Thought of the week - Miketz

B''H




Chanuka, the festival of lights!

Chanuka is a holiday that commemorates freedom! Jews when in their utmost glory, in their hardest times, came through with miracles upon miracles. These past 3-4 days as every year Chabad-Lubavitch organizations light public Menorah’s around the globe. With presidents, prime ministers, dignitaries’ even baseball stars!

Chabad reached the White House, and all the way across the globe to the Great Wall of China. They even reached outer space! All this is because Chanukah simply commemorates freedom, a war waged by a minority such as the Maccabies against the great big Armies of the Greeks.

An interesting thought then comes up.
Scientifically and Kabbalisticaly fire’s source is from above, hence the reason it flickers on a wick. If one was to observe a flame carefully one would be able to see how it tries to “run away” from the wick, eating away at the wick until it has finished burning. Then the fire disappears into smoke, which rises. As I was explaining last week regarding to the laws of physics that all that goes up must come down, Kabbalah and Chassidut explain that this is true too if it’s source is from the ground. Such as rocks, water and the like. However if it’s source is from above (as Kabbalah explains about fire, smoke, and wind that its source is right outside the atmosphere.) In short all is bound to its source in the end of the day.

So too is true in our daily lives. We are here in Exile hopeing and praying for Messiah to save us from all our work, and deliver us to our source. This is just like the fire which has a job to burn out, but then finally go back to its’ source.

A lot of things can be learnt from a burning candle from the fire’s perspective. One thing we learn is the fire will keep burning until it has nothing left to burn on, even though it flickers and moves to and fro, it will not go out until it has finished. The same is true in our life. One must hold on and finish the task he came down here to do. Even if it means pushing and pulling, nothing should stop you from doing G-d’s divine will. One must hold tight in the greatest hardships and believe that he can pass it through. Scientifically the reason why fire moves to and from is due to the oxygen and air passing by it causing it to move. If one were to blow on the candle he is more likely to extinguish it, but try blowing out a burning house. The point is the greater the fire is the harder it is to take it out.
The same is true to our faith. As every one knows that the Jewish faith is the oldest of them all. This is because as much as they try to extinguish our faith, our fire is too great. They might be able to make it smaller but they will never be able to put it out. This is also a reason as to why the 3rd Temple will be built of fire, in order to remind us that we made it through all the troubles and now we are free!

This is connected to our Torah portion this week. Miketz literally means ‘ In the end.’ In the end of all Josef’s troubles (being sold, all the way to being falsely accused and thrown in the dungeons for over 3 years) was he then made second to king. Josef never lost faith in his dreams even though some 20 years has past since he had them. All through these 20 years he suffered greatly, and he still trusted G-d and kept holding on to his faith until finally they came true.

We learn from this a very special message in life we were promised that Messiah will come and redeem us. Even though so many years passed we still have to believe and pray for it to come. We have to beg G-d because we can’t take it any longer. We must believe with a fiery passion that our Messiah will come. May this Chanukah be a true gleaming point in our life, and let us get the greatest Chanukah gift of all… freedom.

Derived from Teachings of the Rebbe, www.shmais.com, the Talmud, and various Kabbalistic teachings.

© Yermi Kurkus/Thought of the Week.

Thought of the Week - Vayeshev

B”H

Thought of the Week



As most of us know that the Hebrew month of Kislev is known as the miraculous month as well as the Chassidic month.

