Smicha lessons

we learn in smicha, the laws of kashrus "l'bol'oy kach poltoy" - in the manner that it was absorbed, thats the way it'll come out. (for example if non kosher meat was grilled, it is kashered by grilling/fire not water) The same is with terror - just as they don't ask permission to terrorize, we don't ask to defend ourselves.

12 Tamuz

Yud bais/12 tamuz: the KGB was not afraid of world opinion when it arrested the friedeker Rebbe,. In a positive note we can learn from that not to be afraid of anyone when doing something good, if stopped, invite them to join you, or to walk out the same door you walked in...

Sidur

The Alter Rebbe only included in his sidur that which was universally agreed upon as necessary leaving anything else out,(meaning anything that there was a debate whether it should be included he left out) I learn the same in interacting with everyone, focus on what universally matters (personality and so on) and skip anything that is debatable.

Shoftim

 its says in this parsha לא תלמד לעשות' - you shall not learn the nonsense of the nations in order to DO them, thats why it is explained what the nations do, so we should know what NOT to do. Thats also what we can learn from CNN and his affiliates, learning from other peoples mistakes so you make none of your own.

Canada anthem:

G-d keep.our land glorious and free, O' Canada we stand on guard for thee. G-d is the one who actually keeps our land glorious and free, all we need to do is to stand on guard.

Shoftim

 its says in this parsha not to listen to the sorcerers and people like them "the nations do so but you listen to Hashem your G-d" Rashi explains, like the people who say "today will be a bad day cuz I saw a stick/black cat and so on" or Friday the 13th (actually a good day and number in Judaism)
It also applies in more subtle cases like people which claim "you(r) grand/kids wont find a good yeshiva/shiduch if you do such and such,or wont get smicha/go on shlichus and so on and so forth, they are the doomsayers of our time and as the Torah says " to Hashem you shall listen"
not to the doomsayers, as Hashem runs the world not the people who think (or dont) they do.

Mayim achronim

The reason according to Chasidus for mayim achronim, to wash off salt from Sedom: the mentality of sedom was: whats mine is mine and whats yours is negotiable. Since peoples thought process changes after eating (which is why many business deals are done by lunch) there is the risk of thinking that way, therefore the after waters are there to remind you otherwise...

Nitzavim

: It says "If you will be scattered from one end of the heavens until the other... from there Hashem will gather you" The reason it says bkseh hashamayim (from the edge of the heavens) is that the Jews will not only be scattered physically during exile but also spiritually, however the Torah says not to give up hope because "from there Hashem will gather you"

Ki Seitzai

Ki Seitzai: the Torah tells us that Amon and Moav (males) are locked from marrying in to the Jewish nation " because they did not greet you with bread and water when you left Egypt. And because they hired Bilam to "bless you" Now we might think that they had no food and therefore could not help out, like its hard to expect Nigeria to help out the world with food when they are struggling themselves. To counter that line of thought the Torah says "and because they hired Bilam" They had enough money to hire a greedy sorcerer, but for food there was none. Kinda like the "poor refugees in Gaza" who have money for tunnels and weapons but not for food..."

slichos

We say in slichos: "lcha havaya hatzdaka vlanu boshes hapanim" - "To you G-d is the righteousness and to us is the shame" by focusing on (and helping others focus) on "To G-d is the righteousness" we will have no time for (to get it into the situation of) and fix (the current problem of) "and to us is the shame" by bringing Moshiach now. A ksiva vchasima tova to everyone. "Brachos worth spreading"

technology

Parshas Shlach: The spies acted the way they did because they were
afraid of losing everything they had, had for the past while. They said "it is a land which swallows up those who live there - when the Jews move there, they will be "swallowed up" by physicality and their spiritual life will suffer. Some people say the same thing about technology - it will "swallow us up" distracting us from the truth. To this Yehoshua and Kalev both responded - "G-d is with us, do not fear" G-d wants us to work WITH the world not to stay away from it to make it a place where HE can live in. (Although a small percentage can isolate themselves its not a general recommendation) So you could basically say we are in charge of Maintenance which were given tools to use, not to let them rust.

self-sacrifice

Chukas

We see in this parsha that Moshe hit the rock instead of talking to it and therefore expired his Israeli visa. The reason Moshe hit (and did not speak) to the rock was because of his self sacrifice for his people. If he wouldv'e spoken to the rock which then would have given water, it would've made the Jews look bad, because if an inanimate rock does the will of G-d just by talking to it, surely his kids, alive and well should do so. By hitting it, Moshe as it were lessened the blame for his people. Thats what a leader is and has to go thru!

We see the same by Yona and the whale, he didnt want to go because he knew it would make his people look negative, the nations are fixing themselves but what about G-d chosen ones?
However G-d wanted it otherwise, to deliver the message, and being a soldier he went.

Be good, stay good make others good and good times always!

virtualizing

when Miriam was hit with tzara'as, Aron told Moshe "let her not be as a dead person

and (because I am her brother) it is as if half of me is eaten"

This is how we must look at our fellow Jews,  to feel their pain as though it is ours, and to do whatever we can to alleviate it. The opposite is also true, rejoicing with our own when great things happen.

As we see with in regard to Yakov blessing Efrayim and Menashe, one of the blessings was that others bless by their name because when his right hand was on Menashe because he was on a higher level then Efrayim, Efrayim was not jealous of Menashe, and Menashe did not get haughty because of this. (Rashi, vayechi)

Also we see in parshas ve'era: when Moshe was appointed 

to rescue the Jews from Egypt, it says about Aron "And he was happy in his heart" He was happy that his brother was chosen for the mission.

Basically, we "virtualize" the situation. Good times always!

