Parshas Va'eira

 

Hi there my favourite young Shluchim!
It sure is an exciting parsha this week. Seven of the ten makkos! Can you just imagine what it must have been like to live in Mitzrayim in those days! It must have been really difficult for the yiddishe kinderlach to sit and learn while all these plagues were going on!
So tell me, do you have a special plague? One that you liked more than all the others? Not that you could actually remember them (or maybe you can), after all, the makkos took place a good few thousand years ago - three thousand three hundred and nineteen years ago to be precise – and I don’t know anyone that old. Actually sometime I wonder how old the spider under my desk is, he seems to have been there forever. Sometimes I wonder if he is still alive even, but then the next day when I sit by my desk, he’s moved corners. Maybe it is just a different spider, but I hope not because I don’t like the idea of having a whole swarm of spiders under my desk. One spider is ok, it’s even friendly, but two would already be pushing it, and three will be getting way too crowded.
Anyway, getting back to my original question, I’m sure you’ve learnt all about the makkos and I’m just wondering if any of them really get you talking. I mean, do you like the idea of the mitzriyim jumping up and down itching themselves with lice? Or maybe you prefer the picture of a mitzri getting hit over the head with a hailstone? Of course none of these things are very pleasant, and as we learn from the fact that the malochim were not allowed to say shirah by the Yam Suf, we shouldn’t be too happy even if they were our enemies, but still...
You see, I do have a favourite plague. I have done for a few years already. Ever since I first learnt the sicha were the Rebbe talks about the mesiras nefesh of the frogs, I have just been sooo excited about the makka of frogs. It gets me jumping up and down with joy. And I turn green with jealousy that I couldn’t have been one of those frogs that went jumping into the mitzriyim’s oven and down their throats and doing whatever they had to do – even if it would cost them their lives – just because that is what Hashem wanted.
Every year when I learn the chitas about the frogs I get excited all over again. And then I learn the Rebbe’s sicha about the frogs, and before I know it, I feel like jumping around the house. And in fact for a good few weeks I really do jump like a frog, I jump out of bed in the morning straight away after negel vasser, I jump and run all the way to shul, even though it is freezing cold outside and all my favourite cornfields are covered in snow, and then I spend my day jumping from mitzvah to mitzvah. I mean if the frogs could jump to have mesiras nefesh, and they didn’t even get any reward, then Dr Getzel can for sure jump to do mitzvas too!

Happy Jumping,
Dr. Getzel

 

 

ב‘ שבט

The יאהרצייט of ר‘ זושא of Anipoli. He was one of the main תלמידים of the מעזריטשער מגיד and a close friend of the אלטער רבי . The אלטער רבי sent the תניא to ר‘ זושא before it was printed and ר‘ זושא wrote a letter agreeing that the תניא should be printed. This letter is printed at the front of every version of the תניא .

ראש חודש שבט
שבת א‘ שבט -

I remembered to daven the special parts in שבת מוסף for שבת ראש חודש .
I remembered to say יעלה ויבא in שמונה עשרה and in bentching. I remembered to say הלל after שמונה עשרה .
I remembered to say ברכי נפשי after the  שיר של יום .

During שבט , the days are beginning to get a little bit longer. There are more hours of sunlight, and during those hours the sun is shining a little bit brighter. It is the turning point, the end part of the winter which leads to spring.

The seasons are different in different parts of the world. It is winter in Australia when it is summer in America. ארץ ישראל is the center for the Jewish people, and our calendar is based on the seasons there. In ארץ ישראל , שבט means spring is on its way. A lot of the changes during שבט are happening deep underground. The roots of trees were inactive all winter, and now they begin to come to life again. They start to soak up water, and the sap that gives life to the tree begins to thaw out and flow up to the branches. This is all in preparation for the fruits that will soon begin to grow again.

In ארץ ישראל , almond trees begin to blossom in שבט . Because they are the first to bloom each שבט , almond trees are called שקד (watcher). Almond trees are said to "keep watch" for spring.

ארץ ישראל is especially blessed by ה‘ with beautiful, good fruits and produce. In שבט , we celebrate and are thankful for this wonderful gift from ה‘ . We were given the most spectacular land on the planet. When the fruits first begin to grow again, we are reminded of how wonderful ארץ ישראל is.

ארץ ישראל is important to us all year long, but during שבט we have a time set aside to think about the land. On ט“ו בשבט , we think about trees, and especially the trees, plants and land of ארץ ישראל .

