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Parshat Naso בס״ד TORAH SELF-MADE MAN? "He How often people imagine that And so Moses reminds us all WEEKLY is a self-made man who they do it themselves — all by that even when our work is worships his creator." Who themselves? How many boast done, we still need that 09 June – 15 June, 2019 said it? About whom? It that they are "self-made men"? blessing from Above. Even 06 Sivan – 12 Sivan, 5779 doesn't really matter as long as So anyone who didn't have a when we work hard, concoct Torah: Numbers 4:21 - 7:89 we make sure the description rich father before him is a self- the most intricate business Haftorah: Judges 13:2-25 doesn't fit us. made man? Do you really schemes, or present the most PARSHAT NASO believe that your success is all wonderful proposals, This week's parshah details the offerings of the princes your own doing? Your hard ultimately our success needs a We have Jewish work, your business acumen, prayer. We need to recognize Calendars. If you (nessi'im) of the twelve tribes at the time the Mishkan, the your clever trading the hand of G‑d in our lives would like one, technique—these are the and, hopefully, in our success. please send us a portable Sanctuary in the wilderness, was completed. secrets of your success? Let us do our work as best as letter and we will we can and then let us not send you one, or ask Previously, towards the end of And where did all that wisdom CALENDARS the Book of Exodus, we had and ability come from? The forget to ask Him to bless the the Rabbi / Chaplain work of our hands. to contact us. read that Moses blessed the skills and talents we possess people when they finished are G‑d-given gifts we should by Rabbi Yossy Goldman Do you have family their work. What blessing did acknowledge and be grateful JOURNEY TOWARD on the outside he give them? Our sages relate for. And that's not humility. PEACE It’s hard to be struggling? that he blessed them: May it It's reality. You were born spiritual in a material world. with that natural talent and Please contact or be G‑d's will that the Our possessions come to Shechinah, the Divine flair. Give credit to your have them contact possess us; we can’t put Presence, should come to rest Creator. our office to learn down our smartphones or upon the work of your hands. more about our A friend was once laid up with that last piece of chocolate family programs. He also blessed them with the a bad back. What happened? phrase that would become part cake. We can spend years You and they are He picked up a little bicycle working to achieve success FAMILY PROGRAMS of Psalm 90, May the for his 5-year old. A tiny not alone, we are in a career, in a relationship pleasantness of my L-rd, our nonsense but it left him flat on here to help. or in any other worthy G‑d, be upon us…May He his back for weeks. pursuit, and then throw it all establish for us the work of I remember some years ago We offer free Grape our hands. away for a foolish, Juice and Matzoh catching some kind of "bug" Why pray now? Surely the temporary temptation. for you to be able to and losing my voice for quite time for prayer was before the Our possessions possess us. make the blessings a while. There I was, the rabbi, & MATZAH sanctuary was built. Then it So how do we achieve every Shabbos. the preacher, the speaker and might have been needed to harmony in our lives? How Please have your the radio personality — the inspire the people to bring in chaplain / Rabbi man of words whose entire do we get to a place where their offerings and contact us to enroll profession is built around his there is no conflict between contributions, to execute the (available to all ability to say the right thing our spiritual goals and our huge amount of work that was for every occasion — and physical needs? GRAPE JUICE prisons). required to create this new suddenly I'm rendered In the portion of Naso, the sacred structure. But now the Hyman & Martha Rogal Center absolutely speechless. Torah teaches us how work is done, everything is in 5804 Beacon Street Overnight, I was made useless tomove from spiritual folly Pittsburgh, PA 15217 place. Why pray now? and unproductive — all by a to inner peace. It does so by 412-421-0111 The answer is that Moses tiny germ. Fax: 412-521-5948 describing three laws: 1) the understood that building G‑d's www.alephne.org To get sick takes a minute, to “wayward woman”; 2) the sanctuary is not in our hands [email protected] get well can take weeks and nazirite; 3) the