Parshas Beshalach
Yud Bais Shevat 5766
Volume 2
Issue 15
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 YISRO
In this week's פרשה , we read about the most important event in the history of בני ישראל - מתן תורה . When the Yidden reached Har Sinai, the Torah tells us: "And ישראל camped there, opposite the mountain." The תורה uses the word ויחן which means "and he camped." Shouldn't it have said ויחנו , "and they camped," as it says many times when describing the בני ישראל ’s journeys in the מדבר ?
But camping at הר סיני was different, because there בני ישראל would receive the תורה . The תורה teaches us how the world was created by the one and only Creator, and that everything in the world exists for one purpose: to reveal Hashem's holiness. The תורה shows us how to fulfill this purpose, and when we do so, we bring אחדות , unity, into our world.
Since the תורה bringsאחדות in the world, before they could receive the תורה , the Jewish people had to feel אחדות among themselves. This is why the תורה says "ויחן " - "and he camped." Our חבמים teach that the entire בני ישראל camped "as one person, with one heart." Every איד has a נשמה which is "a part of Hashem," and this makes us one nation. At הר סיני , the אידין felt this אחדות more powerfully. When Hashem saw that בני ישראל felt this אחדות , He knew the time had come to give the תורה .
But wait; let's take a closer look. The תורה tells us that at הר סיני , משה רבינו climbed high on the mountain, אהרון and his sons stood lower, and the זקנין were further away, while the rest of בני ישראל stood even farther off. Is this אחדות ?
Yes, it is. אחדות does not mean that we are all the same, but rather that we all feel close and are joining our efforts to do the same thing. We are all part of one united nation with a single purpose: to follow the תורה ’s guidelines and reveal Hashem's holiness in the world.
We can see how this works in our own bodies. We all have one body, but it is made up of many parts. Each part is different and has a job of its own. But they are all part of one body, and when all these parts work together, our bodies are healthy and strong.
So though there may be different levels, positions and roles among our people, we are each part of one whole.
‘Please Tell Me What the Rebbe Said’(Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, Vol. IV & Vol. XXI)
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Spice of life Last weeks’ brain buster: My beginning has 41 and my end is an end Answer: ים סוף |
Congratulations to the Matusof Family from Madison, Wisconsin for solving the brain buster. |
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Hey Kids,
Have you ever seen googly eyes on a puppet or toy clown? It's a set of eyeballs that spin in circles, and they usually belong to toys rather than humans. I'm a professional Seeing Professor and I learned in my Special Specialized Spectacle School that humans cannot have googly eyes. I've seen all kinds of eyes: green eyes and black eyes, red eye and pink eye, eyes that are warm or cold, young or old, and happy or sad, but I've never seen a human with googly eyes. Yesterday, however, as sure as my name is Dr. Getzel from Iowa, I actually did see a human with googly eyes!
And it wasn't just anyone whose eyes were spinning in circles; it was the plump pilot of flight 1341 flying United from Iowa International Airport to JFK in New York. It happened like this: Last night (Wednesday), I happened to see many ladies wearing high heels and short earrings and many girls wearing small bags and big smiles, going to the airport. I asked them where they were going and they told me they were on their way to the annual Chof-Beis Shevat convention in New York
for Shluchos.
They didn't know if I was invited, but I decided to come along anyway. As we boarded flight 1341 United from Iowa to JFK, the plump pilot looked a bit
confused. He asked me where so many happy girls and ladies were going, and I knew it was going to be hard to explain a Shluchos Convention to a plump, and mostly bald, pilot of a United flight. I scratched my head, which thankfully is not bald, and began to explain.
Shluchim and Shluchos are messengers from the Rebbe who have the job of reaching out and touching every Jew. I asked him if he was good with numbers, and he began scratching his head too.
- There are about 2000 Shluchim who go to the convention every year
- There are about 1350 Shluchos who come to the convention every year
- Today are about 5000 couples on Shlichus throughout the world
- There are over 2500 mosdos (i.e. schools, camps, Chabad Houses and Mikvahs)…
- There are about 16,000 children of Shluchim who help their parents
The pilot's eyes started spinning as I was rattling off the numbers. I never saw eyes like that; they were downright googly, like a puppet or a toy. “If there are so many kids and mothers and fathers in so many countries and cities and states,” he asked, “how many Jews do you think they touched all together?”
Hard question. How many Jews have been affected by all the kids, mothers, and fathers together? For sure more than a thousand, more than a million, more than a trillion, more than an octillion—it must be a GOOGOL (!) Jews who have been touched by the Rebbe's many messengers.
Googol is the highest number we know of. It looks like this in scientific notation: 1000000000000000000000000.
When I told him that number, I saw his eyes going really googly. “Oh golly, golly,” he said, “If these people are reaching a GOOGOL of Jews, I'll fly them to New York for free.”
