The economic life of a Jew, his attitude toward material assets, his ethical conduct in buying and selling, etc. should reflect the religious values of Judaism. 

Although many Jews, and the same goes for people from other religions, tend to dissociate economic behavior from religious practice, the truth is that the Tora deals with financial matters, as much or perhaps more than with other areas of religious life.  Integrity in business, aspiring to financial equality, helping the needy, free-interests loans, terumot uma’aserot (taxes) etc. are just some examples of the ample spectrum of financial subjects the Tora deals with.  

Many times, observing the laws of the Tora implies the sacrifice of financial gains.  The rabbis referred to this type of situations analyzing two words from the Shema Israel ובכל מאדך 

We say in the Shema, “You shall love HaShem your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all of your power.” “All your heart” and “all your soul” we understand easily. But what does “with all your powers” mean? The rabbis explained that “power” means possessions, money, assets. The Gemara explains: your love for your God has to exceed your love for your money. If we keep the laws of the Tora in financial matters, for example, sharing our profits with the needy, rejecting any participation in fraudulent activities, etc. we might be loosing money. Loving HaShem  בכל מאודך means that a Jew has to be willing to sacrifice his money for the sake of his love to HaShem. As we will explain BH in the coming weeks, the Tora does not require us to take oaths of poverty or renounce material wealth. On the contrary, rabbis have a positive attitude to honestly gained wealth. “With all your possessions” means that HaShem and His Tora should be placed above money. Shabbat is a great example.  When a Jew in retail business closes his store in Shabbat, or when a young Jewish professional rejects a good job offer because she won’t work during Shabbat, they are doing exactly this: serving God with our possessions,  by placing HIM above them. 

The 5th of Iyar, or May 14th, 1948, was one of the greatest days in the history of the people of Israel. That day, Israel’s Independence Day or Yom haatzmaut, we regained our political independence and sovereignty over the land of Israel. After almost 1900 years of exile, at the mercy of uncountable tyrants, we finally are able to determine our own destiny, have our own army and defend ourselves from our restless enemies.  

But there is more to Yom Haatzmaut: the establishment of the State of Israel is the atchalata de-gueula, the first step toward our redemption.  A very important Sephardic rabbi, rabbi Yehuda Bibas,  (1776-1852) explained that the return to the land of Israel is our return to HaShem, and His return to us. A reconciliationbetween HaShem and His chosen people. 

What is the source of this beautiful idea?  Let’s read carefully the first 5 pesuqim of Debarim (Deut.) Chapter 30. 

In the previous verses, the Tora anticipated that if the people of Israel abandons God’s Tora, they will be taken to exile and live oppressed and persecuted among the nations. Now, the Tora says, a new thought might awake inside you. 30:1 “And when all these things come upon you (=the exile, the captivity, the suffering)…  and then you introspect in your heart, while you are among all the nations where HaShem your God has driven you…“. This pasuq describes the beginning of Teshuba, our return to HaShem. Teshuba begins from us. First, with a new thinking: all this suffering, what is happening to the nation of Israel, was predicted by the Tora thousands of years ago! If abandoning haShem has caused all this suffering, coming back to Him will redeem us. 

This thought has to awake a feeling (…in your hearth…), the feeling of longing to HaShem, our Father who loves us and whom we love.   30:2 and then, if you return to HaShem your God, and obey His voice, as all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul. These thoughts and emotions are translated into actions.  Now, we are coming back to HaShem. With heart and soul. With passion. We are back in track. Reengaged in God’s covenant.  

Then is HaShem’s turn. The biggest miracle is about to be described: 30:3 then HaShem your God will bring back those captives(=the Jews who were exiled among all the nations of the earth),and He will have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where HaShem your God has scattered you.  God’s response to our Teshuba is “gueula”, gathering us from among all the nations. 30:4 Even if your captives are in the ends of the horizon, from there HaShem your God will gather you, and from there He will take you. No matter how far we are, He will make it happen. He will bring us back from the “galut”  

30:5 and HaShem your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, so that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your ancestors.  The process of Teshuba is taking place in our days.   More and more Jews are coming back to haShem, to His land or to His Tora, or to both. Israel is prosperous, and growing in numbers. Every year tens of thousands of Jews come back from the end of the planet. Our reconciliation with haShem has began. We are the most privileged generation of Jews. We are living the fulfillment of prophecy.  We ARE this prophecy.

