Parshas Nasso
Yud Gimmel Sivan 5766
Volume 2
Issue 33
The Connections people
Chinuch Yaldei Hashluchim:
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:
Mrs. B. Wineberg
Mrs. G. Junik
Rabbi L. Zirkind
Rabbi Schmerling
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 NASO
Did you notice all the hustle and bustle in and out of shul on Shavuos? On the first day, many people, even mothers and babies, came in to hear the reading of the Aseres Hadibros. On the second day, after Krias Hatorah, many children and adults went out before Yizkor.
Afterwards, during Mussaf, everyone came back in, and many fathers covered their sons with a tallis during Birkas Kohanim.
What is so special about Birkas Kohanim? Why are we so anxious to be there when the kohanim say it?
There is a good reason. Our parshah tells us that the kohanim are commanded to bless the Jewish people with a special tefillah.
Tefillah? Didn't we say it was a bracha? Is there a difference between a tefillah and a bracha?
Actually, there is. Do you remember when Yaakov blessed his grandchildren, Menasheh and Ephraim? Ephraim, the younger one, received a bigger bracha. Was this Yaakov's own decision? No! He was only giving the brachos that Hashem had intended for both of those tribes.
A tzaddik's bracha helps a person receive what Hashem has in store for him. But tefillah can add more. Tefillah can change things and make things better. We daven for a sick person to recover and for a poor person to be given his needs. That's why our tefillos say Yehi Ratzon, "May it be Hashem's will." This means that we are asking Hashem to be willing to give a person more than what He is giving him now.
Our Rebbeim explain that the brachos of the kohanim also have the power of tefillah. The kohanim give us Hashem's bracha for a good life, for peace, and for security. At the same time, this bracha also works likes a tefillah, bringing us even more than what was already in store for us.(Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, Vol. X)
‘Please Tell Me What the Rebbe Said’
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My outside is a candle
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Congratulations to Zelda Rochel Edelman, age 11 from Paris, France for solving the brain buster. |
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Hi there!
Have you checked the calendar lately? I never used to look at calendars. All those boxes and numbers made my eyeballs spin in circles. Then one day I looked at the calendar and realized that I missed my own birthday and I was really five years older than I thought I was. Luckily, I’m Dr. Getzel, top-notch eye doctor and inventor. So I quickly invented the automatic, hi-tech calendar checker-upper. It uses foresight to check the calendar and tell me about any special days coming up (I haven’t missed my birthday since then).
Anyway, the last time my calendar checker-upper updated me, it informed me of a very important date coming up in about a month. It’s the day of Gimmel Tammuz, the day the Rebbe left us b’gashmiyus. As Chassidim we know that we need to prepare ourselves in order to feel the importance of a day. Imagine walking into a fancy wedding in your wrinkled weekday clothes and muddy sneakers. Wouldn’t you feel silly? We can’t either just “arrive” at Gimmel Tammuz without preparing and improving ourselves. A good way to prepare for Gimmel Tammuz is to work on increasing our Hiskashrus, or connection, to the Rebbe. But how do we do that?
Have you ever tried to connect two things together? Like the pages of the Super Duper Specially For Junior Shluchim ‘Connections Newsletter’? Or the Made by You for You ‘Kids Connect’. Did you use scotch tape or a glue stick? There are many different connectors you can use- tape, shoelaces, paper clips, staples, belts, or even banana peels. My purple suspenders do a wonderful job of connecting my pants to me so that they don’t fall off. Once I used telephone wires to connect the lenses on my glasses and my glasses wouldn’t stop ringing!
In order to connect to the Rebbe we need to find the right connector. We can’t glue ourselves to him. Staples won’t work either. That’s why I’m working on my newest feature to add to the COL lens. I call it the four-sight feature. It’s a combination of four main ingredients that will create a powerful new vision of how to connect to the Rebbe.
