Parshas Vayikra
Bais Nissan 5766
Volume 2
Issue 22
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
A project of
CHINUCH YALDEI HASHLUCHIM
cyh@shluchim.org
a division of
THE SHLUCHIM OFFICE
PARSHAS VAYIKRA
"Come in!" called Miriam as she heard the knock on her bedroom door. The door opened slowly and Rivkie walked in with a folded, colored paper in her hand.
"This is for you, Miriam," said Rivkie. "It's a goodbye card. It may not be as nice as Shifi's or Dina's, but I made it myself."
Everyone in the Steinman family had given Miriam goodbye cards. Miriam was a seminary student who boarded with them, and the children adored her. She was leaving for England to spend Pesach with her family.
Rivkie knew Miriam was busy packing. "I'm going to miss you, Miriam. I hope you like the card," she said softly as she turned to go.
"Your card is beautiful," exclaimed Miriam. "And you know what is nicest about it? I can tell that you put effort into it, and that's what really matters. Come Rivkie, let me explain something from the parshah to you. I need a break from my packing anyway," she added, smiling.
Miriam had often helped Rivkie with her homework, and Rivkie loved how nicely she explained things to her. She didn't need a second invitation; in a moment she was at Miriam's side, listening eagerly.
"In this week's parshah, we learn about the korbanos. The Jewish people are commanded to bring the korban tamid twice each day. Every year, each Jew would contribute a half-shekel, and that would pay for the korban tamid and all the other communal sacrifices. The korban tamid wasn't expensive: one sheep, a bit of flour, oil and wine. So the amount every person had to give wasn't very much. Hashem doesn't command us to give Him a very large amount of what we have. But everything we do give, we should give with our whole heart.
"The korban tamid was the first korban brought each day. Every day, it was brought early in the morning and late in the afternoon. It is called tamid - "continuous," because even though there were many other korbanos brought in the Beis HaMikdash during the day, the influence of the korban tamid was continuous, lasting through the entire day.
"We should keep the lesson of the korban tamid in mind as we start each day. When we say Modeh Ani, we should say it with all our hearts, thanking Hashem for giving us life and promising to do everything we can to serve Him with all our hearts. These feelings will last all day long, and will affect everything we do.
"That's why I like your card so much, Rivkie," Miriam added. "I can tell you made it with all your heart."‘Please Tell Me What the Rebbe Said’
(Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, Vol. III)
|
Fifth of Seven,
Answer: חודש ניסן |
Congratulations to Lieba, Mendel and Pessi Fischer from Augusta, Georgia for solving the brain buster. |
|
Hi, Juniors!
Dr. Getz here, writing to you from my green-roofed office nestled among the cornfields of Iowa. (That’s Iowa, not Idaho. There they grow potatoes, here they grow corn.) You all know that I’m an eye doctor and I specialize in seeing, looking, and noticing. But I also have another full-time profession. Can you guess what it is? Nope. It’s not a mailman. It’s not a cleaning lady, either. I’m in the building business. I’ve been working on one building for a long time, in fact for almost 2,000 years! Don’t worry, I don’t do it all by myself, thousands of people have also been working on it.
One person who spent his whole life helping to build this building was the Rebbe. Not only did he add many, many bricks to it, but he also hired an army of builders to help him. Do you know who those builders are? You guessed it. They’re the Shluchim, Shluchos, and the Juniors- you guys. The Rebbe believed in kid-power. He knew that if something was really important, he could count on his army of kids, and especially kid-shluchim, to get the job done.
If you peek ahead at the calendar, you’ll see a very special day coming up. It’s Yud-Aleph Nissan, the Rebbe’s birthday. On my birthday, which was last Monday, I got piles and piles of presents. I got applesauce and tennis shoes and herbal tea, and a set of Midrash Rabah. Now, I’m wondering what kind of present I could give to the Rebbe for his birthday.
All week last week, all I could think about was a present for the Rebbe. I wanted it to be something really special; better than applesauce and tennis shoes. When I slept, I dreamed of presents. When I read, I saw presents dancing across the page. For supper, Mrs. Getzel made spaghetti and presents (which tasted a lot like meatballs!). It got so bad, that when I examined my patients, they all had presents popping out of their eyeballs! Finally, I came up with an idea. A brilliant innovation. But before I tell you what it is, you need to promise that you’ll help me with it. Promise?
I decided that I, Dr. Getz, and all of you, the Rebbe’s army of kid-shluchim, will finish the building that the Rebbe worked so hard to build. The building (the Beis Hamikdash, of course) already has layers and layers of bricks soaring into the sky. Yidden throughout the ages put those bricks there. But I thought that on the tip, top of the Bais Hamikdash, the last row of bricks, something would be different. That last row would be made of . . . piles of presents - put there by you, kid-shluchim, in honor of the Rebbe’s birthday! There would be hundreds, maybe thousands, of different shaped and colored boxes. There would be giant boxes wrapped in shiny paper, medium size boxes tied with big satin bows and small silver boxes tied with curly ribbon. Inside the boxes would be the biggest treasures of all. What do you think it is?
Ahavas Yisroel. The Rebbe loves every Jew and therefore, the Rebbe loves it when we go out of our way to do something for someone else. Let’s bring the Rebbe presents of Ahavas Yisroel. Here’s how: On Sunday, Yud Alef Nissan, take a moment to do a deed of Ahavas Yisroel, and say, “This moment is a birthday present for the Rebbe.” If you could do more than one, go ahead. But do at least one and send me a report about it.
When we give the Rebbe all those hundreds of beautiful Ahavas Yisroel moments, we will make the Rebbe very proud of us, his army of junior Shluchim. And even better, we might even finish the top row of the Beis Hamikdosh!
Have a Kosher and Freilichen Pesach,
Dr. Getz
Chanie Greenberg, age 11
Solon, OhioMy name is Chanie Greenberg and I am on Shlichus in Solon, Ohio. We have a shul which is right behind our backyard. In our shul we have a preschool and Hebrew School. Every Wednesday I help tutor a little boy who wants to go to Hebrew school but he is too young. My little sister comes along and I teach both of them Alef Bais, davening and parsha.
I go to the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland which is like a Bais Yaakov school. It’s not easy to be one of the only Lubavitcher girls in my class but we have special Chassidus classes every Sunday organized by Chabad of Cleveland for all the Lubavitcher kids in Cleveland. (There are many Lubavitcher families who go to the Chabad House of Cleveland where my grandparents are the Shluchim.)
Life on Shlichus is always quite interesting and busy.
ב' ניסן
יארצייט פון דער רבי רש"ב
The fifth Rebbe, the רבי רש“ב , ר‘ שלום דובער , was born on כ‘ חשון תרכ“א (1860). After his father, the רבי מהר“ש passed away, in תרמ“ג (1882), he became Rebbe.
The רבי רש“ב was famous for his exceptional mind and the organised way in which he explained חסידות . The רבי רש“ב wrote and gave over about 2,000 מאמרים over the 38 years of his נשיאות . In תרנ“ז (1897), he established the תומכי תמימים ישיבת , the first ישיבה in which the bochrim learned both נגלה and חסידות ; it was this special ישיבה that produced the חסידים , who, in later years, would literally give their up lives to keep אידישקייט alive under Soviet rule.
In תרע“ו (1915), the רבי רש“ב was forced to flee Lubavitch because of the First World War and he moved to the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. In his final years, he began the battle against the new Communist regime's efforts to destroy אידישקייט throughout the Soviet Union.
ר‘ שלום דובער passed away in Rostov on ב‘ ניסן תר“פ (1920). His last words were: “איך גיי אין הימל און די כתבים לאז איך אייך ” - "I'm going to heaven; I leave you the writings."
The צמח צדק was the grandson of the אלטער רבי . His mother passed away when he was a baby. Before she passed away, his grandfather promised her that he would raise little מנחם מענדל .
The day after יום כיפור תקנ“ג (1793), the Rebbe prepared his grandchild for his first day of learning תורה . After davening, the Rebbe asked that the child be wrapped in a טלית and carried to the בית הקברות . When they reached his daughter's קבר , the Rebbe said loudly with great joy, "Mazel Tov to you דבורה לאה , daughter of סטערנא . Today I bless him that just as he enters תורה , so he should enter חופה and מעשים טובים with long life." Everyone who was there answered "אמן ."
When they returned home, the Rebbe asked the melamed to learn the first פרשה of חומש ויקרא with his grandchild. When the melamed finished his lesson, the Rebbe told him to give the child honey cookies and a hard-boiled egg on which different פסוקים were written.
The young child then asked his Zaide, "Why is the 'alef' of 'ויקרא ' written so small?" For a moment, the Rebbe concentrated deeply, and then he opened his eyes and said, "אדם was made by ה‘ , and he was even wiser than the מלאכים . However, אדם knew about his good qualities and that is why he did the עבירה of the עץ הדעת .
"משה רבינו , though he was aware of the qualities ה‘ had given him, did not become full of גאווה . On the contrary, he humbly said to himself, 'If another person was given the opportunity to go up to שמים and talk to ה‘ personally or given a נשמה such as mine, he would have accomplished much more.'
"In the תורה , the letters of the 'א-ב ' have three sizes: large, medium and small. Because אדם was proud that he was ה‘ 's handiwork and proud of his great qualities, in דברי הימים א‘ , his name is spelled with a large 'alef'. Since משה did not have גאווה about his own greatness, but on the contrary, it made him humble, the 'alef' is written small for him."
* Starting on ראש חודש ניסן and continuing until י“ג ניסן , every day, after davening, we read about the presents that each of the נשאים brought for the משכן . On א‘ ניסן , we read about the presents of נחשון בן אמינדב , the נשיא of שבט יהודה . On ב‘ ניסן , we read about the presents of נתנאל בן צואר , the נשיא of שבט יששכר .
* The מזל for the month of ניסן is a lamb—which reminds us of the lamb which each household would bring for the קרבן פסח .
* If we see a fruit tree blossoming during חודש ניסן , there is a special ברכה to say.
