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GOOD MORNING! Sunday evening, June 12th, begins the two day holiday of Shavuot (or Shavuos in the Ashkenazic pronunciation). (Yizkor, by the way, is on Tuesday, June 14th.) It is the anniversary and celebration of the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai to the Jewish people 3,317 years ago. It is a time of rededication and commitment to learning Torah. For lots more about Shavuot, go to http://www.aish.com/holidays/shavuot/default.asp.
Q & A: WHAT IS SHAVUOT AND HOW IS IT CELEBRATED?
The Torah calls Shavuot the "Festival of Weeks" (Numbers 28:26). The very word "Shavuot" is Hebrew for "weeks"; it refers to the seven weeks that one counts from the second day of Passover [when the Omer (barley) offering is brought] until the holiday of Shavuot. It is one of the three Regalim, holidays, (Pesach and Succot are the other two) where every man in the land of Israel was commanded to come up to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival when the Beit HaMikdash, the Holy Temple, stood in Jerusalem.
Torah is the life blood of the Jewish people. Our enemies have always known that when we Jews stop learning Torah, our assimilation is inevitable. Without knowledge there is no commitment. One cannot love what he does not know. A person cannot do or understand what he has never learned.
A Jew is commanded to learn Torah day and night and to teach it to his children. If a Jew wants his family to be Jewish and his children to marry other Jews, then he must integrate a Torah study program into his life and implement the teachings into his home and his being. One can tell his children anything, but only if they see their parents learning and doing mitzvot, will they inherit the love for being Jewish. Remember: a parent only owes his child three things - example, example, example.
How can we utilize this opportunity to grow and strengthen our self-identity as Jews? Just as a baby crawls, then toddles and then walks, likewise with the mitzvot (commandments). A person should undertake one more mitzvah, do it well and then build on it. For some mitzvot that you might enjoy taking on...
Here are a few suggestions:
The Talmud says, "All beginnings are difficult." If you need help or have questions, please feel free to call me at (305) 535-2474, fax me at (305) 531-9334 or e-mail to: questions@aish.com. For the books or mezuzot, try your local Jewish book store, call toll-free 877-758-3242 or judaicaenterprises.com.
On Shavuot there is a custom to stay up all night learning Torah. Virtually every synagogue and yeshiva have scheduled learning throughout the night ending with the praying of Shacharit, the morning service. The reason: the morning the Jewish people were to receive the Torah on Mt. Sinai, they overslept. We now can rectify the tendency to give in to our desires by demonstrating our resolve through learning the whole night. It is a wonderful experience to share with your children. It would be wonderful if you could find a synagogue, JCC or yeshiva with a program that night; at very minimum, how about reading the story of the giving of the Torah to your family (Exodus 19:10 -20:23).
For more on Shavuos go to ShabbatShalomAudio.com!
Torah Portion of the Week
Naso
This week's portion includes further job instructions to the Levites, Moshe is instructed to purify the camp in preparation for the dedication of the Mishkan, the Portable Sanctuary.
Then four laws relating to the Cohanim are given:
"May the Lord bless you and guard over you. May the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up His Countenance upon you and give you peace."
The Mishkan is erected and dedicated on the first of Nissan in the second year after the Exodus. The leaders of each tribe jointly give wagons and oxen to transport the Mishkan. During each of the twelve days of dedication, successively each tribal prince gives gifts of gold and silver vessels, sacrificial animals and meal offerings. Every prince gives exactly the same gifts as every other prince.
Dvar Torah
based on Growth Through Torah by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin
The Torah states what a person should do if he or she has transgressed by doing a "trespass against the Almighty" (Numbers 5:6). What does the Torah mean when it uses the language a "trespass against the Almighty"?
Rabbi Ovadiah Sforno (an Italian Biblical commentator who lived 1475-1550) comments that this refers to one who steals from a convert to Judaism. Harming him is considered a trespass against the Almighty because this person had the idealism to come to the Almighty's Torah. One desecrates the Almighty's name in the convert's eyes by deceiving him.
A person who comes to Torah on his own volition does so because of the beautiful and elevated ideas he hears about Torah principles. He made his decision on the assumption that those who follow the Torah will act towards him in accordance with all the Torah laws pertaining to interpersonal relations. If someone cheats him financially or in any other way wrongs him, he will not only suffer a monetary loss. Rather, he might also feel disillusioned with his decision to accept the Torah way of life. Go out of your way to be especially friendly towards converts.
CANDLE LIGHTING - June 10:
(or go to http://www.aish.com/shabbat/candlelighting.asp)
Jerusalem 7:10
Chicago 8:05 Guatemala 6:11 Hong Kong 6:48
Honolulu 6:53 J'Burg 5:05 London 8:56
Los Angeles 7:46 Melbourne 4:46 Mexico City 6:59
Miami 7:52 Moscow 8:53 New York 8:07
Singapore 6:53 Toronto 7:38
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
Waste of time is the most
extravagant of all expense.
-- Theophrastus
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