Category: Teachings on Bamidbar ( Numbers)

Parshat Matot – Masey July 8, 2010

“And the Lord spoke to Moshe saying: Command the Children of Israel and say to them, when you come into the Land of Kenaan, this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance with its borders”.

Parshat Masey begins with the motion of the journeys of the Bnei Yisrael on their pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Always on the move, each footstep and every march through the forty two stations in the desert held ramifications of “cheshbone nefesh” (soul searching). They wandered and wondered all the while asking “Where do we belong?” At the end of forty years they arrived at their final destination, to the confined borders of their inheritance. This is the merging of Chesed (motion) and Gevurah (boundaries) thus creating the vessel of the Land of Israel where the people of Israel were contained. They were told to clean the vessel of its impurity, making the place fit for holiness. This preparation had to be done by them when they arrived there. Although their travels were over, their work IN the land was not. Again, like Abraham who had been promised the land but had to pay for it, till its soil, wage war and purge it of paganism. Nevertheless, this was the ultimate prize the Bnei Yisrael received from Hashem after leaving Egypt and nursing torah, which were prerequisites for this finale.

A parable our Rabbis share with us on this play by play description of this expedition, of the effort that went into it, the no end in sight feeling of it, and the reward for it at the finish line. They tell of a King who asked his son to accompany him on a long and hard journey. Happily, the son agreed despite the time and effort he knew he had to put in. Towards the end of the trek father took son to a high hill and pointed to a castle in the distance.” This is yours, son.” It was waiting here for you all along.

The book of Jeremiah (2:2) recounts “Thus says the L-rd: I remember in thy favor the devotion of thy youth when thou didst go after me in the wilderness in a land that was not sown- Israel is holy to the L-rd”.

Parenting is sometimes not an easy thing. We spend a great deal of our lives nourishing, providing for, worrying for, and investing our greatest energies into our children only for them to leave us ultimately. The torah in this portion teaches us that the trek we make together, through thick and thin lead us to a new reality for the next generation. It is a new frontier that we helped them reach together with their faith in us. But the work is never done. It’s up to the next generation to “take the bull by the horns” because even the Promised Land that is mounted on a silver tray and handed to them has yet more tasks and more jobs to get done. That’s when it’s their turn to take over. Sadly, Moshe Rabbeinu never enters the Land. His babysitting time is over and a new page is turned in the book of the adventures of the Children of Israel. Now they had become young adults who had to go out and work for their living. They received the greatest gift in their final independence in leaving the Midbar – inheriting the Land.

Shabbat Shalom, Leah Goldsmith

Parshat Shlach June 6, 2010

For those of you who wish to hear mussar- read my old torahs from 2009, 2008.

One very outstanding feature I noticed, going back to New York for visits through the years has been that slowly, slowly Jews have found a way to be “frum” from A-Z and also live without Israel. It wasn’t that way when I was growing up in Brooklyn. Being Jewish, regardless of your level of observance, meant your firm conviction and passionate attachment to Israel. As this process of “super- frumkite” (with all the implications of dress code and dietary stringencies) spirals into a new attitude to Israel, it is moving away from any allegiance to it.

Simultaneously it was hard not to observe all the new super kosher restaurants mushrooming on every street corner. Even in residential neighborhoods. And people, in general looked “well fed”, to say the least. There was kosher Thai, Chinese, Macrobiotic, Duncan Doughnuts (kosher!), Italian, Indian, and the list just goes on and on. The frumest of people were eating in them.

Now I’ll end with a little story-

A man entered a Food Court and ordered a meal. He placed his tray on a vacant table and went to wash his hands. When he returned – lo and behold, someone was nibbling at his food. Speechless, he sat down and decided to just eat his meal, checking out the person sitting across from him from time to time. He was hoping as he stared at the perplexing face of the stranger eating his French fries that he would have a clue about what to do… “I can’t believe this!” he started saying to himself. “He is actually eating MY food! What chutzpah!” The stranger gave him a weak smile and just at that moment he realized that his seat and tray were just on the next bench….

Shabbat Shalom, Leah Goldsmith

Parshat Beha’alotcha May 29 2010

G-d created a world whose inner essence is holiness. But in order to have access to it, one must first be able to discern and recognize it within Mother Nature – vis-א-vis G-d, the tzaddikim, and the land of Israel. What you see is not always what you get. And vise versa.

