Don’t worry. 

You didn’t lose a day. It’s not Thursday night yet. 

I am reaching out a day early as Thursday evening we will begin celebrating the holiday of Shavuot, the commemoration of receiving the Torah on Mt Sinai. 

There are no specific mitzvot connected to the upcoming holiday (although there are many customs including eating delicious dairy foods and adorning our synagogues and homes with flowers and greenery to remind us that Mt Sinai bloomed with vegetation prior to the giving of the Torah and since we did not understand the dietary laws that had just been established, we ate dairy). There are no Mitzvot because we want to focus on the Torah itself. Therefore there is a custom to stay up all night studying Torah and of course you can combine that with eating delicious cheese cake…

On the second day of the holiday we read the Book of Ruth. 

It too has no specific laws and rules. Instead it is a treatise of loving kindness. 

Ruth was a princess. She was the daughter of the King of Moab, and she married into a Jewish family who had run away from their home and responsibilities in the Land of Israel and moved to Moab. 

Ten years later, after a series of calamities, the Jewish family was decimated. Only the matriarch, Naomi, and her two daughters in law were left. One daughter in law was named Ruth. The other daughter in law was Ruth’s sister Orpah. Naomi realized there was no future for her in the land of Moab and she decided to return to her home in the Land of Israel. 

Her two daughters in law were desperate to accompany Naomi on her arduous journey home. 

This is a testimony to the deeply loving and caring relationship Naomi had created with her daughters in law. 

(Or in the words of a beloved friend and mentor, daughters in love!)

Despite the fact that they were royalty, these young women were willing to give up their fame and fortune to follow the destitute Naomi. 

Naomi fought them long and hard. 

Finally, Orpah capitulated. She decided to turn her back on Naomi and go back to her previous life. 

Ruth did not relent. 

She clung fiercely to Naomi and insisted on continuing the journey with her. 

Our Sages teach us that each of these women made a specific choice which had a significant impact on their future. 

Orpah chose not to accept the invitation to meet her higher self and returned home to a life of degradation and dissolution. She ultimately gave birth to a child of great physical stature, the famous Goliath who fought and cursed the Jewish people. 

This week we begin the fourth of the five books of the Torah. 

Isn’t it amazing how fast the days go by?

The Jewish people are now embarking on the the next stage of their journey. In this book is chronicled the 40 year journey, in the desert, which will end with the entrance to the Land of Israel. 

The journey takes place in a desert, a barren place, a tabula rasa. It is in the desert that the Torah was given because it is a blank slate, there are no preconceptions, it’s a place available to all, where the sky is the limit. 

If you were to tell the epic story of your family dynasty to your children, what would you emphasize?

Surely most of the content would focus on the triumphs and the glory, certainly not on the mistakes and the failures. 

Yet the Torah tells it like it was, not sparing any details about the complaints the Jewish people continually lodged against Gd. 

We have nothing to drink. 

We don’t like the food. 

Life was better in Egypt. 

(Honestly?!? Egypt was a torture chamber)!

The Torah lays it all out for us. Because “studying Torah is not education. It’s transformation. 

It’s an invitation to meet your higher self”. 

This idea about seeing ourselves as we truly are and using that as a springboard for personal growth was shared by our granddaughter at her Bat Mitzva this past week. 

She shared a powerful message about making the most of each day to achieve the next level of greatness in ourselves. 

When the Torah begins to describe the arrival of the Jewish people at Mount Sinai, it says they came on “this day”. 

Rashi, the super commentary on the Torah notices that really we should say they arrived on “that day” as the day being remarked upon has already passed.

Rashi explains that the message to us is every day should be “this day”, we should approach our study of Torah as if it was just given to us. 

But there is something curious. 

The “day” we are referencing is not the day the Torah was given in the desert, it’s actually the day they arrived. 

They probably got there, unpacked, had a bite to eat and then went to sleep. 

This is the day we are supposed to keep on reliving with newness and freshness?

Yes!

This is the opportunity to take whatever we have learned to help us transform a regular day into a day that counts.

It’s not an easy thing to do. 

It takes small steps to transform our days. 

“If your brother becomes poor and his hand falters, you shall support him”. 

This week we have one more double Torah portion, Behar and Bechukotai. 

The verse therein instructs us to strengthen and support a brother or sister in need. 

Rashi, French 11th century Torah commentary, elucidates on the words 

“you shall support him” 

by giving us instructions on how to provide such aforementioned support. 

Rashi tells us, do not allow the person to fall down and collapse altogether before you extend a helping hand. Rather reach out when his hand is starting to falter and become unsteady. Because you can save him from degradation with much less effort. Rashi gives an example of a laden donkey whose load is beginning to slip. If one puts out a supporting hand, single-handedly it is possible to avert disaster. But once the load and donkey have fallen over, it will take many people and a lot of attention to right the animal. 

