ב”ה INTRODUCT MONTHLY PACKAGE FOR: ADAR 1 (FEB. 2016) THIS MONTH'S THEME: I ON TORAH STUDY he Hakhel year comes once every seven, 3. Plan a menu. While food is not necessary, it’s following the sabbatical year of shemita. always a good idea to have some snacks ready Some 2,000 years ago, Hakhel meant that when you get a crowd together. But there’s the entire Jewish nation—men, women no need to go over the top. A simple pan of Tand children—gathered together in the Holy brownies with some milk, chips or veggies with Temple to listen to the Torah being read by the dip are fine. (See below for an easy, one-bowl king. This event offered an incomparable recharging brownie recipe and some additional snack and rebooting of spiritual energy. ideas.) These days, there isn’t any one specific time, 4. Print the Torah-study option that fits your place or style for the mitzvah of Hakhel. We don’t crowd best, and you’re ready to go! have a Jewish king or a Holy Temple, but we can still access the spiritual rejuvenation it offers by Choosing a study option: gathering together to study Torah and be inspired. Are you a group of friends getting together for a relaxed evening who want to learn something light How to Hakhel but thought-provoking? Our Light Reading option Any time that Jews gather and study Torah this is for you. It’s bite-sized, insightful and followed by year counts, so use your imagination! As long as discussion questions to help get the conversation there are two or more Jews studying Torah, you going. accomplish the goal! Looking for something with more scope and Some steps to help you get started: substance? Try the In Depth option for text-based study, followed by thought provoking discussion. 1. Decide on a location and a crowd. This can include your living room with some neighbors, Got kids in your crowd? There’s an optionFor the cafeteria with classmates or during lunch Families designed to capture the interests of break at work. diverse age groups, as well as a Story for all ages and stages. 2. Let your guests know they’re invited! No need for fancy or formal invites. You can call, text, Tweet, Facebook, use WhatsApp—whatever. A joint project of Merkos 302 and Chabad.org 1 Learn more at www.chabad.org/Hakhel ב”ה STUDY SHEET STUDY MONTHLY PACKAGE FOR: SHEVAT (FEB. 2016) THIS MONTH'S THEME: TORAH STUDY Since it was given at Sinai, Jews have studied Torah in groups. Much of the Oral Torah is a record of the discussions and debates of study partners. Studying together has kept the Torah alive over the course of our history. May we suggest that your study group take turns reading aloud from the text below, thereby joining the chain of study partners who have kept our connection to Torah strong throughout the centuries. The relationship between the Torah and the Jewish A better understanding of the nature of the Torah people is characterized in many different ways. itself will help facilitate a better understanding of the nature of our relationship with the Torah. The Talmud refers to the Torah as a gift from G-d to the Jewish people, stating that “G-d According to Chassidus, “the laws and ethics bequeathed three gifts to the Jewish people … of the Torah are the ultimate good and truth” the Torah, the land of Israel and the world to (Inyana Shel Toras HaChassidus 3). come” (Berachos 5a). This means that the Torah is not just a book of In Deuteronomy (33:4), the Torah is described as history, tradition and law. It is a book that transforms “an inheritance for the community of Jacob.” our very essence to something meaningful and holy. When a person studies the Torah and internalizes its At first glance, a gift and an inheritance seem similar messages, he or she identifies with a life of meaning in concept. However, they actually describe two very and connection to a higher purpose. different forms of acquisition. An inheritance does not necessarily belong to the person who receives The Tanya explains that the Torah does not it; an heir simply takes over the stewardship of only affect people who study it. “Through another person’s possessions or estate. A gift, on the fulfilling a mitzvah, one draws down the other hand, transfers ownership completely to the infinite Divine light into this physical world” recipient. (Likkutei Amarim ch. 7). DISCUSS: How are an inheritance and a This means that by using the world around us as a gift the same? How are they different? means to fulfill G-d’s will as expressed in the Torah, we can change the very essence of the world to one of holiness and meaning, creating a dwelling place for What, then, is our relationship to the Torah? Are we G-d in this world. heirs, with each generation taking over stewardship of an item that does not inherently belong to it, or are (According to the Medrash, the very purpose we recipients of a gift, with each one of us achieving of creation was that “The Holy One, blessed complete ownership? be He, desired to have a dwelling place for A joint project of Merkos 302 and Chabad.org 2 Learn more at www.chabad.org/Hakhel Himself in the lower realms” (Tanchuma, Nasso, Now that we have explained the nature of the Torah 16). as both transforming and limitless, we can understand the two different aspects of our relationship with it— DISCUSS: In what way is the Torah a both as an inheritance and as a gift. means to transform the world to holiness? The aspect of Torah that allows us to become holy and to transform the world into a holy place is called an Beyond being a means to transform ourselves and inheritance because, just like an inheritance is taken the world into something holy, the Torah is also an over by someone to whom it does not inherently expression of the infinite wisdom of G-d. belong, the Torah allows us to take over things that The Tanya explains that “The Holy One, do not belong to the realm of holiness—our corporeal blessed be He, has compressed His will and selves and the physical world—and incorporate them wisdom within the 613 commandments of the into the Divine. Torah, and in their laws, as well as within the But G-d also wants us to be connected to those parts combination of the letters of the Torah … ” of the Torah that are beyond the grasp of our minds. (Likkutei Amarim ch. 4). So G-d put His essence into the Torah and gifted that This means that no matter how deeply we plumb the essence to us. depths of the Torah, and no matter how broad our understanding of its components and details, there According to the Talmud, G-d has “inscribed will always be parts we cannot grasp with our very my very self into the Torah and given [it to the finite minds, because the infinite is always beyond the Jewish nation]” (Shabbos 105a). reach of the finite. The Tanya (Likkutei Amarim ch. 5) explains that “this unity [effected when studying Torah] is DISCUSS: What makes certain parts of wondrous, the likes of which does not exist in the Torah beyond the grasp of the human physicality—to become genuinely united from mind? every direction and angle.” DISCUssION POINTS Î An inheritance is a thing of value that is bequeathed by its owner to a future generation, but the item does not necessarily have the same value to the new owner as it had for the first. A gift, though, is given with the preferences of the receiver in mind. How can this be related to our heir vs. giftee relationship with the Torah? Î A person says that he is holding onto something even if he is touching only a small part of the item (i.e., he says that he is holding a book or bag while he is only grasping a part of the book’s cover or the handles of the bag). How is this analogous to the way we connect to G-d through studying Torah? Î Using an object for a mitzvah transforms the item into something holy. Studying Torah is a mitzvah. What does this mean with regard to a person’s capacity for thought and speech when he or she is involved in the mitzvah of Torah study? A joint project of Merkos 302 and Chabad.org 3 Learn more at www.chabad.org/Hakhel LIGHT READING ב”ה MONTHLY PACKAGE FOR: ADAR 1 (FEB. 2016) THIS MONTH'S THEME: TORAH STUDY he Zohar says, “G-d looked into the Torah How can it strengthen our connection to the and created the world, man looks into future of the Jewish people? the Torah and sustains the world” (Zohar II 161a). The Torah is called the blueprint Pirkei Avot says, “review it and review it, for Tfor creation. Today, we’d call it the world’s spiritual everything is contained within it” (Avot 5:22). source code. Every single part of creation — from Studying Torah provides us with G-dly guidance the seemingly insignificant to the most critical in every aspect of our lives and with the G-dly parts of the world, both physical and spiritual — is answers to all of life’s questions, from the most created from different combinations of the words mundane to the most complex philosophical and of the Torah.