Parshas Ha'azinu
Yud Alef Tishrei 5766
Volume 1
Issue 55
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PARSHAS HA'AZINU
Naomi's family was invited to Bubby's and Zeide's sukkah on the second night of Sukkos. Bubby and Zeide live in an apartment building, and many families built their sukkah in the courtyard. After the Yom Tov meal, Naomi played with the other children in the courtyard and peeked into the other sukkos.
On the way home, Naomi said: "Each sukkah looked different. Some were made of wood, and others were made of canvas or heavy plastic or white sheets. Some had benches, some had chairs. Some were decorated, and others weren't."
Naomi thought about it for a moment, then added, "They all looked different, but they were really all the same."
Naomi is right. Not only about the sukkos, but also about the people who enter the sukkah. We may look different, but we really are all part of one people. This is one of the most important lessons of Sukkos.
T he Arba Minim are compared to all kinds of people. We hold the Arba Minim together - the lulav, esrog, haddasim and the arovos. Each one is different in size, shape, taste and smell.
Our Rabbis explain that taste and smell can be compared to learning Torah and doing mitzvos.
The esrog, with its taste and smell, is like people who are busy learning Torah and doing many mitzvos. The tasty fruit of the lulav tree, the date palm, is like people who dedicate most of their day to studying Torah. The haddasim with their pleasant smell are like people who do as many mitzvos as they can. The plain arovos, which have no smell and no taste, are like people who have not yet begun to study Torah or to do mitzvos.
We bring these all together and make a berachah over them, showing the importance of achdus - bringing all different kinds of people together.
Let's take a closer look at each of these four. In its own way, each one of them shows achdus.
The lulav has many long, pointed leaves, but they are all connected tightly.
The esrog grows on the tree all year round. It dangles elegantly from its branch through each season, as if to say, "I can unite the growing powers of each season. I can thrive and grow in all of them!"
The Talmud tells us that arovos grow together in groups.
The small leaves on the haddasim grow in groups of three. They must all be growing in one line at equal height.
So Sukkos really means, "Jewish people, Unite! Show Achdus! This is what the Yom Tov is all about."
(Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, Vol. IV, Sukkos; Vol. XIX, Sukkos)
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My first word is 4, my second starts and ends with 40 and wine is in the middle ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Please send your answers to connections@shluchim.org Last weeks’ brain buster: All promises on the night of the Shabbos Shabboson Answer: כל נדרי |
Congratulations to Yoni Bekhor, age 9 from Randolph, New Jersey for solving the brain buster. |
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י"ג תשרי
The רבי מהר “ ש passed away on י “ ג תשרי תרמ “ ג .
The פריערדיקער רבי tells us about the passing of the רבי מהר “ ש .
“My grandfather passed away on י “ ג תשרי at nine minutes before noon. At exactly 11:26, he took out his pocket watch and took it off from its chain. He then took a paper and put it into the mechanism, to make it stop when the hands would reach 11:51. Then he asked his שמש to call his sons into the room because he wanted to tell them about his will.
First ר ‘ זלמן אהרן came in and the רבי מהר “ ש spoke to him for a short time. When he left, my father, the רבי רש “ ב came in and the רבי מהר “ ש spoke to him, while tears streamed from my father’s face. Then my father left and the youngest son, ר ‘ מנחם מענדל entered. When he left the room, my grandfather, still sitting up in his chair, returned his נשמה to his Maker.
Starting from ראש השנה of the year תרמ “ ד the רבי רש “ ב slowly began to take on various parts of being a רבי . He started accepting people for יחידות , gave out written copies of מאמרים and started replying to written questions from חסידים .
ראש השנה of that year was also the first time that the רבי רש “ ב moved his seat in the shul to the place where his father the רבי מהר “ ש used to sit. This was a sign for all the חסידים that the רבי רש “ ב had fully accepted the נשיאות .
Building a Sukkah Reminds Us of Our History
When the אידן came out of מצרים in the year 2448, they went straight into the huge מדבר סיני . Was that a good choice? They were about 3 million people with children and small animals, and here they were in a desert without food, and with no protection from the wild animals that roamed those areas.
This fact tells us something very special about the אידן in that generation. They had a lot of trust. Would you and your family follow a נביא into the desert with no food or anywhere to live ?
