Shavuot-Liberator - The Aleph Institute

Transcription

NATIONAL
THE
B”H
LIBERATOR
The Magazine of Life for Jews Isolated from their Communities
SHAVUOT 5773
VOL. XVI NO. 5 - NISSAN-IYAR 5773 - MAY-JUNE 2013
THE HOLIDAY OF RECEIVING THE TORAH
FEATURES
Shavuos Information,
Laws & Customs
(Plus Candle-Lighting Instructions), 6-9
Prison News Articles,10
Week In Review, 16
Jewish Videos Available, 31
Advocacy Assistance, 36
Tefillin Offer, 37
Family Support, 39
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VOL. XVII NO. 5
IYAR-SIVAN 5773 / MAY-JUNE 2013
1
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THE
NATIONAL
B”H
LIBERATOR
The Magazine of Life for Jews Isolated from their Communities
VOL. XVI NO. 5 - IYAR-SIVAN 5773- MAY-JUNE 2013
A SHAVUOT MESSAGE FROM THE LUBAVITCHER REBBE,
RABBI M. SCHNEERSON (O.B.M)
By the Grace of G-d
[Excerpted from a letter of]
Rosh Chodesh Sivan, 5724 [1964]
Brooklyn, NY
The National Liberator
is published bi-monthly by
The Aleph Institute
9540 Collins Avenue, Surfside,
Florida 33154
Tel: (305) 864-5553
Fax: (305) 864-5675
Internet:
www.aleph-institute.org
Copyright © 2013,
The Aleph Institute.
All rights reserved.
Opinions expressed in the
National Liberator do not
necessarily reflect opinions or
policies of The Aleph Institute.
Please direct all subscription
inquiries and address changes
to our Director of Prison
Programs.
The Aleph Institute, founded in
1981/5741 at the express
direction of Rabbi Menachem
M. Schneerson, the
Lubavitcher Rebbe O.B.M., is a
not-for-profit educational,
humanitarian and advocacy
organization serving the unique
needs of Jews in institutional
environments and anywhere
else they and their families may
become isolated from their
heritage.
Editor/Designer:
Moshe N. Barouk
3
...It is worthy of note that the festival of Shavuoth has no independent
date of its own, like any other festival, since no month or day is
specified in the Torah as the time of its celebration, but only that it is
the "Fiftieth Day" of the counting of the Omer; the counting which we
begin on the second day of Pesach, on the day after the liberation
from Egyptian bondage.
In this way the Torah emphasizes that the festival of Shavuoth is the
goal of the festival of Pesach; that the Season of the Giving of Our
Torah is the culmination of the Season of Our Freedom -- that the true
and complete freedom, both for the individual as well as for the
community, and both materially and spiritually, can be attained only
through the acceptance of the Torah.
We live in a time and in a country where, notwithstanding external
"freedom", the society in general, and the young generation in
particular, are still largely "enslaved," and at a loss how to free
themselves from the shackles of spiritual and mental confusion. The
only hope that Jewish children should not be swept with this stream
lies in a Torah education, where the golden chain of the Torah from
Sinai is maintained; the Torah in all its sanctity, the Torah of Truth
which must always remain intact, and cannot be subject to
compromise or concession.
VOL. XVII NO. 5
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NATIONAL
LIBERATOR
The Aleph REPORT
What’s going on at Aleph...
For Passover 5773, Aleph shipped:
11,000 lbs. of Matzah
850 lbs. of Shmurah Matzah
1,200 Seder Plates
4,303 Grape Juice Bottles
1,200 cans of Gefilte Fish
4,635 Horeseradish Bottles
4,850 Horseradish Packets
4,419 Salmon Filet Packets
10,470 Shelf Stable Meals
1,666 Haggadahs
19,429 cans of Macaroons
Over 400 Individual Institutions and over 50 Military Bases were serviced.
Additionally, over 600 Families were sent Matzah and/or Passover help.
Passover Seder in Afghanistan
Aleph’s prisoner services responded to and assisted in over 100 individual cases where Jews were having
difficulties fulfilling the requirements of Passover at their respective institutions.
Did you know?
 Aleph sent out 15 pairs of Tefillin last month to Jewish inmates and
military personnel. You can order yours today (see page 37)
Two new military chaplains were endorsed (appointed) by Aleph. Rabbi David
Gingold of Kobe, Japan has been selected for active duty in the U.S. Army. He joins
Rabbi Alan Kesler who was selected for the U.S. Navy Reserve and is now in
attendance at the Navy Officer School in Newport, RI. Kesler will then be attending
Navy Chaplain School at Fort Jackson. Gingold will begin Army Chaplain School in
September at Fort Jackson.
The Aleph House had its grand opening on March 12, to
serve as a place of worship for the growing number of
military coming to chaplaincy schools at Fort Jackson, SC.
Rabbi Sanford Dresin, directory of military programs at
Aleph Institute, said that the Aleph House will be a great
place for soldiers to get some rest, experience kosher
meals, and enjoy a familiar atmosphere while away from home.
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VOL. XVII NO. 5
4
NATIONAL
LIBERATOR
` Recent Letters Received
Dear Aleph,
I want to thank you again for sending me
the course on Bereshit. I have been
studying daily and cannot tell you how
much depth of understanding I have
gained in the short time since I have
received the course. I have taken this
oppotunity to share this course with a
Christian friend and together we have had
great discussions on what we have
learned. He is so impressed by this course
and has a great deal of respect and thanks
for me sharing this with him. . .
. . . Thank you so much for all of your
support. Your organization has helped me
in so many ways to develop my faith and
understanding of what it means to be
Jewish. If nothing else I will leave here
having spent my time to become a better
person, more observant with a greater
depth in faith than when I arrived.
Sincerely,
E.K.
* * *
Rabbi Boyarsky,
. . . I would like to say a big thank-you to all
the staff at Aleph. This Passover went by
great. Our packages were on time and
nothing was absent from them. We had
plenty of Matzah, grape juice and bitter
herbs. We were also able to light candles
both nights and complete the reading of
the whole Hagaddah on both nights!
With all the chaos that goes on here . . . I
didn't think that it would go smoothly, but
Baruch Hashem, it did. The chaplain and
volunteer chaplains did everything they
could to help us also. I myself was also
able to do the whole eight day fast thanks
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VOL. XVI NO. 5
to Aleph. It really means a lot to me for
everything that ALeph did for us. Thank
you so much.
practices and we shall see what shall be
revealed and what direction G-d has in
mind for me.
Sincerely,
Rest assured Rabbi, I will honor my
promise to you and I will continue to seek
any and all avenues that will help me to
align with G-d's will.
R.M.
* * *
Shalom Rabbi Katz,
I hope this finds you and finds you well.
Thank you for your time and for your
concern for my soul. You were very wise
in your approach to the challenge you
offered to me. You peaked my interest by
first sending books that explore the
spiritual and mystical side of Judaism.
After reading, The Divine
Commandments, and The Art of
Amazement, I was clearly able to see the
parallels between Judaism and the
Eastern practices I seem to favor.
I. . . have also received (thank you) three
weeks' worth of Chayenu. Obviously, I
cannot read Hebrew and it is a bit
advanced, but I have committed to
reading all of the English text in contains.
This is the material I always consider the
“dry dogma” and I question its relevance
today, but I must keep an open mind and
perhaps learn, and understand things I
had no knowledge of previously.
I'm including with this letter the application
form out of The Liberator for a
correspondence course. I'm thinking “The
Bible for the Clueless but Curious” would
be a good beginning of Torah study.
I have also decided to enlist the help of the
Jewish community here at Wakula, and I
have dropped a request to the Chaplain to
be put on callout for Friday services.
Love you too,
R.A.
* * *
-----Original Message----From: Berdugo, Raphael, Maj USAF
Sent: Monday, April 15, 2013
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Free Shavuot Offerings
for Jewish Military
Dear Mendy,
Thank you for everything that you do.
First of all I wanted to thank you for the
Pesach items that you sent. I was able
to distribute it to some very grateful
military personnel at my pre-Passover
event. A couple of which even told me
that it made their holiday. I am having a
pre-Shavuot event on May 6. See
attached slide. If the items can be here
by then, that would be great. Thank you
again and may you and your dedicated
staff be blessed with continued success
in all your endeavors. Have a great day!
Raphael
V/r
RAPHAEL BERDUGO, Ch, Maj,
USAF
Jewish Chaplain
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst
I will continue with my other spiritual
5
NATIONAL
LIBERATOR
SHAVUOT IS ON
May 15-16, 2013
THE ROLE OF CHILDREN
S
havuot is the second of the
t h re e m a j o r fe s t iva l s
(Passover being the first and
Sukkot the third) and comes
exactly fifty days after Passover
(6-7 Sivan). The Torah was
given by G-d to the Jewish
people on Mount Sinai over
3,300 years ago. Every year on
this day we renew our
acceptance of G-d's gift.
The word Shavuot means "weeks":
It marks the completion of the seven
weeks between Passover and Shavuot
(the 'Omer' period) during which
t h e Je w i s h p e o p l e p re p a re d
themselves for the giving of the
Torah. During this time they
cleansed themselves of the scars of
slavery and became a holy nation
ready to enter into an eternal
covenant with G-d with the giving of
the Torah.
Shavuot also means "oaths", with
the giving of the Torah, the Jewish
people and G-d exchanged oaths,
forming an everlasting covenant, not
to forsake one another.
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WHAT IS THE TORAH?
The Torah is composed of two
parts: the Written Law and the Oral
Law. The written Torah contains the
Five Books of Moses, the Prophets
and the Writings. Together with the
Written Torah, Moses was also given
the Oral Law which explains and
clarifies the Written law. It was
transmitted orally from generation
to generation and eventually
transcribed in the Talmud and
Midrash.
The word 'Torah' means instruction
or guide. The word 'mitzvah' means
both commandment and
connection. There are 613
commandments. T he positive
commandments ('do'), numbering
248, are equivalent to the number of
organs in the human body. The 365
negative commandments ('don't
do') are equivalent to the number of
blood vessels in the human body.
Through the study of Torah and
fulfillment of mitzvahs we connect
ourselves and our environment to
G-d. G-d's purpose in creating the
world is that we sanctify all of
creation, imbuing it with holiness
and spirituality.
Our Sages said that before
G-d gave the Torah to the Jewish
people, He demanded guarantors.
The Jews made a number of
suggestions, all rejected by G-d, until
they declared, "Our children will be
our guarantors that the Jewish
people will cherish and observe the
Torah"; G-d immediately accepted
them and agreed to give the Torah.
When the Torah is read in the
synagogue on Shavuot, G-d is
actually giving the Torah anew.
Therefore every Jewish man, woman
and especially children should make
every effort to be present in a
synagogue on the first day of
Shavuot, as the Ten Commandments
are read from the Torah.
IF YOU HAVE
CHILDREN THAT
NEED HELP
FINDING
A SYNAGOGUE TO
ATTEND, PLEASE
LET US KNOW.
The Giving of the Torah
The giving of the Torah was a farreaching spiritual event - one that
touched the essence of the Jewish soul
then and for all time. Our Sages have
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NATIONAL
LIBERATOR
Shavuot
compared it to a wedding between G-d
and the Jewish people. One of the many
names of Shavuot is the Day of the
Great Oath, (the word shavuah also
means oath). On this day G-d swore
eternal devotion to us, and we in turn
pledged everlasting loyalty to Him.
On this day we received a gift (matan)
from Above which we could not have
achieved with our own limited faculties.
We received the ability to
reach and touch the Divine; not only to
be cultivated human beings, but Divine
human beings who are capable of rising
above and beyond the limitations of
nature.
Why Wasn't the Torah
Given in Israel?
The Torah was given freely, in an
ownerless public place. If it had been
given in the land of Israel, the nations
of the world would say that they have
no portion in it.
Why was Mount Sinai chosen to be the
site for the giving of the Torah?
The conventional answer is that the
choice of Mount Sinai was to teach us
humility, since Mount Sinai was the
most humble of all mountains. If so,
why was it not given in a low lying
valley? Surely that would have been a
stronger lesson in humility?
Hence, we learn that a Jew must be able
to distinguish between being proud and
being arrogant. Arrogance is distasteful.
Being proud of one's roots is a virtue.
The Torah therefore, was given on a
humble mountain.
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Additional Names for Shavuot
Shavuot is known as Zman Matan
Torateinu the Season of the Gift our
Torah. On the sixth day of Sivan in the
year 2448 after creation, G-d gave the
Torah to the Jewish people on Mount
Sinai. The Feast of Weeks, on the sixth
and seventh of Sivan commemorates
this great event.
Shavuot is also called Atzeret meaning,
The Completion, because together
with Passover it forms the completion
of a unit. We gained our freedom on
Passover in order to receive the Torah on
Shavuot.
Another name for Shavuot is Yom
Habikurim or the Day of the First
Fruits. In an expression of thanks to Gd , beginning on Shavuot, each farmer
in the Land of Israel brought an
offering to the Temple of the first
w h e a t , b a r l e y, g r a p e s , fi g s
pomegranates, olives and dates that
grew in his field.
Finally, Shavuot is also called Chag
HaKatzir, the Festival of the Harvest,
because wheat, the last of the grains to
be ready to be cut, was harvested at this
time of the year. #
Candle-lighting for
Shavuot
In honor of the festival, candles
should be kindled. If you need
candles or candlesticks, please
have your chaplain contact us.
Tuesday night, May 14
Light candles 18 minutes before
sunset. One may light after
sunset from a pre-existing flame*.
Wednesday night, May 15:
Light candles one hour after
sunset. (and not before). Light
candles from pre-existing flame
*That has been burning
continuously since the onset of the
festival such as a pilot light, gas or
candle flame. If a pre-existing flame
is not available, one may ask a nonJew to light a new flame.
After lighting the candles, say
blessings 1 & 2 below on both
days.
Blessings:
Bo-ruch A-toh Ado-noi E-lo-heinu Me-lech Ha-olam.. .
1.
A-sher Ki-de-sha-nu Bemitz-vo-sov Vi-tzi-vo-nu Lehad-lik Ner Shel Yom Tov
2.
She-heh-che-yoh-nu Vi-kiye-mo-nu Ve-he-ge-o-nu
Liz-man Ha-zeh
7
NATIONAL
Shavuot
LIBERATOR
Laws & Customs
“SHAVUOT” IS AN OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZED HOLIDAY
One G-d, leading a life according to One Torah, which is
eternal and unchanging. Only through the Torah can we
fulfill our function imposed on us by the Creator, to be unto
G-d a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” thereby
being also a “...treasure for all humanity.”
Prison and military regulations have established that
legitimate days of work proscription for Jewish inmates or
military personnel include both days of the Shavuot
holiday. As with all Jewish holidays, the holiday begins
approximately at sundown of the previous day (evening of
Tuesday, May 14) and ends after dark of the last of the holy The giving of the Torah was far more than an historical
event. It was a far-reaching spiritual event – one that
days, Thursday, May 16.
touched the essence of the Jewish soul then and for all
time. Our sages have compared it to a wedding between
SHAVUOT OBSERVANCE
G-d and the Jewish people. We became His special nation
The proper observance of the Shavuot holiday entails the and He became our G-d.
lighting of holiday candles on each eve of the holiday, see
Siddur Tehillat Hashem p. 127 (note: look for pages in Each year, Shavuot is the time for us to reawaken and
table of contents in other Jewish prayer books), prayer strengthen our relationship with G-d. We can do so by
services on the eves and mornings of the holiday, the rededicating ourselves to the observance and study of the
recitation of certain special prayers specific to the holiday, Torah – our most precious heritage.
see also pages 250-65, the reading and study of special
hymns, the Ten Commandments and other portions of the
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Torah, and festive meals with appropriate blessings over
To commemorate us receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai,
wine or grape juice (“Kiddush”) and bread (“ha-Motzi,”
everyone should attend services to hear the reading of the
usually performed over special Challah bread), see CJL ch.