Imagine an unsteady person walking in a muddy field. If given a cane he could come through unsullied. But if he falls in the muck not only will it take a few people to rescue him, he will be much more embarrassed by the attention paid to his inadequacies. 

Therefore Maimonides in his hierarchy of charity states that the highest level of charity is actually providing work for a person, furnishing the proverbial fishing rod, so they can fish for themselves, as this will allow a person to retain their dignity and self worth while ameliorating their financial needs. 

The word “hand” appears many times in the portion. Hand in Hebrew is the word “yad”. The numerical value of the word “yad” is 14. If one extends a hand (14) and another grabs another hand (14), those teo hands together equal 28. 

A word whose numerical value is 28 is the Hebrew word “koach” which means strength. When two hands come together they can strengthen one another. 

This can also be seen in the way we read the commandment 

“You shall support him”

We could actually read the words with a slightly different interpretation, 

“you shall RECEIVE strength from them”. 

Today is May 4, 2023. 

On May 4, 1945, Dr. Edith Eger was liberated from a concentration camp in Austria where she had been incarcerated. 

On the anniversary of this momentous occasion, Dr. Eger, psychologist and author of The Choice, posted on Facebook. She shared that while she had been liberated on May 4, there was a long road to survival she had to traverse. 

With survival came great challenge. 

On the physical plane, Dr. Eger has to relearn the skills necessary to rejoin society. 

She no longer knew how to wield a fork and knife. 

But there were also deep emotional wounds that needed healing. 

Dr. Eger hoped against hope that some of her loved ones had survived. When it became clear that there was no one left, Dr. Eger grappled with the meaning of life. There seemed to be no purpose in continuing. 

She questions what indeed kept her alive?

She feels that ultimately it was her sense of curiosity that reawakened her desire to live. 

She wondered what would happen, what might come next. With those thoughts, Dr. Eger felt a responsibility to come to terms with what had happened to her. 

She chose life. 

This week’s Torah portion is called Emor, which means speak or tell. In the first verse of the Parsha Gd instructs Moses

“Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and tell them not to contaminate themselves to a dead person…”

On a practical level, this commandment refers to the unique injunction that the Priestly class should not come in contact with a dead person. 

If one visits a cemetery, one will notice that the Kohanim, priests, or often buried in the first row, closest to the road. This will enable relatives, who are also priests, to come to the funeral without actually entering the cemetery. 

Rabbinit Yemima Mizrachi, Torah teacher in Jerusalem shared a different interpretation. 

She explains the message we are to glean from this verse is that we, each one of us, should not become contaminated by death. 

How do? 

This past week saw the two extremes we the Jewish people exemplify. We commemorated Israel’s Remembrance Day which was immediately followed by Israel’s Independence Day. The first day honors all who fell in service of our country. It is a sad and tragic day. One of my cousins by marriage shared the loss of of so many family members. His family has paid a steep price. That day segues into a joyous celebration of mammoth proportions. The same cousin spends his time selling properties in the land of Israel. He is passionate about the connection to the country of Israel and helping people find a happy home in the land his family sacrificed for. 

How is it possible to hold space for such extreme emotions?

We have sacrificed deeply for our values and for our country and while the pain is raw, we need to focus on life and the joy and hope it brings. 

Otherwise we would be lost. 

We would never emerge from the Crusades or the Holocaust. And we would not be able to build a future. 

This week we again have two Torah portions, Achrei Mot (After the death) and Kedoshim (the holy ones). 

The first portion refers to the death of two sons of Aaron the High Priest. After their tragic passing Moses is instructed by Gd to speak to Aaron and help him return to life by stepping into his role. 

It is a parallel to this past week’s events as Aaron must make the transition from mourning to becoming the spiritual leader who will bring his people to atonement and life. 

The second portion refers to that life, a life lived properly, a life of holiness. 

If asked to define holiness, we might think it is exemplified by intense prayer, self denial, ascetism, maybe even self flagellation. 

But our portion, gives a totally different explanation of how one becomes holy. 

In fact there are no less than 51 commandments or mitzvot contained there in and the focus is completely on kindness to another. 

We are enjoined to honor our parents, not to steal, not to lie, not to speak ill of others. We are instructed to pay workers in a timely fashion and not to take revenge. It is a cornucopia of mitzvot that teach us how to treat people properly. 

This is how we can become holy. 

Another mitzva  listed is to judge another person favorably. This sounds like a very easy one to accomplish. 

But maybe not so. 

Our 9 year old grandson called today. 

He was very proud of participating in what he called a wax museum production. 

It took me a bit to understand what he meant, but apparently his very creative teacher had the students research an individual and write a few paragraphs based on their findings. 

