Exodus Magazine - October 2022

JRCC OF WOODBRIDGE Rabbi Avrohom Yusewitz

RICHMOND HILL/MAPLE Rabbi Avrohom Zaltzman 9699 Bathurst St.

CONCORD Rabbi Levi Mishulovin 411 Confederation Pkwy, #14

THORNHILL WOODS Rabbi Chaim Hildeshaim 8808 Bathurst St.

WEST THORNHILL Rabbi Levi Jacobson 1136 Centre St., Unit 2

EAST THORNHILL Rabbi Mendel Zaltzman 7608 Yonge St., #3

SOUTH THORNHILL Rabbi Levi Blau 28 Townsgate Dr.

NORTH YORK Rabbi Shmuel Neft 18 Rockford Rd.

GORSKY COMMUNITY Rabbi David Davidov 465 Patricia Ave. (Downstairs)

WILLOWDALE Rabbi Yisroel Zaltzman

Sukkot is called both the Harvest Festival and the Time of our Rejoicing. Aside for farmers, for the rest of us what is the connection between harvest time and rejoicing?

The concept of harvest has historical and psychological connotations as well. Historically, humanity, and the Jewish people in particular, have been charged with the mission of utilizing everything in the material world for a holy purpose. According to Kabbalah, when we do this we are harvesting the spiritual energy contained within the natural resources, object or idea, which it itself is neutral, and using it to empower goodness. Psychologically, we are also tasked with harvesting all aspects of our selves and focusing them in one direction to serve the purpose of making the world a beautiful, spiritual place.

The Harvest Festival follows the Days of Return, during which we focus on improving ourselves, being more aware of the Soul and its relationship with G‑d, and becoming more whole; we gather ourselves together, harvesting all our thoughts and words and deeds from the previous year that weren’t exactly perfect, and correcting them.

The greatest obstacle we face in the pursuit of peace and happiness is that we are full of belief systems that govern they way we perceive ourselves, the world and role in it. Prejudices about ourselves and others, conditioning that is the product of our education and upbringing and the intensity of life experiences and our reactions to them all contribute to the internal clutter. The question is how much we’re aware of the effect these belief systems have on our daily lives, and the extent to which they can manipulate us and even dominate us

In the journey of our lives, most of us make the mistake of trying to find ourselves,

even though intuitively we know that true enlightenment and happiness come from letting go of ourselves. You can’t lose yourself without knowing your self, but you certainly can’t lose yourself if you’re obsessed with yourself. The subjectivity of this approach is at best futile, or even maddening.

Some of us somehow manage to avoid this mistake and instead seek the euphoria of an objective, omnipresent truth. But in the quest for objectivity we tend to lose sight of our place in all of it. In removing ourselves from the equation, the objectivity denies the significance of individual existence and providence.

The balance then is to seek my own inner truth – one that holds true in both the objective and subjective realities, encompassing both who I am as an individual and how I fit into the cosmic master plan. By extension, everything that follows from this refined and redefined self is that much more truthful and sincere, making the self a fitting conduit for something greater than the self.

Sukkot is an opportune time to bring all of our affairs into the realm of Divine awareness. In general, this seems more attainable when we’re involved in activities that lend themselves to spiritual experiences — studying Torah, prayer, meditation, and the like. But the Sukkah is actually the only mitzvah that we enter with our entire beings, “even with out muddy boots,” as the Chassidic saying goes. It is possible to bring all aspects of life, even those that seem totally meaningless and maybe even a little dirty, into the personal sukkah, the spiritual self.

After reaching this holistic state of being, we then celebrate the Harvest Festival as soul farmers, appreciating the spiritual bounty that is bestowed on us.

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6 | JEWISH SOUL

The Power of the Sukkah

Fulfilling the mitzvah of the sukkah has a distinguishing characteristic: knowledge, as the Torah writes: “You shall dwell in sukkahs for seven days, so that your generations will know..." — From the Rebbe's letters

7 | MADE YOU THINK

No Way But Up

When things are so dysfunctional, perhaps it is an indication that the world is ready for Redemption. “When all else fails…” you have to turn to the most reliable (or only remaining) option.

—

by Yoseph Janowski

8 | JEWISH THOUGHT

The Sukkah as a Metaphor for Life

Experience the holiday of Sukkot as a process of personal growth and improvement, and integrate it into our lives, routines, talents and aspirations.

—

by Simon Jacobson

think! again.

10 | LIFE ON EARTH Blessings Cloaked in Darkness

G‑d gives blessings. But how is it conceivable that G‑d gives curses? Isn't this the whole notion of our faith in a Creator — that therefore life is essentially purposeful and good?

— by Tzvi Freeman

21 | PERSPECTIVES

The Queen: Defender of All Faiths

We don’t always appreciate the Queen’s role in one of the most significant changes of the past 60 years: Britain’s transformation into a multi ethnic, multifaith society.

— by Jonathan Sacks

16 | HOLIDAY GUIDE Sukkot & Simchat Torah

Carefully curated holiday companions created for you, to guide and enhance your holiday experience, with brief and accessible insights and explanations.

— by Exodus Staff

editorial jewish soul made you think jewish thought life on earth ask the rabbi our community holiday guide simchas perspectives marketplace memorials

4 6 7 8 10 12 13 16 20 21 22 25

The Power of The Sukkah

Fulfilling the mitzvah of the sukkah has a distinguishing characteristic: knowledge, as the Torah writes: “[You shall dwell in sukkahs for seven days...], so that your generations will know that I caused the Children of Israel to dwell in sukkahs when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.” Accordingly, one does not properly fulfill the mitzvah of sukkah if one does not know its intent — that G‑d commanded us to dwell in a sukkah in remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt.

As is explained in various sources, “the essence of knowledge is not merely knowing alone..., from authors and books, but the essential thing is to immerse one’s own mind deeply..., and fix one’s thought... with strength and vigor of the heart and mind, until his thought shall be bound... with a strong and mighty bond.”

In this case, a person is required to know that “I (G‑d) caused the Children of Israel to dwell in sukkahs” and that this took place “when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

Now, every single day, morning and evening, a man is obliged to regard himself as if he is now at the moment of the Exodus from Egypt. [In a spiritual sense,] “This refers to the release of the Divine soul from the confinement of the body..., by engaging in the Torah and the commandments in general, and in particular through accepting the Sovereignty of Heaven [during the recital of the Shema].”

To refer to the manner in which this concept was expressed by my revered father in law, the Rebbe:

The first thing one must do is get out of his straits and bounds. In terms of Divine service in general, these constitute the lifestyle that a person plans out for himself. The particular straits and bounds grow out of the life situation in which he chooses to establish for himself. ...

First of all, there has to be an Exodus from this spiritual Egypt, from all these confinements and constrictions. For example, no matter what a person’s plans are, they must include fixed daily periods for Torah study, and his prayers should be attended to conscientiously, not [merely] to discharge his formal obligations.

After the Exodus from Egypt comes the Splitting of the Red Sea. As soon as a person begins to undertake the task of Divine service, obstacles arise, each of them tough and truly formidable — just as, when the Children of Israel were on their way out of Egypt, the enemy was behind them, the sea lay before them, and they themselves were in the wilderness.