Ten Commandments. Those who cannot attend services
103 ¶ 2.
or do not have a Torah scroll, should read the Ten
Commandments from scripture. The Ten Commandments
can be found in Exodus (20:01) and should be read out of a
CUSTOMARY FOODS
It is customary to eat dairy food on the first day of Shavuot Jewish bible.
in addition to the required meals of wine (or grape juice),
bread, fish and meat. (Obviously, all religious laws apply SLEEPLESS NIGHT
against mixing or eating meat and dairy together.) See id. Many Jews observe a tradition of remaining awake all
¶¶ 3, 7.
night on the first night of the holiday to engage in the
study of Torah. It is customary to read the first and last
three passages of each Torah portion in the Bible on
On Shavuot, Almighty G-d revealed himself to give the the night of Shavuot, as well as the Prophets and
Torah on Mt. Sinai in the year 2,448 after creation (3,317 Writings. Naturally, if you do not have a Torah or
years ago). The Jewish declaration “Na'aseh V'Nishma –
Tanach, study whatever Torah is available to you.
ABOUT SHAVUOT
we will do and we will listen – was the commitment
necessary to our proper approach to receiving the Torah
and performing its Mitzvos. The Jewish person
understands that G-d's Torah has infinite wisdom beyond
the grasp of human intellect, and even when the reasons
for the Mitzvos seem to be beyond our understanding, we
must still fulfill them.
The only common factor throughout Jewish history, in all
lands and under all circumstances, is the Torah and
Mitzvos which Jews have observed tenaciously. The secret
of our existence is in our being “a people that dwell
singularly,” every one of us, man and woman, believing in
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VOL. XVII NO. 5
There are several reasons for this custom:
A) Sleep is a state of subconsciousness. The Jewish
people, imagining the holiness and power of
revelation, concluded that no matter how lofty their
conscious minds rose they could not properly prepare
for the supernatural revelation of G-d and His Torah.
They therefore chose a state of sleep to completely
leave their physical, limited consciousness and enter a
more spiritual / transcendent state. G-d's direction
however demands for us to experience the Torah
8
Shavuot Laws & Customs
within our physical limited space – to enter the lower C) According to the Zohar, a classic Kabbalistic work,
world with G-dliness. Hence, we need to stay up all Shavuot is described as the wedding day of the people
of Israel (the bride) and the Torah (the groom.) Much
night to rectify the misguided, however lofty, sleep.
had to be done by the bride to prepare herself
B) One Midrashic source states that on the night spiritually for her wedding day. As a dowry the People
preceding the giving of the Torah many of the people of Israel brought to their marriage their hours of study
of Israel fell complacently asleep. They did not eagerly during the previous evening. Accompanied by this
anticipate the world-shaking event that was about to “trousseau” of learning, the Jewish people came to
unfold. This callous indifference was an affront to G-d. their betrothed with the full recognition and
In order to amend (Tikun in Hebrew) the wrong of our appreciation of His virtues and value.
forefathers, we remain awake the entire night,
awaiting the dawn of the next day when we celebrate CANDLE-LIGHTING FOR SHAVUOT
the receiving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai.
SEE PAGE 7.
Military personnel who would like any of the books below should send an email to: [email protected]
Free Spanish Siddur now
available from Aleph
Aleph now has Spanish prayer books
available for Jewish inmates and Jewish
military personnel. If you read Spanish and
do not have a prayer book , please write to
Spanish prayer book c/o Aleph. If you know of another Jewish
inmate in your facility that only reads Spanish and may not be
able to read this , please bring this to his/her attention.
Free Pocket-Size Siddur
(Prayer Book)
This is a pocket sized soft cover
complete prayer book in Hebrew and
English. These books are available for
Jewish military personnel and inmates
who have filled out aleph application form and are
confirmed members of Aleph. If you do not have a
siddur, please write to “Siddur” c/o Aleph
Free Paperback Travel Artscroll
Heb./Eng. Talmuds Available
Aleph now has available a limited amount of free
Paperback Travel Edition Artscroll Hebrew
English Talmud books available to any inmate
or soldier that would like to study the Talmud. We
have a few different tractates available but we
cannot get you a specific tractate. If you are interested in receiving
gone free tractate, please write to “Free Talmud Offer” C/O Aleph
aThis offer has been made possible through the generosity of Asher
Milstein in honor of his brother Elisha Milstein.
9
VOL. XVII NO. 5
Aleph’s Chumash
Aleph’s one-of-a-kind Chumash just
arrived and is still available to Jewish
military personnel, Jewish inmates and
their families. The text and content is
revolutionary for a Torah this size
(pocket size 4” x 6”) and comes with a
multicam camouflage cover.
To order your copy, please write to:
“Aleph Chumash” c/o Aleph Institute
Free Stone Edition Chumash
Available (Hard-cover, travel-size)
Aleph now has available a limited
amount of free Stone Edition Torahs
available.
Please write to “Free Stone Chumash” c/o Aleph. This
offer has been made possible through the generosity of
Asher Milstein in honor of his brother Elisha Milstein.
“Advice for Life”
Now Available
From the correspondence of the
Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem
M. Schneerson of blessed memory.
An anecdotal photo book.
Write to: “Advice for Life” c/o Aleph
9
NATIONAL
LIBERATOR
With Fewer to Lock Up, Prisons Shut Doors
Declining Inmate Population,
Partly Thanks to Softer
Sentences, Spurs Some CashStrapped States to Close
Facilities
By DAN STRUMPF
America's prison boom is starting to fizzle.
For decades, the country had little trouble
filling its ever-growing number of prisons,
thanks in large part to tough-on-crime
policies and harsh drug laws. But a
combination of falling crime rates, softer
sentences for low-level and nonviolent
offenders and a dwindling appetite for hefty
prison budgets has begun to whittle away at
the number of people behind bars. That is
allowing many states to do what a few years
ago seemed unthinkable: close prisons.
Democrat, is aiming to close four adult and
three youth corrections facilities in a bid to
save the state $70 million.
quarter from a peak of 72,600 in 1999 to
about 55,000 in 2011, the latest data
available.
It isn't clear whether the nation's total prison
count is shrinking. Some states, including
Pennsylvania, are consolidating old facilities
into new ones rather than eliminating
capacity. In recent years, private-prison
operators built new facilities, though analysts
say the pace of construction has slowed.
Texas closed a state prison for the first time
everin August 2011. Until the closure, the
state had built an average of more than three
prisons a year since 1990, according to the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Still, there does appear to be a broader shift
in the corrections system. From 1990
through 2009, the number of people in state
and federal prisons more than doubled to 1.6
million, while the number of prisons rose 41%
to 1,821 from 1990 through 2005, according
to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Then, in
2010, the inmate population fell for the first
time in nearly four decades. It fell again in
2011, the bureau said.
“You've got to distinguish who you're afraid of
and who you're mad at. You're afraid of child
molesters, murderers and rapists," said State
Sen. John Whitmire, who has helped lead an
overhaul of the Texas prison system. "People
like low-level offenders, you're not afraid of
them."
Corrections officers unions say the closures
are premature and would lead to more
dangerous prison conditions.
"The loss of bed space as a result of these
closures will make the remaining facilities
that much more overcrowded, volatile and
dangerous," said Anders Lindall, spokesman
for the Illinois branch of the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, which represents corrections
workers. The Quinn administration disputes
those claims.
Comprehensive numbers on prison closures
are hard to come by. But the National
Conference of State Legislatures shows that
35 adult correctional facilities in 15 states
have closed in the past two years, and
governors in states including Pennsylvania,
New York and Illinois are pushing for more
closures this year.
The declines have been uneven. Roughly
70% of the 2011 decline in state prison rolls
was due to a massive drop in California's
inmate population owing to a Supreme Court
order that the state reduce overcrowding.
Many of those inmates are now in county jails
or other facilities. Some states, including
Tennessee and Kentucky, saw their prison
populations rise in 2011.
"This is the first time we've really seen so
many states moving to close so many prisons
so fast," said Tracy Huling, an expert on
prisons who is a fellow at the Open Society
Foundations, a liberal advocacy group.
Still, several states are experiencing a
meaningful drop. Florida, Texas, New York
and Michigan each shed more than 1,000
prisoners in 2011. Each of those states
closed prisons in the past two years.
In rural areas, which often depend on prisons
for jobs, a closure can be particularly difficult.
In early January, Pennsylvania officials said
they planned to shut prisons in Cresson and
Greensburg and replace them with a single
facility near State College.
The closures haven't been without
opposition. Corrections unions and
community leaders worry about job losses
and say a result could be overcrowding in the
prisons that remain.
"There's no question that the tide has
turned," said Martin Horn, who ran the
corrections departments in New York City
and Pennsylvania in the 1990s and 2000s
and is now a lecturer at the John Jay College
of Criminal Justice in New York.
“It's going to hurt the restaurants, the
hardware store, every business place here is
going to be affected," said Patrick Mulhern,
the longtime mayor of Cresson, east of
Pittsburgh. "Five hundred employees in one
fell swoop—that's an awful lot."
Cash-strapped states are increasingly
turning to corrections budgets in search of
cuts. From 1982 through 2001, state
corrections budgets more than tripled to a
peak of $53.5 billion, according to the Bureau
of Justice Statistics. Now, spending is 9%
below that level. In Illinois, Gov. Pat Quinn, a
Policy experts attribute the declines partly to
measures aimed at reducing the number of
nonviolent offenders behind bars. In New
York, they cite the 2009 relaxation of the
state's tough Rockefeller-era drug laws.
Prison rolls in New York fell by nearly a
A version of this article appeared February
11, 2013, on page A3 in the U.S. edition of
The Wall Street Journal, with the headline:
With Fewer to Lock Up, Prisons Shut Doors.
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VOL. XVII NO. 5
10
NATIONAL
LIBERATOR
A 'nobody's' legacy:
How a semi-literate ex-con changed the legal system
By M. Alex Johnson and Vidya Rao,
NBCNews.com
Florida State Archives Clarence Earl
Gideon was 50 when he was
convicted of burglary in 1961.
If you've heard of Clarence Earl
Gideon at all, it's probably because of
a movie you had to watch in school.
He deserves better, though, because
50 years ago Monday he
fundamentally changed the
American legal system and your
rights if you are accused of a state
crime.
I n G i d e o n v. Wa i n w r i g h t, a
unanimous Supreme Court declared
on March 18, 1963, that the states
were required to provide legal
counsel for defendants in felony
cases who could not afford an
attorney. In doing so, it accepted the
reasoning of a poorly educated
Florida gambler and ex-con who
wrote out his habeas corpus petition
to the court by hand.
Federal courts had been required to
p r o v i d e c o u n s e l fo r i n d i g e n t
defendants in felony cases since
1938. But over the next 25 years, the
Supreme Court let several
opportunities pass by to impose the
same rule on state courts, which had
discretion to develop their own ways
to ensure a fair trial in cases that
didn't involve the death penalty.
"If an obscure Florida convict named
Clarence Earl Gideon had not sat
down in prison with a pencil and
paper to write a letter to the
Supreme Court, and if the Supreme
Court had not taken the trouble to
look at the merits in that one crude
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VOL. XVII NO. 5
petition among all the bundles of
mail it must receive every day, the
vast machinery of American law
would have gone on functioning
undisturbed," Robert Kennedy, then
the U.S. attorney general, said in an
address in Boston later that year
(.pdf ).
"But Gideon did write that letter," he
said. "The court did look into his case.
He was retried with the help of
competent defense counsel, found
not guilty and released from prison
after two years of punishment for a
crime he did not commit. And the
whole course of legal history has
been changed. I know of few better
examples than that of a democratic
principle in action."
Today, indigent defendants are
legally guaranteed representation
across the U.S. But in the 50 years
since the decision, the quality of their
representation has been called into
doubt. In a new book timed to mark
the anniversary, "Chasing Gideon,"
author Karen Houppert argues that
"we have not delivered on the
promise of Gideon."
"These public defenders I talked to
were looking at 200 felony cases or
225 misdemeanor cases for a single
attorney," Houppert, a former staff
writer for The Village Voice and
media fellow at the Kaiser Family
Foundation, said.
"As a result, they're forced to
persuade people to plead guilty
without investigating what actually
happened, without talking to a
single witness in the case," she said.
"There are thousands of people
languishing in jail without a lawyer
— and thanks to budget constraints,
people aren't really getting their day
in court with a lawyer standing there
defending them."
A court looking for an opening
Clarence Earl Gideon, 50, was
arrested June 3, 1961, after about $5
in change and some beer and soda
were stolen from a pool room in
Panama City, Fla. Representing
himself because the trial judge
rejected his request for a courtappointed lawyer, Gideon was
convicted Aug. 4, 1961, of breaking
and entering with intent to commit
petty larceny. He was sentenced to
five years in prison.
Read Clarence Earl Gideon's
handwritten habeas corpus petition
to the Supreme Court.
While in prison, Gideon read up on
the law, and he became convinced
that the federal requirement to
provide counsel had to apply to the
states through the 14th
Amendment, which courts have long
held extended the Bill of Rights to
the states.
Hitting a roadblock when he sought
help first from the FBI and then from
the Florida Supreme Court, Gideon
— probably with the assistance of his
cellmate, Joseph Peel, a lawyer who
had been convicted of killing a
judge's wife — mailed a
handwritten five-page petition in
January 1962 to the U.S. Supreme
Court, which agreed to hear his
appeal.
11
NATIONAL
LIBERATOR
A 'nobody's' legacy: How a semi-literate ex-con changed the legal system
(The case has gone down in memory
as Gideon v. Wainwright, thanks to
the book "Gideon's Trumpet" by
Anthony Lewis and the 1980 TV
movie of the same name starring
Henry Fonda. But right up until the
court reached its decision, it was
actually called Gideon v. Cochran —
Louie L. Wainwright became famous
as the respondent only because he
replaced H.G. Cochran as director of
the Florida Division of Corrections
after the court heard arguments on
Jan. 15, 1963.)
Bruce Jacob, the assistant state
attorney general who argued
Florida's side, believed the court was
looking for a chance to overturn a
1942 case called Betts v. Brady, in
which it declined to impose an
absolute rule requiring legal
representation for every indigent
criminal defendant in noncapital
cases, he wrote in a 2003 paper for
the Stetson University Law review on
the 40th anniversary of Gideon.
Read the full paper by Bruce Jacob
(.pdf )
His goal, he wrote, was to limit the
scope of whatever new standard the
court came up with.
"We hoped ... that the new rule would
not be made retroactive, because we
did not want such a decision to result
in the release of large numbers of
prisoners from the state penitentiary
who had been convicted without
counsel," he wrote.
If there was any doubt about the
court's objectives, it was likely erased
when the justices appointed Abe
Fortas, one of the most prominent
lawyers in America, to represent
Gideon. Fortas was Vice President
Lyndon Johnson's personal lawyer
and was appointed to the Supreme
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VOL. XVII NO. 5
Court just two years later.
with the law.
In a 1969 letter to the Harvard Law
Record, Jacob wrote that it was
"obvious, during the argument, how
deeply the court was committed to
the overthrow of Betts v. Brady and
its progeny":
As a result of Gideon v. Wainwright,
more than 4,000 Florida inmates got
retrials or were simply released,
Florida corrections records show.
(There's no reliable record of how
many retrials ended in acquittals.)
Never in the eighteen cases which I
had previously argued in the Florida
Supreme Court and other appellate
courts had I encountered anything
like the zeal and emotion that
emerged in the questioning. Anger
seemed to characterize my most
relentless questioner. ... Florida's
position was obviously hopeless; my
ten months of work devoted to the
case were of little avail.
Jacob wrote in his 2003 law review
article that even though he was on
the losing side, it was clearly the right
d e c i s i o n . J a co b we n t o n to a
distinguished legal career — which
included stints as a public defender
and as an advocate for legal reform.
He taught at several law schools,
including Harvard's, and served as
dean of the Stetson University
College of Law in DeLand, Fla.
