Parshas Vayakhel-Pekudei
Yud Zayin Adar 5766
Volume 2
Issue 21
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
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cyh@shluchim.org
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THE SHLUCHIM OFFICE
PARSHAS VAYAKHEL-PEKUDEI
The fourth grade was having a contest to see who could study the most mishnayos by heart. The teacher, Rabbi Stern, divided the class into two teams. Every student could earn points for each mishnah that he memorized and win a prize at the end. And that wasn't all, the more points each student earned, the higher the score for his team. Each student on the winning team would get an extra prize.
That morning, Moishy was in a bad mood. When Rabbi Stern announced who would be on each team, Moishy grumbled, "I don't want to be on any team!" Rabbi Stern didn't insist, and continued calling out the names.
The next day the fourth grade students spent every extra moment studying mishnayos. Rabbi Stern was especially pleased to overhear some boys encouraging others, "Come on, we need your points for the team to win." Later, when the boys lined up to be tested, Moishy joined them. "Rabbi Stern, I want to earn some points too. Please test me."
"I'm sorry, Moishy. If you want to earn points for the mishnayos you learned, you have to join your team."
"But Rabbi Stern, I studied and I know a lot by heart. Can't I just collect my own points?"
"Sorry, these are the contest rules. Your own points can count only when you join your team.
"You know, Moishy, we can see this idea in the names of the parshiyos Vayakhel and Pekudei. Vayakhel means 'and he gathered.' It tells us how Moshe Rabbeinu gathered the Jewish people together, and joined them into a single group - Klal Yisrael. Klal Yisrael is made up of many different individuals. The Torah teaches us that this is not just a group of many people. It is one unit, bound together with achdus.
"The second parshah is Pekudei which means "counting." Here, Moshe was taking inventory of the mishkan, counting every part, singling out each piece. This teaches us that each individual is special; every one of us counts."
"Vayakhel comes before Pekudei. To count as individuals, to show who we are and what we can do, we must first realize that we are part of the achdus which binds all Jews together."‘Please Tell Me What the Rebbe Said’
(Adapted from the Sichos of Shabbos
Parshas Vayakhel-Pekudei, 5752)
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Some say I’m first, some say I’m seventh Last weeks’ brain buster: My first opens, my second lifts. Answer: כי תשא |
Congratulations to Shea Kaltmann from New Albany, Ohio |
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Dear Junior Shluchim,
(Until after Pesach, I’m changing my name to Getz because Getzel rhymes with pretzel and pretzels are chometz.)
I’ve been very busy cleaning for Pesach. Mrs. Getzel makes me work very hard before Pesach so that on the night of the Seder I really feel like I left Mitzrayim! We started cleaning for Pesach by scrubbing the green shingles on the roof (don’t ask me how chometz might have gotten up there!) and we won’t stop until all the grass on the front lawn is sparkling green. When we’re finished, not even a half of a piece of macaroni will be left.
You’re probably thinking, “Wait a minute, what terrible thing did the chometz do to deserve this kind of treatment?” Well, that’s why they call me Doctor, because I answer those kinds of “thinks.” I’m Dr. Getzel, world famous eye-doctor and Pesach-cleaner and I help kids see hidden things with my special COL (Chassidic Out Look) lens.
In order to answer your question we’re going to need to carefully examine a piece of chometz. To start, get a loaf of bread and a magnifying glass. If you look really closely, you’ll see... lots of poppy seeds! Oops. I knew I forgot something. Without my COL lens to see the chometz from the right, Chassidishe perspective, all we were able to see were poppy seeds.
Let’s try this once more. Put on your COL lens and look at the bread again. See how fluffy and puffy it is? That’s because of the yeast in it that makes it rise and grow. Now, activate your outside-IN vision to imagine that puffy bread wearing a yarmulka, shirt and pants. Next, put a face on it. Does the bread-boy look familiar to you? He reminds me of when I feel important and haughty. Like last week when I won that baseball game. I felt so high and mighty that I stuck my nose in the air. Yikes! All of the sudden I started to grow and grow and grow... until I looked just like a fluffy, puffy bread-boy, all puffed-up with pride!
As Junior Shluchim of the Rebbe, we always need to make sure that we are humble. We should be proud of the good things we accomplish but we need to be careful not to brag and boast about what we do. We don’t want to rise and grow like a puffed-up loaf of bread!
Happy cleaning and good-bye ‘till next week!
