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GOOD MORNING! Sunday evening, June 8th, begins the two day holiday of Shavuot (or Shavuos in the Ashkenazic pronunciation). (Yizkor, by the way, is on Tuesday, June 10th.) It is the anniversary and celebration of the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai to the Jewish people 3,320 years ago. It is a time of rededication and commitment to learning Torah. (It'll be worthwhile to go to http://www.aish.com/holidays and click on Shavuot).
Here is a magnificent opportunity for a FREE TORAH! "Partners in Torah" is offering a free Artscroll Stone Chumash (Five Books of Moses) for anyone wishing to study Torah with an individually picked study partner (your own personal Torah trainer!) by phone for one hour a week for a minimum of 4 weeks. It's all free of charge and they even provide free calling cards! The first 100 readers of the Shabbat Shalom will get a free Torah, so respond ASAP! If you have received a free Torah in the past, they would love to have your feedback. To learn more, check out: http://www.partnersintorah.com. To sign up, contact Ricky Turetsky, ebtur@aol.com.
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:
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The Talmud says, "All beginnings are difficult." If you need help or have questions, please feel free to call me at (305) 535-2474 or e-mail to: kp@aish.com. For the books or mezuzot, try your local Jewish book store, call toll-free 877-758-3242 or http://www.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 meaningful 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 "Shavuot" 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: (1) restitution for stolen property where the owner is deceased and has no next of kin -goes to the Cohanim, (2) If a man suspects his wife of being unfaithful, he brings her to the Cohanim for the Sotah clarification ceremony, (3) If a person chooses to withdraw from the material world and consecrate himself exclusively to the service of the Almighty by becoming a Nazir (vowing not to drink wine or eat grape products, come in contact with dead bodies or cut his hair), he must come to the Cohen at the completion of the vow, and (4) the Cohanim were instructed to bless the people with this blessing:
"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.
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Dvar Torah
based on Love Your Neighbor by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin
Part of the blessing which the Cohanim, the priests, bless the Jewish people is:
"The Lord shall make His face shine upon you." (Numbers 6:25)
What is the practical application of this verse?
The great sage Shamai said, "Greet every man with a pleasant expression of countenance." (Pirkei Avos, 1:15) There are three parts to this statement:
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Since God deals with us measure for measure, God makes His face shine upon those whose faces shine to their fellow human being!
CANDLE LIGHTING - June 6
(or go to http://www.aish.com/shabbat/candlelighting.asp)
Jerusalem 7:08
Guatemala 6:12 - Hong Kong 6:47 - Honolulu 6:53
J'Burg 5:04 - London 8:54 - Los Angeles 7:44
Melbourne 4:50 - Mexico City 7:55 - Miami 7:53
New York 8:07 - Singapore 6:52 - Toronto 8:38
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
If you teach your son,
you teach your son's son.
In Loving Memory of Yossi Gold, Yosef Mendel ben Nosson David
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Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Kalman Packouz |
Click here for Rabbi Packouz's bio
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