A Woman's Trust

The Splitting of the sea.

A surfer's dream.

A fish's nightmare.

Either you've read the Torah story, or saw the 10 commandments movie or maybe even the Prince of Egypt.

In last week's Torah portion, we read how after leaving the shackles of slavery in Egypt

with the help of the 10 plagues, the Jewish people were on a high, ready to go to Mt. Sinai and receive the Torah from G-d.

But 1 tiny, minor obstacle stood in their way. A massive sea. With the Egyptian army on their heels in hot pursuit,

many Jews started panicking. Some began praying, others debated surrendering, while others thought of fighting.

Still others debated the worst, to jump into the sea and die, just to avid the clutches of the Egyptian enemy.

But there was 1 man named Nachshon ben Aminadav - who was the leader of the tribe of Yehudah (Judah).

He realized that G-d Had told the Jewish people to simply go to Mt. Sinai. And so he did.

He entered the sea alone and began walking. The water rose over his body higher and higher, reaching up to his neck.

And still he walked, with perfect trust in G-d. As the water reached his nose, the sea split. For the entire Jewish people.

The lesson here is apparent and powerful.

Throughout history, Jews emulated Nachshon.

Under every evil regime, Jews knew that G-d Empowers each of us with whatever we need to be successful in fulfilling his word in this world. We just have to do it. Without debating too much in our heads about "whether we can be successful" or not.

This amazing trust and faith in G-d shown by Nachshon, can also be seen by all of the Jewish women at the splitting of the sea.

After the Jews crossed over and the Egyptians were washed ashore, the Torah tells us:

"And Moshe and Israel sang a song" of thanksgiving to G-d. The Torah then says: "And Miriam took the timbrel in her hand

and all the women went out... with timbrels and instruments."

Now wait a second. How in the world did all of the women (& not the men) have instruments all of a sudden,

ready on hand to sing and praise G-d for His Salvation of their people?

Our Sages explain, that when all of the Jews left Egypt in haste, the women brought instruments with them,

assured and with full trust that they would yet need them to praise Hashem for total salvation from Egypt.

They didn't panic when they reached the sea with the Egyptians on their heels.

(This is not an isolated occurrence of the Jewish woman's total trust and focus on what is right and true.

We see at the sin of the golden calf that the women refused to contribute, and many such instances.)

The holy Kabbalist of 16th-century Tzfat, the Arizal,

writes that the final generation of Jews before the coming of Moshiach will be a gilgul, a re-incarnation, of all of

the Jews who left Egypt 3,322 years ago. The Lubavitcher Rebbe told us that this is our generation. (WOW).

And just as we were saved from exile in the merit of the righteous women who kept total faith & trust in G-d,

in the most difficult of circumstances, so too will we be redeemed in this generation in the merit of our righteous Jewish women.

May we all learn from Nachshon ben Aminadav & all of our righteous women, to do what needs to get done, and all with total trust and joy, ready at the drop of a hat to sing and dance with praise at our total redemption.

May it happen now!

Shabat Shalom!

-Daniel

To Save Just 1 Life

B"H

I hope this email finds you in good spirits, and if not - may it lead you to them!

The other night I was watching the 2008 Chabad banquet for all of the Chabad Emissaries. They come from all over the world yearly, to gather together and inspire each other for another year of spreading goodness and Judaism to their respective communities. The Keynote speaker was Rabbi Moshe Bryski, Chabad Rabbi to the Conejo Valley in LA. He ended off with an unbelievable story that brought me to tears. I thought you might like it...

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Several years ago, Rabbi Bryski brought in a few young Rabbinic interns to help him out for the holiday of Rosh Hashanah. Arriving home from Shul, they saw a moving truck pull up next door to their rented apartment. Noticing that the name of the company was "Nice Jewish Boys Moving," they decided to invite the movers inside for Shabbat lunch. They were enjoying a spirited meal with these Israeli movers when they noticed the owner of the home arriving. The movers hurried back to work and one young Rabbi asked the new neighbors if they might like to join them for Shabbat. Sure enough, the father and his daughter of 8, were happy to enjoy a Shabbat lunch after a long day of moving. Rabbi Bryski joined them for Havdalah and the father told him how before moving, he prayed to G-d to send him a sign that this was indeed the right place to bring up his daughter. "I never realized G-d would send the sign within minutes of our move," he told Rabbi Bryski.

