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TORAHSimchat / ParshatWEEKLY V’Zot HaBerachah - Braishit 23 - 29 October, 2016 21- 27 Tishrei, 5777 Monday and Tuesday marks the holiday of Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, two of the most Deuteronomy 33:1 - 34:12 joyous holidays in the year, we celebrate with dancing with the Torah. Thursday morning, Genesis 1:1 - 6:8 during the morning prayers we end the reading of the Torah and begin again with Breishit, immediately. We do not take a moments break. GRAPE JUICE & MATZAH The Psychology res could have waited a few Aleph offers free hours, and occupied themsel‑ Is playing golf on Saturday Grape Juice and of Sin ves with the other fruit first. so much more fun than on Matzoh for you to If we are all descended from Why did it have to be that Sunday? Why can we walk be able to make Adam and Eve, then it stands fruit? and jog for miles all week the blessings every to reason that our characte‑ long, but to walk a mile to Shabbos. Please ristics—both positive and We all know the answer, don’t shul on is not even up have your chaplain / negative, fine points and we? Forbidden fruit is always for discussion? Are non-Jewi‑ contact us for foibles—can all somehow sweeter, isn’t it? We play sh girls really more beautiful more info. be traced back to our earliest mind games. We imagine that than Jewish girls? If we are ALEPH LIBRARY ancestors. the one forbidden fruit in a honest and objective, we will The Aleph Institute paradise with dozens of other recognize the truth. Library (4600 books) If one studies the accounts of luscious options has simply is now available to the first man’s first sin in the got to be the most deliciously The psychology of sin is that you, thru the institu- and , one is delectable fruit on the planet. we imagine things to be more tion library. struck by a most remarkable And we just have to get our difficult than they really are, Please ask to see our observation. The command‑ hands on it—and it has to be just as Adam imagined the catalog in the chapel ment not to eat from the Tree now. forbidden fruit to be swe‑ in every institution. of Knowledge was given to eter than all the others. He You can then ask the Adam and Eve only after We do the same thing as had one , of a few librarian to order that most of Friday (the sixth day, Adam and Eve. But when it hours’ duration, and he still book when they were created) had comes to our own choices we blew it. No doubt, it would TORAH STUDIES passed. Furthermore, the rationalize, whereas their sin be the same for us even if all Aleph offers many prohibition was only until that seems ridiculous, foolish and of Judaism were reduced to Judaic topics for stu- Shabbat. And it’s not as if the‑ unforgivable. The truth is that one easy commandment. We dy. Aleph Institute will re was nothing to eat. I mean, it’s always the same story all would still complain and find provide the material there was a whole Garden of over again. It has been since it too hard. and courses. Please Eden with fruit trees galore. the beginning of time. It is write for more infor- Could they not have star‑ simply the psychology of sin. The sooner we realize it’s a mation. ted with a perfect pear, or a It doesn’t matter how difficult mind game, the sooner we magnificent mango? Did they something is. It might be the will be able to win the game. absolutely have to eat from easiest commandment, but Good luck. the one and only tree that was once we have to do it, it beco‑ By Rabbi Yossi Goldman forbidden to them? mes difficult in our minds. ALEPH INSTITUTE Hyman & Martha Rogal The problem is further com‑ Is it really so hard to be a Atzeret / Center pounded when one considers Jew? Are our traditions so that Adam and Eve were not onerous? Is the Torah so Simchat Torah 5804 Beacon Street The holiday of is just a couple of homeless demanding and burdensome? Pittsburgh, PA 15217 followed by an indepen‑ hobos. They were handmade Are all those who do keep 412-421-0111 dent holiday called Shemini by G‑d, formed and fashioned it such otherworldly saints? Fax: 412-521-5948 Atzeret. In Israel, this is a personally by the Creator! Of course not. It’s all in the www.alephne.org one-day holiday; in the Dia‑ [email protected] Surely such august creatu‑ mind. spora it is a two-day holiday, and the second day is known Why is it thus named? Every week of the year we read as Simchat Torah. This holiday is characterized by utterly another portion of the Torah. The cycle ends and begins unbridled joy, which surpasses even the joy of Sukkot. The anew on the joyous holiday of Simchat Torah, when we read joy reaches its climax on Simchat Torah, when we celebrate the final portion of Haazinu and the opening lines of the the conclusion—and restart—of the annual Torah-reading first portion, Bereishit. On the following Shabbat, the full cycle. portion of Bereishit is read from the Torah.

