EREV YOM KIPPUR - Hashem Forgives!

The Midrash recounts the following dialogue regarding the significance of sin:

Wisdom was asked: What is the fate of the transgressor? Wisdom replied: “Evil pursues crime” (Proverbs 13:21).

Prophecy was asked: What is the fate of the transgressor? Prophecy replied: “The soul that sins, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20).

The Torah was asked: What is the fate of the transgressor? Torah replied: "He shall bring a guilt-offering, and it shall atone for him" (Leviticus, ch. 5).

G-d was asked: What is the fate of the transgressor? G-d replied: "He shall do teshuvah, and it shall atone for him."

G-d sees sin as the potential for Teshuva!

From G-d’s perspective, there is only the positive essence of transgression. As viewed by its Creator, transgression is the potential for a deeper bond between Himself and man—a bond borne out of the transformation of evil into good and failure into achievement.

And this year G- d will once again forgive us. Why? Why should He?

If a person offends another and apologizes, and then repeats the misdeed, it becomes more difficult to grant pardon once again--and certainly if it occurs a third and fourth time.

To G-d, however, there is no difference between once and a thousand times. As it's stated in the Tanya, G-d's attribute of pardon comes from His mercy, which is infinite. And relative to infinity there is no difference whatsoever between a small number and a large one. Therefore G-d removes our sins every year on Yom Kippur.

These are words to soothe our aching hearts as we bare our souls in prayer and repentance this Yom Kippur.

Let us focus entirely on our spiritual connection to G‑d and how we can connect deeper and thereby live a more holy life.

Wishing you an easy fast and may we all be sealed in the Books of Life, Prosperity, and Redemption!

OVINU MALKEINU

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10 Yemei Teshuva

The Baal Shem Tov would go to a special place on Rosh Hashana, he would light a fire in a special way, say a special prayer, and as a result the entire world would be blessed.
In the next generation, his successors knew the location of the special place and they knew how to light the fire but they forgot the prayers. So instead, they would pray, "Whatever the Baal Shem Tov achieved here with the fire, we should achieve."

The next generation knew the location but they forgot the rest. So they just stood in the location and said, "Whatever the Baal Shem Tov achieved here, we should achieve."
Today, we have forgotten even the location. So what do we do? We tell the story...

We are asked to do only that which we are capable of. We do not have to be like the giants of the past. We just have to do what is in our power—stand on their shoulders. When we do so we lay claim to everything they achieved plus we add our own small part—and that small part,, might just be enough to tip the scales and bring redemption.
Ask yourself: Do you know what your small part in this world is? What can you add to the cumulative accomplishments of the giants of the past?

We find ourselves now in the 'ten days of Teshuva' when we have the opportunity through our service, to cause G-d to grant us yet greater benefits from His “full and expansive hand".

We say in our prayers, “Teshuva - , Tefillah - ,and Tzedaka avert evil and bring the good.
Teshuvah is a return to the self. meaning going back to one’s roots in G-d making it the dominant influ­ence in our lives.

Tefillah- prayer - means, to attach oneself. In tefillah we seek to attach ourselves to G-d. to the source of all life.

Tzedakah means justice. We have a duty to act towards others as we ask G-d to act towards us. And as we ask G-d for His blessings though He owes us nothing , so we are bound in justice to give to those who ask us, even though we owe them nothing.

These three

Teshuva - Returning to one's innermost self.

Tefilla - attaching oneself to G-d.

Tzedaka - distributing one's possessions with justice -

leads to a year “written and sealed” for good. A year of sweetness and plenty.

Preparing for Rosh Hashono

On Rosh Hashanah the world is new. It’s life-force is different that of any previous year -- a spiritual color never seen before. We cannot see this profound renewal, but its effects are real.
For each of us individually, this means new potential for spiritual growth. Rosh Hashanah shakes us out of our spiritual slumber, hence the Shofar blasts, to reconnect, to recommit to our divine mission in this world.

Each of us pauses to draw up а balance sheet for the past year. With unflinching honesty we assess our past actions and resolve to better ourselves. Thus committed, we confidently pray for а happy year, both materially and spiritually. And we pray that this year will bring the coming of Moshiach.

If we have thus far not taken full of advantage of the opportunities inherent in Elul to prepare ourselves, the time to start is now. Preparation is essential for success in anything in life—be it material or spiritual, be it an audit of your taxes, or an audit of your soul.

Imagine yourself arriving in the reception room of a big corporation.