The Splitting of the Sea was wrought from Above. G‑d made a path there for the Children of Israel, just like a road on the dry land — except that there first had to be one man, characterized by self sacrifice, who was prepared to leap into the sea. That done, G‑d transformed it into dry land. [...]

G‑d then caused them to dwell in sukkahs. By way of analogy: A newborn is bathed from filth and swaddled in clean cloth, not only to protect him from uncleanliness from without, but also to straighten and strengthen his limbs — albeit temporarily, but this stands him in good stead throughout the time in which he grows to be a man.

So, too, in Divine service: When a person brings himself to the point at which he has freed himself from the constrictions of his own mindset so that he is now unburdened of his

former life plans, the evil of his natural soul and the material and physical needs of his life become more refined. Immediately thereafter, there must be [the next step] — “and the Children of Israel journeyed... to Sukkot.” A sukkah is a makkif, an encompassing light, but it is an encompassing light that has an inward effect, just as swaddling an infant lends strength to his limbs even when he is a man.

This, then, is the inner meaning of the words, “I caused the Children of Israel to dwell in sukkahs when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

Assistance and strength in accomplishing all the above throughout all the days of the year may be borrowed from the festival of Sukkot in general, and from the mitzvah of living in a sukkah in particular.

Making mention of our Rebbes and their activities and teachings helps even more in this [endeavor]. As the well known adage of my revered father in law says, there are chassidic guests in the Sukkah: the Baal Shem Tov, the Maggid [of Mezritch], the Alter Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe Maharash and the Rebbe Rashab. And let us add: My revered father in law, the Rebbe. EM

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From the Rebbe's Letters

No way BuT uP

Icalled my friend today. He told me that there are big problems in the world. People in Europe are worried that there is not enough fuel to heat their homes, and the fuel that is available has gone way up in price. There is inflation in many countries. Rivers are drying up. In some places the water is becoming undrinkable. In other places the sea levels are rising and people are being forced to move away from the coast. What is going on?

I suggested that maybe there is a positive spin here. When things are so dysfunctional, perhaps it is an indication that the world is ready for Redemption.

We don't understand all the reasons why the Almighty does what He does. The Rebbe once explained the difference between belief and trust. Regarding past events, we believe that everything G‑d has done is ultimately for our benefit. As for the future, we are optimistic that since G‑d is good, and the nature of one that is good is to do good things, we trust that He will do good things for us in a way that we see is good.

So when we look at the world around us, although we don't see the whole picture, we can still try to see how everything that has happened is ultimately for the best.

“When all else fails…” you have to turn to the most reliable (or only remaining) option. When the road ahead seems impossible, when we seem to have run out of options to keep the world peaceful and prosperous, there is no way to turn but upwards, to the One Above. When all the human orchestrated methods of attaining sustenance are not working, perhaps it is a Divine nudge, prompting us to think that just as a clockmaker knows how to keep the clock running, so too the Creator of the world knows how to keep His world peaceful and sustainable; and indeed He has given us instructions how to do so, via the wisdom and instructions found in the Torah – a guide for all humanity.

A recent Gallup poll shows that the percentage of people who believe in G‑d has gone down from 98% sixty years ago, and 92% eleven years ago, to 81%; and among younger people the percentage is much lower, at 68%. This can serve as a walk up call, to follow the Rebbe's advice to institute a daily

moment of silence in public schools, and to then publicize in news and social outlets that parents can tell their children what to think about, beginning with that there is One above Who creates our world and conducts everything. Then watch these Gallup numbers climb, and the crime statistics drop.

The key is to instill within ourselves, those around us and society at large the awareness of a Higher Power. We become less selfish, more focused on the greater good, making the world a better place, a place of peace and prosperity for all. We become partners in the enterprise of Creation, and appreciate the miracles of daily life, and the wonders of Divine Providence that guide our lives.

So for example. In the latest news concerning Iran, the U.S. seems to be listening to Israel's advice to hold the Iranians fully accountable for its past activities to develop nuclear armament, and has so far not ratified a deal that would give the regime a hundred billion dollars, which could potentially be used to support terrorism and instigate global instability.

China, a country that persecutes so many,

is now undergoing tremendous challenges. Their policy of massive lockdowns for new COVID cases is causing much resentment among their populace. The lockdowns and other factors are resulting in significant economic slowdown. World powers, which have become more aware of Chinese aggressive tactics, are employing measures to counter it. And the UN is now calling out China for human rights violations against the Uyghur people. Perhaps the Chinese will now realize that they need to become more sensitive to the rights and wellbeing of others.

The list goes on and on. If we look closely, beneath the surface of the tension and chaos, the world seems to be headed in a good direction.

This new Jewish year, 5783, is composed of the Hebrew letters Tof Shin Pey Gimel, which form an acronym for: Tihei Shnat Gilui Plo'ois – may it be a year of revelation of wonders. There is much reason for optimism for a wondrous, good and sweet year. And we can do our part to make it happen. EM

Yoseph Janowski lives in Toronto, Canada.

Yoseph Janowski

The Sukkah aS a MeTaPhor for Life

Simon Jacobson

As we celebrate the Jewish holiday season, one of the important challenges facing us today is to make the holidays come alive by recognizing their personal relevance. Relevance is the key word and integration is the primary objective: To experience the holidays as a process of personal growth and improvement, and to integrate it into our lives, routines, talents and aspirations.

Mechanical holidays celebrated by rote will ultimately lead to waning commitment. Perpetuation of our rich heritage – in a crowded marketplace aggressively competing for our time and attention – cannot depend merely on guilt, fear or blind commitment; it must include a personal dimension that makes the tradition indispensable to our lives.

So, let us look at one aspect of Sukkot that resonates in our life experience.

One reason for the mitzvah of dwelling an entire week in a Sukkah — a portable shack — instead of the comforts of our home, is to remind us of the temporal nature of existence. The material world is not our home. We must never succumb to the illusion that our man made structures and mortal edifices are our natural environments. Corporeal life is a means, a road that leads us to a deeper, spiritual reality.

The transitory Sukkah reminds us that we are just travelers in this impermanent material world; we are spiritual beings on a material journey, not material beings on a spiritual journey.

By no means is this reminder a simple matter. Fighting the illusion of material reality is no simple battle. The world has a powerful hold on us – so powerful that it sucks us in, like a black hole, into its own reality, making us think that this material existence is the only thing real. Until it comes to a point that we are no longer neutral and we become part of the illusion; in one vicious cycle we feed it and it feeds us: The blind leading the blind in a seemingly airtight Matrix.

Indeed, mystics have a name for our world: Alma d’shikra, a deceptive universe. [Olam – world in Hebrew – is rooted in the word “helem,” hidden]. Quite harsh, but quite accurate. Why is the world false? Because it lies all the time. What you see is not

necessarily what you get. Some would even say, what you see is never what you get. PR and image cynics put it this way: It’s not important what happened, but what people perceive happened. Hence, spin, buzz, positioning, hooks and angles – all to create the proper package that will project an image that may or may not reflect the substance within.