Dr. Getz
Devorah Leah & Menucha Rochel Ezagui, age 10 & 8
Palm Beach Gardens, FloridaHi my name is Devorah Leah Ezagui and I am 10 years old, and my name is Menucha Rochel Ezagui and I am 8 years old. We live in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. We have a big Chabad house and my father has a Kabbala Center as well. We go to my mother's school and it's called J.S.A. or The Jewish School of the Arts. We have a lot of programs, like on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays we have Hebrew school and it is really fun, instead of just sitting and learning we have all these professional teachers come in and teach everyone like a karate teacher, a Spanish teacher, a violin teacher, a ceramic teacher, a yoga teacher, a piano teacher, a chess teacher and a lot more. We do Jewish things like on Tu B’shvat we made fruits in ceramics and learnt the name of fruits in Spanish. We also have a ladies class on Tuesdays and on Wednesdays we have lunch n' learn. My father has a radio show called ‘Kosher Caffeine for your Lunch Hour. Every month on motzei shabbos we have a free dinner. My sister and I help put out the Kiddush on Shabbos, give people a siddur and chumash and show them the place and we try to be nice to people when they come.
כ"ה אדר
Birthday of רבצין חי' מושקא
רביצין חי“ה מושקא was born on שבת ,כ“ה אדר , in the year תרס“א (1901). She was born in the town of Babinovitch which is near the town of Lubavitch.
In a שיחה that the Rebbe gave on כ“ה אדר תשמ“ח , on the רביצין ’s 87th birthday and about a month after she passed away, the Rebbe began מבצע יום הולדת . The Rebbe asked that people should celebrate their birthdays and use the day to make a חשבון הנפש and make החלטות to add in מצוות .
כ"ז אדר
It was Monday, כ"ז אדר.
The Rebbe, like on all other Mondays and Thursdays, traveled to the Ohel of the פריערדיקער רבי . Everything went on as usual. In the last weeks, the Rebbe very much stressed about bringing the גאולה and that everyone should do what they can to bring the גאולה . It was חודש אדר , and we were able to feel the חיות .
Suddenly, the news was heard around the entire world. The Rebbe fell in the Ohel! At first, we didn't fully understand what had happened, but it didn’t take long to hear that the Rebbe had a “stroke!”
Children didn’t want to believe this. The Rebbe has to be healthy and strong, and we want to continue hearing the פארבריינגען ’s and receiving dollars! What will חסידים do? The happy days of אדר turned into dark, hard days.
חסידים were certain that any day the Rebbe would become well and continue as before. However, as we have seen, Hashem decided to continue in a different way.
From כ”ז אדר א‘ תשנ”ב , until ג‘ תמוז תשנ”ד , we were only able to see the Rebbe on the balcony. During special times, we were able to pass by the Rebbe and the Rebbe looked at us with his holy eyes, but we didn’t hear חסידות and פארבריינגען ’s. Now, as חסידים in דור השביעי , we wait with complete אמונה for the day when all the הבטחות of the רבי will be מקיים .
What do חסידים , and דוקא the שלוחים do in our times? The Rebbe wrote about the פריערדיקער רבי , that when he passed away, we didn't’ hear חסידות from him. We, the חסידים should be his hands, feet and mouth. The חסידים must continue spreading חסידות like the Rebbe constantly did in a גשמיות way. The Rebbe very clearly gave over to the חסידים the זכות and responsibility to do this holy עבודה .
דוקא now, when Hashem stopped the גשמיות‘דיקע giving over of חסידות , the חסידים must strengthen ourselves in the Rebbe’s holy work of הפצת המעינות until we will be זוכה to ”והיו עיניך רואות את מוריך“ - we will once again see our Rebbe with the גאולה השלימה now!
This Shabbos is שבת מברכים חודש ניסן
שבת morning I made sure to say תהילים . (Remember to say your quota for the World-Wide Tehillim club)
I went to Shul and made the special ברכה for the new month of ניסן . (The ברכה can be found in the סידור after שחרית for שבת )
ראש חודש ניסן
Thursday א‘ ניסן -
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I remembered to say יעלה ויבא in שמונה עשרה and in bentching.
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I remembered to say הלל after שמונה עשרה .
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I remembered to daven מוסף .
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I remembered to say ברכי נפשי after the שיר של יום .
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(For Girls) I didn’t sew or do any laundry
Do you wonder why there is more than one ספר תורה in the ארון קודש ? That's because on special occasions, we have to read from more than one. On שבת פרשת החודש we read from two ספרי תורה . And if ראש חודש is on שבת , we read from three! Each ספר תורה will be opened to a different portion. From one ספר תורה , we will read the פרשה of the week. From the second, we will read about the special קרבנות brought on ראש חודש . And from the third ספר תורה , we will read פרשת החודש .
In this portion, ה‘ commands the אידן to calculate the days of the months and ensure that all the ימים טובים fall at their proper time. The portion begins with the words: החודש הזה לכם ראש חדשים - "This month is the first of months for you...."
Why does the תורה say "for you"? Is this the first month for us, but not for other people?
