When the man returned he told his wife what had happened at the Rebbe’s and asked her where she had found such shiny coins. The wife answered that the coins weren’t shiny when she got them. However, since she knew that they would be in the presence of the Rebbe she stayed up for hours polishing them until they sparkled.

In a few weeks we will all stand in the presence of the All Mighty…Our Father, Our King. Even though we might be a bit dirty we should take this opportunity to polish ourselves up a bit so that we can shine before Him. Let’s pick one or two things that we feel we can “polish” in ourselves and work on them for the next couple of weeks. Even if we feel we won’t be able to keep it up for the long term at least we will be shiny and polished for the High Holy Days. It’s not hypocritical; it’s just taking one small step at a time and being the best we can be right now.

** This essay can be found in Deep Waters: Insights into the Five Books of Moses and the Jewish Festivals

The traditional answer is that we, the Jewish People, are confident that God will have mercy on us and rule leniently in our case, as He promised our forefathers He would. Therefore, we can rejoice even as we are judged.

I’d like to offer another way of reconciling our paradoxical situation. Although we know that we are being judged and that we face the possibility of being found guilty, at the moment we are still considered innocent. As long as we still have the possibility of acquittal, we can enjoy our freedom and celebrate.

Often, in life, there are challenges and obstacles that loom in our future that we may one day have to confront. Some of these challenges will definitely confront us, such as old age and death, and others may never actually come to pass. However, if we spend our time focusing on these future events, we will definitely feel sad, anxious, and depressed now. What a waste, to worry and destroy ourselves for something that might not even happen! Why not be happy with our current situation and worry about the future when, and if, it actually happens?

This is the message of the High Holiday paradox. We can rejoice and celebrate, even though we know that we might be judged unfavorably in the future. God is telling us to not spend our days worrying about an uncertain future, but to live every moment of our present in joy and happiness, while we pray for forgiveness and mercy.

May Hashem judge us mercifully and grant us forgiveness, and may He bless us all with health, happiness, and success, and seal us in the book of life.

It was told that in the shul of the great Chassidic Master, the Chozeh (Seer) of Lublin, they sang and danced on the night of Rosh Hashanah. When the Misnagdim, the anti-Chassidic proponents, heard of this they were taken aback. How could the so called great Rebbe allow dancing on the awesome Day of Judgment? They decided to send a spy to the Chozeh’s synagogue to investigate.

The undercover Misnaged traveled to Lublin on the eve of the new year and witnessed the community diligently preparing for the holy day. That night in the synagogue of the Chozeh the mood was serious as the Chassidim fervently prayed for a favorable heavenly judgment. Everything seemed very proper until the services ended. Then the Chassidim moved the benches to the side and began joyously singing and dancing with all their might. The Misnaged, unable to contain his anger, ran up to the Chozeh and reprimanded him. “How can you allow this merriment on the Day of Judgment?” Without replying the Chozeh placed his hand over the man’s eyes allowing him to see a vision. In the vision the man saw the gates of the Garden of Eden within which a group of Jews danced fervently in a circle. Outside of the gates stood one man, watching and crying, unable to enter. The Chozeh removed his hand and the Misnaged realized that he was the solitary man in the vision prevented from entering the Garden of Eden. He began to cry and plead with the Chozeh. “Rebbe, how can I too

How many times we think about doing something but never end up doing it because we feel it is something that is perhaps good for others but not something that we could ever do? We see others singing and praying and we wish we could have the same spirit and fervor. We see others doing Mitzvot and wonder how it would feel if we did them as well. We think, “how good would it be if we could attend prayer services every Shabbat”.

The Chozeh of Lublin gave us the secret of success and fulfillment. If you want to join the Jews that are dancing in the Garden of Eden, just join them and dance. Just sing and pray and do mitzvoth and go to shul. Don’t just think about it. Try it. Do it. See how it feels for you.

On Rosh Hashanah we pray to God for health and peace, the things we have no control over. For everything else we need to make the effort to have a sweet year. Much of it is in our hands. If we want to have a great year of growth and success, make it happen. Just dance.
** This essay can be found in Deep Waters: Insights into the Five Books of Moses and the Jewish Festivals

At the end of the chapter relating to Tu B’Av the Talmud recounts a story. In the future Hashem will gather all of the righteous in a circle and will sit in the middle of them in the Garden of Eden. All the righteous will then point at Hashem and say, “this is the God that we have trusted in and who has saved us”. This is obviously a very deep message with hidden meanings, but why is it connected to Tu B’Av?

Tu B’Av is the fifteenth day in Av. In the Hebrew Tu B’Av can also be read as “the fifteenth letter in the Alef Bet” (Av is Alef Bet, the Hebrew alphabet). The fifteenth letter of the Alef Bet is Samech. The letter Samech is written as a circle. A circle represents completion. It also represents a continuum. The Jewish calendar can be viewed as a circle with points marking specific spiritual energies. For example, Pesach has the energy of freedom, Sukkot – trust in God, and Chanukah – miracles. As we go through the cycle of the year we experience these energies anew every time. To further bolster this idea of cycle the Jewish year begins with the energy of Teshuva, which means Returning. We start the year by returning to the beginning of the cycle.