My grandfather used to tell me that newspapers are filled with untruths. Even the date on the paper is false: Today’s paper was printed yesterday! I used to dismiss his extremism as the distrust of the older generation. But as I have grown older I see the wisdom of his words. True, the media may tell an objective story, but there is always the possibility, which unfortunately is often the reality, for subjectivity, distortions and worse.

We do not live in a seamless universe. The body hides the soul within. Someone can smile at you and then stab you in the back. Abusive people are honored. Thieves rewarded. Good people suffer. Scientists falsifying data. Indeed, all crime is driven by the fact that our world is one where you can get away with murder, and the universe won’t cry out.

Wherever you turn, whether in business or relationships, science or education, in virtually every sector of life, deception (actual or potential) is part of our reality. This doesn’t mean that there is no truth and one can’t choose to be honest; yet that doesn’t change the fact that deception is always a lingering possibility. To the point that as adults we see no problem with this: This is the way of the world, the way of all flesh.

Above all, existence itself hides its true nature and can deceive us into thinking that nothing exists beyond the surface level. Had we not searched who would know, for instance, about DNA, or about the complex subatomic infrastructures that make up existence, the elaborate world under the sea and in outer space, or the sophisticated systems that keep us and the universe alive and balanced. Even after all our research we have barely scratched the surface and cannot even fathom how much more there is to know.

A psychological study has yet to be made as to the myriad effects of this deceptive world, all its manifestations and consequences; the psychological toll that it takes on us humans. Such a study would be some project wouldn’t it?

However, such research would first require a level of clarity that could only come from a force outside of the deceptive world. As long as you are part of the universe, you are part of the problem. As the maxim goes: If you’re not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that we have Sukkot: A reminder from another place that the material world is not where’s it’s at. Or more accurately: Material existence is not airtight; it carries within profound truths that must be uncovered by us humans. Our role is to reveal the beauty that lies concealed within our deceptive universe.

With all the falsities in life, there are also majestic truths; with all the hypocrisy there can be found astonishing nobility and virtue.

Half the cure of the disease is knowing that you have it. To free yourself from the shackles of this lying universe, you have to first recognize the falsity around you and not get caught up in it.

As humans created in the Divine Image we have been charged with the power – and the responsibility – to transcend the cloaked universe and reveal its inner spirit.

Sukkot is a time when we are asked to act on this awareness. Move out of your home, recognize the temporal nature of everything material, submit to the fact that security comes from above.

Sukkot focuses our attention to recognizing the real from the false. Seven days of the year we are asked to physically move out of our so called “homes” and comfort zones, and actually live in a temporary shack, teaching us that our physical homes are not necessarily our definitive source for security. Sukkot is meant to provoke us and imbue the entire year with a higher sense of priority.

Perhaps a useful daily exercise would be to identify deception in our lives. Make a daily list of both your true and false experiences.

One example recently came my way. I was reading a fascinating article on the cosmological search for the beginning of existence. Every possible theory was being explored. The consensus among scientists is that “the great, great, great (to the power of a gazillion) grandparent of you and me

and everything else that we see (or can’t see) living around us” is traced back to what they call LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor). LUCA they believe is a hard bitten little extremophile (primitive bacteria, a single celled organism) of some kind or other. Somewhere along the line these single celled primordial superbugs and their specialized functions “got co opted, in a kind of primitive symbiosis, into the greater service of the more secure, membrane bound, multitasking complex that would become the eukarytic cell and its subsequent multicellular manifestations, most prominent among these (at least in our minds) being ourselves.”

What came before LUCA? “Many scientists now argue that before LUCA and the emergence of our current DNA protein world, there was what’s referred to as an RNA world, one made up only of rudimentary RNA based entities that were later subsumed into RNA’s current role as our DNA’s messenger. And before the RNA world, there has to have been what might be described as the real prize for astrobiologists, the so called first living organism, or FLO.”

Now FLO “had to have been an even tougher entity than LUCA was merely to overcome the universe’s most prohibitive law, the second law of thermodynamics, which dictates that all matter tends toward entropy, the dissipation of energy. All life is in utter defiance of that law, a bound, energy gathering stay against entropy.”

The other essential requirement for life to begin is that there had to have been a “first bit of information, some kind of biochemical message, or code, however crude, to begin to convey. Or, in this case, to misconvey, the whole story of life’s emergence and evolution on earth being, in essence, a multibillion year long game of telephone, in which the initial utterance, the one that preceded all others, was increasingly transmuted and reinvented the further along it was passed. It is the precise nature of that first utterance that astrobiologists are trying to decipher.”

Throughout this entire article – and all the exhaustive material that addresses these issues – no mention of G‑d is ever made. I am not stating this from a religious perspective, but simply from an intellectual one. When

you are exploring the origins of life and you see a miraculous order, and you have the Biblical texts that describe creation, why should that not be included in at least as one of the possible theories? Perhaps the “initial utterance” was G‑d creating the universe with “ten utterances”?

The possibility that perhaps G‑d created the universe from nothing is not even presented and dismissed. The entire concept is not even a consideration. The article mentioned creationism, not as a theory but as the belief of some fundamentalists who still embrace archaic texts.

Now tell me, even if you are the biggest skeptic, how could you not consider that maybe the universe was created by G‑d from nothing, and the human perhaps is not just evolved bacteria, but created in the Divine Image? Can anyone utterly rule that out?

The only way I can explain how certain “facts” have become “facts”, with a complete disregard for the possibility in the truth of the Biblical narrative, is that the universe is an “agnostic” one, so airtight that it can deceive anyone within this universe that there is nothing more than what we can empirically experience. If you so choose, G‑d the can simply be totally disregarded by His creation…

I would greatly appreciate hearing from you any other examples of the deceptive world in which we live, especially in areas where we may not see the obvious deception. As the Baal Shem Tov says, there is a darkness that is so deep that it conceals the fact that it is dark: War is Peace. Deception is Truth. Evil is Good. It’s 20 years after 1984, but Orwell’s world is alive and kicking.

Every day life is replete with falsities. Identify them and you are well on your way to freeing yourself and discovering truth.

That’s the true way to celebrate Sukkot.

And that’s the ultimate beauty of our Sukkot challenge: Not to escape a lying world, but to reveal its deeper truth. EM

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).

Rabbi

BLeSSiNgS CLoaked iN darkNeSS

Tzvi Freeman

G‑d gives blessings. But how is it conceivable that G‑d gives curses?

Isn't this the whole notion of our faith in a Creator—that therefore life is essentially purposeful and good?

Rather, at every moment, an endless current of divine creative energy streams into our world from the fountain of all delight and pleasure, sustaining all existence, providing life and sentience to all beings.

That is good, the ultimate good.

At times, that energy comes measured and filtered to suit our world. So we perceive its goodness immediately and openly.

But at other times it comes below as it is above, from a place where goodness is understood on an infinitely higher and deeper plane than in our mundane and shallow world.

And so, like a mighty river of raw, unbridled energy that has broken through its dam, it rearranges the ecosystem of our reality with a fury. Nothing will go untouched; nothing will remain the same ever again.

