CHABBAT PARACHAT VAÉRA
16 JANVIER 2021 / 3 CHEVAT 5781
Hazkara: Clément Setton (zl) pére de Jocelyne Setton
SHABBAT PRAYERS AT HOME
While you may be unable to attend services this Shabbat—either as a result of quarantine or due to synagogues canceling services—this does not mean that you cannot pray the Shabbat prayers. Of course, the ideal way to pray is in synagogue with a quorum of ten. However, with a little adaptation, the Shabbat prayers can most certainly be said in isolation. In fact, the silver lining to saying the prayers alone is that they will be more personal and you can go your own pace.
The vast majority of prayers may be recited at home just as they would be in synagogue. However, there are a number of key differences to bear in mind when praying without a quorum of ten. Among them: kaddish, barechu, and the repetition of the Amidah are omitted. Below we will run through the Shabbat prayers detailing the exact differences. We will be using the page numbers as found in the Kehot Annotated Hebrew-English Siddur.
Timing
According to the Talmud, even if you cannot make it to synagogue, you should still pray at the time the congregation prays. As such, do your best to begin at the time your local synagogue begins services. Also, before Shabbat, make sure you know the times when Shabbat begins and ends, as well as the latest time to say Shema etc.
Friday Night
Ideally, the afternoon prayer (minchah) should be prayed before lighting the Shabbat candles, but it is fine to pray after candle lighting, before sunset. When praying minchah, kaddish and the repetition of the amidah are omitted.
It is best to wait until after nightfall before starting the evening prayers (maariv). This break between sunset and nightfall is the perfect opportunity to study something on the parshah. Visit our parshah page in advance and print something that catches your eye.
Start Kabbalat Shabbat around nightfall. Using a prayer book with an English translation, this is an opportunity to go at your own pace, as there is no need to worry about the speed of the congregation. Read some of the English, as the Friday night liturgy contains some especially beautiful Psalms.
recite the paragraph beginning Velomar (“and say instead of barechu when praying alone.
After the silent Amidah, the paragraph beginning va’yechulu (‘The heavens’) is recited, but we omit the first and last of the next three paragraphs, as they are essentially a truncated repetition of the Amidah.
The remainder of the service is said as usual, sans kaddish and barechu.
Shabbat Morning
Start your morning with a study session. Nothing will get you more in the mode for prayer than a little chassidut, why not print the daily portion of Tanya before Shabbat? Before studying (or eating anything) be sure to recite the morning blessings (pgs 5-9) and Shema.
For the morning prayers (shacharit), proceed as you would in synagogue (omitting kaddish and borchu) until after the silent amidah. The repetition is omitted, so you proceed directly to the “Song of the Day.”
Since the Torah is not going to be read, we skip the prayers associated with removing the Torah from the ark, which begin with the paragraph beginning atoh (‘You have’). Although there is obviously no Torah reading, read the parshah of the week from a Chumash, and feel free to peruse some of the commentaries as well.
Before the musaf prayer, only the first yekum purkan (‘may there’) is recited (pg 230). Skip the following two paragraphs. Proceed to ashrei (skipping 'av ha'rachamim') and then pray the musaf prayer, skipping the silent repetition of the amidah.
General Notes
Since kaddish cannot be recited, if you need to have it said for loved one, before Shabbat, fill out the short form on our Coronavirus Kaddish Service page to arrange kaddish to be said.
We cannot use technology on Shabbat, so please print this guide on Friday for Shabbat use.
By Mordechai Rubin
!The rabbVaéra - en bref
Exode 6, 2 - 9, 35
D.ieu se révèle à Moïse. Employant les « quatre expressions de délivrance », Il promet de faire sortir les Enfants d’Israël d’Égypte, de les délivrer de leur servitude, de les rédimer et d’en faire Son peuple élu au Mont Sinaï, suite à quoi Il les conduira à la terre qu’il a promise aux Patriarches en héritage éternel.
Moïse et Aharon se présentent à plusieurs reprises devant Pharaon pour exiger au nom de D.ieu « Laisse partir Mon peuple, afin qu’il puisse Me servir dans le désert », mais Pharaon refuse à chaque fois. Le bâton d’Aharon se transforme en serpent et avale les bâtons magiques des sorciers égyptiens. D.ieu envoie ensuite une série de plaies sur les Égyptiens.
Les eaux du Nil se changent en sang, des grenouilles envahissent le pays par millions, une vermine infeste hommes et bêtes. Des hordes d’animaux sauvages envahissent les villes, une maladie mortelle s’abat sur les animaux domestiques, de douloureux furoncles affligent les Égyptiens. Lors de la septième plaie, le feu et la glace se combinent dans des grêlons dévastateurs qui pleuvent du ciel. Toutefois, « le cœur de Pharaon s’endurcit et il ne voulut point laisser partir les enfants d’Israël ; comme D.ieu l’avait dit à Moïse. »
© Copyright, all rights reserved. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further, provided that you comply with Chabad.org's copyright policy.
Free Will
Although there are few if any direct philosophical statements in the bible regarding
concepts such as free will, afterlife, providence, etc. Jews throughout the generations have tried
to come up with what they believe is the proper way for a Jew to think about these and other
philosophical issues. One such issue is that of free will. In this week’s parasha a classic question
that is often asked is: If God hardened Pharaoh’s heart during the plagues, why was Pharaoh
being punished, it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t let them go, since God affected his free will.
Many of the commentators address this question:
According to Midrash Rabbah God wanted to punish Pharaoh for the extra hard work and
cruelty he imposed on Benei Yisrael. Therefore, He took away his free will.
Resh Lakish explains that when reading the Torah carefully, we find that in the first five
plagues Pharaoh hardened his own heart, and only in the last five plagues, God hardens his heart.
This is because God kept warning Pharaoh, and kept giving him the chance to repent. After
Pharaoh refused to repent, God wanted to punish him so He hardened his heart. Accordingly,
Pharaoh had free will to an extent and then lost his free will through his choices.
Ramban offers two explanations:
1) Pharaoh deserved all the plagues because of the sins he committed against
Benei Yisrael, so God hardened his heart so that he would be able to strike him with all the
plagues that he already deserved from before. (It is interesting to note that God tells Moshe from
the very beginning to warn Pharaoh about the plague of the firstborns. This shows that all ten
plagues were planned to happen from the very beginning, seemingly no matter what Pharaoh
decided to do.) In this explanation free will was withheld similarly to the midrash raba above.
2) God wanted the Egyptians to recognize that God is God. When Pharaoh was
begging Moshe to take Benei Yisrael out of Egypt and to stop the plagues, it was only because
of the suffering he was experiencing from the plagues, not because he recognized God as the all-
powerful God. So God made Pharaoh’s heart strong (courageous not stubborn) so that he
wouldn’t simply crumble from the plagues. Accordingly, his free will was not taken away, he was
simply given the encouragement to make those choices.
Chevat est le 11ème mois du calendrier juif à compter de Nissan. Le point culminant du mois est la fête du 15 Chevat, appelée également le « Nouvel An des Arbres ». C’est le jour où la sève commence à monter dans les arbres fruitiers en Israël, le début d’une nouvelle saison de croissance. Nous célébrons ce jour en mangeant des fruits, en particulier des « Sept Espèces » que la Torah mentionne dans sa louange de la Terre Sainte (le blé, l’orge, les raisins, les figues, les grenades, les olives et les dattes). En ce jour, nous nous souvenons que « l’homme est un arbre des champs » et réfléchissons aux leçons que nous pouvons tirer de cette analogie botanique.
THE MONTH OF SHEVAT AND IT’S SIGN OF THE ZODIAC
The month of Shevat correlates with the astrological sign of Aquarius, which is an air sign. It is the third of the air signs: Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Aquarius represents the Left Column of the three. Aquarius is ruled by two planets. Traditional astrology attributes control of this month to Saturn, and modern astrology has given credit to Uranus, discovered by the astronomer William Hershel on March 13, 1781.
Saturn is the planet of judgment, order, responsibility, discipline and laws, while Uranus elevates us to new consciousness and new concepts beyond limitation. This is why the Age of Aquarius and the month of Aquarius are considered times of change. Both are times of new knowledge, inventions, humanity, and charity.
The energy of Uranus also connects to the air element - intellectualism, innovations, and new concepts that will bring the world to a higher level of consciousness.
Aquarians are rebellious by nature because they are constantly faced with penetrating questions concerning their individuality, their uniqueness and their identity. This is the reason they strive to break old boundaries. To Aquarians, the past is but a fleeting moment, and they disconnect from the past in order to find a fresh and unfamiliar reality, a new truth to fit the new times. Uranus orbits the sun every 84 years, which explains the common phenomenon of the "midlife crisis" that plagues 40-42 year olds, when we begin to question our life's purpose and make plans for the next 40 or so years.
PERLES DE TORAH
La Parashat Va'era raconte comment Aaron fit des miracles devant Pharaon, et comment il transforma un bâton en serpent.
Quelle fut alors la réponse de Pharaon? «La belle affaire!" dit-il. "L'Egypte est pleine de magiciens!" A tel point que Pharaon appela de jeunes enfants qui procédèrent à leur tour aussi à la transformation de bâtons en serpents!
Mais Dieu savait pertinemment les connaissances avancées de l'Egypte en magie. Alors, pourquoi Dieu a-t-il demandé à Aaron d’accomplir des exploits qui pouvaient être facilement reproduits?
La réponse est que Dieu a voulu que les Egyptiens viennent à penser qu'ils pourraient reproduire ce qu’on fait Moïse et Aaron étape par étape, afin que plus tard - lorsque Moïse et Aaron se mettraient à réaliser de plus grands miracles - les experts Égyptiens soient à même d'apprécier pleinement les énormes pouvoirs de Dieu.
Et c'est exactement ce qui s’est passé. Après le troisième fléau des poux, Pharaon appela ses magiciens pour qu’ils répliquent ce que Moïse et Aaron avaient fait. Mais ils furent incapables de le faire. A tel point que les magiciens se tournèrent vers Pharaon, reconnurent que Dieu est infiniment puissant, et déclarèrent : «C'est là le doigt de Dieu."
Le Talmud explique que les poux étaient trop petits pour que les magiciens de Pharaon puissent les manipuler. Dans un sens, cela ressemble à notre monde d'aujourd'hui. La science produit des merveilles - l'énergie atomique, le vol spatial, le génie génétique. Pourtant, tout repose sur l'aide de l'énergie et des ressources existantes. Alors d'où vient toute la matière originale?!
C'est là que Dieu intervient. Pour créer quelque chose à partir de rien - les minuscules briques de la vie – ceci est quelque chose dont seul Dieu est, était et sera toujours capable. La rencontre entre Aaron et Pharaon nous enseigne à ne pas perdre cette perspective.
Va’era Quiz
1) Q. In telling the story of Moshe and Aharon, the Torah provides a genealogy to tell us how
they were born and to whom they were related. Why is it necessary to trace and record their
pedigree?
A. We are taught an important lesson through this description. A Jewish leader is not one who
is born in a supernatural way. He is a normal person who has a father and mother and who has
spiritually elevated himself to be worthy of his rank. Every Jew has the potential to become a
Moshe Rabbenu - a leader of the Jewish people in his generation. This also explains to us why
they are not infallible, and we often read of errors our leaders had made. The Torah does not try
to conceal these errors or justify them.
2) Q. Why didn’t Moshe smite the water or the land in the first three plagues (Aharon did it)?
A. One possible explanation given is that when Moshe was a baby, he was saved by the
water, and when he killed the Egyptian the land helped him by hiding the body, so in return Moshe
did not smite them, Aharon did.
3) Q. “All the water in the river turned to blood, and the fish in the river died.” (7:20-21). Isn’t it
obvious that the fish would die, because they can only live in water?
A. Midrashically, the plague of blood might have happened in one of two ways: a) All the
waters might have become blood, turning back into water only when a Jew filled a glass. b) There
could have been no change in the water except that when an Egyptian filled a glass, it would
become blood. The midrash accepts the second option. Consequently, the Egyptians received a
double punishment: The fresh waters turned into blood when used, and the fish died in fresh
water. The reason it is explained in this way is because we are told that the Egyptians were
compelled to purchase water from the Jews, who prospered thereby (Midrash Rabbah). If all the
water had been transformed to blood, the Jews would have been unable to charge the Egyptians
for water, because it is forbidden to derive benefit from a miracle. (Ta’anit 24a)
3) Q. How many frogs were there in the beginning of the plague?
A. According to the Midrash: One, and when an Egyptian would strike it, it would multiply. This
Midrash is commenting on the description that “the frog” came up on the land. Since the Torah
described “the frog” and not frogs, the Midrash makes this comment.
4) Q. Moshe said: “When shall I pray for you, your servants and your people, to rid you of the
frogs?” Pharaoh answered: “Tomorrow.” (8:5, 6) Why did Pharaoh subject his nation to an extra
day of plague by saying “Tomorrow?” Didn’t he want the frogs to go away immediately?
A. Pharaoh didn’t believe that the frogs were a plague from God. He preferred to believe that
the frogs were a natural phenomenon about which Moshe had special knowledge. When Moshe
asked “When shall I pray...?” Pharaoh thought Moshe was simply timing his question to coincide
with the plague’s natural end, expecting Pharaoh to say “Right now!” By saying “Tomorrow”
Pharaoh tried to trick Moshe and make him look foolish. (Ibn Ezra in the name of Rav Shmuel
ben Hofni)
8)Q. How long did each plague last?
A. The midrash teaches that they lasted seven days. The frogs died in less than seven days
ENGLISH PROVERBS
A bad workman always blames his tools. ...
A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. ...
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. ...
A cat has nine lives. ...
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. ...
Actions speak louder than words. ...
A drowning man will clutch at a straw. ...
Adversity and loss make a man wise.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. ...
Better late than never. ...
Two wrongs don't make a right. ...
Birds of a feather flock together. ...
A picture is worth a thousand words. ...
There's no such thing as a free lunch. …
Beggars can't be choosers.
…
THE SHABBAT SMILE
Moishe Epstein dragged himself home and barely made it to his chair before he dropped, exhausted. His sympathetic wife Rivkah was right there with a tall cool drink and a comforting word.
"My, you look tired," Rivkah said. "You must have had a hard day today. What happened to make you so exhausted?"
"It was terrible," Moishe said, "We had no computer or internet access the whole day so all of us had to do our own thinking."
Leah Epstein invites some family and friends to dinner and at the table, she turns to her 6 year old daughter Rivkah and says, "Darling, don’t forget to make a bracha (blessing)."
"But Mommy, I don't know what bracha to say," replies Rivkah.
"All you need do," says Leah, "is to repeat what you heard Mommy say."
Rivkah thinks for a moment and says, "God, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner
Shira Stern mother was worried that her three-year-old son Benny was unusually precocious, and took him to a psychiatrist.
"Right," said the shrink, "We'll just try a few simple tests." To Benny, he said "Say a few words - anything that comes into your mind."
Benny turned to his mother and asked, "Does he want logically constructed sentences or just a few random and purely isolated words?"
Moishe and Miriam were out for dinner. Moishe seemed a little distracted so she turned to him and said, “Moishe! You are not listening to a word that I am saying, are you?
Moishe, somewhat offended, said, “Miriam, that’s an odd way to start a conversation.
Rabbi Stein was hit by a car , Hatsalah came fast and covered him.
They asked him : Are you comfortable
He answered; Well I make a living
LE SOURIRE DU CHABBAT
-
Jean dit à Julie
-
Demain c’est notre anniversaire de mariage, Qu’est ce que tu penses si on égorge le mouton
-
Et Julie qui répond, le pauvre mouton, ce n’est pas sa faute .
-
-
Jean dit à son ami Paul : Tu as 35 ans et tu n’es pas encore marié. C’est quoi le problème Paul lui dit que chaque fois qu’il apporte une fille à la maison, sa maman ne l’aime pas
-
Alors jean lui dit : Trouve une fille qui ressemble t à ta maman, et ainsi elle sera contente et elle l’aimera
Paul dit: J’ai essayé, j’ai trouvé presque une sosie à maman, mais papa l’a détestée
CHABBAT CHALOM
HODECH TOV
MAGHEN ABRAHAM
DAVID hASSON
CHABBAT PARACHAT VAÉRA
16 JANVIER 2021 / 3 CHEVAT 5781
Hazkara: Clément Setton (zl) pére de Jocelyne Setton
SHABBAT PRAYERS AT HOME
While you may be unable to attend services this Shabbat—either as a result of quarantine or due to synagogues canceling services—this does not mean that you cannot pray the Shabbat prayers. Of course, the ideal way to pray is in synagogue with a quorum of ten. However, with a little adaptation, the Shabbat prayers can most certainly be said in isolation. In fact, the silver lining to saying the prayers alone is that they will be more personal and you can go your own pace.
The vast majority of prayers may be recited at home just as they would be in synagogue. However, there are a number of key differences to bear in mind when praying without a quorum of ten. Among them: kaddish, barechu, and the repetition of the Amidah are omitted. Below we will run through the Shabbat prayers detailing the exact differences. We will be using the page numbers as found in the Kehot Annotated Hebrew-English Siddur.
Timing
According to the Talmud, even if you cannot make it to synagogue, you should still pray at the time the congregation prays. As such, do your best to begin at the time your local synagogue begins services. Also, before Shabbat, make sure you know the times when Shabbat begins and ends, as well as the latest time to say Shema etc.
Friday Night
Ideally, the afternoon prayer (minchah) should be prayed before lighting the Shabbat candles, but it is fine to pray after candle lighting, before sunset. When praying minchah, kaddish and the repetition of the amidah are omitted.
It is best to wait until after nightfall before starting the evening prayers (maariv). This break between sunset and nightfall is the perfect opportunity to study something on the parshah. Visit our parshah page in advance and print something that catches your eye.
Start Kabbalat Shabbat around nightfall. Using a prayer book with an English translation, this is an opportunity to go at your own pace, as there is no need to worry about the speed of the congregation. Read some of the English, as the Friday night liturgy contains some especially beautiful Psalms.
On page 160, it is the Chabad custom to recite the paragraph beginning Velomar (“and say instead of barechu when praying alone.
After the silent Amidah, the paragraph beginning va’yechulu (‘The heavens’) is recited, but we omit the first and last of the next three paragraphs, as they are essentially a truncated repetition of the Amidah.
