Exodus Magazine - February 2020

#208 | February 2020 • Shvat 5780

The Jewish Russian Community Centre of Ontario Serving Canada's Jewish Russian Community Since 1980

think! again.

February 2020 • Shvat 5780

7

5 | JEWISH SOUL

The Gift of Music

8

10

8 | LIFE ON EARTH

Soul Transportation

For this is a medium that directly communicates with the heart and the inner aspects of the soul, unlike prose which speaks to the intellect and only then can probe deeper.

What carries our souls from one place to another? The Kabbalah offers a fascinating answer: The only way a soul can move about is through a song. Without song the soul remains stuck in one place.

— From the Rebbe's correspondence

— by Simon Jacobson

6 | MADE YOU THINK

10 | JEWISH THOUGHT

Can You Feel Your Soul?

Music, Spirituality and Transformation

The experience of the soul does not enter our consciousness as a complete, unified perception. It penetrates our consciousness as an accumulation of varying experiences.

Why the centrality of song, the “niggun” in Chabad Chassidic life?

A “niggun” is a song, generally without words, considered a path to higher consciousness and transformation of being.

— by Adin Even-Israel (Steinsaltz)

— by Tzvi Freeman

7 | MADE YOU THINK

18 | PERSPECTIVES

Diversity is a sign of strength not weakness. Moses uses not the word Torah but shirah, “song,” because in this respect Torah is like music, that its greatest beauty lies in complex harmonies.

Traveling the world is one of my biggest joys. I strongly believe that we are sent exactly where we are needed to bring light to others.

And to ourselves.

— by Jonathan Sacks

— by Sofya Tamarkin

Jewish Diversity & Unity

A Chinese Girl in Singapore

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It is the suspense of knowing something big is going to happen, but not knowing exactly what.

It shoots me up, knocks me down, spins me around and upside-down. It can make me sick.

It can be exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. It can make me lose my sense of self, and plays tricks on my center of gravity. It’s only fun if I’m looking forward; looking backwards can be dangerous. It makes me want to scream.

It makes me want to barf. If I want to survive, I have to know the rules. It goes way too fast.

And when it’s all over, I’ll end up back at the same place I started.

Life is like a symphonic roller coaster. This might mean different things to different people, but I think we can all relate, one way or another.

The question is, to I stay present and attuned to the music and its message, both subtle and obvious, or do I become overwhelmed by the shifts and crescendos; do I lose myself to the music, or do I lose myself to life?

Once in a while I find a little peace and manage to escape the incessant chaos, take a break, and resolve to find a quiet place, to make plans that would enable me to stay there for a while. But, for some reason, when the train comes around again I can’t resist. It convinces me that my escape plans are audacious, even contemptuous. I jump back on and ride it again. Part of me is addicted to the chaos, to the possibility that I can somehow tame it, that the next time around the ride I will finally be able to assert my control over it. Driven like an egomaniac mad magician, I keep thinking that one more small adjustment to my calculations, one final tweak to my routine, one last hurdle to overcome, and I’ll finally get it right.

But the ride is alive, and it is smarter than I am. It keeps evolving and changing as I do, but remains one step ahead, forever twisting, adding another unexpected loop here, another surprising, gut-dropping fall there. It denies and resists my attempts to tame and control it; just when I am about to feel secure in my mastery of a certain aspect of life, it shifts, forcing me to retreat, regroup and reevaluate before I jump back on the ride to try again. It keeps that elusive state of absolute certainty and security just beyond my grasp – close enough to tempt me into thinking I can get there, but far enough to keep me honest, if I want to be.

It toys with me. When things are propelling forward beyond my control, I desperately want to jump off and escape. When things finally slow down, I convince myself that I’m stuck, frustrated by my inability to get back on the ride, that I have to wait in line for the train to come back around my way. The insanity does not take a vacation.

At the end of the day, it seems like a crazy ride that goes nowhere. The linear progression of it is difficult to discern, and matters only to its architect. So it is not the destination that is most important, but how I live my life along the way. Happiness, therefore, is not a goal I live my life in order to attain, and life is not the road I happen to traverse on my way to achieving happiness. Happiness is a state of mind, a state of being. Happiness itself is the road I need to be traveling on. Happiness is the means through which goals and dreams are achieved, not the result of them. Don’t live life in order to enjoy the ride. Enjoy the ride in order to live life.

Enjoy the ride. And listen to the music.

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jewish soul

The Gift

of

Music

From the Rebbe's correspondence

I

was pleased to receive your letter of January 10th, following the personal regards which I have received through mutual friends, as well as the reports about your involvement with Lubavitch and Chabad teachings, etc.

All this is especially pertinent at this time in our Jewish calendar, the period between Chanukah and Yud (10th of) Shevat. Coming from Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, which symbolizes the light of the Torah and Mitzvahs, we are reminded of the Chassidic emphasis on inspired joy and brightness which should permeate the life and activity of every Jew. Moreover, as in the case of light which is of immediate benefit not only to the one who lights it, but also to many others at the same time, so a Jew has to illuminate his personal life as well as his surroundings with the light of Torah and Mitzvoth. This is also emphasized by the special requirement that the Chanukah lights be seen outside, so as to illuminate those who might still be walking in darkness.

Similarly, Yud Shevat, the Yahrzeit of my father-in-law of saintly memory, brings to mind his dedicated efforts in the course of the last decade of his life in this country, to spread the principles and teachings of Chassidus to many who were "outside," Thus, many "outsiders" became "insiders," whose lives were brightly illuminated with the light, vitality and warmth of Chassidus, and who in turn became "shining lights" illuminating others.

Your joining this ever growing Chassidic family who have found a new meaning in life and, with it, peace and happiness, has a special significance in that you are a Kohen, and also in that Divine Providence has given you a gift of song and melody. For this is a medium that directly communicates with the heart and the inner aspects of the soul, unlike prose which speaks to the intellect and only then can probe deeper. Through the medium of song and melody one can touch directly upon the heartstrings of the listener and inspire his inner soul, which is the reason why song and melody have such a prominent part in Chassidus in general, and in Chabad in particular.

In the light of the above, I extend to you

February 2020

both my prayerful wishes to utilize to the full the capacities and opportunities which G‑d has given you in the above mentioned direction, and to do this in the Chabad way - with complete trust in G‑d and with inspiration, and may G‑d bless you with success to go from strength to strength in all above, in good health and with gladness of heart. * * * To "serve G‑d with joy" is, of course, one of the basic tenets of Judaism and the Jewish way. Indeed, every Jew who counts his blessings, and the greatest blessing of all - the distinct privilege of Serving G‑d through the fulfillment of His Torah and Mitzvoth, and spreading the light of G‑dliness in the world at large, has ample reason for great rejoicing, and for serving G‑d in all his ways with enthusiasm and vitality. However, the very repetitiousness of the daily prayers and daily Mitzvahs tends to make their performance somewhat mechanical.

The nature of song and melody is rather different in that the more familiar they are, the more readily one responds to them, and their rhythmic, repetition, especially in community singing, tends to intensify

the feeling and uplift the soul. Moreover, melody and song are contagious, striking a responsive chord in all within hearing and inducing them to join in the uplifting experience; one of the reasons This is why melody and song have, such an important place in Chassidic life. The spirit of enthusiasm and joy must permeate a Jew's dally life and all his activities: Torah study, prayer and the performance of all the Mitzvahs, and, not least, one's efforts to spread Judaism in the environment with joy and gladness of heart.

And although your Chassidic festival is taking place during the Solemn Days of the Ten Days of Teshuvah (Return, Repentance), it has been explained that Teshuvah is one of the greatest gifts that the Almighty has given us, in order to enable a person to restore the proper balance in his daily life, and to prepare the way for continuous advancement in all matters of goodness and holiness, Torah and Mitzvahs. Thus, the Mitzvah of Teshuvah, though necessarily associated with earnest introspection and profound regret for past failings, it is surely cause for the greatest possible rejoicing, since it carries the Divine assurance that sincere Teshuvah - return to one's Jewish roots and essence - is always accepted. EM

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Can You Feel Your Soul?

Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz

W

e have a soul. We know because we can feel it. It is unclear how early in his life a person discovers he or she has a soul; probably not during infancy, and maybe not even in early childhood. In any event, this is one of the first things a person perceives, even if he does not perceive it fully. This is similar to our perception of our bodies, which also develops gradually: At first it includes only the visible, or the most active parts, of the body. This perception, however, continues to expand with time and experience. One can assume that an infant discovers his body through the sensations he encounters in various body parts, perceiving it through individual experiences that gradually combine to form some sort of whole. He may initially discover that he has a stomach, since he sometimes senses pain there. Through his sense of sight and his other senses, he slowly discovers that he also has hands, feet, and other body parts, until he attains a consciousness of his entire body. But despite the fact that we conduct a constant, loving dialogue with the body (possibly too loving!) and are always dealing with it and caring for it to some degree, more of it is hidden from us from us than perceived. While we are able to see and touch the external parts of our bodies, our acquaintance with its inner workings is indirect and limited, assuming we are acquainted with these at all. Most people don’t know the exact location of their heart, and, surprisingly, not even their stomach.

They are certainly unfamiliar with other body parts that they might never even have heard of.

The experience of the soul does not enter our consciousness as a complete, unified perception either. It penetrates our consciousness as an accumulation of varying experiences: Love and hate, attraction and abhorrence, curiosity and learning, and so on. These experiences appear individually.

Only at a later stage do they form some sense of self, of an “I.” When the totality of these experiences is defined as “I,” even an unsophisticated person can, to some extent, differentiate between “I” in the physical sense and “I” in the spiritual sense, meaning the soul. However,

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just as our acquaintance with our bodies begins with externally focused perceptions, our acquaintance with our souls also begins with outwardly focused experiences, while its inner workings are far less apparent. Even adults are not entirely familiar with them and are generally incapable of describing them precisely.

Nevertheless, our acquaintance with the soul is a fundamental one. The recognition of the soul and the experiences revealing it exist within us even before they are expressed verbally, yet a child needs to reach a certain level of maturity to be able to speak of his soul. This is because profound, spiritual experiences become apparent to us only in extraordinary circumstances, and even then, they are not understood completely as part of a larger and meaningful structure .

The soul is something we sense. We are as certain of its existence as we are of the body’s existence, but we don’t know much about it. Throughout the ages, various attempts have been made to locate the soul spatially.

The Greeks thought that the locus of the

soul was in the diaphragm. By contrast, the Torah states that “the blood is the soul” (Deuteronomy 12:23). This perception is perhaps related to the idea that the heart is the basis of physical existence as well as the focal point of the soul.

All of these efforts are merely attempts to resolve this enigma by locating the soul somewhere in the body. Nowadays, after many generations of observation and experimentation, it is generally accepted that the soul’s location is in the brain. However, scientists and philosophers as well as other thinking people know that this sort of definition is merely convenient shorthand and not really an accurate description. Even those who locate the soul in the heart or brain know that these organs are just pieces of flesh that can, at best, serve as points of contact with the soul but do not constitute the soul itself...

The more a person is aware of inner experiences such as love and hate, hope and despair, the greater the chance that these experiences will awaken some sort of awareness of the full depth and breadth of the soul...

Every person has a soul. There are people whose soul reveals itself to them to a greater degree than others’ souls do, but only a few individuals, to whom mysteries beyond intellectual consciousness have been revealed, can speak of the essence of a soul at all. The content of this book draws on the illumination of, and is written in the spirit of, those true masters of the , great sages who were aware of and connected with their divine soul, and, having been party to such knowledge, have conveyed some of its mysteries, and revealed parts of its essence to us. EM Excerpted from the book "Soul" by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz.

Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz is internationally regarded as one of the leading rabbis of this century. The author of many books, he is best known for his monumental translation of and commentary on the Talmud. To learn more visit his website, steinsaltz.org.

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Jewish Diversity & Unity Jonathan Sacks

T

he beauty of creation, as we believe and as science ever more wondrously shows, is that Unity above creates diversity below, and the more complex the life form, the greater the diversity. The Rambam (Moreh Nevuchim 2: 40) says that though diversity applies to all life forms, it applies more to humans than any other.

To which one must surely add: and among Jews more than most.

No small people is more diverse, ethnically, culturally, attitudinally and religiously – and the more religious, the more diverse.

There was hardly a Jewish settlement in the Middle Ages without its own customs and songs. In the eighteenth and nineteenth century each Chassidic group and yeshivah had its own style, its own music, its own learning style, its own role models, its own spiritual tonality. The way of Ger was not that of Chabad; that of Volozhyn not that of Mir. Diversity is a sign of strength not weakness.

As R. Yechiel Michel Epstein notably said in the introduction of Arukh haShulkhan to Choshen Mishpat: in the very last of the 613 commands, the mitzvah of writing a Torah scroll, Moses uses not the word Torah but shirah, “song,” because in this respect Torah is like music, that its greatest beauty lies in complex harmonies. Or as the Netziv writes in his commentary to the Tower of Babel, uniformity of thought is not a sign of freedom but its opposite.

Almost everything I read in Torah, whether in the written texts of the Tanakh (Bible) or in the oral Torah recorded in the Talmud and other works, seems to say likewise. Judaism is the only religion all of whose canonical texts are anthologies of arguments: arguments between G‑d and humans, humans and G‑d, humans and one another. The Mishnah preserves the arguments of the sages even when it knows that the law is like one not the other. The greatest work ever undertaken to eliminate argument from its pages was the Mishneh Torah, and it gave rise to more arguments than any other.

So difference, argument, clashes of style and substance, are signs not of unhealthy division but of health. The Judaism of

February 2020

Judaism is the only religion all of whose canonical texts are anthologies of arguments: arguments between G‑d and humans, humans and G‑d, humans and one another.

Torah, faith and Jewish Law continues to do what it has done for so long: to defeat the law of entropy that states, all systems lose energy over time. Not Judaism. Where you find argument, there you will find passion.

What then is the proper response to the current situation? First, not to take too seriously the fact that someone delegitimize you. When this happens, the only thing to do is to remember Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai’s dying words: halevai sheyehei morah Shamayim alecha kemorah bassar ve-dam. “Would that you worried about what G‑d thinks instead of worrying about what another person thinks.”

Second, to maintain your own position without criticizing others. There have been moments, thankfully few, when things I have said have been interpreted that way: if so I

apologize. The truth is: hamoser din al chavero hu ne’enash techilah. “One who passes judgment on his fellow is judged first.” It is not necessary to negate in order to affirm.

All that is necessary to achieve love of one's fellow is to remember daily that G-d loves us – all of us together, despite our differences, failings and disagreements.

G-d loves and forgives. Let us love and forgive. EM Rabbi Dr. Sir Jonathan Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi of the UK and the Commonwealth and a member of the House of Lords, is a leading academic and respected world expert on Judaism. He is a the author of several books and thousands of articles, appears regularly on television and radio, and speaks at engagements around the world.

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jewish thought

Soul Transportation Simon Jacobson

W

hat gives music its power?

How does it have the ability to transport us to another time and place? To lift a broken spirit? To bring a tear to a happy soul? Why does a song have the capacity to reach the depths of our heart, bring old memories alive, awaken our deepest aspirations and naturally cause us to dance to its beat?

What type of language is this language of song, and where did it originate? We learn the spoken language at home and at school. But who taught us how to sing?

What is the soul of song?

The mystics explain it this way: How do souls travel? Bodies move about on legs or in vehicles. But what moves a soul? A soul doesn’t have legs and cannot be contained in an automobile or other vehicle. What carries our souls from one place to another?

The Kabbalah offers a fascinating answer: The only way a soul can move about is through a song. Without song the soul remains stuck in one place.