The decision came down two
months later, written by Justice Hugo
Black, who had been on the losing
side of the 1942 Betts decision.
Forty-seven of the 50 states now
have statewide public defender
offices, according to the National
Center for State Courts (individual
counties serve that function in
Alabama, Maine and Utah).
"From the very beginning, our state
and national constitutions and laws
have laid great emphasis on
procedural and substantive
safeguards designed to assure fair
trials before impartial tribunals in
which every defendant stands equal
before the law," Black wrote. "This
noble ideal cannot be realized if the
poor man charged with crime has to
face his accusers without a lawyer to
assist him."
Five months later, Gideon was
retried, this time with a courtappointed lawyer. The new jury
acquitted him after only an hour of
deliberation.
'He had the guts to say: “That's not
fair"’
Even if they're not always effective,
those offices are a monumental
legacy to Gideon, Houppert said.
"It's incredibly moving to read
Gideon's letters — he was making
such a good and sincere argument.
And it's touching to me that he was
somewhat illiterate — it's full of
spelling mistakes and handwritten in
pencil," she said.
"As Americans, it's moving to us to
see someone take a stand against
the big guys, that he had the guts to
say: 'That's not fair. I'm an American,
and this isn't right.'
“It's incredible, because he was
nobody."
Clarence Earl Gideon died of cancer
in 1972, apparently without ever
again running into serious trouble
12
NATIONAL
LIBERATOR
Federal offense laws overly intrusive
By Robert Bennett,
For the Deseret News
Published: Monday, April 1 2013
To d a y, 2 0 9 , 0 0 0 o f A m e r i ca ' s
1,600,000 inmates are in federal
prison, which means that 13.5
percent of crimes committed in this
country are now federal offenses,
h a l f o f t h e m i n vo l v i n g d r u g
violations.
Federal intrusion into the arena of
common crime prosecution, with
mandatory sentencing guidelines,
has been a politically popular but
very expensive bad idea, in human
terms as well as financial ones.
The Constitution gave Congress
the power to decide what
constitutes a federal offense but
tacitly left the responsibility to
deal with common crime —
a s s a u l t , r o b b e r y, m u r d e r,
disorderly conduct, etc. — to state
law enforcement officials and
state courts. The assumption was
that federal police power and
federal courts would be used only
for truly federal offenses, such as
treason or bribery of a federal
official. For nearly a century, that's
the way things worked, with states
free to determine what was a
crime, what the punishment for it
should be and what standards of
proof would be required to
convict.
That began to change with the
Civil War. Many state actions had
been abusive (such as the
"extermination order" that drove
Mormons out of Missouri) and the
federal government became
more assertive in overturning
them. The Constitution itself was
amended, abolishing a state's
right to sanction slavery, refuse
citizenship to former slaves or
deny them the vote.
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VOL. XVII NO. 5
The rise of the Industrial Age
brought federal laws that dealt
with business practices that were
immune to state regulation. When
the Great Depression created a
national crisis, the number of
federal regulations, federal agents
and federal prosecutors grew
even more.
Th e n c r i m e ra te s s o a re d i n
American cities and "Get tough on
crime!" became a popular political
slogan. Members of Congress
responded by once again
increasing the scope of federal
police power, particularly with
respect to drug crimes. Today,
209,000 of America's 1,600,000
inmates are in federal prison,
which means that 13.5 percent of
crimes committed in this country
are now federal offenses, half of
them involving drug violations.
In addition to showing concern by
making many drug crimes federal
offenses, Congress demonstrated
toughness by attaching severe
mandatory sentences to them,
denying judges any discretion
with respect to what the
punishment would be. The results
have been unreasonably harsh on
offenders and financially
burdensome on taxpayers.
Case in point: A 20-year-old man
was arrested for possession of
$350 worth of marijuana. Because
he was carrying a gun (which he
never used) federal guidelines
sentenced him to 55 years in
federal prison. Had he not had the
marijuana but instead shot
someone and pled guilty to
manslaughter, his sentence would
have been far less than that. At
$40,000 a year, he will cost
taxpayers $2.2 million and is one
of 100,000 prisoners convicted on
drug charges and sentenced by
guidelines. We are spending
billions to warehouse people who
may not pose any current danger
to society.
There is a better way to do this.
Texas is certainly tough on crime
— consider how often it enforces
the death penalty — but also has a
program of evaluating not only
the seriousness of the crime, but
also how dangerous the criminal
would be if he were released.
Once convinced that an individual
is neither a threat nor likely to
commit another crime, Texas
grants early release. This has
resulted in huge financial savings
and restored human dignity and
opportunity to the individuals
involved. Those worried about
public safety should note that the
crime rate in Texas has gone down
faster than the national average
during the years the program has
been in place.
Federal courts are the right places
for truly federal crimes — antitrust violations, wire fraud,
n a t i o n a l s e c u r i t y b re a c h e s,
international money laundering,
kidnapping and the like — but
federal dockets should be cleared
of cases that can be dealt with on
the state level. Federal intrusion
into the arena of common crime
prosecution, with mandatory
sentencing guidelines, has been a
politically popular but ver y
expensive bad idea, in human
terms as well as financial ones.
Robert Bennett, former U.S. Senator
from Utah, is a part-time teacher,
researcher and lecturer at the
University of Utah's Hinckley
Institute of Politics.
13
NATIONAL
LIBERATOR
Unjust Mandatory Minimums
Attorney General Eric Holder Jr.
recently said that his top priority is
to improve the criminal justice
system. He can start by pushing
Congress and the United States
Sentencing Commission to fix the
unfair problem of excessive
mandatory minimum sentences.
The commission reported
recently that in the 16-year period
through fiscal year 2011, the
annual number of federal
offenders “increased
substantially,” from 37,091 to
76,216. The commission
previously explained that
“excessively severe” mandatory
minimum sentences added
heavily to this increase and to
overcrowding in prisons.
Federal judges are acutely aware
of this issue. Judge John Gleeson
of Federal District Court in
Brooklyn, for one, has been a
vigorous critic of mandatory
minimum sentences. In an
opinion last year, he criticized
federal prosecutors for seeking
those sentences against
defendants who are not “leaders
and managers of drug
enterprises” and Congress for
laws that focus too heavily on the
type and quantity of the drugs
involved in a crime rather than the
role the defendant played. This
has meant that low-level
offenders are often given
sentences equal to those of major
offenders.
Recently in another opinion,
Judge Gleeson analyzed a
related problem. The sentencing
commission sets guidelines
designed to help ensure that
defendants in similar situations
receive similar punishments.
While the guidelines permit
judges some ability to tailor
sentences if necessary, they still
look to drug type and quantity
rather than a criminal’s role
because they track Congress’s
approach.
This compounds the problem for
low-level offenders, who make up
93 percent of those convicted of
drug trafficking. Judge Gleeson
called on the commission to
fashion fair sentencing ranges
based on an offender’s role and to
reduce all sentencing ranges for
drug trafficking by a third. The
trouble with mandatory minimum
sentences is that it is impossible
to make them fair and just in every
case. It’s time for the attorney
general, Congress and the
sentencing commission to reform
this scheme.
California to begin operating "Massive Open Online Prisons”
Incarcerated Californians will be imprisoned from the comfort of their own homes
by Daniel Luzer
California Governor Jerry Brown
today announced a major reform
plan for the state’s corrections
system. “An online prison
system,” he explained, “willsave
the state billions and reduce
recidivism.”
Under the program, called
Massive Open Online Prisons (or
MOOPs), incarcerated
Californians will be imprisoned
from the comfort of their own
homes. They will log on every
hour to check in with state
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VOL. XVII NO. 5
corrections and enjoy one hour
each day to walk around their own
yards. Ankle bracelets will ensure
that they do not stray beyond 30
yards of their houses or
apartments.
According to MOOP developer
Peter Miller, formerly a professor
of information technology at the
University of Pittsburgh:
Brick-and-mortar prisons are
unlikely to keep up with
California’s corrections needs:
the world would have to construct
more than four new 40,000-
person prisons per week to
accommodate the children who
willreach criminal maturity age by
2025.
Prisons are also under
tremendous financial pressure,
especially in the United States,
where rocketing costs have
resulted in a backlash from
politicians, reform advocates and
the incarcerated demanding to
know what their money is going
towards.
Since 1980, prisons and
associated correctional program
14
NATIONAL
LIBERATOR
California to begin operating "Massive Open Online Prisons”
Incarcerated Californians will be imprisoned from the comfort of their own homes
costs have increased by 436
percent in inflation adjusted
dollars. It costs the state $47,102
a year on average to incarcerate
someone in a state prison.
California spends approximately
$9 billion a year on its correctional
system.
There is reason to hope that this
online prison system is a positive
development, says Erin Kane,
who heads the CornellCenter for
Prison Reform.
MOOPs, which have
incorporated decades of
research on how people are
punished best, could free prison
guards from the drudgery of
repetitive monitoring. What’s
more, technology can record
online prisoners’ every mouse
click, an ability that promises to
transform incarceration research
by generating data that could
improve corrections in the future.
“We can have microanalytics on
every website, every computer
game, right down to what media
each prisoner prefers,” says
Kane.
“In 25 years of being a criminal,
I’ve never seen anything move
this fast,” says repeat offender
Mitch Marshall, taking a break
from stealing credit card online
information from senior citizens.
In fact, if I’m arrested for this latest
offense, I can go straight to jail,
without even leaving my desk.”
Daniel Luzer is the web editor of the
Washington Monthly
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VOL. XVII NO. 5
15
NATIONAL
LIBERATOR
The WEEK IN REVIEW
NASO
Tribes
Week of: May 12-18
Based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher
Rebbe, Courtesy of MeaningfulLife.com
Every weekday, the Jew places on
his head above his brain, and on his
arm opposite his heart, a pair of
tefillin—black leather boxes
containing small parchment scrolls
on which are inscribed the basic
tenets of our faith, chief amongst
them the proclamation: “Hear O
Israel, the L-rd our G-d, the L-rd is
one.”
Our sages tell us that G-d, too, dons
tefillin. And what is inscribed in G-d's
tefillin? “Who are like Your people
Israel, one nation on earth.” As we
attest to the oneness of G-d, G-d
attests to the oneness and integrity of
His chosen people.
Yet from its very beginnings, this “one
nation” has been comprised of twelve
distinct tribes. Jacob had twelve
sons; before his passing he blessed
them “each man according to his
individual blessing,” granting Judah
the majesty of the lion,Issachar the
perseverance of the donkey, Dan the
ingenuity of the snake,Naphtali the
swiftness of the gazelle, and so on.
Each tribe was thereby given a
distinct vocation and role: Judah
produced kings and legislators;
I s s a c h a r, s c h o l a r s ; Z e b u l u n ,
seafarers and merchants; warriors
came from Gad, schoolteachers from
Shimon, olive growers from Asher,
shepherds from Manasseh, and so
on.
The descendants of Jacob's children
preserved their tribal identities
throughout their exile in Egypt. When
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VOL. XVII NO. 5
the Red Sea parted to allow them
passage, it split into twelve
pathways—one for each tribe. Each
tribe was counted separately in the
various censuses taken of the people
of Israel; each had its own stone on
theHigh Priest's breastplate, its own
flag (in the color of its stone), its
designated place in line when the
people of Israel journeyed through
the desert, and its designated
position when they camped around
the Sanctuary (mirroring the places
that Jacob designated for his sons
around his bier at his funeral). Twelve
spies, each representing his
respective tribe, made up the
reconnaissance mission sent in
preparation for the conquest of the
Holy Land. Once there, each tribe
was allotted its own territory suited
for its particular vocation; there was
even a time when certain restrictions
were placed on marriages between
the tribes to prevent the ownership of
land from passing from one tribe to
the other.
Repetitious Days
The tribulations of exile and
dispersion have blurred the
delineation of Israel into its twelve
tribes. Today, most Jews have no
certain knowledge as to which tribe
they belong to. But the concept of
“one nation,” distinguished by various
tribal identities, remains. While all
Jews are bound by the same Torah
and the same 613 mitzvot,
communities differ in the texts of their
prayers, their application of certain
laws, and their observance of certain
customs. By the same token, the
traditional partnership between the
“ I s s a c h a r s ” a n d t h e
“Zebuluns”—between those who
devote their lives to the study of Torah
and those who support them with the
proceeds of their business
dealings—remains a time-honored
institution in every Jewish community.
There are twelve days on our
calendar on which we touch base
with our tribal identities and the
“tribalism” of Israel. These are the
first twelve days of the month of
Nissan, when we remember the
dedication of the Sanctuary by the
twelve tribal heads or nesi'im
(singular, nassi) of Israel.
The Sanctuary was the “Tent of
Meeting” which G-d instructed
Moses to build to serve as the
dwelling place of His manifest
presence (shechinah) within the
camp of Israel. The Sanctuary
accompanied the people of Israel for
their forty-year journey through the
desert, following which it was set up
in various places in the Holy Land,
until a permanent home for G-d was
built in Jerusalem by King Solomon.
As a rule, the service in the
Sanctuary did not relate in any overt
way to Israel's division into tribes. It
was carried out by Aaron and his
sons, whom G-d had chosen to serve
as the emissaries of all the people.
Thus, when the Sanctuary was
inaugurated on the first of Nissan in
the year 2449 from creation (1312
BCE—one year after the Exodus),
and the nesi'im of the twelve tribes
approached Moses with the desire to
bring gifts in honor of the Sanctuary's
dedication, Moses hesitated to
accept their offerings, feeling that an
offering by a single representative on
behalf of the people as a whole would
be more appropriate. But G-d desired
that each tribe should be individually
recognized and represented in the
establishment of His “dwelling” within
the Israelite camp, and instructed
Moses to “accept it from them . . . One
nassi a day, one nassi a day, shall
they bring their offerings for the
inauguration of the altar” (Numbers
7:5, 11).
So for twelve days the nesi'im
16
NATIONAL
LIBERATOR
The WEEK IN REVIEW - Naso
brought their gifts. On the first of
Nissan, Nachshon ben Aminadav,
the nassi of the tribe of Judah,
presented a series of offerings to the
Sanctuary; on the second of Nissan,
Nethanel ben Tzuar, thenassi of
Issachar, brought his tribes offerings;
on the third, it was the turn of Eliav
ben Cheilon, nassi of Zebulun; and
so on until the twelfth of Nissan, when
the nassi of Naftali, Achira ben Einan,
presented his tribe's contribution.
To d a y w e c o m m e m o r a t e t h e
Sanctuary's dedication by reading,
on each of these days, a daily section
of the nassi—the verses describing
the offerings of the day. After
recounting the offering brought by
that day's tribe, we conclude with the
prayer:
May it be Your will, L-rd my G-d and
G-d of my fathers, that if I, Your
servant, am from the tribe of . . .
whose section of the nassi I have
read today in Your Torah, may all the
holy sparks and holy illuminations
that are included within the holiness
of this tribe shine upon me, to grant
me understanding and intelligence in
Your Torah and in my awe of You, to
do Your will all the days of my life . . .
What is most puzzling about the
nassi readings, however, is that they
each describe exactly the same
offering! On the first day, we read
how the nassi of Judah brought “one
silver dish, weighing 130 shekels,
one silver bowl of 70 shekels . . . both
filled with fine flour mixed with oil . . . a
golden spoon, ten shekels in weight,
filled with incense . . . an ox . . . a ram .
. . a sheep . . . a he-goat . . .” and so
on—some thirty-five items in all. On
the next day, we read how the nassi
of Issachar brought those very same
35 items, identical in every
way—down to the weight of each
vessel and the age of each animal.
The same occurs when we read of
Zebulun's offering on the third day,
Reuben's offering on the fourth, and
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VOL. XVII NO. 5
so on to Naftali's offering on the
twelfth of Nissan.
