Volume 1
Issue 42

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 PINCHAS

"Shirah is so lucky!" Rochel Leah said to her mother as she walked into the house. She had just returned from a good-bye party her friends had made for Shirah, who was going to spend the summer in Eretz Yisrael with her grandparents. "I wish I could go to Eretz Yisrael, too."

"Well, you visited Uncle Mendel and Aunt Chaya in California last summer," said her sister Bassie.

"Yes, but going to Eretz Yisrael is much more special," sighed Rochel Leah.

"Eretz Yisrael is very special," agreed the girls' mother. "In this week's parshah, Pinchas, we read some stories that took place as the Jewish people were getting ready to enter the Holy Land."

"I know one of them," declared Rochel Leah. "I even wrote an essay on it for our Chumash teacher at the end of last year. We were supposed to pick a character in the Chumash whom we really looked up to and liked. I chose the daughters of Tzelofchod who loved Eretz Yisrael so much that they insisted that they also deserved a portion in the Land. And they got it, too!"

"Another episode is the goral - the lottery," added Bassie. "Moshe prepared twelve pieces of parchment which had different territories of Eretz Yisrael inscribed on them. Each nassi - head of the tribe - picked out one piece of parchment, and that was the territory that was given to that tribe."

"Girls," said their mother, "did you know that a spectacular miracle happened as the lottery was drawn?"

"I remember learning that the piece of parchment called out its boundary and its tribe as it was chosen," said Bassie.

"Yes. Are you wondering why Hashem made such a miracle? Doesn't it seem as if there was no need for this miracle? After all, all the information was written on the parchment. Why did the parchment have to speak as well? The reason is that this miracle teaches us how special Eretz Yisrael is and how much Hashem cares about our Holy Land. It was an extra miracle for a land which is extra special."

"You know, girls, Eretz Yisrael is not just a land with boundaries we can see on the map. It is a place where Hashem's holiness is seen more openly than anywhere else. Do you know what that means? It means that Shirah isn't the only one who can be in Eretz Yisrael this summer.

"You mean, you're going to send us, Mommy?"

"Probably not this summer. But listen to this story. A chossid once asked the Tzemach Tzedek if he should move to Eretz Yisrael, where he would devote his life to learning Torah and serving Hashem. The Tzemach Tzedek replied, "Make this place Eretz Yisrael!"

"What the Tzemach Tzedek was saying was that when our lives are filled with Torah and mitzvos, wherever we go is like Eretz Yisrael: wherever we go, we are drawing down Hashem's holiness into our world. Living our lives this way will make Moshiach come ever so much faster, and then we will all be in the actual land of Eretz Yisroel."

‘Please Tell Me What The Rebbe Said’ (Adapted from Sichos Shabbos Parshas Pinchas, 5751)

Shlomie Cohen, 11
Leeds, England

In honor of Gimmel Tammuz there was a Farbrengen in our Chabad house, the Bal Habatim spoke, the Rabbi spoke and I also really wanted to say something, but I was shy, so I thought to myself: “if a year ago I could speak in front of 2,500 Rabbi’s at the Kinnus, then I can definitely speak in front of 30 – 40 people.” This is what I said:
“This Gimmel Tammuz was very special to me, because I had a conference call, with many other Tzirei Hashluchim, how I got to know about this was through the Connections Newsletter which is sent to me weekly – on the Parsha. This time it was about Gimmel Tammuz. I saw it said that there would be a rally, so I called the number and I heard different children from around the world all saying Divrei Torah connected to Gimmel Tammuz. I thought to myself, here I am in Leeds, with a few different events going on for Gimmel Tammuz, and here I am taking part in a worldwide rally, even though one might think that I am not together with these other children we are all connected through doing the Shlichus of the Rebbe. May we all really be united together with the coming of Moshiach now!”

 

W hen Camp Gan Yisroel for boys was started, the Rebbe travelled to Ellenville, New York to visit the soon-to-begin summer camp, followed by a visit to Camp Emunah for girls on ט “ ז תמוז תשט “ ז ( 1956). After thoroughly inspecting the Gan Yisroel campgrounds, including the lake, bunkhouses and so on, the Rebbe returned to the dining hall where he washed his hands and farbrenged with those present. The Rebbe delivered the maamer ‘ מזמור לדוד.....בנאות דשא .’ After benching the Rebbe gave out כוס של ברכה . From Gan Yisroel the Rebbe rode to Camp Emunah. At Camp Emunah, which had already started, the Rebbe toured the grounds, and then spoke to the staff and campers.

With the purchase of new campgrounds in Swan Lake, New York, the Rebbe visited the camp which was already in session on ט “ ו תמוז תשי “ ז (1957). After touring the entire ground, including the ball fields, lake, infirmary and bunkhouses etc the Rebbe davened Mincha in the shul, and then washed his hands for a Farbrengen. The Rebbe distributed the recently published מנחה-מעריב booklet to each member of staff and to all the campers. The Rebbe delivered the maamer “ ברוך הגומל ” . After benching the Rebbe gave out כוס של ברכה . The Rebbe then went to his car with all the campers singing “ כי בשמחה ” and went on to visit Camp Emunah. At Camp Emunah, the Rebbe was welcomed by the campers and the staff and he addressed them. He later addressed the staff.

