Volume 2
Issue 13

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 SHEMOS

"Hello, Yankie," his mother called as he came home from school.
"Hi, Mommy," replied Yankie as he fumbled with his tzitzis.
Yankie's mother looked at him in surprise. He was busy taking out his tzitzis strands which had been tucked inside his pants.
"Why are your tzitzis tucked in?" she asked him gently. "You normally wear them out like a proud Jewish child!"
Yankie swallowed hard. He was clearly upset. "Mommy," he blurted out unhappily, "you know Eddie, the bully who lives up the street?"
Yankie's mother nodded with a sigh. Everyone knew Eddie. He always bullied the younger kids on the block, especially the Jewish children.
"Well, every day I have to pass his house on my way home. He always teases me and pulls at my tzitzis, so I decided to tuck them in until I get home. Maybe he'll stop bothering me."
"Yankie," his mother said taking him gently by the arm. "Let's go get a drink and a snack, and we'll talk about this in the kitchen."
As Yankie was munching on some roasted nuts, his mother began to explain: "In this week's parshah, we read about how Bnei Yisrael were slaves in Mitzrayim. But Rashi tells us that the shevet of Levi were not slaves."
"How come?" asked Yankie.
"Because they wouldn't give in when they were bullied. You see, the Torah tells us that at first, the Egyptians didn't make the Jewish people work hard; they just bothered them. It says, 'Viyimarraru es chayaihem' - 'And they made their lives bitter.' What is a Jewish person's life? Torah and mitzvos, of course! At first, the Egyptians pestered and bothered the Jewish people about the Torah they were learning and the mitzvos they were keeping.
"Nobody likes to be bothered and bullied. There were some Jews who thought, 'If we give in a little and hide our Yiddishkeit a bit, maybe these troublemaking Egyptians will leave us alone.' Actually, the exact opposite happened. Once they gave in, the Egyptians bullied them even more, making them work 'with hard labor, with bricks and mortar.' Because the Jewish people gave in a bit in the service of Hashem, they ended up having to serve the Egyptians with hard labor.
"Yet, Shevet Levi was different. They never gave in even a tiny bit. That's why they were left alone and were not made to be slaves. Pharaoh told Moshe and Aaron, 'lechu lisivlosaychem' - 'Go to your work.' Pharaoh couldn't make them do his work, and they were left to do their own work - serving Hashem as a Jew should."

‘Please Tell Me What the Rebbe Said’

(Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, Vol. II)

Hey Kids,
Beeb – blip – bloop - beep. Hmmmm. That’s not it. Maybe I should sprinkle it with a pinch of this funny smelling green powder. Or maybe I should turn the gnopfle toward the combobulator. Oy, vey . . . Do I have a problem.  The light switch in my office is stuck. It’s so dark in here that I can’t even see my own glasses. I’ve been trying to un-stick the light switch all morning but it won’t budge no matter what I do. I tried tickling it. I tried talking to it. I even tried singing a nigun to it! I have one last idea. It’s my super-powerful, hi-tech, automatic MM Flashlight. This flashlight is a ‘vonderful’ invention (as my Alte Bubbe Baila used to say!) and it might finally solve the problem. Let’s test it out together.

First go into a room and pull down all the window shades. Next, close the door and turn off the lights. Now we’re going to start by looking. Look as hard as you can. Do you see what I see? I can’t see a thing! It’s so dark in here that I’m tripping over my own shoelaces (And I don’t even have shoelaces. My shoes are Velcro!) Maybe we’ll be able to see if we take some of the darkness and throw it out the window. Or maybe we can stuff the darkness into a closet. Oh! I forgot all about my MM Flashlight. Let me turn it on . . WOW! It worked! I can see! It’s so light in here that I can count the freckles on my nose.

My MM Flashlight really is ‘vonderful’. As soon as I turned on my flashlight the whole room brightened. By adding just a little bit of light we were able to get rid of a whole lot of darkness.