Likutey Moharan on “Avoiding Honor” touches upon just what happened at the end of this parsha, Parshat Beha’alotcha. “We are required to minimize our honor and maximize G-d’s honor. For, one who pursues honor may attain kavod melachim (the glory of kings), but he cannot attain kevod Elokim (the glory of G-d). Of such a person it is written, “It is the glory of kings to inquire into a matter” (Proverbs 25:2) Everyone asks about him, “who is he and what is he? What has he done to deserve such honor?” Then they oppose him saying he is unworthy. But one who flees from honor, as it says about Moshe Rabbeinu “And the man Moshe was very meek, more so than any men that were upon the face of the earth, he attains kavod Elokim, G-d’s glory. Concerning Moshe it is written, “the glory of G-d is to conceal a matter.” (Proverbs 25:2)

Sometimes difficult questions come up about the Tzaddikim. This is inevitable because they resemble their creator. G-d’s greatness is so intense, influential, and powerful in His uplifted and lofty state. We can’t even comprehend or begin to achieve in fathoming G-d’s ways, so the reservations we have about His leadership move in as He is concealed in nature, in a world that renews itself through sleep and awakening. The contraction of G-d’s light makes Him hidden. When we look at the tzaddik, as how appears with a face like this, a body like that, teeth like those and hair like that – we come to a real test at perceiving G-dliness in him.

Suddenly the children of Israel, including his own siblings, begin to challenge Moshe Rabbeinu, the man that led them out of Egypt through the desert, provided them with food and water and turned them into a holy people. He was being questioned. He has a lisp. He took a Kushite woman. How could he leave us for forty days and nights? How could he do this and how could he do that?

G-d was being questioned.

The distrust and mistrust only continued as the concept of the land of Israel was greeted with skepticism. Demanding to put their eye on it, and seeing it so steeped within the realm of nature with it’s bars and beaches, it’s holiness contracted within it’s physicality. Whatever was seen was exaggerated, the people were giants there, the fruit huge. It was implausible- beyond belief! It remained an enigma, like G-d, and like Moshe Rabbeinu. The people later asked to return to Egypt, their real McCoy, than enter such a strange land. They rejected it and therefore would not enter it. Aside from Caleb and Yehoshua, Moshe’s faithful servants who saw in him who he was and what he was- pure holiness, all perished in the midbar. The spies who were the nesiyeah hador (the Princes of that generation) may have had kavod melachim (the glory of kings) but they did not come even close to understanding kavod Elokim (the glory of G-d). That is why they couldn’t bring the redemption.

Looking back and reviewing things past, the conflict between Yosef and his brothers personifies that of the tzaddik emet (the true righteous one) who was on the level of kavod elokim and his brothers who were tzaddikim but on the level of kavod melachim. They were not able to perceive Yosef, in all of the material physicality Mashiach Ben Yosef represents. Therefore, they persecuted him, selling him into slavery. Any talent he may have had, like interpreting dreams, becoming the CEO of the biggest supermarket in the world, and just being able to give plain good advice, he ran away from honor and proclaimed G-d the true success for his success. Later, when the brothers realized their mistake and the full extent of their wrongdoing and the harm they had caused, they confessesed, “What can we say, how can we speak, and how can we justify ourselves? G-d has uncovered the sin of your servants.” (Bereishit 44:16) By admitting to this mistake they were then able to rectify. This is adjacent to the time Yosef revealed himself to his brothers. This triggered the reconciliation that alludes to the ultimate Tikkun Olam that will come about when the real Mashiach will be revealed by all of mankind and the Kingdom of David will rise and reunite with Mashiach Ben Yosef. This will only happen though when kavod melachim is obvious with in Mother Nature. Then it becomes kevod Elokim. This will only happen when no-one doubts the tzaddikim, Eretz Yisrael and Hashem Himself.

Shabbat Shalom, Leah Goldsmith

Parshat BaMidbar May 16 2010

Leah Goldsmith

The essence of Am Yisrael is one.

The individual soul of each person is combined with all the souls into one soul bound under the heavenly Shechina.

Is there a place this can be done?

Am Yisrael emerged as a single nation from Egypt into the Sea of Suf under miraculous circumstances. For fifty days they prepared themselves for the greatest revelation -“keish echad belev echad”- like one man with one heart, while standing under the mountain of Sinai. This is where they came to know and understand G-d. Bound by torah and mitzvoth, they were turned into a covenantal community. The journey from sea to mountain did not end there. It continued all through the forty two stops in the Midbar (desert) which took over forty years of understanding of what G-d really wanted from them. The manifestation of their true identity came into practical consequence when the rich soil of the Promised Land was finally taken, like a groom takes a bride. This was the consummation of the marriage on Sinai.