In the month of Kislev there are several Hasidic holidays such as:
The 10th of Kislev:
Birthday and the passing of Reb Dovber 2nd Lubavitcher Rabbi. It is said about Reb Dovber that if you were to cut him, instead of blood - Chassidut would flow out of him.
The 14th Kislev:
Anniversary of the Rebbe Menachem M. Schneerson the 7th Lubavitcher Rebbe, married to Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, daughter of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson 6th Lubavitcher Rebbe.
The 19th Kislev:
Passing of the holy Maggid of Mezrich, pupil and successor to the renowned Baal Shem Tov. The Maggid was R. Shneur Zelman of Liadi’s teacher, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, and is also known as the Alter (Yiddish for old) Rebbe, the first Lubavitcher Rebbe, founder of the Chabad Hasidic movement. On the day of the Maggid’s passing he called the Alter Rebbe and told him, “let this day be a joyous holiday for generations to come.”This would later be understood on 19-20 Kislev, when the Alter Rebbe miraculously was freed from prison. He was imprisoned under false charges that he was aiding Turkey to overthrow Russia. The Russian Government forged papers to prove this, but later found out that the Alter Rebbe was innocent from the death charges put on him.
One time during the Alter Rebbe’s stay in prison, the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid revealed themselves to him. The Alter Rebbe asked them what he should do now as the government had sentenced him to death? Will he be freed, and if he should continue spreading Hassidut?
The Baal Shem Tov and Maggid both told him, that in a few more days he’d be freed of all false charges. Not only will he remain alive but he should spread Chassidut even more than before. True to their word on the 52nd day of his imprisonment the Alter Rebbe was freed whilst saying the words in psalms 55:19 “He redeemed my soul in peace from battles against me, because of many who were with me.”
Despite the fact that many of the Alter Rebbe’s colleges were against him he nonetheless succeeded.

We see something very similar in this weeks Torah portion with Josef and his brothers.
Josef ‘s brothers hated him for his greatness. It is written how he would go to his father and tell him all the bad things his older brothers were doing. Things like embarrassing ones friend in public. (Leah’s sons would treat Bilah and Zilpas’s children as slave sons, even though Jacob freed the two women from their duties before marrying them.) He accused them of eating flesh from a living creature. (The brothers would slaughter the animal according to the proper law, cut off the limbs and eat it. However the animals would still be moving due to its nerves. Even though this is permissible according to Torah law (not today though as today’s Rabbi’s have prohibited it due to Maris Ayin (a deceiving eye)) i.e. incase someone should think as Yosef did, that they are eating from the limb whilst it is still alive. It is only permissible to a Jew and not a gentile. (This is because with the gentile’s way of slaughter, the animal is not fully killed, and one has to wait until it will die. The Jewish ritual cuts immediately the nerve that keeps the animal alive, thus killing it before it even has a change to feel any pain.) At that time Jacob and his sons were considered, or had laws like a gentile for the Jews only received their laws on Mount Sinai. Josef also accused his brothers for flirting with girls. (Most of their business was with woman and according to law an unmarried man shouldn’t do much business with women.) Even though Josef was right, the brothers hated him for going and telling their father, for according to law a snitch must be hated. However nonetheless Josef still showed love to his brothers by telling them his dreams.
Normally a person should never tell someone who hates him anything personal, especially a dream. The Talmud in Tranctate Brachot teaches us that the way you translate a dream is how it will occur. If the person who hears your dream doesn’t like you, he may translate the dream in a negative form, and it may cause huge damage. That is why whenever you hear a dream you must try to always translate it in a good way even if it doesn’t seem to have any good in it.
Josef dreamt that his brothers, father and stepmothers would bow down to him. Due to these great dreams it caused that his brothers throw him into a pit, and later he was sold several times until he ended up in Egypt. This was to fulfill G-d’s promise to Abraham that his descendants were to be foreigners in a land not their own, and thus fulfilling Josef’s dream.

All this is connected to this week, (and next weeks) special date. The alter Rebbe once said that we must “Live with the time.” This was later explained to mean that all that occurs in the week is connected to the weekly torah portion

Physics teaches that all that goes up must come down; it is also known in physics that the further you pull elastic the father it’ll go. Same true to archery, the farther back the arrow goes the farther and harder it will hit its target.

We also know that there are certain times in life that are really hard. However it is through these hard times that the better times come.

This is what we learn from Josef he needed to be put into the pit in order to get to Egypt, he needed to be a slave in order to be a servant in Potifars estate, and he needed to be thrown in the dungeons in order to make it to be leader of Egypt. Hassidut teaches that every success comes first with a downfall one must lose in order to win.

