Parshas Terumah

 

Hello again my favorite Shluchim in Training,

So how’s it going? I mean how is it really going? Are you as excited as I am? Are you as excited as you’re supposed to be? Are you really excited? I mean it is finally happening! I’ve been waiting for this for almost a whole year! Yup! You guessed it, it’s Chodesh Adar again!

As I’m sure you know, this year isn't a leap year, so we only get one Adar which will have to last us a whole year until next year Adar. The main thing for us to realize is that since this year we only have one month of Adar and not two we need to make sure to squish, push and squeeze as much simcha as we can into just twenty nine days!

Now of course kinderlach, we always have to be happy. Being besimcha and doing what Hashem wants us to do happily is the most important thing we can do. But during Adar we have to be extra specially happy. Like it says, mishenichnas Adar, marbim besimcha. Not just do we have to be happy, we need to get happier every day. I mean it makes sense doesn't it? If I was happy yesterday, and I am only the same amount happy today, then I’ve not been marbim besimcha, have I?

So every year when Adar comes around I start looking for my MADMAB lens. Actually I start looking for it a whole lot earlier because it takes time to find anything in my office. This year I got clever and I started looking for my lens while Mrs Getzel was away at the Kinus Hashluchos. You see Mrs Getzel doesn't get too excited about me looking for things in my office. I guess it is because of the way I look for things. She always tells me that I can’t see in front of my eyes, and I wouldn't see a lens if it hit me on my nose. Not that she is being mean of course, she is just trying to help me to be more organized. But I think I’m a lost case. I mean do you know anyone else who files peanut butter and jelly sandwiches under the letter B in their filing cabinet? I know that it was only because the letters P and S were already full with potato kugel (a valuable ingredient in the top secret SYM lens) and rubber stamps, but it isn’t exactly a regular way of filing things, is it?

Either way, I managed to find the MADMAB lens behind the recliner - I guess it must have rolled there sometime after last Adar - although I must admit that I did get a bit distracted when I found my long lost collection of Rebbe pictures. They must really have been lost for a long time, because the newest pictures were from the year tof shin mem! I think that must have been the year when Mrs Getzel told me that I have to Pesach clean my office myself because it took her longer to clean my small little (and messy) room, then the rest of our house put together!

So having found the MADMAB lens, it was finally time to put it to use. Of course it needed a little adjustment first, after all, this year Adar started on a Monday, with Purim falling on a Sunday, and Adar ending on a Monday, but last year Adar started on a Wednesday, with Purim falling on a Tuesday and Adar ending on a Wednesday. I didn't want the lens to become befuddled - it took a lot of work to put it together you know!

Well, now we’re all set. Tune in next week to get a look at the MADMAB lens in action, but until then, don’t forget:

Mishenichnas Adar, Marbim Besimcha!!!

Dr Getzel

 

ט' אדר

After a 12-day sea journey, S.S. Drottningholm, the ship carrying the פריערדיקער רבי , arrived at the New York harbor on Tuesday, ט‘ אדר ת“ש .  The Rebbe was rescued, with many ניסים , from Poland which was occupied by the Nazis.
Thousands of אידן came to greet the Rebbe.  When the Rebbe appeared, the crowd shouted out “שלום אליכם ” together.  A lot of people said the ברכה of שהחינו .

At the welcoming banquet, the Rebbe gave thanks to ה‘ for rescuing him and talked about all the אידן who were suffering at that time.  He said that their cries worry him by day and by night.

That very day, the Rebbe established the American branch of ישיבת תומכי תמימים .

 

A time came when the beams, poles, and silver sockets of the משכן were no longer needed. This happened when שלמה המלך built the בית המקדש in ירושלים , about five hundred years after the משכן in the מדבר was set up.

What did שלמה המלך do then with the parts of the משכן ? No part of the משכן was ever thrown away. All the beams and the other parts were holy because they had been donated by צדיקים and made by משה רבינו . Our חכמים explain that in the days of משיח , the original parts of the משכן will be returned, and ה‘ will again let His שכינה rest on them.

*  *   *   *   *   *  

This פרשה tells of the תרומה that בני ישראל gave to build the בית המקדש . The בית המקדש protected בני ישראל from גלות .

Now, when there is no בית המקדש , צדקה is just like the בית המקדש and saves us from גלות .

By giving צדקה , we bring closer the revelation of משיח , as our חכמים said,   "צדקה מקרבת את הגאולה ". "צדקה brings the גאולה closer.”

 

(Continued from last week)
“When his friend in Warsaw happened to glance out the window of his mansion that day and saw his partner approaching, a strange thought entered his mind. ‘Oh no!!! It’s him!’ he thought, ‘Why did he have to come now!! If he wants his money I’ll lose that big deal that I’ve been working at for years!’ He paced back and forth in his warm, richly-decorated room, poured himself a brandy, made a ברכה , drank it down, loosened his collar, and called his servants.

“Well, you can imagine the disappointment of the poor man when one of the servants came to the gate and informed him that the owner was away and they had no idea when he would be back.

“It was already evening and he was so very tired from the trip. He sat down at the gate to rest for a few minutes and drowsed off to sleep. It must have been an unusually cold night that night, or perhaps he was not feeling well, but whatever the reason, the next morning they found him huddled up at the gate… dead.

“The poor partner’s נשמה went up to the בית דין של מעלה and there he was informed, after a very short trial, that because of the great מצוה he had done by helping his friend in his time of need, he would go to גן עדן . The poor איד however immediately asked about his partner. ‘Your partner’s selfishness was responsible for your death’ was the answer, ‘when he passes away, he will be punished.’ ‘If so,’ the poor man’s נשמה replied ‘I shall not enter גן עדן until he is given another chance.’

“So the court decided, after long thoughts, that the only solution would be that both partners would have to return to the world after they passed away. The stingy partner would come down again as a rich man and the kind one would have to come down again as a poor man who would collect צדקה from him. Only after the rich one paid all his debt would he be allowed to enter גן עדן .

“The נשמה of the kind man agreed and eventually they both came back down into this world.”

The בעל שם טוב paused, looked at his shocked guest and continued. “The mean partner grew up to be rich and his poor friend came every day to ask him for a donation. This went on for years until one day the rich man was in a bad mood and when the poor man knocked at his door a bit too loudly, the rich man lost his temper, opened the door, struck the poor man over the head with his cane and …. unintentionally killed him! (Of course he didn’t realize that it was the second time he’d killed the same man and that he just ruined his only chance for doing תשובה .) The rich man felt terrible, he had killed a man! But then he realized that he was in big trouble; he was guilty of murder! He looked about him desperately and seeing that no one was around, dragged the body to a side of his huge garden, dug a hole and buried him.

“And that’s the end of the story!” said the בעל שם טוב . “Have a safe journey back home!”

The visitor did not move. He was sitting motionless … stunned as though he’d just received devastating news.

“Are you all right?” asked the בעל שם טוב . “Can I bring you a cup of water?” Tears were streaming down his face and his body was shaking, he was weeping uncontrollably.

“That was me!” he whispered, “I killed that man!!! I buried him in my garden.”

With these words he slid off the chair onto his knees and then rolled up into a ball on the floor and wept like a baby. “ה‘ … My נשמה is destroyed!”

“No” answered the בעל שם טוב “I didn’t tell you your story for nothing. There is always hope! ה‘ has רחמנות , even for you. You must give away all your money and wander for the rest of your life helping others. If you are sincere, ה‘ will forgive you.”

 

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