In Defence of Rabbi Mizrachi

Once again, a band of angry people have publicly come out to condemn Rabbi Mizrachi.  This time, it is a group of wellknown and respected Rabbis who are doing the condemning.   I do not agree with them, and am therefore publishing Rabbi Mizrachi's response below, which was kindly translated by blogger Yeranen Yaakov.

Translation of the response from Rabbi Mizrachi:

Rabbi Mizrachi sent in response: Again and again, those zealous, fight-inducing people are expending efforts to harm the Teshuva campaign that embraces the world which I have been successful in building for 23 years of back-breaking work. It does not interest them that every year, there are many thousands of Ba'alei Teshuva in Israel and the world. As far as they're concerned, all of them would be lost forever - the main thing is their claims about what I said in its time many years ago regarding the terrible assimilation that preceded the Holocaust and caused many people with Jewish names not being Jewish according to Halacha and the Torah, something that anyone with a brain and truth knows - and that is exactly the situation in the US today.

Every time before I come to a speaking tour in Israel, whereby thousands of Jews are strengthened, amazingly those claims again start tweeting. Baruch Hashem, I work for Hashem and not for them, and we continue to grow every month Baruch Hashem just like it was from the day I started working. On the day that they will stop inventing lies and accusations against me, I will know that I have finished my mission for Am Yisrael.

Another article at Kikar adds how he received approbations from Dayanim in New York - see photo above - as well as receiving dozens of letters of support from Rabbanim Hashuvim after the original letter went out.

Due to the volatile nature of this issue, comments are closed.  

Has Chabad Quietly Revolutionized the Role of Rebbetzin?

by Rabbi Efrem Goldberg

The orthodox world has been rigorously debating women’s roles in Jewish communal leadership and whether women can formally serve as rabbis. Meanwhile, though it has no stated progressive agenda or goals, Chabad has quietly revolutionized the role of women in leadership. Chabad rebbetzins may not have the title of rabbi, but in most cases they are involved in, and empowered with, setting the vision of their community and executing the leadership necessary to make it a reality as much as their husbands are. They design programming, lead meetings, teach, give support at lifecycle events, play very public roles and are often listed as co-directors, equal with their husbands.

At the opening I attended, it was the rebbetzin, not the rabbi, who served as the master of ceremonies. The rabbi gave a wonderful dvar Torah and speech, but it was the rebbetzin who welcomed hundreds of people, offered expressions of gratitude to the list of dignitaries, gave her own dvar Torah, and charged the community with a vision of where they are going next.

The contemporary Chabad rebbetzin is functioning in a significantly different way than her predecessors and many of her peers in the orthodox world. And yet, one doesn’t find people questioning her motives, her commitment to halachik norms, or her respect for rabbinic authority.

Read the whole article by clicking here

Superficial Honour

"Yaakov has taken everything that belongs to our father, and from what belongs to our father he has amassed all his wealth" [Vayeitze 31:1]

The following question was once posed to the Vilna Gaon: The Midrash Rabbah states in relation to the abovementioned verse:  "There is no honor except for [that accrued by] silver and gold".  Yet, in Shemos Rabbah [ch 38] it states: "There is no honor except for [that accrued by] Torah, as the verse states: "The wise inherit honor".  The question is, is it the Torah or one's wealth that brings a person honor?

Wherever we find the word kavod [honor] spelled without a vav, answered the Gaon, we are meant to apply Chazal's statement "There is no honor except for [that accrued by] silver and gold".  For that type of honor is superficial and false.

However, continued the Gaon, when kavod is spelled in its complete spelling - with a vav - Chazal's statement "There is no honor except for [that accrued by] the Torah" applies.  For the honor that comes from the Torah is genuine and full.

Source: Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein

5777: The Year of the Olive Branch and Eternal World Peace

Art Barbara Harmer

by HaRavi Yitzchak Ginsburgh

Today we're going to devote our thoughts to the coming year. The number of the year has many allusions. This coming year is 5777, according to the Jewish calendar, the number of years from creation. The way we usually count it is as 777, the 5000 being set apart. It is customary to create an acronym out of the letters that spell the 777, which are תשעז .The acronym which is customarily given starts with the two words, "May this be a year of…" [תַ נְ שׁ אֵ הֵ תּ ]And what we are asking for is to interpret the two final letters, which in our case are עז .So the full acronym depends on what the letters עז stand for.

Click here to read the entire article

Click here to watch the videos

Storm Season

According to the weather reports, we are expecting some massive storms this summer.... here is a photo of yesterday's storm as it blew in over Bondi Beach - I'm not complaining, storms are my favourite thing... and yesterday's thunder was just incredible.