It is true with the Alter Rebbe who started Chassidut in a very hard time spiritually and physically. Spiritually, for the mentality at the time was to ignore and not deal with the ignorant or the non-observant Jews. Now comes this Rabbi to teach the vast the hidden aspects of the Torah, when they hardly know or care about the simple torah? This caused a great war between the Alter Rebbe and his colleges known today as Misnagdim (lit. opposers.) The Alter Rebbe also faced a physical war with the government, for then it was against the law to spread Judaism. However with all this today the Alter Rebbe’s movement is stronger than ever before, today Chabad is found everywhere in the world, “Chabad saves lives.” (As president George W. Bush puts it) “Chabad is like Star-bucks, its everywhere and makes you feel at home.” (As a businessman said to the emissary in Hong Kong China.) Chabad is here to help and to show that even the ignorant, even the non-observant is as special as a great Rabbi for he too is a Jew. Chabad helps none Jews as well for they too are G-d’s children.


After the Alter Rebbe’s huge downfall (going to jail) and the rise from it only then do we come to light, as is the message of Chanukah. The Greeks didn’t let the Jews observe any commandments however through the victory of the Maccabies came their light
May we all merit for the messiah (the upward part of the huge downfall we are in now) speedily in our times.
Amen

©Yermi Kurkus. Thought of the Week

Derived – Me’am Loez, Talmud, Code of Jewish Law, www.shmais.com, and the Teachings of the Rebbe Menachem M. Schneerson.

Thought of the Week - Vayishlach

B''H
Thought Of The Week



In the last Portion we learnt that G-d came to Lavan in a dream, telling him not to talk nicely, and not to talk bad to Yaakov.
Lavan the swindler however thought up of a different plan, he himself will not deal with Yaakov but rather Esav would. So he sent a letter to Esav, telling him, “You remember your brother the swindler, that bought your birthright with the red stew, and that stole the blessing from your father? He did the same thing to me, the swindler that he is. He came to me totally empty handed, all naked from possessions, I was kind enough to let him in, give him a job, give him a roof over his head. And how did he repay me in return, he took my two daughters, with two maidservants, had children with them, gave me grandchildren whom I loved. Swindled me into giving him possessions, and ran away as a very wealthy man with my grand-children as his prisoners of war, without allowing me to say goodbye to them. He also stole my household idols. He is now head towards you.”
Esav then rounded up 400 men from the best of his armies, and went out to meet Yaakov for war. Some of Esav’s acquaintances notified Rebecca of what was about to happen. Rebecca was worried so she sent 70 of her strongest servants who were extremely talented in war, and told Yaakov, “Esav is on his way to you with 400 men, please do as I advice, be honorable to him. Send him presents. Tell him everything that happened, and do not omit anything. Try to calm him down with presents.”

This was a very smart advice, for it is a good way how to deal with our enemy’s. We must learn from this. Even when our enemy’s are coming out with war to us, we must prepare, not giving into them, but rather trying to buy them with love, still remembering they are still our brothers. We should hope that blood is thicker than water. We must pray to G-d that this will work. We can try to follow this tactic but it could only work with prayer and love.

4,000,000 angles were then sent from above to fight Esav and his men. However Esav’s guardian angle (acc to some opinions, the arch angle Michael) overpowered all the 4,000,000 for he is the strongest angle of them all. He then saw Yaakov strolling at night by himself. He asked him in a sly way, “doesn’t it say in the Torah that a Saint may not walk alone at night?” Yaakov then told him, “There is two reasons to why I am walking here at night by myself. One is because, a Saints possessions are holy and precious, and may not be left behind. Second reason, is that this is a very special oilcan. (We saw this in the last Torah portion, that when Yaakov slept on the mountain all the rocks became one. In the morning it says that Yaakov anointed the rock with oil. One may ask ‘where did he get this oil?’ The answer is that there was a miracle on high, that G-d put a small canister of oil next to the rock and Yaakov anointed the rock and emptied the canister. It re-filled itself. Yaakov saw in divine providence that it would be crucial to the future so he kept it. For more info email me.) Therefore because of the value of the canister he didn’t think twice and ran to get it without waiting to stop until someone would accompany him.

