OFFICE
PARSHAS NITZAVIM
This is the last Shabbos of the month of Elul, the last month of the year. The last Shabbos of each month is called Shabbos Mevorchim, when we recite a special bracha that the coming new month will bring goodness, happiness, and peace.
Although this Shabbos is Shabbos Mevorchim, we will not say this bracha. Hashem Himself blesses the month of Tishrei, and His bracha gives us the power to bless all of the other months of the coming year.
What blessing does Hashem give? Atem nitzavim HaYom, "Today you are standing."
What does the Torah mean by "today"? When is today? Every day? Any day? Our Rabbis tells us that the Torah is speaking about Rosh Hashanah, when we stand before Hashem in judgment.
Can you imagine how people in court look when they are being judged? When the judge pronounces a person guilty, the accused man sits hunched over in his place, with downcast eyes and a bowed head. But when the judge announces, "Not guilty," the defendant stands upright, holding his head up high, his face beaming with joy.
The Torah tells us: "Today you are standing." On Rosh Hashanah, as we all pass before Hashem for judgment, we are blessed to stand upright as our verdict is announced.
The Torah continues: "Kulchem, all of you together." When Hashem sees the Jews come together, it's like a father seeing all of his children playing joyfully together. Nothing could make Him happier.
When Hashem sees us come together with Ahavas Yisrael, He blesses us with a kesivah vachasimah tovah for a good year.
(Adapted from Sichos Parshas Nitzavim-Vayeilech 5740)
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Please send your answers to connections@shluchim.org Last weeks’ brain buster: Twice as many - double as long. Answer: תוכחה |
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Dear children let me tell you a special story in honor of Rosh Hashanah.
Many, many years ago, before there were any fire engines, and fire brigades, and electric fire alarms, and most houses were built of wood, a fire was a terrible thing. A whole town, or a good part of it, could go up in flames and smoke. And so, when fire broke out, everyone left his business or work, and rushed to help put out the fire. There used to be a watchtower that was taller than the other buildings, where a watchman kept a lookout all the time. As soon as he saw smoke or fire, he would sound the alarm. The townspeople would then form a human chain between the fire and the nearest well, and pass pails of water to each other with which to put out the fire.
Once it happened that a boy from a small village came to town for the first time. He stopped at an inn, on the outskirts of the town. Suddenly he heard the sound of a trumpet. He asked the innkeeper what it meant.
"Whenever we have a fire," the innkeeper explained to the boy, "we sound the trumpet, and the fire is quickly put out.
"How wonderful!" thought the village boy. "What a great idea. I will bring it to my village! They will be so excited!"
The village boy went and bought himself a trumpet. When he returned to his village, he was full of excitement. He called all the villagers together. "Listen, good people," he called out. "There is no need to be afraid of fire any more. Just watch me, and see how quickly I will put out a fire!"
Saying this, he ran to the nearest hut and set fire to its straw roof. The fire began to spread very quickly.
"Don't worry!" cried the boy. "Now watch me."
The boy began to blow the trumpet with all his might, interrupting it only to catch his breath, and to say, "Wait, this will put out the fire in no time!" But the fire did not seem to care much for the music, and merely jumped from one roof to another, until the entire village was in flames.
The villagers were very angry with the boy. "You fool," they cried. "Did you think that the mere blowing of the trumpet would put the fire out? It is only the call of an alarm, to wake up the people, if they are asleep, or to pull them away from their business and work, and send them to the well to draw water and put out the fire!
We are reminded of this story, when we think of the shofar that is sounded many times on Rosh Hashanah. Some people think like that village boy, that the sound of the shofar itself will do everything for them. They think that they may continue to "sleep," or go about their business, there being no need to change their way of life and daily conduct; the shofar sounded in the Shul will surely bring them a Shana Tovah.
But, like the trumpet in the story, the shofar is only the sound of an "alarm." It has a message: "Wake up, you sleepers, think about your ways, return to Hashem, put out the 'fire' that is threatening to destroy your Jewish homes. Go to the Well, the Well of Living Waters, the Torah and mitzvos. Hurry, before it is too late!"