The remainder of the service is said as usual, sans kaddish and barechu.
Shabbat Morning
Start your morning with a study session. Nothing will get you more in the mode for prayer than a little chassidut, why not print the daily portion of Tanya before Shabbat? Before studying (or eating anything) be sure to recite the morning blessings (pgs 5-9) and Shema.
For the morning prayers (shacharit), proceed as you would in synagogue (omitting kaddish and borchu) until after the silent amidah. The repetition is omitted, so you proceed directly to the “Song of the Day.”
Since the Torah is not going to be read, we skip the prayers associated with removing the Torah from the ark, which begin with the paragraph beginning atoh (‘You have’). Although there is obviously no Torah reading, read the parshah of the week from a Chumash, and feel free to peruse some of the commentaries as well.
Before the musaf prayer, only the first yekum purkan (‘may there’) is recited (pg 230). Skip the following two paragraphs. Proceed to ashrei (skipping 'av ha'rachamim') and then pray the musaf prayer, skipping the silent repetition of the amidah.
General Notes
Since kaddish cannot be recited, if you need to have it said for loved one, before Shabbat, fill out the short form on our Coronavirus Kaddish Service page to arrange kaddish to be said.
We cannot use technology on Shabbat, so please print this guide on Friday for Shabbat use.
For more on how to make the best of Shabbat in isolation see: 10 Tips for Preparing for Shabbat While Social Distancing
By Mordechai Rubin
!The rabbVaéra - en bref
Exode 6, 2 - 9, 35
D.ieu se révèle à Moïse. Employant les « quatre expressions de délivrance », Il promet de faire sortir les Enfants d’Israël d’Égypte, de les délivrer de leur servitude, de les rédimer et d’en faire Son peuple élu au Mont Sinaï, suite à quoi Il les conduira à la terre qu’il a promise aux Patriarches en héritage éternel.
Moïse et Aharon se présentent à plusieurs reprises devant Pharaon pour exiger au nom de D.ieu « Laisse partir Mon peuple, afin qu’il puisse Me servir dans le désert », mais Pharaon refuse à chaque fois. Le bâton d’Aharon se transforme en serpent et avale les bâtons magiques des sorciers égyptiens. D.ieu envoie ensuite une série de plaies sur les Égyptiens.
Les eaux du Nil se changent en sang, des grenouilles envahissent le pays par millions, une vermine infeste hommes et bêtes. Des hordes d’animaux sauvages envahissent les villes, une maladie mortelle s’abat sur les animaux domestiques, de douloureux furoncles affligent les Égyptiens. Lors de la septième plaie, le feu et la glace se combinent dans des grêlons dévastateurs qui pleuvent du ciel. Toutefois, « le cœur de Pharaon s’endurcit et il ne voulut point laisser partir les enfants d’Israël ; comme D.ieu l’avait dit à Moïse. »
© Copyright, all rights reserved. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further, provided that you comply with Chabad.org's copyright policy.
Free Will
Although there are few if any direct philosophical statements in the bible regarding
concepts such as free will, afterlife, providence, etc. Jews throughout the generations have tried
to come up with what they believe is the proper way for a Jew to think about these and other
philosophical issues. One such issue is that of free will. In this week’s parasha a classic question
that is often asked is: If God hardened Pharaoh’s heart during the plagues, why was Pharaoh
being punished, it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t let them go, since God affected his free will.
Many of the commentators address this question:
According to Midrash Rabbah God wanted to punish Pharaoh for the extra hard work and
cruelty he imposed on Benei Yisrael. Therefore, He took away his free will.
Resh Lakish explains that when reading the Torah carefully, we find that in the first five
plagues Pharaoh hardened his own heart, and only in the last five plagues, God hardens his heart.
This is because God kept warning Pharaoh, and kept giving him the chance to repent. After
Pharaoh refused to repent, God wanted to punish him so He hardened his heart. Accordingly,
Pharaoh had free will to an extent and then lost his free will through his choices.
Ramban offers two explanations:
1) Pharaoh deserved all the plagues because of the sins he committed against
Benei Yisrael, so God hardened his heart so that he would be able to strike him with all the
plagues that he already deserved from before. (It is interesting to note that God tells Moshe from
the very beginning to warn Pharaoh about the plague of the firstborns. This shows that all ten
plagues were planned to happen from the very beginning, seemingly no matter what Pharaoh
decided to do.) In this explanation free will was withheld similarly to the midrash raba above.
2) God wanted the Egyptians to recognize that God is God. When Pharaoh was
begging Moshe to take Benei Yisrael out of Egypt and to stop the plagues, it was only because
of the suffering he was experiencing from the plagues, not because he recognized God as the all-
powerful God. So God made Pharaoh’s heart strong (courageous not stubborn) so that he
wouldn’t simply crumble from the plagues. Accordingly, his free will was not taken away, he was
simply given the encouragement to make those choices.
Chevat est le 11ème mois du calendrier juif à compter de Nissan. Le point culminant du mois est la fête du 15 Chevat, appelée également le « Nouvel An des Arbres ». C’est le jour où la sève commence à monter dans les arbres fruitiers en Israël, le début d’une nouvelle saison de croissance. Nous célébrons ce jour en mangeant des fruits, en particulier des « Sept Espèces » que la Torah mentionne dans sa louange de la Terre Sainte (le blé, l’orge, les raisins, les figues, les grenades, les olives et les dattes). En ce jour, nous nous souvenons que « l’homme est un arbre des champs » et réfléchissons aux leçons que nous pouvons tirer de cette analogie botanique.
THE MONTH OF SHEVAT AND IT’S SIGN OF THE ZODIAC
The month of Shevat correlates with the astrological sign of Aquarius, which is an air sign. It is the third of the air signs: Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Aquarius represents the Left Column of the three. Aquarius is ruled by two planets. Traditional astrology attributes control of this month to Saturn, and modern astrology has given credit to Uranus, discovered by the astronomer William Hershel on March 13, 1781.
Saturn is the planet of judgment, order, responsibility, discipline and laws, while Uranus elevates us to new consciousness and new concepts beyond limitation. This is why the Age of Aquarius and the month of Aquarius are considered times of change. Both are times of new knowledge, inventions, humanity, and charity.
The energy of Uranus also connects to the air element - intellectualism, innovations, and new concepts that will bring the world to a higher level of consciousness.
Aquarians are rebellious by nature because they are constantly faced with penetrating questions concerning their individuality, their uniqueness and their identity. This is the reason they strive to break old boundaries. To Aquarians, the past is but a fleeting moment, and they disconnect from the past in order to find a fresh and unfamiliar reality, a new truth to fit the new times. Uranus orbits the sun every 84 years, which explains the common phenomenon of the "midlife crisis" that plagues 40-42 year olds, when we begin to question our life's purpose and make plans for the next 40 or so years.
PERLES DE TORAH
La Parashat Va'era raconte comment Aaron fit des miracles devant Pharaon, et comment il transforma un bâton en serpent.
Quelle fut alors la réponse de Pharaon? «La belle affaire!" dit-il. "L'Egypte est pleine de magiciens!" A tel point que Pharaon appela de jeunes enfants qui procédèrent à leur tour aussi à la transformation de bâtons en serpents!
Mais Dieu savait pertinemment les connaissances avancées de l'Egypte en magie. Alors, pourquoi Dieu a-t-il demandé à Aaron d’accomplir des exploits qui pouvaient être facilement reproduits?
La réponse est que Dieu a voulu que les Egyptiens viennent à penser qu'ils pourraient reproduire ce qu’on fait Moïse et Aaron étape par étape, afin que plus tard - lorsque Moïse et Aaron se mettraient à réaliser de plus grands miracles - les experts Égyptiens soient à même d'apprécier pleinement les énormes pouvoirs de Dieu.
Et c'est exactement ce qui s’est passé. Après le troisième fléau des poux, Pharaon appela ses magiciens pour qu’ils répliquent ce que Moïse et Aaron avaient fait. Mais ils furent incapables de le faire. A tel point que les magiciens se tournèrent vers Pharaon, reconnurent que Dieu est infiniment puissant, et déclarèrent : «C'est là le doigt de Dieu."
Le Talmud explique que les poux étaient trop petits pour que les magiciens de Pharaon puissent les manipuler. Dans un sens, cela ressemble à notre monde d'aujourd'hui. La science produit des merveilles - l'énergie atomique, le vol spatial, le génie génétique. Pourtant, tout repose sur l'aide de l'énergie et des ressources existantes. Alors d'où vient toute la matière originale?!
C'est là que Dieu intervient. Pour créer quelque chose à partir de rien - les minuscules briques de la vie – ceci est quelque chose dont seul Dieu est, était et sera toujours capable. La rencontre entre Aaron et Pharaon nous enseigne à ne pas perdre cette perspective.
Va’era Quiz
1) Q. In telling the story of Moshe and Aharon, the Torah provides a genealogy to tell us how
they were born and to whom they were related. Why is it necessary to trace and record their
pedigree?
A. We are taught an important lesson through this description. A Jewish leader is not one who
is born in a supernatural way. He is a normal person who has a father and mother and who has
spiritually elevated himself to be worthy of his rank. Every Jew has the potential to become a
Moshe Rabbenu - a leader of the Jewish people in his generation. This also explains to us why
they are not infallible, and we often read of errors our leaders had made. The Torah does not try
to conceal these errors or justify them.
2) Q. Why didn’t Moshe smite the water or the land in the first three plagues (Aharon did it)?
A. One possible explanation given is that when Moshe was a baby, he was saved by the
water, and when he killed the Egyptian the land helped him by hiding the body, so in return Moshe
did not smite them, Aharon did.
3) Q. “All the water in the river turned to blood, and the fish in the river died.” (7:20-21). Isn’t it
obvious that the fish would die, because they can only live in water?
A. Midrashically, the plague of blood might have happened in one of two ways: a) All the
waters might have become blood, turning back into water only when a Jew filled a glass. b) There
could have been no change in the water except that when an Egyptian filled a glass, it would
become blood. The midrash accepts the second option. Consequently, the Egyptians received a
double punishment: The fresh waters turned into blood when used, and the fish died in fresh
water. The reason it is explained in this way is because we are told that the Egyptians were
compelled to purchase water from the Jews, who prospered thereby (Midrash Rabbah). If all the
water had been transformed to blood, the Jews would have been unable to charge the Egyptians
for water, because it is forbidden to derive benefit from a miracle. (Ta’anit 24a)
3) Q. How many frogs were there in the beginning of the plague?
A. According to the Midrash: One, and when an Egyptian would strike it, it would multiply. This
Midrash is commenting on the description that “the frog” came up on the land. Since the Torah
described “the frog” and not frogs, the Midrash makes this comment.
4) Q. Moshe said: “When shall I pray for you, your servants and your people, to rid you of the
frogs?” Pharaoh answered: “Tomorrow.” (8:5, 6) Why did Pharaoh subject his nation to an extra
day of plague by saying “Tomorrow?” Didn’t he want the frogs to go away immediately?
A. Pharaoh didn’t believe that the frogs were a plague from God. He preferred to believe that
the frogs were a natural phenomenon about which Moshe had special knowledge. When Moshe
asked “When shall I pray...?” Pharaoh thought Moshe was simply timing his question to coincide
with the plague’s natural end, expecting Pharaoh to say “Right now!” By saying “Tomorrow”
Pharaoh tried to trick Moshe and make him look foolish. (Ibn Ezra in the name of Rav Shmuel
ben Hofni)
8)Q. How long did each plague last?
A. The midrash teaches that they lasted seven days. The frogs died in less than seven days
ENGLISH PROVERBS
A bad workman always blames his tools. ...
A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. ...
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. ...
A cat has nine lives. ...
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. ...
Actions speak louder than words. ...
A drowning man will clutch at a straw. ...
Adversity and loss make a man wise.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. ...
Better late than never. ...
Two wrongs don't make a right. ...
Birds of a feather flock together. ...
A picture is worth a thousand words. ...
There's no such thing as a free lunch. …
Beggars can't be choosers.
…
THE SHABBAT SMILE
Moishe Epstein dragged himself home and barely made it to his chair before he dropped, exhausted. His sympathetic wife Rivkah was right there with a tall cool drink and a comforting word.
"My, you look tired," Rivkah said. "You must have had a hard day today. What happened to make you so exhausted?"
"It was terrible," Moishe said, "We had no computer or internet access the whole day so all of us had to do our own thinking."
Leah Epstein invites some family and friends to dinner and at the table, she turns to her 6 year old daughter Rivkah and says, "Darling, don’t forget to make a bracha (blessing)."
"But Mommy, I don't know what bracha to say," replies Rivkah.
"All you need do," says Leah, "is to repeat what you heard Mommy say."
Rivkah thinks for a moment and says, "God, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner
Shira Stern mother was worried that her three-year-old son Benny was unusually precocious, and took him to a psychiatrist.
"Right," said the shrink, "We'll just try a few simple tests." To Benny, he said "Say a few words - anything that comes into your mind."
Benny turned to his mother and asked, "Does he want logically constructed sentences or just a few random and purely isolated words?"
Moishe and Miriam were out for dinner. Moishe seemed a little distracted so she turned to him and said, “Moishe! You are not listening to a word that I am saying, are you?
Moishe, somewhat offended, said, “Miriam, that’s an odd way to start a conversation.
Rabbi Stein was hit by a car , Hatsalah came fast and covered him.
They asked him : Are you comfortable
He answered; Well I make a living
LE SOURIRE DU CHABBAT
-
Jean dit à Julie
-
Demain c’est notre anniversaire de mariage, Qu’est ce que tu penses si on égorge le mouton
-
Et Julie qui répond, le pauvre mouton, ce n’est pas sa faute .
-
-
Jean dit à son ami Paul : Tu as 35 ans et tu n’es pas encore marié. C’est quoi le problème Paul lui dit que chaque fois qu’il apporte une fille à la maison, sa maman ne l’aime pas
-
Alors jean lui dit : Trouve une fille qui ressemble t à ta maman, et ainsi elle sera contente et elle l’aimera
Paul dit: J’ai essayé, j’ai trouvé presque une sosie à maman, mais papa l’a détestée
CHABBAT CHALOM
HODECH TOV
MAGHEN ABRAHAM
DAVID hASSON
CHABBAT PARACHAT VAÉRA
16 JANVIER 2021 / 3 CHEVAT 5781
Hazkara: Clément Setton (zl) pére de Jocelyne Setton
SHABBAT PRAYERS AT HOME
While you may be unable to attend services this Shabbat—either as a result of quarantine or due to synagogues canceling services—this does not mean that you cannot pray the Shabbat prayers. Of course, the ideal way to pray is in synagogue with a quorum of ten. However, with a little adaptation, the Shabbat prayers can most certainly be said in isolation. In fact, the silver lining to saying the prayers alone is that they will be more personal and you can go your own pace.
The vast majority of prayers may be recited at home just as they would be in synagogue. However, there are a number of key differences to bear in mind when praying without a quorum of ten. Among them: kaddish, barechu, and the repetition of the Amidah are omitted. Below we will run through the Shabbat prayers detailing the exact differences. We will be using the page numbers as found in the Kehot Annotated Hebrew-English Siddur.
Timing
According to the Talmud, even if you cannot make it to synagogue, you should still pray at the time the congregation prays. As such, do your best to begin at the time your local synagogue begins services. Also, before Shabbat, make sure you know the times when Shabbat begins and ends, as well as the latest time to say Shema etc.
Friday Night
Ideally, the afternoon prayer (minchah) should be prayed before lighting the Shabbat candles, but it is fine to pray after candle lighting, before sunset. When praying minchah, kaddish and the repetition of the amidah are omitted.
It is best to wait until after nightfall before starting the evening prayers (maariv). This break between sunset and nightfall is the perfect opportunity to study something on the parshah. Visit our parshah page in advance and print something that catches your eye.
Start Kabbalat Shabbat around nightfall. Using a prayer book with an English translation, this is an opportunity to go at your own pace, as there is no need to worry about the speed of the congregation. Read some of the English, as the Friday night liturgy contains some especially beautiful Psalms.
On page 160, it is the Chabad custom to recite the paragraph beginning Velomar (“and say instead of barechu when praying alone.
After the silent Amidah, the paragraph beginning va’yechulu (‘The heavens’) is recited, but we omit the first and last of the next three paragraphs, as they are essentially a truncated repetition of the Amidah.
The remainder of the service is said as usual, sans kaddish and barechu.
Shabbat Morning
Start your morning with a study session. Nothing will get you more in the mode for prayer than a little chassidut, why not print the daily portion of Tanya before Shabbat? Before studying (or eating anything) be sure to recite the morning blessings (pgs 5-9) and Shema.
For the morning prayers (shacharit), proceed as you would in synagogue (omitting kaddish and borchu) until after the silent amidah. The repetition is omitted, so you proceed directly to the “Song of the Day.”
Since the Torah is not going to be read, we skip the prayers associated with removing the Torah from the ark, which begin with the paragraph beginning atoh (‘You have’). Although there is obviously no Torah reading, read the parshah of the week from a Chumash, and feel free to peruse some of the commentaries as well.
Before the musaf prayer, only the first yekum purkan (‘may there’) is recited (pg 230). Skip the following two paragraphs. Proceed to ashrei (skipping 'av ha'rachamim') and then pray the musaf prayer, skipping the silent repetition of the amidah.
General Notes
Since kaddish cannot be recited, if you need to have it said for loved one, before Shabbat, fill out the short form on our Coronavirus Kaddish Service page to arrange kaddish to be said.
We cannot use technology on Shabbat, so please print this guide on Friday for Shabbat use.
For more on how to make the best of Shabbat in isolation see: 10 Tips for Preparing for Shabbat While Social Distancing
By Mordechai Rubin
!The rabbVaéra - en bref
Exode 6, 2 - 9, 35
D.ieu se révèle à Moïse. Employant les « quatre expressions de délivrance », Il promet de faire sortir les Enfants d’Israël d’Égypte, de les délivrer de leur servitude, de les rédimer et d’en faire Son peuple élu au Mont Sinaï, suite à quoi Il les conduira à la terre qu’il a promise aux Patriarches en héritage éternel.
Moïse et Aharon se présentent à plusieurs reprises devant Pharaon pour exiger au nom de D.ieu « Laisse partir Mon peuple, afin qu’il puisse Me servir dans le désert », mais Pharaon refuse à chaque fois. Le bâton d’Aharon se transforme en serpent et avale les bâtons magiques des sorciers égyptiens. D.ieu envoie ensuite une série de plaies sur les Égyptiens.