In the Holy Temple in Jerusalem there were fifteen steps corresponding to the fifteen songs of ascents in the Book of Psalms (120-135), which the Levites would sing as they stood on the steps. In order to climb from one step to the next a song had to be sung.

In our material world we can convince ourselves that we are mobile – movers and shakers – even if our souls never budge an inch. There are people who chalk up millions of frequent flyer miles, others who move around in all the high circles, and yet others who are climbing the corporate ladder. But are they truly moving? Their bodies may be traveling places, but are their souls in flight? Then there are people who perhaps sit in the same place, praying or meditating, but spiritually they are moving millions of miles.

But in the spiritually intact Holy Temple, where spirit met matter and the physical was seamlessly aligned with its inner purpose, you simply could not move from one step to the next unless your soul was lifted through song.

Why do songs have this power? Because

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they are the language of the Divine.

A parable: When G-d created the universe, He consulted the angels: “Should I bestow upon the human race the gift of music?”

The elitist angels unanimously replied with a resounding “no.” “The human race will not appreciate the sublime power of melody. They will abuse and commercialize it. They won’t know how to appreciate angelic, divine nature of song.

“Give us your gift of music,” the angels said, “and we will sing Your praises, we will sing Your songs. We will know how to use the power of melody to reach great spiritual heights.”

G-d considered their opinion, but then overruled them. “No. I will give the gift of music to humans. Because I want them to have something to remember Me with.

“Sometimes life will be difficult. In such times the pressures can be overbearing.

Man can feel depressed and hopeless.

I therefore want them to have song to remind them, that even you’re stuck in the dire straits of material existence, even when you are experiencing existential loneliness

and “quiet desperation,” you can break out in song, which will lift your spirits.

“Sometimes life will be comfortable, too comfortable. Let man then sing to remember that there is more to life than instant gratification.

“Yes indeed,” G-d concluded, “I will give the human being My unique tongue – the language of music and song, so that he can use it to discover transcendence.”

The reason song has the ability to transport the soul is because its true nature and the source of its power is its Divine language: Song is a dialect from another plane. If the conventional word is the language of man, music is the language of the Divine.

Songs, therefore, are the wings of the soul. They have the ability to lift our spirits to unprecedented heights. They allow us to fly; to soar away to far-away places – places that are beyond pedestrian life and mundane monotony.

Song is spiritual transportation. As one Rebbe put it: The spoken and written word is the “quill of the mind;” Music is the “quill of the heart.” If a soul looks like a

Shvat 5780

jewish thought

flame, it sounds like a song.

Ahh, who hasn’t been drawn by the wish to just go out and sing, unfettered, unbound, to the open heavens. To get away from it all and sing away, with your hands waving free, like there is no tomorrow. To close your eyes, and allow the music to take you to unknown places beyond the anguish and pain of life’s tribulations?

This may explain the compelling power of music in the last 50 years. Why youth today are drawn to music – in ways that are unprecedented in history. Being a language of the soul, music fills the deep spiritual void left by corrupt or irrelevant religion and other belief systems. For good or for bad, music has become the “hymns” of today’s souls and concerts their cathedrals.

Starting back in the 50’s music represented the voice of rebellion, the expression of individuality, the challenge to the statusquo of the conformist “man in the grey flannel suit.” The soul found its expression in song – to free itself from the materialistic bondage of the body; a way for us to dialogue with G-d (whether we know it or not).

February 2020

Unfortunately, like any powerful force, music too, untamed and unfocused, can be hijacked and turned into another hedonistic vehicle of indulgence rather than transcendence, narcissism rather than selflessness, entertainment instead of inspiration.

But at its heart song has a hold on our souls because it is ultimately Divine language – the natural language of the soul. (No accident that music is called “soul”).

Our challenge is to recognize the true nature of song’s power and the reason this gift was given to us: To allow us to touch the Divine and integrate it into our lives.

Now just to listen to the pleasant harmonies and dance to its beat, but to allow the soulful language of music to refine our personalities, strengthen our commitments, connect with our higher calling, help us build healthy homes and families and illuminate each of our respective corners of the world with our unique light.

We live in a dichotomous, fragmented world. Matter and spirit compartmentalized make it terribly difficult to hear the music of our souls.

Instead, we fabricate a superficial language to maneuver in our mundane lives.

Music then becomes an exotic escape to an island. In search of some relief from the quotidian, you plug in your headphones, and block out the world around you – and you soar on music’s wings. But then you have to return, and then the music dies…

In truth, however, an inner hum fills all of existence. Every creature, every molecule, every atom emits its own unique sound.

Every soul pulsates and purrs. Even when the “rush hour” of our lives with all its extraneous noise drowns out the “gentle, subtle voice” within, the music continues to play (even if you’re not plugged in).

In a seamless world all our experiences would sound like a song, all our movements would look like a dance. If our insides and outsides would be aligned, we would be singing all the time, and we wouldn’t be able to move unless we had a song to sing us along (as it was in the Temple).

Imagine: What would it be like to hear

the music of the cosmos? How would it feel the song of your soul? Of other souls?

How would life be different if you could generate a song at will?

Every time you experience a moment of truth – an experience that resonates – we are hearing the inner music of existence.

How do we access the music within at all times? By getting in touch with your life’s purpose, and recognizing that every moment of your day, every activity, every interaction is a spiritual opportunity. You are charged with the mission to realize each of these opportunities by ensuring that all the material gain is simply a means to express higher spiritual truths and bring more virtue into this world.

This attitude taps into the very fabric of the harmonic chords of existence, which allow us to hear the music within.

In every life experience you have two options to choose from: To serve your own needs, or to serve a higher cause. When you touch the surface of the experience it usually will result in narcissistic results.

But when you tap into the inner meaning of the experience, its music will play.

In every experience we can either just ride through the experience, or we can learn to play the inner chords that release a song.

There are people in this world that turn every thing they touch into music, every thing they come into contact with into a dance. They are alive, brimming with energy. They are electric, and everything that they touch becomes electrified.

Some people deaden every thing they touch. Some people bring every thing alive.

Imagine a world in which music is playing all the time. Imagine hearing a song in every breath you take, in every step you make. Imagine a life in which every move you feel the inner rhythm.

Will you electrify your corner of the world or will you dampen it? EM

Rabbi Simon Jacobson is the author of Toward a Meaningful Life: The Wisdom of the Rebbe and the director of the Meaningful Life Center (meaningfullife.com).

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life on earth

Music, Spirituality

and

Transformation

Tzvi Freeman

W

hy the centrality of song, the “niggun” in Chabad Chassidic life?

Niggun (ni-gun): n., plural: niggunim, a song of the Kabbalistic/Chassidic tradition, generally without words. Considered a path to higher consciousness and transformation of being.

“If words are the pen of the heart,” taught Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, “then song is the pen of the soul.” The soul’s pen, however, writes in the opposite direction from the heart’s.

While words carry meaning downwards from G‑d’s own primal consciousness into the minds of sages and the lips of prophets to inscribe them upon human hearts, song carries the soul upwards to be absorbed within the Infinite Light.

That is why niggunim generally have no words. Words limit and define, but the niggun tears the soul beyond all bounds. Beyond words.

______

A tzaddik (“righteous person”) is one who has mastered the animal inside and achieved a higher state of being. In a niggun, a tzaddik encodes his soul. When we sing a niggun of a tzaddik, we connect with the innermost garments of the tzaddik’s soul, and from there come to union with the light that tzaddik has found.

That is why each note and nuance of a niggun must be precise. As the words of a sacred text, they must be learnt and repeated in perfect form. Because the tzaddik’s mind and soul are held within them. ______

The parts of the niggun are called “gates”— entrances from one spiritual world to a higher one. Each demands not only new breath, but a new state of consciousness. The fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Sholom DovBer, taught, “Each gate must be repeated twice.

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The first time only traces a form; the second time carves deep into the soul.”

That is why a niggun must never be rushed.

