Bonjour / Hello [nickname_else_first_name],
SEFIRAT HAOMER BOOKLET
Isaac Darwiche has put together this years booklet for Sefirat Haomer which can be found here
CLICK HERE to Download the MA SFIRAT HA'OMER booklet
Table of contents
1) Perashat Hashavoua - Rabbi Eli Mansour
2) Halakhat Hashavoua (Halakhot related to day to day life) By Hazzan David Azerad -
The Mitzvah to Tell the Exodus Story on Pesaḥ Night -peninei halacha
3) Holy Jokes!
4) For KIDS
This Week's Parasha Insight with Rabbi Eli Mansour
Parashat Ahare Mot- Planting Our Spiritual Trees
The Torah in Parashat Kedoshim (Vayikra 19:23) commands that when Beneh Yisrael enter the land and plant trees, they must refrain from eating a tree’s fruits during the first three years after it is planted. During these three years, the fruits are called "Orla" and are forbidden for consumption and for any sort of benefit.
The Or Ha’haim Ha’kadosh (Rav Haim Ben-Attar, 1696-1743) offers a remarkable interpretation of this verse, explaining that beyond introducing the prohibition of Orla, the Torah here also teaches us about the importance of producing children who are committed to Torah. The Torah tells us that when we go to Eretz Yisrael, our priority must be to "plant trees" – referring to producing students and scholars of Torah. The Or Ha’haim brings a number of sources where producing scholars is compared to planting a tree. For example, the Gemara (Shabbat 118b) cites Rabbi Yossi’s remark that he "planted five saplings," referring to his five sons, who grew to become Torah scholars. Similarly, Yeshayahu (65:22) compares his fellow sages to trees ("Ki’ymeh Ha’etz Yemeh Ami").
The Or Ha’haim proceeds to explain that those who study Torah are called "trees" because they sustain the souls of the Jewish Nation. To demonstrate this point, the Or Ha’haim references the famous story told of Rabbi Akiba, who once came across a man who was unclothed, his skin charred, carrying large amounts of wood. The man explained to Rabbi Akiba that he had died and been sentenced to Gehinam because of the evils he perpetrated during his lifetime. His punishment, he said, was to collect wood each day, which is then used to burn his soul. The only way he could be extricated from Gehinam and end his suffering, the man told Rabbi Akiba, is if he had a son reciting Barechu or Kaddish in the synagogue. This man had died when his wife was pregnant, and he did not know whether or not she had a son. Rabbi Akiba immediately proceeded to inquire about this fellow, and determined that indeed, he had a son, but this son had not even received a Berit Mila, let alone a religious education. Immediately, Rabbi Akiba gave the young man a Berit Mila, and sat and taught him Torah. When the young man was ready, Rabbi Akiba brought him to the synagogue to recite Barechu. That night, the father appeared to Rabbi Akiba in a dream to inform him that he had been released from Gehinam.
The Or Ha’haim brings this story to show how producing youngsters who study and practice Torah resemble the planting of trees which produce nourishing fruit. Building a generation of men and women devoted to Torah is the way we sustain our nation, even the souls of the deceased.
May Hashem grant us His assistance in our efforts to "plant" beautiful "trees," to produce the next generation of devoted students of Torah, that will provide our nation with the spiritual sustenance that it needs to continue its sacred mission.
Halachot this week are selected and Translated by Hazzan David Azerad
The Value of Birkot Hatorah - Peninei Halacha
After the Land of Israel was destroyed, and the nation of Israel was exiled, a major question arose, reflected in the words of the prophet (Jeremiah 9:11): “Why has the land been destroyed?” Certainly, everyone knew that we were exiled from our land as a result of our sins, but the question was: what was the fundamental sin behind the spiritual collapse that led to the destruction? The Chachamim, the prophets, and the ministering angels were asked this question and did not know how to answer, until HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself explained, “Hashem says: ‘Because they abandoned My Torah which I had given them’” (ibid., 9:12). Chazal interprets this to mean that they did not recite the blessing on the Torah before engaging in its study (Nedarim 81a). That is to say, although they actually learned Torah, they did not relate to it as Divine instruction. Because of this, they were considered to have forsaken the Torah of Hashem. For anyone who learns Torah as if it is just one of the wisdoms of the world is not considered one who learns Torah at all. However, when we recite Birkot HaTorah properly, indeed we approach Torah out of faith and attachment to the One who granted it to us.
The Chachamim further inquire (Nedarim 81a): why is it that not all the sons of talmidei chachamim (Torah scholars) continue in their fathers’ paths and become talmidei chachamim themselves? For without a doubt the fathers wanted their children to follow in their footsteps and become engrossed in Torah all their lives, and strove to educate them in that direction. If so, why did they not all succeed ? Moreover, in those days, it was widely accepted that every son continued in his father’s profession: sons of carpenters became carpenters, sons of farmers became farmers, and so on. Consequently, the Gemara’s question is all the more perplexing – why don’t a relatively large percentage of sons of talmidei chachamim become talmidei chachamim themselves? There are a number of explanations brought in the Talmud, the last one being Ravina’s, which states that it is because they do not recite Birkot HaTorah before learning. In other words, many times, sons of talmidei chachamim learn Torah only because they see their fathers learning; as sons like to mimic their fathers, they too, strive to learn Torah. However, Torah can only be acquired by learning for the sake of Heaven (l’shem Shamayim), out of a personal desire to attach oneself to the One who grants us the Torah, and therefore, those sons who learn out of compulsion, routine, or merely mimicking their fathers, do not see blessing in their learning.
Bevirkat Shabbat Shalom Umevorach
David Azerad
3) HOLY JoKeS!!
Selection of funny snippets, loosely related to this weeks parashah or current events, to brighten your day
I think that the roots of racism have always been economic, and I think people are desperate and scared. And when you’re desperate and scared you scapegoat people. It exacerbates latent tendencies toward – well, toward racism or homophobia or anti-Semitism. Henry Louis Gates
Unintelligent people always look for a scapegoat. Ernest Bevin
Teamwork is essential – it allows you to blame someone else.
A computer is almost human – except that it does not blame its mistakes on another computer.
Never blame a legislative body for not doing something. When they
do nothing, they don’t hurt anybody. When they do something is when they
become dangerous.
4) FOR KIDS
Click on the image to open the youtube video