In celebration of 200 years since the passing of the בעל שם טוב , (whom the Gan Yisroel camps are named after) the Rebbe visited the summer camps for his third time on ט “ ו תמוז תש “ כ (1960). The Rebbe was greeted by the entire camp and by hundreds of people who came from the city for the special occasion. The Rebbe thoroughly inspected the entire camp, and then washed his hands for a Farbrengen in the shul. The Rebbe delivered the maamer “ ברוך שעשה ניסים ” . After benching the Rebbe gave out כוס של ברכה , followed by a distribution of a מנחה-מעריב (second edition). The Rebbe then went for a short visit to Camp Emunah in Ellenville, New York where he addressed the staff and campers.

 

Our חכמים tell us that the בית המקדש was destroyed because of שנאת חינם amongst Jews. How can we do תשובה for this ? We must have אהבת חינם - love of one Jew for another without any particular reason.

Here are two stories illustrating the important mitzva of אהבת ישראל .

Once the two great חכמים , רבי שמעון בן לקיש and רבי אבהו , תלמידים of רבי יוחנן , were travelling from Tiveria, where the ישיבה was located, to the city of Caesarea.

1. Many students from all over ארץ ישראל and even from other lands flocked to the great Torah centre of Tiveria, to study at the feet of the greatest Torah giants of the time.

Caesarea was an international centre populated not only by Jews, but also by the important people of Roman society as well -- aristocracy and wealthy merchants.

These Romans built beautiful palaces and lived a fancy and wild lifestyle. They enjoyed theatres, sports, and cruel shows of wild animal fights.

Sadly, there were Jews who fell under the influence of the Romans, attending their theatres and joining in their vulgar entertainments, until some of them even deserted the path of Torah.

רבי אבהו had once lived in Caesarea, and the closer he came to the city, the more he longed to be back in the Academy together with the חכמים . He remembered the unholy atmosphere of Caesarea with disgust, and suddenly he wanted to turn back to Tiveria.

"Perhaps we shouldn't continue on our trip," he said to רבי שמעון . "The city of Caesarea is not the kind of place where we should spend our time. There are so many Jews who have strayed from Torah, it hurts me to see them."

Suddenly, רבי שמעון got off from his donkey, and without a word of explanation, he scooped up a handful of sand and placed it in רבי אבהו 's mouth!

רבי אבהו was shocked. What could רבי שמעון be thinking to do something like this to him? He couldn't speak for some time as it was difficult to clean his mouth from the gritty sand. When he finally could speak, he turned to his friend and asked, "Why did you do that to me?"

רבי שמעון replied, " ה ‘ is pained when anyone bad about the Jewish people. The Jews are His beloved children, and just as parents love their children, even when they don’t listen to them, ה ‘ also loves His children even when they do עבירות , and he doesn't want to hear bad reports about them. If you see that the Jews are doing עבירות , you should rebuke them and help them return to the proper paths."

רבי אבהו accepted this lesson from רבי שמעון . He became one of the greatest defenders of his people, especially in front of the Roman rulers.

Many times he succeeded in persuading the Roman Emperor to take away evil decrees which were so common during that difficult period. Under his good influence, even Caesarea developed into a city where Torah could blossom again.

 

The great חכמים of the time of the גמרא worked hard to constantly study more and more תורה but they also worked hard on developing their good מידות such as respect and love for one another.

Once, the senior תלמידים of רבי יהודה הנשיא were gathered around him listening to his lecture with great concentration. רבי יהודה suddenly stopped speaking and gazed around the room, focusing his eyes on each of his תלמידים . No one understood what had happened.

"Whoever has eaten garlic, leave the room at once!" he exclaimed. רבי יהודה had disliked the smell of garlic so much that he couldn’t continue teaching.

רבי חייא הגדול , one of the most important of all the great rabbis who were there, rose from his place and left the בית מדרש . The תלמידים looked at one another in wonder, רבי חייא knew that that his teacher disliked the smell of garlic and he would never have shown such disrespect for him.

Fearing that רבי יהודה would suspect his great student, all the other students also got up and left the בית מדרש , except for one.

The one who remained was רבי שמעון , רבי יהודה 's son, who saw how very upset the entire incident made his father.

רבי יהודה couldn't bear to think that the learning had stopped for the whole day because of one student.

רבי שמעון decided to speak to רבי חייא the following day. "It was your fault that my father interrupted the lecture and we missed out on a whole day's learning!"

רבי חייא replied to him with this explanation: "You must know that I would never do anything to upset my teacher and master. I certainly would never do something which I know he hates. However, I was concerned how the guilty person would feel. How embarrassed he would be to leave the בית מדרש . I knew that if I were to leave, all the others would do the same, and the guilty person would then be able to leave without anyone realising. Even though precious תורה learning would be lost, that was better than one of my friends being shamed in front of everyone."

That day רבי שמעון learned an important lesson from רבי חייא -- how important the honor of another Jew should be to us.

(Adapted from the L’chaim weekly)

Last Week's Winner:

Level 1:
Levi Yitzchok Danow, 7; Gothenburg, Sweden