Indeed, this is how the account
appears in the seventh chapter of the
Book of Numbers, from which the
nassi readings are taken. The Torah,
which is often so “mincing” with
words that it expresses many
complex laws with a single extra
letter, recounts each nassi's offerings
separately, repeating the detailed list
twelve times. Thus it expends
seventy-two “extra” verses in its
account of these offerings, making
the section of Naso ( Numbers
4:21–7:89) the longest in the Torah
(176 verses).
Why, then, do we say that each day's
nassi reading calls forth the unique
“holy sparks and holy illuminations
that are included within the holiness
of this tribe”? And if the “sparks” and
“illuminations” represented by these
offerings are not unique, but common
to all the tribes of Israel, why did each
tribe bring its offerings separately,
and bring them each on a different
day?
Six Wagons and Twelve
Oxen
In addition to the offerings they
brought on the first twelve days of
Nissan, there was another
contribution made by the twelve tribal
heads in connection with the
Sanctuary's inauguration. Six
wagons, each with a pair of oxen,
were given for the purpose of
transporting the Sanctuary. Each
tribe contributed one ox and joined
with another tribe to bring one of the
six wagons. This gift was presented
by all twelve nesi'im together on the
first of Nissan, as described in the
nassi reading of that day.
An examination of these two groups
of gifts shows that they both address
the same paradox: the paradox of a
“one nation” composed of various
“tribes.” Both these offerings—each
in its own way—show how, though
Moses' vision of a common offering
from all the people of Israel was
rejected in favor of individual
offerings by each tribe, these in fact
actually underscore the unity of
Israel.
How, indeed, do a people comprised
of various tribes, each with its own
character, temperament, talents and
vocation, achieve union as “one
nation”?
One approach is to focus on our
“interdependence”: to appreciate
that since we share a common
goal—namely, to build for G-d “a
dwelling in the physical world”—and
since we each have a crucial role to
play in the achievement of this goal,
our various “tribes” and types
complement and fulfill one another to
create a single people. In other
words, our differences themselves
are what unite us. Since the entity
“Israel” and what it stands for would
be incomplete were any one “tribe”
missing from the equation, no Jew is
fully Jewish without his relationship
with every other type of Jew.
This is what the nesi'im
demonstrated with their gift of “six
covered wagons and twelve oxen, a
wagon for each two of the nesi'im,
and for each one, an ox” (Numbers
7:3). True, they were saying, we are
comprised of various “tribes,” each
distinguished by its particular
character. True, we each bring our
own distinct contribution to the
fulfillment of Israel's mission. Yet we
recognize that while we each have
been blessed with something our
fellow “tribes” do not have, it is they
who provide us with what we lack.
Half a wagon is useless—we must
combine our gifts in order to have
something with which to transport the
“Tent of Meeting” in our journey
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through the spiritual desert that is our
material world. And while we may
perhaps be able to produce a
complete “ox” by our own efforts, it
takes two oxen to pull our common
wagon.
There is, however, another aspect to
the unity of Israel—a vision that sees
the many and diverse vocations and
personalities that make up the
Jewish nation as but the variant
expressions of a singular essence. It
is not only that all these callings work
in tandem to achieve a collective goal
(as with the oxen and wagons), but
that they are all intrinsically one. The
nation of Israel is a single soul
shining through a many-faceted
prism: while each facet unleashes its
individual hue in the ray it refracts,
the light they all convey is one and
the same.
This is the idea expressed by the
second group of offerings—those
brought by the nesi'im over the first
twelve days of Nissan. As we said,
these offerings were all exactly the
same, down to the weight of the silver
in each plate and the age of each
lamb, yet the Torah recounts each
o f f e r i n g s e p a r a t e l y. I n i t s
commentary on these verses, the
Midrash expounds on the allegorical
significance of these gifts. Each and
every detail of these thirty-five
items—the type of vessel, its
material, its weight, the species of the
animal offerings, their number, their
age, etc.—symbolized something.
But to each tribe they symbolized
something else. To Judah they
represented different aspects of the
tribe's role as sovereigns and
leaders; to Issachar, they all
pertained to scholarship and Torah
study; and so on (see Midrash
Rabbah, Bamidbar 13 and 14).
This explains the allocation of these
offerings to twelve different days, and
their twelve-fold “repetition” in the
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To r a h . T h e To r a h w i s h e s t o
emphasize that each tribe brought its
own experience and perspective to
its offering. The very same act was
differently colored by the individual
nature of each of its actors; each was
expressing the same eternal truth via
his own personality and lifestyle.
Unity in Two Dimensions
Hence the necessity for both sets of
offerings by the leaders of the tribes
of Israel.
With their first offering of six wagons
and twelve oxen, the leaders of the
tribes expressed how our differences
themselves, when applied in concert
and harmony, unify us as “one
people.”
The second group of offerings
expressed a more profound unity:
that even as we each pursue our
divinely ordained role, each living his
life on his “day” in his way, we are all
doing the same thing. For in origin
and essence we are one, and our
i n d i v i d u a l l i v e s a n d
accomplishments are but the many
expressions of a single quest.
The first aspect of our unity concerns
only the end, but not the means, of
our national mission. It sees the
common goal that is the ultimate
purpose of it all; but the process of
life—what we actually do to attain this
goal—remains an area of difference
and disparity. So even if our presentday efforts are guided by, and
permeated with, the vision of our
common objective, our actual lives
are conducted apart and
disconnected. The second aspect,
however, sees an intrinsic oneness in
the process of life itself. Even before
our individual paths have converged
upon the same destination, it sees in
the many ways in which we apply our
particular talents and abilities a
single process, a single deed, a
single endeavor: making our lives a
“Tent of Meeting,” a place to house
the goodness and perfection of our
Creator.
BEHAALOS’CHA
Week of: May 19-25
The Anatomy of a Flame
Though it occupies only three verses
in the beginning of ourParshah, the
mitzvah of lighting the menorah gives
the whole of Behaalotecha("When
you raise light") its name. As detailed
in the source-texts cited in our
"Parshah In-Depth" section, the
lamps of the menorah are seen as
representing the souls of Israel, and
the various laws governing the
menorah's construction and the
lighting of its lamps are explained by
the Chassidic masters as instructive
of the nature and structure of the
people of Israel, the manner in which
the potential of the soul of man is to
be ignited, the duties of the
"lamplighter", and numerous other
insights into the spiritual art of
lamplighting.
The foundation of the
menorah/people lamp/soul equation
is King Solomon's declaration in the
Book of Proverbs: "A lamp of G-d, the
soul of man." The founder of Chabad
Chassidism, Rabbi Schneur Zalman
of Liadi, delves into this metaphor,
finding in the components of the
physical lamp a detailed anatomy of
the human soul. The following is
based on Rabbi Schneur Zalman's
analysis and subsequent discourses
penned by the later rebbes of
Chabad.
The Flame: Antipodal Strivings
The flame surges upwards, as if to
tear free from the wick and lose itself
in the great expanses of energy that
gird the heavens. But even as it
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strains heavenward, it is already
pulling back, tightening its grip on the
wick and drinking thirstily of the oil in
the lamp -- oil that sustains its
continued existence as an individual
flame. And it is this tension of
conflicting energies, this vacillation
from being to dissolution and back
again, that produces light.
The soul, too, yearns for
transcendence, yearns to tear free of
the entanglements of material life
and achieve a self-nullifying reunion
with its Creator and Source. At the
same time, however, it is also driven
by a will to be -- a will to live a physical
life and make its mark upon a
physical world. In the "lamp of G-d"
that is man, these polar drives
converge in a flame that illuminates
its surroundings with a G-dly light.
The Ingredients
How is a flame generated and
sustained? By means of a lamp,
consisting of oil, a wick, and a vessel
containing them so that the oil is fed
through the wick to a burning flame.
Oil and wick are both combustible
substances. But neither could
produce light on its own with the
efficiency and stability of the lamp.
The wick, if ignited, would flare briefly
and die, utterly consumed. As for the
oil, one would find it extremely
difficult to ignite at all. But when wick
and oil are brought together in the
lamp, they produce a controlled and
steady light.
The soul of man is a lamp of G-d
whose purpose in life is to illuminate
the world with divine light. G-d
provided us with the "fuel" that
generates His light -- theTorah and its
commandments (mitzvot), which
embody His wisdom and will and
convey His luminous truth.
The divine oil requires a "wick" -- a
physical body -- to channel its
substance and convert it into an
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illuminating flame. The Torah is the
divine wisdom; but for divine wisdom
to be manifest in our world, there
must be physical minds that study it
and comprehend it, physical mouths
that debate it and teach it, and
physical media that publish it and
disseminate it. The mitzvot are the
divine will; but for the divine will to be
manifest in our world, there must be
physical hands that actualize it and
physical materials (animal hide for
tefillin, wool for tzitzit, money for
charity) with which it is actualized.
represents those aspects of a
person's service of G-d which are
colored by their association with the
physicality of the "wick"--that is,
mitzvot which are motivated by selfinterest. The higher and purer part of
the flame represents a persons
moments of self-transcendence,
deeds which a person does--as
Maimonides writes--"not for any
reason in the world: not out of fear of
evil or out of a desire to obtain the
good; rather, he does the truth
because it is true.”
And just as the divine oil cannot
produce light without a material wick,
neither can a wick without oil. A life
without Torah and mitzvot, however
aflame with the desire to come close
to G-d, is incapable of sustaining its
flame. It might generate flashes of
ecstatic spiritual experience, but
lacking oil of genuine divine
substance, these quickly die out and
fail to introduce any enduring light
into the world.
Both these aspects of a persons life
are reflected in his relationship with
G-d. The mitzvot come not only to
bind his altruistic "G-dly soul" to the
Almighty, but also to involve his egodominated "animal soul" in the
fulfillment of the divine will. This is
achieved when a person
understands that he should "love the
Lord your G-d... for He is your life"
(Deuteronomy 30:20). By
recognizing that G-d is the source
and sustainer of his very being, the
very same ego which earlier craved
the most material of pleasures is now
drawn to attach itself to the Almighty,
out of the realization that there is no
greater fulfillment of self possible.
To realize its role as a "lamp of G-d," a
human life must be a lamp that
combines a physical existence (the
"wick") with the divine ideas and
deeds of Torah (the "oil"). When the
wick is saturated with oil and feeds its
spiritual yearnings with a steady
supply of the same, the resultant
flame is both luminous and
sustainable, preserving the
existence and productivity of the wick
and illuminating the corner of the
world in which it has been placed.
Hues of Light
The flame itself is a multi-colored
affair, alluding to the many levels on
which man relates to the Creator
through his observance of the
mitzvot. Generally speaking, there is
the lower and darker area of the
flame which adjoins the wick, and its
upper and brighter part.
The darker segment of the flame
Rush and Return
Thus the "wick" is both prison and
liberator for the flame, both tether
and lifeline. It holds the soul in its
distinctiveness from the divine
whole, in its apartness from its
C r e a t o r. A n d y e t , i t i s t h i s
distinctiveness and apartness, this
incarnation in a physical life, which
allows us to connect to G-d in the
deepest and most meaningful way -by fulfilling His will.
So when divine command, physical
body and human life come together
as oil, wick and lamp, the result is a
flame: a relationship with G-d that is
characterized by two conflicting
drives, by a yearning to come close
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coupled with a commitment to draw
back. The materiality of life evokes in
the soul a desire to tear free of it and
fuse with the Divine. But the closer
the soul is drawn to G-d, all the more
does it recognize that it can fulfill His
will only as a distinct and physical
being. So while the corporeality of the
wick triggers the flames upward
surge, the divine will implicit in the oil
sustains its commitment to existence
and life.
Every mitzvah is oil for the soul: with
every act that constitutes a fulfillment
of the divine will, our lives are
rendered into burning lamps, alight
with flames that vacillate from
heaven to earth and back again and
illuminate the world in the process.
Therein lies the specialty of the
mitzvah of kindling the lamps of the
menorah in the Holy Temple. Every
mitzvah generates light -- whether it
involves giving a coin to charity,
binding tefillin on our arms and
heads, or eating matzah
onPassover. But this mitzvah (and
the related mitzvot of kindling the
Shabbat andChanukah lights) not
only transform us into metaphorical
lamps, but also assume the actual
form of a physical lamp -- physical oil,
a physical wick, and a physical flame
that produces physical, tactual light.
Based on the writings of Rabbi Schneur
Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), RabbiDovBer
of Lubavitch (1773-1827), and the
Lubavitcher Rebbe; adaptation by Yanki
Tauber.
SHELACH
Week of May 26-June 1
The Generation Gap
Based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher
Rebbe, Courtesy of MeaningfulLife.com
In the history of a people, as in that of
an individual life, things don't always
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go as planned.
The original plan was to go like this:
On the 15th of Nissan in the year
2448 from creation (1313 bce), the
people of Israel are taken out of
Egypt under the leadership of Moses.
After seven weeks of preparation and
self-refinement, they receive the
Torah, their mandate from G-d as His
"nation of priests and Holy people," at
Mount Sinai. From Sinai it's an
eleven-day journey to the Land
ofCanaan -- the land promised to
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as
Israel's eternal homeland. There
Moses builds the Holy Temple to
serve as the seat of the divine
presence in the physical world, and
the people of Israel implement the
blueprint for life contained in the
Torah, establishing the model society
which serves as the keystone of a
harmonious world community
embodying the goodness and
perfection of their Creator.
That, however, is not what came to
pass. Instead, the journey from Sinai
to the Holy Land took not eleven days
but forty years. The generation athe
Exodus became "the generation of
the desert" -- only two of the 600,000
adult males who left Egypt lived to
enter the Land of Canaan. The grand
plan over which Moses was to
preside was delayed, and still awaits
completion. Moses' disciple, Joshua,
began the conquest of the Holy Land,
but the task was only completed five
centuries later by King David. David's
son, Solomon, built the Holy Temple
in Jerusalem, but this was not the
eternal edifice which Moses would
have constructed; it was destroyed
by the Babylonians in 3338 (423
bce), rebuilt byEzra in 3408 (353
bce), and destroyed once more, by
the Romans, in 3829 (69 CE). The
people of Israel failed to fully live up
to their role as a "light unto the
nations" and were exiled from their
land. The perfect and harmonious
world which we were to have
achieved by entering the Land of
Canaan under Moses' leadership still
awaits attainment by Moshiach.
What went wrong? The story is told
by our Parshah and is repeated (with
the addition of a few important
details) in Moses' account in the first
chapter of Deuteronomy.
The children of Israel were
encamped at Kadesh, on the border
of Canaan, in preparation to enter the
land, when they approached Moses
with a request:
"Let us send men before us, so that
they shall search out the land for us
and bring us back word as to which
road we should take and into which
cities we shall come" (Deuteronomy
1:22).
Moses conveyed the people's
request to G-d, and G-d replied: "Act
according to your own
understanding" (Numbers 13:2, as
per Rashi on verse). Moses sent
twelve spies -- one representative
from each of the twelve tribes of
Israel -- to scout the land and report
on its terrain and its inhabitants. Forty
days later, on the eighth day of Av of
the year 2449, the spies returned,
bearing samples of the land's huge
and luscious fruit and the following
assessment:
"We came to the land that you have
sent us, and indeed, it flows with milk
and honey; this is its fruit.
"However, the people who dwell in
the land are strong, and the cities are
fortified and very great; we also saw
giants there. The Amalekites dwell in
the Negev, the Hittites, the Jebusites
and the Emorites in the hills, and the
Canaanites at the sea and on the
banks of the Jordan.
"We cannot go up against these
people, for they are mightier than
we." ( Numbers 13:27-31).
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Their report caused the nation to lose
faith in their ability to conquer the
Holy Land, despite G-d's promises.
Indeed, the Sages note that the
Hebrew word mimenu, "than we,"
also translates as "than he": the spies
were, in effect, saying that "they are
mightier than He" -- that the conquest
of the Holy Land is beyond the
capacity of the Almighty Himself! All
night the nation wept and bemoaned
their fate, crying to Moses: "Why is Gd bringing us to this land to fall by the
sword, and for our wives and children
to fall into captivity?”
