Exciting New Learning Program In Yerushalayim IHK
BSD
I am very excited to be part of the Women’s Chabura Learning Program at Yeshiva Simchat Shlomo in Nachlaot.
If you are interested in finally learning how to learn, please join us-
Email me for info
kolrena@gmail.com
Shiurim In N.Y.
BSD
With Hashem’s help, I will be in NY from July 21-Aug 4.
To schedule a Shiur or a private meeting, you can email me at Kolrena@gmail.com or call 917 832 9121.
Looking forward to seeing you and to a complete Geula soon, B’ Rachamim…
Seeing Hashem In Current Events
BSD
The Tzaddikim were always conscious of the Yad Hashem in world events and often pointed out Hashgachat Hashem just by hearing ‘what’s going on in the world’.
We don’t yet have prophecy restored, but we do have the ability to observe and to ponder…
So, I can’t help but see the Geula coming closer, in a very natural way..and the Dinim on the Nations who have made things hard for us…
The Gulf of Mexico is filling with pollutants, making its water unsafe and unusable.
And here in Hashem’s Land, the Israeli Water Commission has announced the opening of the world’s largest desalination plants, predicting that, with Hashem’s help, Israel will soon be able to clean and use Mediterranean water, even to the point of redirecting the water to the Kinneret and refilling the Jordan, and the Dead Sea.
Chasdei Hashem.
May we keep seeing Hashem’s miraculous intervention and graciousness to us, His Children, here in His Land.
Three Shiurim In NY This Week
I will be in NY for a few days and BSD three Shiurim have been organized. For Info:
Monday Night April 19 Far Rockaway- Call Chaia 718 471 3223
Tues Night April 20 Great Neck- Call Isabella 718 263 5500 ext 1
Sunday Night April 25 Forest Hills- Call Sara 718 531 6234
I LOOK FORWARD TO GREETING YOU PERSONALLY
Three Klipot
http://www.mediafire.com/?4zzzzwqwyz2
Rosh Hashana 5770!
BSD
Here is the link to the Shiur given in Neve Community Women’s Learning Center today. May this year bring you and yours all the blessings in ruchniyus and gashmiyus in a sweet and revealed manner.
Blessings always from Yerushalayim IHK
http://www.mediafire.com/file/iiyyezyan3z/5770 rosh hashana.mp3
ELUL
BSD
The palace of the King is being renovated and cleaned for the upcoming annual coronation ceremony. The King has been on a foreign tour of His provinces for the past few months and has now returned to the royal city. He has set up camp directly outside his palace and is available to any and all. No appointment needed, not even correct palace attire. It is the annual open field.
Not only is the King available, accessible and in the field, but He desires each of His subjects to make the effort and come to visit. You are invited, guaranteed a Divine smile, a gift of presence and an internal cleansing.
The way to enter the field of the King is to want to see and speak to Him. That’s all. Internal self accounting usually follows, and committment to improve your life and the world. Great emotion often accompanies the visits, and you can come as often as you like. Daily, several times daily or even just stay close constantly.
The field begins to empty of the Royal retinue right before Rosh hashana- at that point, tickets are needed to enter the palace to encounter The King- and the price of the ticket is raised if you want a closer encounter.
So, take the time now, when He is closer and easiest to access.
With great love…
Shiur Tonight in Great Neck
BSD
I will be giving a Shiur tonight in Great Neck at 9 PM in the Pesian Shul, Shira Chadasha
695 Middle Neck Road, back entrance.
Please join us for this Tu B’Av Shiur!
Visiting New York
CHODESH TOV UMEVORACH
BSD, I will be in N.Y. from July 28 until Aug 16. If you would like me to visit your community and give a shiur, feel free to be in touch by email.
The audio on my site has been problematic for the last month or so. You can still go to
Oneg.tv to see the shiurim, or go to the Simchat Shlomo website where the shiurim are archived.
Parshas Behaaloscha
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BSD PARSHAT BEHALOTECHA YERUSHALAYIM
A woman got onto the bus at the Machane Yehuda Shuk stop and it was hard for me not to notice her. She had nobility that radiated from her being, in stark contrast to the simple clothes she wore. Her face had the look of a lifetime of wisdom, culled from a lifetime of pain. She looked to be in her seventies, yet she shlepped her bags with the grace of a younger woman. She laughed as the teenager in the front seat rose to give her a convenient seat, but gratefully accepted his offer, and winked at him as he moved to the back. Was she amused by his eyebrow ring or the fact that someone thought her old enough to defer their front seat, I will never know. Nor will I ever know the answers to many questions that popped into my mind about her- where was she from, how many children did she love and lose, even why the few hairs that snuck out of her tight kerchief were colored henna. I longed to speak to her, but my western reserve, which has stretched and expanded since living in Israel, somehow prevented me at this particular moment from beginning to speak.
She exited the bus a few stops later, and waved to someone a few seats in front of me. I realized that my neighbor was also on this bus, and it was she whom the woman waved to. I went to sit near my neighbor and asked her, who this woman was.
“Oh, she used to live near us when I was growing up. What a story she has.”
It seems that this older woman, whose name was Mazal, came from Tunisia as a teenager in 1949. She was from a famous Sephardic Rabbinical family that traced their ancestry to Dovid Hamelech. Some of her uncles are regarded as the greatest contemporary mystics of Sephardic Jewry, and all of her sons served in the Israeli army bringing their strength of Emuna to their fellow soldiers. It seems that this woman was the matriarch of a great family. Women come to her for Brachot and advice, which are dispensed with humility and humor.
I missed a great opportunity.
