|
|
Achim Newsletter
Shoftim
Mazel Tov! Mazel Tov!
Thursday August 12, 2010
| | |
Greetings!
With summer's end in sight I hope you are doing well.
With so much joy and happiness I take pleasure in announcing two most wonderful weddings this coming week. Please take note of the two following articles.
Candle
lighting time for Baltimore
between 6:38 - 7:47 pm
Shabbos concludes
8:53 pm
I hope you enjoy the new layout of our newsletter.
Vsego khoroshego,
Paysach Diskind
|
Mazel Tov!
To Ilya Yablonovsky and Miriam Devor from Brooklyn on their upcoming marriage. This Shabbos marks Ilya's aufruf.
Roman and Svetlana Yablonovsky invite everybody to a kiddush in Ilya's honor.
Date: Shabbos, August 14
Time: 10:45 am
Location: BMR (6618 Deancroft Road 21209) map
What: A delicious Kiddush
May they merit to build a home of Torah
and Mitzvos that will be a wellspring of much nachas to HaShem and the
entire Jewish people.
|
Mazel Tov!
To Shevy Levin and Aron Gropper from Queens on their upcoming marriage.
May they merit to build a home of Torah and Mitzvos that will be a wellspring of much nachas to HaShem and the entire Jewish people.
|
to print this as a web page click here
A Thought to Ponder
This week brings us to the fourth of the seven prophecies of
consolation that HaShem offers His people. After reading the Parsha of Shoftim
we will read from Isaiah Chapter 51. I would like to approach this chapter
keeping in mind the current state of the Jewish people. It is my hope that we
draw inspiration and courage from Isaiah's message in preparing for the
upcoming Days of Awe; Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur which are only a month away.
"I, only I, am He Who
comforts you; who are you that you should be afraid of mortal humans and of men
who will be made as grass (i.e. they shrivel up with time)? Have you forgotten
HaShem, your Maker, Who spread out the heavens and set the foundations of the
earth, and are you terrified continually, all day long, because of the
oppressor's fury when he prepares to destroy - but where is the oppressor's
fury? ...
Awaken yourself!
Awaken yourself! Arise! O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of HaShem
the cup of His fury. You have drunk from and have sucked out the sediments of
the cup of curse.... Therefore, hear this now, O afflicted one, drunk but not
from wine. Thus says your Lord, HaShem who will defend His people; 'Behold, I
have removed the cup of curse from your hand, from the sediments of the cup of
fury you shall no longer drink. But I will put it into the hand of your
tormentors..."
HaShem is telling his people that they have already drunk
their cup of curse and they have even "sucked
up the sediments". There is nothing left to drink. And therefore why do you
worry about the enemy who threatens you; did you forget that you have My
protection? Did you forget that it is I Who spread out the heavens and
established the foundation of the earth? All you need to bear in mind is that I
am here with you - you need not worry, just focus on Me!
Isaiah draws us a picture of a cup of curse being
downed by his people as the metaphor to describe the punishments that befell
our people throughout our exile. The most potent part of the drink is what lies
at the bottom of the cup. The bottom most layer of a drink contains the
sediment which makes up the essence of the drink. Sucking up the final
sediments implies two ideas. The first notion is that once the sediment is
sucked up there is nothing left in the cup. The second notion is that those
final experiences will have been so excruciating that the only way to describe
them is to simply refer to them as the essence of all the tragedies that
preceded them.
With this in mind let us consider the current state of our
people. For over 2,000 we were homeless. Whichever country happened to allow us
to stay after some time they threw us out and we wandered to another land that
would tolerate us for another limited time. We were dispersed throughout the
world. There were always multiple geographic areas in which Jews found their
home but never did they have their own home. For many centuries we were not
even allowed to own land. Even when our host country would allow us to stay we
were nevertheless subject to all sorts of suffering from pogroms and forced
conversions to abductions and property damage with little to no protection from
the authorities.
In stark contrast, since the years following the holocaust
we have our own land, albeit quite contested, we can live in America and other
civilized lands and participate in all areas of human endeavor including
politics and academia. We are protected in most courts across the civilized
world as equal citizens (notwithstanding isolated cases). This has been
going on for 60 years!
If I may be so bold, I would like to suggest that perhaps
the holocaust with all its unspeakable and incomprehensible horror was the
fulfillment of our sucking up those final drops of our cup of curse. And
consequently there is no more to drink. We can now move from the oppressive
state of existence in which we constantly nurse that cup of curse to a
non-oppressive state of existence where although we still find ourselves in
exile and do not really have our own autonomy and are certainly missing that closeness
to HaShem for which we long and yearn, nevertheless the cup has been drained.
In spite of our cup being drained we still face states and
other forms of political entities who seek to oppress us and terrorize us. To
this HaShem tells us "who are you that
you should be afraid of mortal humans and of men who will be made as grass
(i.e. they shrivel up with time)? Have you forgotten HaShem, your Maker, Who
spread out the heavens and set the foundations of the earth, and are you
terrified continually, all day long, because of the oppressor's fury when he
prepares to destroy - but where is the oppressor's fury?"
HaShem is summoning us to recognize that the solution in
dealing with these nations, united in their goal of terrifying HaShem's people,
is to remember, not to forget, our Maker; to recognize Him as our Maker and as
the one who spread the heavens and the earth.
The month of Elul began yesterday. Elul marks the month in
which HaShem draws us close to Him as He encourages us to prepare ourselves for
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Let us begin Elul with the words of Isaiah ringing in our
ears; HaShem waits anxiously for us to remember Him and to recognize Him as
being our Maker and the Maker of heaven and earth.
Have a wonderful Shabbos.
Paysach Diskind
|
Noteworthy links
Parsha Summary by Rabbi Osher Baddiel in English and Russian
Penetrating Russian insight to the Parsha by Shvut Ami
Programs from which you and others can learn and grow
|
Хасидская притча
Накануне праздника Песах принято в еврейских общинах позаботиться о тех,
кому особенно трудно в праздник: нищих, солдатах и заключенных в
тюрьмах.
Рассказывают, что евреи города Маинц приготовили однажды накануне
праздника пакеты с мацой, бутыли с вином и всевозможную снедь и принесли в
местную тюрьму.
-Теперь, надеюсь,- сказал раввин евреям-заключенным,- вы
сможете справить седер как следует.
-Боюсь, что нет,- усмехнулся один из них,
- по закону нужно открыть настежь двери, когда читают Излей гнев
Свой...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
