ב ס ״ ד Torah us. We are exposed to the big d Leah. You are a member of Identity Crisis wide world with all its the "kingdom of priests and Weekly Amnesia is a frightening seemingly tantalizing holy nation." You were freed illness. Imagine forgetting diversions. Even if we do from Egypt and stood at Sinai. March 14-20, 2021 who you are — suddenly you marry within the faith, we You have survived countless 1-7 Nissan, 5781 have no family, no history, become culturally attempts on your life and your Torah Reading: and no identity. It can happen assimilated. Slowly but faith. You emerged from the Vayikra: Leviticus 1:1 - 5:26 to an individual and it can surely, then, even a nefesh, a ashes of Auschwitz only to Haftarah: Isaiah 43:21 - 44:23 happen to a people. There Jewish soul, starts forgetting live again. And you ask "Who have been times in our history who she is and can fall into the am I?" This is a serious case of PARSHAT VAYIKRA when we seemed to forget web of sin. national amnesia. who we were and where we We have Jewish Remember the "wise man" So the holy Zohar reminds us came from. And all too often, Calendars. If you from Chelm and his problem? that we are not only "a person we seem uncertain about would like one, He worried that when he went who may sin." We are a soul, where we are going. please send us a to the public bathhouse where and shall a soul sin? A soul is letter and we will In the opening chapters everyone is unclothed he by definition part and parcel send you one, or of Leviticus, we read the wouldn't know who he was. of the Divine. And for the Calendars ask the expression Nefesh ki techeta Without his own personal set G-dly soul within us, Rabbi/Chaplain to — "when a person will of clothing to distinguish him distancing ourselves from our contact us. sin." The Torah goes on to from others, he might suffer very source is absolutely describe the various Do you have family an identity crisis. So he unthinkable. atonement offerings devised a plan. He tied a red How else can we explain the on the outside necessary to absolve one from string around his big toe so phenomenon that after 70 struggling? their trespasses. The that even in the bathhouse he years of Communist atheism, Please contact or Kabbalistic classic, Zohar, would stand out from Jews in the Former Soviet have them contact renders this phrase both everyone else. Sadly, when he Union are today fervently our office to learn literally and was in the shower, the water embracing the faith of their more about our spiritually. Nefesh is and soapsuds loosened the red forefathers? Or that after family programs. interpreted as not merely You and they are string, and it slipped off his decades of apathy, American a person but a soul, and the big toe. To make matters Family Programs Jews of all ages are not alone, we are verse is punctuated by a worse, the red string floated desperately seeking here to help. question mark. In other along to the next cubicle and spirituality? Or that the words, the Torah is twirled around the big toe of renaissance of Jewish life has We offer free Grape asking Nefesh ki techeta? the fellow under the next become a reality around the Juice and Matzoh Shall a soul sin? Can a Jewish shower. globe? Yes, there are good for you to be able to soul, a yiddishe neshamah, a Suddenly, our Chelmer people out there igniting make the blessings spark of divinity, really and genius discovered that his sparks and fanning them into a every Shabbos. truly stoop to commit a lowly string was gone. He started fiery faith. But the sparks Please have your sin? How is that possible? panicking. This was a serious would not take if there was not chaplain / Rabbi Indeed, the only way it can identity crisis. Then he saw a burning ember inside every contact us to enroll happen is when we forget who that the fellow next door was Jewish soul, an ember that (available to all we are, when we are no longer sporting his red string. remains inextinguishable no Grape Juice & Matzah prisons). in touch with our true spiritual Whereupon, he ran over to matter what. identity, when we start to him and shouted, "I know So if you ever have doubts Hyman & Martha Rogal Center suffer from spiritual amnesia. 