Actually - yes! The Jewish calendar is different from other calendars. While most other nations fix their calendars according to the cycle of the sun, the Jewish calendar is arranged according to the cycle of the moon.
The sun follows a steady course in the sky. It rises and sets every day, 365 days a year, without changing its size or shape.
But the moon is different. It appears in many shapes and sizes. At the beginning of the month, it looks like a banana. Afterwards, it grows and looks like a slice of melon. Between the 14th and 15th days of the month, it becomes full like a ball. For the next two weeks, the moon becomes smaller day by day, until at the end of the month, we don't see it at all. But soon afterwards, it reappears and begins its cycle once again.
Like our calendar, every one of us follows the moon's pattern. Instead of remaining constant like the sun, we change like the moon. When we study the תורה and fulfil its מצוות , the light of ה‘ within us shines more powerfully. But if we are careless, that light may be covered up.
Our entire people also follows the pattern of the moon. Throughout our history, we have had periods when we shone brilliantly with the light of תורה , reaching far and wide. But there have been other times when our light has been hidden in the shadows of גלות .
We are now living in a very special time. We must prepare ourselves for the light of גאולה which will shine with the coming of משיח , the descendant of the House of דוד .
One Friday afternoon a stranger appeared at the door of the famous צדיק , ר‘ יצחק אייזק of Vitebsk, asking him to arrange a דין תורה . It was already after midday and ר‘ יצחק אייזק was about to go to the bathhouse to prepare for the holy שבת . "Is the matter so important that we have to deal with it right now?" he asked the visitor. "Can't it wait until Sunday morning?"
"I am a melamed," answered the man. "I teach little children from early in the morning until late at night, with a short break in the middle of the day for lunch. On Friday I teach only until noon. Today is the only chance I have to come to you!" he pleaded.
"But where is the other side in the דין תורה ?" asked ר‘ יצחק אייזק .
"He is already here," the man answered. "I wish to bring a דין תורה against the רבונו של עולם ."
ר‘ יצחק אייזק went back inside and put on the streimel he wore only on שבת , יום טוב and other serious occasions. He sat on his special chair and prepared himself to hear the case. "You, obviously, have a complaint. Please tell me what it is," he said.
The melamed got straight to the point. "Our חכמים teach in the גמרא and מדרש that there are three partners in the creation of man," he began. "My wife and I have a daughter who has, ברוך ה‘ , reached marriageable age, but we do not have enough money to find her a proper שידוך . The third partner, however, has unlimited funds, but He refuses to part with His wealth. That is the main point why I am upset," the man concluded.
ר‘ יצחק אייזק shut his eyes and thought the matter over. After a few minutes of thinking he pronounced his פסק דין . "You are right," he told the man. "You have won the case." The thankful melamed went home to prepare for שבת .
The following Sunday, when the melamed came home during his lunch break, he found a decorative carriage with several servants waiting in front of his house. At first he was quite worried but his worries went away when he found out why they had come: On the same block where the melamed and his family dwelled, lived a גוישע boy who had recently gotten a job in the פוריץ 's palace. For almost a month the פוריץ 's wife had suffered from a terrible toothache. None of the dentists they brought to her were able to take away her pain. When the servant boy saw the woman's suffering, he mentioned to the landowner that there was Jewish woman on his block —the melamed’s wife— who was able to "whisper" a toothache away (a popular cure at the time among the simple people). He suggested that the melamed's wife be brought to the palace to try and cure the פוריץ ’s wife.
At first the פוריץ just laughed at the boy's silly suggestion, but after trying every other alternative he agreed to send for the Jewish woman. The melamed's wife was summoned to the great mansion.
The פוריץ 's wife was in terrible agony. She was groaning in pain. After a short rest from the long journey the melamed's wife was brought to the suffering woman and asked to perform her cure. She "whispered" over the affected teeth and the painful toothache was miraculously gone.
The פוריץ and his wife were extremely grateful to the Jewish woman who had brought relief to their entire household. They asked her what she would accept as payment. "My husband is a teacher of small children," the woman answered. "His salary does not even begin to pay our many expenses. Our oldest daughter is of marriageable age, but we haven't the money with which to make a wedding."
"How much money would you need to marry her off?" asked the landowner.
"Five hundred rubles for the dowry, 300 for food, and another 200 for the wedding celebration," the woman said.
Without another word, the פוריץ gratefully paid the astonished woman the entire sum. And when, later, the melamed's wife mentioned that she also needed pillows and linens, the landowner instructed his servants to fill his entire carriage with household furnishings and other gifts as tokens of his deep appreciation.
In this way ר‘ יצחק אייזק 's פסק דין was carried out.
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Last Week’s Winners:
Level 1:
Shmuel Mendel Tenenbaum, age 9 from Melbourne, Australia
Level 2:
Yisrolik Kievman, age 12 from Liverpool, England
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