If our world has been prepared for such a torrent—if the channels of our minds are opened wide and deep, our hearts softened as well tilled soil— then these rains will come as a great blessing of life and joy.

If not, they will appear as a curse. Until we will grow from them and learn to embrace them.

“In the heavens,” the ancient Midrash tells, “there is no fire and brimstone. Only for the earth do such things appear to come from there.”

And yet…yet there is something else.

There are times when an intensely dark energy enters the world that even the most enlightened mind cannot begin to contain. A jolt from a place beyond grasping, from the very Core of Being that no creature can enter or perceive without surrendering its very existence.

Those are the times when we look at what is happening to us and to our world and nothing makes sense, when no justification suffices, when we recoil in horror and exclaim, “If there is a G‑d, how could this be?”

G‑d, it seems, does not require we understand Him in order that He exist. If He did, after all, in what way would He be G‑d?

So we do not understand. Instead, we are outraged—and justifiably so.

Yet, bereft of any other choice aside from our own oblivion, we choose to believe despite the vision of our eyes, to plow stubbornly forward through the thick, muddy darkness in the conviction that it must have some end, some meaning. We choose to suffer its bruises, lend it our blood, pour into it our streams of tears, allow it to break us, harden us, to expose the very core of our souls. Until its intense light may enter into our bones.

We come to know the unknowable. The entire world becomes bathed in that knowledge. That is the entire story of the Jewish people.

How is it possible to know the unknowable?

It cannot be told to us. Neither can we simply open our eyes and gaze upon it.

Only once we have swam through the rage of its deluge, suffered its scars, fallen with its brutal punches, confronted utter and absolute darkness in its own den and yet pushed forward with a power of our souls we never imagined we had, only then will it disclose to us the secret it holds within the eye of its storm.

At that time, we will look in our rearview mirror and see the road behind and it will be all good, only good, the ultimate good.

Which is why we must be told to “see” and not simply to know or understand:

“Open your eyes and look deeper, much deeper,” G‑d is telling us, “and you will see

inside each curse blessings you could never have imagined.”

“For all the pain and all the sorrow, the loneliness, the confusion, the darkness, all that has come upon you was only a cloak for My endless love for you, My desire to bring you close to Me.”

Now we can understand a story, one that is told over a seven week period every year:

During the three weeks of the summer leading up to the ninth of Av, the day that marks the destruction of Jerusalem and the beginning of our long exile, we read each Shabbat a different prophecy of that calamity and the suffering that ensued in its wake.

Then, beginning the Shabbat after the ninth of Av, for seven weeks, we read each Shabbat a different prophecy of consolation and comfort.

The standard comprehensive Jewish code for all things liturgical is that of Rabbi David Avudraham (14th century, Seville). After recording all the haftarot for the year, he cites a tradition concerning these seven weeks of consolation.

He explains how the first line of each haftarah tells another chapter of a story, of an interchange between G‑d and the Jewish people.

At first, G‑d instructs the prophets that enough gloom and doom has been spoken and now they must go to “Console, console My people.”

But the next week, we find the people are not consoled. They want to know why G‑d has sent His prophets to do the job. Why will He not comfort them Himself? “And Zion will say, ‘G‑d has forsaken me, G‑d has forgotten me!’”

So, on the third Shabbat, we read the prophets reporting back to G‑d, “The tempestuous, suffering soul is not comforted.”

And indeed, on the fourth Shabbat, we read G‑d’s words to His people, “I, yes I, am the one to console you.” This continues for two more weeks with consolation in G‑d’s own voice: “Rejoice, oh barren one who has not yet given birth!” “Arise and shine, for your light has come!”

Only then do we read, on the seventh and final week, of our joy and celebration in having heard directly from G‑d: “Rejoice, I

will rejoice in G‑d!”

So why is it so distressing to be comforted by the prophets? They will tell us that our suffering has a happy ending. Yet more, it will be a double consolation—“Console, console.” We will then see how all the suffering pays off in the end, because it brought us forgiveness and made us worthy.

But we will not accept that.

“For this we swam against the raging waves of a bitter ocean for two thousand years? For this we were crucified, slaughtered and threw ourselves in the fire in Your name? For this we witnessed such unspeakable trauma as no other nation on earth, simply because we are Your people?”

“All this was nothing more than a punishment for our sins, a cleansing of our souls? No! That cannot be!”

To which G‑d responds, “You are right.”

“The darkness was not a monster sent to punish you. Neither was it meant as a cleansing alone.”

“It was I, it was the shadow of My very essence and being, as we came close to one another so that we might embrace.”

But if that is the explanation, why then must G‑d wait for us to protest? Why can't He reveal this truth from the outset?

Because, as we have just learned, we are speaking of the unknowable, of the very essence of G‑d’s being. It is not a thing that can be told. Not a thing that even the greatest prophet can perceive.

Except…except through the struggle and the outrage, the scream of indignation, the cry that G‑d has no right to abandon us, that He could not possibly have brought this upon us without some unimaginable, incomprehensible explanation that only He Himself can provide, and must provide. That itself is a recognition that He is there.

With that itself, we begin to lift the veil. 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.

future tense MOSHIACH MUSINGS

The story is told of a renowned saint who, as a little boy, asked his father for an apple but was refused. The precocious youngster then quickly recited the appropriate blessing for an apple. His pious father did not want his son to be guilty of having recited in vain a blessing with G‑d’s Name, and promptly handed him an apple.

The same may be applied to our present condition:

If we shall now already rejoice in the redemption, with absolute faith that G‑d will speedily send us Moshiach, this joy in itself will (as it were) “compel” our Father in Heaven to fulfill His children’s fervent wish and speedily redeem us!

Needless to say, this is not a case of an illegitimate “forcing” the advent of the “end of days,” for here we are not dealing with “practical Kabbalah,” an adjuration of angels, and the like. We speak simply of serving G‑d with extraordinary joy.

Our present rejoicing in the redemption with the coming of Moshiach will effect a reciprocal fulfillment of the prophecy that “The redeemed of G‑d shall return, they shall come unto Zion with singing, and ever lasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

SLeePLeSS iN The Sukkah?

Rabbi Yoseph Y. Zaltzman

QI noticed that in many Chabad families they almost never sleep in the Sukkah, while most or at least some other people do if the weather permits. Why the difference in customs?

Your observations are quite correct. According to the Talmud, men are indeed obligated to sleep in the sukkah. Though this has become less common in recent generation for various reason, it is mainly due to leniencies. For example, in some places the cold, wet weather would cause much discomfort, taking away from the joy of the festival. In other places it would be dangerous to sleep in the sukkah for fear of thievery or violence. However, in safe places with a pleasant climate, many people do in fact sleep in the sukkah today. And you are correct that the Chabad custom is specifically to avoid sleeping the in the sukkah, which is interesting because Chabad nee custom is generally quite stringent and avoids leniencies when it comes to observance of Jewish law.

In contrast, when it comes to eating, the Chabad custom it to eat and drink exclusively in the sukkah regardless of the weather, even when not partaking in a full meal. It would seem that the opposite should have been the case: The obligation to sleep in a sukkah carries a greater stringency than that of eating and drinking there. For one may eat a light repast (and surely drink water) outside the sukkah, while in classical Jewish sources even a short nap is prohibited outside the sukkah.