The pace, the silence, the mindfulness—all must be preserved in order that the niggun reach deep inside. ______

The holy rebbe Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of Lubavitch taught: “A niggun opens windows in the soul.” First there must be deep contemplation, focusing the mind upon the oneness of the cosmos and its Creator, to see that unity within each thing until it becomes more real than even your sense of self. But the contemplation may remain frozen in the realm of cold intellect. With a niggun, what is held imprisoned deep in the soul pours down into the mind, and from the mind to the heart.

Meditation may enlighten the intellect, but a niggun can uplift and transform all of your being.

That is why the ancient prophets would sing and play musical instruments as they awaited the gift of prophecy. In this way they would strip themselves of the barriers of body and mind, opening themselves as channels of the Infinite Light. Not for the sake of transcendence alone, but to draw that transcendence down to earth, to awaken the hearts of humankind to the inner truths of life on earth. ______ “Song,” wrote the second Rebbe of Chabad, Rabbi Dovber, “lies at the core of life; its source is in the most supernal ecstasy.” And he explained: “A river went out from Eden to water the garden . . .” (Genesis 2:10): from the source of all delight, the river of life flows

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future tense

MOSHIACH MUSINGS

Beyond the physical beauty and grandeur of the Temple, which by all historical accounts was one of the wonders of the ancient world, the constant music that took place there was central to the experience. King David wrote fifteen Songs of Ascent, corresponding to the future fifteen steps in the Temple, where the greatest choir and orchestra ever assembled in the history of the world sang and played. The tribe of Levi trained vigorously till age thirty before taking their place among the multitude of musicians who performed there. People came to the Temple with great expectations and high emotions, completely focused on drawing close to G‑d and the music which took place there was an integral part of the spiritual experience.

downward, branching outward to each world and every created being. Each thing thirsts to rejoin with its source above, and from that yearning comes its song, and with that song it comes alive. The heavens sing, the sun, the planets and the moon; each animal, each plant, each rock has its particular song, according to how it receives life. Until the entire cosmos pulsates with a symphony of countless angels and souls and animals and plants, and even every drop of water and molecule of air, singing the song that gives it life.

That is why a niggun brings a surge of new life and healing, sweetens the bitter soul and fills a home with light—like the songs sung by David for King Saul, which healed his bitter spirit. ______

A song is oneness. A song turns around upon itself in a circle of oneness, until there is no beginning or end. And as the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, taught, a song unites those who sing and hear it: When words are spoken, we each hear the words according to our understanding. But in song, we are all united in a single pulse and a single melody.

That is why it is said, “All the world will sing a new song,” in the messianic era coming very soon upon us—a song of the essential oneness expressed throughout our world. EM

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, a senior editor at Chabad.org, is the author of Bringing Heaven Down to Earth and more recently Wisdom to Heal the Earth. To subscribe to regular updates of Rabbi Freeman's writing or purchase his books, visit Chabad.org. Follow him on FaceBook @RabbiTzviFreeman.

The times when the Levites played and sang were peak experiences, full of awe and spiritual elevation for those visiting the Temples, which stood for over eight hundred years of our history.

These experiences left a deep mark on all those individuals who attended and upon the collective consciousness of the Jewish people. As Saul, through the medium of the music of the band of prophets “became another man,” so too the Temple experience, which was enhanced and accompanied by constant music, had a profound spiritual effect on all who came.

Today, many have life changing experiences when visiting the Kotel, the Western Wall, which is but an outside retaining wall below where the Temple was located. How much more so must have the experience been in the Temple itself! It is no wonder that prayers for rebuilding Jerusalem and the Temple are included in so many prayers and rituals as a way to keep alive our dream for a return of this reality in our lives.

ask the rabbi

Leadership Qualities

by Rabbi Yoseph Y. Zaltzman

Q

What makes someone a great Jewish leader?

There are obviously many qualities that are befitting and necessary for Jewish leadership. Righteousness. Humility.

Vision. Wisdom. Empathy. The ability to inspire and motivate others to unite in the pursuit of a higher calling.

But if you want to know what makes someone a leader, you have to first recognize that real leaders are not elected, nor do they seek out leadership positions. True Jewish leaders have historically been appointed by the Almighty. Let’s look at Moses, who is the paradigm of Jewish leadership.

How did Moses become the leader of his generation, the Israelites who were liberated from Egypt, and what qualified him to lead them? Certainly he had all the ideal leadership qualities we listed. But so did other great individuals living at the time. What separated Moses, and how was he chosen?

The Sages explain why Moses was worthy of leadership: The blessed Holy One does not elevate a person to greatness without first testing him, as it is said, “G-d tests the righteous.” How does He test him?

As a shepherd…. The blessed Holy One said: “Let he who knows to tend the flock tend My people...” Our Rabbis said: When Moses tended the flock of Jethro in the wilderness, a lamb escaped. He ran after it until he found the lamb at a pool of water where it had stopped to drink. When Moses reached him, he said, “I didn’t realize that you were running away because you were tired and thirsty.” He picked him up onto his shoulders and took him back to the flock. The blessed Holy One said: “You have such compassion upon a flock of sheep belonging to a person of flesh and blood! By your life, you shall tend Israel, My flock!”

It is perhaps for this reason that in Kabbalistic teachings Moses is referred to as “Raya Mehemna” (in Aramaic), which can be mean both “The Faithful Shepherd”

12

and “The Shepherd of Faith.” He was the faithful shepherd in that he faithfully took care of the physical and spiritual needs of his people. At the same time he was a shepherd of faith, channeling faith by connecting each individual to the depth of his or her Divine soul.

From where did Moses draw such gifts? The mystics teach that his soul emanated from a very lofty and spiritually transcendent place, and that is the reason for his greatness. At the same time, it also made it challenging for him to come manifest within the physical world, as evident from the fact that he stuttered, among other exampled. Moses is also described in the Torah as being the most humble man on earth. How is that possible, given his obvious greatness? He was actually humble because of his greatness, not despite it; because he was so connected spiritually, he saw clearly that any abilities or talents he possessed were gifts bestowed on him from Above. Without those gifts, he would be nothing, and were those gifts given to someone else, that person would be as great as Moses, and perhaps even greater.

All of this is true not only of Moses, but of every one of our great leaders.

They did not become leaders because they convinced others to believe in them, but because they believed so deeply in the soul of existence and in their fellows that each individual could feel that his own problems and difficulties and joys and triumphs had become the problems, joys and triumphs of the Moses of their generation. EM

Rabbi Yoseph Y. Zaltzman is the Senior Rabbi of the Jewish Russian Community Centre of Ontario. You can Ask the Rabbi at jrcc.org or fax to 416.222.7812. To meet with Rabbi Zaltzman in person, feel free to call 416.222.7105 to book an appointment.

Appointments are generally available on Tuesday evenings after 7 p.m.

Rebbitzin Chiena Zaltzman is also available for private consultations by appointment on Wednesday evenings from 9 to 10pm by calling 416.222.7105.

Обычно никто не задается вопросом, как итальянец становится итальянцем, или француз – французом? Но вопрос «кто такой еврей?» вызывает массу дискуссий. В связи с этим хотела бы задать вам несколько вопросов: кто был первым евреем на земле и что человека делает евреем? Что сделало, скажем, меня и Вас евреями? Вас интересует мнение Торы по этому вопросу или расхожее мнение? Ну конечно, мнение Торы, я же поэтому и обращаюсь к раввину. И это правильно, потому что ответ на вопрос «что означает быть евреем» может дать только Тора, так ее создателем является Тот же, Кто создал мир и Кто создал еврея. Поэтому только у Творца можно искать ответ на этот вопрос. Дискутируя на эту тему, люди часто приводят собственные мнения, которые они формируют, опираясь на собственный интеллект и жизненный опыт. Надеясь на собственные силы и способности, люди не учитывают, что и то и другое является ограниченным, так как сама сущность человека ограничена его физическими параметрами. Тогда как возможности Творца – безграничны. Поэтому человеческий разум, каким бы высоким уровнем интеллекта он ни обладал, по определению безгранично далек от мудрости Творца. Весь мир является продуктом Творения Вс-вышнего: Он создал землю, небо, воды, растения, животных, человека. Души людей и всего сущего также созданы Вс-вышним. Но еврей в отличие от всего остального (и всех остальных) имеет вторую душу – Б-жественную. Ее Вс-вышний не создавал – он отделил от Себя (если так можно выразиться) «кусочек» Своей Б-жественности и передал еврею. В этом заключается неповторимость еврея, и именно с этой особенностью связаны мудрость и талант еврейского народа...