People do mitzvoth out of an individual yearning to connect to the Ein Sof. They seek spirituality. They buy de lux tefillin, the best of etrogim for sukkot, are careful about kosher and some even sleep in their tzitzit. This is all well and good. Seemingly, these actions have no connection to what the next person’s mitzvah status is. In reality though, what I do directly affects what happens to all of Am Yisrael. There is a vital force that binds us all. G-d created Israel like a menorah- into one mold. Like our Rabbis say, “If you hurt your right arm, your left arm can’t say it doesn’t hurt. The whole body feels it”. Every person’s soul incorporated into the main unit, the main artery determines how the “one man with one heart” feels. This unique hand in hand feeling of unity is most felt in times of war.

There is only one domain that Am Yisrael can “do right” in its mitzvoth. This was the place Hashem told Abraham, way before Am Yisrael were in Egypt, “To REALLY know Me, get thee to the Land that I will show you”. “I will give it to you” (but you have to work for it. You have to buy it. You have to win it in war. You have to be tested time and time again. Lo Bashamayim hee!)

The eagerness a person feels about doing mitzvoth on a structural level in exile, out and away from his Land should always be accompanied with the knowledge that he is not complete because he is not enabling Am Yisrael to be complete. No “New Jerusalem” is going to fall down from the sky. He should be seeing an exit sign blinking neon because the illusion that he is “making good” and doing what G-d wants from him DOESN’T EXIST in the real intention of the torah. Israel is G-d’s home on earth. It is heaven on earth. It is the collective Jewish consciousness. Wake upmitzvah Jews! The dog days are over. You’re holding up the works. Get out of the Midbar.

Shabbat Shalom, Leah Goldsmith

Pinchas July 10, 2009

“Honoring Heaven”

Has drama taken an upscale since Hollywood came on the scene, or were people always attracted to the stage? The emotionalism one feels after a good “hot” story measures its success. Sometimes fans get confused between the agents of the plot, the actors, in their performance and in their everyday lives as regular people. They believe that maybe they are super heroes. Sometimes the celebrities themselves loose their identities. We have seen this many times, and even in the recent past. They become the image of great distinction and fame, feed on attention based on the illusion of their image. It all becomes “me”, “how do I look now?”, and “if it feels good, do it”. But it is not always a happy end for them.

Our sages tell us that when Pinchas, the son of Elazar, the son of Aaron the High Priest, from the tribe of LEVI, came to spear Zimri, from the tribe of SHIMON, the souls of Nadav and Avihu and Eliyahu the prophet entered him- all whose zealousness worked solely for the honor of heaven. This was no heat of the moment act of insane passion, but stepping out of himself, Pinchas was rectifying a wrong done to the sanctity of the name of G-d. We may see him as a “hot” hit-man, but his sole concern was indeed honoring heaven.

Let’s go back in time to another incident that involved SHIMON and LEVI by the same token of zealousness. They could not bear the disgrace made to their sister, Dina when she was raped by the king of Shechem, Shechem ben Chamor. Before taking action, they realized and understood the atrocity of the act, the abomination that this dreadful blow had brought to Bnei Yisrael. In order to rectify not only what was done to Dina, but to the honor of Yisrael, they took a whack at Shechem based on the fundamental principle of honoring heaven.

Going through time, we see the tribe of Levi was the torah leaders in Egypt. They did not partake in the sin of the golden calf. We see Moshe Rabbeinu striking the Egyptian that hurt a fellow Jew. This is a clear example of knowing and realizing a low, low reality for Am Yisrael and rectifying it. The tribe of Levi was given the work in the Tabernacle and the preisthood. Later in history we are witness to the Chashmonaim from the tribe of Levi, with Mattityahu as their leader. There were plenty of Hellenists living at that time and parts of Am Yisrael had given in to the strange and paganistic culture. This did not faze the Chasmonaim a bit. They knew what was right and re-established the holy vocation in the Temple. This was all in the name of honoring heaven at a time when it was hard to perceive what was right and what was wrong. Hashem gave them miracles and we celebrate this victory every year on Chanukah.

What about Shimon though? Zimri is a prince of his tribe. He is a well known aristocrat. Our sages bring down that Kozbi was none other than the daughter of Balak himself. There’s no way we can judge Shimon favorably on this issue. To enter the holy site and copulate was a fanatical statement – “You can all go fly a kite, if it feels good-do it.” He wanted people to look. Zimri challenged Hashem by making himself G-d. This was not a happy end for him.

When a person feels on fire to make an impression in the world, let him ask first if he is giving free play to his emotions about himself or if what he is doing is simply and exactly honoring heaven.

Dear Readers, Please read Pinchas 2008as well- it explains geographically just actually how close we are to the protagonists of this parsha.