The arch angle then asked him a second question. “You said that you will tithe from all your belongings to heaven. You have 11 children and one on the way. You must tithe from them as well.” Yaakov agreed that the arch angle is right, and said that he had 4 children that are 1st born, and therefore are holy to G-d as it is. Leaving him with 8. Hence according to his calculation Levi was the tenth, and that is the reason to why Levi’s children would be Priests in the future. The arch angle kept on asking him all kinds of Halachic questions. Yaakov was getting annoyed, thinking that this was a regular sorcerer trying to get on his nerves. He yelled at him to leave him alone, so the angle threw a ball of fire onto him. Yaakov then told him “you play with me with fire, I am the source of fire” (reference to a verse.) He then started fighting the assumed sorcerer until before dawn.

When the angle saw that he could not win over Yaakov, he then asked him to let him go, for if he did not go, he would cease to exist. This was because he has to pray to G-d on time. Yaakov then understood that this was no ordinary sorcerer, but rather an angel. He then commanded the angel to bless him and heal him from the wound that he suffered, for the angel had struck him in his inner thigh. The angle then blessed him by changing his name to Israel, saying, “You have fought G-d and still won.” A fight that is for the sake of Heaven is always a fight with good value (Ethics of the fathers.)

One may ask, how did Yitzchak error to bless Esav rather than Yaakov, if Yaakov had such super-natural powers to win a G-dly angel? Yitzchak was not dumb, to not see what Esav was doing. He knew who Esav was and he knew who Yaakov was. Why did he pick Esav for the blessing?

The reasoning to this, is because Yitzchak saw that Esav had the archangel Michael himself, the strongest angel of all. He then assumed that if Esav was so lucky to have such an angel, it might be that he will change his bad ways. But then Rebecca saw in her divine inclination that this was bound to change, for according to G-ds will, it was Yaakov who had to have the merit of these blessings. Only through the fight with this angel, and getting him to surrender to Yaakov, and becoming the archangel of the Jews, hence our name, the Nation of Israel. Only after this fight will the blessings of Yitzchak come about. Thus Esav couldn’t fight Yaakov and instead he kissed him with all his heart.

This just shows us how important it is not to get into a fight that is not for heavenly manners. For it says in the Ethics of our fathers, that an idle fight will lead no-where. Whereas a Heavenly fight will end up somewhere, such as the famous story of Raban Gamliel and Rabbi Yeshuah. For the Talmud relates, that when Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai was young, he asked Rabbi Yeshuah if the evening prayer was mandatory or voluntary. Whereas the Rabbi replied that it was voluntary. Rabbi Yeshuah then seeking a 2nd opinion, he asked Rabbi Gamliel, who answered that it was mandatory. The young Rabbi Shimon asked Rabbi Gamliel as to why Rabbi Yeshuah said it was voluntary.

In the academy that Rabbi Gamliel was the president of, Rabbi Gamliel asked a general question if the evening prayer was mandatory or voluntary, saying that according to his opinion it was mandatory. No one answered against him. Rabbi Gamliel then pointed to Rabbi Yeshuah asking him what is his thought. So Rabbi Yeshuah said that he couldn’t deny what he told Rabbi Shimon. Rabbi Gamliel then continued on his sermon, ignoring Rabbi Yeshuah who was to remain standing the entire time, thus humiliating him. All the students did not like this, and decided to remove Rabbi Gamliel from his position.
Rabbi Elazar Ben Azarieh who at the time was 18 years old was appointed as the next head. He did not know at the time whether to accept the position or not, so he asked to sleep on it. Before sleeping he asked G-d for a sign whether or not he should accept the position. In the morning he awoke to find out that his hair had turned gray and he looked as though he was 70. This he saw as a sign and accepted.

Rabbi Gamliel then searched for Rabbi Yeshuah to ask his forgiveness. When searching as to his whereabouts he found out that Rabbi Yeshuah was a poor blacksmith.

Amazed at the fact that even though Rabbi Yeshuah was a blacksmith he managed to come to yeshiva as a distinguished fellow in clean clothes, Rabbi Gamliel asked his forgiveness, and he was forgiven. Rabbi Yeshuah then asked the academy to accept Rabbi Gamliel back. However since there is a law that one is forbidden to take away a high status from someone, they decided with the acceptance of Rabbi Elazar that Rabbi Elazar would teach once a month, and Rabbi Gamliel would teach 3 times a month.