The one important thing about this cycle is that we are obligated to use the energies of the year to learn and grow. When we begin the cycle anew we should be doing so having reached new heights of growth and awareness from the previous cycle. History is also a cycle. It repeats itself constantly. Those who learn from the past avoid its mistakes but those who view it as linear and never look back fall blindly into its traps.

Tu B’av is the last holiday in the yearly cycle. It is the last point in the circle and therefore is the point from which we can look back at the entire cycle passed. It also directly follows the most tragic period of Jewish history and is therefore the perfect vantage point for looking back at our history. As we look back at our year and our history we need to search for God in the events that have transpired. Often it is only through hindsight that we can recognize the hand of God. If we search for God in everything that happens in our lives and in the world we will merit to be those righteous that sit in the circle and can actually point to God and say, “oh yes, now I see God so clearly in every part of this circle of life.”

This Dvar Torah is an excerpt from Deep Waters: Insights into the Five Books of Moses and Jewish Holidays by Rabbi Arnie Singer

The word Afikomen is derived from the Greek word meaning dessert. The reason for this is because the Afikomen represents the actual Pascal lamb, which was eaten after the main meal on a full stomach; dessert. We begin our answer to the wise son with dessert, with something sweet to entice him to continue studying and asking questions. The Haggadah is teaching us that the way to teach someone about Judaism is by showing them its sweetness and beauty. There will be plenty of time later to teach the more difficult laws and regulations. Starting off with those will discourage the seeker and possibly chase him away. Only with sweetness can we successfully satisfy the hunger of those searching for their heritage, and increase their appetite for more Torah.

As we conduct our own seders and present our beautiful heritage to our children and guests, let’s make sure that we highlight the sweetness and joy of the holiday (and Torah) instead of focusing on the minor details that can often appear as mundane and uninspiring.

We say Chag Kasher V’Sameach. Let’s be sure that we are as diligent and careful with the Simcha, as we are with the Kashrut.

Chag Kasher V’Sameach!

I’d like to convey two answers offered by one of the greatest Torah scholars of the early twentieth century, Rav Shlomo Yosef Zevin ZT”L, in his classic “La-torah V’La-Moadim”.

1) We are all born with innate characteristics, or Middot. It is up to us to decide how to apply them. For example, someone who is born with a tendency toward spilling blood, can choose to be a murderer, or a Mohel or Shochet. God instilled Pharaoh with a strong tendency towards stubbornness. He hardened his heart. Pharaoh had the free will to apply his powerful stubbornness to either stand firm against his emotional desire to maintain power and lordship over an innocent nation, or to stand firm against the plagues sent to convince him to release that same nation. Pharaoh freely chose to direct his hardened heart against the Jews.

2) Doing something because you are forced to is not a sign of freedom. It is a sign of powerlessness. If Pharaoh had released the Jews solely as a reaction to the horror of the plagues, he would not have been acting out of his own free will. Therefore, God hardened his heart, in order to neutralize his fear of the plagues, and allow him to decide whether to release the Jews solely based on his own free will and moral character. By hardening Pharaoh’s heart, God actually allowed him to exercise his free will.

Rashi explains that the “name” represents absolute truth. Since God did not fulfill His promises to the Patriarchs (to build them into a great nation and give them the land of Israel) in their lifetime, He could not represent Himself with that name. Since the Jews would be redeemed from Egypt by Moses, God could finally use the name of absolute truth.

I’d like to offer another explanation. According to the mystical teachings, the four letter name of God represents Chesed-Giving, or Rachamim-Mercy. The Patriarchs had hard lives. Their wives suffered years of barrenness. They faced persecution and pursuers, enemies and rivalries. They dealt with family strife, rebellious children, and hostile relatives. They were constantly being tested by God. They were only shown the Din-Judgment representation of God, not the Chesed-Rachamim-Mercy aspect, as represented in the four letter name. The Jews in Egypt, however, could only see the name of mercy. They did not deserve redemption on the basis of their own merit. Their redemption was solely based on the Chesed-Mercy of God, as represented in His four letter name.

Listen to a podcast on Parshat Vayigash-Vayehi right here.

Just right-click and hit “save link as” to download.

The miraculous events of Chanukah, including the military victory against the Syrian-Greeks and the burning of the oil, were initiated by the actions of the Jews. Led by the Maccabees, the Jews took action and fought for their religious liberty. When God saw their effort and sacrifice, He performed miracles for them. The Jews “pulled down” miracles with their actions and deeds.

Chanukah is a time ripe for miracles. The unique spiritual energy of the holiday allows us to initiate actions that can actually initiate, or “pull down”, miracles from above. Chanukah gives us the power to make spectacular things happen in our own lives and in the world we live in. It’s up to us to take the first step.