Thus it came to pass that on the Ninth
of Av -- a day which was to bode
many tragedies for the people of
Israel -- G-d informed Moses that the
generation that received the Torah at
Sinai was not fit to enter the Land of
Canaan. He decreed that they shall
live out their lives as wanderers in the
desert until a new generation can
take up the challenge of conquering
the land of Canaan and developing it
as a "Holy Land" -- as the focus of Gd's presence in the material world.
What Happened?
Virtually all the commentaries pose
the question: What happened?
Where did they go wrong?
The spies dispatched by Moses were
no ordinary individuals: "They were
all men of distinction, leaders of the
children of Israel" (Numbers 13:3).
Furthermore, in all of history, it would
be difficult to find a generation whose
lives were more saturated with
miracles than theirs. Egypt, the most
powerful nation on earth at the time,
was forced to free them from slavery
when "the mighty hand" of G-d
inflicted ten supernatural plagues.
When Pharaoh's armies pursued
them, the sea split to let them pass
and then drowned their pursuers. In
the desert, miracles were the stuff of
their daily lives: manna from heaven
was their daily bread, "Miriam's well"
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(a miraculous stone which traveled
along with the Israelite camp)
provided them with water, and
"clouds of glory" sheltered them from
the desert heat and cold, kept them
clothed and shod, destroyed the
snakes and scorpions in their path,
and flattened the terrain before them
to ease their way.
For these people to doubt G-d's
ability to conquer the "mighty
inhabitants" of Canaan seems
nothing less than ludicrous. Yet these
were the people whose leaders said,
"We cannot go up against these
people, for they are mightier than we"
and even He!
Where did they go wrong?
This is why, says Rabbi Schneur
Zalman, the Spies and their
generation were loath to enter the
land. Becoming a people with a land
would entail plowing, sowing and
harvesting; it would mean engaging
in commerce and levying taxes; it
would require a bureaucracy to run
the land and an army to defend it.
Their underlying problem with the
land was, as the spies expressed it,
that "it is a land that consumes its
inhabitants" -- it consumes one's time
and energy with its corporeal
demands and infringes on one's
capacity to study the divine wisdom
of Torah and meditate upon its truths.
They were unwilling to relinquish
their spiritual utopia for the
entanglements of an earth-bound
life.
Desert Idyll
Chassidic master Rabbi Schneur
Zalman of Liadi explains that the
problem was one of excess
spirituality.
The daily miracles experienced by
the generation of the Exodus did
more than provide them with
sustenance and protection -- they
shielded them from any and all
involvement with the material world.
For the first generation of our
existence as a people, we lived a
wholly spiritual life, free of all material
concerns; the very food which
nourished us was "bread from
heaven.”
Indeed, it could not have been any
other way. Our sages have said that,
"The Torah could have been given
only to the eaters of the manna." To
properly receive and assimilate the
divine wisdom, one must be utterly
free of the responsibilities and
frustrations of physical life -something that is possible only in the
kind of environment which our
ancestors enjoyed during their
sojourn in the Sinai Desert.
Based on this, the Lubavitcher
Rebbe explains the Spies' argument
that "We cannot go up against these
people, for they are mightier than
we," notwithstanding the
tremendous miracles which G-d had
performed and was performing for
them. We cannot have it both ways,
argued the spies. Either we are to be
a spiritual people engaged
exclusively in spiritual pursuits and
sustained by supernatural means; or
else we are to enter the natural world
of the farmer, merchant and soldier
and become subject to its laws. And
under these laws -- which decree that
the numerous, mighty and wellfortified will defeat the few and the
weak -- there is no way we can defeat
the inhabitants of Canaan.
They even went so far as to extend
this line of reasoning to the Almighty
Himself. If G-d wishes for us to live a
spiritual life, then, certainly, He can
sustain us with miracles. But if His
desire is that we abandon our supranatural existence to enter the land
and assume a natural life, then He
Himself has decreed that natural law
will govern our fate. In that case, He
cannot empower us to miraculously
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conquer the land, since were He to
do so, this would defeat the entire
purpose of entering the "land." So
"they are mightier than He" -- even Gd cannot help us, if He Himself has
chosen to transform us into a
material people!
Fallen Angels
This also explains the Spies'
mysterious allusion to "the nefillim,
the descendants of the giants, the
fallen ones" whom they encountered
in the Holy Land.
Who were the nefillim? The Midrash
relates that in the years before the
Flood, when violence and
promiscuity pervaded the earth, two
angels, Shamchazi and Azael,
pleaded before the Almighty: Allow
us to dwell among the humans, and
we shall sanctify your name! But no
sooner had the two heavenly beings
come in contact with the material
world, they, too, were corrupted, and
played a major role in the
disintegration and destruction of their
adopted society.
We saw them there, said the
returning Spies to the people, the
fallen angels who survived the Flood
but did not survive the land. If these
heavenly beings could not survive
the plunge to mundanity, what could
be expected of us, mortal and fragile
men?
Having It Both Ways
What the spies and their generation
failed to understand is that, indeed,
men are not angels. Wholly spirit, the
angel dissolves on contact with
earth. But the human being, hewn of
spirit and matter, is a synthesis of the
celestial and the animal. Man is
empowered to make heaven on
earth, to make holy an adjective of
land.
This is the essence of the divine
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objective of creation and the mission
entrusted to us at Sinai: to build "a
dwelling for G-d in the lowly realms."
To imbue our plowing, sowing and
commerce with a holy and G-dly
purpose.
In charging us with this mission, the
Creator empowered us to indeed
"have it both ways": to create a land
t h a t i s h o l y, a n a t u r e t h a t i s
miraculous, a reality that is not bound
by its own defining parameters for it
serves a purpose greater than itself.
Achieving this aim required a twophased program: an initial state of
unmitigated holiness and spirituality,
followed by "entrance into the land"
and assumption of its material labors.
Because in order to sanctify the land,
one requires a vision of the divine
truth of truths -- which can be attained
only by a nation of "manna eaters."
So first there had to be that period of
utter isolation from the material
world. However, this phase of our
national existence was not an end in
itself, but the way in which to acquire
the tools and resources to miraculize
the natural and elevate the everyday.
If the "generation of the desert" would
have themselves been capable of
making the transition into a people of
the land, the transformation of the
material world into a home for G-d
would have been fully and perfectly
achieved in that very generation. If
they would have believed in their
divinely granted capacity to "have it
both ways," their sanctification of the
land would have combined their
ultimate apprehension of the divine
truth with a full involvement with the
natural reality.
The generation of the desert failed to
actualize the unique opportunity
which presented itself at that
particular juncture of our history: for
there to be a single generation which
straddled both worlds, a single
generation which first inhabited a
world of utter spirituality and then
proceeded to apply it to a life on the
land. Instead, they fell prey to the
t e n d e n c y o f m a n t o
"compartmentalize" his life, to label
his experiences and attainments as
"material," "spiritual," "sacred,"
"mundane," "natural" and
"supernatural," thereby delegating
and confining them to their
respective domains.
So it was left to their children to
embark on the longer, more difficult
journey, a journey only now reaching
its culmination: to bridge the
formidable "generation gap" which
separates us from our manna-eating
ancestors and apply the pristine truth
they received in the desert to our own
earth-bound lives.
On a Personal Note
In addition to the cosmic-historical
saga, the very same process and
challenge exist, in a miniature scale,
in every individual life.
In our own lives, we each have a
"generation of the desert" and a
"generation which enters the land."
Our childhood and youth are a
spiritual and miraculous time: our
needs are provided to us "from
above" without effort or worry on our
part; the business of running the
world is blessedly none of our
concern. Such a hermitic existence,
while contrary to the ultimate
purpose of our lives, is the optimal
environment for the acquisition of the
beliefs, values and knowledge which
will guide and inspire our
development of the world when we
subsequently "enter the land" in our
adult years.
The same is true of each particular
day of life: we begin our day with a
sacrosanct hour of prayer and Torahstudy before crossing over into the
workday and embarking on the
development and sanctification of
the material world.
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Here, too, exists the danger of
succumbing to a "generation gap"
between one's "Sinai Desert" and
"Land of Israel," of adopting the
"either/or" mentality of the spies.
Therein lies the eternal lesson of the
Torah's account of the incident of the
spies: do not allow the wisdom,
sensitivity and inspiration of your
youth to remain an isolated period in
your life. Do not allow your moments
of attachment to G-d each morning to
remain a "miracle" with no bearing on
the natural course of your day. Cross
into the land, but do not leave your
spiritual "childhood" behind.
Remember that the purpose of it all is
to make your life and world a "holy
land.”
KORACH
Week of: June 2-8
Aaron's Almond Blossoms
Adapted from the works of Rabbi
Schneur Zalman of Liadi by Laibl
Wolf
What's in a name? Take the name
"Aaron" for example. It's a warm,
biblical name. It has the connotation
of trust and understanding. Perhaps
this is because the original Aaron
was an epitome of love and caring.
But a name is more than connotation.
Kabbalah teaches that a person's
name comes from the soul. It is
connected with the essence of a
person far beyond the conscious. So
we can journey into the deeper self
through the vehicle of a name.
The Hebrew letters spelling the name
Aaron (Alef, Hei, Reish, Nun) also
spell out the word for something
being visually present (nir'ah). This
gives a sense that the deeper nature
of the Biblical Aaron had much to do
with drawing down sublime spiritual
flows to visually benefit humankind.
Chassidic master Rabbi Schneur
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Zalmen of Liadi notes that Aaron was
the first Hebrew Kohen (priest). He
possessed the power to draw down a
degree of compassionate love
known as Rav Chessed (abundance
of cosmic compassionate love). He is
known to have transformed enmity
between people into love, and also to
confer the aura of love over a group
or even the nation. His heirs, the
Kohanim, inherited this trait and
continue this process to the present
day. (Interestingly, genetic studies
have revealed that Kohanim have a
unique genetic marker that identifies
them as a distinct historical
grouping).
Not only do they have this capacity to
draw on cosmic love and shower it on
others, but also the spiritual flow is
characterized by velocity and speed.
Like a mighty river whose fastflowing waters carry away anything in
their path -- hurt, envy, hate, or
misunderstanding. The Rav
Chessed power of Aaron not only
reconciled warring parties but did so
with amazing speed and velocity. Do
you sometimes feel transformed by
simply being in the presence of
someone? Aaron had that affect on
people, but even more so. His was a
clear example of non-local
phenomena!
A further example of this took place
during the archetypal dispute for
leadership -- Korach's challenge of
Moses and Aaron. The spiritual test
came in the strange form of a
competition: which disputant could
make an almond branch bloom.
Aaron did so with amazing speed. In
fact the Hebrew word for "almond" -shaked -- literally means "speed" as
well, it being the fastest growing of
the all fruits. It was a particularly good
receptor of Aaron's spiritual powers.
Although most of us do not possess
Aaron's amazing powers of Rav
Chessed, we do have an innate
power of loving kindness known as
Chessed Olam(worldly
compassionate love). In other words,
every one of us has the power to
reconcile people with differences, to
resolve disputants in conflict, to
foster love where its lack is apparent.
This capacity derives from our inner
soul, but it needs to be aroused.
When it flows strongly and with
velocity, it can carry away with it any
ill feelings, enmities, jealousies, and
vengeance. A Kohen can do so with
great force. But we all possess the
power to draw it down to the earthly
plane.
Remember, you are much more
powerful than you think. You are
created in the image of the Cosmos
and possess its powers as well. Use
your powers to resolve the disputes
around you, as well as disputes
within the self. You have the power.
Use it wisely.
MASTERY: Focus on your capacity
to love. How do you do that? It is not
like focusing on a navel or a flame. It
requires you to focus on your flow of
empathy and compassion and then
to direct it to someone. There are two
inherent problems related to such
focusing. The first is to summons
empathy. The second is to focus
appropriately. Propriety means a
feeling that doesn't exploit the other,
actively or passively. The more
difficult test is to arouse empathy.
The meditation exercise below may
assist.
M E D I TAT I O N : B r i n g t o m i n d
someone you may harbour a grudge
against, distrust, or just have a bad
feeling towards. Revisit the
circumstances that may have
brought this about. Introduce a new
element: what must have been the
shortcoming that caused that person
to hurt you or be insensitive to you.
Picture that shortcoming as a wound
with a trickle of blood flowing out.
That person's behaviour/words were
the result of a wound - an emotional
wound. You may not know how that
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wound was inflicted - even possibly
self-inflicted. Just be aware: when a
person hurts you, they are hurting.
Heal them with love, empathy, and
compassion. Visualize these three
being bandages that you strap over
the other's wound.
Chukas
Week of: June 9-15
Keeping Up with the
Cohens
By Yossy Goldman
“That's some new kitchen Sandra
just had done. State of the art!” “Psst .
. . did you see the new car Mark just
took delivery of? It's got every gadget
in the book!” Common conversation.
Rather routine, everyday talk.
They tell of a rep on the road who had
broken all records for sales in his
company. When asked the secret of
his success, he explained that the
first thing he said when someone
opened the door was, “Did you see
what your neighbor Mrs. Jones just
got?” That trick never failed him.
This was never the Jewish ethic,
however. We were taught differently,
and our ancient value system is as
relevant as ever in contemporary life.
Privacy, modesty and discretion are
all characteristics our people have
cherished since we became a nation.
“Balaam raised his eyes, and saw
Israel dwelling according to its
tribes”(Numbers 24:3).
What was so special about the
Israelites' dwelling? Rashi offers one
interpretation of the verse, that the
doorways of the Israelites' tents in
the wilderness were arranged so that
they did not face each other. That
way, one person was not able to see
into his neighbor's tent, and their
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privacy was protected. In fact, this is
one of the explanations of Balaam's
famous praise of the Jews, Mah tovu
ohalecha Yaakov—“How goodly are
your tents, O Jacob.” The heathen
prophet was extolling the Jews'
virtues in their town planning,
whereby they took precautions in
safeguarding their modesty and
protecting their personal family lives
from would-be busybodies and
peeping Toms, otherwise known as
yentas and nudniks.
Another possible interpretation of
“not looking into your neighbor's tent”
might be this: Do not look into your
neighbor's tent to help you decide
what you should be doing. Your
decisions in life should not be based
on what other people are, or are not,
doing. Certainly not on what your
neighbors have or do not have.
Social workers today will painfully
testify that family breakdowns are
often a result of financial difficulties
and the stress that these put on
marriages. Many of those stresses
are self-imposed. Their clients
confessed that they didn't really need
the new kitchen or the new car, but
once their friends were moving up in
the status stakes, they felt under
pressure to maintain their social
standing.
Whether it is the kitchen, car,
vacation, or the latest digital
technology, if we allow ourselves to
be judged by other people's criteria,
we lay ourselves open to a lot of
unnecessary stress. Even a
simchah—a wedding or bar
mitzvah—can get us into “keeping up
with the Cohens” mode, from the
seven-layered designer invitation
hand-delivered to every guest, down
to the posh dinner dance replete with
chopped-liver sculptures.
Why? All because we are busy
looking over our shoulders or peering
into the next-door neighbor's place.
The principle even applies to
tzedakah. There is an appeal for the
shul or a Jewish charity, and how do
we respond? “Well, if so-and-so, who
is a multimillionaire, only gave
$10,000, then all I should give is
$10!” What difference does it make
what someone else gave or didn't
give? You should give what you can,
irrespective of what others gave.
How much resentment, bitterness
and disappointment we would avoid
if we didn't try to measure ourselves
by other people's standards! We
would be much happier people if we
looked into ourselves and achieved
what we could and should, without
drawing comparisons with others.
If you want to enjoy the blessing of
“goodly tents,” or even just good
housekeeping, keep your eyes and
your nose in your own tent. Then you
will be content, too.
Life Without Bumps
Based on the teachings of the
Lubavitcher Rebbe
Courtesy of MeaningfulLife.com
There can be no order, no program,
no achievement, without priorities.
