Parshat Terums- Hashem Is With Us

As our Parsha opens, Hashem tells Moshe, "If you think I was close to Bnei Yisroel at Matan (the giving of the) Torah, pitch me a tent, 'cause I'm dwelling among Bnei Yisroel from now on." Here's what Hashem has in mind: While the Jews travel through the desert, living in temporary dwellings, Hashem, too, will travel the same way, dwelling in a temporary, travelling Mishkan, which will be packed up every time the Jews move on to a different camping ground. When the Jews are settled in Eretz Yisroel and build permanent homes, they will build a permanent dwelling for Hashem's Shechina (divine presence), the Bait Hamikdosh.
Moshe is up at the summit of Har (Mt.) Sinai. He doesn't know it, but all heck is about to break loose down below. There's major sinning sneaking up on the desert Sinai. Sinning that could destroy the bond between Hashem and Bnei Yisroel. Hashem knows He has to strengthen the bond now, before it is too late! The Mishkan is the solution. Hashem tells Moshe all about this travelling Holy Temple that keeps Hashem's Shechina right smack in the middle of the Bnei Yisroel. With the Shechina resting among the people, no nation will be able to say that Hashem abandoned Bnei Yisroel after their terrible sin. In this weeks parsha it also describes how each item apart of the Mishkan was made.    Nowadays, we don't have a Mishkan orBeit Hamikdash however, we have our homes our Beit Hamikdash Me'at. A woman is the Cohen Gadol and needs to make sure nothing impure enters the home so Hashems presence can dwell amongst us. Anything that is holy belongs in our homes. May each and everyone of us take out the garbage from within our homes and within ourselves so Hashems shchina may dwell amongst us.Amen!

By: Esther Shamayev

Shabbat shalom! :)

Parshat Mishpatim:"Na'Aseh VeNishma?!?!"

               

        In this weeks parsha we receive 53 Mitzvot, such as; the three festivals, Pesach, Sukkot and Shavuot, etc. Hashem tells Bnei Yisrael that He will send an angel before them to guard them and to bring them to the Promised Land, Israel. He also tells them that they must hearken to His voice and uproot idolatry. Bnei Yisrael proclaim all together "Na'Aseh Ve'Nishma"-"we will do an we will listen". Bnei Yisrael answered Na'Aseh Ve'Nishma like one man with one heart. They were united, unfortunately, nowadays, we are not united and that is why we are still in exile. Today, the exile we live in is very comfortable however, at the same time confusing. We don't know what is emet-true. We live our life filled with confusion that is why we have the Torah to guide us in the proper light. Instead of us Bnei Yisrael saying Na"Aseh Ve'Nishma, we say "Nishma Ve'Na'Ase"- we will listen then we will do. We are basically saying, prove to me that there is a G-d and prove to me why I have to keep these commandments then I will do. It's all about proving Hashems existence. However, how can I search for something that doesn't exist. So, obviously there is a G-d who created this world and created everything in it for me in order to serve Him to my fullest ability. We need to stop the exile within us and work on our Emunah in Hashem and believe that He will take us out of exile and bring Mashiach soon. Amen. BimHera Beyameynu!
Shabbat Shalom
By: Esther Shamayev

Parshat Yitro- "The Ten Commandments"

The Ten Commandments In this weeks parsha it tells us how Moshe's father in law Yitro converted when he heard the miracles that Hashem did for Bnei yisrael. Also, we are preparing to receive the Torah from Hashem on Mount. Sinai. The Jews request that G-d Himself give over the commandments and so He does for the first two commandments. During each time He said the commandments the people died and Hashem had to revive them. Then they begged Moshe for him to be  the middle man between Gd and the people. They received the rest of the commandments which were 8 left from G-d to Moshe and Moshe to the people.  1) I am the Lord thy god, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 2) Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. 3) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. 4) Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 5) Honor thy father and thy mother. 6) Thou shalt not murder. 7) Thou shalt not commit adultery. 8) Thou shalt not steal. 9) Thou shalt not bear false witness against they neighbor. 10) Thou shalt not covet anything that belongs to thy neighbor.

        We learn many lessons from this weeks parsha. Firstly, that Yitro who was the biggest idol worshipper of that time dropped all of his idolatry once he found out about Hashem and His greatness. Let's try to sacrifice something small in order to show Hashem that He is our only master. Technology doesn't rule over me I rule over technology.

     Another lesson we learn is how to act towards G-d, between man and man and between man and oneself. 

Between G-d and man: know that G-d is one and that He is all powerful and does what's best for His children. Hashem gave us a gift which is Shabbat.

Between man and self- if you are happy with what you have you won't have an issue with following categories. 

