Parshas Lech Lecha
Tes Cheshvan 5765
Volume 2
Issue 3
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Rabbi Y. Shemtov
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PARSHAS LECH LECHA
"Please take out your chumashim," Morah Fine said to her students. The girls had just finished Parshas Noach and were eager to begin Parshas Lech Lecha.
We are going to learn about Avraham Avinu," Morah Fine continued. "We were already introduced to Avraham and his family at the end of Parshas Noach. Now, let's begin Parshas Lech Lecha. Hashem commands Avraham to leave the place he was born and to travel to Eretz Yisrael."
Miriam raised her hand "But what happened to all the rest of the stories?" she asked in surprise. The puzzled students turned to look at her.
"What do you mean, Miriam?" asked Morah Fine. "Which stories?"
"I remember the story of Avraham discovering Hashem when he was only three years old. Our teacher taught us that in Pre 1A."
The class nodded at Miriam in agreement. Other girls raised their hands too. "And," asked Esty, "how about the time he broke his father's idols when he was taking care of his shop?"
"Or when Nimrod threw him into the furnace?" added Sheina. "Why doesn't the Torah begin teaching us about Avraham before Hashem told him Lech Lecha?"
Morah Fine turned to Miriam with a smile. "Good for you, Miriam. Your question got the whole class thinking. Let me explain.
"Avraham Avinu believed in Hashem and dedicated his life to teaching others to do so too. Many things happened during his lifetime. The first story that the Torah tells us about Avraham teaches us the most important lesson we should learn from the way he served Hashem."
"But how does this story teach us any more than the other ones that happened before?" asked Miriam.
"There is a big difference between these stories and the others," replied Morah Fine. "You see, this is the first time that Hashem speaks directly to Avraham and commands him to do something. And Avraham does it immediately, believing in Hashem without question. In the other stories, Avraham does things on his own. He discovers Hashem, he breaks the idols, he chooses to be thrown into the furnace.
"The Torah is not just telling us stories. The Torah wants to teach us that a Jew should dedicate his life to listening to Hashem. So the first story about Avraham Avinu, the first Jew, is that Hashem tells him to do something and he does it.
"When a person does good deeds on his own, that is very important. But here the Torah is teaching us what it means to be a Jew: Hashem tells us what to do and we do it. This is exactly what Avraham did and Torah is teaching us to follow his example."
‘Please Tell Me What The Rebbe Said’ (Adapted from Sichos Shabbos Parshas Lech Lecha, 5752)
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My head and tail are yes, my middle is moving.
I’m mentioned in this week’s Parsha. ___ ___ ___ ___
Please send your answers to connections@shluchim.org Last weeks’ brain buster: I’m 2nd or 8th out of 12 and a little bitter. Answer: מר חשון |
Congratulations to Rochie and Etti Krinsky, proud Shluchos in Manchester, New Hampshire for solving the Brain Buster! |
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Hey Kids!
Hi, this is Dr. Getzel. I have an interesting question to ask you Tzeirei Hashluchim. Don’t hold your breath too long, it’s dangerous and besides I’ll get to the point right now. You see Mrs. Getzel served me a delicious lokshin supper tonight, and while I was eating I was also thinking. I’m pretty good at thinking when ever I eat. In fact sometimes I save a hard piece of Gemmara or a new invention for suppertime since that is my best thinking moment.
Well, where was I, that’s right, I said I would ask you a question. Well here it is. Have you ever done something crazy? I don’t mean something dangerous, but have you ever done something without thinking. I’m sure this sounds a little odd, why should I be interested that you shouldn’t think. After all, Hashem created us as thinking people. We have a mind – Sechel - to help us think before we do something and to do it right. Someone who usually does something without thinking will get it all wrong, and will probably not make too many people happy. In fact, one of my favorite hobbies is thinking. I think about new inventions. I think about the Ma’amer that I learn before Davening every day. I am thinking and thinking just about every second of the day.
I was learning something that caught my EYE. Avrohom Avinu did several things seemingly without thinking. He broke the idols in his father’s store even though his father would be extremely upset, he let himself be thrown into a fiery furnace and he even took his only son, Yitzchok, to Har Hamoriyah to shecht him as a Korban to Hashem! How can it be that he didn’t think of what might happen for doing these things?
I thought very long and hard about this, in fact it took me several hours to finish supper since I was spending most of the time thinking. Then I remembered learning in Chassidus that Avrohom Avinu did things that seem to be “crazy” but aren’t really. It was a good craziness. We call it higher than thinking. That’s because Avrohom Avinu was having Mesiras Nefesh for Hashem – so he didn’t think about himself or what might happen to him. He thought only about being Mekadesh Hashem’s name!