"Can I help you?" asks the receptionist. "Oh, I guess so," you answer yawning and looking uninterested.
The receptionist looks quizzically at you.

"Well... why are you here?"
"Ummm...i'm not exactly sure", you answer her.
Are you here to apply for a job, perhaps?"
"Yes I think that's it." you say.
"Okay, did you bring a resume?
"You look at her feeling a little stupid. "No, I didn't bring anything."
"Well, then perhaps you can come back when you've prepared for this." She says.

If you arrived ill prepared, you'd expect nothing to happen. Similarly, if you arrive at shul on Rosh Hashana without preparation, without knowing what you are there for, or what this is all about, then what can you truly expect?

Moshe Rabeinu was on the mountain for 80 days. We don't have to physically go to the mountain, but we have to climb.
Let's each resolve to take on one more good deed, and increase the goodness in the world.

Our Sages say that giving Tzedoko, to the needy opens the way for our prayers to bring us good health, prosperity and happiness.

Wishing you and yours, and all of Israel, a sweet, prosperous, and meaningful new year!

Selichos in Berditchev

It was the day before Rosh Hashanah in Berditchev. The spirit of holiness hovered in the air. Each heart was throbbing with the thought of the imminent Day of Judgment; each mind was occupied with thoughts of repentance; perhaps too much time was wasted which could have been spent in the study of the Torah, more help should have been given to the poor, and way too much gossip was spoken during the past year, but thank G-d for the selichot. Here is the last chance before the year is over to turn to G-d in humble prayer, for the new year will most definitely be a better one...

The Jews of Berditchev made their way to the house of Rabbi Levi Y. Of Berditchev to accompany him to the synagogue for the selichot services, As they approached his home, they saw him on his way out holding a bottle of vodka and some herring …What on earth is the Rabbi going to do with the refreshments at this hour?" they wondered, as they followed him in silence to the outskirts of the town into a large inn.

At the inn the Rabbi bent over a sleeping poor Jew. Gently, the Rabbi whispered: "Reb Yid, Wake up have some vodka and fresh herring." The Jew opened his eyes wide with amazement, threw a glance at the refreshments, and said in horror -

"What? have you no G-d in your heart? Would I drink vodka before I've washed my hands? Would I eat before I have said my morning prayers?!

The Rabbi then moved on to a sleeping country peasant.

"Ivan, do you want a schnapps and some refreshments?"

"Give it here!" he said, and he gulped down the glass of vodka and swallowed some herring, turned over and fell back asleep.

The Berditchever Rabbi lifted his eyes to heaven and said, "Master of the Universe! Look at your children! A Jew gets up in the morning, and his first thought is of You, G-d! A Jew would not let anything pass his lips until he has sung Your praises! But a non-jew's first thought is of food and drink… "

His face beaming with satisfaction as his mission was accomplished, the Rabbi turned to his followers. "And now, holy flock, let's go to the house of G-d. We can now face our Maker with confidence, and pray for a happy new year…!”

What father can possibly condemn his own children

The hour for the sounding of the shofar in the synagogue of the “Seer of Lublin” had long passed one Rosh HaShanah morning, yet the great Chassidic sage remained secluded in his study. Finally, one of the Seer’s disciples knocked on his master’s door to ask what was amiss.

The Seer’s face was pale with terror and his eyes red with weeping. “I see a terrible decree ordained in the Heavenly court for the people of Israel this year,” he told his disciple. “I’ve been praying and pleading all morning to nullify the decree, but to no avail.”

The Seer noticed a young lad next to his disciple. “What are you learning these days?” he inquired of the young boy.

“We have just concluded a Talmudic section dealing with the laws of witnesses,” replied the young student.

“So, tell me an original insight that you’ve come up with in the course of your learning,” prompted the Seer.

And the Talmudic discussion began.

The boy said that he had been puzzled by the law that a person cannot serve as a witness in a case involving a relative of his, whether his testimony is for his relative’s benefit or to his detriment. Understandably, a witness cannot be believed when he testifies in support of his relative, the bias would be clear; but why do we not accept his testimony against his relative?

“Well, do you also have an answer to your question?” asked the Seer of Lublin.

“Yes,” said the boy. “I thought of the verse, ‘And the two persons shall stand ... before the judges,’ which the Talmud interprets as a reference to the witnesses. The Torah is saying that only ‘persons’ are qualified to serve as witnesses. Someone who is prepared to testify against his own brother, father or child is not a ‘person.’”