The students then dressed up as the person they studied and posed as a group, each one standing stock still. 

This was the “wax museum”. 

When it was the student’s turn to present, a “button” would be pressed to “bring them to life”and they would share the story of their character. 

It was as if a puppet was brought to life and given the ability to speak. 

Our grandson chose to restore Jackie Robinson to life. 

This week’s Torah portions, Tazria and Metzora, there are two, focus, with great detail, on the deleterious effects of speaking ill of others. 

If one speaks maliciously of another, the Torah describes an illness which is the punishment that will result. 

This malady is called tzora’at, which is translated as a spiritual form of leprosy. 

The individual who is inflicted is called a metzora. 

Our Sages teach us that if we break up the word metzora we find the words “motzi ra” which means finding the bad. 

A person who has tzara’at is one who seeks out the negative in the other. 

Apparently it’s a choice. 

When we look at someone else what do we decide to focus on?

We are not preprogrammed puppets or wax figures, going through mechanical motions.  

We can see a person before us and seek to see the good rather than emphasizing the bad.

Chag Sameach, Happy Passover from Jerusalem. 

These past days have been tragic as another beautiful family has been brutally torn asunder in a mindless terrorist attack. 

The Dee family was on the way to a family outing which ended in the murder of their mother and two daughters. 

I did not have the honor of knowing these people, but from social media I see that many of my friends knew them well. 

It feels as though we have lost members of our family. 

During the Passover holiday we hold this searing pain of losing these precious sisters as we celebrate our freedom. 

The undeniable and everlasting dichotomy of the Jewish people. 

I am here in a hotel in Jerusalem, spending the holiday with my mother. 

There are hundreds of people here, mostly strangers, although I have found some old friends. 

There was one woman I noticed in the crowd. 

She is beautiful. 

Her dress elegant and her comportment regal. 

Her apparent age made me think she might be a holocaust survivor and I was really drawn to her. 

At one point we were sitting near one another and I began a conversation. 

I introduced my mother, Mrs. Landau, to this lady. 

She responded in shock that her maiden name was also Landau and she was from Krakow originally. 

I shared that my grandfather was also Landau from Krakow. 

Now if your surname is Landau and you meet another person with the same name, the next question is inevitable. 

We ask each other if we are descendants of the Noda B’Yehuda, Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, Chief Rabbi of Prague in the late 1700s, whose seminal Torah writings are still studied extensively today. It is an honor and responsibility to be his descendant. 

We both answered in the affirmative. 

We grasped hands and looked at one another in wonder. 

In this crowd of 1000 people we had discovered family. 

One of our daughter’s has a penchant for asking questions. 

Many questions. 

From a young age she was the epitome of inquisitiveness. 

Every situation was preceded by a barrage of questions. 

It was quite charming. 

But sometimes it was not. 

Early mornings were a blur, but she was on point, needing to know. 

Transitional moments, when one needed to have one’s wits about them, were full of distracting comments peppered with - questions. 

We always thought she would make an excellent attorney or perhaps an FBI agent. 

But the truth is, we encourage inquiry. 

The Talmud, the Jewish treasure trove of wisdom, is a compilation of questions and more questions, combined with answers that spark even more debate. 

And that is what the Passover Seder is all about. 

Asking questions. 

Passover is Pesach in Hebrew which is the combination of two words 

Peh and Sach

Which means a mouth engaged in conversation. 

Questions are powerful because they compel us to reexamine and reevaluate what is before us. 

We have the tendency to take a situation for granted. 

But when someone interrogates us, we take the opportunity to look deeper and this will allow us to probe and understand the facts in a more profound way. 

At the Seder we do actions just so the children will ask us why we did that particular thing. For example, we dip a vegetable in salt water. 

Hopefully someone will pipe up and ask “why on earth do we do that?”

The unusual actions provoke questions which are a vehicle for opening up conversations. 

Questions are vital to children. 

They must be given the space to know that it’s “ok” to ask. 

That provides a sense of security because no question is silly, and no topic taboo.

It is our job to elicit the questions and provide the framework for their delivery. 

Last week we concluded the Book of Exodus. 

This week we start the Book of Leviticus and the first portion is called VaYikra, and he called. 

This refers to the fact that at the end of Exodus the work of building the Tabernacle has been completed. It becomes filled with a Cloud of Glory, an expression of Gd’s acceptance of the work done. 

But Moses cannot access the Tabernacle as it is filled, so to speak, with Gd’s presence. 

Now the work of the service is about to begin, and Gd summons Moses. 

The word Vayikra ends with the Hebrew letter Alef. If you would look on a Torah scroll, you would notice that the Alef is smaller than the other letters. 

The commentaries teach us a lesson in Moses humility from this little Alef, this little detail. 

