Wednesday, Nissan 12, 5779 / April 17, 2019

B"H

Wednesday, Nissan 12, 5779 / April 17, 2019

Q.  What does the bone and hard boiled egg at the Seder represent?

A. At the time of the Beth HaMikdash (Holy Temple), Jews would offer two sacrifices in honor of the Passover holiday -- the Peasch sacrifice ("Korban Pesach") and the Chagigah sacrifice ("Korban Chagigah").  The bone on the Seder plate recalls the Pesach sacrifice; the hard-boiled egg symbolizes the Chagigah sacrifice. 

Q.   Why was an egg chosen to represent the Chagiga sacrifice at the Seder?"

A.  A mourner eats an egg at the first meal when starting Shiva. The egg is a symbol of mourning.

Our Sages tell us that at the time of our rejoicing, we must also remember the destruction of the Holy Temple.  Our happiness is not complete without the Temple.  Although we have gathered at the Seder table to rejoice and celebrate our freedom, at the same time, we also remember our Holy Temple and its destruction. 

It is interesting to note that the night of the 9th of Av ("Tisha B'Av"), when both Temples were destroyed, always falls on the same night as the first Seder. 

Rabbi Meir Shapiro was a leader of pre-WWII Polish Jewry and a member in the Polish Seim (parliament). One of the members of the Seim once asked him for the reason why Jews place a hard boiled egg on the Seder Plate.

Rabbi Meir replied, "Other foods, the longer they are cooked, the softer they become.  But the longer you cook eggs, the harder they get.  The egg at the Seder symbolizes the Jewish people. Just like the egg, the sufferings and pain inflicted on the Jewish people have not broken us. Rather, they have made us harder and stronger. As the Torah tells us, “The more the Jewish people were afflicted in Egypt, the more they multiplied and became exceeding mighty.”

On the lighter side:  In the Shtetl, the tailors would work day and night to prepare new suits and dresses for Pesach.  Often, their yearly livelihood depended on the holiday season.  Before Passover, the people would find Motke, the lazy one, fast asleep next to his neighbor - the tailor.

"Motke, why don't you go home to sleep?" the people would ask.

Motke replied, "The tailor is so busy now, working day and night that he doesn't have time to sleep.  I had pity on him so I decided to help him out.  I'm sleeping for him!"

HAVE A WONDERFUL, HAPPY, HEALTHY & SUCCESSFUL DAY

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In loving memory of Moshe Altman - Moshe Aharon ben Chaim Yehuda - of blessed memory

Yartzeit was yesterday, Nissan 11. May his soul rest in peace in Gan Eden.

From his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren

Tuesday, Nissan 11, 5779 / April 16, 2019

B"H

Tuesday, Nissan 11, 5779 / April 16, 2019

The Pesach Seder, which we will celebrate this Friday night, is performed with our children as major participants. We involve the children at the Seder, as the Torah tells us that we must give the children special attention at the Seder and tell them all about the Exodus.

The Torah tells us, “And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, it is because of this (the mitzvot of Pesach sacrifice, matzah and maror), that G-d did this for me when I went out of Egypt.”

The name “Hagadah” is derived from the above verse which commands us to tell our children, as the word to tell is Vehigadta.

From the Hagadah we recite, “The Torah speaks about four sons, one is wise, one is wicked, one is a simpleton and one is a son who doesn’t know what to ask.” We have to attend to each of these four sons at their level and tell them the story of the exodus.  

Q.  Why is the wicked son placed second, after the wise one rather than last? 

A.  One reason is that they are placed according to their level of intelligence.  Although he may be wicked, yet he is more intelligent than the two after him. 

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, who was born on this day (11 of Nissan) 117 years ago, explains that we place the wicked son next to the wise one, so that the wise son will influence him to better his ways. The wicked son is very important at the Seder table. The Seder is for him as much as for the wise son. No Jew should be left behind. We should never give up on anyone.   

In fact, in the Torah, the wicked son is actually mentioned first! This teaches us that we shouldn't reject any child, not even the bad one. Instead, we must try and influence the wicked one so that he, too, will become wise and follow in the ways of the Torah.

Q.  At the time of the Exodus, the Jewish people came out of Egypt with great wealth, as G-d had promised Abraham many years earlier.  Why don’t we make any symbol for the great wealth at the Seder?

A.  The Lubavitcher Rebbe, writes, "Jewish wealth are not houses and gold. Everlasting Jewish wealth is, being Jews who keep Torah and mitzvot and bringing into the world children and grandchildren who behave properly and keep Torah and mitzvot."

The fact that we sit at the Seder together with family members, surrounded by our children and grandchildren, who participate in the customs and traditions of the Seder and the great Nachas we derive this night, is a display of our great wealth!

HAVE A WONDERFUL, HAPPY, HEALTHY & SUCCESSFUL DAY

Tuesday, Adar1 28, 5779 / March 5, 2019

B"H

Tuesday, Adar1 28, 5779 / March 5, 2019

This week's Parsha, Pekudei, concludes the second book of the Torah, the Book of Exodus (Shemot).  In most years, the two Parshiot, Vayakhel and Pekudei are read together.  But this year, being a leap year, they are read seperately.

In the previous Parsha, Vayakhel, we read that the Jewish people donated so generously for the construction of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and it’s contents, that Moshe had to make an announcement not to bring any more contributions. 

In this week’s Parsha, Pekudei, we read how Moshe gives the Jewish people an exact accounting for all the gold, silver, and copper that was donated and for what these precious metals were used. Moshe did this to eliminate any doubt among the people that he personally gained from the contributions.

A Jew is commanded to be very careful in his dealings, so that people should not doubt his honesty. 

According to Jewish law, when one collects for charity and at the same time receives payment for a personal loan, he should not put the personal money given to him in his own pocket, as someone who sees him putting the money in his pocket may suspect that he is taking charity money for his personal use. Instead, the money paid to him should be put in the wallet where he puts the charity money. Only when he returns home and is out of sight, is he allowed to take out whatever is his.

In Europe, Rabbis would travel from place to place to deliver Torah sermons. They were called magidim. They would be paid for their efforts by the villagers who collected money for them. 

Once, a Magid came to the city of Premishlan, where Rabbi Meir was Rabbi.  The Magid delivered a brilliant sermon on Shabbat. After Shabbat, he was presented with the amount of money that the villagers collected.  However, he wasn't pleased with the amount.

Before leaving town, he visited Rabbi Meir's home. He noticed that people came to Rabbi Meir to ask his advice and receive his blessings. In return, they left generous contributions so that Rabbi Meir could help the poor and needy .

"I don't understand," remarked the Magid to Rabbi Meir, "Why do people reward you so generously, while for my sermon, they gave very little?"

"It's simple," replied Rabbi Meir with a smile. "When a person learns from a Rabbi or Magid, he becomes the role model and the person strives to be like the Rabbi or Magid. The townspeople know that I have no desire for money and that I give it all away to the poor.  As a result, they too are willing to give their money away. But you give sermons so you can make money. When the townspeople see that you want money for yourself, they imitate you and they too desire the money for themselves!"

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY