Parshas Noach

Hi there Junior Shluchim,
Remember a few weeks ago I promised to tell you about the Great Storm of Iowa. Well I think Parshas Noach is as good a time as any to tell you about it. To tell you the truth, at times during the storm I was wondering whether Hashem had decided to bring a mabul on the whole state of Iowa. After all, Hashem promised Noach only never to wipe out the whole world, but he didn’t promise anything about our little State!

And what a storm it was. It started on the first night of Sukkos. We were all sitting comfortably in our Sukkos, when ... BOOM. SWASH. WASH. Before we knew it we were sitting outside our Sukkah. Or more like our Sukkah was sitting outside us! The whole thing had lifted up and blown away – walls, schach and all. We just sat there in shock, Mrs Getzel and I and all our guests. Then it hit us. Not the rain – that had been falling all through the night – but the realisation that all the delicious food that Mrs Getzel had made for Yom Tov was going to go to waste unless we found another Sukkah quick!

Well, I huddled Mrs Getzel and our guests into the house, bundled myself up and I set off on the hunt for a Sukkah that was still standing. The rain was flying against me, and the wind was getting stronger and stronger. Streetlights had been blown over and the only light was from the flashes of lightening. I started to wonder if this is what it had been like during the mabul. Except of course the mabul had started during the day, and lasted forty days and nights, and had wiped everything out, and I was hoping that our worst casualty was going to be the Sukkah.

Well Boruch Hashem, all is well that ends well. I managed to find a Sukkah – I think it was actually the only one in the whole of Iowa still standing – and the owner, my good friend Reb Yankel, welcomed us all in. And I even got to eat Mrs Getzel’s special-only-for-Sukkos zucchini kugel! Boy had I been worried about that!

Of course everything that happens is by hashgacha pratis, and as I stood fixing our Sukkah on Chol Hamoed I couldn’t help wonder what the hashgacha pratis in losing our Sukkah could be. And then I remembered how amazed our guests had been to learn about the story of the mabul, and that even the Great Storm of Iowa was a opportunity to praise Hashem with the brachos on the thunder and lightening, and I decided that from now on, I’m going to teach these brachos to my guests first thing on Sukkos. Just in case...

Signing off now,

Dr. Getzel

ז' חשון

ז‘ חשון is a very special day because it teaches us about אהבת ישראל . ז‘ חשון is the day that the אידן living furthest from ירושלים would arrive home after spending the ימים טובים of תשרי by the בית המקדש . ז‘ חשון is also the day that the אידן in ארץ ישראל start davening for rain. They now say ‘ותן טל ומטר ’.

This teaches us a very important lesson. Many of the אידן in ארץ ישראל were farmers and we know that in order for the crops and fruit to grow, we need rain. Even though the farmers needed the rain desperately and were surely very impatient for the rain to begin, they didn’t start davening for the rain until ז‘ חשון , when they were sure that       EVERY SINGLE איד had returned home.

י"א חשון

י“א חשון is the יאהרצייט of רחל אמינו . רחל was buried on the way to בית לחם , on the side of the road. Why didn’t יעקב bury רחל in מערת המכפלה ? Didn’t he want her to be buried next to him? Wasn’t she his favourite wife?

יעקב אבינו buried רחל on the side of the road because he knew that רחל wouldn’t mind to be buried there for the sake of her children. But why did רחל need to be buried there? יעקב knew that in the future, the אידן would be sent out of ארץ ישראל into גלות and that on the way out of ארץ ישראל , they would pass by קבר רחל . They would beg רחל to daven for them. When רחל would daven for them, ה‘ would have רחמנות and promise that in her זכות , He will bring the אידן back to ארץ ישראל with משיח .

 

One of the ניסים that we are told by the נביא (ישעי‘ ) that will happen when משיח comes is that ‘the wolf will live together with the lamb’. But we know that in the days of נח , all the animals lived peacefully together in the תיבה . So what will be so special about the days of משיח if this has already happened before?
In the time of נח the whole world was in danger of destruction. In such a situation it is natural for enemies to become friends and live together. They all wanted to survive, and there was no time for fighting. In the days of משיח there will no longer be any war and there will be only much much good. Unfortunately, sometimes, when times are good and peaceful, people find time for arguments and fighting.

The נביא is therefore telling us of a נס that will happen in the days of משיח , when everyone will have loads of good: that even then there will be absolute peace and the wolf and lamb will live together.

(Adapted from ‘Vedibarta Bam’)

 

 

A very special event took place in חודש חשון : The אידן finished building the first בית המקדש - the place where ה‘ ’s שכינה came to rest. All of the אידן had a share in this great accomplishment. Do you remember learning how all the אידן contributed their gifts and talents to the משכן that משה רבינו had made? In this same way, all of the אידן helped build the בית המקדש in the time of שלמה המלך .