Mitzva Habaa Leyadcha Al Tachmitzena. The word Matza and the word Mitzva are related etymologically. Both can be spoiled if not done with alacrity and speed. Chazal teach that if a Mitzva comes to you, don’t delay. Do it right away, before it escapes.
The Ramban writes in his sefer Emuna U’Bitachon that this is true even in the areas of serving Hashem with your heart. He teaches that when a person feels love for Hashem filling his heart, for whatever the reason, he should immediately put that love into some physical action. Otherwise this love will evaporate and be lost. Rebbe Nachman details this idea by teaching that if a thought comes to you in the middle of the day to do a certain Mitzva, you should try to stop what you are involved with and immediately perform this Mitzva, if appropriate. And if a Tefilla , a Bakasha, a question or some problem that you need to work out with Hashem’s help pops its presence into your mind, verbalize it to Hashem right there and then. Don’t say, “Wow, what a great thought, I will work on this later during Mincha,” because it will fly out of your head by then.
Every single moment in this time dependent creation is unique, special. No two seconds of time have the exact same energy. Sometimes, Bechasdei Hashem, we become attuned to the particular spiritual energy of a particular point in time. That energy, that opportunity, stays in potential until we unlock it with our awareness. And then, by verbalizing or otherwise physically expressing this spiritual energy, we acquire it as our own.
When Moshe Rabbeinu built the Mishkan, the hearts of the Nessiim overflowed with love and awareness of Hashem. They brought their Korbanos, their offerings at the inauguration of the Mishkan with great joy and awe. Each day, a different Nasi would represent his tribe and bring his offering. The Torah tells us that each offering was of the same materials and amounts. Each Nasi brought one silver bowl and one silver basin each filled with flour and oil. Each Nasi brought a ladle of incense and twenty one different animals for Korbanos. And although the offering of each Nasi was identical, the Midrash teaches that each Nasi had his specific Tribe in mind, with their specific mission and character. So, although each offering was physically the same, spiritually, each offering was unique, special and different.
The only tribe not participating in individual offerings to the Mishkan was Levi, with Aharon Hakohein as its Nasi. Rashi citing the Midrash Tanchuma teaches that Aharon had a Chalishas Hadaas, a weakening of his spirit, when he noted the exclusion of his tribe. Hashem therefore reminded him of the Mitzva of Menorah, which our Parsha begins with and which was the exclusive domain of his family. In addition, although the Mishkan and subsequently the first two Batei Mikdash were the focal point of the world, being the resting place of the Shechina, there would be a time in history when the Shechina would wander, Her house hidden. It would be the family of Aharon who would keep the flame of Torah alive, in the form of the Brachos they are entitled to bestow.
The Ramban asks why the Menorah was used as the symbol of comfort for Aharon, and not the Ketoret or the daily Korbanot. He answers that the Menorah is eternal, and exists even after the Mishkan and Beit Hamikdash are no longer.
We celebrate Chanuka, with a Menorah, to commemorate the victory of the Chashmonaim, descended from Aharon Hakohein, over the Greeks.
And we are to celebrate every day with a different form of Chanuka.
The Shem Mishmuel remarks that the Nessiim used their overflowing love to inspire them to bring Korbanos. Aharon Hakohein felt that perhaps the love he and his tribe felt was incomplete and therefore did not merit the exultation of the Nessiim. Hashem responded by explaining to Aharon exactly what the menorah was about. The daily cleaning out of the menorah bowls from yesterday’s oil represents letting go of the old, stale or just uninspired ways of serving Hashem. Filling and lighting the menorah represents, among other things, a new love that is born daily in the heart of the Jew, represented by the Kohein. Aharon is not just going to participate in a once in a lifetime experience, but every day, will reawaken his love and awe of his Creator. And he will pass this on to his beloved Nation, in the form of Chanuka candles, in the form of Shabbos candles, in the form of consecrating every thing to Hashem.
Aharon, who loved the people with a deep and accepting love, would represent Hashem’s love and would grow in love every day.
Each of us can do this. There is no day that is like today, no time in eternity like this moment. And at this moment in time, in your time, in your life, there is a specific, unique way to think about and to serve Hashem. There is a specific Bracha that we can think about at every moment of the day. There are actually almost infinite numbers of positive, life giving, love provoking thoughts we can have at any given moment.
Are you running to answer the phone? You can light your heart with love of Hashem as you contemplate your working legs and ears.
Are you sitting at your desk at work? You have a job! You have a body that sits! You have a purpose!
You are reading this Dvar Torah? How many thousands of muscles are working to enable you to view this on your computer? How many other Jews are you now connected to who are all having the same life giving, love provoking thought, strengthening its impact exponentially.
There is no moment in the day empty of a God Love provoking thought based on a Bracha or an awareness that you are presently enjoying.
Lighting the menorah symbolizes this lesson, says the Shem MiShmuel. And since Aharon lived Jews with a deep, passionate almost self annihilating love, only this thought would be the one to comfort him. The offerings of the Nessiim were great, but temporary. The teachings of Aaron’s daily cleaning and relighting the Menorah would carry with us even into exile, into darkness. And the teachings of renewed love would renew our desire to live.
Fire cannot be contained. It always strives higher. As we light Shabbos candles, we can remember this. We can have in mind, among so many other things, to light the love of Hashem into our hearts, and to kindle love in our hearts for every one of our ‘candles’- family members. We can yearn for the hearts of each of our loved ones to be opened even more to the Light of Hashem and His Torah. We become the Kohein Gadol who must guide, purify, and serve with love and Mesirus Nefesh.
May the light of the Menorah in the newly rebuilt and uncovered Bais Hamikdash shine so brightly that it illuminates all dark places so that the knowledge of Hashem fills the entire creation.
SHABBAT SHALOM