"In the Beginning..."

This week's Parsha is the first of the entire Torah. Quite appropriately, it is called "Bereshit" -- "In the beginning" -- because of its opening phrase, "In the beginning, G-d created heaven and earth."

But let's analyze that for a moment. Rashi objects to the translation "In the beginning" for the simple reason that "Reishit" does not mean "beginning" as a free-standing noun, but rather "beginning of" in construct state.

For example, "children" would be "banim" in Hebrew, but "children of..." (as in Children of Israel) is "b'nei" in construct. "B'nai" never stands alone in a Hebrew sentence. Only when there is a complement phrase or noun that follows (i.e. "Israel") can a construct be used.

Reishit is a word in construct form. Consequently, a more accurate translation of this oft-quoted passage would read: "In the beginning of _______, G-d created heaven and earth." (If the verse intended "In the beginning," the phrase should have been "B'rishona")

This begs the obvious question: in the beginning of what?

(Rashi offers several interpretations. See B'reishit 1:1, 2nd Rashi, at length)

Let's try a somewhat unconventional approach to this age-old question.

Perhaps "In the beginning of [blank]" is precisely what the Torah is trying to say.
The Torah is telling you, the reader, to fill in the blank with something new you are beginning. Any new activity or pursuit, either spiritual ("Heaven") or a material ("Earth").

For example, "In the beginning of my trying to keep Shabbat," or "In the beginning of my new job," or "In the beginning of my trying to have a meaningful relationship with so-and-so," and so on.

Indeed, all new beginnings are fraught with difficulties. All too often we are too set with the status quo, too set in our ways to adapt comfortably to change. Sometimes we don't know where to start, and feel overwhelmed with a sense of chaos and lack of clear direction. At times we may feel a sense of emptiness, as though we are missing the motivation to go forward.

So the Torah (comes from word "Horaah" -- instruction) comes to guide us through by demonstrating that the beginning of any new endeavor in life follows the same model of creation.

Firstly, be aware that "G-d is creating heaven and earth." If the challenge seems too tough and insurmountable, don't shy away. It's not an accident or coincidence that you happen to be in your current set of circumstances. G-d is creating you and your surroundings anew at this very moment.

Secondly, don't get discouraged if you encounter difficulties, darkness, chaos, or feeling of emptiness, in your first attempts. G-d experienced the same thing. "And the earth was astonishingly formless and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep..."

Did He get discouraged? No. Instead He said: "Let there be light!"

That's what you need to do. Turn the darkness into light. "A Mitzva is a candle and the Torah is light." A bit of light dispels much darkness. By imbuing your surroundings with the joy, meaning & wisdom of the Torah, the "void and darkness" we all encounter in life will instantly dissipate.

Once there is light, there is clarity and focus. It won't happen all at once, but in an organized, orderly fashion. Just like in creation: first there was mineral, then plant life, then animal life, and finally human life.

Your efforts will finally bear fruit, through thoughtful planning and dedication. All you need to do first is turn on the light.

And there will be light.

Happy Shabbat Bereshit!

This Year -- 5768

This year is 5768
5 to 7 is two steps up
7 to 6 is one step down
6 to 8 is two steps up.
In life (like in the stock market) sometimes we take two steps up, then get discouraged when we have to take a step back. But don't despair! The purpose of this step back is only to be able to go again two steps up.

In Kabbalistic/Chassidic terminology: "Descent for the sake of Ascent"

May this be a year of revealed blessings, and may we ascend higher in all areas of life, materially and spiritually, with health, happiness and nachas, and most of all, with the ultimate ascent, the return to Eretz Yisrael and the building of the Beis Hamikdash, with the coming of Moshiach NOW!

Three-Day Marathon Holidays

This year, Rosh Hashana, Sukkot and Simchat Torah are all "three-day holidays."

To be more precise, they're acutally two-day holidays like always. However, this year, since they occur on Thursday and Friday, these holy days flow seamlessly into Shabbos without any interruption of a mundane weekday.

What can we learn from these three-day marathon holidays, in which work is forbidden for three consecutive days?

In Judaism, three is an important number. It symbolizes permanence, consistency, endurance and sturdiness.

Permanence:
An occupant of a house can claim three consecutive years of undisputed occupancy as proof of ownership.

Consitency:
An ox that gores three consecutive times is considered a "goring ox," and it must be presumed that it will gore again in the future.

Endurance:
A three-ply twine is far more enduring than a two or single ply, and is not easily severed.

Sturdiness:
A table cannot stand on two legs, but can stand on three. Hence the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Due to the righteousness of this threesome, their progeny endures forever.

So what do we make of three days of consecutive holy days?

Simple! This year, holiness and the holy activities of Shabbat, i.e. prayer and Torah Study, Mitzvot observance, etc., ought be focused on as a greater priority than ever.

Indeed, our fixed times for Torah study must be:
permanent, consistent and enduring.

Soccer, karate, piano lessons and business calls, etc., can all wait. When your weekly or daily Torah study time arrives, everything else stops.

Even if the phone rings, don't answer it. It's like Shabbos. Three-days-worth of it.

