Feldman's Firey Friday Night

by Henry Benjamin 

A planned Shabbat dinner for twenty ended with unexpected guests for Rabbi Pinchus Feldman and his family…members of Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs Fire Brigades.

The remains of the kitchen

As the family was preparing to welcome special guests from London, a smell of smoke pervaded their Penkivil St home in Bondi…followed by billowing black smoke as an an inferno engulfed their special Pesach kitchen.

When the fire was put out, Rabbi Feldman was amazed to discover that in the charred remains of the special kitchen, the haggadas and siddurs on the bookshelved had escaped unscathed.

Rabbi Feldman told J-Wire: “It seems my granddaughter had wandered into the kitchen and had played with knobs setting the stove alight. It was covered in polythene and paper as the kitchen is in use only at Pesach. The family was in a state of panic for a few miunutes as Rosie could not be found but we found her unharmed in another part of the house. I cannot explain why the Haggadat were not damaged…I will have to leave that to others. We were waiting for our special guests Rabbi Rappaport and his family from London. They are in Australia is here for their son’s wedding in Melbourne this week. We smelled smoke and thought it might have been the food burning but suddenly there was this huge billowing cloud of black smoke. My daughter Chana closed the door to the back of the house. The fire brigade told us that her actions delayed the fire spreading by about five minutes…just enough time for them to get it under control. Otherwise, it would have engulfed the whole house. If the brigade had taken ten minutes longer, the house would have been gone.”

It will be some time before Rabbi Feldman and his family can move back into their home. Rabbi Feldman said: “The only serious damage was in that room but the rest of house had heavy smoke penetration. But it is just amazing that in that room everything was destroyed…except the Haggadahs and the siddurim…simply amazing.”

Rabbi Feldman with the Haggadahs

The Rappaports had their Shabbat dinner with their host, the Central Synagogue’s Rabbi Levi Wolff while the Feldmans relocated to family homes nearby. No-one was injured in the blaze.

In the meantime, they expect to have their kitchen replaced and functional in time for Pesach… but the Haggadahs are ready for action.

Mikeitz: At the End (of Days)

The word Mikeitz means "At the end" as in the saying "the end of days" [Daniel 12:13]

In Aramaic the word "days" is almost identical to its Hebrew equivalent, but the last letter switches from a mem to a nun    ימים = ימין

The Zohar notes that this Aramaic word  ימין is identical to the Hebrew word  ימין , meaning "right" and on this basis, the Zohar concludes: There are two 'ends', one on the spiritual 'right' and one on the spiritual 'left'.

In Jewish mysticism, "left" represents the side of evil.  So, the 'end of the spiritual left' refers to the day when evil will cease to exist, with the end of exile, i.e. "the end of days" (קץ הימים).

"Right", on the other hand, represents goodness and holiness.  Thus we refer to the "end of the right" to indicate that there is no dilution of values in the realms of holiness, so the end is as good as the beginning.  The term קץ הימים ("end of the spiritual right") is thus an allusion to the final redemption, when good will triumph over evil, and we will see how good is found consistently throughout the entire world.

We are thus left with the question: Which "end" does the word Mikeitz refer to - the "end of the left" or the "end of the right"?

In fact, both could be argued:

a) At the beginning of our Parsha, Yosef is released from jail.  This was the end of Yosef's exile, i.e. the "end of the left".

b) On the other hand, we then read how Yosef suddenly rose to power and became ruler over Egypt - his redemption, represented by "the end of the right".

How could the two opposite concepts of exile and redemption be alluded to by the same expression?

Chassidic thought explains that the inner purpose of exile is that the Jews should be scattered around the world in order to "rescue" sparks of holiness which had been lost in physicality.  Thus, redemption is not the elimination of exile, but rather, it is the goal of exile.  And therefore, both concepts are hinted to by the same word.

Source: Likutei Sichos of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Gutnick Chumash

Peace and Quiet

Image: Blue Mountains, Sydney Australia

R. Shimon ben Gamliel said" "The world endures on account of three things: judgment, truth and peace." [Pirkei Avot 1:18]

Man's body is a miniature world [Tikunei Zohar 69:101a].  One of the things that preserves this world is peace.