Now, it is true that difficulties resulting from time and place free a person from the obligation to sleep in the sukkah, as we find in the law that “where it is painful to sleep in the sukkah because of the cold ... it is not necessary to sleep in the sukkah ... for whoever is distressed by dwelling in the sukkah is free from the obligation to dwell there.”

Nevertheless, this does not resolve the question concerning eating and drinking. Even when it was raining — during which time one may surely eat in the house — he would not eat outside the sukkah.

The source of this custom is a question the Mitteler Rebbe (Rabbi Dovber, the second

Chabad rebbe) once asked: “How is it possible to sleep in the sukkah when it is illuminated by an extremely lofty level of holiness?” As such, the Mitteler Rebbe expressed astonishment that his disciples could sleep there, in keeping with the verse where Jacob expresses a similar astonishment when he encountered angels in his dreams while sleeping at the place that turned out to be the Temple Mount: “Behold, G‑d is found in this place, and I knew it not,” upon which Rashi comments: “Had I known, I would not have slept in so sacred a place.”

When one is aware of the holiness of the sukkah, the law allows one to sleep in his home, because attempting to sleep in the sukkah will cause discomfort and distress. When unable to fall asleep in the sukkah, one is exempt from the obligation and permitted to sleep in the house.

Even if we “regular” people might not be so disturbed by this holiness that it would cause us to lose sleep over it, the fact that our holy Rebbes did feel it and conducted themselves this way makes us want to emulate them. And the fact that we don’t have the level of awareness to conduct ourselves in a manner similar to their Rebbes causes us pain, which frees us from the obligation to sleep in the sukkah.

This is particularly so, as the Mitteler Rebbe wondered how it was possible for people to sleep in the sukkah. Therefore a person who feels close to his Rebbe finds it impossible to sleep in the sukkah. For although the sacred illumination of the sukkah does not disturb his sleep, he is pained by the very fact that he is able to sleep in the sukkah, undisturbed by the sukkah’s sanctity. 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 Wednesday evenings after 7pm. Rebbitzin Chiena Zaltzman is also available for private consultations by appointment on Wednesday evenings from 9 to 10pm by calling 416.222.7105.

Наступление Осенних праздниковРош Ашана и Йом Кипур совсем скоро. В Рош Ашана Вс-вышний судит все свои творения, определяя для них предстоящий год. В молитве «Видуй» - «Покаяние», кото-рую несколько раз произносят во время праздничных служб, перечисляются все мыслимые грехи, которые человек может совершить. Почему побуждение к греху овладевает человеком? Может, это связано с проступком Первого Человека – Адама, который, как известно, в тот же день, когда его сотворил Вс-вышний, ослушался Творца. Ранее мы с Вами не обсуждали проступок Адама, - мне не хочется употре-блять слово «грех» по отношению к святому Первому Человеку. Общеизвестен тезис, что человечество страдает из-за совершенного Адамом греха. Это правда. Правда? Так что же совершил Адам, почему его проступок называется грехом, и чем этот грех обернулся для человечества? Талмуд объясняет, что Адам не должен был трогать виноград, который назывался древом жизни. Виноград? Я слышала, что было яблоко или даже инжир...

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

18 ELUL FARBRENGEN

The 18th of the month of Elul is the birthday of two great luminaries — the Baal Shem Tov (R. Yisrael ben R. Eliezer, born 1698), founder of the Chassidic move¬ment, and the Alter Rebbe (R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi, born 1745), founder of Chabad. Together, they formed the foundation of the Chassidic revolution of Jewish life, one that continues unabated to this day. It is no wonder that this day infuses the month of Elul with life – 18 being the numerical value of the Hebrew word “chai,” which means life. There is no better time, since this day also marks 12 days before Rosh Hashana, one day to reflect upon and repair one month of the previous year. The day was marked with an uplifting community farbrengen gathering hosted by the JRCC S Richmond Hill & Maple and attended by dozens of community members.

SHOFAR FACTORY AND HEBREW SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE

The JRCC S Richmond Hill & Maple hosted a Shofar Factory event where children got to make their own real shofars together with their parents one week before Rosh Hashana. The event also served as an Open House for the JRCC S Richmond Hill & Maple’s Hebrew School branch, and was free to attend for existing Hebrew School students. The shofar making activity is an example of the Hebrew School’s approach to making education an interactive, hand-on experience where children use their sense and creative abilities to learn about and engage with their Jewish heritage. For more information visit: jrccHebrewSchool.org.

ADVANCE IN MATH this Summer

June 27th - August 4th

CLAIM YOUR B I R T

C A K E

Members of the Jewish Russian community can drop by on their birthday month for a birthday cake. Visit the volunteer lounge in Room 6.

More info: Hana Uralsky hana.uralsky@jrcc.org

Faces of the Community

Semyon (Sholem) Zilberman

My paternal grandfather, Moishe Zilberman, was from a place called Druya, Vitebsk province (Belarus). There were eight children in the family, and Jewish tradition was fully observed there: they communicated only in Yiddish. Food, of course, was kosher. Shabbat and holidays were observed in accordance with Jewish law. It was in such a traditional family that my father was born into in 1884.

One of his countrymen who owned a sewing studio in Riga offered my father to be his apprentice, providing him with accommodation. I was born in Riga. At that time, the Jews of Riga strictly adhered to the letter of the Jewish law, and no one had heard of non-kosher food.

My mother, Leya Abramovna, was born in the small Belarusian town of Disna. My mother's parents had their own farm with a cow, chickens, and a garden. They also adhered to the Jewish way of life. My mother's father was a talented musician who played the double bass in a klezmer ensemble. Their son, Dovid, my mother's brother, graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the violin class. He toured several times with the symphony orchestra, including concerts in Raga, and also gave solo performances. My parents were always present at his performances. He last performed in concert in 1926.

