THE NINTH OF THE MONTH OF AV – CONNECTIONS AND REFLECTIONS

B.S.D.

Since our Sages tells us that when the month of Av enters we lessen our (simcha) happiness and when the month of Adar enters we increase our simcha, it behooves us to try to find some underlying thread of connectedness between these two antithetically appearing periods of time whose pinnacle of expression are manifest on the days of Tisha b’Av and Purim respectively.

On Tisha b’Av we replace our cheerful smiles and laughter of Purim with tears and heartfelt sighs.

On Tisha b’Av we exchange our flamboyant Purim costumes and demeanor with unadorned garments and mournful introspection.

On Tisha b’Av we defer from the joyous festive eating and drinking of Purim by replacing them withdrawal from corporeal pleasures.

On Tisha b-Av we refrain from joyously sharing with all and bestowing gifts on friends as we do on Purim, while instead sit humbly in an introspective state of mourning.

O’Tisha b-Av please reveal to us how through your five restrictions of this day can we bring ourselves five steps closer to the coming of the final redemption?

(Tisha b’Av speaking to us)

1)    On this, our day of mourning, by taking off your leather shoes, allows us to “refit” our souls.

 

2)    On this, our day of mourning, by refraining from leisurely walks and other corporeal pleasures, allows us to increase our “strides” towards holiness.

3) On this, our day of mourning, by not washing and anointing externally, instead merit to “cleanse” and “purify” ourselves internally.

4) On this, our day of mourning, instead of physically eating and drinking, we become “nourished” with spiritual nourishment for our souls.

5) On this, our day of mourning, by abstaining from learning, we learn instead that life has no deep meaning without the teachings of the Torah.

O’Tisha b’Av, may the Mashiach who is waiting at our “doorstep”, help us to open the “doors” of our hearts, thereby for ever transforming past times of mourning into future times of joy.

 

La-shana haba bi-Jerusalem

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS NOT BUILDINGS – THE SOLUTION TO THE ISRAEL-GAZA CRISIS

Did you ever wonder what could be one of the underlying motivations for Hamas to once again renew their missile attacks, even though every time they have done so in the past, they are quickly overwhelmed by the superior fire power of the Israeli military?

Well, perhaps the following explanation can be one reason for this sad situation. The pattern of conflict over the years has been the following:

First – Hamas starts a barrage of missile attacks until the Israeli military launches a full scale offensive which destroys many buildings and much of the Gaza’s infrastructure.

Second – Many good hearted nations step in to call for a cease fire.

Thirdly –  After the cease fire, Hamas finds supporters to help donate money to rebuild destroyed buildings and infrastructure.

Fourthly – This rebuilding is a great boom for government status of Hamas as it put many of its unemployed to work and greatly improves their employment statistics in the eyes of the world.

Fifthly – A number of years later the whole cycle is repeated with the old being destroyed and rebuilt with the new again at the expense of Israel and Hamas supporters.

Ironically, it is like Hamas is “contracting” the Israeli military as the demolition “crew”, who works without pay and with great expense of their own, knocking down the old, so that Hamas can petition their supporters to “foot the bill” to rebuild Gaza’s cities and infrastructure.

Since the truly unfortunate devastating “price” of war is through the loss of innocent life and injuries on all sides, it is high time that the nations of the world recognize the futility of trying to rebuild a nation who feels it can gain from its destruction. Instead the world powers should spend their money and resources on helping to educate and guide people on the sanctity of life and how to fairly negotiate for their rights and send them a clear message that there will be no rebuilding funds in the future if they are seen as the aggressors.

May the outcome of such efforts, to resolve conflicts peacefully, finally allow all peoples of the world to feel safe enough to turn their weapons into plowshares, thereby cultivating true universal peace and prosperity for all mankind.

THE DIAMOND RING AND SHABBOS

This is an amazing incident that shows us the high level of mesrius nefesh an ordinary Jew can attain and how far the ripples of its influence can reach.

After Reuven, who was learning full time at Yeshiva, became engaged – a chassan, his father one day entrusted him with a large sum of cash in order to purchase a diamond ring for his kallah. Reuven set out on his mission Erev Shabbos in the late morning as he felt that this time would least interfere with his learning seder. Before leaving his father wished him well.

Even though hub of jewelry stores were usually only half hour bus ride, because of heavy roadwork, the trip took a much longer long. By the time Reuvan arrived at his destination he since the arrival of Shabbos was coming closer he quickly looked at a number of rings but he didn’t feel he had found the one he wanted to purchase. Reuvan strengthened his resolve that everything is from Heaven and ultimately for the good, turned around and began his trip back home. During the subway ride home, Reuvan began to feel a little tired so he closed his eyes, for what he thought would be a few minutes, however when he woke up he realized that he had well passed the stop for his home and now traveling in the wrong direction. With Shabbos soon approaching he quickly got off the train and hailed down a taxi. Unfortunately, the taxi moved like a snail as the traffic was very congested this time due to an accident that still wasn’t cleared. Reuvan realized that at this pace that he wouldn’t get home in time, so he started to review in his mind his halacic obligations in order to any transgression of Shabbos. Being it was the winter time with very short days, candle lighting was quickly approaching. Finally, a let up in the heavy traffic allowed them to move along at a jiffy pace reaching an area not so far from his house just minutes left till Shabbos. Reuvan decided he couldn’t chance staying in the taxi any longer so he immediately paid the driver thanked him and exited.