Between man and man: respect your parents, don't be jealous, don't kill, don't do adultery 

Parshat Beshalach- "Where's Your Faith"

        In this weeks parsha, we are redeemed from Egypt and we come to a dead end! There's no where to go! A body of water stops us from continuing to our journey out of Egypt. Should we turn back? Or should we build in our faith stronger to Hashem? I like the second answer better, Nachson Ben Aminadav had Faith in Hashem and he kept walking, he even continued walking in the water until it reached his head then Hashem made a huge worldwide miracle the Yam Suf split into twelve rows for each tribe to pass with his family. Not only did the waters split in the ocean but all the waters throughout the world split and it was a huge miracle that the entire world saw. Pharoh realized that he did a huge mistake by sending Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt so he sent his Egyptian armies to stop them and bring them back to slavery however, what happened? The Egyptians drowned in the ocean. Pharoh was left alive to see the open miracle of Hashem and for him to realize that there is someone above him which is G-d. We are now in the desert and many times, we see Bnei Yisrael complaining that they are hungry, thirsty and that they want meat. Hashem blessed us with three gifts, Clouds of Glory, Mann, and Slav (the meat that fell from the sky). We also received the Mitzvah of Shabbat in this weeks parsha. In the desert, we come across with the nation of Amalek who started up with Bnei Yisrael. Amalek was the only nation who denied G-ds' existence even after the miracles He preformed in Egypt with the ten plagues and the splitting of the sea.
       This parsha teaches us a major factor of Faith in Hashem. We must never lose hope in G-d. We must try our best to work on our Emunah and build it up to the point where we don't have one ounce of doubt in our heart and mind. Hashem took such good care of us in the desert, He gave us Mann which fell from the sky and it tasted like anything we wanted it to. He gave us the Cloud of Glory which protected us from snakes and scorpions in the desert and protected us from arrows from enemies (Egyptians, Amalek) it was also a dry cleaner kept us clean. Hashem also gave us the Be'er Miriam the well of Miriam with us in the desert for 40 years. Nowadays, we have everything as well and we still don't have the faith in Hashem. We somehow still doubt the existence of G-d? WHY? Think deeply and ask yourself if you do doubt Hashem...Why is it that I doubt the creator of the world who created me because the world could not exist another second without me? Hashem performs so many outstanding miracles that no human understands but yet somehow we doubt his existence. Let us try to get rid of the Amalek inside of us and reconnect to Our Father, Our King.
May this Shabbat be an uplifiting and spiritual time where you reconnect yourself with Hashem and that you hold on to the rope and not let go of your relationship with Hashem.
Shabbat Shalom
By: Esther Shamayev

Parshat Bo- Are We Ready?

       In this weeks parsha, it speaks about the last three plagues that Moshe did to the Egyptians. There was one plague that affected the Jews who didn't believe in the words of Moshe and Aahron that Hashem is taking us out of Egypt. These people were called the "Erev Ra"- they died in the ninth plague which was, darkness. The died in this plague so the Egyptians wouldn't say that our G-d is killing His own people. However; these people were discouraging the other Jews and they themselves didn't trust the word of Hashem. They said that they rather die as slaves in Egypt knowing they have food and shelter being provided for them because for them not knowing if they will survive in the desert shows that they don't believe that Hashem is capable of anything and everything! Nowadays, we have the same problem. We have those Jews who are so comfortable with what they have that they don't want Mashiach to come and redeem us from the exile we are in. They don't even think we are in exile because of all the wealth, success and "happiness" that they have achieved. Yes, even though we have everything on the tip of our fingers especially, with the help of the government we feel that we are not living a life of exile. However, we are wrong! The yezter hara- the evil inclination is blocking our knowledge of understanding that we are in exile and the evil inclination is making us think and know that we are living comfortable lives. We should always remember that if my father up above is homeless how can I be happy...? We need to be ready to drop everything and be redeemed and know in our hearts that the world we are living in is a world of illusion. My money can disappear in a second however, my Mitzvoth- good deeds are everlasting. In order to really anticipate in the coming of the Mashiach we need to have Emunah in Hashem- Faith in G-d that He is and will be taking care of His children. Right now times might seem tough and we have expensive things to cheer us up for a split second however, our ultimate happiness where the light will continue to shine with Hashems presence is when Mashiach will come to take us out of this generation Mitzrayim! Amen.
Shabbat Shalom
New York Shabbat Time:
Shabbat Starts:4:23pm
Shabbat Ends: 5:26pm

Parshat Vaera- What's The Connection?

                     

Shabbat Starts:4:17pm
Shabbat Ends: 5:20pm

Parsha In A Nutshell:

 אני יה-ה

I am the Lord.

