Parshas Behar Bechukosai

 

Hey there my favorite Junior Shluchim,
Can you believe that we are almost there? In just another couple of weeks we’ll have made it. Yup, all the way to the top, right up there to Matan Torah.
So how has your Sefiras HaOmer been going? Mine has its ups and downs if you get what I mean. Boruch Hashem there've been more ups then downs, and when I was up, boy was I up, so I try not to think about the downs too much.
Are you still following me? Good, then let me explain. You see for the last few weeks I was busy with the new lens that I made, the SOL lens, that I thought up, designed and made especially for this special time of year. Now one of the most important parts of making a lens comes at the end when the lens is actually made and ready for use. It is the CHENE process. Without a proper CHENE, the lens isn’t worth the paper it’s designed on. So what is a CHENE, I hear you asking?
Well the truth is that all of us have to make a CHENE on regular occasions. There is the CHENE that we make at the end of each week - normally on a Thursday night before Shabbos - and there is the CHENE that we make at the end of each year - in Chodesh Elul. In Chodesh Elul itself, the last twelve days, from Chai Elul until Rosh Hashanah is the time to make a CHENE on the twelve months of the year, and we are told that in Chodesh Tishrei, during the seven days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kipper we should make a CHENE on each of the days of the week in the past year.
Of course a CHENE is a Cheshbon HaNefesh! After making a new lens, the next most important job on my hands is to make a proper Cheshbon HaNefesh and think about all the time that I spent making the lens. Did I spend it all properly? Did I waste too much time? How could I have wasted less time. And so on and so forth.

Unfortunately for me, forgetful that I am, it can get quite difficult to make a Cheshbon HaNefesh. After all, if I can’t remember where I put my car keys, how can I be expected to remember what I did last Thursday. But Boruch Hashem, with a bit of help from Above, I normally manage to pull through and after each finished lens I manage to come up with new and better ways to use my time the next time I make a lens.

Now, getting back to my ups and downs, I was just giving you a mini, personal CHENE on my Sefiras HaOmer, and how it’s been going for me.

Anyway, that’s all they left me space for this week. Good luck with your CHENE’s!

Dr Getzel

 

This שבת is שבת מברכים חודש סיון

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 סיון . (The ברכה can be found in the סידור after שחרית for שבת )

 

The beginning of פרשת אמור tells us that a כהן is not allowed to become טמא by coming close to a dead body. But for a close relative of the כהן , such as his sister, he is allowed to become טמא . Even more so, he is commanded to become טמא - לה יטמא .

The גמרא says that ה‘ is compared to a כהן . We are therefore left with the question - since we are still טמא in גלות , and ה‘ is like a כהן , how will He be allowed to take us out of גלות ?!

But the זוהר explains that בני ישראל are like ה‘ 's sister. In this way ה‘ has no problem taking us out of גלות - right away!!

 

During ספירת העומר , we count the days that go by.  We are not just counting to see time pass; we have to make sure that each day is a day worth counting.  We have to be sure to accomplish something every day.

In מצרים , the אידן were influenced by the מצריים 's ways.  When the אידן left מצרים , they had to work to fix and improve themselves.  For this reason, ה‘ gave them forty-nine days until they received the תורה .  During each day, they had something specific to improve, until, on the fiftieth day, they were all fixed up and ready for the תורה .

We also have to work on improving ourselves during the עומר .  We are also preparing to receive the תורה on שבועות , and we have to be ready.

Just like we fix ourselves during אייר , ה‘ fixes anyone who needs help.  אייר is a good time for anyone who is sick or needs to be healed.  This is hinted to in the letters that make up the name אייר .  They are:

א : This stands for "אני ", which means "I am."

י and י : stands for ה‘ 's name.

ר : "רופך " - your healer.

The name אייר stands for "אני ה‘ רופך " - I am ה‘ , your Healer. אייר is a time of healing and fixing, both in what we do and how we feel.

 

 

The גמרא tells us that there are עשרה מאמרות - 10 sayings - in the פסוקים that tell us about the creation of the world. However, there are only nine times that the word "ויאמר " — "and ה‘ said” appears, the גמרא tell us, and it answers, that             "בראשית נמי מאמר הוא " — "the word 'בראשית ' — 'in the beginning' — is also a מאמר , as it is says, 'By the word of ה‘ the heavens were made.' "

"בראשית " literally means "in the beginning." What in this word tells us ה‘ 's command that there be heavens and earth?

On the first day, when ה‘ created the heavens and earth, He actually included in their creation all that was done on the next five days. On each of the days He merely gave a command to a specific item to start working or go into its proper place.

