Volume 2
Issue 23

The Connections people
 

With many thanks to our generous sponsors:
  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 SHMINI

"What is the big book that's bulging out of your school bag?" Shlomie's mother asked him as he came home from school.
"It's called The World of Birds," replied Shlomie. "I took it out of the school's English library."
"Do you have a science project?" his mother asked.
"No, a parshah project," chuckled Shlomie. "Actually, it's not homework at all. I just wanted to look up some of the birds that are mentioned in this week's parshah. Our teacher told us that the Torah lists the names of the non-kosher birds, but we don't know exactly which birds these are. That's why the only birds we eat are the ones that our tradition tells us are kosher. I just want to see how many birds I can recognize by their name in the parshah."
Shlomie's mother smiled. Ever since he was a little boy, Shlomie had been fascinated by birds. "It's a more educational hobby than Moishie's marble collection," she thought to herself.
Later, at dinner, Shlomie's father asked, "Nu, so how many birds were you able to find?"
"I found quite a few, Tatty," replied Shlomie. "But I would have liked to be able to identify more."
"In the past, many people were able to identify the non-kosher birds mentioned in Parshas Shemini," said Shlomie's father. "Even if we can't identify these birds any longer, we can learn lessons from their names. For example, the Torah mentions the Shalach."
"Oh! I know that one," Shlomie exclaimed. "That's the cormorant. It catches fish like a pelican."
Shlomie's father continued: "The Talmud tells us that when Rabbi Yochanan saw a shalach, he said: Mishpatechah t'hom rabah - 'Hashem's judgments reach even the depths of the ocean.' Rashi explains that Rabbi Yochanan was teaching us that the shalach doesn't just catch any fish. It picks the exact fish that are meant to be eaten by it.
"This shows that Hashem has a plan for even the tiniest fish in the huge ocean. Everything happens exactly the way Hashem plans it to be."
"You mean there's hashgachah protis even for the fish?" asked Shlomie in surprise. "I thought it was only for people!"
"This is the lesson we learn from the shalach. The fish are underneath the water. We cannot see them. Just like the water covers everything that is in it, nature covers up the way Hashem rules the world. It seems as if many things in this world happen by themselves, but that's not so. The truth is that everything, even the fluttering of a leaf in the wind, is controlled by hashgachah protis. When we see a shalach catch a fish, we have to realize that this did not happen by chance; Hashem planned it, down to the last detail."

‘Please Tell Me What the Rebbe Said’
(Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, Vol. VII)

 

 

 

From the Examining Room of Dr. Getz
(Pesach is not over yet!)
Hi there, Juniors!
You’re right in time for the test. Don’t get nervous.  I’m Dr. Getz, world famous seeing specialist and eye-doctor who lives in Iowa between the cows and the cornfields. I give tests every day and I don’t know one person who has failed yet. I give seeing tests to help kids see things in the right perspective.
If you ever had an eye exam before you probably had to look through a machine or at a chart. That’s because most eye-doctors help people see outside themselves so they check your inside-OUT vision. I test outside-IN vision because I specialize in helping kids see inside themselves.  I prescribe glasses for the back of your eyeballs so you have the best and clearest picture inside your head.
Are you ready for the test? Close your eyes and look inside your mind. Try to remember what your mother looks like. (If you forgot, you can cheat and take a quick peek at a picture.) Is she tall or short? Is her sheitel brown, black, or blue? (Don’t laugh at that. Mrs. Getz once bumped her head and her sheitel turned black and blue.) Does she wear high-heels and orange glasses or a frilly apron and pink lipstick?
Excellent! I can see very clear and detailed pictures coming into focus. I diagnose you with perfect, 20/20 outside-IN vision. You passed the test with flying colors (I have to duck so I don’t get hit by any of them.  Mrs. Getz doesn’t like when I come home from my green-roofed office with my clothes splattered with wacky colors).
Outside-IN vision is very important. It’s especially useful for Shluchim and kid-shluchim. With outside-IN vision, you can activate an image of the Rebbe inside your head whenever and wherever you are. When you daven you can see the Rebbe davening in 770 and when you do a mitzvah you can picture the Rebbe smiling at you.  Sometimes when things aren’t going that great and you don’t feel like doing what you need to, you can imagine the Rebbe waving his arms, encouraging you and giving you ko’ach and chayus.
Keep practicing your outside-IN vision so you can stay focused and score 100% on all your seeing tests.