G-d speaks to Moses and tells him that He has heard the cries of the Israelites who have been oppressed by the Egyptians and that He remembers the covenant between him and our forefathers. G-d tells Moses that Moses should go to the Israelites and tell them that G-d will redeem them from Egypt and take them to the Promised Land. The Israelites do not listen to Moshe because of their broken spirit and hard labor. Moses refuses to go to speak with Pharaoh and G-d assigns his brother Aaron to be Moses spokesman. But Hashem hardens Pharaohs heart and he refuses to let the Israelites go.

G‑d reveals Himself to Moses. Employing the “four expressions of redemption,” He promises to take out the Children of Israel from Egypt, deliver them from their enslavement, redeem them, and acquire them as His own chosen people at Mount Sinai; He will then bring them to the land He promised to the Patriarchs as their eternal heritage.

G-d subsequently commences the series of ten plagues that He will bring upon Egypt. In this Parsha, we hear about seven of these plagues: Blood, Frogs, Lice, Wild Beasts, Death of Livestock, Boils, and Hail. Despite these punishments, Hashem continues to harden Pharaohs heart and does not let the Israelite people go.

Moses and Aaron repeatedly come before Pharaoh to demand in the name of G‑d, “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me in the wilderness.” Pharaoh repeatedly refuses. Aaron’s staff turns into a snake and swallows the magic sticks of the Egyptian sorcerers. G‑d then sends a series of plagues upon the Egyptians. The waters of the Nile turn to blood; swarms of frogs overrun the land; lice infest all men and beasts. Hordes of wild animals invade the cities; a pestilence kills the domestic animals; painful boils afflict the Egyptians. For the seventh plague, fire and ice combine to descend from the skies as a devastating hail. Still, “the heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he would not let the children of Israel go, as G‑d had said to Moses.”

Lessons To Learn:

We learn many intrinsic lessons from this parsha however; the one lesson that stood out the most in this parsha was middah keneged midda- measure for measure. Middah Keneged Middah works in a very straight forward way, the way I treat you is the way I will be treated in return. For example, Pharoh would kill the Jewish babies and bathe in their blood so the first plague that G-d did was Dam-Blood, the Nile river turned into blood and all the water was bloody besides the water of the Israelites. We need to understand that we must be very careful with how we treat others we need to love everyone like we love ourselves. We must always remember that even though we are living in darkness we must never forget that Hashem is crying with us and is waiting for the right moment to redeem us however; we need to show Him that we want to be redeemed. In Egypt, the Israelites didnt want to leave they were comfortable. They were being taken care of even though they were enslaved by the Egyptians. So, they thought in Egypt they receive what they need if they go to the desert they wont have anything so they didn't want to leave. We too, are living such comfortable lives that we don't really care to think about the day where we will be redeemed and the Beit Hamikdash will be rebuilt. We could honestly care less. We need to try to at least remember once a day that we are in exile even though we might be living luxurious lives in reality the Shchina of G-d is not at peace and if G-d isn't at peace so shouldn't we feel that nothing is wrong. Middah Keneged Middah: try to focus and understand why certain things are happening around the world how does it apply to your life?

Shabbat Shalom!

By: Esther Shamayev

Parshat Shemot

                          "Thank You Hashem- Appreciation"

Shabbat Starts: 4:13
Shabbat Ends:  5:16
       
       In this weeks parsha, Shemot, we learn how Batya, Pharaohs daughter stretches out her hand to save Moshe from the water. Batya went to bathe in the Nile River because she had Tzarat- skin disease. Batya saw a baby in the basket on the water and she stretched out her arm to save him however; she couldn't reach him so Hashem saw her trying and He sent an angel to help her reach the basket. Batya was the Mateh- the "stick" of G-d. What does that mean? We know Hashem runs the world! He can do anything in His power. However, Hashem put us in this world to emulate Him and perfect our ways. If we just sit and wait for Hashem to do a miracle for us without us putting any effort then we are not showing Hashem that we care enough. Instead of talking about doing a Mitzvah, get up and get into action. Talk is cheap. We learn that its best to believe in a person who talks less and does more because those are the type of people who are ready to change the world. We are all Hashems extension, we need to share our gift that Hashem gave us to Klal Yisrael. We need to try and try until we can't physically do it anymore than you say Hashem I did as much as a human being can now its up to You. Put up a sail and let Hashem do the rest. Show Hashem you are putting effort and He will help you with the rest.
Another lesson we learn from this Parsha, is Hakarat Hatov- Appreciation. Moshe Rabenu couldn't hit the water because the water didn't harm him when he was in the basket. Even to something that doesn't have feeling we need to appreciate how much more so do we need to appreciate someone who has feelings.

WORKSHOP: This Shabbat stop and think... and ask yourself:
1.  How can I help myself, my family, my community with the talents that Hashem has given me to use as an extension of Himself?
2. Who did I not show my appreciation to that deserves a big THANK YOU!?