Over the next few months, the man began to attend classes at Chabad and signed up for the JLI course, entitled "Faith and Suffering." He cried through the first few classes and eventually told Rabbi Bryski a painful piece of his story. Two years before moving to Agoura, he had lost two of his three children in a tragic car crash. His marriage fell apart and he considered suicide. He decided to take his surviving child out for the evening and then return home and end his life. She wanted to go to the movies and they chose a movie theater near their home in Simi Valley. When the movie was over, they left the theater and were shocked to find a Chassidic festival going on outside. It was the fourth night of Chanukah and some Rabbis had set up music and a huge Menorah. He and his daughter were schlepped into the dancing and enjoyed hot latkes. He told Rabbi Bryski that "With each dance, he heard the Menorah speaking to him, telling him that there will yet be joy, that light always triumphs over darkness." He returned home inspired and decided right then to move to a new community and begin again.

Rabbi Bryski told the story with tears in his eyes. He said that after the man told him this story, he was reminded about that night in Simi Valley. "You see," he said, "we were the ones at the mall that night.

The Rebbe had encouraged us to expand our Chanukah activities that year and we were looking for a new mall in which to set up a Menorah. I did not know anything about Simi Valley but I found it on a map and called information to ask for the number of the mall. When the operator asked which mall I wanted, I was silent, not knowing how to respond. She gave me the first mall listed, which was Mountaingate Mall. When I called the mall to arrange the event, the woman asked me if I was sure I wanted that mall. When we arrived, I understood why she had asked. The mall was deserted; every store had closed except the movie theater. Since we had already brought everything, we stayed, and set ourselves up outside the theater. Only a handful of people joined us that night and we considered the event a total failure. Little did any of us know that an entire life hung in the balance that night."

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It's great to live to inspire & help the entire world. But the individual is what truly matters. Each and every person is a world. As the Talmud states: "To save one life is as if you have saved the world." We have absolutely no idea what an impact we can make an another's life; just by lending an ear and an encouraging gesture, a smile. To leave our own little bubbles, our own comfort zones, to help another. May we try our best to never overlook the individual, and through this the entire world will be saved and transformed into the ultimate perfection, as a dwelling for G-d and for all humanity to live together in total good forever.

Shabbat Shalom!!

-Daniel

P.S. To view Rabbi Bryski's speech, check out this link and move to the end of the speech:

http://www.chabadconejo.com/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/776530/jewish/Keynote-Address-By-Rabbi-Bryski-Video.htm

A True Leader

B"H

Last week we Torah readers were riding on a high.

Our forefather Jacob was

finally re-united with his long lost son Joseph, who had been gone for 22 years. Jacob’s family was growing and prospering in huge number, living in the city of “Goshen”, a peaceful suburb off the coast of North-East Egypt.

But unfortunately, Joseph, the 2^nd-in-command to Pharaoh, passed away. All of a sudden, the situation for the Jewish people began to spiral downwards in quick fashion.

‘(Pharaoh) said to his people, “Look! The nation of Israel’s descendants are more numerous and stronger than we are! Come, let us deal shrewdly with them…” The Egyptians enslaved the children of Israel with crushing labor. They embittered their lives…’

But G-d Heard the cry of his people in pain.

He was now ready to redeem them and take them to Israel.

But which leader would be chosen for such an important task? An eloquent speaker.

A polished diplomat for sure. A handsome, charming, powerful leader, right?

Moshe (Moses), the son of Amram & Yocheved, was a shepherd for his father-in-law Yisro’s

flock of sheep. The Midrash tells us that once when he was tending the sheep in the desert, one of his kid goats ran off. Moshe immediately chased after it, and finally reached the goat by a pool of water it had found to drink. Moshe said:

“I didn’t realize that you were running away because you were thirsty. You must be tired!”

So Moshe mounted the goat on his shoulders and walked back to the flock.

G-d Said to Himself, “You have such compassion for the sheep of a mere human being. You are going to shepherd my sheep, the Jewish People.” (Shemos Rabbah 2:2)

Here was the leader G-d Was looking for.

True, Moshe had a stutter. He was 80 years old, and was a shepherd.