Yom HaAtzmaut Sameah!  

Israel Independence Day, YOM HA’ATZMAUT, which will begin tonight, celebrates the anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel. 

  

Today, YOM HAZIKARON, the day preceding this celebration, is devoted to honor the memory of those who sacrificed their lives for the achievement of Israel’s Independence and its continued existence.

  

They are Israel’s heroes and, as Nathan Alterman called them, “The silver platter on which the State of Israel was given to us” . 

Today in Israel tens of thousands of people attend the local cemeteries to mourn their children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, and friends.    23.169 soldiers and victims of terrorism who fell on the wars of Israel, from the Independence war in 1948 until today. 

In the morning, at 11.00 am, a siren sounds across the country. Everyone and everything stops for two minutes: people, cars, businesses, public transportation, etc. honoring the memory of the fallen heroes. Many Israelis would spend the day at home watching on the Israeli National TV the short clips prepared especially for the occasion, in which they show the lives, the bravery and the heroism, particularly of the soldiers and victims of terror who were murdered this year.

  

  

  

May HaShem bring peace, everlasting peace, to Medinat Israel. AMEN  

“Many of us have a mistaken idea of what is within the compass or scope of our religious traditions. People know that lighting Hanukah candles is something you talk about with a rabbi, observance of the Shabbat, the laws of Kashrut, etc., but many people have an attitude that if I don’t tell the rabbi how to run his business, the rabbi shouldn’t tell me how to run mine. Very often, we live fragmented dichotomized lives where what we do in the office from 9 to 5 (or if you’re a workaholic from 8 to 7), is our own private affair and then at home we observe the holidays, or the rituals of Judaism, on the weekends, or three-days-a-year, or whatever.

And yet we find in the Talmud a very interesting statement. The Talmud discusses what types of questions people are asked by God after their deaths. They come up to heaven, God asks them a variety of questions. The very first question that we are held accountable for after our deaths is “nasata venetata be-emuna?” which means “did you conduct your business affairs with honesty and with integrity?” This question is were we ethical in the conduct of our business. If you look throughout the Torah, you will see a constant juxtaposition between the ritual commands of Judaism and the ethical obligations between one human being and another. One verse may say, don’t eat meat and milk together and the other verse will say, do not cheat in business, do not misrepresent, do not engage in fraud, because these are all part of the same religious structure. The notion of a dichotomy between ritual behavior and social behavior is a division that is totally foreign to Judaism because all of them are part of the same God-given basis of morality.”

SHABBAT SHALOM!

Shabbat ends in NYC                 8:34 pm

It is not known when and where Rabbi Menahem ben Judah  de Lonzano was born. Probably in Turkey or Italy. But we do know that at avery young age he settled in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem).

Rabbi Lonzano had a very difficult life. He lost both his father and mother at a very young age, and throughout his entire life he was haunted by poverty and sickness . He was paralyzed in both feet and with the sight of one eye entirely lost.  He still was a great Talmudist, a poet and a distinguished grammarian.

Rabbi De Lonzano died in 1611 and is buried in Har haZetim, Mt Olives Cemetery, Jerusalem.

ניתאי הארבלי אומר הרחק משכן רע ואל תתחבר לרשע

ואל תתייאש מן הפורענות 

To prepare ourselves for Shabu’ot, the day we received the Tora, it is customary to study Pirqe Abot, the “Chapters of the Fathers” which is a tractate of the Mishna composed around the Second Century. This Mishna does no deal with the details of the observance of specific Mitzvot, as usually the Mishna does, but with practical Jewish wisdom, values and mores.

There are many excellent English translations and commentaries of Pirqe Abot. My favorite one is the Me’am Loez, written by rabbi Ytzhaq Magriso, 18th century, Turkey. He wrote his commentary originally in Ladino (Judeo- Spanish. The book was published in 1747 and today we have a beautiful English translation of his book done by rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, z’l.

Let me share with you a few insights from his book

This Mishna (1:7) talks about neighbors and friends. Exhorting us to be careful when choosing our company.

*Rabbi Magriso explains the dangers of bad influences, via friendship. Influence, positive or negative, is not perceived while taking place. Bad company is like second-hand smoking. The harmful consequences are virtually inevitable, and we might realize those effects on us or on our children when it is already too late.