And I missed the flight. But I'm sure you are going to have a great flight with a plump pilot, who is bald, and whose eyes have gone googly thinking of how many Jews you kids and your parents have affected. Sometimes you wonder if your little Mivtza in your little city means anything, but now you know the BIG PICTURE—together we are reaching a GOOGOL of Jews.
Have a good trip,
Dr. Getzel
Mendel Greenberg, age 6
Shainghai, ChinaHi, My name is Mendel Greenberg and I am on Shlichus in Shanghai, China. I am six years old and I have one brother and two sisters.
Chaya'le is 5, Levik is 3 and our little baby whose name is Chana'le is five months old, ka"h.
We have a Shanghai Jewish Center that is our Chabad House. It has a shul, a school and a restaurant. Our school has four classes so far, and I am in the oldest class. My class is learning Chumash and script ksiva already! We also have a davening chart that we fill up together and when it is finished we all get a prize. In Shanghai we also have Hebrew school and Kidzone and Story hour for the children who don't come to our school.
Shabbos is my favorite day of the week. Every Shabbos we daven Maariv in shul, then we have the first Shabbos meal. We usually have a lot of guests, like 80 or 100 on Friday night. Every Friday night during my father's Dvar Torah and on Shabbos day during the Torah reading, our Morahs do a Shabbos program for me, my friends and my family. I also read the Connections on Shabbos and I love it! All the Yomim Tovim are also my favorite and we have parties with our community that are so much fun!
I can also be a Shliach myself! I help my father sings songs on Shabbos with our guests and I always help show the guest where to go, or where the place is in the bentchers.
Let's all help Moshiach come quickly so we can get to see the Bais Hamikdash!
כ"ב שבט
יארצייט of רבצין חי' מושקא
רביצין חי‘ה מושקא שניאורסאן was born in the Russian city of Babinovitch, which is near Lubavitch, on כ"ה אדר in 1901. She was the second daughter of theפריערדיקער רבי . From her earliest years, she absorbed the קדושה that surrounded her, in the house of her grandfather and her father.
On י"ד כסלו she married the Rebbe, in Warsaw, Poland.
The רביצין was one of the Rebbe’s greatest חסידים . It was she who encouraged the Rebbe to accept the נשיאות , even though she knew that it meant giving up her husband to the חסידים . She said “Should 30 years of my father’s מסירת נפש come to nothing?” She also showed this during the court case to decide who the library belonged to.
When the lawyer asked her: "To whom did the ספרים belong?" the רביצין famously answered: "My father himself, and everything he had, including the ספרים , belong to the חסידים .Her clear answer and the way she spoke made a deep impression on the judge and it was one of the reasons that he decided that the library belonged to the חסידים .
The רבצין passed away on Wednesdayכ“ב שבט תשמ"ח after a short illness. Shortly before she passed away,רבצין חי‘ה מושקא asked for a glass of water. After saying the ברכה “ ...שהכל נהיה בדברו ” she returned her נשמהto ה‘ . Fifteen thousand people gathered at her לויה to say goodbye to a true queen. The לויה was led by an official police motorcade.
The afternoon after the לויה , the Rebbe asked that a צדקה fund, named for the רביצין , should be established as quickly as possible. קרן החמ“ש (ראשי תיבות for חי‘ה מושקא שניאורסאן ) was started. During the following years, the Rebbe gave large amounts of money from this fund to both מוסדות for women as well as for women in need of help all over the world.
On Sunday, כ“ד אדר תשמ“ח , was the הנחת אבן הפינה for "Campus Chomesh," in memory of the רביצין . Near the end, the Rebbe himself suddenly arrived. From the car window the Rebbe handed Rabbi Avraham Shemtov 470 dollars (the גמטריא of "חיה מושקא ") saying, "I am on the way to the אוהל , and I shall visit her (resting place) as well. Tonight is her birthday, and this is my participation and her participation in this new building."
In the days and months after רביצין חיה מושקא passed away, the Rebbe spoke many times that “והחי יתן על לבו ”—how when someone close to us passes away we should take on החלטות in their memory especially in areas that they were strong in.In the years after she passed away, hundreds of Lubavitch מוסדות around the world have been established in honor of her memory, many מקואות are named for her and numerous publications are also dedicated to her memory.
There are also many girls around the world who have the זכות to haveרבצין חיה מושקא ‘s name.
For the first יארצייט of רביצין חי‘ה מושקא , in תשמ"ט , the Rebbe asked that a כינוס should be started for theשלוחות . That year, 400 שלוחות from around the world joined the כינוס . In honor of the כינוס the Rebbe gave over a special שיחה . Only שלוחות and their babies were allowed into the main shul of 770 to hear. The Rebbe spoke about being בשמחה , about being a שלוחה and making our homes into a מקדש מעט .
This year, תשס"ו , over 1600 שלוחות are expected to come to the כינוס from over 65 countries all over the world.
A lesson from Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka's Name and Yartzeit
"חי‘ה" means "life." The רבצין 's life was filled with מצות and acts of goodness and kindness."מושקא" means “perfume” in a different language. Our חכמים explain that the sense of smell brings pleasure to our נשמות .
