Thursday, Tishrei 20, 5784 / October 5, 2023

Thursday night and Friday is Hoshana Raba.  It is the final day for performing the mitzvah of reciting the blessing over the Etrog and Lulav.  We also perform a special mitzvah called, “Hoshanot,” during the Friday morning prayer. We take five willow branches, recite a special prayer, we then bang the willow branches on the floor. 

In the Diaspora, Friday night and Shabbat is the holiday of Shmini Atzeret.  Saturday night and Sunday is Simchat Torah.  In Israel, where only one day of Holiday is celebrated, Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are both on the same day, Friday evening and Shabbat.

On Shabbat, Shmini Atzeret, the Yizkor prayer is recited.We also say a special prayer called, Geshem, asking G-d for rain.

On Simchat Torah we read the last portion of the Torah – Parshat V’zot Habracha, which concludes the yearly Torah reading cycle and right afterwards we read from the beginning of the Torah - Parshat Breishis.

Q.  What is the significance of Hoshana Raba?

A.  At the time of the Holy Temple, they would take special long willow branches and encircle the altar with the branches during the Sukkot holiday.  The tops of the branches would bend over the altar.  The Kohanim (priests) would sound the Shofar and circle the altar once. On the seventh day of Sukkot (Hoshana Raba), they would circle the altar seven times.  We too, each day of Sukkot encircle the “Bimah” holding the Lulav and Etrog, one time.  On Hoshana Raba, we encircle the Bimah seven times to remember its practice in the Holy Temple.

Q.    What does “Hosha-na” mean?

A.    “Hoshana” means “please, help us.”  As we conclude the season of the High Holidays, we ask G-d to help us in the New Year.  We especially ask for proper rain which is the blessings of sustenance.

Q.   What is the connection of the willow branch to our prayer for rain?

A.  The willow is called, “Arvei nachal” - “Willows of the river.”  They have a special need for water.  Thus, they symbolize our need and prayer for rain. It is a custom established by the prophets.

Q.  Why do we recite the special prayer for rain only on Shmini Atzeret and not during the Sukkot holiday?

A.  During Sukkot we have the mitzvah of eatingoutside in the Sukkah and rain is not desirable at that time.  We postpone the prayer for rain for Shmini Atzeret when there is no more mitzvah of sitting in the Sukkah.

CHAG SAMEACH – A HAPPY SUKKOT HOLIDAY, SHMEINI ATZERET & SIMCHAT TORAH

B"H

Tuesday, Tishrei 25, 5784 / October 10, 2023

It is with a very heavy heart that I’m writing today’s Torah Fax, after the massacre in Israel.  

Coming from one of the most joyous holidays of the year, Simchat Torah and the holiday of Sukkot, which are called, Z’Man Simchateinu – Season of our rejoicing, it is so difficult to face the reality of one of the worst murders of Jews in Israel experienced in one single day.

The mind doesn’t comprehend it and our hearts are bursting with pain over this great calamity that befell our people. We grieve for the close to thousand murdered in cold blood by these Arab savages. We cry for the elderly, for the women, children and soldiers, taken hostage into Gaza. We pray for the thousands of wounded and we pray for all those who are searching for their relatives who are missing.

The following is a letter from an Israeli soldier fighting in Gaza. Here is an English translation of what he wrote:

“Today our hearts beat with fear. Who among us is going to die? And who will return safe and sound? We are your messengers in battle. We fight so that you can live in peace with your children and so you can stay alive. We are your protection.

Will you be one of us? We go on this dangerous mission knowing that some of us will not return but will ascend to our next position in a storm to heaven, as Eliyahu the prophet did. We go there with devotion and dedication.

We ask you to be our protection through your prayers. Protect us by going beyond yourselves through spirituality and good deeds. Pray for us. Pray that you will not see another mother bury her son. Pray that you will not see our women as widows raising our children in tears.

Pray that our children will grow up knowing who their fathers are. Pray that we eliminate the terrorists who aim to destroy us, and that we do not harm innocent women and children. Please, we implore you, as you read this, don't just move on to the next thing you do. Say a chapter of psalms. Awaken King David to ask the Almighty for full redemption and peace for the whole world.

Take upon yourself another good deed. And please pass this on. I am sure your prayer will make a difference. Remember, we are in this together. We are on the front lines with weapons, and you fight with us in your prayers. Every word of your prayer gives us strength, protection, and success.”

Please, Let’s do our part.We all heard him, “We are in this together.” The soldiers of the IDF are fighting not only for our brothers and sisters in Israel, but for ALL of us in every corner of the world. Their safety is our safety. Their battle is our battle. Let’s do our part and pray for them. Let’s add in performing mitzvot. Let’s give extra charity in their merit. May G-d watch over them and protect them from any danger. May they fulfill their mission to the fullest and get rid of this great evil called Hamas.

HAVE A GOOD AND HEALTHY DAY & MAY WE HEAR ONLY GOOD NEWS FROM ISRAEL

B"H

Thursday, Tishrei 27, 5784 / October 12, 2023

I hope you had a wonderful Sukkot & Simchat Torah holiday. We were away from Montreal since before Rosh Hashana, spending the holidays with our children and grandchildren, B”H. Rosh Hashana & Yom Kippur, in Valencia, California. The first half of Sukkot in Toronto and the second half in Montreal.

Now that the holidays are over, I am looking forward to another great year of Torah Fax.

Did I say the holidays are over?Well, they are over in the physical sense. We won’t be blowing the Shofar, nor will we be sitting in the Sukah and shaking the Lulav and Etrog, however, the spiritual effects of the holidays continue.

Our sages compare the many special holidays of this month, Tishrei, to a merchant who travels to the fair in the big city, to stock up on his merchandise for the winter. At the fair he buys whatever he needs for himself and for his store, until the next fair in six months. He returns home loaded with all he purchased, and over the next half a year, unpacks whatever he needs at that time.

The same is with the holidays we just celebrated. The greatest span between the holidays mentioned in the Torah, is from Sukkot until Pesach, which will be, G-d willing, in seven months (as it is a leap year). The dose of spirituality which we absorbed during the holidays should last us until Pesach.

While we may be working hard at losing the physical weight we gained from the holiday meals, we must at the same time continue to be energized from the spiritual power we gained during the holidays.

This Shabbat, we began the new Torah reading cycle for the year, 5784, with the reading of Parshat Breishis. In Parshat Breishis the Torah tells the story of creation. Next Parsha will be Noach (Noah), which is about the story of the Great Flood, when every living being was wiped out, only Noach and his immediate family were saved.

The time span from creation until The Great Flood, was around 1500 years. Although, when G-d created the world, the Torah tells us, “And G-d saw that everything He created was good,” yet, it didn’t take long until every living being became corrupt.

Q.  How did a perfect world, which G-d saw that it was good, become so corrupt?

A.  The answer is that part of perfection is the ability for imperfection. It is called “Freedom of choice.” In order to have a perfect world, which means that we should get credit for our achievements,

G-d gave us the ability to sin, so that we should have the freedom of choice. This way, when we do a good deed, it is to our credit and not something we would do robotically. Thus, the ability for imperfection was embedded in perfection. Unfortunately, many misinterpret the gift of freedom of choice, which was intended that we choose right from wrong, into choosing wrong from right…    

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY & SUCCESSFUL DAY – WITH A SPECIAL PRAYER FOR OUR BROTHERS & SISTERS IN ISRAEL