That is why, immediately after the shofar is sounded, we exclaim: "Happy are the people who understand the meaning of the sound of the shofar; they walk in Your light, O’ Hashem.”
May we all listen to the sound of the Shofar and hurry to add in our learning Torah and doing Mitzvos.
Kesiva VeChasima Tovah! Leshana Tovah Umesukah!
Bassie Pewzner, 9
Petersburg, RussiaMy name is Bassie Pewzner. I am 9 years old. I live in Petersburg, Russia. My great-grandmother and grandmother used to live here before the war. It is very cold here in the winter. The Shul is very big and my father is the Rav here .My mother does programs for women. I like camps. I do games for kids during Shabbos davening so the kids will be good while the adults daven. I help my mother with programs for women. I go to Beit Sefer Menachem. I learn Chumash, Ivrit, Russian, math, art and music. I like playing Rummy, Sets, Rashi memory game and drawing. I have a lot of friends who are shluchim in Russia and the Ukraine. I am proud to be a shlucha of the Rebbe in Petersburg because it used to be Leningrad and some of our Rabbeim were freed from prison in Leningrad .
כ"ט אלול
The צמח צדק was born on כ “ ט אלול , ערב ראש השנה of the year תק “ נ . His parents were ר ‘ שלום שכנה and רביצין דבורה לאה (the second daughter of the אלטער רבי ). He was named מנחם מענדל after ר ‘ מנחם מענדל of Horodok who passed away the year before. The שלום זכור was on שבת שובה . The אלטער רבי invited all the townspeople to come after the main part of the meal. During the meal the אלטער רבי was very happy and he repeated the instructions of what to do on the night before a ברית which he heard from the מעזריטשער מגיד right before the מגיד passed away. During the meal on שבת day, the אלטער רבי was also very happy.
This Shabbos is שבת מברכים חודש תשרי
שבת morning I made sure to say תהילים .
(Remember to do your quota. The World-Wide Tehillim club starts again this month!)Why don't we bentch the month of תשרי on the שבת beforehand as we do for every other month of the year?
The בעש “ ט explains that once a year ה ‘ Himself bentches the new month, and this gives us the כח and ability to bentch the other eleven months of the year.
2. The re is a פסוק in תהילים relating to ראש השנה that states: “ תקעו בחודש שופר בכסה ליום חגנו “ “Blow the שופר at the moon's renewal, at the time appointed for our יום טוב ." The Hebrew word used for "the time appointed" is " בכסה ," which also means hidden.From this the חכמים concluded that we should "hide" the timing of ראש השנה . That's why we don't mention on ראש השנה that it is ראש חודש , and that's why we don't bentch the month on שבת מברכים beforehand.
The point of hiding the date of ראש השנה is to confuse the שטן .
ג' תשרי
Thursday is צום גדלי ‘ . It is a fast day because Gedaliah ben Achikam was killed. He was the governor of ארץ ישראל for a short time after the destruction of the First בית המקדש .
2. Before ראש השנה of the year תקנ “ ד , the אלטער רבי sensed that a kitrug (accusation) was being made against him teaching חסידות and he was afraid that he would pass away that year. His daughter, רביצין דבורה לאה found out about this and she was worried that the ‘tree’ of חסידות , which had been growing and flowering for 30 years, would not be allowed to grow anymore. So she called together a בית דין of three important חסידים and announced that she was taking it upon herself to die instead of her father. On the first night of ראש השנה the אלטער רבי asked “where is דבורה לאה ?” and when he saw her, he began to say “ לשנה טובה... ” but she interrupted him and said “ לשנה טובה , you should be inscribed and sealed for a good year, father, don’t speak.”. On the second day of ראש השנה , רביצין דבורה לאה became very ill and on ג ‘ תשרי , צום גדלי ‘ , she passed away. Her last request was that her father, the אלטער רבי , should take care of, and be מחנך her son מנחם מענדל , who was just 3 years old. The Rebbe agreed and he said , "your son מנחם is my נחמה (consolation). He is a נחמה for you and he is a נחמה for the Jewish people."