Les eaux du Nil se changent en sang, des grenouilles envahissent le pays par millions, une vermine infeste hommes et bêtes. Des hordes d’animaux sauvages envahissent les villes, une maladie mortelle s’abat sur les animaux domestiques, de douloureux furoncles affligent les Égyptiens. Lors de la septième plaie, le feu et la glace se combinent dans des grêlons dévastateurs qui pleuvent du ciel. Toutefois, « le cœur de Pharaon s’endurcit et il ne voulut point laisser partir les enfants d’Israël ; comme D.ieu l’avait dit à Moïse. »
© Copyright, all rights reserved. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further, provided that you comply with Chabad.org's copyright policy.
Free Will
Although there are few if any direct philosophical statements in the bible regarding
concepts such as free will, afterlife, providence, etc. Jews throughout the generations have tried
to come up with what they believe is the proper way for a Jew to think about these and other
philosophical issues. One such issue is that of free will. In this week’s parasha a classic question
that is often asked is: If God hardened Pharaoh’s heart during the plagues, why was Pharaoh
being punished, it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t let them go, since God affected his free will.
Many of the commentators address this question:
According to Midrash Rabbah God wanted to punish Pharaoh for the extra hard work and
cruelty he imposed on Benei Yisrael. Therefore, He took away his free will.
Resh Lakish explains that when reading the Torah carefully, we find that in the first five
plagues Pharaoh hardened his own heart, and only in the last five plagues, God hardens his heart.
This is because God kept warning Pharaoh, and kept giving him the chance to repent. After
Pharaoh refused to repent, God wanted to punish him so He hardened his heart. Accordingly,
Pharaoh had free will to an extent and then lost his free will through his choices.
Ramban offers two explanations:
1) Pharaoh deserved all the plagues because of the sins he committed against
Benei Yisrael, so God hardened his heart so that he would be able to strike him with all the
plagues that he already deserved from before. (It is interesting to note that God tells Moshe from
the very beginning to warn Pharaoh about the plague of the firstborns. This shows that all ten
plagues were planned to happen from the very beginning, seemingly no matter what Pharaoh
decided to do.) In this explanation free will was withheld similarly to the midrash raba above.
2) God wanted the Egyptians to recognize that God is God. When Pharaoh was
begging Moshe to take Benei Yisrael out of Egypt and to stop the plagues, it was only because
of the suffering he was experiencing from the plagues, not because he recognized God as the all-
powerful God. So God made Pharaoh’s heart strong (courageous not stubborn) so that he
wouldn’t simply crumble from the plagues. Accordingly, his free will was not taken away, he was
simply given the encouragement to make those choices.
Chevat est le 11ème mois du calendrier juif à compter de Nissan. Le point culminant du mois est la fête du 15 Chevat, appelée également le « Nouvel An des Arbres ». C’est le jour où la sève commence à monter dans les arbres fruitiers en Israël, le début d’une nouvelle saison de croissance. Nous célébrons ce jour en mangeant des fruits, en particulier des « Sept Espèces » que la Torah mentionne dans sa louange de la Terre Sainte (le blé, l’orge, les raisins, les figues, les grenades, les olives et les dattes). En ce jour, nous nous souvenons que « l’homme est un arbre des champs » et réfléchissons aux leçons que nous pouvons tirer de cette analogie botanique.
THE MONTH OF SHEVAT AND IT’S SIGN OF THE ZODIAC
The month of Shevat correlates with the astrological sign of Aquarius, which is an air sign. It is the third of the air signs: Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Aquarius represents the Left Column of the three. Aquarius is ruled by two planets. Traditional astrology attributes control of this month to Saturn, and modern astrology has given credit to Uranus, discovered by the astronomer William Hershel on March 13, 1781.
Saturn is the planet of judgment, order, responsibility, discipline and laws, while Uranus elevates us to new consciousness and new concepts beyond limitation. This is why the Age of Aquarius and the month of Aquarius are considered times of change. Both are times of new knowledge, inventions, humanity, and charity.
The energy of Uranus also connects to the air element - intellectualism, innovations, and new concepts that will bring the world to a higher level of consciousness.
Aquarians are rebellious by nature because they are constantly faced with penetrating questions concerning their individuality, their uniqueness and their identity. This is the reason they strive to break old boundaries. To Aquarians, the past is but a fleeting moment, and they disconnect from the past in order to find a fresh and unfamiliar reality, a new truth to fit the new times. Uranus orbits the sun every 84 years, which explains the common phenomenon of the "midlife crisis" that plagues 40-42 year olds, when we begin to question our life's purpose and make plans for the next 40 or so years.
PERLES DE TORAH
La Parashat Va'era raconte comment Aaron fit des miracles devant Pharaon, et comment il transforma un bâton en serpent.
Quelle fut alors la réponse de Pharaon? «La belle affaire!" dit-il. "L'Egypte est pleine de magiciens!" A tel point que Pharaon appela de jeunes enfants qui procédèrent à leur tour aussi à la transformation de bâtons en serpents!
Mais Dieu savait pertinemment les connaissances avancées de l'Egypte en magie. Alors, pourquoi Dieu a-t-il demandé à Aaron d’accomplir des exploits qui pouvaient être facilement reproduits?
La réponse est que Dieu a voulu que les Egyptiens viennent à penser qu'ils pourraient reproduire ce qu’on fait Moïse et Aaron étape par étape, afin que plus tard - lorsque Moïse et Aaron se mettraient à réaliser de plus grands miracles - les experts Égyptiens soient à même d'apprécier pleinement les énormes pouvoirs de Dieu.
Et c'est exactement ce qui s’est passé. Après le troisième fléau des poux, Pharaon appela ses magiciens pour qu’ils répliquent ce que Moïse et Aaron avaient fait. Mais ils furent incapables de le faire. A tel point que les magiciens se tournèrent vers Pharaon, reconnurent que Dieu est infiniment puissant, et déclarèrent : «C'est là le doigt de Dieu."
Le Talmud explique que les poux étaient trop petits pour que les magiciens de Pharaon puissent les manipuler. Dans un sens, cela ressemble à notre monde d'aujourd'hui. La science produit des merveilles - l'énergie atomique, le vol spatial, le génie génétique. Pourtant, tout repose sur l'aide de l'énergie et des ressources existantes. Alors d'où vient toute la matière originale?!
C'est là que Dieu intervient. Pour créer quelque chose à partir de rien - les minuscules briques de la vie – ceci est quelque chose dont seul Dieu est, était et sera toujours capable. La rencontre entre Aaron et Pharaon nous enseigne à ne pas perdre cette perspective.
Va’era Quiz
1) Q. In telling the story of Moshe and Aharon, the Torah provides a genealogy to tell us how
they were born and to whom they were related. Why is it necessary to trace and record their
pedigree?
A. We are taught an important lesson through this description. A Jewish leader is not one who
is born in a supernatural way. He is a normal person who has a father and mother and who has
spiritually elevated himself to be worthy of his rank. Every Jew has the potential to become a
Moshe Rabbenu - a leader of the Jewish people in his generation. This also explains to us why
they are not infallible, and we often read of errors our leaders had made. The Torah does not try
to conceal these errors or justify them.
2) Q. Why didn’t Moshe smite the water or the land in the first three plagues (Aharon did it)?
A. One possible explanation given is that when Moshe was a baby, he was saved by the
water, and when he killed the Egyptian the land helped him by hiding the body, so in return Moshe
did not smite them, Aharon did.
3) Q. “All the water in the river turned to blood, and the fish in the river died.” (7:20-21). Isn’t it
obvious that the fish would die, because they can only live in water?
A. Midrashically, the plague of blood might have happened in one of two ways: a) All the
waters might have become blood, turning back into water only when a Jew filled a glass. b) There
could have been no change in the water except that when an Egyptian filled a glass, it would
become blood. The midrash accepts the second option. Consequently, the Egyptians received a
double punishment: The fresh waters turned into blood when used, and the fish died in fresh
water. The reason it is explained in this way is because we are told that the Egyptians were
compelled to purchase water from the Jews, who prospered thereby (Midrash Rabbah). If all the
water had been transformed to blood, the Jews would have been unable to charge the Egyptians
for water, because it is forbidden to derive benefit from a miracle. (Ta’anit 24a)
3) Q. How many frogs were there in the beginning of the plague?
A. According to the Midrash: One, and when an Egyptian would strike it, it would multiply. This
Midrash is commenting on the description that “the frog” came up on the land. Since the Torah
described “the frog” and not frogs, the Midrash makes this comment.
4) Q. Moshe said: “When shall I pray for you, your servants and your people, to rid you of the
frogs?” Pharaoh answered: “Tomorrow.” (8:5, 6) Why did Pharaoh subject his nation to an extra
day of plague by saying “Tomorrow?” Didn’t he want the frogs to go away immediately?
A. Pharaoh didn’t believe that the frogs were a plague from God. He preferred to believe that
the frogs were a natural phenomenon about which Moshe had special knowledge. When Moshe
asked “When shall I pray...?” Pharaoh thought Moshe was simply timing his question to coincide
with the plague’s natural end, expecting Pharaoh to say “Right now!” By saying “Tomorrow”
Pharaoh tried to trick Moshe and make him look foolish. (Ibn Ezra in the name of Rav Shmuel
ben Hofni)
8)Q. How long did each plague last?
A. The midrash teaches that they lasted seven days. The frogs died in less than seven days
ENGLISH PROVERBS
A bad workman always blames his tools. ...
A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. ...
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. ...
A cat has nine lives. ...
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. ...
Actions speak louder than words. ...
A drowning man will clutch at a straw. ...
Adversity and loss make a man wise.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. ...
Better late than never. ...
Two wrongs don't make a right. ...
Birds of a feather flock together. ...
A picture is worth a thousand words. ...
There's no such thing as a free lunch. …
Beggars can't be choosers.
…
THE SHABBAT SMILE
Moishe Epstein dragged himself home and barely made it to his chair before he dropped, exhausted. His sympathetic wife Rivkah was right there with a tall cool drink and a comforting word.
"My, you look tired," Rivkah said. "You must have had a hard day today. What happened to make you so exhausted?"
"It was terrible," Moishe said, "We had no computer or internet access the whole day so all of us had to do our own thinking."
Leah Epstein invites some family and friends to dinner and at the table, she turns to her 6 year old daughter Rivkah and says, "Darling, don’t forget to make a bracha (blessing)."
"But Mommy, I don't know what bracha to say," replies Rivkah.
"All you need do," says Leah, "is to repeat what you heard Mommy say."
Rivkah thinks for a moment and says, "God, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner
Shira Stern mother was worried that her three-year-old son Benny was unusually precocious, and took him to a psychiatrist.
"Right," said the shrink, "We'll just try a few simple tests." To Benny, he said "Say a few words - anything that comes into your mind."
Benny turned to his mother and asked, "Does he want logically constructed sentences or just a few random and purely isolated words?"
Moishe and Miriam were out for dinner. Moishe seemed a little distracted so she turned to him and said, “Moishe! You are not listening to a word that I am saying, are you?
Moishe, somewhat offended, said, “Miriam, that’s an odd way to start a conversation.
Rabbi Stein was hit by a car , Hatsalah came fast and covered him.
They asked him : Are you comfortable
He answered; Well I make a living
LE SOURIRE DU CHABBAT
-
Jean dit à Julie
-
Demain c’est notre anniversaire de mariage, Qu’est ce que tu penses si on égorge le mouton
-
Et Julie qui répond, le pauvre mouton, ce n’est pas sa faute .
-
-
Jean dit à son ami Paul : Tu as 35 ans et tu n’es pas encore marié. C’est quoi le problème Paul lui dit que chaque fois qu’il apporte une fille à la maison, sa maman ne l’aime pas
-
Alors jean lui dit : Trouve une fille qui ressemble t à ta maman, et ainsi elle sera contente et elle l’aimera
Paul dit: J’ai essayé, j’ai trouvé presque une sosie à maman, mais papa l’a détestée
CHABBAT CHALOM
HODECH TOV
MAGHEN ABRAHAM
DAVID hASSON
CHABBAT PARACHAT VAÉRA
16 JANVIER 2021 / 3 CHEVAT 5781
Hazkara: Clément Setton (zl) pére de Jocelyne Setton
SHABBAT PRAYERS AT HOME
While you may be unable to attend services this Shabbat—either as a result of quarantine or due to synagogues canceling services—this does not mean that you cannot pray the Shabbat prayers. Of course, the ideal way to pray is in synagogue with a quorum of ten. However, with a little adaptation, the Shabbat prayers can most certainly be said in isolation. In fact, the silver lining to saying the prayers alone is that they will be more personal and you can go your own pace.
The vast majority of prayers may be recited at home just as they would be in synagogue. However, there are a number of key differences to bear in mind when praying without a quorum of ten. Among them: kaddish, barechu, and the repetition of the Amidah are omitted. Below we will run through the Shabbat prayers detailing the exact differences. We will be using the page numbers as found in the Kehot Annotated Hebrew-English Siddur.
Timing
According to the Talmud, even if you cannot make it to synagogue, you should still pray at the time the congregation prays. As such, do your best to begin at the time your local synagogue begins services. Also, before Shabbat, make sure you know the times when Shabbat begins and ends, as well as the latest time to say Shema etc.
Friday Night
Ideally, the afternoon prayer (minchah) should be prayed before lighting the Shabbat candles, but it is fine to pray after candle lighting, before sunset. When praying minchah, kaddish and the repetition of the amidah are omitted.
It is best to wait until after nightfall before starting the evening prayers (maariv). This break between sunset and nightfall is the perfect opportunity to study something on the parshah. Visit our parshah page in advance and print something that catches your eye.
Start Kabbalat Shabbat around nightfall. Using a prayer book with an English translation, this is an opportunity to go at your own pace, as there is no need to worry about the speed of the congregation. Read some of the English, as the Friday night liturgy contains some especially beautiful Psalms.
On page 160, it is the Chabad custom to recite the paragraph beginning Velomar (“and say instead of barechu when praying alone.
After the silent Amidah, the paragraph beginning va’yechulu (‘The heavens’) is recited, but we omit the first and last of the next three paragraphs, as they are essentially a truncated repetition of the Amidah.
The remainder of the service is said as usual, sans kaddish and barechu.
Shabbat Morning
Start your morning with a study session. Nothing will get you more in the mode for prayer than a little chassidut, why not print the daily portion of Tanya before Shabbat? Before studying (or eating anything) be sure to recite the morning blessings (pgs 5-9) and Shema.
For the morning prayers (shacharit), proceed as you would in synagogue (omitting kaddish and borchu) until after the silent amidah. The repetition is omitted, so you proceed directly to the “Song of the Day.”
Since the Torah is not going to be read, we skip the prayers associated with removing the Torah from the ark, which begin with the paragraph beginning atoh (‘You have’). Although there is obviously no Torah reading, read the parshah of the week from a Chumash, and feel free to peruse some of the commentaries as well.
Before the musaf prayer, only the first yekum purkan (‘may there’) is recited (pg 230). Skip the following two paragraphs. Proceed to ashrei (skipping 'av ha'rachamim') and then pray the musaf prayer, skipping the silent repetition of the amidah.
General Notes
Since kaddish cannot be recited, if you need to have it said for loved one, before Shabbat, fill out the short form on our Coronavirus Kaddish Service page to arrange kaddish to be said.
We cannot use technology on Shabbat, so please print this guide on Friday for Shabbat use.
For more on how to make the best of Shabbat in isolation see: 10 Tips for Preparing for Shabbat While Social Distancing
By Mordechai Rubin
!The rabbVaéra - en bref
Exode 6, 2 - 9, 35
D.ieu se révèle à Moïse. Employant les « quatre expressions de délivrance », Il promet de faire sortir les Enfants d’Israël d’Égypte, de les délivrer de leur servitude, de les rédimer et d’en faire Son peuple élu au Mont Sinaï, suite à quoi Il les conduira à la terre qu’il a promise aux Patriarches en héritage éternel.
Moïse et Aharon se présentent à plusieurs reprises devant Pharaon pour exiger au nom de D.ieu « Laisse partir Mon peuple, afin qu’il puisse Me servir dans le désert », mais Pharaon refuse à chaque fois. Le bâton d’Aharon se transforme en serpent et avale les bâtons magiques des sorciers égyptiens. D.ieu envoie ensuite une série de plaies sur les Égyptiens.
Les eaux du Nil se changent en sang, des grenouilles envahissent le pays par millions, une vermine infeste hommes et bêtes. Des hordes d’animaux sauvages envahissent les villes, une maladie mortelle s’abat sur les animaux domestiques, de douloureux furoncles affligent les Égyptiens. Lors de la septième plaie, le feu et la glace se combinent dans des grêlons dévastateurs qui pleuvent du ciel. Toutefois, « le cœur de Pharaon s’endurcit et il ne voulut point laisser partir les enfants d’Israël ; comme D.ieu l’avait dit à Moïse. »
© Copyright, all rights reserved. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further, provided that you comply with Chabad.org's copyright policy.
Free Will
Although there are few if any direct philosophical statements in the bible regarding
concepts such as free will, afterlife, providence, etc. Jews throughout the generations have tried
to come up with what they believe is the proper way for a Jew to think about these and other
philosophical issues. One such issue is that of free will. In this week’s parasha a classic question
that is often asked is: If God hardened Pharaoh’s heart during the plagues, why was Pharaoh
being punished, it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t let them go, since God affected his free will.
Many of the commentators address this question:
According to Midrash Rabbah God wanted to punish Pharaoh for the extra hard work and
cruelty he imposed on Benei Yisrael. Therefore, He took away his free will.
Resh Lakish explains that when reading the Torah carefully, we find that in the first five
plagues Pharaoh hardened his own heart, and only in the last five plagues, God hardens his heart.
This is because God kept warning Pharaoh, and kept giving him the chance to repent. After
Pharaoh refused to repent, God wanted to punish him so He hardened his heart. Accordingly,
Pharaoh had free will to an extent and then lost his free will through his choices.