The article above is excerpted from the Russian edition of Exodus Magazine. To subscribe, please visit exodusmagazine.org or call 416.222.7105.

Shvat 5780

‫ב”ה‬

Our

Community T H E M O N T H I N R E V I E W. U P C O M I N G E V E N T S & P R O G R A M S .

FEBRUARY 2020 | SHEVAT 5780 COMMUNITY CALENDAR

FEBRUARY2020 TUES

YUD SHEVAT EVENT City Playhouse Theater

5 TO 10

TU B'SHEVAT EVENTS FOR KIDS JRCC Rockford See ad on page 15

MON

TU B'SHEVAT EVENT JRCC Concord See ad on page 15

FRI

30 SHEVAT FARBRENGEN East Thornhill See ad on page 14

04 7:30pm

10 8:00pm 25 8:00pm

THE FORTIETH YEAR BEGINS Rabbi Yoseph and Chiena Zaltzman hosted a farbrengen gathering in their home in Thornhill to commemorate 39 years since they began their work serving the Jewish Russian community as the Rebbe’s emissaries to Ontario. As they begin their fortieth year (!) in the service of the community, Rabbi Zaltzman expressed appreciation to all those who are active in the community, all the people who have touched his life over the years, and gratitude for the humbling privilege of serving as the Rebbe’s emissary. The event also coincided with the Chabad festive day of the 5th of Tevet (a.k.a., Hei Tevet), which celebrates the day the US Federal Court ruled in favor of Chabad regarding ownership of a priceless library of Chassidic manuscripts.

WOMEN’S CIRCLE EVENTS The JRCC Women’s Circle organized two original events last month. On January 26, the JRCC East Thornhill hosted an evening of relaxation, beauty, health and spirituality called “Spa for the Soul.” Participants were inspired with a talk by international lecturer and counselor Mrs. Chana Carlebach, as well as a series of workshops with local health and beauty practitioners: “Upgrade your energy: Optimize your nutrition” with Rebecca Karlin, Naturopathic Doctor; “Learn how to ‘get sparked’” with Shaindy Nacoson, Shainsparks makeup artist; and “Strategies for healthy living & cultivating mindfulness” with Leah Rochel Weisberg, RN BSCN NCBC. In addition, the women enjoyed soups, salads and smoothies, and were treated to various spa treatments.

The JRCC S. Richmond Hill & Maple hosted a Parenting Workshop for women on January 27 with Sarah Goldwasser, parenting coach. Participants gained wisdom for self-transformation within the context of family life, and enjoyed a hot pretzel station.

JRCC RABBIS FARBRENGEN The JRCC rabbis gathered for a farbrengen that coincided with the yahrzeit of the Rambam (Maimonides), led by Rabbi Nissan Dovid Dubov from Chabad Wimbledon. Rabbi Dubov spoke about his work as a Chabad emissary in Wimbledon, England and gave much encouragement to our team of Rabbis. An essential part of being a rabbi is not only to serve and teach others, but also to grow in one’s own personal service, knowledge and inspiration.

CANDLE LIGHTING TIMES February 7, 2020

5:18pm

February 4, 2020

5:28pm

February 21, 2020

5:37pm

February 28, 2020

5:46pm

www.jrcc.org

COMING SOON: JEWISH WOMEN THROUGH THE AGES Later this month, the JRCC will host a spectacular evening for women, a multimedia fashion show with the theme of “Jewish Women Through the Ages.”

Preparations are underway, including rehearsals, planning and logistics, for what promises to be an unforgettable and inspiring portrayal of trailblazing Jewish women from Biblical times to the present. The event will take place at the BAYT on February 25.

Reservations are available at jrcc.org/FashionShow or by calling 416.222.7105.

JRCC Our Community

13

Photo of the Month

BH

FARBRENGEN RABBI YOSEPH ZALTZMAN’S 64TH BIRTHDAY

In accordance with the Rebbe’s directive, we celebrate a birthday with close friends to thank Hashem for granting another year of service to fulfill the divine mission.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020 | 8:00PM pwwa, ‫ט‬ca k 7608 Yonge St #3, Thornhill.

JRCC LAUNCHES WEEKLY SOCCER GAMES contact: bat@jrcc.org

Rabbi Zaltzman would appreciate your spiritual gifts:

JRCC community members enjoy weekly soccer matches.

Studying Torah • Putting on Tefillin • Lighting Shabbos Candles and Performing other mitzvos.

Let us know if you want to join!

See ad below for details.

Will be happy to see you and all of your family!

Rabbi Yoseph and Chiena Zaltzman!

Visit jrcc.org/pictures FOR MORE PHOTOS OF JRCC EVENTS AND PRGRAMS

B"H

Mommy & Me

EВРЕЙСКИЙ ЦЕНТР РУССКОЯЗЫЧНОЙ ОБЩИНЫ ОНТАРИО JEWISH RUSSIAN COMMUNITY CENTRE OF ONTARIO

6-week session for mommies of babies 12 month and younger

Please join us for

HEAR THE AMAZING EXPERTS INCLUDING: Sleep expert - Eva Klein “My Sleeping Baby” Baby Nutrition - introducing first foods Baby Yoga specialist - Sara Icyk Lactation expert - breastfeeding during baby’s first year Naturopath Dr. Tali Troyansky - hormonal health postpartum and much more

A MULTIMEDIA FASHION SHOW:

JEWISH WOMEN THROUGH THE AGES

Wednesdays, January 15 - February 19, 2020 | 10:30-11:30 am JRCC West Thornhill, 1136 Centre St. #2.

14 per class www.jrccwestthornhill.org/baby

Community

SOCCER for JRCC friends

For all players at all levels

EVERY MONDAY EVENING

Pre-registration is required.

Please register in advance call 437-983-0772

14

February 2020 / Shevat 5780

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25 DOORS OPEN

PROGRAM BEGINS

7:30PM

8:00PM

BAYT-613 CLARK AVENUE WEST R E G I S T E R AT J R C C . O R G / FA S H I O N S H O W $30/ REGISTRATION BY FEB. 18; $45/ AFTER FEB. 18

BY WOMEN, FOR WOMEN

An Unforgettable and Inspiring Portrayal of Trailblazing Jewish Women From Biblical Times to the Present

416.222.7105

Faces of the Community

Celebrate

TU B’SHVAT New year for the trees

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9 | 8PM - JRCC of Concord $15 by Feb 6, $20 at the door. 411 Confederation pkwy #14 Register at: JRCC.org/TuBshvatConcord

MONDAY FEBRUARY 10 | 7:30PM

For women, fruits & chocolate fondue with an insightful class.

JRCC East Thornhill 7608 Yonge st

TU B’SHVAT for kids

WWW.JRCC.ORG | 416.222.7105

LYUDMILA OSIPOVA VETERINARIAN, POET

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5 JRCC East Thornhill, 7608 Yonge St., #3

TU B’SHVAT HEALTH BAR SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9 JRCC S Richmond Hill & Maple.

KIDDIE HOLIDAY CHEFS,

11:30am to 12:30pm at Nellie McClung PS

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9 JRCC West Thornhill, 1136 Centre St., #2

MOMS’N KIDS, ages 3-10

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9 JRCC Rockford, 5987 Bathurst.