priestly alone. Sure, we can erect a months. We all need to structure. That's the easy part. blessing, which concludes remember our frailties and with the blessing for peace. The question is: will G‑d see limitations. No matter how fit to live there, to make it His strong, clever or talented we First the Torah describes the home? For this, a special law of the “wayward may be, we are all subject to prayer was called for. We higher forces. Nobody can do woman.” The Hebrew word needed a blessing upon the it alone. There is no such thing for “wayward” (sotah) is work our hands. as a self-made man. related to the word for IN JEWISH HISTORY “foolishness” (shtut). The Talmud states, “A person Sunday, June 9, 2019 - 6 Sivan, 5779 does not commit a transgression unless the spirit of Torah Given (1313 BCE). On the 6th Sivan of the year 2448 folly enters him.” Thus, the sotah personifies the from creation (1313 BCE), seven weeks after the Exodus, G-d person who acts against his or her better judgment as a revealed Himself on Mount Sinai. The entire people of Israel result of great temptation. To discover how to (600,000 heads of households and their families), as well as the overcome the state of the sotah, we look to the next souls of all future generations of Jews, heard G-d declare the first portion, the portion of the nazirite, which when two of the Ten Commandments and witnessed G-d's communication of the other eight through Moses. Following the understood correctly is the secret to achieving the inner revelation, Moses ascended the mountain for 40 days, to receive spiritual harmony described in the priestly blessing. the remainder of the Torah from G-d. At Sinai, G-d rescinded the The nazirite—the man or woman who takes a vow to "decree" and "divide" (gezeirah) that had been in force since the temporarily refrain from drinking wine, cutting hair 2nd day of creation separating the spiritual and the physical into and becoming ritually impure—is referred to as “holy.” two hermetic worlds; from this point on, "the higher realms could Yet, paradoxically, the Torah teaches that at the descend into the lower realms, and the lower could ascend to the conclusion of the nazirite period he or she must offer a higher." Thus was born the "mitzvah" -- a physical deed that, by sin offering. This implies that although the choice to virtue of the fact that it is commanded by G-d, brings G-dliness into the physical world. become a nazirite was the right choice for that person David, a descendent of Judah at that specific time, and thus a holy choice, the nazirite Passing of King David (837 BCE). the son of Jacob as well as of Ruth, a Moabite convert to Judaism, way of life is not the preferred one. (See Talmud, was anointed King of Israel by Samuel in 878 BCE. All future Taanit 11a.). legitimate kings of Israel were David's descendents, as will be In Torah’s ideal model of holiness, the human being Moshiach (the messiah), who will "restore the kingdom of David engages with the physical world and imbues it with to its glory of old."David fought many wars, defeating Israel's spirituality, creating peace between body and soul. But enemies and securing and expanding its borders. He conquered occasionally, in order to achieve this ideal state of Jerusalem, purchased the Temple Mount from its Yebusite owner, holiness, a person may have to take the path of the and prepared the foundation for the Holy Temple (which was built by his son, King Solomon). David served as the head of the nazirite. If one wants to ensure that he is in control, that Sanhedrin and the foremost Torah authority of his generation; he the wine, chocolate cake or smartphone will indeed is also the "sweet singer of Israel" who composed the Book of enhance his spiritual life, then sometimes he first has to Psalms that for 28 centuries has embodied the joys, sorrows and disengage. He has to demonstrate that he can survive yearnings of the Jewish people.King David passed away on the 6th for a period of time without dependence on the specific of Sivan of the year 837 BCE, age 70. material possession. Wednesday, June 12, 2019 - 9 Sivan, 5779 The human imbues the physical world with Passing of "Kaf Hachaim" (1939). Rabbi Yaakov Chaim Sofer, spirituality. After refraining from drinking wine for 30 better known as the Kaf Hachaim (the name of the monumental days, the nazirite can return to the consumption of wine halachic work which he authored), was born in Baghdad in 1870.
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