Newsletter

Soon, in the secular calendar, it will be 2020. Over a decade ago, I wrote a book entitled “2020 Vision.” For better or worse, things are shaping up pretty much as described in the book. 

“Achos katana … The little sister…. She prepares her prayers and proclaims her praises. Oh 

I actually enjoy going to the dentist. Maybe it’s Bina, the amazing hygienist, who tells me divrai Torah as she cleans my teeth. 

As I write, it is Rosh Chodesh Elul, the first day of the Month of Elul. 

As I write, we are still mired in the crisis generated by the New York State Board of Education’s attack on our yeshiva system. It is not just New York. I saw a recent note regarding a Chabad school in Florida, where the regional public schools are threatening to close a program in which hundreds of Jewish children have used school facilities for over a decade. And what about England? Why are we being threatened around the world? 

Our parsha opens with the word, “re’eh… See.” Why is this word needed?  

The Satan is pushing against us. As King David says, “You pushed me hard that I might fall, but Hashem assisted me.” (Psalm 118) 

We have made it through Tisha B’Av and we are still alive. 

Recently I was driving through a checkpoint at a United States military base. I did not see any guard, so I proceeded slowly forward. Suddenly there was a loud bang on the rear window. A military policeman stepped out of the shadows and started yelling. He wasn’t interested in hearing that I hadn’t seen him. 

We have reached the end of the Book of Numbers (Sefer Bamidbar in the Torah) and the culmination of the travels of the Children of Israel through the Desert. The Holy Nation is gathered on the Plains of Moav, across from the Eastern border of the Holy Land, poised to cross the Jordan River. 

How does one merit “bris shalom … [the] covenant of peace?” (Numbers 25:12) 

 Bilaam was a novi.[1] A novi can give unique service to Hashem. His task in life is to transmit Hashem’s will and thereby elevate the entire world. But, like every opportunity, it is a two-edged sword. Spiritually-powerful people need humility in order to ensure that they use their power properly. Who was more powerful than Dovid Hamelech? Yet Dovid says, “I am a worm.” (Psalm 22) 

 
Why is a human corpse the basic source of impurity? 

How could Korach and his followers have rebelled against Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses)? 

It amazes me how events in each week’s Torah Portion constantly pinpoint our exact situation as we travel through history. Of course, that is our Torah. “Hashem n’chaini … Hashem, guide me in Your righteousness, because of my watchful enemies. Make Your way straight before me.” (Psalm 5:9) I remember, from my early years, blundering with no Guide and no path. 

Several years ago, at this season, I heard a parable from Rabbi Naftali Jaeger Shlita”h, Rosh ha Yeshiva of Sh’or Yoshuv, in the name of the Ishbitzer Rebbe. 

I admit it. My favorite of all the Megilas is Rus.[i] The language is simple, even spare, the essence of understatement. 

This week, we tremble at the Tochecha.[i] 

Do you feel different when you are in Israel? 

As I write, hundreds of rockets have been falling on Israel. Our own grandchildren returned after Shabbos to their home near Ashkelon to the sound of air-raid sirens. 

Have you ever heard of the Ashalim Solar Power Plant? 

We say about some people, “They were larger than life.” 

My chavrusa (study partner), a respected rebbe in Yerushalayim, mentioned a disturbing conversation he had with one of his talmidim, who asked, “If marijuana is legal, why shouldn’t we smoke it?” In other words, why shouldn’t we be on drugs?  

The Talmud discusses the generation before Moshiach. “It was taught in a Baraisa: Rabbi Nechemia says: [In] the generation when the son of David will come, insolence will increase; honor will dwindle; the vine will produce its fruit, yet wine will be expensive; the entire kingdom will turn to heresy and there will be no rebuke.” (Sanhedrin 97a) 

Next Shabbos the month of spring arrives. With the advent of Nissan, hope blooms in our hearts and flowers bloom in the fields and on the trees. During this season we have to remember that Zman Chairusainu (the Season of our Freedom) can come only after we have been released from slavery. There is no redemption unless there has been danger. That is why redemption is so powerful. 

Is it not strange that Passover comes four weeks after Purim? They are the same basic story: the Children of Israel are threatened by a powerful foe and saved by miraculous intervention. Why did the Torah establish one major Holiday after the other?

I believe the Torah is warning us that, throughout our long journey, this story is going to happen over and over. We are going to be in mortal danger many times until the Final Redemption arrives.  

Haman cast lots concerning which day he would try to destroy all the Jews, G-d forbid. Since he was “all powerful” and ruled a kingdom which spanned the entire world, how could the Jews escape? He had it figured out. It was “all over.” 

 We have now entered the second month of Adar (which happens only during a Jewish Leap Year, seven years out of every nineteen-year cycle). During this time of year, the Torah tells us to increase simcha. But, even without the Torah’s encouragement, I believe that we all feel the optimism inherent in this season, which is assisted by a change in weather. It has been a cold winter where we live, and – Baruch Hashem! – a relatively wet winter in Israel, and now we sense the beautiful season of spring approaching.  

Rabbi Yaakov Landau Shlita”h, the Rabbi of Congregation Chanichei Ha Yeshivos in Lakewood, spoke recently about the current state of the world. He compared our current situation to the times of Purim, when Haman ordered that letter be “sent by courier to all the provinces of the king, to destroy, to slay and to exterminate all the Jews from young to old, children and women ….” (Esther 3:13)