Tune in next week to find out what the ingredients are!Dr. Getzel
Chaya Mushka Levertov, age 12
Austin, TexasHi. My name is Chaya Mushka Levertov and I am a proud Shlucha in Austin, Texas. I am 12 years old. Since we live in Austin, with almost no other Frum Yidden around, my mother made a school for my family and other families here in Austin. Because this is a small school, with about 40 kids and growing, it had to be mixed.
Some things I enjoy doing here as a Shlucha is helping my parents with the programs. We do programs together as a team for almost all Yomim Tovim. Recently, we had a Matzah bakery. My older brothers were the bakers, and I was the helper. We had an oven that was really old! It looked like they might have used it in Miztrayim!
The oven was hot, so I didn't get to put any Matzos in. I knew what the Torah meant, how the Matzah baked on their backs! It was really hot, like normal temperature for us here in Austin, Texas, and really humid!
The thing that makes me proud to be a Shlucha is that I know that I look different, especially when I'm on campus, with long sleeves and long skirts and I know that that the Rebbe is with me, watching over me in everything I do.
י"ג סיון תר"ס
When ר‘ לוי יצחק was ready to get married, the רבי רש“ב arranged his שידוך with רביצין חנה , the daughter of ר‘ מאיר שלמה Yanovsky, the רב of the city of Nikolayev. After the date of the חתונה had been set for the ערב שבת after שבועות , the כלה became unwell and her father wanted to postpone the חתונה . He sent a message to the רבי רש“ב asking for permission but the רבי wouldn’t agree and gave a ברכה that everything should go well. After the חתונה, ר‘ לוי יצחק lived by his father-in-law for almost 10 years and spent his time learning תורה day and night. In the year תרס“ט he moved to the city of Yekatrinoslav to become the רב there.
ט"ו סיון תרפ"ז
It was Tuesday night at 12 midnight. The פריערדיקער רבי had just finished giving יחידות . He davened מעריב and sat down to eat supper with his family. Suddenly there was a bang at the door. Agents of the GPU came to arrest the פריערדיקער רבי . They allowed him to take his תפילין, ספרים , pen and paper and they took him to ‘Shpalerka’ the worst prison. Even mentioning the name of this prison would make people scared.
ט"ז סיון תרס"ט
On this day ר‘ ישראל ארי‘ לייב , the youngest son of ר‘ לוי יצחק and רביצין חנה was born. From the time he was young it was obvious that he was very talented and clever.
(Adapted from ‘Days in Chabad’)
פרשת נשא talks about the portions that the בני ישראל gave to the כהנים as צדקה .
About 200 years ago the famous philanthropist, Sir Moses Montefiore, lived in England. A philanthropist is a rich person who gives lots of צדקה , especially to help other people have better lives. Sir Moses Montefiore was a frum איד .
Queen Victoria (the Queen of England from 1837 until 1901) once asked him, "What is the extent of your wealth? How much do you own?"
Sir Moses told her it would take him a few days to do some accounting, then, he would reply.
When Sir Moses told her his wealth she became upset saying, "This is offensive: Everyone knows that you are much richer than this!."
Sir Moses explained that he considered his true wealth to be whatever money he had given to צדקה . Anything else that he possessed was only temporary and could be confiscated or lost.
In פרשת נשא the תורה is hinting to us that the money that really belongs to us is the money that we have given to צדקה .
(Adapted from ‘Vedibarta Bam’)
On the שבת after שבועות , we read פרשת נשא . It is the longest פרשה in the תורה , with 176 פסוקים . That is also the amount of פסוקים in the longest קאפיטל of תהילים, קאפיטל קי“ט .
Another interesting fact is that the longest מסכת in the גמרא , בבא בתרא , has 176 דפים .
The commentaries of the מדרש and the זהר on פרשת נשא are longer than those on any other פרשה . This hints to the אידן ’s great love for the תורה and we are especially showing this on the first שבת after שבועות , theיום טוב on which we celebrate that we received the תורה .
(Adapted from ‘The Book of Our Heritage’)
After the passing of the חוזה of Lublin, his son, ר‘ יוסף , inherited a few of his father’s possessions including a chiming clock.