See ya next week,
Dr. Getz

Mushkie Freedman, age 11
Bahia Blanca, Argentina

My name is Mushkie Freedman. I am on shlichus in Bahia Blanca, Argentina. I am 11 years old. Bahia Blanca is a little village and only has about 1,000 Jews or maybe even less. Our shul is in the upstairs of my house. We have a library, an office, a shul, a kitchen and a little studying room. Every Wednesday there is a program for ladies in our house. My mother also goes to different places to make programs and help other Jews. My father has a Torah class every Tuesday and Thursday. On Fridays he goes out to do Mivtzoim. He goes to all different stores that Jews own or houses and puts on Tefillin. Sometimes on Friday if the challah is ready early enough, we send some out to some women, with candles for Shabbos.
Because Bahia B. is a very small village, it has no school and no kosher food. We are home schooled. When we are old enough our parents send us to the nearest city which is 10 hours away by car, and we learn there. That’s about when we are in 5th grade or older. When I was little I learned Aleph- Beis with my mother and Chumash with my father. The rest of the Hebrew subjects I learned myself by reading books and listening to tapes.  My part of the shlichus is to babysit the kids and teach them. Sometimes I make a preschool for my little brothers and sisters. Many times I invite girls my age to my house before a Yom Tov and make a program with them. My mother bakes all kinds of cookies, Challah, and bread. She gets milk, chicken and meat etc. from Buenos Aires. It’s very hard to get kosher food. To have nosh or any kind of cereal is a treat. My parents bring those things from America when they go. My family gathers together once a year for Pesach because everyone learns in different places all over the world.
Overall I think that being on shlichus is very interesting. I love to be on shlichus.

כ"ח ניסן

15 years ago, on כ“ח ניסן תשנ“א the Rebbe gave over a שיחה .  The Rebbe said that now is a very special time and a very good time for the גאולה .  But still משיח has not come.  In a very strong way, the Rebbe said that it is not understandable why משיח hasn’t come yet and that the only thing he can do is to give it over to us, his חסידים , to do all we can to bring משיח . We have to do this with great cheerfulness and strength but in a practical way. Straight after this, the Rebbe said that he is giving out צדקה because ‘גדולה צדקה שמקרבת את הגאולה ’, ‘צדקה is great because it brings the גאולה closer’, and אי“ה this צדקה should really bring theגאולה האמיתית והשלימה , the true and final גאולה closer!

Children, this Wednesday is כ“ח ניסן .  On this day we have to strengthen our עבודה to complete the mission that the Rebbe gave us to truly bring משיח now!!

טוט אלץ וואס איר קענט צו ברענגן משיח“ ”

 

This Shabbos is שבת מברכים חודש אייר

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

 

There are six שבתות between פסח and שבועות .  It is a מנהג to learn a פרק of פרקי אבות each שבת afternoon in preparation for שבועות . The חב“ד מנהג is to continue this through the summer, until ראש השנה . This is to remind us that even though summer is a more relaxed time, the weather is warm and we don’t have school, we must not be relaxed in our  אידישקייטand we must make sure to improve and not ח“ו the opposite.

This week, we say פרק א‘ .

פסח is called זמן חירותינו . When ה‘ took בני ישראל out of מצרים , from slavery to freedom, they became a ‘free people’. This means that a איד is truly free.  He is even free from the יצר הרע ! A איד is given the strength to ignore his יצר הרע and not to serve it חס ושלום .

From the moment the אידן became ה‘ ’s servants, ‘עבדי ה ’ they could never go back to being פרעה ’s servants or to serve any master other than ה‘ .

The מהר“ל of Prague explains that the גאולה from מצרים is forever. When ה‘ took the אידן out of מצרים , they became ה‘ ’s servants. Since ‘the servant of a king is like the king himself’, a איד can never again be a slave to anyone else, just like the king can never be a slave.

This is why פסח is the first of the שלש רגלים , the head of the ימים טובים . Because freedom comes before everything else.

From פסח we take the gift of freedom into the entire year. Even though we only celebrate פסח once a year, we think about פסח all year long. As we know, it is a מצוה to remember יציאת מצרים every day of the year. 

For this reason the חב“ד מנהג is not to say ‘חסל סידור פסח - The סדר has ended’ when we finish the סדר . The פסח סדר never ends; all year long we must remember יציאת מצרים .

Every day of the year a איד must remember that ה‘ freed us from being slaves to פרעה , to make us the servants of ה‘ Himself. In this way, he will always remember that he is the servant of ה‘ , the King of Kings.

(The Rebbe Speaks to Children)

 

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