Don't Forget to Remember

Photo: Rabbi Sacks Org

Text by Rabbi Benjy Simons

Parshas Vayikra and Zachor

If Alcohol can damage-your short-term memory? 

Imagine the damage Alcohol can do. 

There is a popular adage that goes, ‘everyone is born with a photographic memory, we just don’t bother developing the film.’ As we begin the complexities of the book of Vayikra, it is interesting to note that Rashi highlights an interesting titbit of information when it comes to how Moshe learnt Torah. He explains that in the Torah, there is often spacing and paragraphing which actually reflects not just separate ideas throughout the Torah, but also how the Torah was communicated to Moshe in that it represents a specific pause for contemplation and reflection before the following idea was transmitted. This concept has been often called ‘study breaks’ to facilitate further learning, focus and retention while preventing study fatigue. 

At the same time, the importance of reviewing that which one has learnt on a regular basis must also be emphasised . The Talmud [Sanhedrin 99a] likens reviewing learnt material to harvesting that which is planted, which the Maharsha explains enables a person to refine the information learnt and gain a level of mastery of the subject. 

The level of reviewing the subject material will often depend on how well the information was learnt in the first place. To maximise one’s memory retention it is encouraged to learn audibly [Eruvin 54a] and many move in a rhythm which too improves neural connections and offers a variety of health benefits. Music also activates both hemispheres of the brain which improves one’s recollection [Tosfos to Megillah 32a] and also is associated with creating a happier disposition which encourages learning [Chida]. 

The Yerushalmi [Berachos 5:1 54a] further encourages one to toil over one’s studies in a Shule or Beis Midrash and the importance of learning from within a book and as mentioned, taking regular intervals to ponder and digest what one has studied. The Talmud [Eruvin 54b] also advises one to chunk information or create mnemonics and acrostics to combine multiple units of information by recoding them into smaller bits of data. 

The Rambam [Laws of Studying Torah 3:12] stresses the importance of diligence and persistence in one’s learning to the extent of straining one’s body and not learning amidst physical indulgence. The Talmud [Eruvin 54a] further stresses the importance or having refined social attributes that contribute to one’s memory retention and the Chasam Sofer would urge one to write down their learning and novel ideas. 

The Gemara [Bava Basra 10b] writes that it is said in the next world that happy is the individual who reaches the next world with his learning in his hand. As we further have Parshas Zachor this week as we recall the actions of Amalek in the lead up to Purim, may we merit to always carry our learning with us and grow with our Torah studies.

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Worldwide Tehillim for Geula

 HT: Myrtle Rising

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The Time of Mashiach

HT: Sherry

Rabbi David Ashear [under 3 minutes]

What will it really be like? When Moshiach is here.... 

Jews of Ukraine: A History

 Rabbi Y. Y. Jacobson: short video

Unleashing a Monster

 Rabbi Mendel Kessin, new shiur

Ukraine's Komarna Rebbes

This is a re-blog from 2011. Ukrainian history.  This is a familiar map to us now, back in 2011 perhaps not so familiar to most of us.

Komarno is near the city of Lviv



Source: Yitzchak Yaakov Rosenbaum HaLevi - as heard from the Komarno Rebbe Eliezer Tzvi Safrin shlita

[Interestingly, all of the previous Komarna Rebbes passed away during the time of the Omer]
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After the collapse of communism in 1990, the chassidim of the Komarna dynasty travelled to search for the graves of their Rebbes which had been destroyed by the Nazis.

They arrived in Komarno [Ukraine] and asked many people where they could locate the part of town where the Jews had lived. Here they found an old farmer and questioned him regarding the whereabouts of any Jewish graves.

The farmer had no idea, he couldn't help them at all.... but the chassidim continued to question him and ask him if he could think of anything that could help them....... suddenly the farmer remembered that there is a certain paddock, about a mile from the town of Komarno, where they take the cows and sheep to graze. The animals would always stop at a certain point and refuse to go any further. They would only eat the grass on one side of the paddock.

Ohel of Komarna Rebbes

The farmer took the chassidim to the paddock and showed them the area that the cattle refused to graze in. The chassidim began to gently dig at the grass and discovered the graves of their Rebbes. Although the headstones had been destroyed by the Nazis, the graves were lying untouched beneath the grass.



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A visitor to the ohel reported a newly-lit candle burning in the corner. He wondered who had been there and left it - he went outside and asked the children playing there who it was who had just visited and left the candle. The children said that no-one had been there at all, and that he was the first visitor that day.
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Pirkei Avot [ch.2] states: "Weigh the loss from a mitzvah against its reward." This is an admonition to the leaders of the community, said Komarno Rebbe Eliezer Zvi Safrin [1830-1898] zatz'l, that they should be willing to sacrifice their personal spiritual gain in order to raise the level of others. Even if a person must interrupt his own learning or growth in order to engage in kiruv (bringing others closer), this loss is insignificant compared to the rewards.

Rav Safrin -- known as the "Sar Bet Hazohar" [Master of the Zohar]: Regarding this the Zohar [II:128b] says that if one helps another overcome his yetzer hara, it is as if he has created a new person. Moreover, there is no greater honor to Hashem than this, the Zohar says. If one holds the hand of a rasha and tries to lead the rasha on a new path, he accomplishes three things: he helps to crush the yetzer hara, he brings honor to G-d, and he causes the world to endure. Such a person will merit to see children and grandchildren, and about him it says "Mighty in the land will his offspring be, a generation of the upright who shall be blessed." [Zekan Beto]

Purification Requires Agitation and Confusion

Rebbe Nachman explains how a person is purified.  So too, the world, which is being purified, also requires agitation and confusion.

from the writings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, translated by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan


When one begins to attach to a great tzadik and truly serve G-d, he is often filled with great confusion and evil thoughts.

The evil was always there, but only now it is surfacing.

A pot of water may seem perfectly clear. But when it is placed on a fire and begins to boil, all its impurities are brought to the surface. One must stand by and constantly remove these impurities.

The original purity is merely an illusion. With a little heat the impurity surfaces. But when these impurities are removed, the water is truly pure and clear.

The same is true of a person. Before he begins serving G-d, good and evil are completely mixed together within him. The impurities are so closely united with the good that they cannot be recognized.

But then this person comes close to a true Tzadik and begins to burn with great feeling toward G-d. He is touched with the heat of purification, and all the evil and impurities come to the surface. Here again one must stand by and constantly remove the dirt and impurities as they appear. In the end the person is truly pure and clear.

Purification requires this period of agitation and confusion.

In the beginning a person is totally immersed in the material. He then begins to come close to G-d.

It would seem possible to remove this dirt and impurity at once. But his mind is completely intermingled with this mire. Were it to be removed immediately, his mind would be drawn out with it.

Therefore, one must be purified little by little, in gradual stages.

Ukraine's Moshiach Hint

I just noticed that the colours of the Ukranian flag are the same colours as the Moshiach flag.

Ukraine

Ekron

Omicron

Corona

It's all coming together: We are heading for the Coronation of Melech HaMoshiach

may it come speedily!