A contentious person is always in pain.  At work he gets embroiled in arguments; at home he fights with his spouse. There is friction at his table and tension in his sleep.

A peace-loving person, in contrast, is calm and secure.  Everyone likes him; no one makes trouble for him.  He is happy to see others, and others are happy to see him.  He eats in serenity and enjoys restful sleep.

That is why peace is called שׁלום  - shalom. The word can be broken up into שׁלו "tranquil" and ם for מנוחה - "rest".

from the writings of the Ben Ish Hai

The Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus: Yud Tes Kislev

The Alter Rebbe - Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi author of The Tanya

The 18th of Kislev  marks the completion of the annual cycle of daily readings from the Tanya. The 19th and 20th of Kislev are the "Rosh HaShanah of Chassidus".

On Yud-Tes Kislev we re-commence the annual cycle of daily readings in Tanya, as divided by the Rebbe Rayatz.

It is the anniversary of the release of the Alter Rebbe - Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (Hebrew: שניאור זלמן מליאדי‎), the first Rebbe of Chabad, who was informed upon by misnagdim in Russia and arrested on trumped-up charges of supporting the Ottoman Empire.

His informers pointed to the fact that he would urge his followers to send money to the Land of Israel as "evidence" of his alleged insurrectionist aspirations (in fact, the money was sent to support poor Jews). At the time, the Land of Israel was a part of the Ottoman Empire, which was at war with Russia.

Rabbi Shneur Zalman was charged with treason, and released in the secular year 1798 on the Jewish date of Tuesday, 19 Kislev.

The 53 days of Rabbi Shneur Zalman's imprisonment are said to correspond to the 53 chapters of the first section of the Tanya.

19 Kislev is also considered to mark the day upon which Rabbi Shneur Zalman was conceived, for he was born exactly nine months later, on 18 Elul. [Shemu'os Vesippurim, Refoel Kahn, vol. 1, p. 39]

Rebbetzin Menuchah Rachel born (1798)

On the very day that Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi was liberated from prison, a granddaughter was born to him -- the daugher of his son Rabbi Dovber and his wife Rebbetzin Sheina. The girl was named Menuchah Rachel -- "Menuchah", meaning "tranquility" (Rachel was the name of a daughter of Rabbi Schneur Zalman who died in her youth).

In 1845, Rebbetzin Menuchah Rachel realized her lifelong desire to live in the Holy Land when she and her husband, Rabbi Yaakov Culi Slonim (d. 1857), led a contingent of Chassidim who settled in Hebron. Famed for her wisdom, piety and erudition, she served as the matriarch of the Chassidic community in Hebron until her passing in her 90th year in 1888.

The 19th of Kislev is also the yahrzeit of R. DovBer, the Maggid of Mezritch, who [as successor to the Baal Shem Tov] was the mentor of the second generation of the chassidic movement - from 5521 (1761) until his passing on the third day of the week of Parshas Vayeishev, Yud-Tes Kislev, 5533 (1772). His resting place is in Anipoli.

Rabbi Dov Ber was born in Volhynia in 1710, according to the Jewish Encyclopedia, though other sources say his year of birth is unknown. Little is known about him before he became a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov. A Hasidic legend states that, when he was five years old, his family home burst into flames. On hearing his mother weeping, he asked: "Mother, do we have to be so unhappy because we have lost a house?" She replied that she was mourning the family tree, which was destroyed, and had begun with Rabbi Yohanan, the sandal-maker and master in the Talmud. The boy replied: "And what does that matter! I shall get you a new family tree which begins with me!"

How aptly those words described the role he was later to play; for the boy was destined to become the successor to the Baal Shem Tov.

Source: Chabad

Testing Times

Everything in the world - whatever it is and whatever happens - is a test, designed to give you freedom of choice. Choose wisely.

Occupy yourself with doing good, and the bad will automatically fall away.

Rely on nothing and no-one but G-d. This is true simplicity. Anything else means pursuing a complicated course of action.

Pray, pray, pray.  Whatever you need... praying is the best way to get it.

Keep in mind that the essence of your prayers is the faith you have in them that they will be answered.