Before the actual creation of the world, ה‘ first thought it over in His mind. Just as when a king wants to issue a command, all he needs to do is say one word and his message is clearly understood and obeyed, likewise, when ה‘ was ready to actually create the world, He uttered one word: "ראשית " — "beginning." This was His order that there be a beginning, i.e. a start of the world He had planned to create, and straight away there were heavens and earth and everything which they included.

So, according to the גמרא , the first word of the first פסוק of תורה , "בראשית ," means "ב " — "with" — "ראשית " — "beginning" — ה‘ created the heavens and the earth.

(Adapted from ‘Vedibarta Bam’)

 

In Baghdad, there lived a Jewish man who sold vegetables.  His name was אברהם . אברהם was very poor, but he was very careful not to overcharge his customers. אברהם was a very honest man, and he also had pity on his customers, many of whom were as poor as himself. His wife worried that they did not have enough money to feed the family, but what could he do? Although he was not able to bring home much money, אברהם was always happy.

In שמים , they decided that it was time to reward אברהם for his righteous ways. The good מלאכים insisted that he had had enough difficulties, and he deserved an easier life. The bad מלאכים also wanted אברהם to be rewarded, but for a different reason; they thought that riches might tempt him to change his ways…

That night, the Caliph (King) was sitting together with his astrologer on the roof of the palace. The astrologer would point out stars to the king and explain what they meant and what the Caliph's fortunes were.

The astrologer did not like the אידן , and he always searched the stars for a sign that he could use against the אידן . Suddenly, the Caliph and the astrologer saw a falling star shoot across the sky. The astrologer jumped at the opportunity, and told the Caliph that this was the Star of David. Its falling meant that the אידן 's good fortune was over, and it was time to chase them out of the country.

The Caliph argued that ה‘ Himself takes care of the Jews, so the fortunes that are seen in the stars do not mean anything for them. The astrologer explained that this is true only as long as the אידן keep תורה and מצוות . When they start to act not as they should, ה‘ stops taking care of them and the stars decide their fate. Hearing this, the Caliph agreed to send the אידן out of the country as long as the astrologer brought proof that they were not acting as they should, and that ה‘ was not protecting them as much as before.

The astrologer came up with an idea. He suggested that they find a איד in Baghdad who was both very poor and very righteous. The Caliph would order him to work at a job that he was unable to do. If the man succeeded, became rich, and continued to act as he had before, then the astrologer was wrong, and the king could punish him.  But if not…

The next morning, the Caliph and the astrologer went to the marketplace dressed as regular people and asked who the poorest man there was. Everyone answered that אברהם was. Then they asked who was the most G-d fearing man in the marketplace. Again everyone pointed to אברהם . 

The Caliph called אברהם to the palace. He asked אברהם what he did for a living, and אברהם replied that he sold vegetables.  Then he ordered אברהם to become a doctor. אברהם begged for him to have mercy, as he had no clue how to be a doctor, but the Caliph would not listen. He ordered אברהם to come back to him in a month's time.

אברהם was worried and upset. He sold his vegetable stand, borrowed some money, bought some new clothes, and set up an office in the richest section of Baghdad. Almost immediately, sick people started coming to him. Each one had a different complaint. אברהם prescribed his own types of treatments, different juices and medicines made from vegetables, and they all worked. Before long, אברהם had a reputation as an amazing doctor. 

Even now, אברהם remained as good and honest as ever.  He let people pay whatever they were able. Poor people did not have to pay him at all, but the rich people would pay him very well. He did not forget about his customers from the vegetable stand, and would secretly have fresh vegetables delivered to their doors. אברהם also found many other ways to give צדקה . He and his family continued to live modestly, even though they were wealthy.

At the end of thirty days, אברהם went back to the palace to see the Caliph. The guards would not let him in; they told him that the Caliph was sick and nobody could see him. אברהם told them that he was a doctor, and the guards let him in. He found the Caliph in bed with a fish bone stuck in his throat. None of the doctors had been able to get it out, and the Caliph thought he was going to die. 

אברהם introduced himself as "אברהם the Doctor." The Caliph, realizing who he was, burst out laughing. He laughed so hard that he coughed up the fish bone and immediately felt better.

The Caliph wanted to thank אברהם for saving his life, but אברהם explained that he owed his thanks only to ה‘ . ה‘ was the one who healed all patients, and he, the doctor, was only the messenger. The Caliph was so impressed that he appointed אברהם as his personal doctor.

The Caliph called his astrologer and threatened to punish him. The astrologer begged for mercy, promising never to say anything bad against the אידן again. The Caliph let אברהם decide what to do with him. אברהם said that it looked like the astrologer had been cured of his evil ways, and so he should remain the king's astrologer, as long as he kept his promise to never speak against the אידן again.

 

 

 

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