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."

Realizing Redemption

B"H

'Jerusalem received 9/10's of the world's beauty.' -the Talmud

Earlier this afternoon, my friend Yoni took my brother & I on a tour of the old city of Jerusalem. After praying the afternoon service at the Western Wall, we met Yoni at the top of the stairs and proceeded on our tour.
Ascending up a few pairs of narrow stairs, we were suddenly faced with a gorgeous view of the old city.
"There's the direction in which King David came & conquered Jerusalem.
Over there's where we won the hard-fought battle in 1967.
Every inch of this holy city is layered with thousands of years of history; of joy and suffering,
destruction & salvation."

As we wound through the narrow streets & tunnels of this majestic city, we emerged into a large, open square.
As the sun set, we stood together talking while children ran around us kicking a soccer ball, yelling with joy.
My friend motioned to look at the wall next to us, which had inscribed in it the words (in Hebrew):
"And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets." (Zechariah 8:5)

There's a powerful story in the Talmud where this verse is brought:
'Again it happened that Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria, Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Akiva went up to Jerusalem. When they reached Mt. Scopus, they tore their garments. When they reached the Temple Mount, they saw a fox emerging from the place of the Holy of Holies. The others started weeping; Rabbi Akiva laughed... Said they to him: "A place [so holy] that it is said of it, 'the stranger that approaches it shall die,' and now foxes traverse it, and we shouldn't weep?"Said he to them: "That is why I laugh... the Torah makes Zachariah's prophecy dependent upon Uriah's prophecy. With Uriah, it is written: 'Therefore, because of you, Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the Temple Mount like the high places of a forest.'
With Zachariah it is written, 'Old men and women shall yet sit in the streets of Jerusalem. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.' As long as Uriah's prophecy had not been fulfilled, I feared that Zechariah's prophecy may not be fulfilled either. But now that Uriah's prophecy has been fulfilled, it is certain that Zechariah's prophecy will be fulfilled.' With these words they replied to him: "Akiva, you have consoled us! Akiva, you have consoled us!"

As we watched the boys & girls playing all around the square, these words and the accompanying story hit home.
How amazing it was to see with our own eyes the source for Rabbi Akiva's laughter!

But we have to remember, we're not fully there yet. While it is true that we are nearing redemption, we still have to put the finishing touches in our lives and in the world around us to fully realize it. Our sages teach us, that in order to ready the world for the complete Redemption, we need to start viewing our world in, and living with, a redemption mentality.

Now what in the world does that mean?

Well, let me ask you: Why is it that when people bump into each other on the street or in the office hallway, annoyance surfaces? I mean, when a call comes in to firefighters to get moving, and they're slamming into each other in every direction to get their gear and jump on the truck, no one is even close to thinking of getting angry?

The answer is simple. These men are on a mission. They each have a cause on their mind, a purpose that's higher than any pettiness or strife. We can start to live now in exile in a more redemptive way. In the messianic era, there won't be strife or hatred. Let's work on that now. In that time, we will see the good traits in one another. Let's work a bit on that now. In that era we will be occupied in attaining a higher recognition and building our relationship with G-d through learning about Him and connecting. Let's do some of that now. Now it only makes sense that G-d meet our redeemed perspectives with a revealed redemption.

As the 3rd Rebbe of Chabad once said (in Yiddish): "mach da Eretz Yisroel" -"Make Israel here."
This means that even if we're found in CA, NY or Paris, we can live like we're on the streets of Jerusalem. Kedushah, holiness, can be brought into our lives wherever we find ourselves. One coin in a charity box, one smile to a neighbor, one candle lit, can transform the darkness of our exile into the light of redemption.

And through living our lives in such a way, may we merit the complete & ultimate redemption, when there will be no more pain and only joy, and all of our children and elders will play and laugh in the streets, may it happen now!

Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel

Jerusalem