The Seer burst out joyously, “My son! With this argument we shall win our case in the Heavenly court! We shall remind G-d that He is our father, and which father can possibly condemn his own children? Come, let us go hear the sounding of the shofar.”

Human beings are not angels.

"Why is life was full of struggle and disappointment. Why can't it just be simple and easy?" Why? because we are not angels. Angels are impeccable and flawless, always on target. Human beings, on the other hand, are fragmented and vacillate between extremes and shaken by conflicts.

"But why did G-d create us in such a complicated fashion? Would G-d not have enjoyed us far more if we were like the angels?"

The Rebbe gives the following analogy as he responds to an artist.

A photograph, which is lifeless, captures and freezes a person or a scene as is. A painting, on the other hand, contains the richness of human imagination, the depth of human emotion and human creativity. That is what gives a painting its great value. We call it - art.

Angels are like photos, they are perfect shots of the spiritual realities. Like photos, they never err. Yet it is precisely the fluctuating drama of human existence, the perpetual conflict between our inner light and darkness, and the inner human void searching for meaning and truth that turns our life, into a piece of art.

The Baal Shem Tov taught that our every deed, every word we speak, even a single thought we think, has an effect throughout all the worlds and through the whole of history. With every thought and action, we are capable of defining our life into art.

Only in the tormented chambers of our human heart can G-d discover genuine, awe-inspiring artwork. It is the goodness that emerge from human struggle that bestow upon humanity a splendor that the highest of angels can never attain.

Put the spiritual on a pedestal

Rabbi Shalom DovBer, the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, had an older brother, himself an illustrious and saintly scholar, by the name of Rabbi Zalman Aharon. As a young child, Zalman Aharon was bothered by the fact that he was noticeably shorter than his younger brother.

One day, Zalman Aharon gently pushed his brother into a small ditch. And Zalman Aharon gleefully pointed out that now he was taller...

The boys' father, Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch, observed the entire incident. The Rebbe asked for a chair and asked Zalman Aharon to stand on it. "Tell me," he asked, "who's taller now?"

Zalman Aharon excitedly answered that once again he was taller.

"Aha!" said Rabbi Shmuel. "To be bigger than your friend, there is no need to pull him down. Simply elevate yourself!"

*** ***

This week, on the 18th of Elul, we mark the birthdays of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov father of the chassidic movement, and Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi who founded the Chabad stream of chassidism.

They taught us and challenged us to put the spiritual on a pedestal rather than wrestle with the material in its ditch. Instead of focusing on the lowliness of the mundane, concentrate on the sublimity of the spirit. As one of the chassidic mentors once said, "if the pleasure seeking people of the world were introduced to the delights offered by prayer and the communion with the divine that it affords, they would abandon all other pleasures and pray all day!"

Open a chassidic text and study about G‑d, His awe-inspiring splendor and His magnificent deeds. And G‑d craves a relationship with you and me, as individuals. We can unite with Him through studying Torah, praying, and observing His mitzvot. Vote for the spirit not because the alternative is depressing, but because the spirit is the absolute best place for you to cast your ballot.

Talk nicely to others...

In the ethics of our fathers it teaches:
Shimon (the son of Rabban Gamaliel) said; “All my days I grew up amongst the Sages, and I never found anything better for the body than silence".

Rabbi Yehudah wanted to teach his students to be very careful how they spoke to one another.

What did he do?

He called his cooks and told them to prepare a big meal for everyone, at which the main dish would be tongue.

Now the tongue of a cow is very tough. When the cow is alive, she uses her tongue to eat all kinds of sharp, pointy grasses, full of thorns and thistles.

To cook tongue properly, you first have to soak it a long time, and then cook it for many hours until it gets soft.

Rabbi Yehudah had his cooks make some of the tongue properly, soft and tender. The rest he left half-cooked. It was very tough and hard.

"Which pieces would you have want, The soft ones or the tough hard ones?,
' He asked of his students. Of course, they all wanted the soft tasty pieces of meat.

“Learn your lesson carefully,” said Rabbi Yehudah to them. “Nobody here wanted the tough, hard tongue. Everybody wanted the soft tender pieces. It’s just the same when you speak to others. Remember, a soft tongue is the best. Always use gentle words and kind speech. And if someone is upset with you, do not answer in angry tones. Remember what Shlomo HaMelech said, 'A gentle answer turns away anger.'"

Push your 'blanket' to others....