Now Reuven’s concern was the large sum of money that he had with him. He looked around him and saw that he had exited the taxi right in front of a large store that was open. He went in and looked around. It was full of salespeople and customers, but he saw an office off to the side and through the glass door, he could see an elderly man sitting behind a desk. Reuven knocked and entered. With a quick excuse for interrupting the man at his work, he explained that he was a religious Jew and would have to leave his wallet somewhere because it was just a few minutes until the Jewish Sabbath and he couldn’t carry it with him.

 

The man looked at him strangely but he apparently felt that Reuven was sincere and asked how he could be of service. Reuven said he was carrying a large sum of money and asked the man if he would hold it for him until after Shabbos. The man nodded, accepted Reuven’s wallet and placed it in an envelope. Reuven thanked the gentleman and left immediately.

 

Reuven walked briskly home, relieved that he had not transgressed the Shabbos. After Shabbos second thoughts assailed him and he berated himself for having given that man his money without any witnesses or receipt. Would he now even be able to find the man? Would the man admit to having received the money and most importantly, would he return it? These and other thoughts and suspicions filled his mind. With a deep resolve not to worry, for he felt he had done the right thing, he pushed away these worries and continued his learning.

 

The next day after davening Reuven returned to the store where he had left his wallet. There was the same man sitting behind his desk. He knocked and entered the office.

 

“Do you remember me?” Reuven asked.

“Yes,” the man said noncommittally.

 

“Can I now have my wallet back?” The elderly man looked Reuven in the eyes for what seemed like forever, stood up in silence and went into a back room. Reuven was tense, but he strengthened himself with the thought that he had managed to not transgress the Shabbos and that was worth more than money. After what seemed an eternity, the man came back with an envelope in his hand, which he turned over to Reuven. In it was Reuven’s wallet – intact.

 

Reuven was relieved, to put it mildly. He was also so overwhelmed by this man’s honesty, that he couldn’t withhold his admiration and praised him profusely. The elderly man then answered in a European Yiddish “Nu, what do expect from a fellow Jew?”

 

Reuven was astonished. He had no idea the man was a Jew. The elderly man, who was the owner of this business, then told Reuven: “After you left my store and all during Shabbos my conscious started hounding me. Through the harshness I experienced during Holocaust I had given up all signs of my Jewish ness, but your mesirus nefesh and dedication to the sanctity of the holy Shabbos now reawakened in me the will to do return to the ways of my tradition – teshuvah.” He then concluded: “ From now on, thanks to you, this store will be closed on Shabbos!”

They spontaneously fell into each other’s arms with tears in their eyes with Reuven now realizing what a great “investment” he had made after all. From that day on, for the first time in decades, this precious Jewish soul would again be “reinvesting” his life in the service of Hashem. Well – it came out that Reuvan did find a diamond after all that day – the diamond within the soul of that Jew.

 

As told to Y.B. & S.E. Falk by Rabbi H. Waxman

Monsey N.Y.

Painting Class

There is a painting technique that involves placing two layers of paint on a canvas using any colors, designs or themes that you would like on each of the layers. The first step is to paint in the background.  After it dries, place tape on the areas you wish to cover.  Press the tape down carefully so that the edges of the tape are smooth.  Paint a second layer on top of the first, insuring that you have completely covered the tape.  Then, when that second layer is dry — remove the tape to reveal parts of the first layer underneath. Removing the tape takes a bit of effort — first to find it and then to peel it off.

Did you plan for what you now see?  Were you trying to create an integrated design using both layers or were you prepared to be surprised. There are several possibilities.  You might like the painting you created on the top layer– it might be nicer than the lower layer and it might not be improved or enhanced when the bottom layer shows through. But you also worked to make that bottom layer nice as well. And since it was a fresh canvas at that time, the colors were pretty vivid and memorable.

So you peel off some of the tape.And you don’t like the result. It’s not one coherent whole, its a mish mash of color shape and form. It’s not here or there. You want to fix it so you paint over the exposed areas. But now the top layer has lost its appeal because you are not experienced enough to find the original colors that were so nicely mixed and place them in just the right parts of the painting.  Now you feel you have ruined what you created and want to get rid of the little painting– just leave it somewhere and forget it.

You of course realize that our purpose here is not to give a painting class but to draw an analogy.  Those of us who are baalei teshuva or gerim have painted in a background or perhaps it is more accurate to say that we were offered a background that was  painted for us. It might be quite detailed and extensive. It happened when we were young and the colors  very vivid in our hearts and minds.  It may have covered quite a bit of the canvas of our lives.  In fact we might not have planned initially to think in terms of another perhaps totally different layer of life, but at some point were inspired to start to work on it — and we began taping.  For this taping process we had much more choice in terms of position and shape of the tape but were we thinking of  what we would do after this taping over process was completed?

When we tape over are we thinking about integrating the two designs. When we color our lives in the second layer after teshuva or geirus are we considering whether it will match blend or integrate with the first layer. How can we do that so as to make one layer enhance the next.

The simple answer is truth and acknowledgment. The antithesis is denial and falsehood. There is an entirely new creation before you, but it is not just a composite of old and new but its own essential self.