Shabbat Shalom, Leah Goldsmith

Balak July 1, 2009

Anti-Semitism is a real phenomenon. What gives it power is the failure of people to identify it. Balak is a powerful leader that seeks to bring Am Yisrael down to it’s knees. Balak knows about Segulat Yisrael yet thinks that if he uses an evil magician to undermine the jewish people, he can over-ride Hashem. This parsha deals specifically with the forces of evil in their fight against righteousness. When it becomes hard to identify what an enemy is really doing, the victim usually gives in to the side of powerlessness. This method of camaflougued anti-Semitism has been used countless times throughout history, including the not so distant past of the 1930’s when the administration leaders, non-jews and jews as well,in the US denied the facts of what Nazi Germany was planning for the Jews of Europe. The world powers of that time, including the “allied countries” too had trouble assessing the situation. People could not fathom that in the boom of industrial revolution and the modernization of the world, an evil so sadistic would eventually succeed. This is how the Germans rose to power. In a war like this, the fine line between reality and illusion is manipulated by the enemy. No-one identified the monster.

The truth to winning such a war is recognizing that there is in fact a war.

Harav Arielle Bar Tzadok wrote in his” war against evil”,”Illusions, fear, and lies severely limit the soldier on the battlefield and could seriously contribute to his defeat, more than his being out-gunned by the other side. There are far too many people, not just soldiers, who do not know how to think properly, to diagnose, to analyze situations within appropriate depth and insight. These people are subjected to one of the many forms of psychic attack. The attack could have either slowly or quickly broken down the rational mind, leaving him/her open to the influence and subject of submission. Independent rational thinking, coupled with one’s own ability to experience spiritual reality personally, makes a person become spiritually and psychically strong. One also must stand on the foundations of faith.”

This is where we begin to identify. Why is it that people closer to Torah values are more aware of what is happening today with modern day “Balaks”? Why are the court jews and all the jews that voted for a President that has the audacity to govern where jews will live ( and according to him- not live)- not blinking? When a person believes in Hashem and the light He wishes to bring into the world through the Jewish people living in their Land, the example of living prophecy coming true, he will certainly see a red light blinking when he hears a world leader calling for the restraint on natural growth in ancient Jewish places like Itamar, Shilo, Chevron and yes, even EAST Jerusalem. It is easy for a person with a real identity, based on faith to see the psychic attack on the horizon. Removing jews from their rightful place, is the most concentrated form of evil you will ever see. It is hard to discern this behind modern day, sweet talking, mesmerizing good talk.

Don’t be fooled.

Hashem is all good. This we know in complete faith. These enemies of ours, they keep coming at us but we have resilience in knowing the secrets of the Torah. Doing good is one thing. It is done through acts of kindness, learning, praying, etc…. But there is something else that is revealed to us in this parsha. It is turning something bad into something good. This is the highest level of worship. Fire and water really can never connect through the normal form of nature. A person in a body, using his senses of seeing, smelling, hearing, touching and tasting and viewing the world through those abilities, swims through life perceiving what he perceives. When in tune with the fine perceptions that being connected with Hashem allots, a constant flame burns on the altar of a person’s soul, the place presumeably hidden, like most of reality. The miracle of being able to see the unseen is the gift given to the believer : Perception.

“How goodly are your tents, Ya’akov and your mishkenot (prayer halls), Yisrael.” The curses intended, when identified, were turned into blessings. So we too, in knowing the foundation of faith is being always able to see the good that comes out of the bad. But first, we have to be able to know that even when it looks bad and we can IDENTIFY it- THEN the tables turn. This can only be done when we have Hashem in us always, and we stand strongly rooted into Him through our souls. All of this appears to be unseen, but you have to be able to look past the “Times, Daily News, BBC, CNN etc…”

Dear Readers,

Every house built in our historical ancient legacy gives empowerment to all of the jewish people and in essence, all of those that hold on to torah values. Our great sages, throughout all the generations lived with faith. Today we have even more. G-d has given us the opportunity to live the prophecy. We have lived to see the bad become good countless times. Those that seek to curse Israel will no doubt sink on the sinking ship of their empires. It is time for jews to make the decision now about where they stand on these extremely pending issues. It really is time to identify the situation and stop sweeping the crumbs under the rug. When we made aliyah 24 years ago, times were good in the US. But the foreshadowing of this day was clearly felt for those of us who psychically had the advantage…

For those of you who can find a way to make a difference for the people that live out on the front line, please see our paypal option. Thank you.

Shabbat Shalom, Leah Goldsmith