From this story we learn that even such a sage, after humiliating another sage, was diminished from his power, had to beg an 18 year old in order to get back some of his position. This is how important the fight for the sake of heaven is. For it ended up that Rabbi Gamliel change many of his ways and be a better Rav.

We should take this into our daily lessons, and when we come across someone we do not like, instead of trying to change their ways or hating them, we should pray to G-d to help us help them, and only help them with love.

©Yermi Kurkus. Thought of the week.

Derived from Me’am Loez, Talmud, Code of Jewish Law, and the teachings of Rebbe Menachem Mendle Schneerson.

Thought of the Week - Vayeitzei

B”H

Thought Of The Week




In this weeks Parshah it starts off with the story of how Yaakov ran away from Esav. It talks about how he came to sleep at night on Mount Moriah, and then arrived the next day in Aram Naharayim.

Two questions come up.
Firstly, why didn’t G-d make a Miracle just as He had done for Eliezer, that Yaakov would arrive on the same day?
Secondly, if G-d had to make it to be longer, in order that Yaakov should stay the Night on the Mountain, let the whole journey take it’s proper time, and don’t remember suddenly the next day and make miracles!

Both questions are answered as one. Truthfully, Yaakov did arrive the same day he left. What happened was that G-d made a miracle. When Yaakov arrived on Mount Moriah it suddenly got dark, Yaakov felt tired, and fell asleep. This was because G-d wanted to talk to Yaakov and show him the Ladder etc. (for more information on this, feel free as always to email me.)

The Torah then goes on, and says how Yaakov rolled the stone off the well with one hand while all the shepherds combined just about could do it. How he met Rachel, the Love of his life, whom he worked for 14 years, and how Lavan would always cheat Yaakov and use him out. Finally Yaakov wins over Rachel and had 10 kids with all the other wives. Rachel is barren and finally G-d remembers Rachel and gives her a child. (G-d remembered that Rachel gave the secret password that Yaakov gave her before the wedding night to Leah in order that she shouldn’t be embarrassed. This was a major thing because Yaakov knew that Lavan would cheat him, and give him Leah instead.
Yaakov got angry with Leah and asked her why did she act as though she was Rachel. Leah answered that she was no different than he was. He stole Esav’s blessing from his father by saying he was Esav, and this was respecting his mothers command. She was doing the same by respecting her father’s command. The second reason was that she knew she had to give birth to part of the 12 tribes.
As soon as Yosef was born to Rachel, Yaakov wanted to leave Lavan, but Lavan wouldn’t let him. Finally Yaakov had to run away from him, only to be caught up by Lavan 7 days later. Rachel stole her father’s gods and that was the main reason why he ran after them. G-d made Lavan promise to him in a dream, that he wont harm Yaakov’s family. Therefore Lavan and Yaakov made an oath and a sign (which consisted of a pile of stones) to be a neutral zone. This was a place where no war is allowed to happen. The place was called Aram Naharayim. Yaakov didn’t give a proper oath (as in swearing on G-d’s name,) but rather he swore on his fathers fear or dread. This was that of the sacrifice his father was offered because it was the scariest moment in Isaacs’s life. Yaakov saw in divine inclination that King David would wage war there.

