B"H

Thursday, Mar-Cheshvan 30, 5776 / November 12, 2015

Today is the first day Rosh Chodesh Kislev. 

Because it is Rosh Chodesh there are additional prayers during the morning service. The Torah reading this morning is not the regular Thursday morning reading from the Parsha of the week, but the special Rosh Chodesh reading. Instead of three people being called up to the Torah, as on a regular Monday and Thursday Torah reading, four people are called up today, in honor of Rosh Chodesh.

Q.Why are four people called up to the Torah on Rosh Chodesh?   

A.The minimum people called up to the Torah are three people. As the day carries more of a holiday nature we add to the regular call ups. Thus, on Rosh Chodesh, we call up four people to the Torah. On the holidays we have five call ups; On Yom Kippur we call up six people to the Torah. On Shabbat, which is in many ways even holier than Yom Kippur, we call up seven (except for the Maftir).

In this week’s Parsha, Toldot, we read about the birth of the twins, Esau and Yaakov (Jacob), to their parents, Yitzchak and Rivkah.

The Torah tells us that when they grew up, “Esau was a hunter, a man of the field; and Yaakov was a quiet man sitting in the tents."  Our sages explain that “The Tents” here refers to the study halls of Shem and his great grandson, Aiver.  Although the Torah was not given yet to the Jewish people, these great holy people, as well as our forefathers, Abraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, studied the Torah through their special Divine connection.

Yitzchak, who was blind, wasn't aware of the true character of his older son and he loved Esau, but Rivkah loved Yaakov. When Yitzchak told Esau to bring him food so that he may bless him, Rivkah prepared the food, while Esau was still out in the field, and had Yaakov bring it to Yitzchak so that he, instead of Esau, would be blessed.

In the end Yitzchak blessed them both, however we find a striking difference between the blessing to Yaakov and the one to Esau. The blessings which Yitzchak gave to Yaakov begin, "May G-d give you of the dew of the heaven and of the fat of the earth."  But when Yitzchak later blessed Esau, he reversed the order, saying, "Of the fat places of the earth shall be your dwelling and of the dew from heaven above."

Q.   Why in the blessing to Yaakov, he mentions heaven first, and to Esau he mentions earth first?

A.   Our sages explain that the blessing to Yaakov and through him to his descendants - the Jewish people, was that to them heavenly andspiritually matters should come first.  In other words, the performance of Mitzvot ("heaven") should be the goal and objective of a Jew.  Earthly matters should be a means to an end.  Thus, the physical and spiritual are constantly connected.

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY, SUCCESSFUL DAY & CHODESH-MONTH