What an amazing lesson! When it’s time to Daven – I won’t think about how tired I am. When I’m hungry in middle of learning Torah – I’ll ignore my stomach until I’m finished learning. I practiced this with Mrs. Getzel and she said it was a good idea for me to share this with all you Tzeirei Hashluchim. So sit down at supper and THINK HARD that when it’s time to do a Mitzvah there’s NO TIME TO THINK! Just do it with a smile!
Dr. Getzel
Chaim Swued, 8
Barranquilla , ColumbiaMy name is Chaim Swued and I am 8 years old. I live in Barranquilla Colombia. I’m a shliach of the rebbe. Our family lives on the second floor of the Chabad House. I go to school that is not frum. There are a lot of non Jewish kids. The only frum kids are the shluchim. I learn my Yiddishe subjects like Chumash, Rashi, Yahadus and Mishnayos with my parents. My father teaches religion to the Jewish kids in my school. He also shechts chickens and cows so that the Jewish community here can have kosher meat. On shabbos, when he lains the parsha in the shul, he lets me and my brother Yossi take turns holding the pointer to show him the place. When we have vacation in the winter, we travel to New York to go to yeshiva, and I wait for this time all year.
ואברכה מברכיך ומקללך אאר ונברכו בך כל
משפחת האדמה
ה ‘ was telling אברהם that his mission was to go out into the world and spread אידישקייט . There would be many people who would join him and בענטש him for teaching them about ה ‘ .But there would also be people who would be against him and even curse him. "Do not become frightened and leave your mission," said ה ‘ , "because even those people who openly curse and fight you, deep down in their hearts they will be jealous of you and daven that their children should be like you when they grow up."
ויאמר אל לוט אל נא תהי מריבה בני ובינך.....כי אנשים אחים אנחנ ו
A story is told that a piece of wood once asked a piece of metal , "Why is it that when you are hammered you make such loud noises, and when they chop me the noise is not so loud?" The metal answered, "I am hammered with a hammer made of metal, which is my brother. I scream because it hurts when your own brother hits you."
אברהם told לוט , "People should always avoid arguments, especially relatives and good friends."
(Adapted from Vedibarta Bam)
י “ א חשון is the יארצייט of רחל אמינו
The מדרש tells us that when the בית המקדש was destroyed and the אידן were being taken into גלות as slaves, אברהם came to ה ‘ and said: “ רבונו של עולם , when I was 100 You gave me a son and when he was 37 years old You told me to bring him as a קרבן to You. I overcame my natural רחמנות and tied him up myself. Won’t You remember my מסירת נפש and have mercy on my children?”
Next, יצחק came: “When my father wanted to bring me up as a קרבן , I didn’t hesitate. Won’t You remember my strength and have mercy on my children.”
Then, יעקב begged: “I worked for 20 years in לבן ’s house and when I left, עשו came to harm me. I suffered all my life to raise my children. Now they are being led away by their enemies. Won’t You remember all my pain and suffering and free my children?"
משה came and said: “Didn’t I lead the בני ישראל for 40 years in the מדבר ? When the time came to enter ארץ ישראל , You decreed that I would die in the מדבר . Now they go into גלות . Won't You listen to my crying over them?"
But even before all these צדיקים , ה ‘ remained silent.
Then רחל אמינו came before ה ‘ and said: “ רבונו של עולם , You know that יעקב worked for seven years to marry me. When the time came, my father put my sister in my place. I wasn’t upset at my sister and I didn’t let her be shamed, I even told her the secret signs that יעקב and I arranged.
If I, only a person, wasn’t prepared to let my sister be ashamed and I was willing to let her marry יעקב too, how could You, ה ‘ , be jealous of idols that are really nothing, that Your children brought into Your home? Will my children be taken into גלות because of this?
Immediately, ה ‘ ’s רחמנות was aroused and He answered, “For you, רחל , I will bring בני ישראל back to ארץ ישראל .”
If we look up into the sky throughout the month, we will discover that the moon changes. Unlike the sun, which is always the same, the moon never stays the same. Every ראש חודש a new moon appears. It is called the מולד הלבנה . This thin sliver of the moon grows day by day, until the fifteenth day of each month, when it becomes a full moon. On the fifteenth of the month, the moon is a perfect ball, shining brightly and illuminating the night
We say a special תפילה over the moon called קידוש לבנה . In this תפילה we compare the אידן to the moon: ‘ שהם עתידים להתחדש כמותה ’ - ‘They (the אידן ) will be renewed like the moon.’
Let us see how the אידן are like the moon: the moon goes through many stages. At times its light is hidden completely, and the moon seems to disappear. But it always reappears, and grows brighter and brighter, until it shines in all its beauty once again.
The אידן , too, go through many stages. Now in גלות , their light is hidden. Soon, the אידן will be renewed, like the moon. They will shine brightly, once again, and light up the whole world with the light of תורה and מצוות .