But such a tremendous compassion and caring for another’s well-being; that he did have.

This was the one.

So G-d Came to Moshe to Communicate his mission to lead the Jewish People out of Egypt:

‘Moshe was pasturing the flocks of Yisro…He looked, and behold! The thorn bush was burning with fire, but it was not being consumed. Moshe said, “Let me turn now and see this great spectacle! Why will the thorn bush not burn?” G-d Saw that he had turned to see, and G-d Called to him from within the thorn bush… Moshe hid his face because he was afraid to look at G-d.’

Why did G-d Reveal Himself to Moshe through a thorn bush? Our Sages tell us that ‘G-d Wanted to show that He is Always with His People during their times of distress-comparable to thorns. And just as this bush was burning but not being consumed, so too the Jewish People will never be consumed.’(Rashi)

But if we take a deeper look into the revelation of G-d to Moshe,

we will find something remarkable about what type of awesome leader Moshe really was.

Our sages tell us that there is a Moshe in every generation.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Shneerson, was the Moshe of our times. He searched for every lost sheep who was thirsty for water, physically & spiritually. As Jonathan Sacks, chief Rabbi of England, once said: "The Rebbe hunts down with love those that were once hunted down with hate."

The Rebbe once explained this passage as follows: G-d Revealed Himself to Moshe in a thorn bush, as our Sages say, to show that He is with His People during all their tough times. But G-d Wanted to reveal a deep secret to Moshe.

The secret understanding behind why suffering happens to good people.

Why the thorn bush! Why the tribulations at all!

There is a verse which states: “Ain rah yoredes mi’lemala” – No bad comes from above.

But that’s only from G-d’s Perspective!

He Sees the hidden good in all that occurs to us in the world.

G-d is Like the father who smacks his son who ran into the middle of oncoming traffic. He has a good intention. But we’re the son who doesn’t understand.

G-d Wanted to show Moshe the secret reason of why. Why the burning of the thorn bush.

But how did Moshe respond to this once-in-a-lifetime offer? And “Moshe hid his face.”

Moshe gave up on an opportunity many would do anything to attain. Why?

Because Moshe understood, that the minute he sees behind the curtain, the minute he understands from G-d’s Point of view, that’s when he loses the point of view of his people. How would he ever be able to plead with a perfectly true heart to G-d on behalf of the Jewish People, if he understood the hidden good behind the apparent bad? So Moshe “hid his face.”

Kabbalah teaches us, that not only is there a Moshe in every generation, but there is a spark of Moshe in every Jewish soul. Each of us has the ability to give up on our own personal welfare and help a thirsty soul, thirsty spiritually or physically, who is lost in the desert looking for water. To hide our face, our personal gain, in order to look from a fellow Jew’s point of view, from his pain, that is our opportunity to emulate our leader Moshe.

Through our caring for each other, may G-d Send us Moshiach, the ultimate Jewish leader!

Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel

Jerusalem

P.S. If you're still hanging around to the end of the email, I want to reward you w/ an amazing 1st-hand story I heard last night. Rabbi Yisroel Shem Tov, an Elderly Chassid from Crown Heights, was visiting us here in Israel. He said this story: "In 1955, I was at a farbrengen (Chassidic Gathering) with the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The Rebbe began giving out matzah to all of those present. While doing so, I noticed the Rebbe take 3 pieces of Matzah, roll each one in a napkin, and put it in his jacket pocket. 'A Rebbe does things we definitely don't understand' I thought. Later that night, Mr. Weiss, the head of a nearby Jewish summer camp, came rushing past me to the Rebbe to tell him something. Within earshot, I heard him say: "There has just been a terrible car accident on the way to camp. There were campers in the van, and it flipped 3 times." Now a normal person's reaction would be one of horror or dismay. The Rebbe turned to him and laughing, asked: "3 times?" He then took out the covered matzahs and told the man to bring these to the boys in hospital. The boys soon left w/out any injuries at all."

The stories are endless. G-d, in Every generation, in his Great Kindness, sends us leaders that care for every one of their flock. And spiritually speaking, the Rebbe continues to help us and pray for each of his flock. As Tanya, Ch.27 of Igeres Hakodesh explains: "A Tzaddik is found more in this world after his death than before."