Life, as we envision and try to live it,
consists of important and less
important things, primary and
secondary goals, severe and less
severe setbacks. Reason, our
compass in our journey through life,
is the capacity to make these
distinctions, to determine what must
give way before what, and what
should be reciprocated with what.
Priorities and gradations also exist
among the divinely mandated laws of
the Torah. The Torah commands
“You shall not kill,” but it also
differentiates between premeditated
murder (punishable by death),
murder resulting from negligent
behavior (punishable by exile), nofault murder (which carries no
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penalty), and killing in self-defense
(permissible and a duty). It
commands to aid a fellow in need, but
it also delineates eight levels of
charity; advises to whom one should
give, and in what order; and sets the
mandatory, ideal and maximum
percentages of one's income to be
contributed. It commands the Jew to
rest on Shabbat, but it also
differentiates between various
categories of work and the severity of
their violation of the day of rest. It
distinguishes between civil and
moral laws, between active and nonactive transgressions, between laws
that apply to a specific time and place
and laws that have no such
prerequisites, and so on.
There is, however, a certain category
of mitzvot that defies such rational
structuring. Generally speaking, the
613 mitzvot of the Torah fall into three
categories: a) mishpatim
(“judgments” or “laws”), which the
Talmud defines as laws that the
human mind would have conceived
on its own, even if the Torah had not
commanded them (e.g., the
prohibitions against murder and
robbery); b) eidot (“testimonials”),
laws whose function and utility are
understandable, although we might
not have formulated them ourselves
(e.g., Shabbat, the festivals, tefillin,
etc.); c) supra-rational mitzvot, called
chukim (“decrees”).
Prime examples of a chok are the
laws of tum'ah v'taharah, ritual purity
and impurity. It is not only that these
laws cannot be explained by human
reason, but that they defy the
organization and priority structure
which characterize the logical
mishpat and the rational eid. If a
person touches an impure object, he
is rendered ritually impure; it makes
no difference whether this contact
was deliberate, unintentional, or
even against his will. Nor is the type
of contact consequential—the same
degree of impurity is effected
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whether he grazed it with his
fingernail or he picked it up and ate it.
In other words, the chok introduces
an element of absoluteness into our
lives, an area in which there are no
major and minor things, no primary
and secondary levels of involvement.
A domain in which life is not divisible
into ends and means, but constitutes
an integral, singular fulfillment of its
Creator's will.
In truth, every mitzvah is a chok, an
unequivocal expression of divine will.
It is only that many mitzvot come
enclothed in garments of varying
rationality, for G-ddesired that they
be integrated into our rationally
structured lives. But then there are
those mitzvot that reach us
unencumbered by finite garments,
free of all that quantifies, qualifies
and classifies their divine essence.
We need structure and priorities—it's
the only way we know to lead
constructive lives. But we also need
those moments and experiences that
bring us in touch with the underlying
integrity of life. Moments that impart
to us the recognition that, in the final
analysis, our every deed and
endeavor is of equal, ultimate
significance.
BALAK
Week of June 16-22
Why Do They Hate Us?
By Levi Brackman
The recent terror attack in London
was unique—it was carried out by
British-born fundamentalists, not
foreigners. After suffering years of
I R A -sponsored terrorism, the
question people here in Britain are
asking is why people would want to
blow their fellow citizens and
themselves to smithereens in a
crowded rush-hour underground
train. Most people just cannot fathom
this new evil, perpetrated by
seemingly normal people who could
have been their neighbors or
classmates.
There is no doubt that this new
phenomenon forces a new
u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e e n e m y.
Whereas in bygone days wars were
fought between nations who lived in
separate lands, today, in the age of
globalization, the boundaries are
different. Notwithstanding this, I
contend that the underlying cause of
war, and therefore twenty-first
century terrorism, has not changed
since biblical times.
There is one particular story in the
Bible that offers insight into the cause
of war. The story opens with Balak
king of Moab noticing how the
Children of Israel had defeated the
Amorites. The Bible notes that “Moab
became afraid of the people [of
Israel], because they were
numerous. And Moab became
disgusted because of the children of
Israel” (Numbers 22:3). The
sequence of these two phases—fear,
followed by disgust—is significant.
There can be t <wo responses to a
more powerful and successful
person or people. A person can be
motivated to endeavor to establish
good relations with the more
powerful entity, or they can become
frightened and attempt to undermine
it.
The Bible tells us, in a word, why
Moab chose the latter option. They
were afraid and envious of the
Israelites, and envy breeds disgust.
As the story in the Bible illustrates,
disgust is only a short step away from
a hatred that can lead to coldblooded killing.
According to the Midrash, Balak
realized that it would be difficult to
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defeat the Israelites with military
might alone, so he attempted to find
the source of the Israelites' strength
in order to undermine it. “Moses, the
leader of the Israelites, was raised in
Midian,” reasoned Balak. “Let us ask
them what his strength is.” They told
him, “His strength lies solely in his
ability to communicate verbally
withG-d.” To which Balak replied, “In
order to neutralize this advantage,
we will enlistBalaam the gentile
prophet to curse them; then we will
be able to crush them in battle.”
The Israelites had a completely
different outlook. When faced with a
powerful adversary, they would
choose the peaceful option; war was
always a last resort. The reason for
this is clear. Satisfied with what they
had been given by G-d, they did not
feel the need to have what belonged
to others. This characteristic was,
and still is, integral to Jewish identity.
And eventually even the evil prophet
Balaam was forced to recognize it
and extol it. G-d did not allow Balaam
to curse the Israelites, and he was
forced to give them blessings
instead. The third blessing he gave
was different than the previous two:
“Balaam did not go in search of
omens, as he had done in the
previous [blessings], but turned his
face toward the desert. Balaam
raised his eyes, and he saw Israel
dwelling according to its tribes; and
the spirit of G-d rested upon him. He
took up his parable and said: . . . 'How
goodly are your tents, O Jacob; your
dwelling places, O Israel!'”
Our sages explain that Balaam was
commenting on the fact that the
openings of the Israelites' tents did
not face each other, so that no one
could peer into another person's tent.
Each family was happy with their own
lot; they therefore had no reason to
want to look into the tents of their
neighbors. The way the tents were
laid out reflected this—so Balaam
had no choice but to recognize this
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and contrast it with the fear,
discontent and envy he had
encountered with Balak and the
Moabites.
Fundamental to Islam is the concept
of jihad, which is the obligation to
expand the territories under Muslim
rule at the expense of non-Muslim
territories. Integral to this ideology is
the fact that Islam is not happy with its
portion—it would like to conquer, own
and control that which currently
belongs to others. If this is achieved
peacefully, as moderate Moslems
claim it should, it would seem that no
one could possibly object. However,
the underlying principle is perilous,
because discontent with one's lot
often leads to the disgust and hate of
others, and then, tragically, to
carnage.
This is the underlying cause of
terrorism. The terrorists' ideology of
discontent causes them to be
disgusted by, and ultimately hate,
cultures different than theirs. Make
no mistake: the cause of terrorism
has nothing to do with
socioeconomic factors, and
everything to do with an ideology of
discontent and hatred. It is this
ideology that breeds homegrown
terrorists.
Their strategy of trying to defeat us is
age-old. Like Balak in the Bible, they
have identified the strength of
western democracies—our free and
open societies—and they intend to
exploit it in an effort to defeat us.
Judaism rejects the ideology of
discontentment. That is why Judaism
has never sought converts or the
enlargement of Jewish boundaries.
Judaism believes that by keeping to
the seven universal moral ethical
laws, non-Jews too receive a place in
the World to Come. By being
satisfied with what it has, Judaism
teaches to leave space for others.
Indeed, in order for the terror to end,
the world must once again take a look
at—and emulate—the beautiful
setup of “the tents of Jacob and the
dwellings of Israel.”
How Not to Serve Idols
By Lazer Gurkow
A Continuing Offense
A man went into confession to
divulge that he had rescued a young
Jewish boy from the Nazis. “Why that
sounds like a good deed, why do you
bring it up in confession?” asked the
priest. “Because,” explained the
man, “I put the boy to work doing
small errands and menial tasks.”
“Well, that isn't so terrible,” replied
the priest, “considering that you fed
and clothed him.” “Yes,” agreed the
man, “but must I inform him that the
war is over?”
There are onetime offenses for which
we repent and never think of again.
Then there are continued or repeated
offenses for which we must continue
to answer. If a wife once worked to
prepare dietetic foods for her
husband and he noshed behind her
back, she has reason to be upset
once. Bringing it up ten years later
makes no sense . . . unless he
continues to nosh.
The Recurring Allegation
Shortly before they entered the land
of Israel, the Jews succumbed to the
terrible sins of promiscuity and
idolatry. The Midianite women
enticed the Jewish men to their tents
and in the heat of passion coerced
them into worshiping an Idol called
P e ' o r. T h e r e s u l t i n g D i v i n e
punishment took the form of a plague
and 24,000 Jews died before the
plague was lifted.
One assumes this was a onetime
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affair for which our nation was
punished and then forgiven. Yet we
are treated to a fascinating Midrashic
account. TheMidrash teaches that
every year, on the anniversary of this
episode, the Pe'or idol ascends
before G-d to recount this sin.3 That it
is recounted every year implies that
we continue to commit this sin. But in
what way are we guilty of idol
worship?
Filtering Out the Light
To understand this we must first
understand the nature of this idol.
Whereas most idols are worshiped
by an act of reverence, Pe'or was
worshiped by depositing the body's
waste before it. Strange as it may
seem, this crude manner of worship
was actually based on sophisticated
metaphysical logic.
Human waste is what's left of our
food after the digestive system sifts
out all the nutritious elements and
incorporates them into the body. The
leftover waste is of no use to us and is
expelled. A similar process takes
place above. There are angels that
function as the divine digestive
system. This is not to imply that G-d
generates waste. It means rather that
the angels filter out the lofty
emanations from the Divine
radiance, reserving it for heaven and
allowing only the lowly and inferior
lights to fall to earth.
G-d wanted to give His creations,
spiritual and physical, a gift. The
greatest gift He could possibly
bestow was Himself, and so G-d
revealed Himself to his creations.
The spiritual beings that receive the
gift of this revelation revel in it; their
very essence melts in ecstasy and
delights in this rarefied pleasure.
Yet one must be on a lofty level to
assimilate this proximity to G-d.
Those spiritual beings that are
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incapable of absorbing the highly
intense and magnified spiritual
experience would be overwhelmed
by it. In fact, they might expire and
cease to exist. Hence the heavenly
digestive system: Angels sift through
the Divine radiance and skim off the
loftiest dimensions, leaving a milder
form for those below them. The
inferior spiritual beings that receive
this lower form of divine radiance
also exult and revel in it, but on a
smaller scale.
This process repeats itself endless
times ,for there are myriads and
myriads of levels and gradations in
heaven. By the time the Divine light
reaches our physical world, every
vestige of Divinity has been sifted
out, leaving only what we will term,
“spiritual waste.” This waste takes
the form of physical pleasure. It is
pleasurable, but there is no sense of
Divine awareness in it. In other
words, all that's left of the former
ecstatic experience is a glimmer of its
pleasure, with none of its G-dliness.
Subtle Worship of Pe'or
Hence, every physical form of
pleasure is mere waste compared to
the pleasure experienced by souls in
heaven. Just like the waste left of
food after every nutrient was
extracted cannot benefit the body
and is expelled, so does physical
pleasure hold no value in heaven and
is expelled into our world.
Yet, in His infinite kindness, G-d
deposited hidden spiritual gems
even in this world. With a bit of effort,
one may discover those kernels of
Divinity. Meet an old woman and help
her across the street and you have
found one such kernel. Drop into a
synagogue and study Torah when
you really want to play baseball with
your friends and you have found
another such kernel. Say no to the
temptation of another beer so you
can wake up the next morning and
pray with a clear mind and you have
found a third such kernel. The wise
person gravitates to these true
pleasures that excite the soul. The
fool is drawn only to physical
pleasures that are rooted in spiritual
waste.
Gorging on physical pleasures and
ignoring spiritual pursuits is akin to
rejecting gourmet delicacies to feed
on feces in the outhouse. This was
the idea behind the bizarre worship of
the Pe'or idol. Depositing human
waste before the idol was a
statement by worshipers that life's
physical pleasures are worthy of
worship. And while we may not
engage in explicit idol worship, one
can easily see that in a subtle way,
we are still guilty of worshipping
Pe'or. We too tend to turn spiritual
waste into life-long goals. We too
tend to make the unimportant
important, all of which is a subtle form
of Pe'or worship.
The Solution
The Midrash concludes by telling us
that when the Pe'or ascends before
G-d to recount our sin it passes over
the nearby grave of Moses, and
when it does, it descends again.
Moses was buried only till his nostrils,
thus every time the Pe'or ascends it
sees Moses and falls back to where
Moses was buried.
Perhaps this curious passage
implies that, though Moses lived in
this world like the rest of us, he didn't
live for this world. He didn't eat, drink
and breathe the pleasures of this
world. His nostrils were, so-to-speak,
above the ground – elevated from
immersion in the physical.
The mystics taught that there is a little
bit of Moses in every soul and that the
Torah leaders of every generation
bring out the Moses in each of us.
Perhaps the Midrash was telling us
that though we can be rather guilty of
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the subtle form of Pe'or worship,
attaching ourselves to the likes of
Moses, namely the teachers and
practitioners of Torah in each
generation, quells the allegation and
elevates us to where we ought to be.
PINCHAS
Week of June 23-29
Based on the teachings of the
Lubavitcher Rebbe, Courtesy of
MeaningfulLife.com
Adapted by Yanki Tauber
And G-d spoke to Moses, saying:
"Pinchas, the son of Elazar, the son
of Aaron the Kohen, turned away My
wrath from the children of Israel with
his zealotry for My sake...
Therefore... I shall grant him My
covenant of peace..."
Numbers 25:11-12
Pinchas' deed evokes many
associations -- courage, decisiveness
and religious passion are several that
come to mind -- but peace hardly
seems one of them. Pinchas, after all,
killed two people. True, what he did
was condoned by Torah law, and his
doing so saved many lives; still, one
does not usually think of homicide as a
peaceful act.
As the Torah tells it (see Numbers, 25;
Rashi, ibid; Talmud, Sanhedrin 81b82b and 106a), the wicked prophet
Balaam, having failed to undermine the
people of Israel's special relationship
with G-d by harping on their past sins,
had an idea. "Their G-d abhors
promiscuity," he said to Balak, the
Moabite king who had hired him to
place a curse on Israel. Corrupt them
with the daughters of your realm, and
you will provoke His wrath upon them.
This time Balaam succeeded. Many
Jews, particularly from the tribe of
Shimon, were enticed by the Midianite
harlots who descended upon the
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Israelite camp in the Shittim valley, and
were even induced to serve Baal Peor,
the pagan god of their consorts. When
tribunals were set up by Moses to try
and punish the idolaters, Zimri, the
leader of Shimon, sought to legitimize
his tribe's sins by publicly taking a
Midianite woman into his tent, before
the eyes of Moses and the eyes of the
entire community of Israel.
Moses and the nation's elders were at
a loss as of what to do. Torah law does
not provide for any conventional, courtinduced punishment for such an
offender. There is a law that gives
license for "zealots to smite him," but
this provision eluded Moses and the
entire Jewish leadership. Only Pinchas
remembered it, and had the fortitude to
carry it through. He killed Zimri and the
Midianite woman, stopping a plague
that had begun to rage as the result of
G-d's wrath against His people.
The Grandfather Issue
The Talmud, referring to G-d's opening
words to Moses quoted above, asks:
The Torah has already told us who
Pinchas is, back in the sixth chapter of
Exodus and again, but a few short
verses before, in Numbers 25:7. Why
does the Torah again refer to him as
"Pinchas, the son of Elazar, the son of
Aaron?"
