בס״ד

TORAH WEEKLYParshat Va’etchanan 22 - 28 July, 2018 A GODLY bilitation process after the beds, calling out, “Shema 10 - 16 Av, 5778 liberation of some of the de- Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu, SPARK PLUG ath camps. While there, they Hashem Echad - Hear, Israel, Torah: During the Second were told that many Jewish the Lord is our God, the Lord Deuteronomy 3:23 - 7:11 World War, countless Jewish children had been placed in is One!” parents gave their precious a monastery in Alsace-Lor- As they did this, child raine. Without hesitation, the after child sat up in their beds Haftorah: children to Christian neigh- bors and orphanages in the rabbis went there to reclaim and began to recite the Shema Isaiah 40:1 - 26 hope that these would provide them. along with the rabbi. Some When they appro- even raised their hands to TORAH STUDIES safe havens for them. The pa- ached the priest in charge, cover their eyes, as they had We have many rents hoped that they, or their relatives, would take these they asked that the Jewish been taught by their mothers. Judaic topics for you to children back if they survi- children be released into the They remembered study. We will provide ved the war. The few parents rabbis’ care. “I’m sorry,” the their mothers and fathers reci- the material and cour- who did not perish in the priest responded, “but there ting the Shema with them as ses. Please write to us Holocaust, and were able to is no way of knowing whi- they put them to sleep when for more information. reclaim their children, often ch children here came from they were younger. Many faced another horror. Jewish families. You must began to cry and call out for While the parents have documentation if you their parents from whom FAMILY had summoned the strength wish me to do what you ask.” they had been separated for Of course, the kind of so long. At this point there PROGRAMS to survive the slave labor and documentation that the priest was no longer any doubt as to Do you have death camps, or had hidden out for years, those who took wanted was unobtainable at which of the children posses- family on the outside their children were busy tea- the end of the war. The rabbis sed Jewish souls. who are struggling, ching them the ways of other asked to see the list of names The priest may have please contact or have religions. Being alone and at of children who were in the successfully indoctrinated them contact our office very formative ages, many monastery. As the rabbis read the young impressionable to learn more about our of the children all but forgot the list, they pointed to the children with the ways of family programs. You their Jewish roots. names which appeared to be Christianity and their beliefs, and they are not alone, Even more challen- those of Jewish children. but nothing and no one could we are here to help. ging, many of the children “I’m sorry,” the priest ever have totally removed that who were taken in by orpha- insisted, “but the names that spark of Godliness which was GRAPE JUICE & nages, convents and the like, you pointed to could be either present in each one of them. MATZAH had no parents or close rela- Jewish or Gentile. You can’t The words of the Aleph offers free tives left after the Holocaust prove that these are Jewish Shema have always served Grape Juice and Matzoh to reclaim them at all. When children. If you can’t prove our people as a declaration of for you to be able to rabbis or distant relatives which children are Jewish, God’s oneness, as a source of make the blessings every finally tracked down many and do it soon, I will need to strength and belief at times of ask you to leave.” trouble and, most importantly, Shabbos. Please have of these children, the priests One of the rabbis had as a connecting force which your chaplain / Rabbi and nuns who had been their caretakers insisted that no a brilliant idea. “We’d like to has and always will keep the contact us to enroll, it is children from Jewish homes come back again this evening Jewish people together and available to all prisons. were in their institutions. when you are putting the connected to God. Thus, countless children to sleep.” ALEPH INSTITUTE Jewish children were not only The priest reluctant- Hyman & Martha Rogal stripped of their entire fami- ly agreed. That evening the FOREVER EX Center lies, they were also stripped rabbis came to the dormi- of their Jewish identities. tory, where row upon row of NIHILO 5804 Beacon Street The late great Charles In May, 1945, Rabbi little beds were arranged. The Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Krauthammer is quoted as Eliezer Silver from the United children, many of whom had 412-421-0111 having said that atheism is the States and Dayan Grunfeld been in the monastery since Fax: 412-521-5948 most foolish of all possible from England were sent as the war started in 1939, were possibilities. God created this www.alephne.org chaplains to assist in the reha- going to sleep. The rabbis [email protected] walked through the aisles of world. The preciseness with which each and every aspect of creation in the enti- re universe is set up can only have been designed by In Jewish History the Almighty Creator Himself. Friday, 15 Av, 5778 - July 27, 2018 Our sages take this concept a step further. End of Dying in Desert (1274 BCE) When we say that everything came from nothing, In wake of the incident of the “Spies,” in which the gener- ex nihilo, that not only means that God brought ation that came out of Egypt under Moses’ leadership demonstrat- about all matter from nothingness one time, five