“Who can tell me what the lesson of the Holocaust is?" Asked Rabbi Finkel of a group of American businessman. He called on one guy, who didn’t know what to say, he mumbled something like, “We will never, ever forget…" And the rabbi completely dismissed him. Another guy offered another answer, he said - “We will never again be a victim or bystander."

The rabbi said, “You guys just don’t get it. Okay, gentlemen, let me tell you the essence of the human spirit.

“As you know, during the Holocaust, the people were transported in the worst possible, inhumane way by railcar. “After hours and hours in this inhumane corral with no light, no bathroom, cold, they arrived at the camps. The doors were swung wide open, and they were blinded by the light. Men were separated from women, mothers from daughters, fathers from sons. They went off to the bunkers to sleep.

“As they went into the area to sleep, only one person was given a blanket for every six. The person who received the blanket, when he went to bed, had to decide, ‘Am I going to push the blanket to the five other people who did not get one, or am I going to pull it toward myself to stay warm?’”

And Rabbi Finkel said, “It was during this defining moment that we learned the power of the human spirit, because we pushed the blanket to five others.”

And with that, he stood up and said, “Take your blanket. i.e. your riches, and take it back to America and push it to five other people.”

Light.....Light...

"And G-d said, 'Let there be light.' And there was light" (Genesis 1:3)

Light has always been the metaphor for all forms of revelation. We speak of "G-dly light," the "Divine light," etc.

As physical light brightens our path so we don't stumble over obstacles, so the light of G-dliness, our spiritual awareness, helps us avoid the pitfalls on the journey of life. Light represents truth, eternal values, the spiritual which transcends the mundane.

A story is told of a wealthy man who had three sons. As he was uncertain as to which son he should entrust with the management of his business, he devised a test. He took his three sons to an empty room and said to each of them, "Fill this room as best as you are able."

The first son called in bulldozers, and workmen with shovels and wheelbarrows and they got mightily busy. By the end of the day the room was filled, floor to ceiling, wall to wall, with earth.

The second son was more of an accountant type, so he had no shortage of boxes of files, archives and records and so it didn't take long and the room was filled from floor to ceiling, wall to wall, with paper.

The room was cleared and the third son was given his turn. He seemed very relaxed and didn't appear to be gathering or collecting anything at all with which to fill the room. He waited until nightfall and then invited his father and the family to join him at the room. Slowly, he opened the door. The room was absolutely pitch black.. He took a candle out of his pocket, lit it and suddenly the room was filled with light.

He got the job.

Some people fill their homes with earthiness -- with lots of physical objects and possessions.

Others are into paper -- money, stocks, bonds, etc.

The truly wise son understands that the emptiness of life needs light. Torah is light. Shabbat candles illuminate and make Jewish homes radiant with light. G-dly truths and the eternal values of our heritage fill our homes and families with the guiding light to help us.

As we are about to begin a new Jewish year, may we all be blessed to take the candle of G-d and with it fill our lives and illuminate our homes with that which is good, kind, holy and honorable. Amen.

PARSHAT RE'EI

This week's Torah portion, Re'ei opens with a fundamental principle of Judaism- free choice.

G-d says to the Jewish people, "Look, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: the blessing, that you will hearken to G-d's commandments...; and the curse, if you will not hearken to G-d's commandments..." (Deut. 11:26-28).

Why did G-d create the world so as to necessitate blessings and curses? Why did G-d create something to make it difficult for us to do what is appropriate and right?

Evil alternatives exist to allow for free choice. If there was only good in this world - no chance for a person to behave in a questionable manner - he couldn't freely choose to do good; he would be forced to do good by default. And there would be no room for reward and punishment.

Wrong exists only to allow a person to choose right. Evil is nothing but a means of improving our Divine service, to push the person toward the correct path. Evil is not a curse, but a merit that enables us to succeed and prevail. Knowing this gives us the ability and strength not to be intimidated or overwhelmed by the bad.

Parshat Re'ei is read on the Shabbat when the month of Elul is blessed. In Elul, G-d's Thirteen Attributes of Mercy are manifested with particular intensity. At such a time, a person might think that his own efforts or initiative is unnecessary. Thus, the Torah reminds us, "Look, I give you today a blessing and a curse." In Elul, when G-d's mercy is manifest, a Jew must intensify his efforts to vanquish evil.

It should be a time of emphasizing the positive and increasing our love for our fellow Jew. In the merit of our good deeds (especially charity), G-d will inscribe each and every one of us together with all the righteous!