Weekly E*Torah by Rabbi A. Altein

Parshas Vayechi

THE KEY TO LIFE

This Shabbat's Torah Reading is called VaYechi, for life. Interestingly, the entire reading is about Jacob's death and funeral. It seems strange that the story of his death would be named "life."

Herein lies a beautiful lesson. Ordinary life is very temporary; it is not real because it passes us by liked a fleeting dream. True life is to live eternally and that we can achieve only by connecting our soul to eternal G-d.

After Jacob died and his children continued to live as loyal Jews, that was the indication that his life was to endure even after his physical death, and that is when his life became real. That's why the portion is called VaYechi, "he lived."

During the current crisis in Israel, every Jewish heart pounds with concern for the lives and welfare of our fellow Jews and for the safety and success of the young and courageous young men and women of the Israeli Army. It is obvious that we cannot rely on the world around us to stand up for Jewish lives. The hatred of Jews in society comes clearly through the thin guise of upside-down morality and crocodile tears for the defeat of Hamas.

It is important to recognize that Jews can only rely on each other and that primarily we need to reach out to G-d and pray for Divine intervention and assistance.

Our sages tell us that when Jews observe two specific Mitzvot, they are blessed with divine protection and Jewish soldiers are empowered with an extra degree of divine assistance.

One of these Mitzvot is donning Tefillin. The Tefillin contain passages of the Torah that testify to the unique bond between G-d and Israel. When we place these passages on our arm and head, they imbue our head with divine insight and the arms of the soldiers of Israel with the strength to overcome our mortal enemies.

The other Mitzvah is Shabbat Candles. The glow of the candles on the Shabbat table creates an atmosphere of serenity and peace that gives sanctity to a Jewish home. In a larger sense, the Mitzvah of lighting the Shabbat candles brings peace and serenity to the national "home" of the Jewish People--to Israel.

In an expression of tangible solidarity with the Israel, each of us should resolve to do these Mitzvot during the coming days. Every Jewish man should don Tefillin on the arm and head. It could be done anytime between daybreak to sunset. Recite the Shema Yisrael (it will only take three minutes of your time) before removing the Tefillin.

Every Jewish woman should light Shabbat Candles in her home this Friday night, by 4:30 pm. The brightness and warmth of the Shabbat that will fill Jewish homes will spread to our fellow Jews in Israel and give them a brighter and more peaceful future.

Every Mitzvah counts. Together, we can change the world, one Mitzvah at a time!

WEEKLY SMILE
European Justice

It happened in France. A young man saw a pit bull attacking a toddler. He killed the pit bull and saved the child's life. Reporters swarmed around the hero and told him that tomorrow's headline will be: "Brave Frenchman Saves Little Girl from Vicious Dog!"

So the fellow says, "But I'm not a Frenchman, I'm a Jew from Israel."

The next day's headlines proclaimed: "Vicious Israeli Massacres Little Girl's Dog!"

Question of the week - Rabbi Moss

Question of the Week:
If I ever want to find a wife, I think I have to leave town. I know all the Jewish girls here from school days, and none of them interest me. I don't go to synagogue to meet people, because I was never very into Judaism. But I do go to parties, and see the same old faces every time. What can I do if I already know everyone?

Answer:
You remind me of the guy who was walking down the street and saw a familiar face. "You're Mark, aren't you? Remember me? We went to kindergarten together!"

"I don't know you," was the response.

"Listen, I haven't seen you in thirty years, but you look exactly the same. Are you sure you're not Mark?"

"My name isn't Mark."

He couldn't believe someone could look so much like Mark but not be Mark. Then it dawned on him. If that was Mark, he would have grown up too...

People change. The fact that you knew someone ten years ago has little relevance to today. You are not the same person today as you were when you were sixteen, and you wouldn't appreciate people seeing you now as you were then. Well, everyone else has grown up too.

And you can't always rely on your views from back then either. As you develop, you may find the friends of your youth have little in common with you, while you may have become more aligned with the very people you used to avoid. The things that excited you ten years ago are not the things that still excite you now. Otherwise we would all be firemen and ballerinas.

Just as we mature, so must our view of the world around us. We have to be ready to drop outdated opinions, and take a fresh look around us.

Another example of this is our view of Judaism. There are many people who hold on to a negative view of Judaism developed in their youth. This may have been based on bad experiences - a boring Hebrew teacher, a hypocritical rabbi, or a mean religious relative. Or we may simply have not enjoyed studying Torah and going to shule, it just didn't grab us, or it felt like a burden forced upon us by our parents when other kids were having fun. So at some point we opted out of Jewish life. That may have seemed like the right reaction at the time. But that doesn't mean it is still right.

As a mature person, we can re-engage with Judaism from a whole new angle. We can come to realise that bad experiences of the past can be left in the past, and individuals don't necessarily represent the whole. What seemed irrelevant and uninteresting then may be inspiring and uplifting now. The view of Judaism we developed at age twelve is probably due for a review. As a mature person, we may realise there really is something there for us.

So when you see an old face, don't forget that they grew up too. Meet them as the person they are now, not the way you remember them. And approach Judaism in the same way. You can revisit it, like an old acquaintance that you never really appreciated. Who knows, you might just fall in love.

Good Shabbos,

Stand with Israel

Put on Tefillin for the IDF Soldiers!

S'derot under attack

War in Gaza

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Community Shabbat Dinner

Weekly E*Torah - Parshas Vayigash

By Rabbi Avrohom Altein

An Upside-Down World

This coming Tuesday will be a Fast Day. On this day (10th of Teves) the army of Babylon laid siege around the city of Jerusalem. This led to the eventual capture of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Temple and the dispersion of Jews into Exile. We mourn the long chain of Jewish suffering through so many generations and we pray for the complete and Final Redemption.