Ramban offers two explanations:
1) Pharaoh deserved all the plagues because of the sins he committed against
Benei Yisrael, so God hardened his heart so that he would be able to strike him with all the
plagues that he already deserved from before. (It is interesting to note that God tells Moshe from
the very beginning to warn Pharaoh about the plague of the firstborns. This shows that all ten
plagues were planned to happen from the very beginning, seemingly no matter what Pharaoh
decided to do.) In this explanation free will was withheld similarly to the midrash raba above.
2) God wanted the Egyptians to recognize that God is God. When Pharaoh was
begging Moshe to take Benei Yisrael out of Egypt and to stop the plagues, it was only because
of the suffering he was experiencing from the plagues, not because he recognized God as the all-
powerful God. So God made Pharaoh’s heart strong (courageous not stubborn) so that he
wouldn’t simply crumble from the plagues. Accordingly, his free will was not taken away, he was
simply given the encouragement to make those choices.
Chevat est le 11ème mois du calendrier juif à compter de Nissan. Le point culminant du mois est la fête du 15 Chevat, appelée également le « Nouvel An des Arbres ». C’est le jour où la sève commence à monter dans les arbres fruitiers en Israël, le début d’une nouvelle saison de croissance. Nous célébrons ce jour en mangeant des fruits, en particulier des « Sept Espèces » que la Torah mentionne dans sa louange de la Terre Sainte (le blé, l’orge, les raisins, les figues, les grenades, les olives et les dattes). En ce jour, nous nous souvenons que « l’homme est un arbre des champs » et réfléchissons aux leçons que nous pouvons tirer de cette analogie botanique.
THE MONTH OF SHEVAT AND IT’S SIGN OF THE ZODIAC
The month of Shevat correlates with the astrological sign of Aquarius, which is an air sign. It is the third of the air signs: Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Aquarius represents the Left Column of the three. Aquarius is ruled by two planets. Traditional astrology attributes control of this month to Saturn, and modern astrology has given credit to Uranus, discovered by the astronomer William Hershel on March 13, 1781.
Saturn is the planet of judgment, order, responsibility, discipline and laws, while Uranus elevates us to new consciousness and new concepts beyond limitation. This is why the Age of Aquarius and the month of Aquarius are considered times of change. Both are times of new knowledge, inventions, humanity, and charity.
The energy of Uranus also connects to the air element - intellectualism, innovations, and new concepts that will bring the world to a higher level of consciousness.
Aquarians are rebellious by nature because they are constantly faced with penetrating questions concerning their individuality, their uniqueness and their identity. This is the reason they strive to break old boundaries. To Aquarians, the past is but a fleeting moment, and they disconnect from the past in order to find a fresh and unfamiliar reality, a new truth to fit the new times. Uranus orbits the sun every 84 years, which explains the common phenomenon of the "midlife crisis" that plagues 40-42 year olds, when we begin to question our life's purpose and make plans for the next 40 or so years.
PERLES DE TORAH
La Parashat Va'era raconte comment Aaron fit des miracles devant Pharaon, et comment il transforma un bâton en serpent.
Quelle fut alors la réponse de Pharaon? «La belle affaire!" dit-il. "L'Egypte est pleine de magiciens!" A tel point que Pharaon appela de jeunes enfants qui procédèrent à leur tour aussi à la transformation de bâtons en serpents!
Mais Dieu savait pertinemment les connaissances avancées de l'Egypte en magie. Alors, pourquoi Dieu a-t-il demandé à Aaron d’accomplir des exploits qui pouvaient être facilement reproduits?
La réponse est que Dieu a voulu que les Egyptiens viennent à penser qu'ils pourraient reproduire ce qu’on fait Moïse et Aaron étape par étape, afin que plus tard - lorsque Moïse et Aaron se mettraient à réaliser de plus grands miracles - les experts Égyptiens soient à même d'apprécier pleinement les énormes pouvoirs de Dieu.
Et c'est exactement ce qui s’est passé. Après le troisième fléau des poux, Pharaon appela ses magiciens pour qu’ils répliquent ce que Moïse et Aaron avaient fait. Mais ils furent incapables de le faire. A tel point que les magiciens se tournèrent vers Pharaon, reconnurent que Dieu est infiniment puissant, et déclarèrent : «C'est là le doigt de Dieu."
Le Talmud explique que les poux étaient trop petits pour que les magiciens de Pharaon puissent les manipuler. Dans un sens, cela ressemble à notre monde d'aujourd'hui. La science produit des merveilles - l'énergie atomique, le vol spatial, le génie génétique. Pourtant, tout repose sur l'aide de l'énergie et des ressources existantes. Alors d'où vient toute la matière originale?!
C'est là que Dieu intervient. Pour créer quelque chose à partir de rien - les minuscules briques de la vie – ceci est quelque chose dont seul Dieu est, était et sera toujours capable. La rencontre entre Aaron et Pharaon nous enseigne à ne pas perdre cette perspective.
Va’era Quiz
1) Q. In telling the story of Moshe and Aharon, the Torah provides a genealogy to tell us how
they were born and to whom they were related. Why is it necessary to trace and record their
pedigree?
A. We are taught an important lesson through this description. A Jewish leader is not one who
is born in a supernatural way. He is a normal person who has a father and mother and who has
spiritually elevated himself to be worthy of his rank. Every Jew has the potential to become a
Moshe Rabbenu - a leader of the Jewish people in his generation. This also explains to us why
they are not infallible, and we often read of errors our leaders had made. The Torah does not try
to conceal these errors or justify them.
2) Q. Why didn’t Moshe smite the water or the land in the first three plagues (Aharon did it)?
A. One possible explanation given is that when Moshe was a baby, he was saved by the
water, and when he killed the Egyptian the land helped him by hiding the body, so in return Moshe
did not smite them, Aharon did.
3) Q. “All the water in the river turned to blood, and the fish in the river died.” (7:20-21). Isn’t it
obvious that the fish would die, because they can only live in water?
A. Midrashically, the plague of blood might have happened in one of two ways: a) All the
waters might have become blood, turning back into water only when a Jew filled a glass. b) There
could have been no change in the water except that when an Egyptian filled a glass, it would
become blood. The midrash accepts the second option. Consequently, the Egyptians received a
double punishment: The fresh waters turned into blood when used, and the fish died in fresh
water. The reason it is explained in this way is because we are told that the Egyptians were
compelled to purchase water from the Jews, who prospered thereby (Midrash Rabbah). If all the
water had been transformed to blood, the Jews would have been unable to charge the Egyptians
for water, because it is forbidden to derive benefit from a miracle. (Ta’anit 24a)
3) Q. How many frogs were there in the beginning of the plague?
A. According to the Midrash: One, and when an Egyptian would strike it, it would multiply. This
Midrash is commenting on the description that “the frog” came up on the land. Since the Torah
described “the frog” and not frogs, the Midrash makes this comment.
4) Q. Moshe said: “When shall I pray for you, your servants and your people, to rid you of the
frogs?” Pharaoh answered: “Tomorrow.” (8:5, 6) Why did Pharaoh subject his nation to an extra
day of plague by saying “Tomorrow?” Didn’t he want the frogs to go away immediately?
A. Pharaoh didn’t believe that the frogs were a plague from God. He preferred to believe that
the frogs were a natural phenomenon about which Moshe had special knowledge. When Moshe
asked “When shall I pray...?” Pharaoh thought Moshe was simply timing his question to coincide
with the plague’s natural end, expecting Pharaoh to say “Right now!” By saying “Tomorrow”
Pharaoh tried to trick Moshe and make him look foolish. (Ibn Ezra in the name of Rav Shmuel
ben Hofni)
8)Q. How long did each plague last?
A. The midrash teaches that they lasted seven days. The frogs died in less than seven days
ENGLISH PROVERBS
A bad workman always blames his tools. ...
A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. ...
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. ...
A cat has nine lives. ...
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. ...
Actions speak louder than words. ...
A drowning man will clutch at a straw. ...
Adversity and loss make a man wise.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. ...
Better late than never. ...
Two wrongs don't make a right. ...
Birds of a feather flock together. ...
A picture is worth a thousand words. ...
There's no such thing as a free lunch. …
Beggars can't be choosers.
…
THE SHABBAT SMILE
Moishe Epstein dragged himself home and barely made it to his chair before he dropped, exhausted. His sympathetic wife Rivkah was right there with a tall cool drink and a comforting word.
"My, you look tired," Rivkah said. "You must have had a hard day today. What happened to make you so exhausted?"
"It was terrible," Moishe said, "We had no computer or internet access the whole day so all of us had to do our own thinking."
Leah Epstein invites some family and friends to dinner and at the table, she turns to her 6 year old daughter Rivkah and says, "Darling, don’t forget to make a bracha (blessing)."
"But Mommy, I don't know what bracha to say," replies Rivkah.
"All you need do," says Leah, "is to repeat what you heard Mommy say."
Rivkah thinks for a moment and says, "God, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner
Shira Stern mother was worried that her three-year-old son Benny was unusually precocious, and took him to a psychiatrist.
"Right," said the shrink, "We'll just try a few simple tests." To Benny, he said "Say a few words - anything that comes into your mind."
Benny turned to his mother and asked, "Does he want logically constructed sentences or just a few random and purely isolated words?"
Moishe and Miriam were out for dinner. Moishe seemed a little distracted so she turned to him and said, “Moishe! You are not listening to a word that I am saying, are you?
Moishe, somewhat offended, said, “Miriam, that’s an odd way to start a conversation.
Rabbi Stein was hit by a car , Hatsalah came fast and covered him.
They asked him : Are you comfortable
He answered; Well I make a living
LE SOURIRE DU CHABBAT
-
Jean dit à Julie
-
Demain c’est notre anniversaire de mariage, Qu’est ce que tu penses si on égorge le mouton
-
Et Julie qui répond, le pauvre mouton, ce n’est pas sa faute .
-
-
Jean dit à son ami Paul : Tu as 35 ans et tu n’es pas encore marié. C’est quoi le problème Paul lui dit que chaque fois qu’il apporte une fille à la maison, sa maman ne l’aime pas
-
Alors jean lui dit : Trouve une fille qui ressemble t à ta maman, et ainsi elle sera contente et elle l’aimera
Paul dit: J’ai essayé, j’ai trouvé presque une sosie à maman, mais papa l’a détestée
CHABBAT CHALOM
HODECH TOV
MAGHEN ABRAHAM
DAVID hASSON
CHABBAT PARACHAT VAÉRA
16 JANVIER 2021 / 3 CHEVAT 5781
Hazkara: Clément Setton (zl) pére de Jocelyne Setton
SHABBAT PRAYERS AT HOME
While you may be unable to attend services this Shabbat—either as a result of quarantine or due to synagogues canceling services—this does not mean that you cannot pray the Shabbat prayers. Of course, the ideal way to pray is in synagogue with a quorum of ten. However, with a little adaptation, the Shabbat prayers can most certainly be said in isolation. In fact, the silver lining to saying the prayers alone is that they will be more personal and you can go your own pace.
The vast majority of prayers may be recited at home just as they would be in synagogue. However, there are a number of key differences to bear in mind when praying without a quorum of ten. Among them: kaddish, barechu, and the repetition of the Amidah are omitted. Below we will run through the Shabbat prayers detailing the exact differences. We will be using the page numbers as found in the Kehot Annotated Hebrew-English Siddur.
Timing
According to the Talmud, even if you cannot make it to synagogue, you should still pray at the time the congregation prays. As such, do your best to begin at the time your local synagogue begins services. Also, before Shabbat, make sure you know the times when Shabbat begins and ends, as well as the latest time to say Shema etc.
Friday Night
Ideally, the afternoon prayer (minchah) should be prayed before lighting the Shabbat candles, but it is fine to pray after candle lighting, before sunset. When praying minchah, kaddish and the repetition of the amidah are omitted.
It is best to wait until after nightfall before starting the evening prayers (maariv). This break between sunset and nightfall is the perfect opportunity to study something on the parshah. Visit our parshah page in advance and print something that catches your eye.
Start Kabbalat Shabbat around nightfall. Using a prayer book with an English translation, this is an opportunity to go at your own pace, as there is no need to worry about the speed of the congregation. Read some of the English, as the Friday night liturgy contains some especially beautiful Psalms.
On page 160, it is the Chabad custom to recite the paragraph beginning Velomar (“and say instead of barechu when praying alone.
After the silent Amidah, the paragraph beginning va’yechulu (‘The heavens’) is recited, but we omit the first and last of the next three paragraphs, as they are essentially a truncated repetition of the Amidah.
The remainder of the service is said as usual, sans kaddish and barechu.
Shabbat Morning
Start your morning with a study session. Nothing will get you more in the mode for prayer than a little chassidut, why not print the daily portion of Tanya before Shabbat? Before studying (or eating anything) be sure to recite the morning blessings (pgs 5-9) and Shema.
For the morning prayers (shacharit), proceed as you would in synagogue (omitting kaddish and borchu) until after the silent amidah. The repetition is omitted, so you proceed directly to the “Song of the Day.”
Since the Torah is not going to be read, we skip the prayers associated with removing the Torah from the ark, which begin with the paragraph beginning atoh (‘You have’). Although there is obviously no Torah reading, read the parshah of the week from a Chumash, and feel free to peruse some of the commentaries as well.
Before the musaf prayer, only the first yekum purkan (‘may there’) is recited (pg 230). Skip the following two paragraphs. Proceed to ashrei (skipping 'av ha'rachamim') and then pray the musaf prayer, skipping the silent repetition of the amidah.
General Notes
Since kaddish cannot be recited, if you need to have it said for loved one, before Shabbat, fill out the short form on our Coronavirus Kaddish Service page to arrange kaddish to be said.
We cannot use technology on Shabbat, so please print this guide on Friday for Shabbat use.
For more on how to make the best of Shabbat in isolation see: 10 Tips for Preparing for Shabbat While Social Distancing
By Mordechai Rubin
!The rabbVaéra - en bref
Exode 6, 2 - 9, 35
D.ieu se révèle à Moïse. Employant les « quatre expressions de délivrance », Il promet de faire sortir les Enfants d’Israël d’Égypte, de les délivrer de leur servitude, de les rédimer et d’en faire Son peuple élu au Mont Sinaï, suite à quoi Il les conduira à la terre qu’il a promise aux Patriarches en héritage éternel.
Moïse et Aharon se présentent à plusieurs reprises devant Pharaon pour exiger au nom de D.ieu « Laisse partir Mon peuple, afin qu’il puisse Me servir dans le désert », mais Pharaon refuse à chaque fois. Le bâton d’Aharon se transforme en serpent et avale les bâtons magiques des sorciers égyptiens. D.ieu envoie ensuite une série de plaies sur les Égyptiens.
Les eaux du Nil se changent en sang, des grenouilles envahissent le pays par millions, une vermine infeste hommes et bêtes. Des hordes d’animaux sauvages envahissent les villes, une maladie mortelle s’abat sur les animaux domestiques, de douloureux furoncles affligent les Égyptiens. Lors de la septième plaie, le feu et la glace se combinent dans des grêlons dévastateurs qui pleuvent du ciel. Toutefois, « le cœur de Pharaon s’endurcit et il ne voulut point laisser partir les enfants d’Israël ; comme D.ieu l’avait dit à Moïse. »
© Copyright, all rights reserved. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further, provided that you comply with Chabad.org's copyright policy.
Free Will
Although there are few if any direct philosophical statements in the bible regarding
concepts such as free will, afterlife, providence, etc. Jews throughout the generations have tried
to come up with what they believe is the proper way for a Jew to think about these and other
philosophical issues. One such issue is that of free will. In this week’s parasha a classic question
that is often asked is: If God hardened Pharaoh’s heart during the plagues, why was Pharaoh
being punished, it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t let them go, since God affected his free will.
Many of the commentators address this question:
According to Midrash Rabbah God wanted to punish Pharaoh for the extra hard work and
cruelty he imposed on Benei Yisrael. Therefore, He took away his free will.
Resh Lakish explains that when reading the Torah carefully, we find that in the first five
plagues Pharaoh hardened his own heart, and only in the last five plagues, God hardens his heart.
This is because God kept warning Pharaoh, and kept giving him the chance to repent. After
Pharaoh refused to repent, God wanted to punish him so He hardened his heart. Accordingly,
Pharaoh had free will to an extent and then lost his free will through his choices.
Ramban offers two explanations:
1) Pharaoh deserved all the plagues because of the sins he committed against
Benei Yisrael, so God hardened his heart so that he would be able to strike him with all the
plagues that he already deserved from before. (It is interesting to note that God tells Moshe from
the very beginning to warn Pharaoh about the plague of the firstborns. This shows that all ten
plagues were planned to happen from the very beginning, seemingly no matter what Pharaoh
decided to do.) In this explanation free will was withheld similarly to the midrash raba above.
2) God wanted the Egyptians to recognize that God is God. When Pharaoh was
begging Moshe to take Benei Yisrael out of Egypt and to stop the plagues, it was only because
of the suffering he was experiencing from the plagues, not because he recognized God as the all-
powerful God. So God made Pharaoh’s heart strong (courageous not stubborn) so that he
wouldn’t simply crumble from the plagues. Accordingly, his free will was not taken away, he was
simply given the encouragement to make those choices.
Chevat est le 11ème mois du calendrier juif à compter de Nissan. Le point culminant du mois est la fête du 15 Chevat, appelée également le « Nouvel An des Arbres ». C’est le jour où la sève commence à monter dans les arbres fruitiers en Israël, le début d’une nouvelle saison de croissance. Nous célébrons ce jour en mangeant des fruits, en particulier des « Sept Espèces » que la Torah mentionne dans sa louange de la Terre Sainte (le blé, l’orge, les raisins, les figues, les grenades, les olives et les dattes). En ce jour, nous nous souvenons que « l’homme est un arbre des champs » et réfléchissons aux leçons que nous pouvons tirer de cette analogie botanique.
THE MONTH OF SHEVAT AND IT’S SIGN OF THE ZODIAC
The month of Shevat correlates with the astrological sign of Aquarius, which is an air sign. It is the third of the air signs: Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Aquarius represents the Left Column of the three. Aquarius is ruled by two planets. Traditional astrology attributes control of this month to Saturn, and modern astrology has given credit to Uranus, discovered by the astronomer William Hershel on March 13, 1781.
Saturn is the planet of judgment, order, responsibility, discipline and laws, while Uranus elevates us to new consciousness and new concepts beyond limitation. This is why the Age of Aquarius and the month of Aquarius are considered times of change. Both are times of new knowledge, inventions, humanity, and charity.