In Riga at that time, in my opinion, the living conditions for the Jews were relatively democratic. We lived in the Jewish area. Religious, Zionist, youth and sports organizations were active there. I went to a children's religious kosher camp in Asari, near Riga. Moreover, for the modest income of our family, it was free - wealthy Jews contributed funds for the maintenance of the community. I remember how we picked blueberries there, from which they made jam and baked pies for us. For several pre-war years, my parents rented a cabin on the Riga seaside. There were synagogues nearby, and when my father arrived from the city on the eve of Shabbat (he rode by train, the engine of which was heated with firewood - the smoke was thick!), we went to the synagogue together. When the war began, the Jewish youth of Riga united in groups. There were instructors at schools who explained how to use weapons. My two older brothers, Meir and Henoch, being members of one of these groups, signed up for the militia. Before they left, they went home to say goodbye, and my mother suggested that they evacuate along with the whole family. But they answered: “If not us, who will defend the city?” They did not realize that the fate of the city was already sealed. Before they left, their mother gave them a note with the address of her musician brother, Dovid, who lived in Leningrad, in order to keep in touch with each other through him. On the evening of the next day, June 27, 1941, our friends suggested that a truck should drive up to take people who were about to evacuate to the train. We were lucky – we managed to come running at the last minute before the departure of the car with refugees. Otherwise, we would have shared the tragic fate of six million Jews, my innocent brothers and sisters. The truck was open, soldiers with rifles were sitting along the sides. From the upper floors of the houses the Latvians fired at the fleeing people as we passed. We got to the freight station where the train was. Each compartment, a small space with two benches, had a separate entrance. At first there were five of us, but then refugees crowded in at the stops, and we were riding with terrible crowding. Traveling in this way for three weeks, we finally disembarked at the Kirov region. In mid-July, my mother wrote to her brother in Leningrad, and by that time he had already received a letter from my older brothers. As a result, the family united. In August, my older brother was drafted into the army – into the newly formed Latvian division, 30% of which was made of Jews. In some divisions, classes were even held in Yiddish. Shortly after, we received an official message that my brother died on December 31, 1941 in the village of Elagino, Moscow Region. This is how my family experienced the war. After the war, I became a tailor's apprentice, a job I inherited from my father. For nine years, I worked in a Riga atelier, then I got married and moved to Leningrad, where my family and I lived for twenty-five happy years. In 1979 we moved to Canada and had to start building our lives anew. In 1981, I opened my atelier in the center of a religious district. I worked there for fifteen years and then retired. In our family, we have always adhered to Jewish traditions, celebrated all Jewish holidays. I am a member of the Chabad synagogue. Twenty-five years ago, I unfortunately lost my wife. To this day, I miss her so much. We are glad that we have found ourselves in a country where we have the opportunity to proudly show our Jewishness, and no one prevents us from doing this. I am the proud grandfather of four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. I wish myself and all the Jewish people a happy sweet New Year, full prosperity and security for our dear Israel.

RSM is an award-winning, afterschool math enrichment program. Students can choose from a variety of K-12 courses that will be taught during our 6 week summer session.

MathSchool.com

SUKKOT

Oct 9-16, 2022

Sukkot begins at 6:01pm on Sunday, Oct 9. Sukkot yom tov days conclude at 7:00pm on Tuesday, Oct 11, while Sukkot continues until Sunday, Oct 16.

All times displayed in this guide are for the Greater Montreal Area.

What is Sukkot?

Sukkot is a seven-day celebration of the harvest season, and commemorates the miraculous protection G-d provided for the Israelites during the Exodus from Egypt and the forty years in the desert wilderness.

The Immersive Mitzvah

“Mitzvah,” the Torah’s word for the divine precepts which guide and govern every aspect of our daily lives has a dual meaning: the word means both “commandment” and “connection.”

In commanding us the mitzvot, G-d created the means through which we may establish a connection with Him. The hand that distributes charity, the mind that ponders the wisdom of Torah, the heart that soars in prayer — all become instruments of the divine will. There are mitzvot for each limb, organ and faculty of man, and mitzvot governing every area of life, so that no part of us remains uninvolved in our relationship with the Creator.

Therein lies the uniqueness of the mitzvah of sukkah. While other mitzvot each address a certain aspect of our persona, the mitzvah of sukkah provides a medium by which the totality of man is engaged in the fulfillment of G-d’s will. All of the person enters into and lives in the sukkah. “sukkah is the only mitzvah into which a person enters with his muddy boots,” goes the Chassidic saying. For the seven days of Sukkot, the sukkah is our home—the environment for our every endeavor and activity.

i Learn more at jrcc.org/Sukkot

Sukkah in the Rain?

The weather may be a little unpleasant, it may be a little squashy in there, and your palm allergy may be flaring up...but the inner serenity, the love and feeling of connection with those around you, the sense of being embraced by G-d—all that should override any physical discomfort. If you’re still not enjoying the sukkah, then you’re not really in the sukkah in the first place, and you can go inside. But if you know what you’re missing, you won’t want to leave.

There are moments when we are called upon to transcend the material world. Sitting in the sukkah is one of those moments. A little rain, or even a lot, can’t stop that.

Pre-Holiday to-do list

• Build a Sukkah or make plans to have access to one

•andAcquiretheFourKinds(a.k.a.lulav etrog)

• Prepare the festival meals in advance

• Holiday Candle Lighting - see page 15

Special Guests

According to Kabbalistic tradition, we are visited in the sukkah by seven supernal ushpizin (“guests”) – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David. On each of the seven days of the festival, another of the seven ushpizin (in the above order) leads the group. The sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (18801950) spoke of seven “chassidic ushpizin” as well: the Baal Shem Tov, the Maggid of Mezeritch, and the first five rebbes of Chabad. The Rebbe would speak each night of Sukkot on the special characteristics of both the biblical and the chassidic ushpizin of the day and their connection to each other and their specific day of the festival.

We’re here to help

For assistance in making your Sukkot plans, including attending services, building a Sukkah, acquiring a lulav and etrog, or any other assistance, visit jrcc.org/Sukkot or contact us.

It Takes All Kinds

The etrog has both a taste and an aroma; so, too, do the people of Israel include individuals who have both Torah learning and good deeds... The date (the fruit of the lulav) has a taste but does not have an aroma; so, too, do the people of Israel include individuals who have Torah but do not have good deeds... The hadas has an aroma but not a taste; so, too, do the people of Israel include individuals who have good deeds but do not have Torah.... The aravah has no taste and no aroma; so, too, do the people of Israel include individuals who do not have Torah and do not have good deeds.... Says G-d: “Let them all bond together in one bundle and atone for each other.”

The message is not just that “all are part of the Jewish people” or “all are precious in the eyes of G-d” or even that “all are necessary”; it says that they “all atone for each other.” This implies that each of the Four Kinds possesses something that the other three do not, and thus “atones” and compensates for that quality’s absence in the other three.

Shake the Four Kinds

It is customary to perform the mitzvah of the Four Kinds inside the Sukkah.

1. Blessing. Stand facing east. Hold the lulav in your right hand and recite the blessing: Ba-ruch A-tah Ado-nai E-lo-hei-nu me-lech ha-olam a-sher ki-de-sha-nu be-mitz-vo-tav ve-tzee-vah-nu al ne-ti-lat lu-lav. Blessed are You, L‑rd our G‑d, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us regarding taking the lulav.

2. Pick up the etrog in your left hand. The following blessing is recited ONLY on the first time the mitzvah is performed this year: Ba-ruch A-tah Ado-nai E-lo-hei-nu me-lech ha-olam sheheche-ya-nu ve-ki-yi-ma-nu ve-higi-a-nu liz-man ha-zeh. Blessed are You, Lord our G‑d, King of the universe, who has granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this occasion.

The Intermediate Days

Chol Hamoed (the “intermediate days”) are, as the name suggests, a fusion of the mundane (“chol) and the sacred (“moed”). These are not holy days like Shabbat and Yom Tov during which work is prohibited, yet they are still festival days that are observed with limited work restrictions. The general principle is to minimize work and as to maximize the holiday celebration. Anything done to cook or otherwise celebrate the festival itself is generally permitted. Driving, lights and using electronics is permitted (but you might want to minimize screen time to be more present with the holiday), and one can do work in order to avoid incurring a loss. Consult your rabbi from more specifics.