ה ‘ sent them miraculous protection, known as the ענני הכבוד . There was one cloud showing them the way, one on top of them, one underneath them, and another four for the four directions. In this way they were protected on every side. No animals harmed them, and they glided safely over the bumpy ground.
To remember this נס , and more importantly to remember and strengthen our trust in ה ‘ , we sit in a סוכה for 7 days. We leave our beautiful homes where we are secure and we sit in a plain wooden hut. The rich and poor become equal. This reminds us that everything we have comes from ה ‘ and we should be grateful and humble.
And of course we should be happy that ה ‘ is looking after us just as he looked after our ancestors in the desert. Today we don’t see ענני הכבוד surrounding us, but the סוכה walls remind us that ה ‘ is taking care of us just the same.
“Please stop with your religious activities,” Shaul’s wife pleaded with him, “escape now, before you’re caught and it’s too late.”
Shaul lived in a small Russia n town in the 1920’s. Those years were very difficult for the Jewish people. אידישקייט was completely against the law and Russian K.G.B. agents were everywhere, spying on frum Jews. Whoever was caught teaching or keeping to his religion was sent off to labor camps in freezing Siberia. Some were strong enough to survive the harsh weather conditions and heavy work, but most were never seen again.
Shaul lived during these difficult times. He continued living according to the תורה , and he helped those living in his community to keep up a frum life as well. The אידן around him were very grateful to him and they considered him their rabbi. He held a small מנין in his basement on שבת mornings; he supplied them with the שופר for ראש השנה ; and he was the only one who dared to build a סוכה under the watchful gaze of the K.G.B.
His wife was very worried for him; she knew it was just a matter of time until the K.G.B. realized what he was doing. “Escape now,” she begged him, “Otherwise, you’ll end up in Siberia and we’ll never see you again.”
“I’ll just stay for ראש השנה ,” he said, “and then I’ll leave. How could I leave the Jews here alone without a מנין or שופר ?” Reluctantly she agreed and they spent a tense ראש השנה , shaking in fear every time there was a knock on the door.
After ראש השנה , Shaul turned to his wife, “You see, it was okay, let me just stay for יום כיפור . After all, how could I leave the אידן alone without a מנין for the holiest day of the year?” His wife sighed and gave in, but she felt the mounting tension in the cold Russian wind, and she knew that any moment now the dreaded knock could come.
“You must leave now,” she told him after יום כיפור . “I’ll just wait until after the first day of סוכות ,” he said, “then I’ll really go. I want to give everyone a chance to say a ברכה in the סוכה .” So he built a tiny סוכה on his back porch, and on the first night of סוכות , he invited all his friends to squeeze inside and make a ברכה for eating in the סוכה . Their joy was indescribable; every second in the סוכה was precious to them. They couldn’t believe that they had managed to eat in a סוכה in Communist Russia.
Shaul knew that this was his last night with his fellow אידן , and so they sat together for many long hours, strengthening each other and exchanging last ברכה and good wishes. When his guests left, Shaul suddenly felt very tired. He knew he would have to leave early the next morning. His wife was right; the time had come. He wondered when he would see his family again.
He poured himself a cup of water – and then he remembered. As a חסיד , his מנהג was not even to drink water outside of the סוכה . So , even though he was tired , he put on his warm winter coat, and went out to the cold סוכה . He drank his water and then sat for awhile in the סוכה , enjoying his last moments in the holy atmosphere of the סוכה .
Suddenly he heard the dreaded knock, and his blood froze in his veins. “Open up,” the KGB said harshly, “It’s the police!” Shaul crouched in the corner of the סוכה and held his breath. The KGB knocked again even harder. He heard his wife answering the door. “Where’s your husband?” t hey asked. “He’s visiting relatives,” she replied.
“I bet he’s hiding here somewhere,” they officers said and began searching the house. They searched the small house but found no one there. “I guess the bird has flown away,” they said disappointedly.
The minute he heard the door closing behind them, Shaul jumped over the סוכה porch fence, ran through the back streets to the train station, jumped onto the back of a train, and escaped. He thought with longing about the little סוכה behind his house, and he thanked ה ‘ , for the סוכה had saved his life.
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