*Rabbi Magriso also wrote: What is the best way to assess someone’s character? What is the way to see if our children are in a good path? Look at his or her circle of friends. Who your friends are is the best indicator of who you are, or who you are about to be.

Today is Ta’anit bekhorot, the fast of the first born (seehere). Because this fast day is a custom (minhag) rather than a formal fast, the tradition is that the first-born exempt themselves from this fast by participating in a joyous religious ceremony. For example, by participating in a  Berit Mila or a Pidion the first born will be exempt form the fast. Usually, every community organizes  a Siyum Masekhet (=the conclusion of a Talmudic treatise, which is an event that deserves celebration) so that the first-born present at the occasion will be exempted from the fast and won’t feel weak at the time of the Seder.

In most communities this fast is only customary for first-born males, not females.  In case the first-born is a young boy, many communities follow the tradition that the father fasts on his son’s behalf. Many families have the tradition that when the first born breaks the fast, they do not eat Hamets anymore, and females first-born refrain from eating Hamets in the morning.

Each community member should follow his and her own traditions and customs. 

On Pesah eve we should not eat regular Matza .  We keep the taste of the Matza for its ideal moment: the night of the Seder. We are allowed to eat Matza ‘ashira or egg Matza (See this). Today we should eat light at noon and especially after mid-afternoon so we reserve our appetite for the Seder. 

  

LAST TIME FOR BI’UR HAMETS in NYC (=getting rid of Hamets by burning, feeding birds or fish, selling, etc. see this): 11.12 am (in some communities they set this time every year at 11.00 am).

“KAL HAMIRA DEIKA BIRSHUTI DEHAZITEH VEDELA HAZITEH, DEBI’ARTEH VEDELA BI’ARTEH LIBTIL VELEHEVE HEFKER KE’AFRA DEAR’A”

“All kind of Hamets or fermenting agents that belongs to me, that I have seen or that I haven’t seen,  that I have eliminated or that I haven’t eliminated, should be considered ownerless as the dust of the earth.”

  

  

 HAG SAMEAH

 ופסח ה’ על הפתח ולא יתן המשחית לבא אל בתיכם לנגוף

Exodus 12:23

In order to persuade the Egyptians to let the Jewish people go out of Egypt, the Almighty inflicted upon them ten plagues.  The last one, the plague that finally convinced the Egyptian monarch to let the Israelites go, was the death of the first-born.   The Tora describes the plague or sickness that affected the first-born as mash-hit, literally , “a destroyer” (Ex. 12:23). Obviously, we, the Jewish people, do not believe in powers independent from God. However, in order to fit our limited understanding, the Biblical text often attributes certain actions to God’s shelihim or proxies. The “destroyer” (The rabbis nicknamed it elsewhere the angel of death), describes one of God’s action, death, thru a linguistic proxy. We say angel of death, or mash-hit  but we are referring ultimately to God’s actions. Illustration: In the South African courtroom, when Oscar Pistorius talks to the prosecutor (a man) he says: “My Lady”. Why? Because although the accuser is talking to the prosecutor, he has to address always the Judge, which in this case, is a woman. Similarly, althought the Tora describes the actions as done by a mash-hit/ destroyer, or a wind that God used to split the sea, etc. these actions referred and should always be ascribed to God.

Back to Pesah. In America, Pesah is known as “Passover”. It is thought that at the time of the death of the first born, while God was inflicting the blow of death to the Egyptians, He “passed over” (skipped) the house of the Jews sparing their lives.  Allow me to present a slightly different reading of the same verse, based on the Targum Onqelos, the official Jewish translation of the Bible. Onqelos does not translate “Pesah” or “Pasah” as passed-over but us protected (in Aramaic, hais, like, adam has al mamono, “a person cares and protects his assets”). Thus, the verse Ex. 12:23 should be translated in this way “When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and He will PROTECT that doorway, and He will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down” (see also Ex. 11:27). Accordingly, God  (linguistically) acted thru His destroyer to inflict death, but He Himself (so to speak) cared for and protected His chosen People. That is why Pesah, particularly the first night of Pesah, is also called in the Tora “lel shimurim”, the night of Protection.

I prefer this translation because when Pesah is understood as “Divine Protection” it gives a clearer meaning to this beautiful Holiday:    Pesah celebrates God’s Protection to the Jewish people, from the eve of the exodus of Egypt until our own days.