Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Parsha Vayechi - We Each Play An Important Role




Shabbat Starts:4:11
Shabbat Ends: 5:13
Parsha in a nutshell: Yakov lives the final 17 years of his life in Egypt. Before his passing, he asks Yosef to promise him that he will bury his body in Israel. He blesses Joseph’s two sons, Menashe and Efraim, elevating them to the status of his own sons as progenitors of tribes within the nation of Israel.
Yaakov wants to reveal when Mashiach will come to his children, but didn't end up happening. Hashem didn't want that it should be revealed to us.
Jacob blesses his sons, assigning to each his role as a tribe: Yehudah will produce leaders, legislators and kings; priests will come from Levi, scholars from Isacchar, seafarers from Zevulun, schoolteachers from Shimon, soldiers from Gad, judges from Dan, olive-growers from Asher, and so on. Reuven is rebuked for “confusing his father’s marriage bed”; Shimon and Levi, for the massacre of Shechem and the plot against Joseph. Naftali is granted the swiftness of a deer, Benyamin the ferociousness of a wolf, and Joseph is blessed with beauty and fertility.
A large funeral procession consisting of Jacob’s descendants, Pharaoh’s ministers, the leading citizens of Egypt and the Egyptian cavalry accompanies Jacob on his final journey to the Holy Land, where he is buried in the Marat Ha'Machpelah Cave in Chevron.
Yosef, too, dies in Egypt, at the age of 110. He, too, instructs that his bones be taken out of Egypt and buried in the Holy Land, but this would come to pass only with the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt many years later. Before his passing, Joseph conveys to the Children of Israel the testament from which they will draw their hope and faith in the difficult years to come: “G‑d will surely remember you, and bring you up out of this land to the land of which He swore to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov.
Yaakov blesses his children and assigned each one of his children to their role as a tribe. This shows us that we each play an important role in this world. Every action that we do has a tremendous effect on the Jewish nation. We might not see the effect however, we spiritually cause damage onto ourselves and the Jewish nation when we do a sin. Each and every one of us needs to look within themselves and see what their mission in life is. Ask yourself: What was the reason Hashem needed to create me that I can offer to the world? What do I have that I can change the world, that I can benefit others with? Take this Shabbat to connect to yourself as to what Hashem wants you to give to Bnei Yisrael.
By: Esther Shamayev

Asarah B'Tevet









On the 10th day of the Jewish month of Tevet, in the year 3336 from Creation (425 BCE), the armies of the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar aid siege to Jerusalem. Thirty months later—on 9 Tammuz 3338—the city walls were breached, and on 9 Av of that year the Holy Temple was destroyed. The Jewish people were exiled to Babylonia for 70 years.
The 10th of Tevet (this year, December 13, 2013) is observed as a day of fasting, mourning and repentance. We refrain from food and drink from daybreak to nightfall, and add selichot and other special supplements to our prayers. More recently, 10 Tevet was chosen to also serve as a “general kaddish day” for the victims of the Holocaust, many of whose day of martyrdom is unknown. (Chabad.org)
What is the essence of a fast?
 The Ramchal says that " A person should be careful with his actions and with what path he takes. If you don't pay attention to what you are doing you are leaving your soul open to spiritual destruction. A person who doesn't examine his actions will most likely be killed". One of the ways of the yetzer hara is that he keeps you  busy to the point that you don't have time to think of what you are doing with your life. To better understand this, we can look at how Pharoh worked the men in Mitzrayim.  He wanted to work the men so hard that they had no time to plan against him. This is a tactic of the Yetzer Hara. A fast day is supposed to be a time where we stop and think, "Why are we fasting?" What did we lose that we need to regain? When a person doesn't eat, their body is lacking its physical nutrients  it needs for that day. So to, as we fast for our Beit Hamikdash, we have to try to understand what we are lacking in our own spiritual life that is preventing the Biet Hamikdash from being rebuilt. When a person is distracted with materialistic things he is depriving his neshema from realizing what he needs to work on spiritually. These modern day distractions are unlike the ones in the past where even with  washing machines and microwaves which help get errands done quicker, we are still finding ourselves distracted and deprived. Due to the fact that we have many television programs and all types of electronics that take up our time, it prevents us from realizing what is missing within us. Apple iPods, iPhones, iMac etc. all have the symbol of a bitten apple. This bitten apple is a symbol which I'm sure no one has ever noticed to be a symbol of the sin with Adam, Chava and the snake. This apple represents the modern day yetzer hara-technology and materialism which is a struggle very hard to overcome. Lets use this fast day as an oppurtunity to focus and stop depriving ourselves of the spiritual nutrients due to the"bitten apple". 

                By: Esther Shamayev
Have an easy and meaningful fast!