VOLUME 20, ISSUE 30 FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 2013 / 20 TAMUZ 5773
CANDLE LIGHTING: 8:11 P.M. SHABBAT ENDS: 9:21 PM (CHICAGO)
TORAH PORTION: PINCHAS (NUMBERS 25:10 – 30:1)
Hang in there – Shabbos is coming!
This week’s CTN Shabbat Fax is sponsored by Leonora Shaw, in honor of Esti Deutsch and Robin Loeb and all the lucky women they are taking to Israel this Sunday, on CTN’s fourth annual “Transform and Grow” Israel Mission. May you have the most inspirational and fun trip ever!
1. G-d said to Moses: Go up to this mountain, and see the Land … You will see it, but
you will die here. (27:12-13)
Moses did not enter the Land of Israel. He could only see it from a distance.
It was the story of the Jewish People. For two thousand years.
Scattered. Unable to get to the Land.
But never losing sight of it.
The Year 70. The Roman army drove us out of the Land.
But it was always in our hearts. Our minds. Our memories.
Think of our prayers. Three times a day. Seven days a week.
In each prayer? ‘May our eyes behold Your return to Zion …’
And in the Grace after meals: ‘Rebuild the holy city of Jerusalem soon, in our days.’
We’ve been saying these things every day. At every meal. And every time we prayed.
For two thousand years.
Think about how one day a year – the ninth of the Hebrew month of Av – we sat on the floor.
And mourned the destruction. Of the Jerusalem we never saw. But never forgot.
Our baby boys were circumcised. And one of the prayers at the Bris?
‘May this child merit to be in Jerusalem.’
The child grew up. And got married. And at the wedding ceremony a glass was broken.
To remember the destruction of Jerusalem.
Or when there was a death in the family. And people sat shiva. The traditional Jewish consolation?
‘May you be comforted among the mourners of Jerusalem …’
There is an eternal bond between the Jewish people and Jerusalem.
… That can never be broken.
2. “Our Father Our King: Remember us for Merits” (From the Prayerbook)
It’s called ‘Avinu Malkainu’. Hebrew for ‘Our Father Our King’. A series of special prayers said
during the High Holidays and traditional fast days.
We ask G-d for His blessings. Including life, health and material and spiritual success.
And most of it is understandable. Because even though we can’t rely on miracles, and we need
to make the effort, still we believe that it is G-d Whose blessings make it happen.
But, what do we mean: ‘Remember us of for merits’? How can we ask G-d for that? We have
free will! Either we do good deeds – and get ‘merits’ – or we don’t!
… Jewish tradition has a powerful answer. With a very important Jewish perspective.
Sure we have free will. And sure we may want to do things that are good.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll get the opportunity.
… And that’s what we ask G-d for: ‘Give us the opportunities to do things that are meritorious.
Bring the right causes our way. Let us meet people who need and deserve our help.
Because if You bring them my way, I will do what I can to help. I will seize the opportunity.’
… And that’s a very important Jewish perspective.
To recognize that every ‘opportunity’ to do good, is just that: An opportunity.
Something to appreciate. To cherish. And to grab on to.
… And so, the next time someone asks our help, we shouldn’t just say ‘Yes’.
But, ‘Yes, thank you’.
Rabbi Yisrael Mayer Kagan. Known as the Chafetz Chaim. The leading Rabbi and Torah
scholar of pre-war Europe. His life was dedicated to helping the Jewish People. Their spiritual
as well as their physical needs.
… After finishing one of his major books on Jewish law – a work that took him years to complete
– Rabbi Kagan was overheard saying the following:
“L-rd of the Universe. You have done so much for me. … Imagine – allowing me to complete
such a major work. Helping me clarify so many difficult issues in Jewish law.
Now G-d, please let me know.
What can I do for You?”