Rashi, quoting the Talmud and
Midrash, explains:
Because the tribes of Israel were
mocking him, saying Have you seen
this son of the fattener, whose mother's
father fattened calves for idolatrous
sacrifices, and now he goes and kills a
prince in Israel?! Therefore, G-d traced
his lineage to Aaron. (Pinchas'
maternal grandfather was Jethro, who
prior to his conversion to Judaism, was
a pagan priest).
This explanation, however, seems to
raise more questions than it answers:
(a) What set "the tribes of Israel"
against Pinchas? The animosity of one
tribe, the tribe of Shimon, would be
understandable: he killed their leader
and put an end to their pagan orgy. But
why was he condemned by the entire
community of Israel, most of whom
were outraged by Zimri's act and were
doubtless grateful for Pinchas'
stopping the plague?
(b) Of what possible relevance is
Jethro's past? If Pinchas acted
wrongly, then he is guilty of much
worse than having a grandfather who
f a t t e n e d c a l v e s f o r s l a u g h t e r.
"Murderer" would be a more apt epithet
than "fattener's grandson." And if it was
acknowledged that killing Zimri was the
right thing to do, why was the young
hero and savior of his people being
mocked?
(c) If, for whatever reason, Pinchas is
to be faulted because of Jethro's
idolatrous past, why dwell on the fact
that he "fattened calves for slaughter"?
What about the fact that he was a
pagan priest who (as the Midrash tells
us) had served every idol in the world?
(d) Whatever the complaint against
Pinchas was, how is it refuted by the
fact that he was Aaron's grandson?
Who Is A Zealot?
The nature of Zimri's crime made his
killing an extremely sensitive moral
issue. On the one hand, the Torah
deems what he did as deserving of
death. On the other hand, it does not
entrust the carrying out of the sentence
to the normal judiciary process, ruling
instead that "zealots should smite
him." Who, then, qualifies as a zealot?
When a sentence is carried out after
the due process of a trial and
conviction, there is less of a need to
dwell on the motives of the judges and
executioner: they're going by the book,
and we can check their behavior
against the book. But the motives of the
zealot who takes unilateral action are
extremely important, for his very
qualifications as a zealot hinge upon
the question of what, exactly, prompted
28
NATIONAL
LIBERATOR
The WEEK IN REVIEW - Pinchas
him to do what he did. Is he truly
motivated to "still G-d's wrath", or has
he found a holy outlet for his individual
aggression? Is his act truly an act of
peace, driven by the desire to
reconcile an errant people with their
G-d, or is it an act of violence, made
kosher by the assumption of the label
"zealot"?
The true zealot is an utterly selfless
individual -- one who is concerned
only about the relationship between
G-d and His people, with no thought
for his own feelings on the matter. The
moment his personal prejudices and
inclinations are involved, he ceases to
be a zealot.
(This may be why the law that "zealots
smite him" falls under the unique legal
category of halachah v'ein morin kein,
""a law that is not instructed": if a
would-be zealot comes to the court
and inquires if he is permitted to kill the
transgressor, he is not given license to
do so (Mishneh Torah, Laws of
Forbidden Relations, 12:5). Indeed,
the very fact that he has come to ask
disqualifies him -- someone who
needs to ensure, in advance, that he is
backed by the court, is no zealot. The
true zealot has no thought for himself:
not of his feelings on the matter, not of
his personal safety, not even of the
moral and spiritual implications of his
act on his own self -- he doesn't even
care if what he is doing is legal or not.
He is simply determined to put an end
to a situation that incurs the Divine
wrath against Israel.)
Aaron's Grandson
According to this, the questions posed
above answer each other.
The tribes of Israel knew that the case
of Zimri warranted the law that
"Zealots smite him." But they were
skeptical of Pinchas' motivations.
Why is it, they asked, that no one -- not
Moses, not the elders, nor anyone in
the entire leadership of Israel -- was
moved to assume the role of zealot,
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VOL. XVII NO. 5
save for Pinchas, "the youngest of the
band"? Was Pinchas the most caring
and selfless one of them all? Far more
likely, said they, that what we have
here is an angry young man who
thinks he found a Torah-sanctioned
outlet for his aggression.
A bit of digging around in the skeletons
of Pinchas' family closet only
reinforced their initial doubts. Of
course, they said, look at his
grandfather! Few professions are as
inhumane as the fattening of calves
for slaughter. The fact of Jethro's
idolatry is not what is relevant here,
but his nature and personality.
Pinchas, the "tribes of Israel"
reasoned, must have inherited his
grandfather's natural cruelty, and
proceeded to clothe it in the holy
vestments of zealotry.
So G-d explicitly attached Pinchas'
name to Aaron, the gentlest, most
peace-loving man that Israel knew.
Aaron, the "lover of peace and
pursuer of peace, one who loves
humanity and brings them close to
To r a h . " I n c h a r a c t e r a n d
temperament, G-d was attesting,
Pinchas takes after his other
grandfather, Aaron. Not only is he not
inclined to violence -- -it is the very
antithesis of his natural temperament.
Pinchas is a man of peace, who did
what he did with the sole aim of
"turning away My wrath from the
children of Israel."
Two Hypocrites
This also explains the significance of
another statement by Rashi. After
emphasizing that Pinchas was
Aaron's grandson, the Torah writes:
"And the name of the smitten Israelite,
who was smitten with the Midianite,
was Zimri the son of Salu, a tribal
prince of the Shimonites." On which
Rashi comments, "On the same
occasion that the righteous ones
lineage was cited in praise, the wicked
ones lineage was cited in detriment."
But what detriment is there in Zimri's
being a Shimonite prince?
Those who looked with a negative eye
on Pinchas' motives, saw his cruelty
even more strongly underscored
when contrasted with the motives of
the man he killed. Pinchas slew a
man, while that man was engaged in
an act of love; Pinchas was giving vent
to his own violent passions, while
Zimri acted out of a selfless concern
for his constituents, putting his own
life on the line (for surely he knew that
some zealot might take it upon himself
to kill him) to save his tribe through his
bold attempt to legitimize their sins. If
Pinchas did the right thing -- these
critics were saying -- he did it for all the
wrong reasons, while Zimri might
have done a wrong thing, but was
motivated by an altruistic love for his
people.
G-d, who knows the heart of every
man, spoke to dispel this distorted
picture. Pinchas, He attested,
inherited the peace-loving nature of
his grandfather, while Zimri was every
inch a descendent of Shimon, whom
Jacob rebuked for his heated and
violent nature. ("Cursed be their
anger, it was fierce," said Jacob of
Shimon and Levi, rebuking them for
the massacre of Shechem and their
plot against Joseph, "and their wrath,
for it was cruel" -- Genesis 49:5.)
Indeed, the Talmud describes a
hypocrite as one who "does the deeds
of Zimri, and asks to be rewarded like
Pinchas." Zimri's kindness was the
ultimate hypocrisy: instead of fulfilling
his role as the leader of his people by
prevailing upon them to cease the
behavior that was destroying them, he
pursued the fulfillment of his own
passions, without regard to the terrible
consequences to their spiritual and
physical well-being -- -all the while
disguising his act as selfless and selfsacrificial. In contrast, Pinchas deed
was "hypocritical" in the positive
sense: ostensibly violent and cruel,
but in truth a selfless act of peace.
29
NATIONAL
LIBERATOR
The Shofar that Saved My Life
An anonymous soldier’s story
T
he first round caught me completely by surprise as it literally shook the ground I
was standing on. It landed inside the outer perimeter just a few meters from
the shack that we called home. Two more 82mm rounds exploded
nearby as we ran to our howitzer to provide counter fire.
The day had begun normally enough for an Erev
Rosh Hashanah except that I was half a world
away from my family and I hadn't seen another
Jew in months. I was near a tiny American outpost
in the mountains of Afghanistan on a firing point with
only eight other artillerymen. This had been my
“home” for the last few months. The closest major city
wasn't even within Afghan borders and the logistics of
getting to a minyan were prohibitive. I had resigned myself to
spending Rosh Hashanah alone. I had already made
arrangements with Aleph Institute to secure a shofar for Rosh
Hashanah and they gladly sent me one along with Machzorim for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
A few days prior to Rosh Hashanah we were surprised to see a small convoy of vehicles enter the outpost. Seeing new
faces was always exciting at our little outpost. I met a few of the guys and they told me that they were passing through to
assist another unit on a high risk mission. One of the guys stopped me in the little chow hall and noticed my yarmulke. His
name tag said that his name was Behr and he was about 6'3”. He told me that he too was Jewish and his name was actually
a nickname after the “Bear Jew” in the movie Inglorious Basterds. I invited him over to the firing point and offered him some
matzo ball soup and challah. He gratefully accepted and told me that he would be on this mission on Erev Rosh Hashanah
and returning after Yom Tov. I was heartbroken that after finally meeting another Jew I would still spend Yom Tov alone.
G-d had other plans for us. The mission was postponed and he approached me before Yom Tov to let me know that he
would in fact spend Rosh Hashanah with us. We agreed to daven together and that I would blow the shofar for him. I was on
my way to meet him with my Machzor in hand and a rifle slung across my chest when the first round impacted.
As soon as we had the enemy in the sights of our howitzer, they began strafing our position from another direction with
machine gun fire. We cranked out six 155mm rounds and obliterated the enemy's primary position while laying suppressing
fire from our rifles on the machine gunner's position. The entire period of time seemed to slow to a crawl as I kept saying to
myself over and over in my head “What kind of person attacks on Rosh Hashanah!?” The whole event seemed unreal.
Needless to say I davened alone that night.
The following morning I walked over to the outpost and we davened together and I was able to blow shofar for Behr (after
alerting the tower guards not to get alarmed). It was a meaningful Yom Tov that I will never forget. The utter simplicity of our
surroundings, food, and accommodations only served to accentuate the spiritual significance of the day.
The story doesn't end there. This past Purim I was honored to have SPC Behr and his family attend our Purim seudah. He
had just lost his father to cancer and proudly sported a “shloshim beard”. We went to shul that night where he was able to
say kaddish for his father. I then presented him with the very same Shofar that Aleph Institute provided for us in combat.
The Shofar that saved our lives.
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VOL. XVII NO. 5
30
NATIONAL
LIBERATOR
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VOL. XVII NO. 5
31
NATIONAL
LIBERATOR
Video Offerings (Cont.)
Free Circumcision
Circumcision is the first commandment given by God to Abraham, the first Jew, and is central to Judaism.
In the Torah, It is written in the Torah: "This is My covenant that you shall observe between Me and you and your children after you,
to circumcise your every male. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall become the sign of a covenant between Me
and you" (ibid. 17:10-11). This is the only commandment that the Torah calls "the sign of a covenant" between G-d and the Jewish
people. In fact, the Torah mentions the word brit("covenant") thirteen times in connection with circumcision, which is why the word
brit (or bris) has become synonymous with circumcision. Our Sages say that it is considered the greatest of all the commandments.
ITS NEVER TOO LATE!
If you are a Jewish male (born from a Jewish mother) or know of a Jewish friend or family member , child or adult who did not
receive a circumcision, we can help. Brit Yosef Yitzchak Will arrange a totally FREE Brit Mila(circumcision) .
Bris Yoseph Yitzchak is willing to even try and arrange for permission for inmates to have the Bris performed in prison.
They will arrange for a Free Brit for military personnel and their families anywhere in the world.
They have the highest hygienic standards and work with expert and experienced surgeons( Mohel's).
They will provide a free Brit Mila to Jewish males of all ages from 8 days old to 88 years old! Anywhere in the world.
For more information about this most important Mitzvah , please contact us at:
Brit Yosef Yitzchak : 10080 Bay Harbor Terrace - Bay Harbor Islands, FL 33154
1 877 BRIT-MILA (274 8645) - email:[email protected]
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VOL. XVI
XVIINO.
NO.55
IYAR-SIVAN 5773
5772 / MAY-JUNE 2013
2012
32
9
A
leph currently offers
s e v e r a l
correspondence
courses. Not only will you find
these courses to be
intellectually stimulating, but
you will learn things about
Jewish customs and your
heritage that will inspire and
even surprise you! Please
review the courses offered
and send in the application
below.
Kosher for the Clueless
but Curious
Incorporating a lifestyle change
such as keeping kosher can be
daunting at first glance. Never
fear! This course teaches the
aspiring student about Kashrut
from the ground up. This is a
perfect choice for the student
who wants to know more about
what it means to keep Kosher and
why it is important. Additionally,
this course strives to help
students of all levels and
backgrounds find comfortable
levels of observance for their
situation.
My Prayer
Prayer allows humans to connect
with the infinitely powerful
creator of the universe. This class
teaches the basics of Jewish
prayer and explains its meanings
by following the text in the Siddur
(prayer book). For both the
experienced and those who are
just learning, this class helps
broaden the understandings of a
33
VOL. XVII NO. 5
NATIONAL
Correspondence Courses
LIBERATOR
person’s connection to G-d.
A d d i t i o n a l l y, t h i s c o u r s e
s t r e n g t h e n s t h e s t u d e n t ’s
gratitude for the multitude of
kindnesses that G-d does for all of
His creations.
helped guide the Jewish People
for hundreds of years. This course
will focus on the 8th Principle - the
Divinity of the Torah. Learn the
validity of the Torah, a most
foundational belief in Judaism.
The Bible for the Clueless but
Curious
Happiness: "The Ladder Up"
Designed to teach and entertain
both the beginning bible student
as well as the advanced one, this
class explains the Torah’s stories
and lessons in a new, easy to read,
and exiting approach. This class
chronicles the events in all 5
books of the Torah, while also
explaining their relevance to
today’s day and age.
How can I be happy? How do I
cope with the challenges and
tribulations that consume my life?
This course will give you the tools
and method how to achieve
ultimate happiness.
“The Festival Series”
Bible: "Torah: Chumash
Bereishis: A Chassidic
Perspective on the Book of
Genesis”
Explore the story and details
behind all the major Jewish
holidays - High Holidays, Sukkot,
Simchat Torah, Chanukah, Purim,
Passover and Shavuot. Enjoy
fascinating facts and insights that
will elevate your holiday
experience to whole new level!
Study the first book of the Five
Books of Moses on a whole new
level. This course is sure to give
you a whole new outlook into the
lives of our Forefathers.
NEW! Oasis in Time:
The Gift of Shabbat
Hebrew Reading & Writing:
“Aleph Champ"
Learn how to read and write
Hebrew! You'll receive a Reader
as well as a Workbook. Program is
divided into 8 levels.
“Rambam:
The 13 Principles of Faith”
The 13 Principles of Faith as
established by Maimonides have
in a 24/7 World Why do we tend to
focus on what's urgent instead of
what's truly important? Imagine.
24 hours of digital silence. No
phones. No computers. No TV. Just
valuable time with the people you
love, to do all the things you've
needed to do but never quite
found the time for. We invite you
to explore the mystical,
psychological, social, and cultural
dimensions of Shabbat as we
unlock a model for achieving
balance and serenity in the
modern age. Over six weeks, we'll
33
NATIONAL
Correspondence Courses (Cont)
uncover timeless principles for
how to achieve a life of inner
peace while making each
workday more productive and
fulfilling. Sign up today for a
remarkable experience.
You Be the Judge II
Do you enjoy puzzles and
problem-solving? Do you love the
give-and-take of thoughtful
discussion? Can you use logic and
creativity to work your way out of
challenging situations? Then this
course is for you. The Rohr Jewish
Learning Institute's
groundbreaking course, You Be
The Judge, presented real cases
brought before the beit din, the
court system of Jewish Law. We
provided the primary texts from
the Talmud and asked our
students to grapple with the facts
in order to arrive at satisfying
solutions. This February, JLI is
proud to present You Be The
Judge II, a collection of six totally
new cases. You need no prior
knowledge of the Talmud and no
formal legal training. There are no
prerequisites other than an open
mind. If you missed You Be The
Judge I, we invite you to
experience for yourself the
exhilarating mental exploration
that characterizes traditional
Talmud study. And if you took our
previous course, be sure not to
miss this exciting sequel.
Beyond Never Again:
How the Holocaust Speaks to Us
Today Explore the ways in which
the Holocaust continues to affect
our generation and colors what it
34
VOL. XVII NO. 5
means to live as a Jew today. The
Holocaust forces us to grapple
with the existence of evil and
suffering. It challenges us to find
faith and optimism in the face of
devastation and despair. And it
humbles us as we encounter
heroes of the spirit who fought for
truth and decency in the darkest
of times.
The Land and the Spirit
Why We All Care About Israel
You've explored its language,
history, politics, and geography...
Now explore its soul... THE LAND
AND THE SPIRIT: Why We All Care
About Israel Many people love
their homes and their countries,
but once they relocate, they form
new allegiances. They cannot
trace the ancestral homeland that
their families claimed two
millennia ago, nor do they
continue to long for those places.
Yet no matter where they have
lived, Jews have continued to
dream about the land of Israel.
Because Israel is different. It is a
land that has pulsed with energy
and mystery since the dawn of
time, a land that has captured the
imagination throughout history, a
land that breathes with the glory
of our past and the dreams of our
future. And so Israel retains its
hold upon our spirit. There is a
deep connection that continues
to tug at us, a magnetic pull that
has not waned even though many
have found safe haven elsewhere.
Whether Israel makes us feel pride
or disappointment, hope or
concern, we care about its fate
and its future. Whatever our
political or religious bent, we
LIBERATOR
know that Israel matters. If you
have ever wondered about Israel
and its place in the world - and in
your heart - then this course is for
you.
The Kabbalah of Time
Examine time and the Jewish
calendar through the mystical
lens of Kabbalah. Time is a
profound organizing element of
our existence, and the cycle of the
Jewish calendar provides a
powerful template for personal
growth. Discover both a practical
understanding of the structure of
the Jewish calendar as well as
mystical insights into recurrent
patterns of time.
These courses are designed to
help you learn more about
your Jewish identity.
If you are unable to pay for the
postage to mail in your
question sheets, please let us
know and we will do our best to
help you (envelopes are
provided). The courses are free.
You may enroll in one course at
one time.
Please be sure to fill out all
parts of the application
form on the next page.
Thank you for your
participation, and enjoy
your studies!
34
NATIONAL
LIBERATOR
Correspondence COURSE APPLICATION
Mail Course Registration to:
The Aleph Institute
Attn: Correspondence Courses
9540 Collins Ave
Surfside, FL 33154
MILITARY PERSONNEL: TO ORDER CORRESPONDENCE COURSES, PLEASE E-MAIL US AT [email protected]
_____________________________________________________________
C) Aleph must be able to confirm that you are indeed Jewish.
You may be enrolled in one (1) course at a time:
Please check the course that you would like to enroll in.
The Bible for the Clueless...
Bible: "Torah: Chumash Bereishis: A Chassidic Perspective on the Book of Genesis"
Rambam: The 13 Principles of Faith
Happiness: "The Ladder Up"
Hebrew Reading & Writing: “Aleph Champ"
You Be the Judge II
Beyond Never Again
The Festival Series
Oasis in Time: The Gift of Shabbat
The Land and the Spirit
The Kabbalah of Time
You will be awarded a course diploma upon successful completion of each course.
Please make sure to forward us any address changes you may have.
Signature _____________________________________ Date _________________________
35
VOL. XVII NO. 5
35
The Aleph Advocacy Department
B"H
Do You Need Advocacy Assistance?
The Advocacy Department is here to help! Are there any outstanding issues you need assistance with? Let
us know if there are any general humanitarian or religious issues such as Kosher, Tefillin, Yarmulka,
Tzitzit, candle lighting, Sabbath prayer services, work proscription, religious material, calendar, study
group, rabbinical visits etc. Write to us at our Surfside, FL address, or email us via JPAY or Corrlinks.
Please remember that it is crucial you first advocate for yourself before asking us to advocate for you. It is
important the prison officials hear these issues from you first, often recorded in writing, before we reach
out to them. Try to first verbally communicate any concerns to your Chaplain or other staff in a very
respectful manner, and if need be you should then submit any grievances or requests in writing.
Remember that you are ambassadors for the Jewish faith and thus must always act accordingly. If the
issues remain, let us know who you've already spoken with and if you've submitted a grievance. Please send
us copies of all grievances and responses.
•
You should email/submit the "inmate to staff requests" at least 30 days before each holiday, requesting any
holiday services or program, especially if you are requesting Aleph volunteers to come for the service, such
as for Purim. Please do this for all holidays. This will give sufficient time for the prison to prepare.
Questions to ask yourselves 60 days before each holiday:
Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot
& Simchat Torah
Will you be accommodated with all
prayer services, prayer books, work
proscription, apple and honey, holiday
candle lighting, meal sacks for the fast,
Lulov & Etrog, Sukkah and meals in the
Sukkah?
Chanukah
Will you be allowed to light the menorah
with real candles for all 8 nights of
Chanukah?
Purim
Will you be receiving the Aleph Purim
packet which includes the traditional
hamentashen and snacks? Have you
requested rabbinical volunteers to come
and read from the Megillah scroll on the
night and/or day of Purim?
36
VOL. XVII NO. 5
Passover
Will you be accommodated to have the
two Seders (not just one)? Will the Seders
begin at nightfall, not earlier? Will each
Jewish inmate receive for each Seder: 3
sheets of Matzah, 4 cups of Kosher for
Passover grape juice, Seder plate with all
its items, a Haggadah and the Kosher for
Passover dinner? Will you be receiving
the special Kosher for Passover meals
with two sheets of Matzah for all 8 days
of Passover? Are you being given Passover
SPO and is it a fair limit? Will you have
work proscription, prayer services and
candle lighting?
Shavuot
Will you have work proscription, prayer
services and candle lighting?
36
On the eve of the Six Day War in 1967, when
the entire world predicted Israel's demise, the
Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M.
Schneerson OBM, initiated the Tefillin
campaign, and assured us that great
miracles are in store. He quoted the Divine
promise that in the merit of the mitzvah of
Tefillin, "all the nations of the world will see
that the name of G-d is called upon you, and
they will fear you" (Deuteronomy 28:10).
The Donning of Tefillin daily (except on the Sabbath and some Jewish
holidays) by Jewish men over the age of 13 years old is one of the most
important of the 613 Commandments in the Torah.
Two anonymous donors are offering to subsidize the cost for
those who cannot afford to pay the full price for Tefillin ($220.00) if
you commit to putting them on daily. Even if you personally cant
afford to buy Tefillin but your family or friends can cover all or
part of the cost, please have them contact us to help pay for all or
part of your Tefillin. The donors would like to maximize the funds
to accommodate as many individuals as possible, so please try to
pay at least $100 towards the price of a pair of Tefillin.
If you can afford to pay the regular price for the Tefillin on your own or
you cannot commit to putting it on every day but you want to use them
as often as you can and you would like to purchase Tefillin, Aleph can
sell you Tefillin for $220.00.
If you do not have proof that you are Jewish
(a working phone number of a relative or
acquaintance that can verify this information)
and Aleph has not yet confirmed that you are Jewish,
please do not send in a request.
We will not be able to send you the Tefillin.
If you are interested in receiving Tefillin, please send a request
along with payment to (If you cannot pay the full amount, please
let us know how much you can pay) to:
“Tefilling Offer” c/o The Aleph Institute
You can also have your family or institutional staff order for you
by visiting www.AlephStore.com or calling 305-864-5553
If you, your family and friends cannot afford to pay anything
towards the Tefillin, we will still try to send you a pair of
Tefillin for FREE if you commit to putting them on daily.
***
It is particularly important that men in the military fulfill the
commandment of donning Tefillin as the observance of the Mitzvah
of Tefillin brings extra protection.
Jewish Military Personnel interested in obtaining a
pair Tefillin should e-mail Rabbi Katz at
[email protected]
37
VOL. XVII NO. 5
NATIONAL
FREE Tefillin (Phylacteries) Offer
for Inmates and Military Personnel
LIBERATOR
The Significance of Tefillin
T
efillin is one of the most important Mitzvot (precepts)
of the Torah. It has been observed and treasured for
thousands of years, right down to the present day.
The Torah mentions it more than once, but most explicitly in
Deut. 6:8 "You shall bind them as a sign upon your hand,
and they should be for a reminder between your eyes.”
Tefillin consists of two small leather boxes attached to
leather straps. The two boxes each contain four sections of
the Torah inscribed on parchment. These passages cite:
(a) The Shema (Deut. 6:4-9) - pronouncing the Unity of The
One G-d.
(b) Vehayah (Deut. 11:13-21) - expressing G-d's assurance
to us of reward that will follow our observance of the Torah's
precepts, and warning of retribution for disobedience to
them.
(c) Kadesh (Ex. 13:1-10) - the duty of the Jewish people to
always remember the redemption from Egyptian bondage.
(d) Vehayah (Ex. 13:11-16) - the obligation of every Jew to
inform his children on these matters.
One of the boxes (the "hand Tefillin") is placed upon the left
arm so as to rest against the heart - the seat of the emotions,
and the suspended leather strap is wound around the left
hand, and around the middle finger of that hand. The other
box (the "Head Tefillin") is placed upon the head, above the
forehead, so as to rest upon the cerebrum. In this manner
our attention is directed to the head, heart and hand. It
teaches us to dedicate ourselves to the service of G-d in all
that we think, feel and do. It is also to teach us not to be
governed solely by the impulse of the heart, lest that lead us
into error and transgression. Nor are we to be governed by
reason alone, for that may lead to harsh materialism.
Placed on the arm opposite the heart, and on the head, the
Tefillin signify the submission of one's mind, heart and
actions to the Almighty, as well as the rule of intellect over
emotion.
A fundamental principle of Chabad Chassidic philosophy is
that the intellect must control the emotions. Unfortunately,
there exists a schism between the mind and the heart.
Moreover, often the emotions control the mind, and the
intellect is utilized merely to provide justification,
rationalization, and excuses for this "instinct-emotion
centered" existence. The Mitzvah of Tefillin and its practice
facilitates the attainment by the individual of unity of mind
and heart, intellect and emotion.
37
NATIONAL
LIBERATOR
Aleph is ready and able to help make sure that
Jewish inmates and their family members
receive a Kosher Jewish burial.
As the Jewish inmate population grows older, unfortunately more and
more Jewish inmates are passing away in prison. Many times family
members can't afford a kosher Jewish burial and tell the state to cremate
the deceased. Cremation is against Jewish law and causes great harm
to the soul of the departed. Many other family members don't even claim
the deceased’s body and allow the state to do as they see fit. Aleph can
and will make sure that Jewish inmates receive a proper kosher burial. In
order to make sure that this happens, you must officially designate Aleph
as your next of kin with the records department. You should also specify
that the deceased should ONLY be released to Aleph and not to anyone else even if you have family
members that you also want to notify in case of illness or death. Aleph is also willing to help assure that
family members of inmates who pass awayare given a kosher Jewish burial. Please contact us or have a
family member contact us if someone in your family passes away and they need a Kosher Jewish burial.
Military personnel who have questions about Jewish burial procedures should email
[email protected] or call 305-864-5553
ATTN: INMATES WHO HAVE ACCESS TO E-MAIL:
ALEPH NEEDS YOUR HELP NOW.
Aleph is looking to have e-mail contact with at least one Jewish inmate in
every prison facility. We would rather be in touch with all inmates via email.
This will enable us to relay important and urgent messages to Jewish inmates
instantly. Please designate amongst yourselves at least one Jewish inmate to
be our regular contact and have him/her e-mail us today.
We would also much rather receive email than regular mail. If you are reading this and you have access to e-mail in
your institution, PLEASE add Aleph to your E-MAIL Approved list even if you have no reason to email anything right
now.
Aleph would like to have the ability to e-mail you if need be and we can only do that if you add us to your approved
list. Please email Yehudis at [email protected].
If you need an address and phone number, please use 9540 Collins Ave., Surfside FL 33154, 305-864-5553.
It is imperative that you add us to your approved list. It costs you nothing and it will assist us to get you vital, urgent
information without delay if need be. In case of an emergency heaven forbid, this fast open line of communication
can be a lifeline. Better to be safe than sorry. Please help Aleph work more efficiently.
Rabbi Katz cannot be contacted directly by email as he is a volunteer and cannot communicate directly with
inmates. You can also contact Jose Crespin regarding any issues that need to be addressed at your facility, at:
[email protected] .
You can contact Rabbi Shua Brook regarding any family issues at [email protected] if you are having issues
with a paid order from Aleph, please email Shimon Minkowitz at [email protected]
Please e-mail us today at: [email protected]
38
VOL. XVII NO. 5
38
NATIONAL
family support
LIBERATOR
Do you want your child to have an
exciting and fun-filled summer?
We can help your child(ren) or grandchild(ren) get into a great
Jewish summer camp (day camp or overnight camp) in your
area for a great price. If you can’t afford, don’t worry!
We can even arrange for a full scholarship if need be.
(on a case by case basis).
Jewish Day School or Hebrew School
Do you want your child to receive a good Jewish education?
We can arrange for your child to get into a Jewish day school or Hebrew school.
We will assist you in getting very low tuition . Your child deserves a good
Jewish education. Why not take advantage of this great opportunity?
SHAVUOT 5773
On the First Day of Shavuot, May 15th 2013 All Jewish men, women and children should go to a
synagogue to hear the reading of the Ten Commandments.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, encouraged the bringing of
even the youngest of children to the reading of the Ten Commandments in the synagogue on Shavuot. This is in
commemoration of the Jewish people declaring: "Our children are our guarantors [that we will keep the
Torah]." This was the only guarantee acceptable to G-d (Midrash). Please ask your friends and relatives to try
and find a synagogue near them that they go to in order to hear the ten commandments. Many Chabad
centers arrange for special readings of the Ten Commandments in the late afternoon and evening. One can find
a listing of Chabad centers around the world by visiting www.chabad.org. Family members of inmates can call
Rabbi Shua Brook at at 347-762-5374 or email him [email protected] for information on locations
near you. Military members can email Rabbi Katz at [email protected] or call him at 305 864-5553
47
VOL. XVII NO. 5
family support
Please contact Rabbi Shua Brook at 347-762-5674
47
NATIONAL
Aleph Wishes You a Very Happy Shavuot!
LIBERATOR
THE ALEPH INSTITUTE
aleph
INSTITUTE
9540 Collins Avenue
Surfside, FL 33154
TORAH VIDEO RESOURCES ONLINE!
Although many people reading this magazine do not have internet access, your friends and
family may, therefore we’d like to make you aware that there is much great Jewish content on
the internet. Please visit the following websites (or encourage others that have internet
access to do so) to learn more about your Jewish heritage:
www.chabad.org, www.jewish.tv www.torahcafe.com, and www.theyeshiva.net.
You can also watch weekly Living Torah videso free online at www.livingtorah.org
FRIDAY NIGHT SERVICES:
The Sabbath is considered to be the
most holy day of the Jewish calendar.
Ask your chaplain to schedule a
weekly Friday-night Sabbath service
to accommodate your religious
needs. Aleph is more than happy to
provide all necessary items for these services,
including Aleph’s Shabbat Services Companion
(complete guide and prayer services), grape
juice, challah, tea-light-candles and Yarmulkas.
Have your chaplain call Aleph at 305-864-5553 or
e-mail: [email protected] at Aleph today!
got grape juice?
Grape juice is the most basic and essential
part of the Friday night Sabbath service to
make the blessing. Aleph has arranged
that the main Kosher grape juice vendor
(Kedem) can be contacted directly by
individual institutions. Please ask your
chaplain to order. Your chaplain may
contact Yiddel Kahn at (718) 384-2400 or
email [email protected] for purchases.
Please note that most grape juices found in
supermarkets are not kosher. Grape juice such as
®
®
Welch’s or OceanSpray are usually NOT kosher.

Shavuot-Liberator - The Aleph Institute

Transcription

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