Monday, Shevat 15, 5782 / January 17, 2022

B"H

Monday, Shevat 15, 5782 / January 17, 2022

 

Today is the 15th day of the Hebrew month, Shevat, also known as "Tu B’Shevat - Rosh Hashanah L'ilanot - New Year for trees." 

 

Why is this day called Tu B’Shevat? Each Hebrew letter has a numerical value. The two Hebrew letters Tet & Vav, which make up the word "Tu," add up to 15. Tu B’Shevat means the 15th day in Shevat.

 

The practical purpose of identifying a New Year for trees is that, in Israel, one must give tithes from the harvest reaped each year. The 15th of Shevat marks the New Year for trees and thus determines the tithes to be given from the fruits of that year.  All fruits that started blossoming before the 15th of Shevat were considered as of the previous year.  The ones which began blossoming after the 15th of Shevat were considered as fruit of the New Year.  

 

Celebrating Tu B’Shevat also expresses our love for our Holy Land, its fruits and its special mitzvot.

 

According to our sages, the significance of New Year for trees to us is based on the following Torah verse (Deut. 20:19), "Ki Ha'adam Eitz Ha'sadeh" - "Man is compared to a tree."

 

A person is likened to a tree in many ways.  For example, for a tree to become full grown and healthy giving delicious fruit, one must attend to the tree from when it is still very young. In fact, the most crucial time is when the tree is young and susceptible to all kinds of dangers.

 

The same is with people. To assure that our children grow up spiritually and morally strong, we must take extra care to give them the proper spiritual nourishment when they are young. Just like a small mark on a young tree can turn into a large scar as the tree grows, so too, even a small negative impression on a young child can have a most lasting devastating effect when they get older.

 

Q. This week’s Parsha is Yitro.  How can we connect New Years for trees with Parshat Yitro?

 

A. Parshat Yitro is about the Giving of the Torah. The Torah is also compared to a tree; "Eitz Chaim" - "A Tree of Life." The sign of a healthy tree is that it grows and gives fruits, which benefit others. So too, a Jew must continue to grow in knowledge of Torah and continue to bear fruits which are the performance of mitzvot and good deeds and helps others enjoy the fruits of the Torah.

 

The Fifth Commandment of the Ten Commandments is: “Honor your father and your mother.” Here too, we find the connection to a tree.  To make sure that a young tree grows straight, it is supported from two sides from a very young age. The same is with our children. Father and mother must be the two supporting pillars for their children so that they grow straight and healthy. Investing in our children is the greatest and most rewarding investment one can and should make.

 

May we all be blessed with everlasting Nachas from our fruits - from our children.

 

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY, SUCCESSFUL & FRUITFUL DAY

Friday, Shevat 12, 5782 / January 14, 2022

B"H

Friday, Shevat 12, 5782 / January 14, 2022

 

This Shabbat we read Parshat B’Shalach. It begins with the Torah relating that after expelling the Jewish people from Egypt Pharaoh had a change of heart and chased after them in order to force them to return.  When the people looked back and saw Pharaoh and his army chasing after them, the Jewish people were frightened and complained to Moshe, "Were there not enough graves in Egypt that you took us out to die in the wilderness? Why did you bring us out of Egypt? It is far better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."

 

G-d said to Moshe, "Speak to the children of Israel that they shall go forward.  Lift up your staff and stretch it over the sea and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go on dry land through the midst of the sea." The Jewish people crossed through the sea, while the Egyptians, chasing them, drowned.

 

When the people complained they said, “Were there not enough graves in Egypt that you took us out to die in the wilderness?”

 

When G-d took the Jewish people out of Egypt, He had every intention to bring them into the Promised Land. However, a few months later, after they sent spies to scout the land and then refused to go into the land, G-d decreed that they will stay in the desert and every man over twenty years would die there.

 

Lesson: The Midrash states that from this story we learn that a person must be very careful to use only positive expressions. Unfortunately, their words to Moshe, "You took us out to die in the wilderness," were prophetically fulfilled and most of that generation died in the desert.

 

In this Parsha the Torah relates how G-d provided the Jewish people with manna - bread from heaven. Exactly one month after they left Egypt, their food provisions which they took out with them ended. They complained to Moshe.

 

G-d told Moshe, "I will cause it to rain bread from heaven; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion each day, that I may test them to see whether they will follow my laws or not".

 

The manna came down each morning and they were to gather a measurement of one omer per person. Should someone collect more or less, when they brought it home it was exactly one omer per person. On Friday, they received a double portion - for Friday and for Shabbat. Any other day whatever was left overnight became spoiled, but what they collected Friday could be left overnight for Shabbat.

 

Lesson: Our sages tell us that our sustenance is determined from heaven. We have to do our part and our effort, but in the end, no matter how much a person will try, they cannot make more than has been ordained from heaven. Thus, a person should make time to pray and study Torah each day. The time spent on prayer and study will not diminish from one’s income. 

 

SHABBAT  SHALOM

 

Montreal candle lighting time: 4:18 / Shabbat ends: 5:26

Thursday, Shevat 11, 5782 / January 13, 2022

B"H

Thursday, Shevat 11, 5782 / January 13, 2022

 

In this week’s Parsha, B’Shalach, we find one of the most amazing miracles which G-d performed for the Jewish people, after liberating them from their Egyptian bondage. It was the miracle of the manna - the heavenly food, which descended from heaven each day, except on Shabbat. 

 

The heavenly manna began exactly one month after the Exodus and was to be their daily food for a period of forty years. It stopped one month before they entered into the Promised Land.

 

Another wonderful miracle in this Parsha was the water from a well miraculously embedded in a rock. This rock traveled with them throughout their forty years journey in the desert.

 

Q.  What did they eat during that first month – from the Exodus until the manna came?

 

A.  They had the left-over matzah, which they ate the night before the Exodus. They also had the dough which they took out of Egypt, which was baked from the heat of the sun as matzot.

 

Q.   Why was the “bread from heaven” called, “manna?”

 

A.   The Torah says that when they first saw the heavenly bread, the people asked each other, “mann hu,” “what is it.” The name “manna” is from the words “mann hu” – what is it.

 

Q.   Before eating bread we recite the blessing, “Hamotzi lechem min haaretz.”  We thank G-d for bringing forth bread from the earth. What blessing did they make on bread which came from heaven?

 

A.   “Hamotzi lechem min hashamayim” - “for bringing forth bread from heaven.”

 

Q.  The Jewish people witnessed so many great miracles, How is it possible that they rebelled and complained time after time during their 40 years in the desert?

 

A.  When one lives in an environment of constant miracles, after a while one starts taking the miracles for granted, seeing them as a natural phenomenon. Jews were so used to miracles that they took them for granted.  Even the daily manna from heaven became natural to them and they stopped seeing the miracle in it.

 

There is a lesson in this for each of us. We all experience miracles one time or another. There are times when we are in dire need of a miracle and pray to G-d. At that time, we are ready to do anything for Him. Yet, too often, after the miracle occurs and we are helped, we tend to forget that it is G-d who came through, we take it for granted and forget that we owe Him. We must always remember that in truth we owe G-d much more than we are willing to admit. In fact, our sages remind us that we have to thank G-d for every breath we take!

 

If we stop and think about it, we realize that G-d does so much for us. We really do owe Him!

 

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY