Category: Holiday Teachings
Dearest Friends of Itamar,
It is hard to believe that another year is here. Rosh Hashanah brings us all back to the sixth day of creation where Hashem created man. It is brought down that the very day man was created he sinned and was expelled from the Garden of Eden. This day was Rosh Hashanah! Although we always have to work on ourselves and improve ourselves spiritually, this particular time is special because it was on Rosh Hashanah that Adam and Eve were judged. Therefore, every year at this time G-D judges all mankind. At the same time, He opens up the gates of mercy and allows our prayers and supplications to reach the highest spiritual worlds. This is done through the special mitzvah of the shofar which is the key that opens up these gates. The sound of the shofar brings us back to the receiving of the Torah as mentioned in the book of Shemot 19:16 “On the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a heavy cloud on the mountain and the sound of the shofar was very strong and the entire camp was frightened.” It is interesting that the shofar mentioned in this verse is not sounded by man; it is Hashem Himself that sounded this shofar. The Talmud explains that the sound was so powerful that it reached every part of the world. The nations of the world were frightened by it as they did not have a clue of what was taking place. They turned to their leader Bilaam and asked him what is going on. He told them that G-D has a special treasure and that was hidden for 974 generations before the creation of the world and now he is giving it to His children, Israel. This is hinted to in Psalms 29:11 “G-D is giving might (Torah) to His nation and G-D will bless His nation with peace.” After the nations were told that Torah was being given to Israel they immediately blessed Am Yisrael saying – may G-D bless His nation with peace. It is only through the Torah that the entire world will be blessed as it says regarding Abraham – those who bless you will be blessed. The 70 nations of the world deep down know that without the nation of Israel bringing light unto all through the Torah, the world will remain null and void of true Godliness. By blessing Israel they will bring a blessing to themselves! Here we are thousands of years later and again there are sounds being heard from one end of the world to the next. The world is a mess. There are nations that are suffering from natural disasters like floods and earthquakes others are stricken with civil war and bloodshed. Crime, drug addiction, and iniquity are as common as disease. The financial crisis has hit almost every country. Who knows what tomorrow is going to bring? In order to put an end to these terrible tragedies, we all must repent and turn to Hashem. The nation of Israel that was set aside by G-D to lead the world to repentance by showing what the light of the Torah can do for all of mankind. Unfortunately, the nations have not yet accepted Israel as their teacher -instead they are going against us by outlawing circumcision and trying to create an Arab state on our homeland. Others are threatening to wipe us out with a nuclear bomb and the world remains idle. Others dare to distort and abuse our Holy Torah attempting to bring proof of their false gods. Let us turn these noises of negative energy into the sound of the shofar! As it says in Joel 2:1 Blow a Shofar in Zion, And shout aloud on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the Hashem is coming; Surely it is near.
Rabbi Moshe Goldsmith Itamar Israel
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5773
In reviewing the past year as we are about to enter a new one, I take a long hard look into myself gazing open mouthed at times at how I maneuvered from one scene to the next, and I am thankful for the nearness of renewal and a chance to take a turn for the better. Here, at the top of the mountain sitting literally on Hashem’s heart, the setting always does me a favor as spirituality wraps itself around me. Illuminated I see the path and know it. But the world is the world is the world and I walk its streets and breathe its air. It says of the days just prior to the final redemption that truth will be hidden. This can mean on many levels: world events, media gossip, academic incompetence, consumer non validity and even about ourselves. My prayer is to never live a lie in any realm.
The Torah tells us that singular events took place on Rosh Hashana, the day man was created. It was the day Yitzchak Avinu was conceived. It was also the day Yosef HaTzaddik came out of prison. The esoteric meaning behind those events bring to mind the intrinsic value of the day itself, the meaning of a new chance for each and every one of us. It is the day we sound the shofar, breaking down the walls of whatever constrained us from who we really are. Yosef, the concentrated form of self-actualization of the soul while implementing his ideas into a practical level of living in this world. He is the sublime example of emet-truth, in the sense of self-realization and self-fulfillment. He realized his dreams and made them come true through truth even when the whole world stood on the other side, much like his grandfather, Avraham Avinu. Even when his brothers threw him into the pit.