Photo BobBBaker

Amen: A Wonderful Segulah

Art Baruch Nachshon

by Rabbi David Hanania Pinto

In this week's parashah Vayeitzei we find a hint and wonderful inspiration about answering Amen after a blessing:

The influential Rabbi Eliyahu Roth once told his audience:

It is important to know that answering Amen properly has a positive effect on us both physically and spiritually, and it prevents sickness from visiting our homes. Each person must contemplate, what is more important to him; is it to go visit doctors, or to answer Amen loudly, which is a wonderful segulah to be saved from all these and bring salvation and success in all matters.

It is written in the sefer “Meorot Hadaf Hayomi” [Bechorot 43a] in the name of Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein:

As we know, one hundred blessings were instituted in order to save people from the curses that are written in the parashah of Reproof. If so, we can conclude that a reason for answering 90 times Amen each day is in order to be saved from the 90 bodily blemishes that disqualify a Kohen, as listed by the Rambam [Hilchot Biyat Mikdash 8:1]. Indeed, proof supporting this is found by the fact that the word “המום – blemish” has the same numerical value as אמן – Amen!

Causing Abundance to Shower from Heaven

Rabbanit Meislish, shetichye, who inspires large audiences about this important matter, relates:

My father, the Admor of Bobov, ztk”l, who lived in New York, used to celebrate Purim also on the fifteenth of Adar, in order to rejoice with the Jews living in Eretz Yisrael.

One year, amidst the celebration, my father was offered “brandy” and he recited the blessing “Shehakol nihiye bidvaro.” Afterward he began to recite the blessing “Borei nefashot,” while the Mashgiach of the yeshiva stood by his side. The Mashgiach was married for eight years but was still childless, and he sensed that this was an opportune time of grace. He therefore answered Amen with great concentration after the blessing of “Borei nefashot,” contemplating the meaning of the words “Borei nefashot.” This was his heart’s desire, to merit nefashot – souls.

At the same time, one of the gabaim was also present who had only one son and he wished to have more children but had not met with success. He turned to my father and said: “I too yearn to have a child.” My father closed his eyes and replied: “Borei nefashot – creates souls” is in the plural form.” The Gabai and the Mashgiach shouted together: Amen! Exactly ten months passed since that day and the wife of the Mashgiach, after having been married for nine years, gave birth to a girl, whereas the wife of the Gabai gave birth to a boy. Twenty years later the two children got married and built a home together.

And for her it is not at all surprising. This is stated explicitly: “פתחו שערים ויבוא גוי צדיק שומר אמנים – Open the gates, so the righteous nation, keeper of the faith [lit. Amenim], may enter,” since the power of answering Amen opens the gates of Gan Eden and showers down upon us abundance from the Supreme Source. It is amazing how one small word “Amen” can bring about supernatural salvation.

The War of Thoughts

Everything starts in the spiritual world and then it manifests down to the physical world.

The Zohar says that at the time of Gog u Magog, we are going to be controlled by our thoughts.  It is ''Milchement Giggim'' - the war of thoughts. [click here to see video of Rabbi Anava on this topic: from 29 mins onwards]

In every generation there is a ''Haman'' who comes to destroy us.    Haman is a descendent of Amalek - Amalek is a nation, but it is also a kelipa, a spiritual impurity caused by a negative act, which comes like a virus to attack you. When the Jews left Mitzrayim, Amalek came to attack them straight away. It came from the rear, to cool them down.  The gematria of the word Amalek is the same as the gematria of the word ''safek'' - doubt.  Amalek comes to cool you down and make you doubt the truth.

Rabbi Anava says that these days it is the war of the screens, and we are controlled by our screens: our computers and our phones.

So here we all are, on the internet, where everything is available in an instant, and while we can choose what to look at, in the process we may get side-tracked and end up reading something that causes us to doubt the truth.  This is the spiritual side of the war of Gog u Magog, the spiritual Amalek causing us to doubt.  Ten minutes ago we were excited about some new Torah we had learnt, and then we read a comment from an Amaleki which causes us to doubt that same thing.

This is Amalek, and it comes in many different guises, Rebbe Nachman commented that at the end of days, the whole world would be flooded by such a huge amount of heretical ideas and theories, even rabbis would have ‘heresy dripping out of their pockets'. 

We need to be extremely careful who we listen to, and what we read.   Amalek is always there, waiting to pounce on us from behind.

Kislev: The Month of Dreams

The Month of Dreams

Keshet [bow] is the Hebrew name for Saggitarius. At dawn during Kislev a constellation reminiscent of a bow appears on the horizon - the Keshet, identified by our Sages as the sign of this month.

The bow was used in the past to shoot missiles, such as arrows, at the enemy. In the Midrash, the bow symbolizes the projection upwards of the scorpion from the brambles into which it had been cast. Projection implies shooting upwards from below. In the words of R' Bachyei:

"After the soul has received its judgment in purgatory, it will be projected up from there much like an arrow from the bow. That is the reason for the proximity of Akrav [Scorpio] to Keshet, as alluded to by our Sages who said "They descend to Gehinnom yelling and crying... and rise".

