B"H
Thursday, 28 Adar 2, 5776 / April 7, 2016 – HAKHEL YEAR
Friday night, April 22th, will begin the holiday of Peach (Passover). Jews all over the world will celebrate the “Season of our Freedom,” as the holiday is called in the Pesach prayers.
After living in Egypt for 210 years, many of which were spent in the most brutal, physical and spiritual enslavement, the Jewish people were finally liberated by G-d, on the 15th day of the month of Nissan, to become a free nation.
Although we celebrate this event on Passover, it is a mitzvah to recount the Exodus twice each day, once in the morning and once at night. This is accomplished through reciting the “Shma” (“Hear O Israel’), each morning and night, when we recite, ”...I am the L-rd, your G-d, who took you out from the land of Egyptto be a G-d unto you." Thus, we remember the Exodus twice daily.
The matzah we eat at the Seder celebrates the miracle of The Exodus when we left Egypt in great haste and as a result the dough of our forefathers didn’t have enough time to rise and was baked flat. Thus, we eat matzah at the Seder and during the rest of Pesach.
Our sages explain that there is also a deeper meaning to eating matzah on Pesach. It is not only a remembrance of what took place many years ago, it’s also a lesson which is valid to this day.
Our sages tell us that matzah, which is flat, represents humbleness. Bread (chametz), which is prohibited on Pesach, is made from dough that rises and represents haughtiness. The lesson of the matzah on Pesach is, that, although we have been chosen by G-d as His people and attained our freedom, we must remember to be humble.
A Talmudic sage was once walking with Eliyahu Hanavi (Elijah the Prophet). On the way, they passed by a dead horse. The smell was unbearable so the sage held his nose with his fingers. However, the smell didn't bother Eliyahu Hanavi.
Then they walked by a wealthy man dressed very elegantly. He was wearing a wonderful perfume. The rich man held his head high and walked as if the whole world belonged to him. As the man passed, Eliyahu Hanavi held his nose.
“When we passed the dead horse you didn't hold your nose. Yet, when this man walked by us you held your nose! Tell me, why?" asked the sage.
Eliyahu Hanavi answered him, "The spiritual smell of this haughty person is much worse than the physical smell of the dead horse."
When the Jewish people were enslaved in Egypt, they naturally felt very humble. Now that they were reaching their spiritual and physical freedom, G-d told them to eat matzah, as a reminder to be humble.
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY
B"H
Tuesday, 26 Adar 2, 5776 / April 5, 2016 – HAKHEL YEAR
Q.On Shabbat and holidays, after reciting the kiddush over the wine, we wash our hands and recite the blessing over the bread and begin the meal. But at the Pesach Seder, after the Kiddush, we recite the Hagadah first and only later do we eat the matzah and the Pesach meal. Why don’t we eat the meal first and recite the Hagadah after?
A.For a very practical reason.. If we ate the meal first, we may become tired and dose off.. and forget to recite the Hagadah.
Q.On Shabbat and holidays after the blessing on the kiddush wine, one does not have to recite a blessing every time they drink wine during the meal. The blessing over the wine the first time covers the entire meal. Why, at the Pesach Seder, after we made the blessing for wine over the first cup (the kiddush) do we recite a blessing over the other three cups of wine which we drink?
A.On Shabbat and holidays there is no mitzvah to drink more than the kiddush… But at the Seder, there is a mitzavh to drink fourcups of wine. Each cup is an individual mitzvah. Each cup expresses a different expression of redemption. Thus, we recite an individual blessing for each cup of wine.
Q.On Shabbat and holidays we all enjoy a nice delicious kosher meal. We sit in an upright position while drinking the kiddush wine and when eating the meal. But at the Seder, when we perform the mitzvah of eating the matzah and when drinking the four cups of wine, we recline to our left side. Why?
A.In ancient times, the practise of eating in a reclining position was a sign of freedom. It was practiced by noblemen, and not by the common people or by servants. Although now we do not normally eat in a reclining position, we still follow this practise at the Seder as a sign of expression of the spirit of the Seder – celebrating our freedom.
Q.Why do we recline on our left side and not on our right?
A.Leaning to the right side may be dangerous since food swallowed in such a position might enter the upper part of the windpipe and cause chocking, G-d forbid.
Another reason is that most people are right handed. Leaning on the right would make it difficult to use the right hand and that would not be comfortable, thus, restricting ones freedom.
Pesach(Passover) is the birth of the Jewish nation. On a personal level: A birthday is a very important day in ones life. The Lubavitcher Rebbe said, “A birthday is the day when G-d said, ‘The world needs YOU, because YOUmake a difference.’”