חודש חשון has a special ברכה : Just as the first בית המקדש was completed in this month, so too, the third בית המקדש which we are all awaiting, will be built in חודש חשון .

The mission of חודש חשון is clear: Every איד can and must take part in the building of the third בית המקדש during this special month.

How can we do this while we are still in גלות ? We can do this by increasing in learning תורה and doing מצוות . We must also influence other אידן to do the same. We must spread אידישקייט everywhere, just as קדושה spreads out from the בית המקדש to the whole world.

If we do all of this in the month that already has a special ברכה for the building of the בית המקדש , we will surely merit to see the actual building of the third בית המקדש , quickly in our days, ממש .

‘The Rebbe speaks to Children’ 

 

ר‘ יצחק שאול showed much love and patience to all the people he met - men, women and children. He was even kind to animals and birds. This was something his father,    ר‘ ניסן , had taught him since he was a young child. His father always told him that we must love everything that ה‘ made, and we must not harm any of His creatures.

ר‘ ניסן had a good reason to teach his son to be merciful, because, when יצחק שאול was a child, like many other children, many times, he had thrown stones at birds, or chased cows, goats, dogs or cats.

ר‘ ניסן had a favorite rooster. Each morning it crowed loudly, waking ר‘ ניסן up at the break of dawn. ר‘ ניסן looked after the rooster himself, making sure it had enough to eat, and keeping it in good health so that it could continue to crow loud and clear. The louder the rooster crowed, the more pleased was ר‘ ניסן . But not so little יצחק שאול . As much as his father loved the rooster, so did his young son hate it. He enjoyed harassing the bird at every opportunity.

One day, unnoticed by יצחק שאול , ר‘ ניסן came into the yard and saw his son behaving cruelly toward all of the farm animals, and the rooster in particular. Suddenly, יצחק שאול felt a heavy hand on his shoulder and looked up to see his father's angry face.

"So, this is the way you spend your time! Treating helpless creatures badly!" his father told him off sternly. "I could never imagine that a child of mine could be so cruel!"

The little frightened boy thought his father would surely give him a beating, he looked so angry. But this was not ר‘ ניסן 's way. He was a teacher of young boys. But in all of his years of teaching, he had never hurt any of his pupils, nor any of his own children. True, his "strap" hung on the wall of the classroom. But if a pupil deserved punishment ר‘ ניסן had only to point to the strap on the wall, and tell him what he deserved, and it was always enough for the culprit.

Entering the house with his son, ר‘ ניסן asked him to bring the גמרא and open it to a specific page. He told him to read the section relating to the מצוה to look after chickens with gentle care. "See how the תורה thinks of everything," ר‘ ניסן enthusiastically explained to his little son. "In another part of the גמרא , we find that we must never sit down to a meal before first looking after our animals.

"So, we see that we must first of all care for ה‘ 's creatures before we look after our own needs. Yet, you, my son, have not only ignored this teaching, but even more, have shown cruelty towards the poor creatures, which I could hardly have believed possible in a child of mine!"

יצחק שאול trembled while his father told him off. He thought his father had finished with him when, instead, he heard his father saying in a very serious voice:

"You know that it is not in my nature to hit anyone, and I have never hit you, but this time, I am going to ask you to take down the strap which is hanging on the wall. I want you to understand the pain you have given to the poor animals that you were so cruel to without thinking."

יצחק שאול took a chair and reached up for the strap which he had never before seen his father use. This in itself showed him how terrible his behaviour had been.

"Before I hit you," ר‘ ניסן said, "I want you to know quite clearly that the only reason I am doing this, is so that you will remember better the pain you have inflicted upon the birds and other living creatures."

These were the first and last blows that יצחק שאול ever received from his father, and he accepted them without a murmur.

ר‘ ניסן quickly went into another room, and a moment later יצחק שאול heard his father crying, deep and painful sobs escaping him which he seemed unable to stop.

When יצחק שאול heard his father sobbing, he realized that it was all his fault for having made his father do something so against his gentle nature. This gave the little boy more pain that the actual hitting, and he decided firmly, from that moment, never again to hurt anything or anyone.

He felt the pain for a couple of days, and walked about full of regret and shame for his bad behavior. On the third day, he suddenly went up to his father, kissed him and asked him, with tears in his eyes, if he would forgive him.

ר‘ ניסן 's eyes also filled with tears as he said to his son tenderly, "My son, you are still a little boy and I, your father, are responsible for your עבירות , which are not quite serious. But it would be dreadful if you grew up to be an unfeeling, cruel person!"

יצחק שאול felt a changed boy. And he never again behaved in a cruel way.

(Adapted from ‘The Lubavitcher Rebbe's Memoirs’)

 

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