Aleph Torah Weekly Dedicated to all Jews striving to generate light in the darkest places May 11 – 17, 2014 ● 11 – 17 Iyyar, 5774 Parshah Bechukotai Leviticus 26:3-27:34 he was preoccupied with saving as many lives as he possibly could. Second Passover Louder After the war, he settled in America and developed a large following. The eternal significance of the Subsequently he relocated to Israel Second Passover, says the sixth One section stands out from and, among other things, established Lubavitcher , Rabbi Yosef the rest in this week’s the Laniado Hospital in Netanya. Yitzchak (1880-1950), Parshah. It is known as the is that it is never too late to rectify a Tochachah, “The Rebuke.” That Shabbat—Rabbi Riskin past failing. Even if a person has There we read a whole litany related—“The Rebuke” was being failed to fulfill a certain aspect of his of disasters that will befall read. When it came to the part of the or her mission in life because s/he has curses, the reader did what he been "contaminated by death" (i.e., in our people should we turn always did. He lowered his voice a state of disconnection from the our backs on G-d and and read in a softer tone. Suddenly, divine source of life) or "on a distant abandon His way of life. The the Rebbe shouted in Yiddish, road" from his people and G-d, there tradition is that the baal “Hecher!” (“Louder!”). The reader is always a Second Passover in which korei (Torah reader) himself, was confused. He was simply s/he can make good on what s/he has without being called up, following the tradition of missed out. generations. Perhaps he was not takes this aliyah; and when The Second Passover thus represents hearing right, so he continued the power of teshuvah -- the power of he reaches the relevant reading in the softer tone. “Hecher! return. Teshuvah is commonly section, he lowers his voice, Hecher!” thundered the translated as repentance, but it is to soften the blow of these much more than turning a new leaf terrible curses. and achieving forgiveness for past sins. It is the power to go back in time For 24 years, I produced and and redefine the past. hosted South Africa’s only Teshuvah is achieved when a negative Jewish radio show, The deed or experience is applied in a Jewish Sound. Once, my way that completely transforms its guest on the air was Rabbi significance. When a person's contact Shlomo Riskin of Efrat, with death evokes in him a striving Israel. He told the story that for life he would never have mustered as a child growing up in the without that experience; when his Williamsburg section of wanderings on distant roads awaken Brooklyn, one Shabbat he in him a yearning for home he would went to daven in the shul of never have otherwise felt -- these the Rebbe of Klausenberg, hitherto negative experiences are Rabbi Yekusiel Yehudah literally turned inside out. Contact Halberstam (1905–1994). Rabbi Yekusiel Yehudah with death is transformed into a more Halberstam (1905 - 1994) the intense involvement with life; Originally from Romania, Rabbi of - Klausenberg distance into a greater closeness. the Klausenberger Rebbe

was a spiritual giant of a Klausenberger Rebbe. “Let the man who had lost 11 Almighty hear what is being read! children in the Holocaust, All the curses have already been and never sat shivah because fulfilled. Now, there must be only blessings for our people . . .”

ALEPH TORAH WEEKLY May 11 – 17, 2014 ● 11 – 17 Iyyar, 5774 PAGE 2 Many of our sages have described blessing to Israel he used the first the Holocaust as the birth pangs of The Engraved Letters person, declaring, “. . . I will give Moshiach and the ultimate grass in your fields,” for G-d’s redemption. Never will there be a Presence (the Shechinah) was repeat of such calamities. We have speaking through Moses’ throat. endured more than enough of exile, The Torah writes, “If you will walk By: Yitschak Meir Kagan wanderings, pogroms and in my statutes (chukotai) . . .” persecutions. The curses, in all their (Leviticus 26:3). Rabbi Schneur tragic, cataclysmic imagery, have Zalman of Liadi explains that the actually materialized. Now there word chok (statute) is derived from must be only goodness, happiness, the root chakikah, engraving, warmth and blessing for the people hewing or carving: one’s study of of Israel. Torah should be as letters that are hewn out of stone, not as letters of At the end of The Rebuke, G-d says: ink that are written on paper. “I will remember My covenant with What does this mean? th Jacob, and also My covenant with Wednesday (14 Isaac, and also My covenant with The letters and words of ink, Abraham will I remember, and I will through the process of writing, Iyar, 5774 – become inseparably connected and remember the Land . . .” th Not only will the Almighty united with the paper or parchment. May 14 , 2014) remember us, the Jewish people; He This symbolizes the basic level of will also remember His Holy Land, Torah learning, in which the student is “Pesach our Land of Israel. Perhaps we does not give mere lip-service to the might interpret this as a message to Torah’s teachings, but becomes Sheini”(second the anti-Semites of the world who joined and united with Torah; his hide behind their anti-Zionist or actions reflect his learning. anti-Israel rantings and ravings. “I Passover), we will remember the Land”—a On a deeper level, though, it is message also to the nations of the evident that the word written in ink celebrate by world who claim to be our friends, is an entity distinct from that of the the shrewd manipulators who are paper—although bound together eating a piece of expert in political backstabbing in with it. But the letter engraved in Washington and London. “I will stone has no separate existence from Matzah. remember the Land”—a message to the stone whatsoever. The stone our own Jewish fantasizers who itself bends inwards here, protrudes would undermine their own brothers outwards there . . . and a letter is with their hopeless attempts at formed; the letter is the stone and appeasing mortal enemies. To all of the stone is the letter. Traditionally, this day them, the G-d of Israel says: “I will signifies ‘second chance’, remember the Land.” I will never The carved letter simply does not although we made a forsake My land or My people. exist as a distinct entity independent of the stone. In the same way, one’s mistake, G-d gives us the And as He remembers us, let us study of Torah should ultimately opportunity to rectify and remember Him and our covenant. reach the level of “the engraved try again. May we prepare for Shavuot and the letter,” where the “self” of the giving of the Torah with earnestness student ceases to exist; his being, his and joy. May G-d and His people essence, becomes simply Torah. always remember each other. Amen. Such a level of self-effacement was By: Yossy Goldman achieved by Moses. He became one with G-d; his “self” ceased to exist. When transmitting G-d’s words of The Aleph Institute - N.E. Regional Headquarters • 5804 Beacon Street • Pittsburgh, PA 15217 • 412-421-0111