One year before ראש השנה , the בעל שם טוב called one of his חסידים , Reb Wolff Kitzis, and told him that he wanted him to blow the שופר that year on יום טוב .
“When you blow the שופר ,” the בעל שם טוב said, “you must remember that each blast is full of holy meanings. I want you to learn them carefully. It will require much study on your part, and great concentration to keep these things in your mind as you blow.”
Reb Wolff studied as hard as he could, finding out as much as possible about the secret meanings connected with each sound of the שופר .
It was not an easy task, and Reb Wolff was very nervous about it. Surely the בעל שם טוב had a special reason for asking him to do this.
He thought about it all the time. Was there some terrible decree that hung over the Jewish people? Was the Rebbe asking him for help? He davenned to ה ‘ that he should be able to do it right.
He was so afraid of making some mistake, that he wrote down notes of all the key points that he would have to keep in mind. He planned to take out the notes and read them while blowing the שופר .
Finally, the holy day of ראש השנה arrived.
Reb Wolff davenned with great feeling, as he prepared for the mission that awaited him.
When the תורה was being read, he listened carefully to the story of אברהם and שרה , and how ה ‘ answered their תפילות and blessed them with a son in their old age.
The story of how the wicked child, ישמעאל , cried out to ה ‘ when he was dying, and how ה ‘ saved his life, also made a deep impression on Reb Wolff. “May ה ‘ save us too,” he thought.
After קריאת התורה , Reb Wolff took his place on the בימה and prepared for the שופר blowing. Two חסידים stood beside him holding the two ספרי תורה in their hands. Reb Wolff opened his סידור , and pulled his טלית carefully over his head. Then he took the שופר in his hands.
Then he reached in his pocket for the notes he had made. To his horror, he felt nothing there. His pocket was empty. Could it be that the notes were missing? He checked his other pockets. The notes were gone!
He burst into a cold sweat. What was he to do? All eyes were upon him. He had to blow the שופר . But how could he? The בעל שם טוב had told him to have these special thoughts in mind….
His face felt hot and cold. He davenned to ה ‘ to save him. He searched his pockets again… without luck… the notes were gone.
With a horrible, sinking feeling in his heart, he realized that he had failed. He would just have to blow the שופר with no special thoughts in mind at all.
He wished he could find some hole in the ground where he could crawl in and hide his shame.
After the תפילות were over, the בעל שם טוב called Reb Wolff to his room.
He entered with fear and anxiety.
“Good Yom Tov, Reb Wolff,” the בעל שם טוב said with a broad smile. “Thank you for blowing the שופר for us today.”
“B-but Rebbe,” Reb Wolff protested, “I didn’t…” The words died on his lips. He looked at the בעל שם טוב confused and upset.
“As you guessed, Reb Wolff, I asked you to prepare carefully for blowing the שופר today because of a serious decree against our people,” the בעל שם טוב explained.
“In a king’s palace there are many rooms. Each room has its own door and its own key. The secret meanings from the קבלה which you studied are like keys to all the different doors and gates in שמים . You have to know which key opens which lock.
“But there is one thing that can burst through all the doors and all the locks, like an axe, and that is a broken heart. Today that is how you blew the שופר , with a broken and a humble heart. It did the trick. It was worth more than all the keys, more than knowing all the secret Names and meanings. Yes, Reb Wolff. Your broken heart annulled the decree. It is no more.”
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Last Week's Winners:
Level 1:
Levi Vorst, age 5 from Rotterdam, Netherlands &
Pessi Fischer, age 6 from Augusta Georgia
Level 2:
Laivy Mochkin, age 9 from Rochester, New York &
Dani Namdar, age 11 from Gothenburg, Sweden
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