About KBY

This coming Monday - the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month Shevat - is known at TU B’Shevat because the two letters used to illustrate the number fifteen is a ‘tes’ and ‘vav’, spelling out “TU”. The halachik and historical significance of this date is considered Hebrew Arbor Day, and the official beginning of the tree season. The rabbinical holiday TU’ B’Shevat, the New Year for trees, usually falls in January or February. Even though the Spanish village of Mondoñedo held the first documented arbor plantation festival in the world, organized by its mayor in 1594, Israel have been reckoning with this concept for thousands of years. Today, the holiday is most often observed by planting trees or by raising money to plant trees, and by eating fruit - specifically grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates which are five of the seven species for which Israel is praised. Originally, the objective of this day was to calculate the age of fruit trees for tithing as mandated in Vayikra 19:23–25. Rosh Hashanna for the new tree when it blossoms, the fifteenth of Shevat, or when the rain that enables their blossoming has finished falling, to be the beginning of Shevat.

When a man gets called up to the Torah it is called an ‘aliyah’, meaning going up. In many Shuls and synagogues, the Bimah is raised and a person literally ‘goes up’ to read from the Torah, and when they finish, they go back down. Getting an aliyah is much more than just saying the blessings and perhaps making a donation of some sort. Rather, the ultimate goal and purpose is for the individual to ‘go up’, to have a ‘spiritual experience’ that will continue to be with the person for as long as possible. Perhaps there is a correlation between the attitude and the intent the person has when receiving the aliyah to the time it takes to wear off.

That been said this week’s Haftorah, taken from the Navi Shoftim, is one of the famous ten songs of Tanach known as Shirah Devorah. In Shoftim 5:28 the Navi states: “B’Ad HaChalon Nishkpha V’T’Yabeiv Eim Sisra B’Ad HaEshnav, Maduah BoShesish Richbo Lavo Maduah Echeroo Paamei Markevosav”. “Through the window the mother of Sisera looked forth and peered through the window stating,” Why is his chariot late in coming? Why tarry the strides of his chariots?”

The fascinating story of how Yael killed Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite army of King Yavin of Chatzor, is mentioned in Shoftim 4 -5. After being defeated by the Israeli forces of the Zevulun and Naphtali under the command of Barak and Devorah, Sisera was killed by Yael, who hammered a tent peg into his temple.

The navi goes on to describe how the mother of Sisera waited for her son’s return as she did after the dozens of battles that he fought in his lifetime. This time, however, she waited and waited and asked herself why was he late. The word she used for being ‘late’ is “BoSheish”. The Midrash Rabbah in Bereishis teaches us that there are three places in Tanach which use this form of a word to describe time. The first time it is used is when Adam and Chava were in Gan Eden prior to sinning in Ber. 2:25. That verse states that it was already six hours and Adam and Chava were naked - V’Lo Yisboshashu - and they were not embarrassed. The second time was when Moshe Rabbeinu was thought to be late coming down from Har Sinai. In Shemot 32:1 the Torah states: ‘And the people saw Ki Bosheish Moshe’ - that Moshe was late coming down from the mountain.’ The third time refers to the line I mentioned above regarding Sisera’s mother. Six hours had passed and still her son did not return. The midrash explains the word BoSheish is a contraction of ‘Baoo Sheish’ meaning “they came six” - six hours late from their anticipated arrival.

In all three instances the same six-hour window of time is expressed. Why, in each case did the individuals involved wait six hours before growing concerned? Why were they not concerned immediately? I would like to suggest that six hours is a quarter of a day which is either one side of the day or the night. The initial phase of news or a situation will remain the same for a while until more information changes the previous status. A person will hear or learn about something, digest it and then react to those circumstances which will settle within the person for a bit. Once it has been adapted, then change from new information will lead the person to react differently to the new circumstances.

I believe the same is true about the Torah. It takes time to determine if the new information will take hold and successfully do what it was designed to do. Using hindsight, we think to ourselves, “Why didn’t we just jump to the current level of physical advancement rather than having had to go through so many different stages of development?” The same is true when growing spiritually, emotionally, and even physically. Life is a process of growth. We each need to hit the markers of different levels, growing step-by-step, maintaining a healthy, sensible life on each platform i.e Aliyah before jumping to the next level. Hopefully, with God’s help and our own inner-patience, we will “come with six” in order to climb to the greatest heights of life.

Remember Torah is all about relationship NOT religion!!!

Shabbat Shalom!!!

An essential trait for any ‘living’ language is that expressions, usage of terminology, and definitions of words evolve over time. Dictionaries and thesauruses give multiple explanations and substitutions for words, phrases, idioms and jargons that are used to express context and situations. Sometimes the use of words acquires different meanings as we progress through our lives. For example, when I heard or shouted word ‘homerun’, for me it literally meant just that - someone had rounded all four bases during a game. But in the colloquial sense of the word, when someone says ‘he or she hit a homerun’ it might mean he did a great, fantastic job that just cleaned up the entire situation...

I recently encountered one of those words that I enjoyed when I was in grade school and have come to despise that very same word in my adult life. Last time I purchased a BBQ grill from Canadian tires, not fully appreciating the value of it coming assembled, I thought that I would be able to easily put it together. Unfortunately, my memory did not serve me well. The next time I buy a new barbecue grill, I’ll buy the floor model that is ready to go because I did remember the previous experience of buying a grill out of the box – which required assembly.

