Hanna's Dvar Torah

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Dedicated to the complete recovery of Rabbi Yosef Yitschak ben Rivka

 Imagine working in some place for years. It’s a very difficult job and you are not only tired but exhausted, disappointed and drained. Then comes someone who promises you a perfect world, where there will be equality, freedom and good salaries. Would you believe him, or would you have already lost all hope? Would you allow yourself to believe, taking the risk of being disappointed, or would you just accept your fate, stopping to dream about a better future?

This is what happened with our ancestors in Egypt. After many years of terrible slavery, Moses suddenly bring new hope, with a promise from G-d about their liberation and their coming to the Promised Land.

How did the Jews react? The Torah tells us that “They did not hear the words of Moshe, because of [their] shortness of breath and because of [their] hard labor.” (Exodus 6:9)

Our Sages explain to us that shortness of breath is not to be taken literally. In Hebrew, the word Ruach (breath) also means spirit. In other words, the Israelites did not listen to Moshe because they had lost their spirit, their hope.

This also happens to children who do not believe that they will manage one day to become good students and have more than 70 at their exams. Therefore, they don’t have the energy or motivation to try to reach higher.

This also happens when someone wants to go on a diet but thinks that it is a lost battle from the start.

This also happens when we suddenly have the desire to become better and more patient people, or to start doing something good for ourselves or other people. But then we stop ourselves because we think we will not achieve it anyway.

Rabbi Mendel Futerfas said: “If you loose money, you have not lost anything, because money comes and goes. If you lose your health, you have lost half, since you are not the same person as you were before. But if you lose hope, you have lost everything.”

Let’s listen to Moses who comes to take us out from our personal Egypt. Let’s keep the hope that things can change and make practical steps to improve the situation. When someone tries to so something good, even something small, G-d helps him big time!

Shabbat Shalom,

Hanna

מוקדש לרפואה שלימה לרב יוסף יצחק בן רבקה ולחיה צביה בת שאשא רייזל יוכבד

Dedicated to the complete recovery of Rabbi Yosef Yitschak ben Rivka and Chaya Tsivya bat Shasha Reizel Yocheved 

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The teacher asked each child to say something that they learned from their parents. A child said that his father always declares that “It’s better to give than to receive”. The teacher agreed that it was very important and asked: “What job does your father do?”. The child answered: “Boxer”.

In this week’s Parasha Shemot, the Jews are in Egypt and working very hard. Moses, who was growing up in the house of Pharaoh’s daughter, discovered he was Jewish. He goes to find out what is happening with his Jewish brothers, the slaves, and sees two Jews fighting. One raised his hand to hit the other, but Moses stopped him and said: “Rasha (evil one), why hit your friend?”

Note that the Jew had not yet hit his friend. He had just raised his hand. But that was enough for Moses to call him “Rasha”. Why?

Every organ of our body was created for a specific purpose. To fulfill G-d’s will in this world, through the Torah and Mitzvot. The specific role of the hand is to give, help and provide.

When the Jew raised his hand to hit his friend, even though he had not hit him yet, he had already done something very serious. He had used his hand for the opposite purpose than the one intended by G-d. He was already considered a Rasha.

Last week, we were with my school in Chevron, where most of our forefathers and mothers are buried. It was very nice, and I prayed there for all our community.

Our forefathers and mothers did everything according to G-d’s will. For us, to always do the right thing may be difficult, but we can adopt this line of thought and ask ourselves before acting: “Is this action in line with God’s will or not? Is this the reason why this organ of my body was created?”

Let’s utilize all the organs of our body for a good purpose. Thus, we will bring Mashiach very soon!

Shabbat Shalom,

Hanna

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A few weeks ago, our school had the visit of a Rabbi who does Kosher supervisions in factories and restaurants. He spoke very nicely and told us a disturbing story.

In one city in America with many observant Jews, there was a Kosher butcher shop whose owner was a religious Jew. Naturally, in addition to the owner, there was a rabbi that oversaw that everything was indeed Kosher. Kosher meat is more expensive, therefore a lot of supervision is needed in order to avoid fraud. The temptation is great. One of the responsibilities of the supervisor is to check that the orders to the suppliers correspond to the merchandise in the shop. One time, the supervisor noticed that there was more meat in the store than what he remembered had been ordered. With a small investigation, he discovered that late at night, another supplier came, who brought non-kosher meat, which was then sold as kosher. The butcher shop closed, its owner fled abroad, and everyone was extremely shocked. Once, abroad, someone recognized the owner and asked him, how was it possible for him to do such a thing? After all, he was himself a religious Jew and he knew how important kosher meat is. The owner answered him: “The first time was very frightening.”

The first time we do something is crucial.

Last Tuesday, we had the Fast of the 10^th of Tevet. On this day 2444 years ago (in the year 3336 from Creation, 425 BCE), the Babylonians started a siege around Jerusalem. After a blockade of two and a half years, they managed to enter the city, burn the Temple, kill many Jews and take the remainder as prisoners to Babylon.

But why do we fast on the 10^th of Tevet? No one died on this day…

On the 10^th of Tevet was the beginning of the siege, and as we mentioned earlier, the beginning is crucial. It is as if the continuation depends on and is included in this first crucial time.

It is the same in our everyday life.

Smokers will tell you that everything started with the first cigarette. Those who went on a diet and stopped will tell you that it’s all because of that first cookie. How many times have we opened our smartphones to see something quickly and suddenly realized we have surfed already for half an hour (or more!)?

We need to be careful and guard ourselves from this first time of doing something negative. Because usually, we end up doing it more times.

The same applies for something positive. Don’t be afraid of doing one small good action. It may seem small, but usually is followed by more.

Shabbat Shalom,

Hanna