KIDDIE HOLIDAY CHEFS JRCC Concord,411 Confederation Pkwy, Unit 14 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10

KIDDIE HOLIDAY CHEF, 6pm LESSON 1

LESSON 5

LESSON 2

LESSON 6

LESSON 3

LESSON 7

LESSON 4

AN ETERNAL BLUEPRINT:

Blending Celestial Spirit and Mundane Matters

L E S seeking S O N 1 the secret toward a harmonious life, LitElies S S Owithin N 5 If you’re the Torah’s instruction. Not only is it a guide to a holy life, but within its instruction lies the key to achieving optimal success in a material sense as well. Gain insight into a different view of the Torah.

JRCC East Thornhill - February L E S S10 O N-67:30pm and February 12 - 10am.

JRCC South Thornhill - February 26 - 8:00pm L E SJRCC S O N 1West Thornhill - TBA LESSON 5

LESSON 2

LESSON 3

L E S S O N L4E S S O N

LESSON 7

2

LESSON 6

LESSON 3

LESSON 7

LESSON 4

INCOME TAX RETURNS FREE OF CHARGE FOR THOSE IN NEED

During the upcoming tax season, the JRCC will be offering a FREE program to prepare income tax returns for community members who are unable to afford the service of an income tax professional. This service is intended for individuals with an income of less than $20,000 and families with an income of less than $30,000.

To take advantage of this service, you must make an appointment.

416-222-7105

www.jrcc.org

Tell us a little about your career.

I graduated from the Veterinary Institute and began working in Kazan. In 1974, I took part in the opening of the Moscow Cherkizovsky meat processing plant, and later worked in a senior position at the Ostankino meat processing plant.

How long have you been living in Canada?

My only daughter, after graduating from University in Cyprus and earning a Master's degree, moved tp Canada with her husband. I came here to them two-and-a-half years ago.

Where does your family come from?

My grandmother, Dora Alexandrovna Marderfeld, was born in Odessa. Her father, Alexander Abramovich, was a civil servant, and in order to support a large family, he had to work hard. He often traveled on business trips to Europe, from where he brought gifts to every child. I still have a musical doll from Paris. Imagine that the “Parisian” – so affectionately called by everyone – still works to this day: The music sounds, and the porcelain doll holds a pen, an open Hebrew book, and a fan.

At on point, the French embassy in Moscow asked the Russians to transfer old French toys for a good reward, so that they could be sent “to their homeland” to be exhibited in the Toy Museum in Paris. But I couldn’t even allow myself to give my Jewish “Parisian”, because for me this doll is the memory of my beloved grandmother and of my lchildhood.

My great-grandmother, Berta Mikhailovna, was a housewife and was devoted to raising her six children. All of them received excellent educations and became doctors, an engineer, an opera singer, and a teacher.

My great-grandmother, along with four children (two others already lived independently in Italy and Shanghai), moved from Odessa to be close to relatives in Kazan. My mother was born there. I was also born there.

Although my grandmother had two advanced degrees, due to her nationality she could not get a job in her profession. But, fortunately, she was found work as a teacher in a Jewish kindergarten, where she worked until her retirement.

In the postwar years, people cautiously went to work, because they were not sure whether they would return home or be arrested right on the street.

My grandparents would say goodbye every morning, not knowing whether they would see their family in the evening. It was such a terrible time.

Nevertheless, they always tried to observe Jewish traditions. Somehow we always had Matzah on Passover. How this happened was, to me as a child, a mystery. But I always anticipated enjoying.

Before moving to Toronto, I lived in Moscow. Most of my life is connected with this city. The most important event for me of those years is the birth of a daughter. She received a brilliant education in Germany, Switzerland, Cyprus and Canada.

In Toronto a new life was opened for me, very different from the previous one: Having plunged head-first into Jewish life and its traditions, I found my Jewish essence. I met with people in the community – like-minded people who share my newly formed views and beliefs. I began to study Jewish literature and now I can proudly declare: “I am Jewish!”

It all started with a banal episode: I came to my friend to support her at a difficult moment and saw the Bernard Betel Center program guide on the table. I went there and offered my help. Being in the Jewish environment, I decided to confirm my Jewish origin, so I connected with the JRCC. I was fortunate: I preserved the original documents of my family tree, starting with the documents of my Jewish grandmother, certified by a rabbi 150 years ago.

I think few people have preserved such "ancient" documents!

Since then, I found a second home and a second family at the JRCC, without which I can’t imagine my life. I began started working as a volunteer and immediately realized that “this is mine!” This is what is close and dear to me!

What I love! What I want to do! I call thousands of Jewish families inviting them to JRCC programs, in which I actively participate. Every Shabbat, I am at the JRCC Rockford Synagogue.

What do you do in your free time?

I write poems, which already fill a small book that I am considering publishing. With G-d’s help, it can work out. I am also working on improving my English, and a deliver lectures in various Toronto communities, where I have developed a following.

What are your plans for the future?

To continue to bring Judaism into the life of my family, and to continue to actively participate in JRCC programs so that our community grows and flourishes.

JRCC Our Community

15

416-222-7105 | www.jrcc.org Jewish Russian Community Center of Ontario

ARISING FROM THE ASHES: REBUILD ROCKFORD The call from the Toronto Fire Department came at 3:00am on Tuesday morning, January 7. The JRCC at 18 Rockford Road, the original JRCC synagogue now known as the JRCC Rockford branch, was in flames. After the initial shock wore off, Rabbi Shmuel Neft, the branch’s director, quickly got dressed and raced there.

At first it seemed that the fire and the damage it caused was superficial, but upon closer examination it was clear that it was serious. When fire crews arrived, the roof was on fire and there was smoke coming out at all sides of the building, said Capt. Karen Reid. “The fire was being spread up through the ductwork into the roof,” she said. “They had a bit of a hard time getting it out.”

Though the building structure remained standing, the fire destroyed much of the building’s interior.

Toronto police have ruled out suspicious motives, and an investigation revealed that the fire originated in the furnace room.

All the furnishings, the books and the interior fixtures were destroyed or suffered extensive water and smoke damage. Miraculously, the synagogue’s Torah scrolls were spared. The damage means the building will need to be closed until repairs can be completed. A temporary room has already been set up to accommodate programs and services down the street at the JRCC offices at 5987 Bathurst Street.

The day of the fire coincides with the 10th of Tevet, a day of national Jewish mourning connected

limited access to

5987 Bathurst Stre­et, #3 To­ron­to, ON M2R 1Z3 Canada Office Hours: Sun: 12 — 5 Mon to Thurs: 9 — 6 • Fri: 9 — 3hrs before Shabbat

JRCC BRANCHES JRCC of Ontario: 5987 Bathurst St., #3 Rabbi Yoseph Y. Zaltzman x278 Roi Aftabi, COO x257 JRCC Woodbridge: 25 Sandwell St. Rabbi Avrohom Yusewitz x261 JRCC S. Richmond Hill & Maple: 9699 Bathurst St. Rabbi Avrohom Zaltzman x247 JRCC Concord: 411 Confederation Parkway, #14 Rabbi Avraham Weinstein x 249 JRCC Affiliate CRC of Thornhill Woods: 8808 Bathurst St. Rabbi Chaim Hildeshaim x224 JRCC West Thornhill: 1136 Centre St., #2 Rabbi Levi Jacobson x240 JRCC East Thornhill: 7608 Yonge St., #3 Rabbi Mendel Zaltzman x227 JRCC South Thornhill: 1 Cordoba Dr., Party Room Rabbi Levi Blau x288 JRCC Steeles & Hilda: 175 Hilda Ave., Party Room Mr. Melekh Brikman x282

with the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago. The Sages teach, however, that the beginning of the destruction also marks the beginning of the rebuilding of an even greater, eternal Temple.

“This is definitely a setback, coming just as we’ve been working on strengthening and growing our community,” says Rabbi Shmuel. “Not only will we get through this bump in the road, but I am confident that we will emerge stronger and more unified as a community – just as the greatest light emanates from the deepest darkness.”

Those who had books or other items with personal dedications in the synagogue are invited to contact the JRCC so that their dedications can be replaced.

Join the campaign to ensure the important work of JRCC Rockford continues at jrcc.org/RebuildRockford.