כ"ב שבט is the day of רבצין חי‘ מושקא ’s יארצייט . The number 22 hints to the 22 letters of the א‘-ב‘ . Our חכמים explain that ה‘ created the world using these letters. The א‘-ב‘ is a way that Hashem’s חיות gives life to the גשמיותדיקע world.
From the רבצין‘ס name and from the date of her יארצייט we can take a lesson for ourselves and our lives. We should fill our days with acts of goodness, kindness, that spread and penetrate even the lowest parts of this world.With each איד working toward this end, we will soon see that אלקות truly fills this world with the revelation of משיח and the גאולה השלימה now!
Sto
ries of רבצין חי' מושקא
Really Feel for the Other Person
The Friday night before she passed away was a bitterly cold night. During a conversation with her visitor, the רבצין mentioned, "When I think that you have to go out [to go home], I become cold."
We should care so much about other people that we feel for them and even anticipate their discomfort. We can accomplish this by putting our own considerations aside, as the רבצין did on this night when she was already very sick, and focusing entirely on the other person.
The Importance of Humility
One year, in honor of her birthday, the Lubavitch Women's Organization sent the רבצין a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Together with the bouquet was an envelope that contained a list of names of people who were in need of a ברכה . The intention was that the list be given to the Rebbe.The person who accepted the bouquet gave it to the רבצין and submitted the envelope to the Rebbe. The Rebbe looked at the envelope, upon which the רבצין‘ס name had been written, and asked why it was not given to the רבצין . The person explained that it contained a list of names of people who were in need of a ברכה . The Rebbe responded, "Nu, she can also בענטש them!"
But when the רבצין communicated an answer from the Rebbe, she would always convey it word for word, saying, "This was the exact answer." She refused to ever add an explanation but only repeated the Rebbe’s words exactly.
No matter our own greatness or importance, our own abilities or position of power, being humble is an מדה .
In the זכות of the רבצין , may we immediately be privileged to see the conclusion of the coming of משיח now!
Caring for Every Jew
This story was told by Rabbi Halberstam who worked for רבצין חי‘ מושקא for 18 years and was also her driver.
The Rebbe asked Rabbi Halberstam to make sure that the רבצין got some fresh air every day. Rabbi Halberstam and the רבצין would usually drive out to a park in Long Island. One day, as they were driving, they saw that one of the streets they usually drove along was closed and they had to take a detour along a different street. As they were driving along that street, they suddenly heard the sounds of a woman screaming in Russian. At the next traffic light, the רבצין asked Rabbi Halberstam “I heard a woman screaming; can you go back and see what that was about?"
They drove back to the beginning of the street. There they saw a woman standing on the curb and crying, while near her movers were carrying furniture and household items from a house and loading them on to a truck. Near the truck stood an official looking man holding a clipboard. Rabbi Halberstam parked the car and went to ask the official what was going on. The official explained that the woman hadn’t paid her rent for many months so she was now being evicted from her home.
When Rabbi Halberstam told the רבצין all this, she asked him to go back and inquire from the official how much the woman owed and she also asked him not to say anything to the family being evicted. Rabbi Halberstam didn’t understand why the רבצין wanted him to do this, but he did exactly what she asked.. The sum that the family owed was approximately $6,700. The official said that if he received the payment, his men would carry everything back into the house. When Rabbi Halberstam informed the רבצין of the details, she took out her checkbook and, to his amazement, wrote out a check for the full amount, and asked him to give it to the official.
With an amazed look on his face the official instructed his workers to take everything back into the house. The רבצין immediately urged Rabbi Halberstam to quickly drive away, before the woman realized what had happened.
Rabbi Halberstam was completely amazed at what he had seen and later, when they were in the park, he could not hold back his curiosity anymore and asked the רבצין what had prompted her to give such a large sum to a total stranger?
"Do you really want to know?" asked the רבצין .
"Yes, I do," he replied.
"Then I'll tell you," she said. "Once, when I was a young girl, my father (the פריערדיקער רבי ) took me for a walk in the park. He sat me down on a bench and started to tell me about the idea of השגחה פרטית . Every time -- said my father -- when something causes us to change from our normal routine, there is a reason for this; every time we see something unusual, there is a purpose in why we've been shown this sight.
"Today," continued the רבצין , "when I saw the 'Detour' sign instructing us to change from our regular route, I remembered my father's words and immediately thought to myself: Every day we drive by this street; suddenly, the street's closed off and we're sent to a different street. What is the purpose of this? How is this connected to me? Then I heard the sound of a woman crying and screaming. I realized that we have been sent along this route for a purpose."
See the printable version of Connections for incredible fun pages!
Last Week’s Winners:
Level 1:
Yisrolik Baumgarten, age 5 from Rockaway, New Jersey
Level 2:
Mendel Fischer, age 6 from Augusta, Georgia
We'd love to hear your feedback! Send us your comments, ideas and suggestions to: connections@shluchim.org
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