5804 Beacon Street who you are, but who am I?" about who you are, remember Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Sadly, it does happen. In fact, Who are you? You are a Jew! the Zohar. You are a soul. And 412-421-0111 it's not really that difficult. You are a son a soul never dies. By Rabbi Fax: 412-521-5948 After all, we live in a secular of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Yossi Goldman www.alephne.org society. The old ghetto walls [email protected] a daughter are no longer there to insulate of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel an When Small Outside the sun was shining, essays; the ideas flowed from just as brilliantly as my inner my pen. I taught extensively, Sacrifices Are Huge sun. returning from each class This week, I had a great week. I was productive. I wrote exhausted but exhilarated. I IN JEWISH HISTORY Sunday, March 14, 2021 --- 1 Nissan, 5781 was flying high, exuberant. I was meeting people, Creation of man (in thought) (3761 BCE) connecting and touching them deeply just as I was The Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 10b-11a) cites two opinions as to the date of G-d's creation of the universe: according to Rabbi Eliezer: "The world was created in being touched by them. Instead of becoming tired or Tishrei" (i.e., the sixth day of creation--the day on which Adam and Eve were created-- depleted, the more I did, the more energized I became. was the 1st of Tishrei, celebrated each year as Rosh Hashanah); according to Rabbi Life was smiling at me. Hey, I even got an unexpected Joshua, "The world was created in Nissan." As interpreted by the Kabbalists and the Chassidic masters, the deeper meaning of these two views is that the physical world check in the mail that I had given up on. The week was created in Tishrei, while the "thought" or idea of creation was created in the month flew by in a dizzying haze of contentment. of Nissan. (see "Links" below) How different this week was from last week. The Patriarchs (1813-1506 BCE) According to the Talmud, the three Patriarchs of the Jewish people-- Abraham (1813- Last week, my work was stunted. My ideas were 1638 BCE), Isaac (1713-1533 BCE) and Jacob (1653-1506 BCE)--all were born and disjointed. I felt ill at ease with my life and with my passed away in the month of Nissan. accomplishments. There seemed to be a perpetual Jewish Calendar Inaugurated (1313 BCE) cloud over my home. No matter what I was doing, I On the first of Nissan of the year 2448 from creation (1313 BCE--two weeks before the Exodus), G-d showed Moses the crescent new moon and told him, "When you see the felt restless, uninspired. I couldn’t find my moon like this, sanctify [the new month]." This ushered in the first Jewish month, and equilibrium, no matter how much I relaxed or how commenced the lunar calendar Jews have been following ever since. much I worked. I couldn’t find solutions to my inner confusion. In the supermarket or on the streets, people Monday, March 15, 2021 --- 2 Nissan, 5781 First Red Heifer Prepared (1312 BCE) seemed impatient; my friends and family sounded On the 2nd of Nissan, one day after the inauguration of the Tabernacle, Moses prepared annoyed. The news I read reported tragedy and the very first Red Heifer, in order to ritually purify the Jewish nation in preparation for sadness, and the bills on my desk were unsettling. the bringing of the Paschal Lamb in the newly erected Sanctuary. Isn’t life like that? Some days, we’re riding high. Passing of Rashab (1920) The fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Sholom DovBer Schneersohn ("Rashab"), was Other days, we’re in the pits. Some days, it’s natural born in the White Russian town of Lubavitch in 1860. After the passing of his for us to do good things; the more we do, the higher father, Rabbi Shmuel (in 1882), he assumed the leadership of Chabad-Lubavitch. we climb on an upward ascent to even more positivity. Famed for his phenomenal mind and analytical treatment of Chabad Chassidism, Rabbi Other times, we get stuck on a downward spiral of Sholom DovBer wrote and delivered some 2,000 maamarim (discourses of Chassidic teaching) over the 38 years of his leadership. In 1897, he established the Tomchei circumstances that rob us of opportunity, and before Temimim yeshivah, the first institution of Jewish learning to combine the study of the we know it, we’re in a rut, depleted of energy and "body" of Torah (Talmudic and legal studies) with its mystical "soul" (the teachings of initiative. Vayikra begins with G-d calling Moses: Chassidism); it was this unique yeshivah that produced the army of learned, inspired and devoted Chassidim who, in the decades to come, would literally give their lives to And G-d called to Moses; and G-d spoke to him out of keep Judaism alive under Soviet rule.