As Junior-Shluchim, each one of you is like a flashlight. Each time you look in your siddur when you daven, or listen to your parents, or share with your younger sister, it’s like turning on a little light. All of your little lights shine away a lot of darkness and make the world a brighter place that’s ready for Moshiach.

           Bye-bye
Dr. Getzel

  

Mendel Vorst, age 9
Rotterdam, Holland

Hi my name is Mendel Vorst, I am 9 years old. We are on Shlichus in Rotterdam, Holland.
A few months ago my ear was bothering me so my mother took me to doctor. The doctor could not find anything but wanted me to be checked in the hospital. The doctor in the hospital could not find anything either but suggested we have a x-ray taken by the dental surgeon. My mother was sure it has nothing to do with that but followed the advice of the doctor. When we came to the dental surgeon, the nurse said shalom to us. My mother started speaking to her and it turned out she is Jewish and has a 3 year old child. My mother took her phone number and contacted her a few weeks later but nothing came of it. 
Last week my mother had to have a small surgery done on her jaw. When she called to make an appointment it was the same nurse on the phone. My mother did not recognize her voice but the nurse recognized my mother’s voice.  The nurse was very happy to speak to my mother and wants to make contact with us and perhaps send her child to Talmud Torah next year. When my mother came to the hospital for her surgery the nurse was not there but left a present for our new baby brother with the surgeon. My mother was happy, not because of the present but because it showed that the nurse really wants a connection with us.
I now know why my ear was bothering me… to bring this lady and her child closer to Yidishkeit.

כ"ד טבת
יארצייט of the אלטער רבי

The founder of חב“ד חסידות , the אלטער רבי , passed away on the night of the כ“ד טבת , at approximately 10:30 pm, shortly
after saying הבדלה at the end of שבת . The אלטער רבי was in the village of Pienna, fleeing from Napoleon's army, which had passed through the his hometown of Liadi three months earlier as they were pushing towards Moscow. The אלטער רבי was 68 when he passed away and his son, ר‘ דובער , became Rebbe after him. Theאלטער רבי  is buried in Haditch.

In this week's פרשה - פרשת שמות ,פרעה  decreed that all Jewish boys should be thrown into the Nile River. פרעה made this decree because he realized that the number ofבני ישראל  was growing very fast, and פרעה and his advisers were worried thatבני ישראל would get together with his enemies and destroy מצרים . He hoped that if he threw the baby boys into the Nile river, this wouldn’t happen.

עמרם , who was the father of אהרן and מרים , was the leader of בני ישראל during this time. עמרם decided that the בני ישראל shouldn’t have any more children and so he decided to leave his wife, יוכבד . All the בני ישראל did the same thing.

Then מרים spoke up. She was only five years old at the time, and she knew that her father was a צדיק and the leader of the nation. She bravely said: "Your decree is worse than פרעה ’s! פרעה only decreed that the boys should die, but your decree is against the boys and the girls. פרעה wants to kill their  body—גוף , but theirנשמות  will live on inעולם הבא . Your decree stops נשמות from even being brought into this world! פרעה is an evil man, so his decree may or may not work out. But you are a צדיק and your decree will work out."

עמרם realized that his little daughter's words were true. He immediately remarried יוכבד , and all theבני ישראל did the same.

Then what happened?משה  was born and as soon as his mother placed him in the river, פרעה ’s  astrologers said, "Their leader has already been thrown into the water." The decree to drown all baby boys was stopped. And this littleמשה  grew up to be משה רבינו  and took the בני ישראל out of מצרים .

מרים 's behavior can be an example for us. She teaches us the power of children. Every Jewish child can accomplish much more than we could imagine!

(Adapted from the L’Chaim)

See the printable version of Connections for incredible fun pages!

Last Week’s Winners:

Level 1:
Chaya Mushka Reiter, age 6 from Roslyn Heights, NY
Level 2:
Yossi Lasker, age 10 from Brussels, Belgium