ed their unpreparedness for the task of conquering and settling the thousand seven hundred and almost seventy nine Holy Land, G-d decreed that entire generation would die out in years ago. Rather, at every moment of every day, the desert. After 38 years of wandering through the wilderness the every part of nature must be recreated, reinforced dying finally ended, and a new generation of Jews stood ready to with the power of its existence - the word of God. enter the Holy Land. Were/he to stop creating, everything would in- Ban on Inter-Tribal Marriage Lifted (13th century BCE) stantly cease to exist and revert back to its original In order to ensure the orderly division of the Holy Land nothingness. In other words, God is creating us and between the twelve tribes of Israel, restrictions had been placed on everything around us ex nihilo every single moment marriages between members of two different tribes. A woman who of our lives. had inherited tribal lands from her father was forbidden to marry In this week’s Torah portion, we read the out of her tribe, lest her children -- members of their father’s tribe Shema, the most well known and widespread prayer -- cause the transfer of land from one tribe to another by inheriting and verse perhaps in all of Judaism. “Shema Yi- her estate (Number 36). This ordinance was binding only on the srael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad - Hear, O generation that conquered and settled the Holy Land during the 14- Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.” year period 2488-2503 from creation (1273-1258 BCE); when the Those last words, “Hashem Echad - the restriction was lifted, on the 15th of Av, the event was considered a Lord is One,” bring out the above mentioned cause for celebration and festivity. concept. Had the intended meaning of the verse Tribe of Benjamin Re-Admitted (circa 1228 BCE) been one of God’s singularity as the Master of the Av 15 was the day on which the tribe of Benjamin, which Universe then the word should have been “Yachid,” had been excommunicated for its behavior in the incident of the implying singularity and exceptionalism. The word “Concubine at Givah,” was readmitted into the community of “Echad” implies unification and oneness. What we Israel (as related in Judges 19-21). The event occurred during the are really saying is that there is nothing besides judgeship of Othniel ben Knaz, who led the people of Israel in the God. The entire universe, everything that occurs in years 2533-2573 from creation (1228-1188 BCE). the world as we know it, everything in the entirety Jeroboam’s Roadblocks Removed (574 BCE) of creation is nothing less than an expression of God Upon the division of the Holy Land into two kingdoms Himself. following the death of King Solomon in the year 2964 from This is also why it is so sensible to say that creation (797 BCE), Jeroboam ben Nebat, ruler of the breakaway everything happens with a purpose, nothing hap- Northern Kingdom of Israel, set up roadblocks to prevent his citi- pens just by chance. As the famous story goes about zens from making the thrice-yearly pilgrimage to the Holy Temple the sage who was walking with his disciples and di- in Jerusalem, capital of the Southern Kingdom of Judea. These scussing this idea of divine providence. Suddenly he were finally removed more than 200 years later by Hosea ben stopped and they all look up to watch a leaf flutter Eilah, the last king of the Northern Kingdom, on Av 15, 3187 (574 lightly down off of one of the nearby trees. The leaf BCE). hit the ground and then began to tumble in the wind Betar Dead Buried (148 CE) until it finally stopped and lay in one place. The fortress of Betar was the last holdout of the Bar Koch- The sage challenged his followers to find ba rebellion. When Betar fell on the 9th of Av, 3893 (133 CE), the divine providence in such a simple, seemingly Bar Kochba and many thousands of Jews were killed; the Romans meaningless occurrence. When they failed to come massacred the survivors of the battle with great cruelty and would up with a satisfactory reason, he helped them un- not even allow the Jews to bury their dead. For 15 years their re- derstand it. “Lift the leaf up and see what is under- mains were left scattered on the battlefield. When the dead of Betar neath it.” When they did so they discovered a tiny were finally brought to burial on Av 15 of the year 3908 from bug underneath the leaf. It had been suffering from the intense heat of the sun, until God orchestrated creation (148 CE), an additional blessing (HaTov VehaMeitiv) was a chain of events, from the blowing of the wind to added to the “Grace After Meals” in commemoration. the fluttering of the leaf so that it would land in that Matchmaking Day exact spot and shield the bug from the blazing sun. In ancient Israel, it was the custom that on the 15th of Based on what was explained earlier this idea falls Av “the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in borrowed linen right into place. Not only does God focus His omni- garments and dance in the vineyards” and “whoever did not have a potent attention to each individual matter as it beco- wife would go there” to find himself a bride (Talmud, Taanit 31a). mes important, but more than that - His attention is “The Day of the Breaking of the Ax” focused on everything, yes, everything, at each and When the Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem, the annual every moment. cutting of firewood for the altar was concluded on the 15th of Av. By Rabbi Nissan Aizek The event was celebrated with feasting and rejoicing.