* In the days of the בית המקדש , on ראש חודש ניסן , messengers were sent to all the nearby cities and villages, telling people who had flocks of sheep to bring them to ירושלים . This way, all the אידן who were עלי‘ לרגל would have sheep to use for קרבנות and food.
In a small village in Poland there lived a quiet and frum Jew named מאיר . Even though he was definitely not a rich man at all, his family always had enough to eat. Each day on his way home from Shul, מאיר passed through the farmers' market, buying vegetables and poultry which his wife sold from a small store attached to their house. The prices were always fair, and people knew they were honest.
מאיר was different from the other buyers at the market, for he would never argue over prices. מאיר had his one fair price, and that was that - he would never budge. Eventually the farmers came to respect him and would even look for him when they had some special goods for sale, and he became known to everyone as "Honest מאיר ."
מאיר was upset only about one thing - his business took time away from learning תורה , which he loved. One day he decided that he would work only half the week, and spend the rest of the time learning תורה . His wife was worried by his decision, but he calmed her saying, "Don't you think that ה‘ can send us enough in those three days?" She wanted to reply that of course He could, but would He? But she stopped herself and decided to wait and see what would happen. As it turned out, their income was the same and her husband was so happy to be learning תורה .
One day his wife came to מאיר to discuss their daughter, Mirele. "ה‘ has been good to us, and we must certainly be grateful, but our daughter isn't getting any younger, and the time has come for us to start saving for her dowry."
מאיר looked at his wife and replied, "ה‘ has taken care of us so far. Trust in Him and stop worrying."
But his wife couldn't rest. "מאיר , we aren't supposed to rely on ניסים . Maybe you should go out and work like you used to."
מאיר replied, "What you're saying may seem true, but don't forget my 'silent partner' - ה‘ . Haven't you seen with your own eyes that since I've spent extra time with my 'Partner' we have lost nothing. I can not stop my תורה studies, especially now when we need Him even more." There was nothing more his wife could say except a heartfelt "אמן ."
A short time later a peasant showed up at the marketplace with a large honeycomb enclosed in a block of wood. Several interested buyers approached him, but he refused them, saying, "I will sell only to Honest מאיר ." And there he sat and waited until finally, late in the afternoon someone told him that מאיר wouldn't be coming to market that day.
The peasant went to מאיר 's house where he was greeted by his wife. "My husband isn't at home now," she told him, but she asked him to wait while she ran to fetch him. מאיר measured the honeycomb and lifted it, then he made his offer: "Judging by its size and weight, and even allowing for the wood, there should be a lot of honey in it." The two men agreed on a price which seemed fair to both. The only problem was that מאיר didn't have such a large amount of money. מאיר 's wife interrupted, saying: "I will try to borrow the money from some of our neighbors."
מאיר served the peasant a cup of tea, and then he questioned the man: "Tell me, how did you come to have such a strange honeycomb?"
The peasant replied, "I was walking through the woods collecting fire-wood. When my cart was full, I got inside and fell asleep, but it seems that my horse wandered a bit, because when I awoke, I found myself in a different part of the woods, in front of a tree stump. Looking up, I noticed bees buzzing, and being something of a beekeeper myself, I hopped out of my cart and with a long thin twig I removed the queen bee from the hive. I tried to take out the honeycomb, but it was impossible to do without breaking it. That's when I got the idea of cutting off the stump."
By the time the peasant had finished his tale, מאיר 's wife had returned with the money. מאיר gave it to the happy peasant who went off feeling very pleased. מאיר 's wife began to take out the honey. She pulled out two and then three heavy honeycombs from inside the block of wood and reached in with a deep ladle for more, when she found there was nothing there but a deep, empty hole. The poor woman was horrified. They were now in debt, and for nothing but a bit of honey and a piece of wood!
She called for her husband, who was equally shocked at the find. "What will we do now?" his wife wailed. מאיר also didn’t know what to do, but not willing to give up he said, "Go fetch your longest cooking spoon and maybe we can find something from the bottom."
מאיר dipped the spoon into the wooden hole, and lo and behold, the spoon was filled with a pile of golden coins and jewels! His wife almost fainted from the shock, but when she recovered she asked her husband, "Do you think ה‘ had the bees produce this treasure for us?"
Her husband turned to her, smiling, "Possibly, but I think there's a simpler explanation. Probably someone hid this treasure years ago and had to leave it for some reason. Then the bee colony settled in the tree stump and built their hive on top of the treasure. Now, it seems that ה‘ must have decided there was no longer any reason to leave it hidden since we need the money to marry off our children and do other good things. So, you see, the peasant was rewarded for his work, and we were even more richly rewarded for our אמונה and trust in ה‘ ."
See the printable version of Connections for incredible fun pages!
Last Week’s Winners:
Level 1:
Chaim, age 9 and Yossi, age 8 Swued from Barranquilla, Colombia
Level 2:
Mendel Kaplan, age 6 from Baltimore, Maryland
We'd love to hear your feedback! Send us your comments, ideas and suggestions to: connections@shluchim.org
Click here for a printable version of Connections in PDF format