Achim Newsletter
Shmini Atzeres / Simchas Torah
Parshas Breishis
Tuesday September 28, 2010
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Greetings!
I hope the Succos holiday is offering you opportunities of discovering deeper levels of Judaism. Continue the journey as we head into the next set of holidays this weekend. One such opportunity is our Simchas Torah celebration.
Candle
lighting times time for Baltimore
Wednesday 6:34 pm
Thursday not before 7:41 pm
Friday between 5:35 - 6:31 pm
Shabbos concludes 7:38 pm
Being
that this year the holiday of Shmini Atzeres occurs on Thursday and
Friday one is required to make an Eruv Tavshilin on Wednesday to allow
preparations to made on Friday for Shabbos.
Details how to make an Eruv Tavshilin in English / in Russian
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Simchas Torah Celebration
You are invited to join us celebrate the conclusion of Torah. For more information click here.
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to print this as a web page click here
Hide and Seek
Wednesday evening begins another three day marathon
consisting of Thursday being Shmini Atzeres, Friday being Simchas Torah and
Saturday being Shabbos of course. It is important to understand that Shmini
Atzeres and Simchas Torah are actually the same holiday and the reason for the
two names is because we designate the second day as the day on which we dance
with the Torah. In Israel
there is only one day of celebration and that day is referred to as both Shmini
Atzeres and Simchas Torah.
On Simchas Torah we will conclude reading the entire Torah,
the entire Five Books of Moshe. On the next day, Shabbos, we will immediately
commence reading the beginning of the Five Books with the Parsha of Breishis.
I would like to place the conclusion and commencement of our
Torah in a context that will perhaps give us the necessary courage and
inspiration to continue the growth pattern that we have been experiencing from
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
While still under the shadow of the passing holidays we will
read the Parsha that introduces us to Adam and Eve and their encounter with
their primal sin. In previous Parsha thoughts we articulated the notion that
everything which follows the primal kernel lies within that primal kernel. It
therefore follows that all sin finds their root in Adam's primal sin. Let us
therefore attempt to gain understanding into that sin so as to better
understand the nature of sin in general. With an enhanced understanding of sin
we will be better equipped to address the areas of imperfection that we wish to
correct.
We will begin with the beginning.
A word about good and evil; everything HaShem created is
Good. All of creation exposed the existence of HaShem. There was nothing that
could be misunderstood as coming from some source other than HaShem. His stamp
was on everything. It would therefore follow that Evil should be non-existent.
However, HaShem allowed for the possibility of Evil in order
to give Man the opportunity to choose Good over Evil.
Well then what is Evil? Evil is all of creation, when the
existence of HaShem is concealed. (We can identify this notion within our own
experience. When we witness extreme evil the natural response within ourselves
is "where is G.D?" In other words, we intuitively recognize that evil is the
absence of G.D.)
Adam was created with a sharp sense of clarity in which he
discerned HaShem's existence in everything. He recognized Good as being reality
and Evil as being the absence of reality. Consequently Adam faced no challenge
regarding choosing good over evil. From his perspective it was like choosing
existence over non-existence. It is analogous to the choice that every driver faces
to cross the double yellow line when there is traffic on the opposing side.
Although anyone who wishes to drive into opposing traffic has the capability,
nevertheless, nobody ever practices this (unless they are drunk are deranged).
By eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam
was able to gain perception of Evil as if it were reality. In other words, Adam
gained the ability to blind himself from that exposure of HaShem's existence.
Hence, Evil became a viable option to choose. Or to put this notion in other
words; by eating from the Tree of Knowledge, HaShem's overt expression in all
of creation was concealed. (The obvious question must be addressed, namely, how
did Adam eat from the Tree if he recognized that it was evil? However, this
question requires much more than our self imposed restriction of not exceeding
two pages of text.)
We can perhaps appreciate how every sin lies within the
kernel of this primal sin. Adam's sin opened the door to all his offspring to
deal with Evil as if it were a reality. It allowed Man to choose the option of
destruction and death without perceiving the consequence. Even though the
consequence will be dealt with at a later date, when Man leaves the physical
plane of existence, nevertheless, in this world the consequence is concealed.
Let us move on to the solution.
There is a principle in Judaism that states that every sin
can be corrected. The greater the sin the greater the correction will have to
be. This includes Adam's sin as well. If our understanding is accurate we can
formulate the nature of the correction necessary to rectify Adam's sin as
follows. Since Adam's sin was concealing HaShem's existence in this world then
the method by which we correct Adam's sin is by bringing a greater awareness of
HaShem into the world.
When a person performs a mitzvah with the understanding that the act he is engaged in is the
fulfillment of HaShem's Will he brings a ray of HaShem's existence into this
world, thereby removing the impact of Adam's sin. If, however, a person
performs a mitzvah without
recognizing that this mitzvah is a fulfillment of HaShem's Will he has accomplished
nothing in terms of rectifying Adam's sin. Although he performed a good deed
and helped someone else, nevertheless, he lost the opportunity of bringing an
awareness of HaShem into the world. This is the meaning of Tikun Olam, fixing
the world; doing mitzvos with the intention of bringing a greater awareness of
HaShem's existence to the world.
As we move away from the inspirational holidays of Rosh
Hashanah and Yom Kippur and the joyous holidays of Succos and Simchas Torah let
us hold on to the awareness of HaShem that we gained from these days and place
that awareness into our every thought, our every word and our every deed.
Have a joyous Simchas Torah and wonderful Shabbos.
Paysach Diskind
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Noteworthy links
Parsha Summary and other delights 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
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Хасидская притча
Когда раби Довид из Модлибожича пришел впервые к своему учителю, раби из Коцка,
он спросил:
-Что мне делать?
-Я буду говорить тебе, что не делать. На
вопрос что делать, ты должен сам найти ответ.
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