Yehei Sheloma Rabba Min Shemayah

''Yehei sheloma rabba min Shemayah" which is Aramaic for "May there be abundant peace from Heaven''.

Performed by The Chevra

Soulmates

written by Rabbi Aron Moss [Nefesh]

Question of the Week:

My Jewishness is making it harder for me to find love. The more I get involved in Jewish life, the less options I have for girls to date. To be honest, it is making me hesitate before becoming more observant. What should I do, take on more Judaism and limit my options, or keep my options open and put the Jewish thing on hold?

Answer:

It depends what you are looking for. If you are just after a partner, any partner that suits, then it is a simple numbers game, and the more options in front of you the better chances you have. If you have a wider pool of potential partners, the odds are higher that you will be successful in your search. In this equation, the vaguer you are about yourself, the more potential partners you will find.

But that's only if you are merely looking for a partner. If you are looking for your soulmate it's another story entirely.

Your soulmate is the other half of your soul, the missing part of your very being. You can only recognise your soulmate if you first get to know your own soul. When you know where you are going in life, when you are clear on your own identity, when you know who you really are, then and only then are you equipped to identify the other half of your soul.

Some people have it backwards. They think that when it comes to describing whom you're looking for, you need a long and detailed list of specifications, but when it comes to describing who you are, you are better off being blurry and general. The opposite is true. Know yourself and your own soul. Explore your Jewish identity and become comfortable with it. You are not limiting your options, you are refining your search.

Yud Shvat - Basi L'Gani

The sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, arrived on the shores of America in March 1940, after a miraculous escape from Nazi-occupied Poland. Arriving in New York, he set for himself the task of building a Jewish infrastructure to replace the one going up in flames in Eastern Europe. In fact, he established his first yeshivah in the Western Hemisphere on the very night that he arrived. In the decade that followed, many more Torah schools and other religious institutions were founded by his devoted emissaries across the United States and Canada.

The Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneersohn and his
predecessor R' Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn  in 1949

Though the Rebbe’s spirit and resolve were indomitable, his body was battered and broken due to beatings and abuse at the hands of the KGB, as well as multiple health issues, including debilitating multiple sclerosis. The Rebbe’s speech was also impacted; after a few years, only those in his closest circle, such as his family and secretariat, were able to comprehend his slurred words. As a result, the Rebbe stopped orally delivering chassidic discourses in honor of special dates on the Jewish and chassidic calendar, as was his custom. Instead, in advance of these propitious dates, he would submit written discourses for publication, to be studied by his chassidim when that day arrived.

The tenth of Shevat was the yahrtzeit of the Rebbe’s grandmother, Rebbetzin Rivkah. In the year 5710 [1950], the tenth of Shevat would fall on Shabbat. In honor of the occasion, the Rebbe submitted for publication a discourse entitled Basi L'Gani [“I have come to My Garden”].

On that Shabbat morning, the Rebbe passed away at the age of 69.

The year that followed was one of apprehension for Chabad-Lubavitch chassidim. Many immediately recognized that the Rebbe’s son-in-law, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, was eminently suited to succeed his father-in-law, due to his outstanding scholarship and piety. But Rabbi Menachem Mendel humbly refused to accept the mantle of leadership.

After a full year of pleading and cajoling on the part of chassidim, Rabbi Menachem Mendel relented. On the first anniversary of his predecessor’s passing, Rabbi Menachem Mendel accepted upon himself the leadership of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. In traditional Chabad chassidic form, he did so by delivering a chassidic discourse during a farbrengen [chassidic gathering] on that historic day.

The new Rebbe’s discourse was also entitled Basi Legani. In fact, it was based upon the very discourse that his father-in-law had submitted a year earlier. He started off where his predecessor left off . . .

In the decades that followed, every year on the 10th of Shevat, the Rebbe would host a grand farbrengen, in keeping with chassidic tradition that designates the yahrtzeit of a righteous person as a highly auspicious day. For the chassidim, the day had additional import—it was the anniversary of the date when the Rebbe assumed leadership.

And every year at the 10 Shevat farbrengen, the Rebbe would say a chassidic discourse that started with the words Basi L'Gani, always based on a different chapter of the original discourse penned by his predecessor. It became increasingly clear that the themes addressed in this discourse defined the Rebbe’s leadership.

What does this special discourse discuss? Which garden? Who’s coming to the garden? And why is this arrival in the garden such an important message for our generation?

The Garden

The words “basi legani” are taken from Solomon’s Song of Songs.