The seventh and final official day of Sukkot is called Hoshana Rabbah, and is considered the final day of the divine “judgment” in which the fate of the new year is determined. It is the day when the verdict that was issued on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is finalized.

3. Shake it Up (and all around)

Bring the lulav and etrog together using both hands. The bottom of all the Four Kinds should be parallel, with the top of the etrog touching the lulav. Your hands should be opposite your heart. Wave the Four Kinds three times in each direction, bringing them back to the heart after each time:

– Right (south)

– Left (north)

– Straight (east)

– Upwards - beware of low ceilings!

– Downwards - keep the tip pointing up and move your hands downward – Backwards (west) - keep your feet planted, twist backwards to the right

The Moshiach Connection

The sukkah is defined as a temporary dwelling which, for the duration of the seven-day festival of Sukkot, becomes the home of the Jew. The sukkah must be “temporary” but it also must be a “dwelling,” therefore the sukkah has a minimum height, length and width, a maximum height, and many other detailed laws defining its building. All these specifications have one exception: there is no limit to a sukkah’s length and breadth. You can build a sukkah the size of a city, or the size of a continent — it’ll still be a kosher sukkah. The Talmud derives from the verse above that “all citizens of Israel shall dwell in the sukkah.” The Torah wishes to imply that “it is fitting that the entire people of Israel dwell in a single sukkah.” The quality imparted by Sukkot is unity. Our interdependence and oneness as a people are expressed by the four kinds taken on Sukkot, and by the sukkah’s embrace of every Jew — every type of Jew, and every individual Jew — within its walls. Thus it is indeed most “fitting that the entire people of Israel dwell in a single sukkah.” The big sukkah — the sukkah large enough to house all Jews together — cannot be a violation of the definition of “sukkah”, since it is actually its most fitting expression. Whatever size sukkah we build, we must ensure that it should be a “big sukkah” in essence — a welcome home to each and every one of our brethren.

i Learn more at jrcc.org/Moshiach

SHMINI ATZERET & SIMCHAT TORAH

Oct 16-18, 2022

Shemini Atzeret begins at 5:49pm on Sunday, Oct 16. Shemini Atzeret (and Simchat Torah) concludes at 6:48pm on Tuesday, Oct 18.

All times displayed in this guide are for the Greater Montreal Area.

What is Shemini Atzeret?

Shemini Atzeret is an independent holiday that follows Sukkot. Outside of Israel it is a two-day holiday, and the second day is known as Simchat Torah. (In Israel they are celebrated on the same day). This holiday is characterized by utterly unbridled joy, which reaches its climax on Simchat Torah, when we celebrate the conclusion and restart of the annual Torah-reading cycle.

Prayer for Rain

Jews have been praying for rain for millennia. In the ancient land of Israel, rain was a life-and-death concern. A good rainy season meant a good harvest and ample drinking water, while a drought could be fatal to livestock and cripple the economy. Marking the start of the rainy season (in the Middle East), we begin to mention rain in our prayers on Shemini Atzeret morning. This is dramatically marked with special addition of the The Prayer for Rain to the cantor’s repetition of the Musaf, sung in a traditional tune, evocative of the soul-stirring High Holiday melodies. We are joining Jews all over the world—especially those in our Holy Land, where every drop of water is precious—united in our request for bounty and blessing for all of humanity.

Goodbye Party

Simchat Torah is the grand finale of a season that began with the solemn repentance of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and then transitioned into the joy of Sukkot and Simchat Torah. The sages compare this final day to the following analogy: A king threw a grand feast for seven days. All citizens of the kingdom were invited for the seven days of partying. He then told his loved ones: We have fulfilled our duty to the citizenry. Now let me and you continue with what remains. This is our final party with G-d before we enter the year ahead, supercharge and inspired by the holiday.

“The forty-eight hours of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah should be dearly cherished, for at each moment one can draw bucketsful and barrelsful of treasures both material and spiritual, and this is accomplished by dancing.”

The Rebbe Rashab Rabbi Sholom DovBer of Lubavitch

Yizkor Remembrance Prayer

When: Monday, Oct 17 Yizkor is a special prayer in which we implore G‑d to remember the souls of our relatives and friends that have passed on. Yizkor means “Remember.” When we recite Yizkor, we renew and strengthen the connection between us and our loved ones, bringing merit to the departed souls by pledging to perform a mitzvah in their honor (usually giving to charity), which provides a merit that elevates them in their celestial homes. Yizkor should only be recited by someone who has lost at least one parent; those with both parents alive leave the synagogue sanctuary during Yizkor. In addition to reciting Yizkor for one’s parent(s), one may recite Yizkor for any Jew who has passed on, including relatives and friends. When reciting Yizkor for more than one person, repeat the Yizkor paragraph each time.

What gives Yizkor its special power? It is the eternal power of the soul – including the soul of our departed loved ones above, and our souls here below. On the soul level, we are all one and always one. Yizkor is a moving moment when we recite the names of our loved ones whose souls are in the World of Truth above, and realize that at that very moment their souls are present here below.

i Online Yizkor form: jrcc.org/yizkor

The Climax

The climax of the month of Tishrei—the point at which our celebration of our bond with G‑d attains the very pinnacle of joy—is during the hakafot of Simchat Torah, when we take the Torah scrolls in our arms and dance with them around the reading table in the synagogue—a practice that is neither a biblical nor a rabbinical precept, but merely a custom.

For it is with our observance of the customs that we express the depth of our love for G‑d. The biblical commandments might be compared to the explicitly expressed desires between two people bound in marriage. The rabbinic mitzvot, on which G‑d did not directly instruct us but which nevertheless constitute expressions of the divine will, resemble the implied requests between spouses. But the customs represent those areas in which we intuitively sense how we might cause G‑d pleasure. And in these lie our greatest joy.

The Moshiach Connection

The festival of Shemini Atzeret does not have special mitzvahs, customs or rituals like the other festivals – except for one: to be joyous. The mitzvah of joy on this day is actually explicitly ordained by the Torah in the verse “you shall be only joyful.” Commentators note that this verse is not only a precept but also a promise: “if you will fulfill the mitzvah of simchah, you are assured that you will be joyful forever.”

The concept of joy is central in Judaism, and especially in the teachings of Chassidus. The significance of joy is encapsulated in the notion that “joy breaks through barriers.” Through joy, we can transcend all kinds of challenges and obstacles to reach the highest heights, especially in spiritual matters. In this sense, some say that joy is not the goal of life; joy is the engine that drives life.

Moshiach, too, is referred to as “The one who breaks through.” Moshiach breaks through the chains and darkness to bring light into the world, and we see that historically many of Moshiach’s ancestors, from Judah to Ruth to King David, had to overcome intense challenges in order to break through and realize their destinies.

Our joy, which empowers us to break through in our own lives, is the channel that brings about the ultimate break through – the end of exile and the coming of Moshiach.

i Learn more at jrcc.org/Moshiach

Now What?