The energy of Uranus also connects to the air element - intellectualism, innovations, and new concepts that will bring the world to a higher level of consciousness.
Aquarians are rebellious by nature because they are constantly faced with penetrating questions concerning their individuality, their uniqueness and their identity. This is the reason they strive to break old boundaries. To Aquarians, the past is but a fleeting moment, and they disconnect from the past in order to find a fresh and unfamiliar reality, a new truth to fit the new times. Uranus orbits the sun every 84 years, which explains the common phenomenon of the "midlife crisis" that plagues 40-42 year olds, when we begin to question our life's purpose and make plans for the next 40 or so years.
PERLES DE TORAH
La Parashat Va'era raconte comment Aaron fit des miracles devant Pharaon, et comment il transforma un bâton en serpent.
Quelle fut alors la réponse de Pharaon? «La belle affaire!" dit-il. "L'Egypte est pleine de magiciens!" A tel point que Pharaon appela de jeunes enfants qui procédèrent à leur tour aussi à la transformation de bâtons en serpents!
Mais Dieu savait pertinemment les connaissances avancées de l'Egypte en magie. Alors, pourquoi Dieu a-t-il demandé à Aaron d’accomplir des exploits qui pouvaient être facilement reproduits?
La réponse est que Dieu a voulu que les Egyptiens viennent à penser qu'ils pourraient reproduire ce qu’on fait Moïse et Aaron étape par étape, afin que plus tard - lorsque Moïse et Aaron se mettraient à réaliser de plus grands miracles - les experts Égyptiens soient à même d'apprécier pleinement les énormes pouvoirs de Dieu.
Et c'est exactement ce qui s’est passé. Après le troisième fléau des poux, Pharaon appela ses magiciens pour qu’ils répliquent ce que Moïse et Aaron avaient fait. Mais ils furent incapables de le faire. A tel point que les magiciens se tournèrent vers Pharaon, reconnurent que Dieu est infiniment puissant, et déclarèrent : «C'est là le doigt de Dieu."
Le Talmud explique que les poux étaient trop petits pour que les magiciens de Pharaon puissent les manipuler. Dans un sens, cela ressemble à notre monde d'aujourd'hui. La science produit des merveilles - l'énergie atomique, le vol spatial, le génie génétique. Pourtant, tout repose sur l'aide de l'énergie et des ressources existantes. Alors d'où vient toute la matière originale?!
C'est là que Dieu intervient. Pour créer quelque chose à partir de rien - les minuscules briques de la vie – ceci est quelque chose dont seul Dieu est, était et sera toujours capable. La rencontre entre Aaron et Pharaon nous enseigne à ne pas perdre cette perspective.
Va’era Quiz
1) Q. In telling the story of Moshe and Aharon, the Torah provides a genealogy to tell us how
they were born and to whom they were related. Why is it necessary to trace and record their
pedigree?
A. We are taught an important lesson through this description. A Jewish leader is not one who
is born in a supernatural way. He is a normal person who has a father and mother and who has
spiritually elevated himself to be worthy of his rank. Every Jew has the potential to become a
Moshe Rabbenu - a leader of the Jewish people in his generation. This also explains to us why
they are not infallible, and we often read of errors our leaders had made. The Torah does not try
to conceal these errors or justify them.
2) Q. Why didn’t Moshe smite the water or the land in the first three plagues (Aharon did it)?
A. One possible explanation given is that when Moshe was a baby, he was saved by the
water, and when he killed the Egyptian the land helped him by hiding the body, so in return Moshe
did not smite them, Aharon did.
3) Q. “All the water in the river turned to blood, and the fish in the river died.” (7:20-21). Isn’t it
obvious that the fish would die, because they can only live in water?
A. Midrashically, the plague of blood might have happened in one of two ways: a) All the
waters might have become blood, turning back into water only when a Jew filled a glass. b) There
could have been no change in the water except that when an Egyptian filled a glass, it would
become blood. The midrash accepts the second option. Consequently, the Egyptians received a
double punishment: The fresh waters turned into blood when used, and the fish died in fresh
water. The reason it is explained in this way is because we are told that the Egyptians were
compelled to purchase water from the Jews, who prospered thereby (Midrash Rabbah). If all the
water had been transformed to blood, the Jews would have been unable to charge the Egyptians
for water, because it is forbidden to derive benefit from a miracle. (Ta’anit 24a)
3) Q. How many frogs were there in the beginning of the plague?
A. According to the Midrash: One, and when an Egyptian would strike it, it would multiply. This
Midrash is commenting on the description that “the frog” came up on the land. Since the Torah
described “the frog” and not frogs, the Midrash makes this comment.
4) Q. Moshe said: “When shall I pray for you, your servants and your people, to rid you of the
frogs?” Pharaoh answered: “Tomorrow.” (8:5, 6) Why did Pharaoh subject his nation to an extra
day of plague by saying “Tomorrow?” Didn’t he want the frogs to go away immediately?
A. Pharaoh didn’t believe that the frogs were a plague from God. He preferred to believe that
the frogs were a natural phenomenon about which Moshe had special knowledge. When Moshe
asked “When shall I pray...?” Pharaoh thought Moshe was simply timing his question to coincide
with the plague’s natural end, expecting Pharaoh to say “Right now!” By saying “Tomorrow”
Pharaoh tried to trick Moshe and make him look foolish. (Ibn Ezra in the name of Rav Shmuel
ben Hofni)
8)Q. How long did each plague last?
A. The midrash teaches that they lasted seven days. The frogs died in less than seven days
ENGLISH PROVERBS
A bad workman always blames his tools. ...
A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. ...
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. ...
A cat has nine lives. ...
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. ...
Actions speak louder than words. ...
A drowning man will clutch at a straw. ...
Adversity and loss make a man wise.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. ...
Better late than never. ...
Two wrongs don't make a right. ...
Birds of a feather flock together. ...
A picture is worth a thousand words. ...
There's no such thing as a free lunch. …
Beggars can't be choosers.
…
THE SHABBAT SMILE
Moishe Epstein dragged himself home and barely made it to his chair before he dropped, exhausted. His sympathetic wife Rivkah was right there with a tall cool drink and a comforting word.
"My, you look tired," Rivkah said. "You must have had a hard day today. What happened to make you so exhausted?"
"It was terrible," Moishe said, "We had no computer or internet access the whole day so all of us had to do our own thinking."
Leah Epstein invites some family and friends to dinner and at the table, she turns to her 6 year old daughter Rivkah and says, "Darling, don’t forget to make a bracha (blessing)."
"But Mommy, I don't know what bracha to say," replies Rivkah.
"All you need do," says Leah, "is to repeat what you heard Mommy say."
Rivkah thinks for a moment and says, "God, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner
Shira Stern mother was worried that her three-year-old son Benny was unusually precocious, and took him to a psychiatrist.
"Right," said the shrink, "We'll just try a few simple tests." To Benny, he said "Say a few words - anything that comes into your mind."
Benny turned to his mother and asked, "Does he want logically constructed sentences or just a few random and purely isolated words?"
Moishe and Miriam were out for dinner. Moishe seemed a little distracted so she turned to him and said, “Moishe! You are not listening to a word that I am saying, are you?
Moishe, somewhat offended, said, “Miriam, that’s an odd way to start a conversation.
Rabbi Stein was hit by a car , Hatsalah came fast and covered him.
They asked him : Are you comfortable
He answered; Well I make a living
LE SOURIRE DU CHABBAT
-
Jean dit à Julie
-
Demain c’est notre anniversaire de mariage, Qu’est ce que tu penses si on égorge le mouton
-
Et Julie qui répond, le pauvre mouton, ce n’est pas sa faute .
-
-
Jean dit à son ami Paul : Tu as 35 ans et tu n’es pas encore marié. C’est quoi le problème Paul lui dit que chaque fois qu’il apporte une fille à la maison, sa maman ne l’aime pas
-
Alors jean lui dit : Trouve une fille qui ressemble t à ta maman, et ainsi elle sera contente et elle l’aimera
Paul dit: J’ai essayé, j’ai trouvé presque une sosie à maman, mais papa l’a détestée
CHABBAT CHALOM
HODECH TOV
MAGHEN ABRAHAM
DAVID hASSON
CHABBAT PARACHAT VAÉRA
16 JANVIER 2021 / 3 CHEVAT 5781
Hazkara: Clément Setton (zl) pére de Jocelyne Setton
SHABBAT PRAYERS AT HOME
While you may be unable to attend services this Shabbat—either as a result of quarantine or due to synagogues canceling services—this does not mean that you cannot pray the Shabbat prayers. Of course, the ideal way to pray is in synagogue with a quorum of ten. However, with a little adaptation, the Shabbat prayers can most certainly be said in isolation. In fact, the silver lining to saying the prayers alone is that they will be more personal and you can go your own pace.
The vast majority of prayers may be recited at home just as they would be in synagogue. However, there are a number of key differences to bear in mind when praying without a quorum of ten. Among them: kaddish, barechu, and the repetition of the Amidah are omitted. Below we will run through the Shabbat prayers detailing the exact differences. We will be using the page numbers as found in the Kehot Annotated Hebrew-English Siddur.
Timing
According to the Talmud, even if you cannot make it to synagogue, you should still pray at the time the congregation prays. As such, do your best to begin at the time your local synagogue begins services. Also, before Shabbat, make sure you know the times when Shabbat begins and ends, as well as the latest time to say Shema etc.
Friday Night
Ideally, the afternoon prayer (minchah) should be prayed before lighting the Shabbat candles, but it is fine to pray after candle lighting, before sunset. When praying minchah, kaddish and the repetition of the amidah are omitted.
It is best to wait until after nightfall before starting the evening prayers (maariv). This break between sunset and nightfall is the perfect opportunity to study something on the parshah. Visit our parshah page in advance and print something that catches your eye.
Start Kabbalat Shabbat around nightfall. Using a prayer book with an English translation, this is an opportunity to go at your own pace, as there is no need to worry about the speed of the congregation. Read some of the English, as the Friday night liturgy contains some especially beautiful Psalms.
On page 160, it is the Chabad custom to recite the paragraph beginning Velomar (“and say instead of barechu when praying alone.
After the silent Amidah, the paragraph beginning va’yechulu (‘The heavens’) is recited, but we omit the first and last of the next three paragraphs, as they are essentially a truncated repetition of the Amidah.
The remainder of the service is said as usual, sans kaddish and barechu.
Shabbat Morning
Start your morning with a study session. Nothing will get you more in the mode for prayer than a little chassidut, why not print the daily portion of Tanya before Shabbat? Before studying (or eating anything) be sure to recite the morning blessings (pgs 5-9) and Shema.
For the morning prayers (shacharit), proceed as you would in synagogue (omitting kaddish and borchu) until after the silent amidah. The repetition is omitted, so you proceed directly to the “Song of the Day.”
Since the Torah is not going to be read, we skip the prayers associated with removing the Torah from the ark, which begin with the paragraph beginning atoh (‘You have’). Although there is obviously no Torah reading, read the parshah of the week from a Chumash, and feel free to peruse some of the commentaries as well.
Before the musaf prayer, only the first yekum purkan (‘may there’) is recited (pg 230). Skip the following two paragraphs. Proceed to ashrei (skipping 'av ha'rachamim') and then pray the musaf prayer, skipping the silent repetition of the amidah.
General Notes
Since kaddish cannot be recited, if you need to have it said for loved one, before Shabbat, fill out the short form on our Coronavirus Kaddish Service page to arrange kaddish to be said.
We cannot use technology on Shabbat, so please print this guide on Friday for Shabbat use.
For more on how to make the best of Shabbat in isolation see: 10 Tips for Preparing for Shabbat While Social Distancing
By Mordechai Rubin
!The rabbVaéra - en bref
Exode 6, 2 - 9, 35
D.ieu se révèle à Moïse. Employant les « quatre expressions de délivrance », Il promet de faire sortir les Enfants d’Israël d’Égypte, de les délivrer de leur servitude, de les rédimer et d’en faire Son peuple élu au Mont Sinaï, suite à quoi Il les conduira à la terre qu’il a promise aux Patriarches en héritage éternel.
Moïse et Aharon se présentent à plusieurs reprises devant Pharaon pour exiger au nom de D.ieu « Laisse partir Mon peuple, afin qu’il puisse Me servir dans le désert », mais Pharaon refuse à chaque fois. Le bâton d’Aharon se transforme en serpent et avale les bâtons magiques des sorciers égyptiens. D.ieu envoie ensuite une série de plaies sur les Égyptiens.
Les eaux du Nil se changent en sang, des grenouilles envahissent le pays par millions, une vermine infeste hommes et bêtes. Des hordes d’animaux sauvages envahissent les villes, une maladie mortelle s’abat sur les animaux domestiques, de douloureux furoncles affligent les Égyptiens. Lors de la septième plaie, le feu et la glace se combinent dans des grêlons dévastateurs qui pleuvent du ciel. Toutefois, « le cœur de Pharaon s’endurcit et il ne voulut point laisser partir les enfants d’Israël ; comme D.ieu l’avait dit à Moïse. »
© Copyright, all rights reserved. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further, provided that you comply with Chabad.org's copyright policy.
Free Will
Although there are few if any direct philosophical statements in the bible regarding
concepts such as free will, afterlife, providence, etc. Jews throughout the generations have tried
to come up with what they believe is the proper way for a Jew to think about these and other
philosophical issues. One such issue is that of free will. In this week’s parasha a classic question
that is often asked is: If God hardened Pharaoh’s heart during the plagues, why was Pharaoh
being punished, it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t let them go, since God affected his free will.
Many of the commentators address this question:
According to Midrash Rabbah God wanted to punish Pharaoh for the extra hard work and
cruelty he imposed on Benei Yisrael. Therefore, He took away his free will.
Resh Lakish explains that when reading the Torah carefully, we find that in the first five
plagues Pharaoh hardened his own heart, and only in the last five plagues, God hardens his heart.
This is because God kept warning Pharaoh, and kept giving him the chance to repent. After
Pharaoh refused to repent, God wanted to punish him so He hardened his heart. Accordingly,
Pharaoh had free will to an extent and then lost his free will through his choices.
Ramban offers two explanations:
1) Pharaoh deserved all the plagues because of the sins he committed against
Benei Yisrael, so God hardened his heart so that he would be able to strike him with all the
plagues that he already deserved from before. (It is interesting to note that God tells Moshe from
the very beginning to warn Pharaoh about the plague of the firstborns. This shows that all ten
plagues were planned to happen from the very beginning, seemingly no matter what Pharaoh
decided to do.) In this explanation free will was withheld similarly to the midrash raba above.
2) God wanted the Egyptians to recognize that God is God. When Pharaoh was
begging Moshe to take Benei Yisrael out of Egypt and to stop the plagues, it was only because
of the suffering he was experiencing from the plagues, not because he recognized God as the all-
powerful God. So God made Pharaoh’s heart strong (courageous not stubborn) so that he
wouldn’t simply crumble from the plagues. Accordingly, his free will was not taken away, he was
simply given the encouragement to make those choices.
Chevat est le 11ème mois du calendrier juif à compter de Nissan. Le point culminant du mois est la fête du 15 Chevat, appelée également le « Nouvel An des Arbres ». C’est le jour où la sève commence à monter dans les arbres fruitiers en Israël, le début d’une nouvelle saison de croissance. Nous célébrons ce jour en mangeant des fruits, en particulier des « Sept Espèces » que la Torah mentionne dans sa louange de la Terre Sainte (le blé, l’orge, les raisins, les figues, les grenades, les olives et les dattes). En ce jour, nous nous souvenons que « l’homme est un arbre des champs » et réfléchissons aux leçons que nous pouvons tirer de cette analogie botanique.
THE MONTH OF SHEVAT AND IT’S SIGN OF THE ZODIAC
The month of Shevat correlates with the astrological sign of Aquarius, which is an air sign. It is the third of the air signs: Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Aquarius represents the Left Column of the three. Aquarius is ruled by two planets. Traditional astrology attributes control of this month to Saturn, and modern astrology has given credit to Uranus, discovered by the astronomer William Hershel on March 13, 1781.
Saturn is the planet of judgment, order, responsibility, discipline and laws, while Uranus elevates us to new consciousness and new concepts beyond limitation. This is why the Age of Aquarius and the month of Aquarius are considered times of change. Both are times of new knowledge, inventions, humanity, and charity.
The energy of Uranus also connects to the air element - intellectualism, innovations, and new concepts that will bring the world to a higher level of consciousness.
Aquarians are rebellious by nature because they are constantly faced with penetrating questions concerning their individuality, their uniqueness and their identity. This is the reason they strive to break old boundaries. To Aquarians, the past is but a fleeting moment, and they disconnect from the past in order to find a fresh and unfamiliar reality, a new truth to fit the new times. Uranus orbits the sun every 84 years, which explains the common phenomenon of the "midlife crisis" that plagues 40-42 year olds, when we begin to question our life's purpose and make plans for the next 40 or so years.
PERLES DE TORAH
La Parashat Va'era raconte comment Aaron fit des miracles devant Pharaon, et comment il transforma un bâton en serpent.
Quelle fut alors la réponse de Pharaon? «La belle affaire!" dit-il. "L'Egypte est pleine de magiciens!" A tel point que Pharaon appela de jeunes enfants qui procédèrent à leur tour aussi à la transformation de bâtons en serpents!
Mais Dieu savait pertinemment les connaissances avancées de l'Egypte en magie. Alors, pourquoi Dieu a-t-il demandé à Aaron d’accomplir des exploits qui pouvaient être facilement reproduits?
La réponse est que Dieu a voulu que les Egyptiens viennent à penser qu'ils pourraient reproduire ce qu’on fait Moïse et Aaron étape par étape, afin que plus tard - lorsque Moïse et Aaron se mettraient à réaliser de plus grands miracles - les experts Égyptiens soient à même d'apprécier pleinement les énormes pouvoirs de Dieu.
Et c'est exactement ce qui s’est passé. Après le troisième fléau des poux, Pharaon appela ses magiciens pour qu’ils répliquent ce que Moïse et Aaron avaient fait. Mais ils furent incapables de le faire. A tel point que les magiciens se tournèrent vers Pharaon, reconnurent que Dieu est infiniment puissant, et déclarèrent : «C'est là le doigt de Dieu."