I was too cheap at the time of buying this piece of grill to spend the extra twenty-five dollars for assembly, and besides the advertisement on the box stated, ‘assembles in minutes. Little did I know that it took me 180 minutes to get the thing assembled and with that, I have to called my father-in-law for assistance. Therefore, when I have the opportunity to buy it pre-assembled, next time I’ll grab it. Now let’s fast-forward to the grill. Thanks to my in-patience and my enthusiastically naive attitude that I could put together the grill, I never thought of paying extra to have it assembled. After one week of having a huge box in our basement, I gave up on the thought of assembling it myself and called Canadian tires to take it back. The company offered to send someone to assemble it at about half the cost of the grill itself. The company itself offers a home service that will come to assemble my purchase through them at about a fifth of the purchase price. Ultimately, I called my father-in-law who’s very handy to fix it with me.

I now cringe when I hear the word ‘assemble’, but this was not always the case. In my youth I got all excited when I heard the word ‘assembly’ because that meant more time outside the classroom. I’m not sure if the word ‘assembly’ is used today in elementary or high school, but back in the day I looked forward to any time there would be an assembly, preferably during a secular class. As a little boy I didn’t fully appreciate the experience of the ‘assembly’, only that we got out of class and attended a gathering where we could sit back, and didn’t have to take notes. Naturally, we also didn’t really need to pay attention, and ultimately were not held responsible or accountable for the purpose of the gathering. My euphoria of having an assembly was the typical reaction – and immaturity - of a little child.

Neither my peers nor I appreciated the purpose and benefit to the statement of ‘assembly’ and its implications. The fact that the entire school, from the youngest kindergarteners to the really big eighth graders all attended the same event was a statement all to its own. The unity and purpose as a solid body coming together was the unsung victory of the cause under which we came to unify. The rows of students our age and reality of being part of a greater whole was an incredible silent message felt by the participants of the assembly. Unfortunately, in our society, including our society and community, is, in my opinion lacking of this powerful message. I don’t believe people understand or even minutely appreciate the value of an assembly. The secret of the Israelites people’s success was the ‘assembly’ – the meeting of the whole - which we read in the story of leaving Mitzrayim.

In this week’s parashat Bo the Torah states in Shmos 10:9 “Vayomer Moshe Binareinu Uvizkeineinu Neilech, B’Vaneinu U’Vivnoseinu B’Tzoneinu U’Vivkareinu Neilech I Chag Hashem Lanu”. “Young and old alike will go”, replied Moses. “We will go with our sons and our daughters, with our sheep and our cattle. It is a festival to God for ALL of us. ” In the previous verse Pharoah, after being menaced by the plagues and second-guessed by his advisors, gives in slightly by almost allowing the Israelites to leave Egypt, but catches himself. Instead of allowing Israel to completely leave he asks Moshe and Aharon “Mi VaMi HaHolchim” “But exactly who will be going?” Pharoah is reluctant to send ALL the Israel away while Moshe and Aharon recognize the importance of EVERYONE leaving together!

Rabbi Moshe Elyokim Hopsztajn (1757 – 1828) the second Kozhnitzer Rebbe, the son of the Avodas Yisrael explains the concept of the young and old in the passuk. He learns the word not ‘with our young’ but rather ‘like in our youth’ ‘in our old age we will go’. The measure a person reaches in behavior and activity during youth will determine and be a foreteller for the same enthusiasm in later years. The Hebrew people will always “go” with zest and zeal, always climbing higher and higher. There is a great advantage that old age brings a step up to society; they carry within them the blessings from life’s experiences. Keep in mind that the later years are connected and pull from the younger years - like the flame of a candle. Life is compared to wine; wine will be better with age only if the wine in its youth was good. If the wine was bad to begin with, as it ages it will turn into bitter vinegar.

A community that abandons its young is compared to an old age home, and a community that forces its seniors into the corners of the room turns those corners, those rooms, into an orphanage! Fortunate is the young whose wisdom of its elders are like a candle at their feet, and fortunate are the elders that the flame of the young strengthens them. I see and witness a great deal of enthusiasm amongst the children of our community. Unfortunately, at times the parents of some of the children (who themselves were once enthusiastic about Judaism) feel a sense of slavery to the rigors of a religiosity NOT faith in the G-d of our fathers. Their wine was at one point very fine which, if not properly stored and guarded, will quickly sour. We, the older generation, parents and, yes, even grandparents, must remain vigilant in our attitude towards an exciting feel of the Torah. Devoid of this vigilance there will no longer be our younger generation from whom our future will thrive and grow.

We are a nation born in slavery, a sobering fact that places any subsequent achievements into the correct perspective; humility is the lesson. More than anything else G-D did it! No armies, no tanks, no missiles, just the Creator and Master of all. Just as our ancestors longed for freedom from the Egyptian bondage, we also long for true freedom. True freedom is not the negation of subjugation and slavery, in whatever form it may manifest itself, but the willing acceptance of a higher discipline. We were redeemed for a purpose; to serve G-D and to keep His Torah. G-D released us from subjugation by an earthly master in order to prove our worth as a chosen people prepared to serve Him. Thus, in truth there is no absolute freedom only a choice of masters. We can serve G-D and be free, or else serve man and be enslaved.

We need everyone on this journey of life to live and flourish through the day-to-day, week-to-week challenges of a full, rigorous, trust/faith, and observant in our way of life. We need the commitment of both the young and the older in order for us, the Hebrew people, to go forward just as we did when we left Mitzrayim. If you don’t want to listen to me at least listen to Moshe Rabbeinu in his response to Pharaoh,”Let My People (with the young and the old) Go!”

Remember Torah is all about relationship NOT religion!!!

Shabbat Shalom!!!