When the שבעה for his father ended, ר‘ יוסף set off for his home in Tulchin. On the way, it began raining heavily. The roads were soon flooded, making it impossible to go on. Fortunately, ר‘ יוסף found a Jewish inn and decided to stop there until the storm ended.
After three days the rain stopped, and ר‘ יוסף was more than ready to leave. The innkeeper, a איד called זאב , gave ר‘ יוסף the bill but ר‘ יוסף didn’t have the money to pay for it. He offered זאב any of his possessions as payment, and after some thought, זאב chose the clock.
זאב hung the clock in a back room of the inn, wound it up, gave the pendulum a swing, and the clock began ticking away. Every hour the clock rang out the time in an appropriate number of chimes.
At first, זאב and his wife got very excited when they heard the clock chime, but as time passed, they didn’t give it any attention.
Years later a רב came to stay at the inn and was given the room where the clock hung.
That night, זאב , though exhausted, could not sleep. From the רב 's room came sounds of beautiful singing and the sound of dancing. And when the clock struck the hour, the music became even more joyous!
זאב decided he would ask the רב in the morning what this great joy was all about. With this thought in mind, he fell fast asleep.
The following morning, the רב , as if reading זאב 's mind, said:
"You must be wondering why I was so joyous last night, but I am wondering where you got the clock!
זאב could not understand the connection between the two things but told the רב the story of ר‘ יוסף and how he acquired the clock.
"I see you have no idea what a bargain you got," said the רב . "This clock belonged to my saintly Rebbe, the חוזה of Lublin. As soon as I heard the chiming, I recognized it!"
"A clock is a clock," mumbled זאב.
"Let me explain what a clock really is," offered the רב . "People think a clock is for telling them when to get up, go to work, eat, sleep. That is nonsense. People lived for thousands of years without clocks. An animal doesn't need a clock to show it when to do these things.""True," said זאב , waiting for more.
"A clock reminds people that there is such a thing as time in this world. When ה‘ created the world, He created time. The minute and hour hand on the clock remind us that each minute and every hour ה‘ gives life to the whole world and supports us.
"A clock is indeed a great thing," זאב called out enthusiastically.
"That is not all," continued the רב . "The clock also reminds us that time is passing, and we must watch and guard it. Anything we have lost can be found, except for time, which we can never get back. When the clock chimes, it makes us think. Have we have filled the passing hour in a worthwhile manner?"
"Oh, Rabbi, when I think of how many hours I have wasted," זאב cried out.
"Don't be downhearted," the רב said encouragingly. "Do you know that the Hebrew word for hour - שעה - also means 'a turn'? Do you know what 'a turn' is? Imagine a person walking carelessly along a dangerous road, till he reaches a cliff. Suddenly, he realizes where he is and quickly turns around. This turn immediately saves him, even before he has managed to take the steps away from the danger. In one hour or with one turn toward the right path a person can change his whole life."
"How wonderful!" זאב marvelled.
"Now, I shall tell you the really exciting secret of this clock, the clock of my saintly Rebbe.
"This clock is exceptionally perfect and wonderful, for in addition to all the other good things I’ve told you about, the clock has a most happy chime. Every chime rings out like a message of good news, to tell us that an hour of גלות has passed and we are now one hour nearer to the complete and final גאולה with משיח."
"Now," the רב asked זאב , "Can you understand why I rejoiced so much the whole night? I heard the chime of the clock, recognized it, and celebrated with joy that משיח is getting closer."(Adapted from L’chaim Weekly)
See the printable version of Connections for incredible fun pages!
Last Week’s Winners:
Level 1:
Mendy Litvin, age 8 from Louisville, Kentucky &
Moussia Schmerling, age 6 1/2 from Far Rockaway, NY
Level 2:
Mushka Stiefel, age 8 from Almere, Netherlands &
Motti Diskin, age 9 from Munich, Germany
We'd love to hear your feedback! Send us your comments, ideas and suggestions to: connections@shluchim.org
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