Le Talmud explique que les poux étaient trop petits pour que les magiciens de Pharaon puissent les manipuler. Dans un sens, cela ressemble à notre monde d'aujourd'hui. La science produit des merveilles - l'énergie atomique, le vol spatial, le génie génétique. Pourtant, tout repose sur l'aide de l'énergie et des ressources existantes. Alors d'où vient toute la matière originale?!
C'est là que Dieu intervient. Pour créer quelque chose à partir de rien - les minuscules briques de la vie – ceci est quelque chose dont seul Dieu est, était et sera toujours capable. La rencontre entre Aaron et Pharaon nous enseigne à ne pas perdre cette perspective.
Va’era Quiz
1) Q. In telling the story of Moshe and Aharon, the Torah provides a genealogy to tell us how
they were born and to whom they were related. Why is it necessary to trace and record their
pedigree?
A. We are taught an important lesson through this description. A Jewish leader is not one who
is born in a supernatural way. He is a normal person who has a father and mother and who has
spiritually elevated himself to be worthy of his rank. Every Jew has the potential to become a
Moshe Rabbenu - a leader of the Jewish people in his generation. This also explains to us why
they are not infallible, and we often read of errors our leaders had made. The Torah does not try
to conceal these errors or justify them.
2) Q. Why didn’t Moshe smite the water or the land in the first three plagues (Aharon did it)?
A. One possible explanation given is that when Moshe was a baby, he was saved by the
water, and when he killed the Egyptian the land helped him by hiding the body, so in return Moshe
did not smite them, Aharon did.
3) Q. “All the water in the river turned to blood, and the fish in the river died.” (7:20-21). Isn’t it
obvious that the fish would die, because they can only live in water?
A. Midrashically, the plague of blood might have happened in one of two ways: a) All the
waters might have become blood, turning back into water only when a Jew filled a glass. b) There
could have been no change in the water except that when an Egyptian filled a glass, it would
become blood. The midrash accepts the second option. Consequently, the Egyptians received a
double punishment: The fresh waters turned into blood when used, and the fish died in fresh
water. The reason it is explained in this way is because we are told that the Egyptians were
compelled to purchase water from the Jews, who prospered thereby (Midrash Rabbah). If all the
water had been transformed to blood, the Jews would have been unable to charge the Egyptians
for water, because it is forbidden to derive benefit from a miracle. (Ta’anit 24a)
3) Q. How many frogs were there in the beginning of the plague?
A. According to the Midrash: One, and when an Egyptian would strike it, it would multiply. This
Midrash is commenting on the description that “the frog” came up on the land. Since the Torah
described “the frog” and not frogs, the Midrash makes this comment.
4) Q. Moshe said: “When shall I pray for you, your servants and your people, to rid you of the
frogs?” Pharaoh answered: “Tomorrow.” (8:5, 6) Why did Pharaoh subject his nation to an extra
day of plague by saying “Tomorrow?” Didn’t he want the frogs to go away immediately?
A. Pharaoh didn’t believe that the frogs were a plague from God. He preferred to believe that
the frogs were a natural phenomenon about which Moshe had special knowledge. When Moshe
asked “When shall I pray...?” Pharaoh thought Moshe was simply timing his question to coincide
with the plague’s natural end, expecting Pharaoh to say “Right now!” By saying “Tomorrow”
Pharaoh tried to trick Moshe and make him look foolish. (Ibn Ezra in the name of Rav Shmuel
ben Hofni)
8)Q. How long did each plague last?
A. The midrash teaches that they lasted seven days. The frogs died in less than seven days
ENGLISH PROVERBS
A bad workman always blames his tools. ...
A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. ...
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. ...
A cat has nine lives. ...
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. ...
Actions speak louder than words. ...
A drowning man will clutch at a straw. ...
Adversity and loss make a man wise.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. ...
Better late than never. ...
Two wrongs don't make a right. ...
Birds of a feather flock together. ...
A picture is worth a thousand words. ...
There's no such thing as a free lunch. …
Beggars can't be choosers.
…
THE SHABBAT SMILE
Moishe Epstein dragged himself home and barely made it to his chair before he dropped, exhausted. His sympathetic wife Rivkah was right there with a tall cool drink and a comforting word.
"My, you look tired," Rivkah said. "You must have had a hard day today. What happened to make you so exhausted?"
"It was terrible," Moishe said, "We had no computer or internet access the whole day so all of us had to do our own thinking."
Leah Epstein invites some family and friends to dinner and at the table, she turns to her 6 year old daughter Rivkah and says, "Darling, don’t forget to make a bracha (blessing)."
"But Mommy, I don't know what bracha to say," replies Rivkah.
"All you need do," says Leah, "is to repeat what you heard Mommy say."
Rivkah thinks for a moment and says, "God, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner
Shira Stern mother was worried that her three-year-old son Benny was unusually precocious, and took him to a psychiatrist.
"Right," said the shrink, "We'll just try a few simple tests." To Benny, he said "Say a few words - anything that comes into your mind."
Benny turned to his mother and asked, "Does he want logically constructed sentences or just a few random and purely isolated words?"
Moishe and Miriam were out for dinner. Moishe seemed a little distracted so she turned to him and said, “Moishe! You are not listening to a word that I am saying, are you?
Moishe, somewhat offended, said, “Miriam, that’s an odd way to start a conversation.
Rabbi Stein was hit by a car , Hatsalah came fast and covered him.
They asked him : Are you comfortable
He answered; Well I make a living
LE SOURIRE DU CHABBAT
-
Jean dit à Julie
-
Demain c’est notre anniversaire de mariage, Qu’est ce que tu penses si on égorge le mouton
-
Et Julie qui répond, le pauvre mouton, ce n’est pas sa faute .
-
-
Jean dit à son ami Paul : Tu as 35 ans et tu n’es pas encore marié. C’est quoi le problème Paul lui dit que chaque fois qu’il apporte une fille à la maison, sa maman ne l’aime pas
-
Alors jean lui dit : Trouve une fille qui ressemble t à ta maman, et ainsi elle sera contente et elle l’aimera
Paul dit: J’ai essayé, j’ai trouvé presque une sosie à maman, mais papa l’a détestée
CHABBAT CHALOM
HODECH TOV
MAGHEN ABRAHAM
DAVID hASSON
CHABBAT PARACHAT VAÉRA
16 JANVIER 2021 / 3 CHEVAT 5781
Hazkara: Clément Setton (zl) pére de Jocelyne Setton
SHABBAT PRAYERS AT HOME
While you may be unable to attend services this Shabbat—either as a result of quarantine or due to synagogues canceling services—this does not mean that you cannot pray the Shabbat prayers. Of course, the ideal way to pray is in synagogue with a quorum of ten. However, with a little adaptation, the Shabbat prayers can most certainly be said in isolation. In fact, the silver lining to saying the prayers alone is that they will be more personal and you can go your own pace.
The vast majority of prayers may be recited at home just as they would be in synagogue. However, there are a number of key differences to bear in mind when praying without a quorum of ten. Among them: kaddish, barechu, and the repetition of the Amidah are omitted. Below we will run through the Shabbat prayers detailing the exact differences. We will be using the page numbers as found in the Kehot Annotated Hebrew-English Siddur.
Timing
According to the Talmud, even if you cannot make it to synagogue, you should still pray at the time the congregation prays. As such, do your best to begin at the time your local synagogue begins services. Also, before Shabbat, make sure you know the times when Shabbat begins and ends, as well as the latest time to say Shema etc.
Friday Night
Ideally, the afternoon prayer (minchah) should be prayed before lighting the Shabbat candles, but it is fine to pray after candle lighting, before sunset. When praying minchah, kaddish and the repetition of the amidah are omitted.
It is best to wait until after nightfall before starting the evening prayers (maariv). This break between sunset and nightfall is the perfect opportunity to study something on the parshah. Visit our parshah page in advance and print something that catches your eye.
Start Kabbalat Shabbat around nightfall. Using a prayer book with an English translation, this is an opportunity to go at your own pace, as there is no need to worry about the speed of the congregation. Read some of the English, as the Friday night liturgy contains some especially beautiful Psalms.
On page 160, it is the Chabad custom to recite the paragraph beginning Velomar (“and say instead of barechu when praying alone.
After the silent Amidah, the paragraph beginning va’yechulu (‘The heavens’) is recited, but we omit the first and last of the next three paragraphs, as they are essentially a truncated repetition of the Amidah.
The remainder of the service is said as usual, sans kaddish and barechu.
Shabbat Morning
Start your morning with a study session. Nothing will get you more in the mode for prayer than a little chassidut, why not print the daily portion of Tanya before Shabbat? Before studying (or eating anything) be sure to recite the morning blessings (pgs 5-9) and Shema.
For the morning prayers (shacharit), proceed as you would in synagogue (omitting kaddish and borchu) until after the silent amidah. The repetition is omitted, so you proceed directly to the “Song of the Day.”
Since the Torah is not going to be read, we skip the prayers associated with removing the Torah from the ark, which begin with the paragraph beginning atoh (‘You have’). Although there is obviously no Torah reading, read the parshah of the week from a Chumash, and feel free to peruse some of the commentaries as well.
Before the musaf prayer, only the first yekum purkan (‘may there’) is recited (pg 230). Skip the following two paragraphs. Proceed to ashrei (skipping 'av ha'rachamim') and then pray the musaf prayer, skipping the silent repetition of the amidah.
General Notes
Since kaddish cannot be recited, if you need to have it said for loved one, before Shabbat, fill out the short form on our Coronavirus Kaddish Service page to arrange kaddish to be said.
We cannot use technology on Shabbat, so please print this guide on Friday for Shabbat use.
For more on how to make the best of Shabbat in isolation see: 10 Tips for Preparing for Shabbat While Social Distancing
By Mordechai Rubin
!The rabbVaéra - en bref
Exode 6, 2 - 9, 35
D.ieu se révèle à Moïse. Employant les « quatre expressions de délivrance », Il promet de faire sortir les Enfants d’Israël d’Égypte, de les délivrer de leur servitude, de les rédimer et d’en faire Son peuple élu au Mont Sinaï, suite à quoi Il les conduira à la terre qu’il a promise aux Patriarches en héritage éternel.
Moïse et Aharon se présentent à plusieurs reprises devant Pharaon pour exiger au nom de D.ieu « Laisse partir Mon peuple, afin qu’il puisse Me servir dans le désert », mais Pharaon refuse à chaque fois. Le bâton d’Aharon se transforme en serpent et avale les bâtons magiques des sorciers égyptiens. D.ieu envoie ensuite une série de plaies sur les Égyptiens.
Les eaux du Nil se changent en sang, des grenouilles envahissent le pays par millions, une vermine infeste hommes et bêtes. Des hordes d’animaux sauvages envahissent les villes, une maladie mortelle s’abat sur les animaux domestiques, de douloureux furoncles affligent les Égyptiens. Lors de la septième plaie, le feu et la glace se combinent dans des grêlons dévastateurs qui pleuvent du ciel. Toutefois, « le cœur de Pharaon s’endurcit et il ne voulut point laisser partir les enfants d’Israël ; comme D.ieu l’avait dit à Moïse. »
© Copyright, all rights reserved. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further, provided that you comply with Chabad.org's copyright policy.
Free Will
Although there are few if any direct philosophical statements in the bible regarding
concepts such as free will, afterlife, providence, etc. Jews throughout the generations have tried
to come up with what they believe is the proper way for a Jew to think about these and other
philosophical issues. One such issue is that of free will. In this week’s parasha a classic question
that is often asked is: If God hardened Pharaoh’s heart during the plagues, why was Pharaoh
being punished, it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t let them go, since God affected his free will.
Many of the commentators address this question:
According to Midrash Rabbah God wanted to punish Pharaoh for the extra hard work and
cruelty he imposed on Benei Yisrael. Therefore, He took away his free will.
Resh Lakish explains that when reading the Torah carefully, we find that in the first five
plagues Pharaoh hardened his own heart, and only in the last five plagues, God hardens his heart.
This is because God kept warning Pharaoh, and kept giving him the chance to repent. After
Pharaoh refused to repent, God wanted to punish him so He hardened his heart. Accordingly,
Pharaoh had free will to an extent and then lost his free will through his choices.
Ramban offers two explanations:
1) Pharaoh deserved all the plagues because of the sins he committed against
Benei Yisrael, so God hardened his heart so that he would be able to strike him with all the
plagues that he already deserved from before. (It is interesting to note that God tells Moshe from
the very beginning to warn Pharaoh about the plague of the firstborns. This shows that all ten
plagues were planned to happen from the very beginning, seemingly no matter what Pharaoh
decided to do.) In this explanation free will was withheld similarly to the midrash raba above.
2) God wanted the Egyptians to recognize that God is God. When Pharaoh was
begging Moshe to take Benei Yisrael out of Egypt and to stop the plagues, it was only because
of the suffering he was experiencing from the plagues, not because he recognized God as the all-
powerful God. So God made Pharaoh’s heart strong (courageous not stubborn) so that he
wouldn’t simply crumble from the plagues. Accordingly, his free will was not taken away, he was
simply given the encouragement to make those choices.
Chevat est le 11ème mois du calendrier juif à compter de Nissan. Le point culminant du mois est la fête du 15 Chevat, appelée également le « Nouvel An des Arbres ». C’est le jour où la sève commence à monter dans les arbres fruitiers en Israël, le début d’une nouvelle saison de croissance. Nous célébrons ce jour en mangeant des fruits, en particulier des « Sept Espèces » que la Torah mentionne dans sa louange de la Terre Sainte (le blé, l’orge, les raisins, les figues, les grenades, les olives et les dattes). En ce jour, nous nous souvenons que « l’homme est un arbre des champs » et réfléchissons aux leçons que nous pouvons tirer de cette analogie botanique.
THE MONTH OF SHEVAT AND IT’S SIGN OF THE ZODIAC
The month of Shevat correlates with the astrological sign of Aquarius, which is an air sign. It is the third of the air signs: Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Aquarius represents the Left Column of the three. Aquarius is ruled by two planets. Traditional astrology attributes control of this month to Saturn, and modern astrology has given credit to Uranus, discovered by the astronomer William Hershel on March 13, 1781.
Saturn is the planet of judgment, order, responsibility, discipline and laws, while Uranus elevates us to new consciousness and new concepts beyond limitation. This is why the Age of Aquarius and the month of Aquarius are considered times of change. Both are times of new knowledge, inventions, humanity, and charity.
The energy of Uranus also connects to the air element - intellectualism, innovations, and new concepts that will bring the world to a higher level of consciousness.
Aquarians are rebellious by nature because they are constantly faced with penetrating questions concerning their individuality, their uniqueness and their identity. This is the reason they strive to break old boundaries. To Aquarians, the past is but a fleeting moment, and they disconnect from the past in order to find a fresh and unfamiliar reality, a new truth to fit the new times. Uranus orbits the sun every 84 years, which explains the common phenomenon of the "midlife crisis" that plagues 40-42 year olds, when we begin to question our life's purpose and make plans for the next 40 or so years.
PERLES DE TORAH
La Parashat Va'era raconte comment Aaron fit des miracles devant Pharaon, et comment il transforma un bâton en serpent.
Quelle fut alors la réponse de Pharaon? «La belle affaire!" dit-il. "L'Egypte est pleine de magiciens!" A tel point que Pharaon appela de jeunes enfants qui procédèrent à leur tour aussi à la transformation de bâtons en serpents!
Mais Dieu savait pertinemment les connaissances avancées de l'Egypte en magie. Alors, pourquoi Dieu a-t-il demandé à Aaron d’accomplir des exploits qui pouvaient être facilement reproduits?
La réponse est que Dieu a voulu que les Egyptiens viennent à penser qu'ils pourraient reproduire ce qu’on fait Moïse et Aaron étape par étape, afin que plus tard - lorsque Moïse et Aaron se mettraient à réaliser de plus grands miracles - les experts Égyptiens soient à même d'apprécier pleinement les énormes pouvoirs de Dieu.
Et c'est exactement ce qui s’est passé. Après le troisième fléau des poux, Pharaon appela ses magiciens pour qu’ils répliquent ce que Moïse et Aaron avaient fait. Mais ils furent incapables de le faire. A tel point que les magiciens se tournèrent vers Pharaon, reconnurent que Dieu est infiniment puissant, et déclarèrent : «C'est là le doigt de Dieu."
Le Talmud explique que les poux étaient trop petits pour que les magiciens de Pharaon puissent les manipuler. Dans un sens, cela ressemble à notre monde d'aujourd'hui. La science produit des merveilles - l'énergie atomique, le vol spatial, le génie génétique. Pourtant, tout repose sur l'aide de l'énergie et des ressources existantes. Alors d'où vient toute la matière originale?!
C'est là que Dieu intervient. Pour créer quelque chose à partir de rien - les minuscules briques de la vie – ceci est quelque chose dont seul Dieu est, était et sera toujours capable. La rencontre entre Aaron et Pharaon nous enseigne à ne pas perdre cette perspective.
Va’era Quiz
1) Q. In telling the story of Moshe and Aharon, the Torah provides a genealogy to tell us how
they were born and to whom they were related. Why is it necessary to trace and record their
pedigree?
A. We are taught an important lesson through this description. A Jewish leader is not one who
is born in a supernatural way. He is a normal person who has a father and mother and who has
spiritually elevated himself to be worthy of his rank. Every Jew has the potential to become a
Moshe Rabbenu - a leader of the Jewish people in his generation. This also explains to us why
they are not infallible, and we often read of errors our leaders had made. The Torah does not try
to conceal these errors or justify them.
2) Q. Why didn’t Moshe smite the water or the land in the first three plagues (Aharon did it)?
A. One possible explanation given is that when Moshe was a baby, he was saved by the
water, and when he killed the Egyptian the land helped him by hiding the body, so in return Moshe
did not smite them, Aharon did.
3) Q. “All the water in the river turned to blood, and the fish in the river died.” (7:20-21). Isn’t it
obvious that the fish would die, because they can only live in water?
A. Midrashically, the plague of blood might have happened in one of two ways: a) All the
waters might have become blood, turning back into water only when a Jew filled a glass. b) There
could have been no change in the water except that when an Egyptian filled a glass, it would
become blood. The midrash accepts the second option. Consequently, the Egyptians received a
double punishment: The fresh waters turned into blood when used, and the fish died in fresh
water. The reason it is explained in this way is because we are told that the Egyptians were
compelled to purchase water from the Jews, who prospered thereby (Midrash Rabbah). If all the
water had been transformed to blood, the Jews would have been unable to charge the Egyptians
for water, because it is forbidden to derive benefit from a miracle. (Ta’anit 24a)
3) Q. How many frogs were there in the beginning of the plague?
