Poroshas Ekev

ב''ה SERMON RESOURCE FOR SHLUCHIM DISTRIBUTION DATE: ז' חשון ה' תשע"ה / OCTOBER 31ST, 2014 PARSHA: לך לך/Lech Lecha SERMON TITLE: Finding the Luchos Sponsored by Shimon Aron & Devorah Leah Rosenfeld & Family A PROJECT OF THE SHLUCHIM OFFICE In loving memory of ר' מנחם זאב בן פנחס ז''ל Emil W Herman Lech Lecha Finding the Luchos Good Shabbos! For something a little different, let’s talk today about the Philippines. As a matter of fact, let’s talk about a businesswoman from the Philippines. In the Philippines, there lives a 52-year-old businesswoman named Grace Galindez Gupana. Ms. Gupana is not Jewish, but Ms. Gupana greatly loves Israel, and has always looked for ways to help Israel. A few years ago, Ms. Gupana created and presented to Israel the largest Israeli flag ever made. It’s the size of two football fields and weighs 5.7 tons. Of course, it got into the Guiness World Records, too, as the biggest flag ever made in the world. When she brought it to Israel, the Ministry of Tourism decided to unveil it to the public in the Judean Desert next to the Dead Sea, not far from Masada, because that is the place with the lowest elevation on the surface of Earth—and also, because Masada was the place that a group of ancient Jews fought for their freedom. In 2013, Ms. Gupana brought to Israel a very interesting gift. She promoted the construction of the largest model of the Ark of the Covenant in the world. Plans for building the scale model had begun a year earlier and it was built as a replica of sorts of the actual Ark of the Covenant that G-d had commanded Moshe Rabbeinu to build in the desert—complete with the golden carrying rods and the Cheruvim, the little angels, facing one another. In short, it was something very similar to what they had in the Mishkan in which there was stored the two Tablets of the Covenant. The scale model finally made it to Israel, and they presented it with great fanfare in Jerusalem, where they planned to donate it to the Western Wall. They were sure that this, too, would make it into the Guinness World Records as the largest Ark of the Covenant in the world—made out of the same wood, metal and stone, and coated in gold. The original Ark was coated in pure gold inside and out, though, and it seemed that Ms. Gupana was not so rich as to be able to fund such a project personally. Now, there’s a famous story about the Baal Shem Tov involving the Holy Ark. The Baal Shem Tov lived in Poland, in the town of Mezhbizh, where the majority of his students and followers were, too. 2 The story goes that once, one of his students, Rabbi Volf Kitzess, wanted to leave the Diaspora and go up to the Holy Land. Of course, as a true Chasid, before he did anything major, he visited his master the Baal Shem Tov and told him that he wanted to go to the Land of Israel. So here it was on a Friday and, as is known, Chasidim have the custom of going to the mikvah before Shabbos. So the Baal Shem Tov, instead of giving his student an answer, invited him to come with him to the mikvah. But when Rabbi Kitzess actually entered the mikvah, he suddenly had a vision that he was in Jerusalem. He saw himself standing in the holy city and he saw the Holy Temple not too far away from him. So in the vision, he ran with all his might towards the Temple. He found the gates and doors opened. Entering the Temple, he entered the Heichal (the Sanctuary) and actually entered the Kodesh HaKodashim, the Holy of Holies. Once inside, he saw the Ark of the Covenant before him. He opened the Ark, only to discover that it was empty. He cried out, “Where are the Luchos?” And he heard a voice answer, “The Luchos are in Mezhbizh.” So back to our businesswoman from the Philippines. It’s very nice that she made such a nice donation—an Ark replica that reminds us of the actual Ark that was in the Beis Hamikdash. But where are the Luchos themselves? They’ve been looking for them for centuries. But really, where indeed can we find the Luchos, the Ten Commandments, the basis for the Torah? Where are we likely to find them? With many people, we find that they discover their connection to G-d and Judaism in unusual places. For example, the Chabad shliach all the way out in Alaska reports that there are many Jews who frequent his Chabad center who essentially ended up in Alaska because they had fled from their parents and their Jewishness as far as they could possibly get. But it was specifically there that they found the Luchos—specifically there that they discovered their roots. One of the leaders of the Birthright program relates that he had grown up in a secular Kibbutz and had never once fasted on Yom Kippur. But then, one fine year, he found himself in Germany on Yom Kippur and decided for some reason to go to synagogue. There, he suddenly was inspired and felt connected to Judaism. And ever since, he has fasted on Yom Kippur. He found the Luchos in Germany. And so if a person doesn’t at first succeed in connecting to Judaism in his birthplace over the years, he is not allowed to give up. It is incumbent upon him to go and search for the Luchos— and if he really looks, he will ultimately find them, whether in Mezhbizh, Germany or anywhere across the United States or world. The Rebbe took pains to ensure that there was a Chabad shliach in every major city in the world, so as to help any Jew who was trying to find his or her way. May we all find our ways now! Good Shabbos Sponsored by Shimon Aron & Devorah Leah Rosenfeld & Family A PROJECT OF THE SHLUCHIM OFFICE In loving memory of ר' מנחם זאב בן פנחס ז''ל Emil W. Herman 3 The author is solely responsible for the contents of this document. who loved and supported Torah learning. .

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