Remember: things can go from the very worst to the very best .... in just the blink of an eye.

from the writings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

The Great Pretenders

Art: Mike Worrall

This world is a world of illusion.  The truth is hidden.  We are constantly bombarded by deception. People are not always who they appear to be.

There are some people who deceive everyone around them: they put on their masks to present themselves to the world, but if you follow them home, you will see them for who they really are.   It doesn't matter how many "good deeds" they do in public, if they behave like an animal in their own home, abuse their family.... manipulate their friends... they will be judged accordingly. They are the deceivers, the hypocrites, the mutton dressed up as lamb.

A time is coming when their deception will be obvious to all.

A time is coming where we will see the truth, and those who lie, cheat and steal, who abuse others less fortunate, who manipulate and terrorise, will be seen for who they really are.

The masks will fall, and the truth will be seen.

That time is coming, and it's coming very soon.

The Talmud [Bava Basra 10:] tells of what we now call a near death experience. Rav Yosef the son of Rav Yehoshua was 'dead' for a short period of time and then was resuscitated. To his father's question of what did he see, he responded: "I saw an olam hafuch (an upside down world). The elyonim ('high' people) were low and the tachtonim ('low' people) were high."

His father responded: "You saw an olam barur (a clear world)!"

Korea: Fulfilling the Prophecy ??

Flashpoint . . . smoke billows from houses on Yeonpyeong island after the North Korean artillery barrage. Photo: AFP

NORTH KOREA has burnished the leadership credentials of its 26-year-old dictator-in-waiting with a deadly artillery attack on South Korean territory, causing its neighbour to return fire and scramble F-16 fighters.
Two South Korean marines died, and at least 12 were wounded. There were reports of civilian injuries and houses were set ablaze as scores of shells fell on Yeonpyeong island.
A North Korea expert at Beijing's Central Party School, Zhang Liangui, told the Herald that Kim Jong-un was deliberately destabilising the environment in order to mobilise the military and consolidate his power.

[The following is authored by Dan S]

It is just beginning here in November 2010, the month of Kislev:  click to read North Korean Attack

Zohar Va'era

In the future the children of Yishmael will stir great wars in the world. And the children of Edom [the West] will gather against them, and make war with them, one on the sea, and one on the land, and one near Jerusalem; and each one will prevail over the other but the Holy Land will not fall to the hands of the Christian nations.

During that period of time, a nation from the "edge" of the world (note where North Korea is located geographically) will be awakened against wicked Romi. And it will make war against her for three months, and many nations will gather there, and they will fall by her hand, until all the children of Edom will gather against her from all corners of the earth. And after, G-d will awaken Himself against them, as it says, a "a sacrificial slaughter for the Lord in Batzra", and it says, "to shake the corners of the Land."

Zohar HaKadosh:

A nation will arise from one end of the world (North Korea) against the wicked Rome (Christian nations led by Obama) and will war against them for 3 months. Other nations will join in this war and will fall into the hands (of the nation from edge of the world), till all Edom will unite against this nation. Aterwards, Hashem will 'arise' against them, as it says, A gigantic massacre in the land of Edom.

Note: Immediately following this 3 month war, the evil leader of Edom (America) will spread out his rule over the entire world. Nine months into that move called the final tribulation and birthpangs of Mashiach, he will get up and destroy all the enemies of Israel and mankind.

[And thank you to Bramy for reminding me of this video below]

Judging Others

 וַיְהִי אַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה  - And it came about, after these words....  [Vayeishev 40:1]

The "words" that are referred to here are those of Potifar's wife, who bad-mouthed Yosef throughout Egypt.

From the actions of Potifar's wife, we can learn a powerful lesson about judging other people:

At first glance, Potifar's wife's actions appear to have been utterly evil.  Not only did she cause Yosef to be sent to prison, but furthermore, she spoke badly of him so that his name was blackened throughout Egypt.

Rashi however enlightens us to the truth, that even these actions were intended for the sake of Heaven! Despite the fact that she was brought up in the corrupt, idolatrous atmosphere of Egypt her intentions were pure, to the extent that our sages compared her to Tamar, the mother of "strong ones and righteous ones" [Rashi]. 

From this we can learn the importance of not judging other people by their first appearances.

Source: Sichos of the Lubavitcher Rebbe
Art: Abraham Leon Kroll