There is a story that shows us the power of an oath. A teenaged girl fell into a pit on her way home, a young man saw her fall in and offered to save her on the condition she’d promise to marry him. She agreed, when he got her out he said since there is no witnesses as to us promising each other to marry one another, let the pit and a weasel, as one was just passing by, serve as our witnesses. She accepted and they both went on their ways. Some time passed yet the girl kept her promise, however the guy forgot and got married to another woman. They had a healthy beautiful son who lived to a certain age, but got bitten by a weasel killing him. They then had a second son that lived a bit longer than the first, but died whilst playing in the yard and falling into a pit. The wife of the guy was freaking out to what was wrong. Suddenly after much thought, the guy remembered the oath he made. His wife old him that he must keep his promise. She wouldn’t be able to continue this way, so they decided to divorce. The guy went and found the girl he saved and got married to her.
This shows us how careful we must be with our words. Let this week be a time where we are careful not to swear in vain, not to promise something we can’t keep, and if we promise not to forget to keep it always say bli-neder. without an oath before something you’re about to do because this might cause problems later on. Remember your mouth is a powerful tool. It can pray for the strongest things and it will happen.
Try talking only good things, use positive sentences rather than negative the Torah adds a whole bunch of words in the Torah portion of Noah. This was when G-d tells Noah to summon all the non-pure animals. The torah is known to write in the briefest manner possible, no word is extra.
The Rebbe Menachem Mendle Schneerson used to talk the same way in his discourses. He always emphasized never to say anything in a negative or not so good way. The Rebbe never called a non-observant Jew a bad Jew, or “fry” or non-religious. The Rebbe referred them to being ‘not so observant,’ for the Rebbe believed that every Jew is a precious and rare gem, that every Jew must be doing something right such as, honesty, not stealing, not killing, being nice to another, giving charity, praying to G-d, and respecting his parents and elders. We see that in our every day life we are doing good deeds.
I once heard a story from my good friend Rabbi Yisroel Barnath (Youth Director at The Chai Center of Montreal.) One time he visited a Jew who was sitting in prison on death row. The Jew was very depressed as anyone can imagine and asked the Rabbi “what good am I in front of G-d, I can’t do anything good! I did no mitzvoth in my past…” and so on he wept. The Rabbi answered him, “what can you do here? Can you do anything good or bad?” “Rabbi,” the Jew replied, “what can I do here? I’m stuck here behind bars. There is no chance whatsoever that I could do anything!” He cried out in despair. The rabbi then replied to him, “you see, you’re better off than us in this case. We have everything. All the temptations in front of us, and we sometimes stumble and give in. We have many opportunities to sin. But you! You are lucky in this way. You don’t have that test by the fact that you cant do anything. Therefore you cant sin and therefore you are doing a Mitzvah. This is because a man who doesn’t sin is in fact rewarded with many mitzvoth. For there is a Mitzvah not to sin.”
Remember you make the difference.
© Yermi Kurkus – Thought of the week

Derived from Me’am Loez – Talmud – code of Jewish Law and from the teachings of the Rebbe Menachem Mendle Schneerson.

Thought of the Week - Toldot 2

B”H

Thought of the Week



Just a quick interesting note I came across in the last week’s torah portion of Toldot.

Regarding the wells Isaac dug

Isaac would dig up a well and it filled up with water all on it’s own, seeing this, the Philistines disputed and claimed it was their well. Isaac then moved and dug a second well elsewhere, this well filled it self up to, while the first dried up, due to Isaacs’ prayer. On this to did the Philistines dispute, only for Isaac to move once again. Here Isaac dug his third and final well that filled itself up and dried the previous one, however on this well the Philistines did not dispute.

These wells alluded to the future.

The first well was called Esek (lit. challenge) for the Philistines challenged Isaac in what was an obvious lie. This alludes to the first Temple built by King Solomon in 2928 (832 b.c.e) and destroyed by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in 3338 (352 b.c.e) the Temples’ destruction presented the greatest possible challenge to the Jews at the time.

The second well was named Sitnah (lit. obstruction) this alluded to the second Temple built by Ezra in 3408 (352 b.c.e) and destroyed by the Romans in 3828 (68 c.e) G-d caused the Temple to be destroyed because of the causeless hatred. Sitnah can also be interpreted “toward Satan” causeless hatred is the work of Satan who brings people to quarrels for no reason.

However the third and final well named Rehoboth (lit. Wide Spaces) was undisputed alluding to the third Temple to be built in
the messianic age, and this will bring to peace and love. It is written regarding the third Temple (Shnei Luchot Habrit) “G-d will now give us wide open space” meaning G-d will expect us to act on our own in our own space Hence our deeds will bring about the building of the last and final Temple, may it be speedily in our times. Amen.

Remember you might be the one to tip the scale!

© Yermi Kurkus 2005. Thought of the week

Derived from Me’am Loez, Shnei Luchot Habrit, Talmud, and from the teachings of the Rebbe Menachem Mendle Schneerson.