JRCC at Rockford: 18 Rockford Rd. Rabbi Shmuel Neft x235 JRCC Affiliate Jewish Gorsky Assn.: 465 Patricia Ave. Rabbi Dovid Davidov x255 Downstairs JRCC Willowdale: 5700 Yonge St. Rabbi Yisroel Zaltzman x231 JRCC Sheppard & Bathurst Senior’s Building 4455 Bathurst St., Party Room / Mr. Roman Goldstein x221 JRCC Lawrence & Bathurst Senior’s Building 3174 Bathurst St., Party Room / Mr. Mordechai Natarov x221

JRCC AFFILIATES Danforth Beaches Rabbi Shalom Lezell (416) 809-1365

Durham Region Rabbi Tzali Borensein (905) 493-9007 Georgina, Ontario Rabbi Yossi Vorovitch (905) 909-8818 Hamilton Region Rabbi Chanoch Rosenfeld (905) 529-7458 London, Ontario Rabbi Lazer Gorgov (519) 438-3333 Niagara Region Rabbi Zalman Zaltzman (905) 356-7200 Ottawa, Ontario Rabbi Chaim Mendelsohn (613) 218-8505 Waterloo Region Rabbi Moshe Goldman (519) 725-4289

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

FURNITURE DEPOT MOVING? RENOVATING? Donate your furniture to those in need!

Call us @ 416-222-7105 ext. 248 to get a quote for pick-up

ate?

n

JRCC Directory

JRCC Program Spotlight

L&M Gelfand Daycare JRCC Daycare and Preschool x501

JRCC Hebrew School Sunday and after-school program x225 Institute of Jewish Studies Classes & Lectures for Adults x221 Exodus Magazine Monthly Publications in Rus & Eng x222 JRCC Bookstore & Library jrcc.org/bookstore x221

SOCIAL PROGRAMS Furniture Depot: 1416 Centre St. #6 x500 jrccfurnituredepot.org Hospital & Jail Visitations x221 Family Counselling & Legal Advice Holiday Programs x234 Events, Parties & Holiday Awareness Jewish Identity Verification x237 Mazal Makalski jewishidentity@jrcc.org Simcha Gemach x234 Chanie Zaltzman chanie.zaltzman@jrcc.org Volunteering x254 Get involved in your community!

JRCC Furniture Depot | 1416 Centre St | Vaughan, ON 416-222-7105 ext. 500 | www.jrccfurnituredepot.org

16

February 2020 / Shevat 5780

Partly funded by The Regional Municipality of York

YEDinstitute – Entrepreneurial Mentorship x221 yedinstitute.org

416.222.7105

SHARE THE JOY! the ex odus ma g azine s im cha sectio n

MAZEL TOV!

IT’S A BOY! Jais Shufman Levi Neft

We are delighted to congratulate

Rabbi Yoseph Zaltzman

T’S A GIRL! Hannah Strekov Eden Segal

BAR-MITZVAH! Menachem Mendel Bekerman

MARRIAGE! Mendy Grossbaum & Mushka Backman Pinchas Sivak & Michal Silver

on his Birthday! May he be blessed with an abundance of sweet blessings and may Hashem grant him only good in all of his worthy endeavours. “Ad 120!”

JRCC Rabbis & Staff

Wishing you much health, happiness and nachas, from the rabbis of the JRCC

Rabbi Yoseph Y. Zaltzman (Senior Rabbi) Rabbi Levi Blau Rabbi David Davidov Rabbi Chaim Hildeshaim Rabbi Levi Jacobson Rabbi Shmuel Neft Rabbi Avraham Weinstein Rabbi Avrohom Yusewitz Rabbi Avrohom Zaltzman Rabbi Mendel Zaltzman Rabbi Yisroel Zaltzman

Celebrate your Jewish birthday!

To learn more on when and how to celebrate your Jewish birthday visit www.jrcc.org/birthday February 2020

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www.exodusmagazine.org

17

perspectives

A Chinese Girl in Singapore Sofya Tamarkin

A

number of years ago, my husband and I traveled to Singapore. Before the trip, as is my habit, I reached out to the local Chabad Center.

Traveling the world is one of my biggest joys. I strongly believe that we are sent exactly where we are needed to bring light to others. Transcending the physical distance is allegorical to the emotional, spiritual and cultural differences between people.

I often joke that my hobby is to visit every Chabad center in the world. With thousands of centers in more than 100 countries and with a presence in every state in America, this might take a while. Yet any time there is an opportunity to travel the continents and meet these Chabad families who dedicate their lives to unconditionally embrace their fellow Jews is a highlight of my life.

Our Singapore trip ended with a beautiful Shabbat experience in the community shul.

I was instructed by the Chabad Rabbi, Rabbi Mordechai Abergel, to go up a flight of stairs to light the Friday-night candles.

Standing next to the small table with prepared candles, I saw a young girl hiding in the shadows. She was about 16 with Asian features.

I smiled, but was a little surprised by her behavior. Then, just as I was about to light Shabbat candles, she came towards me and asked in a broken English if I was a “real Jew.” I wasn’t sure if this was a joke or a prank, but I replied, with all seriousness, that I was. I told her it was time to light Shabbat candles, and I proceeded to do that.

She stood next to me, observing and crying.

I shifted between being uncomfortable, inspired and a little nervous by this behavior.

She asked if she could hug me, considering that, after all, I was the “real thing.” And, of course, I agreed.

I invited her to come downstairs with me to participate in the Shabbat activities, but she was too shy.

I couldn’t stop thinking about this strange experience. After the meal, I returned to the room with the candles, but she wasn’t there.

I walked around the building, hoping to find her. I was so excited when I finally spotted her seated on the couch near the children’s playroom.

18

I sat down next to her. She shifted, clearly feeling timid. I said to her that I was visiting from Philadelphia, and that I was born in the former Soviet Union. I explained to her that I didn’t know much about “real” Jews until I was about her age.

I asked her to share her story, for in a way I felt like I was once that girl who watched women light Shabbat candles with awe, curiosity and envy. After a few minutes of chatting about my life, she opened up enough to tell me about her journey.

She was born in a small town in China.

Her father was abusive, and so her mother left him. They lived in poverty and despair.

Her mother had terrible depression and moments of darkness.

Once, a co-worker in school took notice of her mother and told her that he will help her heal by giving her a page from a sacred book, called Tehillim, the Psalms of David that someone sneaked into China. The story didn’t explain why the book was brought to this gentleman. Yet it was clear that he thought

Shvat 5780

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very highly of the author and its people. This woman knew a little English because she was a teacher, but nothing about the existence of Jews. Still, she was desperate for any remedy to overcome her inner darkness. She read the words on the page to herself over and over again, connecting to the light through these mystical poems.

After some time, the woman came up with an idea that would infuse her life with hope.

She told her young daughter that somewhere there lives a nation of people who bring the purest light and peace into the world. She made it clear that her daughter was going to find these people and live among them, regardless of the effort it took.

At this point of the story, I realized that I was barely breathing. I was frozen, listening intensely to her quiet voice. It was unimaginable that in China, a woman found her salvation through a page of Psalms. I felt overwhelmed with pride about my Jewish heritage. After all, we are the light unto the nations. Up until this moment, it was more of an allegorical concept for me, but now it has become as real and practical as can be.

The story took a new turn as this girl’s mother came up with a plan. She managed to discover that Jews pray in a synagogue, and the closest country that had one was Singapore.

This young girl’s mother sold everything she could in order to buy a one-way ticket to Singapore for her as a high school senior exchange student.

When the girl arrived, she went directly to the address of the synagogue that her mother had given her. This was the beginning of her magnificent journey.

The rabbi and his wife embraced her with respectful caution. Apparently, there are many people who are trying to find the “way in” to become Jewish for many unauthentic reasons. Despite their cautious approach, she was given a couch to sleep on, food and an opportunity to talk with Jewish visitors.

