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Table of contents
1) Perashat Hashavoua - Rabbi Eli Mansour
2) Halakhat Hashavoua - David Azerad
3) Holy Jokes!
1)PERASHAT HASHAVOUA
This Week's Parasha Insight with Rabbi Eli Mansour
Parashat Tazria- A Gossiper’s Prayer
Parashat Tazria speaks at length of the laws of the Sara’at skin disease that would descend upon a person as a punishment for Lashon Hara – speaking negatively about other people. A person who was determined to have been stricken with Sara’at was quarantined, and was required to live in solitude outside his city. The Torah writes that as the person made his way from his home to his place of solitary confinement, he would have to announce, "Tameh Tameh!" ("Impure! Impure!" –13:45). On the simple level of interpretation, this announcement was required in order to warn people to keep away from this individual. People were urged not to come near the person stricken with Sara’at so that they would not become Tameh (ritually impure).
The Sages, however, noted an additional reason for this announcement. The Mesora (person stricken with Sara’at) would inform everyone of his condition so that they would pray on his behalf. Essentially, he was saying, "Help me! I have Sara’at! Please pray to God that I will soon be healed!"
The obvious question arises, why doesn’t the Mesora pray for himself? Why must he implore others to pray for him?
The Hafetz Haim (Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan of Radin, 1839-1933) explained, quite simply, that the Mesora’s prayers cannot be accepted. Having contaminated his mouth through sins of speech, by speaking derisively about other people and indulging in gossip, he has lost the power of Tefila. The prayers that come from such a mouth are tainted and damaged; they cannot achieve the desired effect. For this reason, the Mesora has no choice but to ask others to pray on his behalf, until he corrected his sinful tendency and repented, thereby regaining his mouth’s purity which we need for our prayers to gain acceptance.
This is also why we begin the observance of Yom Kippur with the "Kol Nidreh" service, in which we formally annul any vows that we had taken. Before we spend Yom Kippur praying for forgiveness, we must first ensure that we are not guilty of sins involving speech. Otherwise, our prayers are futile. If our mouths bear the stain of forbidden speech, then our prayers are ineffective.
A gossiper not only hurts the people he speaks about; he hurts himself. We all have difficult problems and concerns, we all desperately need the Almighty’s help on so many levels. Nobody can afford to forfeit the power of prayer by contaminating his mouth. Let us ensure to keep our mouths free of sin, so that our prayers will have the desired effect and proceed directly to the heavens, where they will be lovingly and eagerly accepted by God.
2) HALAKHAT HASHAVOUA
Selected & translated by David Azerad, Hazzan Maghen Abraham
Halachot Pesach according to the rulings of Rabbi Obadiah Yosef z’tl
How to prepare/kosherize an oven for Passover?
One must Clean the oven thoroughly with detergent from any food residue and sweat that has accumulated in the corners.It is preferable and to wait 24 hours from the last use of the oven before leaving it on for one hour at the highest temperature. Only then is it permissible to bake and roast in it on Passover. However as for the baking trays or pans this type of koshering will not be sufficient. It is preferable to use new ones just for Pesach or disposable trays or pans. If, however, throughout the year you place baking parchment paper in your pans /trays it is sufficient to thoroughly clean the pans/trays and put it in the oven while the oven is at a high temperature. The racks of the oven on which the pans/trays are placed should also be thoroughly clean and placed in the oven while on high temperature.
An oven that has a self-clean mode program (most ovens today) that goes up to a very high temperature, is sufficient to kosherize the oven for Pesach. Before putting the oven on a self-clean mode one should remove all racks for fear that they will damage and replace new racks for Passover (unless indicated otherwise from the manufacturer that allows the racks to stay in the oven during the self-clean mode).
How to kosherize a microwave for Passover?
First clean the microwave well of any food that might be stuck on it. Then put a bowl of water in it with a little detergent in it, so that the water will not be drinkable at all, then turn on the microwave for five or six minutes and it's ready for Pesach.If the microwave has a broiler function as well, follow the direction above (for the oven)for koshering it.
Bevirkat Shabbat Shalom Umevorach
David Azerad
3) HOLY JoKeS!!
Selection of funny snippets, loosely related to this weeks parashah, to brighten your day
So there’s an old joke about a guy who’s looking to get his watch fixed. He passes a little shop with clocks and watches in the window, and goes inside.
“Can I help you?” asks the man behind the counter.
“I want this watch repaired,” says the first guy.
“I’m sorry. I don’t repair watches.”
“Well, how much for a new one then?”
“I don’t sell watches.”
“You don’t sell watches?”
“No, I don’t sell watches.”
“Clocks, you sell clocks then? How much for a clock?”
“I don’t sell clocks.”
“You don’t sell watches, you don’t sell clocks?”
“No, I’m a mohel,” replies the man behind the counter. “I perform circumcisions.”
“Then why do you have all those clocks and watches in the window?”
“If you were a mohel, tell me, what would you put in your window?”