A. According to the Midrash: One, and when an Egyptian would strike it, it would multiply. This
Midrash is commenting on the description that “the frog” came up on the land. Since the Torah
described “the frog” and not frogs, the Midrash makes this comment.
4) Q. Moshe said: “When shall I pray for you, your servants and your people, to rid you of the
frogs?” Pharaoh answered: “Tomorrow.” (8:5, 6) Why did Pharaoh subject his nation to an extra
day of plague by saying “Tomorrow?” Didn’t he want the frogs to go away immediately?
A. Pharaoh didn’t believe that the frogs were a plague from God. He preferred to believe that
the frogs were a natural phenomenon about which Moshe had special knowledge. When Moshe
asked “When shall I pray...?” Pharaoh thought Moshe was simply timing his question to coincide
with the plague’s natural end, expecting Pharaoh to say “Right now!” By saying “Tomorrow”
Pharaoh tried to trick Moshe and make him look foolish. (Ibn Ezra in the name of Rav Shmuel
ben Hofni)
8)Q. How long did each plague last?
A. The midrash teaches that they lasted seven days. The frogs died in less than seven days
ENGLISH PROVERBS
A bad workman always blames his tools. ...
A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. ...
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. ...
A cat has nine lives. ...
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. ...
Actions speak louder than words. ...
A drowning man will clutch at a straw. ...
Adversity and loss make a man wise.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. ...
Better late than never. ...
Two wrongs don't make a right. ...
Birds of a feather flock together. ...
A picture is worth a thousand words. ...
There's no such thing as a free lunch. …
Beggars can't be choosers.
…
THE SHABBAT SMILE
Moishe Epstein dragged himself home and barely made it to his chair before he dropped, exhausted. His sympathetic wife Rivkah was right there with a tall cool drink and a comforting word.
"My, you look tired," Rivkah said. "You must have had a hard day today. What happened to make you so exhausted?"
"It was terrible," Moishe said, "We had no computer or internet access the whole day so all of us had to do our own thinking."
Leah Epstein invites some family and friends to dinner and at the table, she turns to her 6 year old daughter Rivkah and says, "Darling, don’t forget to make a bracha (blessing)."
"But Mommy, I don't know what bracha to say," replies Rivkah.
"All you need do," says Leah, "is to repeat what you heard Mommy say."
Rivkah thinks for a moment and says, "God, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner
Shira Stern mother was worried that her three-year-old son Benny was unusually precocious, and took him to a psychiatrist.
"Right," said the shrink, "We'll just try a few simple tests." To Benny, he said "Say a few words - anything that comes into your mind."
Benny turned to his mother and asked, "Does he want logically constructed sentences or just a few random and purely isolated words?"
Moishe and Miriam were out for dinner. Moishe seemed a little distracted so she turned to him and said, “Moishe! You are not listening to a word that I am saying, are you?
Moishe, somewhat offended, said, “Miriam, that’s an odd way to start a conversation.
Rabbi Stein was hit by a car , Hatsalah came fast and covered him.
They asked him : Are you comfortable
He answered; Well I make a living
LE SOURIRE DU CHABBAT
-
Jean dit à Julie
-
Demain c’est notre anniversaire de mariage, Qu’est ce que tu penses si on égorge le mouton
-
Et Julie qui répond, le pauvre mouton, ce n’est pas sa faute .
-
-
Jean dit à son ami Paul : Tu as 35 ans et tu n’es pas encore marié. C’est quoi le problème Paul lui dit que chaque fois qu’il apporte une fille à la maison, sa maman ne l’aime pas
-
Alors jean lui dit : Trouve une fille qui ressemble t à ta maman, et ainsi elle sera contente et elle l’aimera
Paul dit: J’ai essayé, j’ai trouvé presque une sosie à maman, mais papa l’a détestée
CHABBAT CHALOM
HODECH TOV
MAGHEN ABRAHAM
DAVID hASSON
CHABBAT PARACHAT VAÉRA
16 JANVIER 2021 / 3 CHEVAT 5781
Hazkara: Clément Setton (zl) pére de Jocelyne Setton
SHABBAT PRAYERS AT HOME
While you may be unable to attend services this Shabbat—either as a result of quarantine or due to synagogues canceling services—this does not mean that you cannot pray the Shabbat prayers. Of course, the ideal way to pray is in synagogue with a quorum of ten. However, with a little adaptation, the Shabbat prayers can most certainly be said in isolation. In fact, the silver lining to saying the prayers alone is that they will be more personal and you can go your own pace.
The vast majority of prayers may be recited at home just as they would be in synagogue. However, there are a number of key differences to bear in mind when praying without a quorum of ten. Among them: kaddish, barechu, and the repetition of the Amidah are omitted. Below we will run through the Shabbat prayers detailing the exact differences. We will be using the page numbers as found in the Kehot Annotated Hebrew-English Siddur.
Timing
According to the Talmud, even if you cannot make it to synagogue, you should still pray at the time the congregation prays. As such, do your best to begin at the time your local synagogue begins services. Also, before Shabbat, make sure you know the times when Shabbat begins and ends, as well as the latest time to say Shema etc.
Friday Night
Ideally, the afternoon prayer (minchah) should be prayed before lighting the Shabbat candles, but it is fine to pray after candle lighting, before sunset. When praying minchah, kaddish and the repetition of the amidah are omitted.
It is best to wait until after nightfall before starting the evening prayers (maariv). This break between sunset and nightfall is the perfect opportunity to study something on the parshah. Visit our parshah page in advance and print something that catches your eye.
Start Kabbalat Shabbat around nightfall. Using a prayer book with an English translation, this is an opportunity to go at your own pace, as there is no need to worry about the speed of the congregation. Read some of the English, as the Friday night liturgy contains some especially beautiful Psalms.
On page 160, it is the Chabad custom to recite the paragraph beginning Velomar (“and say instead of barechu when praying alone.
After the silent Amidah, the paragraph beginning va’yechulu (‘The heavens’) is recited, but we omit the first and last of the next three paragraphs, as they are essentially a truncated repetition of the Amidah.
The remainder of the service is said as usual, sans kaddish and barechu.
Shabbat Morning
Start your morning with a study session. Nothing will get you more in the mode for prayer than a little chassidut, why not print the daily portion of Tanya before Shabbat? Before studying (or eating anything) be sure to recite the morning blessings (pgs 5-9) and Shema.
For the morning prayers (shacharit), proceed as you would in synagogue (omitting kaddish and borchu) until after the silent amidah. The repetition is omitted, so you proceed directly to the “Song of the Day.”
Since the Torah is not going to be read, we skip the prayers associated with removing the Torah from the ark, which begin with the paragraph beginning atoh (‘You have’). Although there is obviously no Torah reading, read the parshah of the week from a Chumash, and feel free to peruse some of the commentaries as well.
Before the musaf prayer, only the first yekum purkan (‘may there’) is recited (pg 230). Skip the following two paragraphs. Proceed to ashrei (skipping 'av ha'rachamim') and then pray the musaf prayer, skipping the silent repetition of the amidah.
General Notes
Since kaddish cannot be recited, if you need to have it said for loved one, before Shabbat, fill out the short form on our Coronavirus Kaddish Service page to arrange kaddish to be said.
We cannot use technology on Shabbat, so please print this guide on Friday for Shabbat use.
For more on how to make the best of Shabbat in isolation see: 10 Tips for Preparing for Shabbat While Social Distancing
By Mordechai Rubin
!The rabbVaéra - en bref
Exode 6, 2 - 9, 35
D.ieu se révèle à Moïse. Employant les « quatre expressions de délivrance », Il promet de faire sortir les Enfants d’Israël d’Égypte, de les délivrer de leur servitude, de les rédimer et d’en faire Son peuple élu au Mont Sinaï, suite à quoi Il les conduira à la terre qu’il a promise aux Patriarches en héritage éternel.
Moïse et Aharon se présentent à plusieurs reprises devant Pharaon pour exiger au nom de D.ieu « Laisse partir Mon peuple, afin qu’il puisse Me servir dans le désert », mais Pharaon refuse à chaque fois. Le bâton d’Aharon se transforme en serpent et avale les bâtons magiques des sorciers égyptiens. D.ieu envoie ensuite une série de plaies sur les Égyptiens.
Les eaux du Nil se changent en sang, des grenouilles envahissent le pays par millions, une vermine infeste hommes et bêtes. Des hordes d’animaux sauvages envahissent les villes, une maladie mortelle s’abat sur les animaux domestiques, de douloureux furoncles affligent les Égyptiens. Lors de la septième plaie, le feu et la glace se combinent dans des grêlons dévastateurs qui pleuvent du ciel. Toutefois, « le cœur de Pharaon s’endurcit et il ne voulut point laisser partir les enfants d’Israël ; comme D.ieu l’avait dit à Moïse. »
© Copyright, all rights reserved. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further, provided that you comply with Chabad.org's copyright policy.
Free Will
Although there are few if any direct philosophical statements in the bible regarding
concepts such as free will, afterlife, providence, etc. Jews throughout the generations have tried
to come up with what they believe is the proper way for a Jew to think about these and other
philosophical issues. One such issue is that of free will. In this week’s parasha a classic question
that is often asked is: If God hardened Pharaoh’s heart during the plagues, why was Pharaoh
being punished, it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t let them go, since God affected his free will.
Many of the commentators address this question:
According to Midrash Rabbah God wanted to punish Pharaoh for the extra hard work and
cruelty he imposed on Benei Yisrael. Therefore, He took away his free will.
Resh Lakish explains that when reading the Torah carefully, we find that in the first five
plagues Pharaoh hardened his own heart, and only in the last five plagues, God hardens his heart.
This is because God kept warning Pharaoh, and kept giving him the chance to repent. After
Pharaoh refused to repent, God wanted to punish him so He hardened his heart. Accordingly,
Pharaoh had free will to an extent and then lost his free will through his choices.
Ramban offers two explanations:
1) Pharaoh deserved all the plagues because of the sins he committed against
Benei Yisrael, so God hardened his heart so that he would be able to strike him with all the
plagues that he already deserved from before. (It is interesting to note that God tells Moshe from
the very beginning to warn Pharaoh about the plague of the firstborns. This shows that all ten
plagues were planned to happen from the very beginning, seemingly no matter what Pharaoh
decided to do.) In this explanation free will was withheld similarly to the midrash raba above.
2) God wanted the Egyptians to recognize that God is God. When Pharaoh was
begging Moshe to take Benei Yisrael out of Egypt and to stop the plagues, it was only because
of the suffering he was experiencing from the plagues, not because he recognized God as the all-
powerful God. So God made Pharaoh’s heart strong (courageous not stubborn) so that he
wouldn’t simply crumble from the plagues. Accordingly, his free will was not taken away, he was
simply given the encouragement to make those choices.
Chevat est le 11ème mois du calendrier juif à compter de Nissan. Le point culminant du mois est la fête du 15 Chevat, appelée également le « Nouvel An des Arbres ». C’est le jour où la sève commence à monter dans les arbres fruitiers en Israël, le début d’une nouvelle saison de croissance. Nous célébrons ce jour en mangeant des fruits, en particulier des « Sept Espèces » que la Torah mentionne dans sa louange de la Terre Sainte (le blé, l’orge, les raisins, les figues, les grenades, les olives et les dattes). En ce jour, nous nous souvenons que « l’homme est un arbre des champs » et réfléchissons aux leçons que nous pouvons tirer de cette analogie botanique.
THE MONTH OF SHEVAT AND IT’S SIGN OF THE ZODIAC
The month of Shevat correlates with the astrological sign of Aquarius, which is an air sign. It is the third of the air signs: Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Aquarius represents the Left Column of the three. Aquarius is ruled by two planets. Traditional astrology attributes control of this month to Saturn, and modern astrology has given credit to Uranus, discovered by the astronomer William Hershel on March 13, 1781.
Saturn is the planet of judgment, order, responsibility, discipline and laws, while Uranus elevates us to new consciousness and new concepts beyond limitation. This is why the Age of Aquarius and the month of Aquarius are considered times of change. Both are times of new knowledge, inventions, humanity, and charity.
The energy of Uranus also connects to the air element - intellectualism, innovations, and new concepts that will bring the world to a higher level of consciousness.
Aquarians are rebellious by nature because they are constantly faced with penetrating questions concerning their individuality, their uniqueness and their identity. This is the reason they strive to break old boundaries. To Aquarians, the past is but a fleeting moment, and they disconnect from the past in order to find a fresh and unfamiliar reality, a new truth to fit the new times. Uranus orbits the sun every 84 years, which explains the common phenomenon of the "midlife crisis" that plagues 40-42 year olds, when we begin to question our life's purpose and make plans for the next 40 or so years.
PERLES DE TORAH
La Parashat Va'era raconte comment Aaron fit des miracles devant Pharaon, et comment il transforma un bâton en serpent.
Quelle fut alors la réponse de Pharaon? «La belle affaire!" dit-il. "L'Egypte est pleine de magiciens!" A tel point que Pharaon appela de jeunes enfants qui procédèrent à leur tour aussi à la transformation de bâtons en serpents!
Mais Dieu savait pertinemment les connaissances avancées de l'Egypte en magie. Alors, pourquoi Dieu a-t-il demandé à Aaron d’accomplir des exploits qui pouvaient être facilement reproduits?
La réponse est que Dieu a voulu que les Egyptiens viennent à penser qu'ils pourraient reproduire ce qu’on fait Moïse et Aaron étape par étape, afin que plus tard - lorsque Moïse et Aaron se mettraient à réaliser de plus grands miracles - les experts Égyptiens soient à même d'apprécier pleinement les énormes pouvoirs de Dieu.
Et c'est exactement ce qui s’est passé. Après le troisième fléau des poux, Pharaon appela ses magiciens pour qu’ils répliquent ce que Moïse et Aaron avaient fait. Mais ils furent incapables de le faire. A tel point que les magiciens se tournèrent vers Pharaon, reconnurent que Dieu est infiniment puissant, et déclarèrent : «C'est là le doigt de Dieu."
Le Talmud explique que les poux étaient trop petits pour que les magiciens de Pharaon puissent les manipuler. Dans un sens, cela ressemble à notre monde d'aujourd'hui. La science produit des merveilles - l'énergie atomique, le vol spatial, le génie génétique. Pourtant, tout repose sur l'aide de l'énergie et des ressources existantes. Alors d'où vient toute la matière originale?!
C'est là que Dieu intervient. Pour créer quelque chose à partir de rien - les minuscules briques de la vie – ceci est quelque chose dont seul Dieu est, était et sera toujours capable. La rencontre entre Aaron et Pharaon nous enseigne à ne pas perdre cette perspective.
Va’era Quiz
1) Q. In telling the story of Moshe and Aharon, the Torah provides a genealogy to tell us how
they were born and to whom they were related. Why is it necessary to trace and record their
pedigree?
A. We are taught an important lesson through this description. A Jewish leader is not one who
is born in a supernatural way. He is a normal person who has a father and mother and who has
spiritually elevated himself to be worthy of his rank. Every Jew has the potential to become a
Moshe Rabbenu - a leader of the Jewish people in his generation. This also explains to us why
they are not infallible, and we often read of errors our leaders had made. The Torah does not try
to conceal these errors or justify them.
2) Q. Why didn’t Moshe smite the water or the land in the first three plagues (Aharon did it)?
A. One possible explanation given is that when Moshe was a baby, he was saved by the
water, and when he killed the Egyptian the land helped him by hiding the body, so in return Moshe
did not smite them, Aharon did.
3) Q. “All the water in the river turned to blood, and the fish in the river died.” (7:20-21). Isn’t it
obvious that the fish would die, because they can only live in water?
A. Midrashically, the plague of blood might have happened in one of two ways: a) All the
waters might have become blood, turning back into water only when a Jew filled a glass. b) There
could have been no change in the water except that when an Egyptian filled a glass, it would
become blood. The midrash accepts the second option. Consequently, the Egyptians received a
double punishment: The fresh waters turned into blood when used, and the fish died in fresh
water. The reason it is explained in this way is because we are told that the Egyptians were
compelled to purchase water from the Jews, who prospered thereby (Midrash Rabbah). If all the
water had been transformed to blood, the Jews would have been unable to charge the Egyptians
for water, because it is forbidden to derive benefit from a miracle. (Ta’anit 24a)
3) Q. How many frogs were there in the beginning of the plague?
A. According to the Midrash: One, and when an Egyptian would strike it, it would multiply. This
Midrash is commenting on the description that “the frog” came up on the land. Since the Torah
described “the frog” and not frogs, the Midrash makes this comment.
4) Q. Moshe said: “When shall I pray for you, your servants and your people, to rid you of the
frogs?” Pharaoh answered: “Tomorrow.” (8:5, 6) Why did Pharaoh subject his nation to an extra
day of plague by saying “Tomorrow?” Didn’t he want the frogs to go away immediately?
A. Pharaoh didn’t believe that the frogs were a plague from God. He preferred to believe that
the frogs were a natural phenomenon about which Moshe had special knowledge. When Moshe
asked “When shall I pray...?” Pharaoh thought Moshe was simply timing his question to coincide
with the plague’s natural end, expecting Pharaoh to say “Right now!” By saying “Tomorrow”
Pharaoh tried to trick Moshe and make him look foolish. (Ibn Ezra in the name of Rav Shmuel
ben Hofni)
8)Q. How long did each plague last?
A. The midrash teaches that they lasted seven days. The frogs died in less than seven days
ENGLISH PROVERBS
A bad workman always blames his tools. ...
A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. ...
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. ...
A cat has nine lives. ...
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. ...
Actions speak louder than words. ...
A drowning man will clutch at a straw. ...
Adversity and loss make a man wise.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. ...
Better late than never. ...
Two wrongs don't make a right. ...
Birds of a feather flock together. ...
A picture is worth a thousand words. ...
There's no such thing as a free lunch. …
Beggars can't be choosers.
…
THE SHABBAT SMILE
Moishe Epstein dragged himself home and barely made it to his chair before he dropped, exhausted. His sympathetic wife Rivkah was right there with a tall cool drink and a comforting word.