Source: Gad Erlanger "Signs of the Times"

The Month of Kislev according to The Book of Formation [Sefer Yetzirah] - Kislev is the ninth of the twelve months of the Jewish calendar.

Kislev is the month of Chanukah--the only holiday in the Jewish calender which spans, and hence connects, two months: Chanukah begins on the 25th day of the month of Kislev and concludes in the month of Tevet [either on the 2nd or 3rd, depending on the number of days in Kislev].

The name Kislev derives from the Hebrew word for "security" and "trust." There are two states of trust, one active and one passive, both of which are manifest in the month of Kislev. The miracle of Chanukah reflects the active trust of the Maacabim to stand up and fight against the Hellenistic empire and its culture. Kislev's sense of sleep reflects the passive trust that G-d's providence always guards over Israel.

In the tradition of Chassidut, the 19th day of Kislev, the day of the release and redemption of Rabbi Shneur Zalman, the author of the classic text of Chassidut, the Tanya [the disciple of the Magid of Mezerich, the successor of the Ba'al Shem Tov] from prison [where he was placed for the dissemination of the innermost mysteries of the Torah] is referred to as "the New Year of Chassidut" (implying that it is through the spiritual channel of this day that the inner wisdom of Chassidut and the power to integrate this wisdom into one's daily life is brought down into this world).

The foundation of the way of Chassidut is absolute trust and faith in G-d's omnipresence and the omnipotence of His Divine providence.

Color: Blue-Violet

Letter: samech

The word samech means "to support". The experience of feeling supported corresponds to the trust and confidence in Divine providence associated with the month of Kislev, as described above. So do we find expressed in Psalms: "G-d supports (somech) all the fallen and lifts up all the bent over;" "Even when he falls he will not be let to fall to the ground, for G-d supports (yismoch) his hand."

The shape of the samech is a circle, which represents the all-encompassing omnipresence of G-d and His providence. The "great circle" of G-d's Infinite light is explained in Kabbalah and Chassidut to reflect His "right arm" which embraces (and supports, from beneath) with great, infinite love all of reality, as is said: "And from beneath, the arms of the universe."

Mazal: keshet [Sagittarius--Bow]

The bow of Kislev is the bow of the Maacabim. It symbolizes their active trust in G-d to fight against the empire and culture that then ruled the earth. Though the Chashmonaim themselves were from the Priestly tribe of Israel, the "art" of the bow is ascribed in the Bible to the tribe of Benjamin in particular, the tribe of the month of Kislev.

The Kohanim [and Leviim] are not considered as one of the twelve tribes in the correspondence of the tribes to the months of the year [according to the Arizal]. As an all-inclusive manifestation of the Jewish soul, the Kohanim contain and reflect the spiritual source of each of the twelve tribes of Israel. This is especially so with regard to the tribe of Benjamin, for in his portion was the holy Temple wherein the Kohanim served. Thus the relation of the Kohanim to Benjamin is similar to that of soul to body. The Kohanim fight the holy war embodied in the bow of Benjamin.

The bow of war of Kislev is actually projected [shot] from the bow (the rainbow; in Hebrew both "bow" and "rainbow" are identical--keshet) of peace [between G-d and Creation] of the end of the previous month of Cheshvan, as explained above. The two bows [semi-circles] unite together to form the complete circle of the samech of Kislev.

Tribe: Benjamin

Sense: sleep

The sense of sleep is the tranquility and restfulness that comes with trust and security in G-d and His Divine providence. So do we find in the blessings at the end of Leviticus [26:5-6]: "And you shall dwell securely in your land. And I shall give peace in the land, and you shall lie down without fear...."

As the word "sense" [chush] is cognate to "quick" [chish], the sense of sleep implies the ability to sleep well but quickly [as is told of great tzadikim who required very few hours of sleep per day].

The very talent of Benjamin to shoot straight at his target depends upon a most tranquil inner spirit. He shoots and hits almost asleep. G-d carries his arrow to its intended destination. A tranquil personality is one with little inner friction and tension. The sense of sleep entails the ability to release stress, confident in the support of G-d.

The sense of sleep entails as well the sense of dreaming. In accord with our faith in Divine providence, especially manifest in relation to the connection between the weekly Torah portions and the annual cycle of months and their events, all of the dreams of the Torah are contained within the portions that are read during the month of Kislev.

When one possesses complete trust in G-d one dreams good dreams of the future. Good dreams at night reflect good thoughts throughout the day, especially the optimistic attitude and consciousness taught by Chassidut [whose New Year is the 19th of Kislev]: "Think good, it will be good."

Source: HaRav Yitzchak Ginsburgh Inner.org

Also see:  Kabbalah of Dreams