The fifteenth day of every month is a special day for the אידן . How much more so, the fifteenth of the month of חשון , which has a special ברכה for the building of the third בית המקדש . We must make sure use this special day to grow in תורה and מצוות . May it be ה ‘ ’s will that our תפילות will be fulfilled, and the בית המקדש will be rebuilt speedily in our day, ממש .
(Adapted from The Rebbe Speaks to Children)
יעקב was a clever young man, a genius, who lived in a small village in Russia. He studied תורה day and night. In the same village lived several Lubavitcher חסידים , who had been trying for a long time to convince the talented boy to come with them to the רבי .
But יעקב , who was not raised in a חסידישע home, was not interested. "I don't need a רבי ," he would answer them. "If I come across a problem in the גמרא , I just keep studying till I figure it out myself."
Nonetheless, one time he got curious, and he went with the חסידים to the רבי , ר ‘ שלום דובער (the רבי רש “ ב ). They arrived in Lubavitch on a Friday. That שבת , יעקב felt like he was on a רוחניות high. The general atmosphere of the town was affecting him.
After שבת , as they prepared to leave, יעקב wrote a short note to give to the רבי . He trembled as he waited his turn for a יחידות . When יעקב entered the רבי 's room he found the רבי sitting and studying a ספר . The רבי did not lift his eyes to look at him. יעקב tiptoed over to the desk and placed his note on it. The רבי gave no sign that יעקב was even in the room.
Suddenly the רבי stood up and paced back and forth. As if talking to himself, he began to speak in Russian: "On! Nye on!" ("It is him! It's not him!") On! Nye on! On! Nye on..." The רבי paused for a long while before saying finally: "Nye on!" He then sat down and continued learning.
יעקב left the רבי 's room confused and puzzled. Not only had the רבי ignored him, but his strange words kept echoing in his head. יעקב did not know what to make of it.
One day יעקב was reading the newspaper when he noticed a contest being sponsored by the University of Petersburg. Whoever solved the mathematical problem printed in the paper would win a prize of 300 rubles. יעקב decided to try it. He studied the problem and sent off his answer by mail. A short time later a letter arrived from the University informing him that he had won. Enclosed with the letter was a personal invitation from the head of the mathematics department, and a train ticket.
יעקב traveled to Petersburg. The professors were surprised in the beginning when they saw יעקב dressed like a frum איד , but they quickly realised how clever he was. After giving him the prize, they offered him a full scholarship to the University, which יעקב accepted.
In the beginning יעקב kept up his unique dress and מנהגים , and even learned a little תורה . But the more he grew at the University, the further away from אידישקייט he went. The outside signs were the first to go; eventually יעקב completely left the path of תורה and מצוות .
A few years later יעקב was appointed as a full professor. Of course, beforehand, יעקב had to give up his אידישקייט . But this didn’t bother him at all.
As time passed, however, יעקב 's נשמה began to bother him. Although he was very sorry for what he had done, he couldn’t do anything about it. In those days, a gentile who converted to אידישקייט or a איד who accepted Christianity but later went back could be killed.
יעקב had become a very good hunter. One day while he was out in the field, יעקב 's horse began to gallop uncontrollably. The reins weren’t working, and it was clear that if a נס wouldn't happen, these were the last seconds of יעקב 's life. At that moment יעקב decided to do תשובה and return to ה ‘ . Incredibly, the horse slowed down and stopped galloping.
That night יעקב packed a small bundle and snuck out of his house, leaving his גוי ‘ שע life behind him for good. He wandered from city to city and from town to town, terrified of being discovered. His return to אידישקייט put his life in danger, but his decision to live as a איד never changed.
One day, while יעקב was eating at an inn in a far-away village, the police burst in and began to check everyone’s identity papers. יעקב , who was not carrying any identification, was taken into prison.
The investigator at the police station kept looking carefully at the photograph in his hand, then glancing up at יעקב . From the corner of his eye יעקב saw that it was a picture of himself as he used to look at the University: clean-shaven, fashionably dressed, and with a carefully styled lock of hair on his forehead.
The investigator was clearly hesitant. Unable to decide he began to mutter under his breath. "On!" ("It is him!") A second later he changed his mind. "Nye on!" ("It's not him!") "On!" "Nye on!" Back and forth he went, studying the photograph and יעקב in turn. "Nye on!" he decided in the end, and ordered that יעקב be freed.
יעקב left the police station shocked; he knew where he had last heard those very words. Immediately he set off for Lubavitch, and stayed there for the rest of his life.
See the printable version of Connections for incredible fun pages!
Last Week’s Winners:
Shmuel Kievman, age 8 from Liverpool, England &
Leah Goldman, age 7 from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Laivy Mochkin, age 9 from Rochester, New York &
Chaya Jaffe, age 11 from Brisbane, Australia
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