Moses, who was transcribing Gd’s words, did not want to write the word VaYikra, he wanted to write the word VaYikar. 

It sounds very similar. 

Is there really much difference?

Moses wanted to write the word VaYikar because that is the word used when Gd reaches out to other prophets. It’s a word that stems from the word Mikreh, which means happenstance. 

It denotes a lower level of relationship. 

By using VaYikar the message would be that Moses, like any prophet, was in the right place at the right time and so he was summoned. 

Any other prophet would have been so summoned. 

But Gd wants Moses to write VaYikra which is a type of calling which is very close and connected. 

Gd wants to make it crystal clear that Moses had a unique relationship with Gd and was specifically called at that moment. 

Our Sages teach us Moses was humble and did not want to call attention to the special relationship he had which is why he petitioned for VaYikar. 

At the end of the day Gd prevailed, as Gd does, but Moses wrote the word with a tiny Alef, in the hope that a casual reader might not notice the Alef at all. 

This is a meaningful lesson in humility. 

But, what game was Moses playing at here?

We all know that Moses was the greatest prophet that ever lived. 

Even then, the Jewish people saw with their own eyes Moses saving them from Egypt and going up to Mt Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. 

Is making a regular size Alef into a little Alef really going to make us think differently about Moses?

One of the commentaries suggests that Moses knew his greatness. 

He knew himself. 

He wasn’t playing at false modesty. 

But instead of focusing on his accomplishments and achievements, Moses chose a small Alef to signify there is always more to learn about oneself and there is always more growing to be done. 

There is a little Alef in us all that can continue to grow to its full potential. 

Even if you are Moses. 

The Lubavitcher Rebbe continues this thought by teaching us how we should understand the beginning of the verse 

“And he called to Moses”

This is a message for each one of us a “calling”, so to speak for one and all. 

We are being summoned to work on ourselves at all times to improve  our character.  

If a person is on a high level like Moses then they should constantly strive to go higher. Or perhaps, sometimes a person may be in a very dark ot low place - then too, there is a calling to remind them not to despair. 

“Despite your present situation you have the power to rise up and go from darkness to light”

That’s a powerful message to learn from a small detail. 

If you live in New York City it’s almost inevitable. 

You might get mugged. 

Years ago, my sister was walking to school one day and it happened to her. 

They actually called it a “chain snatching”. 

The perpetrator saw the gold necklace around her throat, lunged, and ripped it off her. 

As you can imagine, my sister was traumatized. 

She was attacked - which was very frightening. 

She lost a gold necklace that our Father obm had given her. 

She was sad to lose a piece of precious gold jewelry. 

But to add insult to injury, it was the loss of something meaningful and sentimental to her,  because it was a gift from our Dad. 

Sometimes the value of a piece of jewelry is multiplied due to the emotional relationship it evokes. 

This week’s Torah portion is a double one, Vayakhel and Pekudei. In these two portions the word “woman” appears more than in any other Torah portions. 

For example, when describing how the people were asked to donate their jewelry and precious metals to build the Tabernacle and its accouterments, the verse says 

“The men came with the women”

The Hebrew word “al” is not exactly translated as “with”, it really means “on”. 

So Rashi, the commentary, explains that the men came with their precious goods, leaning on the women. They were spurred to action by the women’s example of open hearted, generous giving which was done with alacrity. 

The men made their contributions as they were inspired by their womenfolk. Another commentary, the Ohr HaChaim, explains the words “on the women” literally. 

He explains that the women came to Moses with their jewelry still on them, to show the value of their gifts. Their donation was doubly valuable as they contained the monetary value of the item,coupled with the emotional attachment they evoked. That’s why they came wearing the baubles. This was an action to show how meaningful each piece was, something of deep sentimental value, yet they were eagerly ready to part with that piece of jewelry in the service of Gd. 

The gift was all the more important because each piece of jewelry meant something very dear to that woman. 

The book of Exodus is coming to a close and as the Jewish people have experienced the journey of a family becoming a nation, a nation experiencing exile and arriving at redemption and culminating in the receipt of the Ten Commandments. Through it all, the influence of the women in the story is clear. 

It is Miriam, Shifra and Puah, and all the righteous women who led with their belief and tambourines in hand in the midst of unimaginable adversity. 

It is the women who sustained the Jewish people. 

This is indicated by the repetition of the word “woman” in the verses. 

In fact the Talmud states that it was in the merit of the righteous women that the Jewish people were redeemed from Egypt. 

That is a powerful statement!

But the Talmud is not finished. 

The Sages continue by stating that it will BE in the merit of the women that we will ultimately be redeemed. 

That’s a huge responsibility. 

A heavy chain or albatross to be borne. 

Yet, we are surrounded by amazing women who clearly have the capacity to help us transcend and make this statement a truth.