It takes a shofar blowing into our faces to stand us to attention on a personal and national level, to make us realize and recognize the truth about our lives, our potential and our mission to be a light unto the nations and live Hashem’s will right here in His home in the Land of Israel sanctifying His name. Even if the world stands on the other side and even when our brothers throw us into the pit . The events of the world today can make us better understand the tasks that lie ahead of us. But the shofar serves as a wakeup call to never suck it up “to the man” (and let the love enthusiasm and curiosity to be snuffed out). As much as we try to be a part of the world we can’t live or believe the lie of the world. The time allotted for riding our own ESP is arriving – the time our thoughts take our bodies to proclaim the knowledge of Hashem through potent EMET-truth settling upon us. There can be no greater time to say thank you to Hashem for all the chances for self-fulfillment for ourselves and Am Yisrael and the world.
I would like to bless all of our friends first of all with blessings of bounty both spiritual and material- for a new year full of opportunity and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your friendship and love and care. Shana tova Umetukah! Chatimah Tova!
Leah Goldsmith-Itamar
Yom Kippur – 5772 October 7, 2011
Leah Goldsmith
There is a concept in Judaism that one can obliterate harsh judgment (Din), in the lower world (this world) through rectifying thoughts. The offshoots of this tikkunhamachshava (rectification of thoughts) enables judgment to be sweetened into lovingkindness, affecting the person working at it and the entire world. The imagistic poetry of ShlomoHaMelech describes this in the passuk (ShirHaShirim 8:3) “His left hand is under my head and His right embracing me.” The left side is demonstrative of Din, the right- Chesed. The mental image of Shlomo’spassuk is one of hands and the head. We are familiar also with the analogy of the year as a complete physical body. It has a head, a heart, a torso, arms feet, etc.. These parts correspond to the twelve months of the year. The first month, Tishrei correlates to the head which has the job of directing the body to where it will go and what it will do. This all has to do with what it decides. Thinking reasoning and the intellectual grasp of wisdom pertain to the first two days of Rosh Hashana. On the tenth day, Yom Kippur, a new level of understanding comes into play : the spirit of the psyche and a completely rectified way of knowing G-d. Fear of heaven graduates into love of Hashem.
The year begins with a chance to start on a “clean slate” of thought. The process of teshuva begins when making the decision that life’s goals are to be dedicated to Hashem – like our Rabbis say: “If a person does an act of glory for Heaven’s sake- leshaymshamayim- he will prevail in this world and prosper in the upper worlds.” When reaching this state there is no intellectual grasp or power of reason. This is a place so high in the nefesh and ruach (spirit and soul) that it is here that a person realizes how low and powerless he is without G-d. We ask what can we do to reach this ultimate level – the level of understanding G-d that Yom Kippur brings with it on the Day of Judgment – albeit a happy joyous fast day. Our Rabbis tell us that by turning compassion and kindness into a real way of life we can change the world. First we have to change our way of thinking. Then when we understand what Hashem wants from us – we act! This is what TikkunOlam is all about.
When I think of the rosh and the world today and ask how judgment can be sweetened if we just understand, I see the Jewish settlers that live out in Israel’s heartland as truly the head of the body, carrying the torch of light in so dark a world. The world is FULL of judgment. The double standards, the UN resolutions, the Clintons and Sarkozys, the lies of the media, the apathy of many of the people who should be standing behind but remain silent, the enemy that stops at nothing to do evil and the list goes on.The settler in all humbleness knows Hashem’s plan and acts for Heaven’s glory. Am Yisrael is about to undergo tremendous preparations for the near future. During the last months we have witnessed a shift in world events. As we anticipate the Day of Atonement we must begin to prepare ourselves for a New Year that will bring a more definite clarification about what we are doing here in the very center of the world, in the very heart of Israel. People need to understand that judgment is being sweetened by the supreme sacrifices being made by settlers in breaking through all the barriers set before them as a priority for the body of all of Am Yisrael and for the goodness of the world. The inmost mind of the world should be focused on Hashem creating this new year for the sole potential of fruition of His intention, the Land of Israel being the source of chiyut (life force) for the entire world. During these days of teshuva it is time to “litfoserosh”- carry your head, and change your way of thinking as the King embraces you with His right hand. It is time to understand what Israel means to G-d, the Jewish people and the world.
G’marChatimahTova to all our Friends of Itamar! This torah is being dedicated to my father, a”h, z”l- Moshe Ben Yaakov Krantz whose 18thyartzeit will be this Yom Kippur. May his soul have much pride and joy in the generations that have come out of him here in the Land of the Living and may he rise closer and closer to Hashem and be a sanigor for all of Am Yisrael.
YihiZichro Baruch! Leah Goldsmith