Parshat Bereishis

בס״ד Torah Finding Comfort The first the body because this was their absolute. The kindness is true portion of the Torah begins first encounter with death. The kindness. Weekly with pristine beauty. The Midrash continues: they saw a Adam and Eve looked at creation of a graceful, peaceful bird (araiv in the Hebrew) the araiv and understood. They burying a dead bird in the 20-26 October, 2019 world, culminating with the received the wisdom on how to 21-27 Tishrei, 5780 creation of the day of rest, as ground. Adam and Eve decided react. They now understood Torah: Genesis 1:1 - 6:8 the Torah describes: to do the same and buried Abel that the response to absolute Haftorah: Isaiah 42:5-21 “And G-d saw all that He had in the earth. evil is absolute kindness. True, PARSHAT BEREISHIS On the surface, this Midrash evil must be stopped and made, and behold it was very We have Jewish good, and it was evening and it explains how they found a contained, but the remedy to was morning, the sixth day. solution to the technical absolute depravity within Calendars. If you would like one, Now the heavens and the earth question of how to dispose of humanity is absolute love and the corpse. On a deeper level, compassion. please send us a were completed and all their however, this Midrash contains letter and we will host. And G-d completed on the They were comforted. They seventh day His work that He profound insight into the send you one, or were comforted, because they did, and He abstained on the human condition. Adam and now understood that the Calendars ask the seventh day from all His work Eve were at a loss, not only Rabbi/Chaplain to profundity of evil that the that He did. And G-d blessed about what to do with Abel’s human is capable of is matched contact us. body, but they had a much the seventh day and He only by the profound kindness hallowed it, for thereon He deeper question: how to Do you have family within the human spirit. They abstained from all His work respond to absolute evil? How on the outside understood that the same that G-d created to do”. could they continue to live after struggling? human heart capable of (Genesis 1:31- 2:3) Alas, the witnessing the depravity of Please contact or boundless hate is likewise serenity was short lived. We which humanity was capable? capable of boundless love. We, have them contact turn just a few pages and we True, they too had sinned. They too, must take this message to our office to learn read of successive too had been condemned to heart. We look around the more about our disasters. Adam and Eve taste natural death. They too were world and see intense cruelty. family programs. the fruit of the Tree of not perfect. But they could We know that we must respond You and they are Knowledge, internalizing both never have imagined that a with intense kindness. Like Family Programs not alone, we are good and evil, thus implanting human being could act so Adam and Eve, we understand here to help. within themselves an brutally, that one human being that this earth is a complicated inclination to evil, creating a could or would afflict an place, that humanity is capable We offer free Grape constant struggle within the unnatural death upon another of extremes. Like Adam and Juice and Matzoh human heart between the G-dly human being. They could not Eve, we respond to negativity for you to be able to soul and the animalistic soul. imagine that a person could act with a greater commitment to Matzah make the blessings We read about Adam and Eve in a way that was the polar absolute kindness. When we face unspeakable cruelty, we every Shabbos. being told of their mortality. At opposite of what G-d had intended. G-d therefore sent the take a step toward extreme Please have your the end of their lives, they bird to teach Adam and Eve kindness, bringing us closer and chaplain / Rabbi would return to the earth. They how to respond to absolute evil. closer to G-d’s vision of a contact us to enroll understood that it would take death for the evil and good According to the Sages, perfect world. A peaceful (available to all within them to separate. The the araiv is terribly cruel world. A world that experiences Grape Juice & & Juice Grape prisons). toward its young, abandoning the tranquility of the seventh body and the evil inclination would return to the earth, and its offspring at birth. Adam and day. The tranquility of Shabbat. Hyman & Martha Rogal Center Eve witnessed this same bird (Based on the teachings of the 5804 Beacon Street the soul would return Pittsburgh, PA 15217 heavenward, to G-d. engaging in the truest form of Rebbe, Reshimot, booklet 25.) 412-421-0111 We then read of the first murder kindness. The sages explain By Rabbi Menachem Feldman Fax: 412-521-5948 in history. We read how Adam that burial is referred to in the It’s a Brand New world www.alephne.org and Eve had to face a double Torah (Genesis 47:29) as [email protected] “loving kindness and truth,” In the beginning G-d created tragedy; the murder of their heaven and earth (Genesis 1:1) son Abel, as well as coming to because when doing kindness with a living person the doer For a change, let's talk a little face with the fact that their philosophy. son Cain was capable of can always expect a favor in murdering his own brother. return. Not so with burial. From the first verse of When we are kind to the dead, the Torah it seems that once The Midrash relates that Adam and Eve wept beside the corpse we do not expect anything in upon a time there was nothing. of Abel, unsure what to do with return. Thus, the kindness is Then the Creator brought the IN JEWISH HISTORY universe into existence. October 20, 2019—21 Tishrei, 5780 Prophecy of Haggai Encouraging the Building of the Second According to the Tanya, seeing as the world didn't Temple (353 BCE) always exist, it isn't quite natural for it to exist now. On this day, the prophet Haggai received a divine message to pass on Therefore, the creative force of G-d, which brought the to “Zerubavel son of She’altiel ruler of Judah, Joshua son of Jehozadak world into existence initially, must constantly be the High Priest, and the remnant of the nation” (Haggai 2:1). He was present to fuel its continued state of being. Remove that instructed to encourage them to continue their efforts to build Divine energy from the world, and it simply ceases to the Second Temple, whose construction had been halted some exist. It would be like pulling the plug on creation. seventeen years prior: This concept is known as the law of continuous October 21, 2019—22 Tishrei, 5780 creation. Indeed, in our daily morning prayers, we Lubavitcher Rebbe Suffers Heart Attack (1977) describe G-d as the One who "in His goodness renews While celebrating the joyous holiday hakafot with thousands of each day the work of creation." The Tanya, then, would chassidim in the central Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue in Brooklyn, understand that to mean not only each day but also each NY, the Rebbe suffered a massive heart attack. In spite of the moment. I suppose we could understand this idea from tremendous pain, the Rebbe remained calm and insisted on the simple analogy of a person throwing a ball up into continuing the hakafot, and only after they concluded did he depart the air. When he throws the ball, his strength will the synagogue. On the following day, the Rebbe requested that the determine how high the ball will fly. The stronger his chassidim celebrate the Simchat Torah festivities with the same joy arm, the higher it will fly and the longer it will defy the and fervor as all other years, and so it was. After the holiday ended, natural law of gravity. But as soon as the power of his the Rebbe addressed and reassured the anxious chassidim from his throw is spent, the ball can no longer defy nature and office (which was hastily converted into a cutting-edge cardiac unit) comes hurtling down again. if we want the initial or via a public address system. The Rebbe remained in his office in "natural" state of the world—which was non- Lubavitch World Headquarters under medical supervision for existence—to be defied, then we need to keep fueling several weeks. He returned home five weeks later on the 1st of the thrust of creative energy that brought the world into Kislev, a day designated by chassidim for celebration and existence in the first place. Likewise, if we want the thanksgiving. initial or "natural" state of the world—which was non- October 23, 2019—24 Tishrei, 5780 existence—to be defied, then we need to keep fueling Passing of R. Yaakov Yosef of Polonye (1781) that same initial thrust of creative energy into the world R. Yaakov Yosef was one of the foremost disciples of the Baal that brought it into existence in the first place. Shem Tov. He was the first one to disseminate the teachings Otherwise, the universe simply reverts to its initial state of Chassidut in print, publishing the work Toldot Yaakov Yosef in of nothingness and non-existence, just like the ball that 1780.

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