 

פייבל was almost weeping as he entered the צמח צדק ’s יחידות room. He was being evicted from the inn he’d been running for over twenty years without any explanation. He couldn’t understand it; everyone liked him, he always paid his rent to the Poritz on time, and he never made trouble. But suddenly a week ago the Poritz came and gave him one month’s notice. All his pleas and begging didn’t help, and now with nine mouths to feed and such short notice he had no other option other than to travel to the Rebbe for help.

The צמח צדק was a משה ; a great איד whose only purpose is to help each and every איד . פייבל entered the Rebbe’s study with nervousness as one would enter the קודש הקדשים . He closed the door behind him, and poured out his heart. When he was finished the Rebbe took out a piece of paper and a pen, wrote a short letter, put it in an envelope, addressed it and gave it to him with instructions to deliver it as quickly as possible, and gave him a ברכה for הצלחה .

He thanked the Rebbe again and again, backed out of the room and when he was outside took a quick glance at the envelope and shuddered; it was addressed to the wrong man!

His heart sank. It was addressed to שמואל הקטן (שמואל the Small) a simple old איד that used to be a woodcutter and still lived with his wife in his small hut in the woods; an obvious mistake!!

The Rebbe must have intended to write שמואל הגדול (שמואל the Big) who was a rich, important Jew. שמואל הגדול had close connections with all the landlords and some said even with the Czar himself! If anyone could help it would be him. שמואל הקטן was practically a nobody!

But פייבל was stuck. To enter the Rebbe’s office again was out of the question. Suddenly he had an idea; the Rebbe had seven sons, he would go to one of them and ask for advice.

But the Rebbe’s son only assured him of what he already knew; the Rebbe never makes mistakes. Normal people make mistakes but, as strange as it might seem, just as a נביא never makes a mistake, so also the Rebbe.

That day, with a heavy heart, he made his way to שמואל הקטן ’s house in the middle of the forest and knocked on the door. The old man answered, invited פייבל in, asked him what he wanted and when he heard the reason for the visit and saw the Rebbe’s letter, he admitted that he had no idea what the Rebbe meant. He just invited פייבל be his guest for a few days, and see what would happen.

A week passed and still nothing. פייבל began to become depressed. What would become of him? In another two weeks he would have to leave his home and his job. Winter was approaching; the weather outside was cold and miserable which added to his sorrow. Where would he go? What would he do? What would be with his children and wife? The wind and rain were pounding on the roof and the walls. He put his head in his hands and wept.

Suddenly the front door rattled and thundered; someone was pounding and shouting outside. “Help! Help! Let me in!!” שמואל הקטן ran to the door and opened it as פייבל looked on from his bedroom. It was the Poritz drenched to the bone, shivering blue with cold. It seems that he had been on his way home and the storm caught him unexpectedly. He had been wandering in the cold for hours and was on the verge of death. He fell to the floor in exhaustion.

שמואל brought him a change of clothes (שמואל ’s שבת clothes, the only change of clothes he had) some warm blankets and hot soup and in no time the Poritz was sitting bundled up, near the stove and showering old שמואל with praises and promises.

“You saved my life!! I owe you my life!” He exclaimed still shivering. “Tell me how to repay you!”

“Listen” שמואל answered. “If you really want to reward me then you can do me a big favor.”

“Anything! I swear! I owe you my very life! Just ask!” exclaimed the Poritz.

“Well” שמואל gave a glance at פייבל peeking from behind his door, “A few days ago you told my good friend פייבל that he has to vacate his inn. I want you to let him stay.”

“So it shall be!!” Shouted the Poritz.

“It just so happens that פייבל is here in the other room” continued שמואל . “Will you put it in writing?”

פייבל came out of his room and the Poritz immediately shook his hand warmly, asked for pen and paper and wrote a letter giving him and his children sole rights on the inn for all generations, and for good measure he gave him the next three years rent free.

“But just one thing is bothering me,” פייבל said as he thanked the Poritz and took the signed letter carefully in hand, “Why did you evict me in the first place? After all, I always paid rent and never gave you any trouble. What made you do it?”

“Yes,” answered the Poritz “You were the perfect tenant and I would never have even thought of it. But someone came to me and demanded that I rent the inn to his son-in-law. He promised to pay more rent and even threatened me if I refused. It was that שמואל הגדול ! I don’t know what got into him and made him so mean. I even asked him how he could do it to his own fellow Jew and he said he didn’t mix business with friendship. But I’ll take care of him myself. I’ll tell him to go away, and tell him that you are my personal friend. Just one thing that I would like to ask though,” he continued, “How did you happen to be here exactly on this night?”

When פייבל told him about the Rebbe, the Poritz exclaimed, “Now I know that ה‘ is still with the Jewish people!!”

 

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