The holiday season comes to a close. It’s time to hit the road and get back to the “real” world. This concept is expressed in the verse, “And Jacob went on his way.” Each word in the verse is significant. The name used to describe the Jewish nation is Jacob, rather than Israel. Israel is the name associated with the unique loftiness and greatness of the Jewish people. The name Jacob, on the other had, means “heel,” expressing the mission to elevate the lowliness of the material world. So, in this context, describing the movement from the holiness of the holidays into the mundane world, referring to ourselves as Jacob clearly indicates that this movement has meaning: The purpose is to bring the spirit and inspiration of the holidays with us into our lives, refine the world around us (and inside us), and thereby make the entire world a dwelling place for the Divine. The method to achieve this is through practical actions of goodness and kindness, which often require us to step out of our previous definitions of self and self imposed limitations – which is expressed in the word “Jacob went.” Finally, “on his way” (or, more accurately, his “path” or “road”) signifies connectedness; the purpose of transportation infrastructure is to connect remote areas to the central region. The journey of the year is, in a sense, a mission to connect the remoteness of normal material life with the central elevated spiritual life of the holidays.

Wishing you and your family a healthy, happy, sweet year full of blessings!

IT’S A BOY!

Yonatan Biryukov

Arom Simche Khaikin

Daniel Rio Levitin

Yair Priev

Melachia Verdichevski

Ezra Noach Wexler

Matityahu Yosipovich

Elazar Zaltzman

IT’S A GIRL!

Rosalia Ashurov

Chava Hess

Basia Shteynberg

Maya Solomonov

Mila Sush

BAR-MITZVAH!

Mendel Nachlas

Osher Wolfson

Yisrael Moshe Bekerman

ENGAGEMENT!

Daniel Vershavsky & Nicole Sorokin MARRIAGE!

Joshua Scchwartz & Anna Kabanovski

Bobby Plax & Naomi Silver

Eric Chernin & Lyuba Bryushkova

Yisroel New & Batsheva Parshan

Ari Feigenson & Bas Sheva Popack

Yudi Matusof & Mushky Herzog

Avremi Hershkop & Sheina Goldstein

Mazal Tov to

Rabbi Avrohom & Mrs. Sarale Zaltzman on

the birth of their son

Elazar

May it be G-d’s will that you raise him and enable him to attain Torah, marriage and good deeds amidst property.

With Best Wishes, the JRCC Rabbi & Staff

Happy birthday to our dear Yehudit Faynberg!

We wish our mother and wife good health, success in all matters, a real hassidische naches from children and family.

Mazal Tov and up to 120! We love you very much!

Your family: Dovid, Devorah, Netanel, Kaila, and Shaina.

perspectives

The QueeN: defeNder of aLL faiThS

Jonathan Sacks

Punctuality, said Louis XVIII of France, is the politeness of kings. Royalty arrives on time and leaves on time. So it is with Her Majesty the Queen, with one memorable exception.

The day was 27 January 2005, the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and the place St James’s Palace. The Queen was meeting a group of Holocaust survivors. When the time came for her to leave, she stayed. And stayed. One of her attendants said that he had never known her to linger so long after her scheduled departure. She gave each survivor — it was a large group — her focused, unhurried attention. She stood with each until they had finished telling their personal story.

It was an act of kindness that almost had me in tears. One after another, the survivors came to me in a kind of trance, saying: “Sixty years ago I did not know if I would be alive tomorrow, and here I am today talking to the Queen.” It brought a kind of blessed closure into deeply lacerated lives.

We don’t always appreciate the Queen’s role in one of the most significant changes of the past 60 years: Britain’s transformation into a multi ethnic, multifaith society. No one does interfaith better than the Royal Family, and it starts with the Queen herself. Already in 1952, the first year of her reign, she was patron of the Council of Christians and Jews, the organization founded by the Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple and the Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz in one of history’s darkest nights ten years earlier.

The Queen cares for all her subjects, and no one is better at making everyone she meets feel valued.

That applies not just to individuals but to all Britain’s faith communities. In one of the first public occasions of her Diamond Jubilee, the Queen met at Lambeth Palace leaders of the nine leading faiths in Britain: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Zoroastrian and Bahai. Each showed her an object that held special significance for them. In return she praised their contributions to the nation. They helped the sick, the elderly, the lonely and the disadvantaged. More and more, she said, the Church of England was actively co operating with other faiths to

build a better society. Faith, not just Christian faith, reminds us of “the responsibilities we have beyond ourselves.” It was gently, deftly done.

The royals — all of them, especially the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales — have done outstanding work with the faith communities. To see Prince Charles lighting Chanukah candles with children at a Jewish school, or being adorned with flowers by appreciative Sikhs at the Royal Albert Hall, or visiting the Hindu temple in Neasden for Diwali, is to see royalty at its best. No one doubts the duty of a monarch to defend the Established Church, but it is precisely those for whom faith is important who can best understand how important other faiths are for their adherents. Oddly enough, the religious dimension of the throne makes it better placed than secular institutions to value and unite Britain’s many faiths.

Jews have deep respect for the Queen and the Royal Family. We say a prayer for them every Sabbath in synagogue. We recite a special blessing on seeing the Queen. We drink a toast to her at every communal dinner. Whether I am in America or Israel or the Far East one of the first questions I am likely to be asked is: “How was the royal wedding?” Something similar, in my experience, is true of other minority faiths in Britain. They value the Queen because they know she values them. She makes them feel

not strangers in a strange land, but respected citizens at home.

Her presence and her family’s role as the human face of national identity is one of the great unifying forces in Britain, a unity we need all the more, the more diverse religiously and culturally we become. Hers has been the quiet heroism of service, and in an age of self obsession she has been a role model of duty, selflessly and graciously fulfilled.

Presenting the Queen with a loyal address, the President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews gave her the traditional Jewish blessing for long life, Ad meah ve-esrim, “May you live to be a hundred and twenty.” Not having heard this blessing before, she gave a quizzical smile. We had to explain that the figure was not meant to be precise. It was just our way of offering her our loyal thanks and our prayers that she may continue for many years in health and strength. She has been a blessing to us, the nation and the world. EM

Rabbi Dr. Sir Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, was the former Chief Rabbi of the UK and the Commonwealth and a member of the House of Lords. He was a leading academic and respected world expert on Judaism. He was the author of several books and thousands of articles, appeared regularly on television and radio, and spoke at engagements around the world.

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FIERA FOODS COMPANY IS HIRING!

As one of North America’s largest, privately-owned large-scale bakeries, Fiera Foods Company and affiliated companies has an incredible history of expansion, innovation and quality over the past 30 years. We’re looking for outstanding people to join our outstanding team.

• Production (Mixers, Scalers, Oven Operators, Production Line Operators, General Production Staff, Forklift Operators, Shipper/Receivers);

• Skilled Trades (Electricians, Mechanics, Refrigeration Mechanics, PLC Technicians) • Sales (Canada and US);

• Management (Lead hand, Supervisory, Management, Project Engineers)

Our commitment to quality, excellence, and responsiveness are critical to our team and our success. Superior communication, teamwork and attention to detail are expected of everyone.

Please submit your resume and your compensation expectations to jobs@fierafoods.com or call (416) 746 1010 (ext. 258).

We thank all in advance for their interest, however only those selected for interviews will be contacted.