The garden is our world. Announcing His arrival here in this garden is G‑d Himself—who refers to it not as “a garden,” but as “My garden.” All that He created belongs to Him, but of all the myriad spiritual emanations and worlds, there is only one to which He refers as “My,” because it is only here—the very lowest realm—that He wants to call home. The divine light shines ever brightly in the supernal worlds, but only in this physical world does G‑d wish to manifest His very essence.

His shechinah [presence] was here when He created this world. But it was driven away by a series of sins, starting with Adam and Eve’s eating the fruit of the forbidden Tree of Knowledge. Subsequent sinful generations drove the shechinah further away, as it ascended from one heaven to the next.

This was no glitch in the plan; it was anything but.

Just as G‑d created the world with the vision that it would serve as His domicile, He also had a clear vision as to how this domicile would be created. He envisioned a world characterized by frightful spiritual blackness, wherein creations—possessors of free choice, capable of embracing the darkness or rejecting it—would repress the darkness, and ultimately transform it into light.

There must be a world which [on the surface] is inhospitable to its Creator. And through the difficult work of banishing and transforming the darkness, it becomes a beautiful “garden.” A place that G‑d is delighted to inhabit.

Over the years, the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, elaborated on the many concepts discussed above.  The Rebbe’s inaugural discourse in 1951,  explains the special relevance of these ideas to our generation.

********************

“We are now very near the approaching footsteps of Moshiach; indeed, we are at the conclusion of this period. Our spiritual task is to complete the process of drawing down the shechinah—the essence of the shechinah—specifically within our lowly world.”

Source and full article at: Chabad

Australia: Floods

The east coast of Australia is severely affected by flooding: the video  shows the areas currently being hit by heavy rain: [Queensland and New South Wales]

Floods force evacuations in NSW
Worst flood in decades as river levels climb
Queensland town braces for worst flood

NSW Residents Evacuating: ''The town will be cut in two''

Hundreds of residents in rained-out Northern NSW are on standby for evacuation as they face the threat of the biggest floods in 35 years.

Barwon MP Kevin Humphries said as of 9am today evacuation warnings had been issued to 463 properties around Moree, 60 on the Wingham Peninsula, 40 in Taree and 19 in Barraba.

"Throughout the region we have seen close to 160 millimetres of rain fall during the past two days to 6am this morning, with a lot more on the way today," Mr Humphries said in a statement today.

"Unfortunately predictions are that this is going to be bigger than the floods that devastated the region in the 1970s."

The SES had been helping hundreds of residents prepare for evacuation.

The town of Moree is predicted to be split in half by floodwaters later today, NSW SES Deputy Commissioner of Operations Steven Pearce tells AAP.

"We think this is going to be bigger than the floods that occurred in the 1970s," he said.

"The town will be cut in two."

Source: NEWS.com

Sit and Pause

''Speak to the Children of Israel and let them turn back and encamp before Pi-hachiros'' [Beshalach 14:2]

This verse, said the Ohev Yisrael [R'Avraham Yehoshua of Apta], hints at an important lesson.  

It teaches us just how cautious one has to be not to violate the grave sin of lashon hora.

וְיָשֻׁבוּ וְיַחֲנוּ לִפְנֵי פִּי הַחִירֹת - A person is required to sit [lasheves] and pause for a moment [výachanu] - before [lifnei] he lets his mouth loose [pi hachiros].

Source: Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein

Higher

Yud Shvat 5772

This Friday is Yud Shvat [the tenth of the Hebrew month of Shvat] - the anniversary of the passing of the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn. On the day of the passing of a righteous man, “all his effort... for which he toiled throughout his lifetime... becomes revealed and radiates downward.” As such, it is a time to focus on the spiritual message of the Previous Rebbe’s life, and his unbounded commitment to preserve and advance Jewish practice.

For Chassidim today, however, the primary significance of Yud Shvat is that it is the day on which the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, accepted the reigns of leadership of the movement. At the gathering celebrating his acceptance of this position, the Rebbe stated clearly: “Chabad always put the emphasis on individual initiative, not on relying on the Rebbeim.... I will help, indeed, help as much as I can... but of what avail will it be to provide texts to study, sing Chassidic melodies, and to toast LeChaim if there will no effort and initiative on your part.”

At that same gathering, the Rebbe clearly outlined his goals for our generation: “We are at the close of the period when the approaching footsteps of Mashiach can be heard. Our task is to complete the process of drawing down the Divine presence... so that it can rest in our lowly world.”

Source: Chabad