There is a famous Yiddish dictum that when a sick person realizes that he is sick, that itself is half the cure. When we recognize that something is wrong, we will seek out a solution. A sick person will visit a physician. But when a sick person deludes himself into thinking all is well, he is in serious trouble.
It is most important that we Jews recognize that we live in a state of Exile and that this is not a healthy situation, not the kind of life that Jews were meant to live.

The Torah intended that Jews would be "a light to the nations," a model and inspiration of spirituality and ethics to the entire world. Jews were to all live in Israel, the Holy Land, and the Torah would be their guidebook in setting their direction in life.

We can help make this noble goal a step closer by implementing some changes to our own lifestyle. That means striving to keep more Mitzvot, study more Torah and feel proud to be Jewish. Let the ethics of our Torah be our yardstick for what is right or wrong. We should not be seeking the approval of the outside world for what we do, because when it comes to Jews, the world's values are twisted and warped.

One has to only look at the sorry state and upside-down values of the world that we live in, to realize that it is not healthy. Israel has suffered eight long years an unending barrage of missiles aimed at innocent men, women and children. The terrorists openly state that they consider every living Jew their enemy and would kill us all.

During the many years that Israel was quiet about the daily threat to Jewish lives, there was not a single protest by world leaders against the Hamas onslaught. But the moment that the Israeli army rose to defend Jewish lives, the world leaders and media are suddenly shocked by the "disproportionate amount of force."

One has to be quite a slow thinker not to recognize that we are in a deep Exile. The Redemption must begin from within, from Jews standing up for themselves with pride and for what Judaism represents.

Weekly Smile
Justice for Jews

During the reign of the Russian Czars, Jews were subject to a perverted system of justice. Once, as a Jewish man walked the street, an anti-Semite threw a rock at his head. The Jew ducked just in time and instead of hitting the Jew, the rock smashed a store window.

The court fined the Jew and ordered him to pay for the broken window. It was the Jew's fault that the window broke because if he had not ducked the window would be whole.

How do I explain the war in Gaza?

Question of the Week:

I am the only Jew in my office so I face a daily barrage of questions about Israel's actions in Gaza. I don't know who appointed me as Israel's spokesman and I am not armed with the answers. Can you help?


Answer:

At times like this, each one of us becomes an ambassador for Israel. Even if you don't agree with everything Israel does, any decent person must stand up for Israel's right to self-defense.

We can leave the military and political issues to the experts, but we should all be clear on the moral questions raised by this war. Let's look at a few of the most commonly asked questions.

Q: How can Israel justify killing civilians if their intent is to crush Hamas?

A: The death of innocents is a tragic inevitability of war. Our hearts go out to all those caught in the middle. The sad fact is that the Palestinian people are being held hostage by Hamas. Just as it is clear that Hamas is morally culpable for any harm done to Gilad Shalit, the Israeli hostage that they hold, so too are they culpable for the fate of Palestinian innocents amongst whom they hide. A civilian who is killed while being used by a terrorist as a human shield is a victim of the terrorist, not the Israeli army, who does not target innocent civilians.

Q: Isn't Israel's response a bit disproportionate?

A: If Israel were merely taking revenge, then it would need to be proportionate. But Israel is waging a defensive war. Since when is war proportionate? In war, you don't measure your response to the enemy by what they have done to you in the past, but rather by what needs to be done to stop them attacking in the future. Israel must destroy Hamas' capability to continue shooting rockets at Israeli cities. Israel's actions are proportionate to the present and future threat, not just the damage done in the past.

Q: Doesn't Israel understand that they are just creating more terrorists? The anger and fury at Israel as a result of bombing Gaza will only make more people want to join Hamas.

A: Feelings of frustration, anger, fear and rage do not make you into a terrorist. A culture of death and an education of hate does. Israel doesn't need to do anything to create terrorists - Islamic extremism does that - but Israel must act to destroy those who threaten its people.

Q: Hamas indeed has a militant wing, but it also does a lot of good. They are responsible for social programs, educational projects and humanitarian work in Gaza. By destroying Hamas, Israel also destroys all the good they do. Isn't that demonising a group that is not all bad?

A: If a serial killer also happens to volunteer for his local hospital, has donated money to an orphanage, and looks after his ailing grandmother, he is still a serial killer, and should be treated as such. The danger he poses far outweighs the concern for any good he may do.

Q: By using violence, how is Israel any better than its terrorist enemies?

A: That is as ridiculous as saying that a woman who fights off an attacker is no better than her attacker. Israel would not touch Hamas if Hamas would stop sending rockets and suicide bombers into Israel. Israel seeks to live in peace with its neighbours; Hamas and its allies seek to destroy Israel, no matter what Israel does.

For Hamas, war is holy. For Israel, war can never be holy. War may be necessary, like when your citizens are being attacked unprovoked; war may be moral, like when innocent lives are being threatened; but even then, war is never holy.

There is a world of difference between a moral war and a holy war. A moral soldier fights reluctantly, while holy warriors glory in the fight. A moral soldier is burdened by the obligation, while holy warriors delight in the pain inflicted on the enemy. A moral soldier fights when there is no other option; a holy warrior seeks violence as a way of life. A moral soldier takes measures to limit innocent casualties; a holy warrior seeks to maximise them.

A holy warrior fears times of peace, because then he has no purpose. A moral soldier dreams of a time when peace will reign. Then, the Israel Defense Force will be made joyously redundant, as "one nation will not lift a sword against another nation, and they will no longer learn to wage war".