Time was passing quickly, and I had to return to my husband, who was probably very worried about my whereabouts.

I embraced her with the biggest hug I could offer, and she smiled. I was surprised because up until this moment, she was timid and

February 2020

We are sent exactly where we are meant to be.

I knew that I needed this encounter just as much as she did...

Sometimes, before I fall asleep, I imagine this timid Chineseborn Jewish woman walking the streets of Jerusalem. serious. “Do you know what’s my biggest dream?” she asked. Without waiting for my answer, she continued, “To walk the streets of Jerusalem, wearing a long skirt, just as all real Jewish women.”

Now I became serious. This was one of the purest souls I have ever encountered.

A teenager who wanted so little, yet such an almost impossible transformation, considering her life circumstances.

Years have gone by, but this incredible girl remains an inspiration in my life. These were the moments that we shared together, which changed me forever.

Being a rather proactive person, I ran to the apartment where Rabbi Abergel lived and asked to speak to him. He reassured me that he was aware of the girl’s desire to embrace Judaism. As customary, he was waiting to see if she was serious about her decision to embrace Judaism. It had been about four months since she had arrived from China, and the rabbi was getting more confident about her determination to embark on the journey to conversion.

The next day, I walked through the building again and again, but couldn’t find the young woman. I felt that meeting her brought clarity to my own life. According to our sages, we are reassured that G‑d helps us to achieve the impossible: “Open for Me an opening the size of the eye of a needle, and I will open for you an opening the size of a hall.”

I knew with absolute certainty that this spiritual, lofty teenager will find her way. I left behind a check, asking the rebbetzin to purchase skirts for my future Jewish sister.

This was my little contribution to the dream of a Chinese-born girl in another part of the world, who I felt would share my heritage one day.

We are sent exactly where we are meant to be. I knew that I needed this encounter just as much as she did. Soon after meeting

her, I resolved to commit myself to dressing modestly, wearing skirts. I now wear them proudly.

I am not going to leave you wondering what happened at the end of this incredible journey. After all, some stories do have happy endings.

A few months later, I sent an email to Rabbi Abergel asking about her progress.

He replied that he had arranged for her to see the head of the rabbinical court from Sydney, Australia, who was brought down to Singapore for the express purpose of facilitating her and other’s conversion process. This would eventually mean that she will be sent to Israel to study. Reading these words, I burst into tears. There is something so transcendent about impossible dreams becoming a reality.

Sometimes, before I fall asleep, I imagine this timid Chinese-born Jewish woman walking the streets of Jerusalem. In my dream, she is holding hands with her skirtwearing daughters, while her kippah-wearing husband is talking to her in a soft, kind voice.

Her warrior of a mother is walking right next to them. She is holding a complete book of Psalms.

This visionary mother was right, after all, that somewhere in this world lives a nation that knows G‑d, is connected to the truth, and sings the Psalms of the greatest poet, King David.

Every Jew is part of this legacy. Connect your voice to the melody of eternal music and sing along. EM

Born in the Soviet Union, Sofya lives in Philadelphia, runs an orthopedic company, and holds an MBA degree. She teaches Torah, travels the world, and is involved with RAJE (Russian American Jewish Experience) and other outreach organizations.

exodusmagazine.org

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perspectives

A Composer's Encounters Ben Zion Shenker

I

n 1946, when I was 21 years old, I accompanied my father on a trip to Israel, and there I met a man by the name of Moshe Shimon Geshuri, who was very involved in chassidic music. Mr. Geshuri requested that I take some material back to New York to be delivered to a certain Rabbi Schneerson, who was the [Previous] Lubavitcher Rebbe’s son-in-law, and who would later become the Rebbe.

When I returned home, I went in search of this Rabbi Schneerson, and found his office at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights. Although I appeared there without any appointment, he welcomed me in. I had no way of knowing that in a few years he would become the Rebbe. I do recall, however, that he made quite an impression on me. He had a certain aura—some would call it charisma—that’s for sure, and he took an interest in me. I thought that I would just hand him the material from Mr. Geshuri and go, but he started asking me questions. He wanted to know who I was, where I was learning and why I had gone to the Holy Land. So I explained that my father went to visit his brother and had taken me along.

Not long after that meeting with the Rebbe, I started attending addresses that he was giving on special occasions. These classes were not specifically geared to Lubavitcher chassidim, and they had become popular with other yeshivah students in the area—students from my school, Torah Vodaas; from Chaim Berlin; and from other yeshivahs.

The Rebbe would talk for something like an hour and a half, expounding on many topics completely from memory, without any notes, which was astounding. He clearly had an encyclopedic knowledge of Jewish texts, which he would analyze in depth. I, for one, thought that he was a genius, and I always left very inspired by the beauty of his teachings.

After he became the Rebbe, I had the opportunity to meet with him privately on a number of occasions, two of which I’d like to relate here.

The first happened in 1965, when my father was in a terrible accident. It was the morning of the first day of Sukkot. He was going down the stairs carrying his lulav when

20

he missed a step and fell. He hit his head against the wall and suffered a concussion.

By the time he was found and rushed to the hospital, he was in a coma.

The situation was dire, and the family dispatched me to request the Rebbe’s blessing.

When I got to 770, the Rebbe was in middle of a farbrengen. Many hundreds of chassidim were packed into the sukkah, and there was no way I was going to get through to the Rebbe. But Rabbi J. J. Hecht, one of the Rebbe’s close chassidim, noticed my distress, and after I explained the situation, he had two guys pick me up by the arms and plunk me down right in front of the Rebbe.

The Rebbe seemed startled at first, but when he saw how very distraught I was, he asked me to tell him what happened, which I did as briefly as I could.

The Rebbe asked for my father’s name and his mother’s name. When I told him, the Rebbe suddenly said, “Sing a niggun.” I was taken aback, because I didn’t feel much like singing, but I obeyed. I sang a niggun of the Modzitzer chassidim, a popular one, and before long all the chassidim gathered there were singing with me. It actually brought me a great deal of comfort.

Then the Rebbe asked Rabbi Hecht to give me his private number, which I memorized

because I couldn’t write on Yom Tov. He instructed me to call him if there was anything I needed to tell him, and I did call the Rebbe’s home at two in the morning, when my father’s situation turned for the worse. He answered the phone himself.

Although my father passed away the next day, on the first day of Chol HaMoed, he was able to come out of the coma long enough to say vidui, the confession prayer, for which I was grateful. Remember, we were not Chabad chassidim, but that was the level of personal interest the Rebbe took in us.

Nearly ten years later, in 1974, I got another opportunity to sing before the Rebbe.

At the time I lived in Crown Heights near Rabbi Yosef Wineberg, who used to deliver radio lectures on the Tanya. One day he came to me and said, “You know, every year on the Rebbe’s birthday—which is the 11th of Nissan—we present a niggun to the Rebbe.

But this year, the niggun didn’t seem to catch on. Would it be possible that you compose a niggun for the Rebbe?”

I didn’t know what to say, because I wasn’t even sure how to go about it. So I asked him if it had to be in the style of Chabad, but he said it didn’t have to be. He gave me a free hand to compose anything I wanted.

So I started thinking about it, and I came up with a melody to a verse in Psalm 73, which is the psalm one says at age 72. When I had the niggun ready, I called him and asked, “What do you want me to do with it now?”

He said, “Come to the next farbrengen and sit behind the Rebbe. And when I give you the signal, start to sing.” So that’s what happened. At the signal, I started to sing: “VaAni kirvas Elokim li tov—As for me, the nearness of G‑d is my good.”

At first, everybody was stunned. But then the Rebbe turned around and smiled, so I continued to sing, making the beat a little faster. All of the sudden the Rebbe became very animated, and he started waving his hands. Everybody picked up the melody, and we sang it over and over.

My wife was sitting in the women’s section, and a lady who didn’t know that she was my wife said to her, “S’iz ungenumen! Der Rebbe hut dos ungenumen!—It’s been accepted!

The Rebbe has accepted it!” EM

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