"My, you look tired," Rivkah said. "You must have had a hard day today. What happened to make you so exhausted?"
"It was terrible," Moishe said, "We had no computer or internet access the whole day so all of us had to do our own thinking."
Leah Epstein invites some family and friends to dinner and at the table, she turns to her 6 year old daughter Rivkah and says, "Darling, don’t forget to make a bracha (blessing)."
"But Mommy, I don't know what bracha to say," replies Rivkah.
"All you need do," says Leah, "is to repeat what you heard Mommy say."
Rivkah thinks for a moment and says, "God, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner
Shira Stern mother was worried that her three-year-old son Benny was unusually precocious, and took him to a psychiatrist.
"Right," said the shrink, "We'll just try a few simple tests." To Benny, he said "Say a few words - anything that comes into your mind."
Benny turned to his mother and asked, "Does he want logically constructed sentences or just a few random and purely isolated words?"
Moishe and Miriam were out for dinner. Moishe seemed a little distracted so she turned to him and said, “Moishe! You are not listening to a word that I am saying, are you?
Moishe, somewhat offended, said, “Miriam, that’s an odd way to start a conversation.
Rabbi Stein was hit by a car , Hatsalah came fast and covered him.
They asked him : Are you comfortable
He answered; Well I make a living
LE SOURIRE DU CHABBAT
-
Jean dit à Julie
-
Demain c’est notre anniversaire de mariage, Qu’est ce que tu penses si on égorge le mouton
-
Et Julie qui répond, le pauvre mouton, ce n’est pas sa faute .
-
-
Jean dit à son ami Paul : Tu as 35 ans et tu n’es pas encore marié. C’est quoi le problème Paul lui dit que chaque fois qu’il apporte une fille à la maison, sa maman ne l’aime pas
-
Alors jean lui dit : Trouve une fille qui ressemble t à ta maman, et ainsi elle sera contente et elle l’aimera
Paul dit: J’ai essayé, j’ai trouvé presque une sosie à maman, mais papa l’a détestée
CHABBAT CHALOM
HODECH TOV
MAGHEN ABRAHAM
DAVID hASSON
CHABBAT PARACHAT VAÉRA
16 JANVIER 2021 / 3 CHEVAT 5781
Hazkara: Clément Setton (zl) pére de Jocelyne Setton
SHABBAT PRAYERS AT HOME
While you may be unable to attend services this Shabbat—either as a result of quarantine or due to synagogues canceling services—this does not mean that you cannot pray the Shabbat prayers. Of course, the ideal way to pray is in synagogue with a quorum of ten. However, with a little adaptation, the Shabbat prayers can most certainly be said in isolation. In fact, the silver lining to saying the prayers alone is that they will be more personal and you can go your own pace.
The vast majority of prayers may be recited at home just as they would be in synagogue. However, there are a number of key differences to bear in mind when praying without a quorum of ten. Among them: kaddish, barechu, and the repetition of the Amidah are omitted. Below we will run through the Shabbat prayers detailing the exact differences. We will be using the page numbers as found in the Kehot Annotated Hebrew-English Siddur.
Timing
According to the Talmud, even if you cannot make it to synagogue, you should still pray at the time the congregation prays. As such, do your best to begin at the time your local synagogue begins services. Also, before Shabbat, make sure you know the times when Shabbat begins and ends, as well as the latest time to say Shema etc.
Friday Night
Ideally, the afternoon prayer (minchah) should be prayed before lighting the Shabbat candles, but it is fine to pray after candle lighting, before sunset. When praying minchah, kaddish and the repetition of the amidah are omitted.
It is best to wait until after nightfall before starting the evening prayers (maariv). This break between sunset and nightfall is the perfect opportunity to study something on the parshah. Visit our parshah page in advance and print something that catches your eye.
Start Kabbalat Shabbat around nightfall. Using a prayer book with an English translation, this is an opportunity to go at your own pace, as there is no need to worry about the speed of the congregation. Read some of the English, as the Friday night liturgy contains some especially beautiful Psalms.
On page 160, it is the Chabad custom to recite the paragraph beginning Velomar (“and say instead of barechu when praying alone.
After the silent Amidah, the paragraph beginning va’yechulu (‘The heavens’) is recited, but we omit the first and last of the next three paragraphs, as they are essentially a truncated repetition of the Amidah.
The remainder of the service is said as usual, sans kaddish and barechu.
Shabbat Morning
Start your morning with a study session. Nothing will get you more in the mode for prayer than a little chassidut, why not print the daily portion of Tanya before Shabbat? Before studying (or eating anything) be sure to recite the morning blessings (pgs 5-9) and Shema.
For the morning prayers (shacharit), proceed as you would in synagogue (omitting kaddish and borchu) until after the silent amidah. The repetition is omitted, so you proceed directly to the “Song of the Day.”
Since the Torah is not going to be read, we skip the prayers associated with removing the Torah from the ark, which begin with the paragraph beginning atoh (‘You have’). Although there is obviously no Torah reading, read the parshah of the week from a Chumash, and feel free to peruse some of the commentaries as well.
Before the musaf prayer, only the first yekum purkan (‘may there’) is recited (pg 230). Skip the following two paragraphs. Proceed to ashrei (skipping 'av ha'rachamim') and then pray the musaf prayer, skipping the silent repetition of the amidah.
General Notes
Since kaddish cannot be recited, if you need to have it said for loved one, before Shabbat, fill out the short form on our Coronavirus Kaddish Service page to arrange kaddish to be said.
We cannot use technology on Shabbat, so please print this guide on Friday for Shabbat use.
For more on how to make the best of Shabbat in isolation see: 10 Tips for Preparing for Shabbat While Social Distancing
By Mordechai Rubin
!The rabbVaéra - en bref
Exode 6, 2 - 9, 35
D.ieu se révèle à Moïse. Employant les « quatre expressions de délivrance », Il promet de faire sortir les Enfants d’Israël d’Égypte, de les délivrer de leur servitude, de les rédimer et d’en faire Son peuple élu au Mont Sinaï, suite à quoi Il les conduira à la terre qu’il a promise aux Patriarches en héritage éternel.
Moïse et Aharon se présentent à plusieurs reprises devant Pharaon pour exiger au nom de D.ieu « Laisse partir Mon peuple, afin qu’il puisse Me servir dans le désert », mais Pharaon refuse à chaque fois. Le bâton d’Aharon se transforme en serpent et avale les bâtons magiques des sorciers égyptiens. D.ieu envoie ensuite une série de plaies sur les Égyptiens.
Les eaux du Nil se changent en sang, des grenouilles envahissent le pays par millions, une vermine infeste hommes et bêtes. Des hordes d’animaux sauvages envahissent les villes, une maladie mortelle s’abat sur les animaux domestiques, de douloureux furoncles affligent les Égyptiens. Lors de la septième plaie, le feu et la glace se combinent dans des grêlons dévastateurs qui pleuvent du ciel. Toutefois, « le cœur de Pharaon s’endurcit et il ne voulut point laisser partir les enfants d’Israël ; comme D.ieu l’avait dit à Moïse. »
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Free Will
Although there are few if any direct philosophical statements in the bible regarding
concepts such as free will, afterlife, providence, etc. Jews throughout the generations have tried
to come up with what they believe is the proper way for a Jew to think about these and other
philosophical issues. One such issue is that of free will. In this week’s parasha a classic question
that is often asked is: If God hardened Pharaoh’s heart during the plagues, why was Pharaoh
being punished, it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t let them go, since God affected his free will.
Many of the commentators address this question:
According to Midrash Rabbah God wanted to punish Pharaoh for the extra hard work and
cruelty he imposed on Benei Yisrael. Therefore, He took away his free will.
Resh Lakish explains that when reading the Torah carefully, we find that in the first five
plagues Pharaoh hardened his own heart, and only in the last five plagues, God hardens his heart.
This is because God kept warning Pharaoh, and kept giving him the chance to repent. After
Pharaoh refused to repent, God wanted to punish him so He hardened his heart. Accordingly,
Pharaoh had free will to an extent and then lost his free will through his choices.
Ramban offers two explanations:
1) Pharaoh deserved all the plagues because of the sins he committed against
Benei Yisrael, so God hardened his heart so that he would be able to strike him with all the
plagues that he already deserved from before. (It is interesting to note that God tells Moshe from
the very beginning to warn Pharaoh about the plague of the firstborns. This shows that all ten
plagues were planned to happen from the very beginning, seemingly no matter what Pharaoh
decided to do.) In this explanation free will was withheld similarly to the midrash raba above.
2) God wanted the Egyptians to recognize that God is God. When Pharaoh was
begging Moshe to take Benei Yisrael out of Egypt and to stop the plagues, it was only because
of the suffering he was experiencing from the plagues, not because he recognized God as the all-
powerful God. So God made Pharaoh’s heart strong (courageous not stubborn) so that he
wouldn’t simply crumble from the plagues. Accordingly, his free will was not taken away, he was
simply given the encouragement to make those choices.
Chevat est le 11ème mois du calendrier juif à compter de Nissan. Le point culminant du mois est la fête du 15 Chevat, appelée également le « Nouvel An des Arbres ». C’est le jour où la sève commence à monter dans les arbres fruitiers en Israël, le début d’une nouvelle saison de croissance. Nous célébrons ce jour en mangeant des fruits, en particulier des « Sept Espèces » que la Torah mentionne dans sa louange de la Terre Sainte (le blé, l’orge, les raisins, les figues, les grenades, les olives et les dattes). En ce jour, nous nous souvenons que « l’homme est un arbre des champs » et réfléchissons aux leçons que nous pouvons tirer de cette analogie botanique.
THE MONTH OF SHEVAT AND IT’S SIGN OF THE ZODIAC
The month of Shevat correlates with the astrological sign of Aquarius, which is an air sign. It is the third of the air signs: Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Aquarius represents the Left Column of the three. Aquarius is ruled by two planets. Traditional astrology attributes control of this month to Saturn, and modern astrology has given credit to Uranus, discovered by the astronomer William Hershel on March 13, 1781.
Saturn is the planet of judgment, order, responsibility, discipline and laws, while Uranus elevates us to new consciousness and new concepts beyond limitation. This is why the Age of Aquarius and the month of Aquarius are considered times of change. Both are times of new knowledge, inventions, humanity, and charity.
The energy of Uranus also connects to the air element - intellectualism, innovations, and new concepts that will bring the world to a higher level of consciousness.
Aquarians are rebellious by nature because they are constantly faced with penetrating questions concerning their individuality, their uniqueness and their identity. This is the reason they strive to break old boundaries. To Aquarians, the past is but a fleeting moment, and they disconnect from the past in order to find a fresh and unfamiliar reality, a new truth to fit the new times. Uranus orbits the sun every 84 years, which explains the common phenomenon of the "midlife crisis" that plagues 40-42 year olds, when we begin to question our life's purpose and make plans for the next 40 or so years.
PERLES DE TORAH
La Parashat Va'era raconte comment Aaron fit des miracles devant Pharaon, et comment il transforma un bâton en serpent.
Quelle fut alors la réponse de Pharaon? «La belle affaire!" dit-il. "L'Egypte est pleine de magiciens!" A tel point que Pharaon appela de jeunes enfants qui procédèrent à leur tour aussi à la transformation de bâtons en serpents!
Mais Dieu savait pertinemment les connaissances avancées de l'Egypte en magie. Alors, pourquoi Dieu a-t-il demandé à Aaron d’accomplir des exploits qui pouvaient être facilement reproduits?
La réponse est que Dieu a voulu que les Egyptiens viennent à penser qu'ils pourraient reproduire ce qu’on fait Moïse et Aaron étape par étape, afin que plus tard - lorsque Moïse et Aaron se mettraient à réaliser de plus grands miracles - les experts Égyptiens soient à même d'apprécier pleinement les énormes pouvoirs de Dieu.
Et c'est exactement ce qui s’est passé. Après le troisième fléau des poux, Pharaon appela ses magiciens pour qu’ils répliquent ce que Moïse et Aaron avaient fait. Mais ils furent incapables de le faire. A tel point que les magiciens se tournèrent vers Pharaon, reconnurent que Dieu est infiniment puissant, et déclarèrent : «C'est là le doigt de Dieu."
Le Talmud explique que les poux étaient trop petits pour que les magiciens de Pharaon puissent les manipuler. Dans un sens, cela ressemble à notre monde d'aujourd'hui. La science produit des merveilles - l'énergie atomique, le vol spatial, le génie génétique. Pourtant, tout repose sur l'aide de l'énergie et des ressources existantes. Alors d'où vient toute la matière originale?!
C'est là que Dieu intervient. Pour créer quelque chose à partir de rien - les minuscules briques de la vie – ceci est quelque chose dont seul Dieu est, était et sera toujours capable. La rencontre entre Aaron et Pharaon nous enseigne à ne pas perdre cette perspective.
Va’era Quiz
1) Q. In telling the story of Moshe and Aharon, the Torah provides a genealogy to tell us how
they were born and to whom they were related. Why is it necessary to trace and record their
pedigree?
A. We are taught an important lesson through this description. A Jewish leader is not one who
is born in a supernatural way. He is a normal person who has a father and mother and who has
spiritually elevated himself to be worthy of his rank. Every Jew has the potential to become a
Moshe Rabbenu - a leader of the Jewish people in his generation. This also explains to us why
they are not infallible, and we often read of errors our leaders had made. The Torah does not try
to conceal these errors or justify them.
2) Q. Why didn’t Moshe smite the water or the land in the first three plagues (Aharon did it)?
A. One possible explanation given is that when Moshe was a baby, he was saved by the
water, and when he killed the Egyptian the land helped him by hiding the body, so in return Moshe
did not smite them, Aharon did.
3) Q. “All the water in the river turned to blood, and the fish in the river died.” (7:20-21). Isn’t it
obvious that the fish would die, because they can only live in water?
A. Midrashically, the plague of blood might have happened in one of two ways: a) All the
waters might have become blood, turning back into water only when a Jew filled a glass. b) There
could have been no change in the water except that when an Egyptian filled a glass, it would
become blood. The midrash accepts the second option. Consequently, the Egyptians received a
double punishment: The fresh waters turned into blood when used, and the fish died in fresh
water. The reason it is explained in this way is because we are told that the Egyptians were
compelled to purchase water from the Jews, who prospered thereby (Midrash Rabbah). If all the
water had been transformed to blood, the Jews would have been unable to charge the Egyptians
for water, because it is forbidden to derive benefit from a miracle. (Ta’anit 24a)
3) Q. How many frogs were there in the beginning of the plague?
A. According to the Midrash: One, and when an Egyptian would strike it, it would multiply. This
Midrash is commenting on the description that “the frog” came up on the land. Since the Torah
described “the frog” and not frogs, the Midrash makes this comment.
4) Q. Moshe said: “When shall I pray for you, your servants and your people, to rid you of the
frogs?” Pharaoh answered: “Tomorrow.” (8:5, 6) Why did Pharaoh subject his nation to an extra
day of plague by saying “Tomorrow?” Didn’t he want the frogs to go away immediately?
A. Pharaoh didn’t believe that the frogs were a plague from God. He preferred to believe that
the frogs were a natural phenomenon about which Moshe had special knowledge. When Moshe
asked “When shall I pray...?” Pharaoh thought Moshe was simply timing his question to coincide
with the plague’s natural end, expecting Pharaoh to say “Right now!” By saying “Tomorrow”
Pharaoh tried to trick Moshe and make him look foolish. (Ibn Ezra in the name of Rav Shmuel
ben Hofni)
8)Q. How long did each plague last?
A. The midrash teaches that they lasted seven days. The frogs died in less than seven days
ENGLISH PROVERBS
A bad workman always blames his tools. ...
A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. ...
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. ...
A cat has nine lives. ...
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. ...
Actions speak louder than words. ...
A drowning man will clutch at a straw. ...
Adversity and loss make a man wise.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. ...
Better late than never. ...
Two wrongs don't make a right. ...
Birds of a feather flock together. ...
A picture is worth a thousand words. ...
There's no such thing as a free lunch. …
Beggars can't be choosers.
…
THE SHABBAT SMILE
Moishe Epstein dragged himself home and barely made it to his chair before he dropped, exhausted. His sympathetic wife Rivkah was right there with a tall cool drink and a comforting word.
"My, you look tired," Rivkah said. "You must have had a hard day today. What happened to make you so exhausted?"
"It was terrible," Moishe said, "We had no computer or internet access the whole day so all of us had to do our own thinking."
Leah Epstein invites some family and friends to dinner and at the table, she turns to her 6 year old daughter Rivkah and says, "Darling, don’t forget to make a bracha (blessing)."
"But Mommy, I don't know what bracha to say," replies Rivkah.
"All you need do," says Leah, "is to repeat what you heard Mommy say."
Rivkah thinks for a moment and says, "God, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner
Shira Stern mother was worried that her three-year-old son Benny was unusually precocious, and took him to a psychiatrist.
"Right," said the shrink, "We'll just try a few simple tests." To Benny, he said "Say a few words - anything that comes into your mind."
Benny turned to his mother and asked, "Does he want logically constructed sentences or just a few random and purely isolated words?"
Moishe and Miriam were out for dinner. Moishe seemed a little distracted so she turned to him and said, “Moishe! You are not listening to a word that I am saying, are you?
Moishe, somewhat offended, said, “Miriam, that’s an odd way to start a conversation.
Rabbi Stein was hit by a car , Hatsalah came fast and covered him.
They asked him : Are you comfortable
He answered; Well I make a living
LE SOURIRE DU CHABBAT
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Jean dit à Julie
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Demain c’est notre anniversaire de mariage, Qu’est ce que tu penses si on égorge le mouton
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Et Julie qui répond, le pauvre mouton, ce n’est pas sa faute .
-
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Jean dit à son ami Paul : Tu as 35 ans et tu n’es pas encore marié. C’est quoi le problème Paul lui dit que chaque fois qu’il apporte une fille à la maison, sa maman ne l’aime pas
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Alors jean lui dit : Trouve une fille qui ressemble t à ta maman, et ainsi elle sera contente et elle l’aimera
Paul dit: J’ai essayé, j’ai trouvé presque une sosie à maman, mais papa l’a détestée
CHABBAT CHALOM
HODECH TOV
MAGHEN ABRAHAM
DAVID HASSON