Do you know your Hebrew birthday?I would be more than happy to tell you. Please fell free to write.
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY
B"H
Monday, 25 Adar 2, 5776 / April 4, 2016 – HAKHEL YEAR
The holiday of Pesach (Passover) will begin Friday night, April 22.
The following are some facts about the holiday and the Exodus.
In Israel Pesach is celebrated seven days, thus, this year, the last day of Pesach in Israel will be Friday, April 29.
In the Diaspora, where Pesach is celebrated for eight days, the last day of Pesach will be Saturday, April 30.
The Hebrew calendar has been set up in such a way that the first day of Pesach cannot fall on the following three days of the week: Monday, Wednesdayor Friday.
Thus, the first Seder will not be Sunday night, Tuesday night or Thursday night.
The Exodus from Egypt took place 3328 years ago, in the year, 2448.
The day of the week in which the Exodus took place was Thursday.
The first Seder Jews ever performed was in Egypt on the night before the Exodus. Thus, the first Seder was on a Wednesday night. And they left Egypt the next morning.
At that Seder in Egypt, they ate of the meat of the Pascal lamb which was sacrificed Wednesday before evening. They also ate matzah and maror (bitter herbs). However, the four cups of wine was established much later as part of the Seder ceremony.
That Wednesday night G-d brought upon the Egyptians the tenth and final plague in which every first-born was killed.
G-d told Moshe to warn the Jewish people not to go out of their homes on that Wednesday night, as the Egyptians were being afflicted.
That last Wednesday night in Egypt, with the onslaught of the plague of the first-born, Pharaoh, who was himself a first-born, ran through the streets of the city looking for Moshe and Aaron to demand of them to get the Jewish people out of Egypt immediately.
The Torah tells us that approximately 600,000 men, between the ages of 20 to 60, left Egypt at the time of the Exodus. In addition, there were women, children and the elderly. Also a large mixture of people other than Jews left Egypt together with the Children of Israel.
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY
B"H
Friday, 22 Adar 2, 5776 / April 1, 2016 – HAKHEL YEAR
This Shabbat, in addition to taking out one Torah to read from, as we do every Shabbat, we also take out a second Torah for the reading of the Maftir. In the first Torah we will read Parshat Shemini. In the second Torah we read Parshat Parah, the laws of the Red Heifer. This is one of the four special Torah readings at this time of the year, in preparation for Pesach.
In Shemini we find the listing of the kosher and non-kosher animals, fowl and fish.
The sign of the kosher animal is stated in the Torah as follows: "These are the living things which you may eat amongst all the beasts that are on the earth. Whoever has a parted hoof and is wholly cloven-footed and chews the cud, amongst the beasts, that you may eat. But these you may not eat of them, those that only chew their cud or of them that only part their hoof.'"
Q.Is the prohibition to eat not kosher foods related to health reasons?
A.Maimonides, one of our greatest sages and scholars, who lived about 900 years ago, explains that non-kosher foods were not prohibited due to health reasons or for that matter to any reason which can be explained logically. Rather, these laws are in the category of mitzvot known as "Chukim."
"Chukim" are the mitzvot that are beyond the realm of human comprehension and as a result G-d didn't relate any reason for these mitzvot.
Rabbi Yitzchak Abarbanel explains that, although non-kosher foods may not be hazardous from a physical stand, they are bad and hazardous in a spiritual way for a Jew's soul.
Thus, kosher food gives a Jew the positive energy for performing Torah and mitzvot. Eating non-kosher foods has a negative effect and prevents one from receiving the positive energy that one needs to perform mitzvot.
According to the Torah, a kosher animal must have two signs; split hoofs, which is an external sign, and it must chew its cud, which is an internal sign. If the animal has only one of the signs it is deemed not kosher. This teaches us that a Jew must be, kosher (righteous) on the inside as on the outside.
Many people make the impression of being good and righteous when in public or when people will know about their actions, but may act differently when in private and no one knows what they did. Some people act nice and proper outside but may not be so nice within their home or the opposite. Thus, the Torah tells us that the sign of being "kosher" is to be on the inside as on the outside.
Although non-kosher animals are not permitted to be eaten, yet our sages in Pirkei Avot tell us that even from non-kosher animals we can learn a lesson in the service of G-d. Yehuda ben Teima said, "Be bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer and strong as a lion to carry our the will of your Father-in-Heaven."
SHABBAT SHALOM
Montrealcandle lighting time: 7:05 / Shabbat ends: 8:10
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