Shmittah Year

This coming Jewish Year is a Sabbatical Year called “Shmittah.” It is the last year in the seven-year cycle, and has its own special laws.
In the land of Israel, it involves a prohibition against all agricultural activity. Out of the Land of Israel, special laws apply to the eating of Israeli produce.
For Jews, the world over, another law applies as follows.
Any loans made before the Shmittah year may not be reclaimed after Shmittah, as the word "Shmittah" means "release."
The exact cut off date is the subject of differing opinions; some maintain it is at the beginning of Shmittah, whilst others maintain it is at the end of Shmittah.
During Temple times, this law was readily observed. However, later in history people became reluctant to lend money to other Jews in the months before Shmittah, for fear of not being able to reclaim the money later on.
It was Hillel the Elder who lived two thousand years ago who developed the idea of Pruzbul. This is a method that allows one to reclaim debts after Shmittah, by turning one's debts into public debts before Shmittah begins.
This is done quite easily by appointing a “court” of three adult Jews and declaring before them: ‘I hereby transfer to you all debts that are owing to me, so that I may reclaim them whenever I so desire’.
Go to http://www.chabad.org/tools/feedback.htm/aid/5212/jewish/Fill-Out-a-Pruzbul.html
and fill out the form. This should be done on or before Erev Rosh Hashanah, Wednesday 12 September, 2007.
We will also do the oral declaration of Pruzbul at the beginning of our Rosh Hashana service on Wed. 12 at Westborough High School, 90 W Main.
Please join us!
Shana Tova,
Rabbi Green

Uncle Shmuel wants YOU!

... to come to Shul on Shabbat!

See you there :-)

Speeding Ticket Story

Many people have gotten out of receiving a traffic ticket using all sorts of excuses. But no one ever had a better excuse than the woman from Crown Heights who was pulled over by a N.Y.C. traffic cop. Standing outside her open car window and watching her fumble for her license, the police officer caught sight of a picture of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, R' Menachem Mendel Schneerson, in her open purse.

"Excuse me, Ma'am," he asked, "are you one of the followers of this Rabbi?" She replied that she was.

"Let me tell you a story about that Rabbi," said the cop. "It's my favorite story, but I haven't told it to many Jewish people, in fact, I think that you are the first." He raised his voice over the din of passing cars.

"I used to be in the police escort that once a week escorted the Rabbi to the Montefiore Cemetery (where he would pray at the gravesite of his saintly predecessor, R' Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn). I got to know some of the young men who accompanied the Rabbi, and I learned a thing or two about Hasidim. They are very friendly people and we talked alot while the Rabbi was inside praying.

"They used to tell us all about the greatness of the Rabbi and how he tries to help people all the time. I was standing there with some of my buddies and I half-jokingly asked if the Rabbi helps non-Jews also.

"'Sure,' they said, 'The Rebbe helps anyone who asks. Why? Do you need something?'

"Later, in private, I told one of the young men, that my wife and I had been married for nine years with no children, and one week ago the doctors told us that we had no chance. We had spent a lot of money on treatments, seen all sorts of big professors, we were running around like crazy for the last six or seven years, and now they told us that they tried everything and there is no more hope. You can't imagine how broken we were. My wife cried all the time and I started crying myself.

"So this young man tells me, 'Listen, the next time that you escort the Rebbe to the cemetery, stand near the door of his car and when he gets out, ask him for a blessing.' And you know, that's just what I did! The next time I was in the escort, I stood by his door and when he got out I said to him, 'Excuse me, Rabbi, do you only bless Jewish people or non-Jews too?'

"I'll never forget how the Rabbi looked at me - like I was a good friend! He said that if he can, he tries to help anyone who asks. So I told him what the doctors said, and he told me to write down on a piece of paper my name and my father's name together with my wife's name and her father's name, so he can pray for us. I did it, although I did think it was funny writing down my father and father-in-law's names - real heavy-duty Irish names. But I did it and you know what? In a short time, my wife was expecting and nine months later she gave birth to a baby boy! The doctors went crazy, they couldn't figure it out, and when I told them that the only difference was a Rabbi's blessing, they just scratched their heads. Wow! It was unbelievable!"

The cop's face was truly glowing at this point. "But here comes the best part. Do you know what we called him? What name we gave our baby boy? We called him 'Mendel' after the Rabbi. Can you imagine? The only Irish 'Mendel' in the neighborhood - probably in the world! At first my wife didn't like the name because it didn't sound American. Hey, it doesn't even sound Irish! But I said, No! We're calling him Mendel!

"Of course, our parents objected when they heard the name. They said, 'With a name like that, all the kids will be cruel to him. Why make the kid suffer for no reason?' But they're missing the point. When he comes home and says that the other kids called him names and beat him up because he has a Jewish name, I'll tell him that I want him to learn from those other kids how not to behave. They hate the Jews for no reason, but you should love the Jews, you should help the Jews. You just tell them that without that Jewish Rabbi called Mendel you wouldn't be here at all, and then maybe they'll start thinking differently too!"

Needless to say, he did not give her a ticket.

(Adapted from an email received from Rabbi Michoel Seligson. I believe it was originally written by Rabbi Tuvia Bolton on Chabad.org)

The Torah -- Old-Fashioned?

In every time and every generation, critics and pundits deemed the Torah old-fashioned. This is, and always has been, a factual error. “Old-fashioned” implies that it was once in fashion, and only later became old fashioned. The Torah, on the other hand, has never been in fashion. Its teachings have always been radically out-of-the-box and revolutionary, never conforming with the prevalent attitudes of every society and every age.

Indeed, for most of recorded history, the Torah’s very core principles of Monotheism and the Sinaitic Revelation pitted its practitioners at odds with most of the world’s inhabitants.

It was never fashionable to believe in the Torah’s eternal truths, to assert that G-d is One, infinite and all-transcendent, yet inseparably pervasive and intimately mindful of the most finite detail of our daily existence. No, it was never fashionable to abstain from all creative labors on the Sabbath, to observe the kosher dietary laws, and to observe the Torah’s supra-rational Mitzvot with the same devotion as its rational ones.

The Torah has always been far ahead of its time, so much so that the “times” still haven’t caught up with the Torah yet.

To be continued...