Be'haloscha - being prepared

In this weeks parsha we are told
Miriam asked why Moshe was different
then everyone else in the sense that he separated
(then divorced) his wife when everyone else did
not do so. It says Hashem called Aron and Miriam
suddenly - Rashi explains this means right after
 they performed the mitzva of "be fruitful and multiply"
they were looking for a mikva with which to purify themselves
(Hashem decreed that the mitzva makes one impure regardless
of the level of the person until immersion in a mikva)
Specifically at that moment Hashem called for them
before they were (as it were) prepared to speak with Him.
 This explained the difference: Moshe had to be prepared
to speak with G-d 24/7 and therefor had to remain on a higher level of purity
at all times, this was not required of other people.
Some lessons I learn:

Sometimes it seems we are most prepared when we are least prepared
As it says Moshiach will come "be'hesach da'as" - when our concentration is
distracted, meaning when we are least preparing for Moshiach that is the best
time for him to come. Precisely at this time when this world looks so
unprepared for Moshiach (depends which news sites you've been looking at)
this is the time when he is coming.



 

Shavuos

On Shavuos we learn the God gave the.Jews the Torah on a small mountain to teach the Jews to be humble, in that case why wasn't it given in a valley? Its much lower then a mountain (approx 7000 ft) G-d wanted to teach the Jews two lessons. 1.. Be humble 2. Don't be TOO humble! Be humble of arrogance but be a mountain (not an arrogant one)in regards to your Judaism to tell those who try to stop us that they are free to walk out the same door they walked in!

Tzav

It says in this weeks parsha:

"Fire shall be kept burning upon the altar continually; it shall not go out" 

meaning that the fire for Judaism is eternal and never goes out.

We, we don't have to worry bout nothing
Cause we got the fire, and we're burning one hell of a something
They, they gonna see us from outer space, outer space
Light it up, like we're the stars of the human race, human race

(we are the stars, and its called making a kidush hashem so even those from 

outer space can see)

When the lights started out, they don't know what they heard
Strike the match, play it loud, giving love to the world
We'll be raising our hands, shining up to the sky
Cause we got the fire, fire, fire, yeah we got the fire fire fire

And we gonna let it burn burn burn burn
We gonna let it burn burn burn burn
Gonna let it burn burn burn burn
We gonna let it burn burn burn burn


We don't wanna leave, no, we just gonna be right now
And what we see, is everybody's on the floor acting crazy getting lurker to the lights out
Music's on, im waking up, we stop the vibe, and we bump it up
And it's over now, we got the love, there's no secret now, no secret now

When the lights started out, they don't know what they heard
Strike the match, play it loud, giving love to the world
We'll be raising our hands, shining up to the sky
Cause we got the fire, fire, fire, yeah we got the fire fire fire

And we gonna let it burn burn burn burn
We gonna let it burn burn burn burn
Gonna let it burn burn burn burn
We gonna let it burn burn burn burn

When the lights started out, they don't know what they heard
Strike the match, play it loud, giving love to the world
(also known as ahavas chinam- random kindness)
We gonna let it burn burn burn burn
Burn burn burn burn

We can light it up up up
So they cant put it out out out
We can light it up up up
So they cant put it out out out
We can light it up up up
So they cant put it out out out
We can light it up up up
So they cant put it out out out
( Its also called resisting and if necessary fighting attempts to put our fire out, by by putting their fire out first

When the lights started out, they don't know what they heard
Strike the match, play it loud, giving love to the world
We'll be raising our hands, shining up to the sky
Cause we got the fire, fire, fire, yeah we got the fire fire fire

And we gonna let it burn burn burn burn
We gonna let it burn burn burn burn
Gonna let it burn burn burn burn
We gonna let it burn burn burn burn

When the lights started out, they don't know what they heard
Strike the match, play it loud, giving love to the world
We'll be raising our hands, shining up to the sky
Cause we got the fire, fire, fire, yeah we got the fire fire fire

And we gonna let it burn

Tzav

 "Fire shall be kept burning upon the altar continually; it shall not go out"
This refers to the fire (passion) that on has for Yidishkite - that shall not go out

the goal is to keep the fire burning and to intensify it
by presenting Judaism in a exciting manner. Like this:

If it is presented incorrectly
like this: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/ywn-videos/128489/full-video-internet-asifa-at-citifield.html
the fire can indeed to some extent) go out..

Zachor

If Shaul Hamelech had shechted the animals immediately he could've both 1) killed all of Amalek
2) as well as offer karbanos. The lesson we learn is to jewtilize (utilize) every oppurtunity.

War and Responsibility

The point of war is not to die for your country but to make your enemy die for his. As we see in the Torah with the Chait HaEgel, the people said "Make for us a god who will go before us" (Ki Sisa) 

They couldn't go or make it themselves they wanted someone else to do it....

They couldn't be a god either, they had to make or import it from someplace else. Also after the incident with the spies they said 

"appoint for us a leader and we will go back to Egypt"(Shlach)

 again they for some reason weren't man enough to go or appoint a leader themselves they wanted someone else to do that job.... This is the epitome of how you do business. You appoint someone else to do the work for you while you get paid. Like this:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865571184/Verizon-employee-caught-outsourcing-own-computer-programming-job-to-China.html

 And it's free advice as well :)

Pesach

 We learn parenting from the Torah, as it says

"And your son will ask you [regarding Pesach] what is is this? And the Torah says "you shall tell your son that Paroh enslaved us and G-d redeemed us" and so on and so forth.

 It does not say to scream at your son for not knowing the basics, for not paying attention, for spacing out and similar excuses."And you shall tell your son" this comes to exclude anger,lectures,threats and warnings. (to those without common sense it applies to daughters as well)

A kosher'n Freilichen Pesach.