These two days constitute a major holiday, when most for‑ It is said in the name of the third Chabad Rebbe (known as ms of work are prohibited. On the preceding nights, women the Tzemach Tzedek) that the way one conducts oneself on and girls light candles, reciting the appropriate blessings, Shabbat Bereishit sets the tone for the entire year. and we enjoy nightly and daily festive meals, accompanied by kiddush. We don’t go to work, drive, write, or switch Appropriately, this Shabbat is often earmarked for inspi‑ on or off electric devices. We are permitted to cook and to ring farbrengens and resolutions to increase in Torah study. carry outdoors (unless it is also Shabbat). These farbrengens have an additional function, since this Shabbat is also Shabbat Mevarchim, when we bless the The first day, Shemini Atzeret, features the prayer for rain, upcoming month of Cheshvan. officially commemorating the start of the Mediterranean (i.e., Israeli) rainy season, and the Yizkor prayer (supplica‑ During the Rebbe’s farbrengen on this , ting G‑d to remember the souls of the departed). “honors” were traditionally auctioned off. Festooned in a fur shtreimel, the gabbai would lead the proce‑ We no longer take the Four Kinds, and we no longer men‑ edings, and people would vie for the merit to pay for the tion Sukkot in the day’s prayers; in the Diaspora, howe‑ synagogue’s lighting, kiddush and other expenses. ver, we do still eat in the sukkah (but without reciting the blessing on it). Like a caboose following a long railroad train, this Shabbat helps us gather up the spiritual energy of the past month, The highlight of the second day, Simchat Torah (“The Joy ensuring that we remain on track for the long haul ahead. of the Torah”), is the hakafot, held on both the eve and the morning of Simchat Torah, in which we march and dance with the Torah scrolls around the reading table in the syna‑ gogue. (In many , hakafot are conducted also on the eve of Shemini Atzeret.) In Jewish History Thursday, 25 Tishrei, 5777 - 10/27/2016 On this joyous day when we conclude the Torah, it is customary for every man to take part in the celebration by Passing of R. Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (1809) receiving an . The children, too, receive an aliyah! Passing of the great Chassidic leader and advo‑ cate for the Jewish people, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of After the final aliyah of the Torah, we immediately begin Berditchev (1740-1810). Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was a a new cycle from the beginning of Genesis (from a se‑ close disciple of the second leader of the Chassidic cond ); this is because as soon as we conclude studying the Torah, G‑d’s infinite wisdom, on one level, movement, Rabbi DovBer, the Maggid of Mezritch. we immediately start again, this time to discover new and He is best known for his love for every Jew and loftier interpretations. his impassioned words of advocacy on their behalf before the Almighty. (In the , the celebration and customs of these two days are compressed into one day.) Passing of Chatam Sofer (1839) Tishrei 25th is the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Moshe Sofer of What is Shabbat Bereishit? Pressburg (1762-1839), known as “Chatam Sofer” The High Holidays are behind us. The joy of Sukkot and after his work of Rabbinic responsa. Rabbi Moshe Simchat Torah has just passed, but there is still one more was an outstanding Halachic authority and commu‑ landmark before the exhilarating month of Tishrei fades. nity leader, and was at the forefront of the battle to It is the first Shabbat immediately following the holidays, preserve the integrity of traditional Judaism in the known as Shabbat Bereishit (or Shabbos Bereishis in Euro‑ face of the various “reformist” movements of his pean Hebrew). time.