Greetings!
I hope this newsletter finds you well.
The two day holiday of Shavuous begins tonight and concludes Thursday evening.
Shavuous celebrates the anniversary of HaShem's giving His Torah to His beloved people. It also celebrates our becoming the chosen people, the people chosen by HaShem to carry out the purpose of creation.
There is a custom that is practiced by men throughout the world to study Torah the entire first night of Shavuous.
Candle lighting for Shavuous;
Tuesday evening 7:58 pm
Wednesday evening light the candles only after 9:07 pm
Shavuous concludes 9:08 pm
Vsego khoroshego,
Paysach Diskind
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A Shavuous thought
Just today I saw a statistic that only 15% of kosher food
consumers eat kosher for religious reasons. The implication is that 85% eat
kosher for reasons other than religion. This piece of information is both heart
warming and heart rending. On one side it warms the heart to know that although
there are so many people who are not religious they nevertheless care enough to
observe the laws of kashrus. However, on the other hand it wrenches the heart
to know that there are so many people who already are careful in watching their
diet and they nevertheless have no intention for religious purposes.
You may argue, "Who cares if they do it for religious
reasons or other reasons, at the end of the day, they are careful to eat kosher
only? Isn't that what counts?"
In response to this argument I would reference a detail in
Jewish history and then tell you a story about a young lady who dealt with this
very question in a personal way.
A careful reading of the account of the giving of the Torah
at Mount Sinai will reveal the following. When
HaShem suggested to us the offer of receiving the Torah our ancestors responded
"We will do and we will listen". The
implication of this statement is that we will obey your commandment and only
later we will try understand why it should be done". The Talmud remarks that
when HaShem heard this response He granted every member of His nation with two
crowns one representing their commitment of obeying and the second representing
their commitment to understand. HaShem exclaimed "Who revealed to my children
the secret of the ministering angels!"
Truth be told, what is the greatness of accepting to do
something before you understand why it should be done? Are we not intelligent
human beings who were granted understanding and insight to do what is right? Of
course we will do HaShem's bidding, but only after we understand why it is
important. One might make the argument stronger; "are we nothing but a bunch of
robots who do what they are programmed to do without understanding what they
are doing? Does HaShem really want robots for His nation and not a nation of
wise people whose actions reflect their great insight and understanding?
This question was answered by a young lady who I know and
respect. For the sake of our discussion we will name her Leah. Leah comes from
a beautiful family where the children respect the parents as well as loving
them and the parents love the children as well as respecting them and the
parents love, respect and adore each other. One day after Leah began observing
the laws of kosher, her father asked her "what does separating milk and meat
have to do with health?" Leah responded with so much love and respect, "Dad, I
do not keep kosher and separate milk and meat for health reasons, I do it
because of a relationship I have." Her father's puzzled look gave her the queue
to continue her explanation, "Dad, let's say Mom calls you on your cell phone
to ask you to pick up a pound of seaweed on your way home from work.
Unfortunately, your cell phone was off so she left a message. As you get in to
your car after work to return home you realize the cell phone was off and you
pick up the message. As you listen to the message you wonder 'why does she want
a pound of seaweed? We never eat that stuff?' So you call Mom to ask her why
she wants seaweed. Unfortunately, her cell phone is off. Now, Dad, will you
pick up the seaweed or not?" Dad understood clearly that he would pick up the
seaweed even though it made no sense to him.
The reason he would pick up the seaweed without understanding
why is for two reasons. The first reason is because he knows that when he comes
home his wife will explain to him why they need it. But the second and perhaps
more profound reason for picking up the seaweed is because he loves, respects
and adores his wife and if she wants seaweed it is his pleasure to get her
some.
The difference between these two reasons expresses itself
when the reason may never be fully understood.
When we responded "We will do and we will listen" we were
not becoming robots, we were demonstrating our love, respect and adoration that
we have for the One Who committed Himself to forever care for us and use us as
His messengers in carrying out His mission that He had for this world.
If our ancestors had within them this intense love, respect
and adoration for HaShem, we can assume that it lies within each of us as well.
Have a beautiful Shavuous holiday.
Paysach Diskind
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NEW
Hebrew Reading Class
by Yakov Krug
 Yakov Krug will begin a new Hebrew reading class. The goal of this class to give the student a comfort level in reading and speaking classic Hebrew as well as common conversational Hebrew.
His curriculum is a 10 week course and will be using Ha-Yesod as his base.
This Hebrew class will take place as part of our Tuesday Evening Learning Program.
If you are interested in learning more information contact Yakov at yakovkrug@yahoo.com or 410-274-5446.
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