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OF M MM M O O O O N N N The Jewish Year
M M O O O O N N N seen through its months
THE M M O O O O N NN
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Issue #5 Vol #2 Shevat 5757 / 9 January 1997 - 6 February 1997
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This publication is available in Adobe Acrobat format
from The Ohr Somayach Home Page: http://www.ohr.org.il
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THIS MONTH'S SIGN: Aquarius/The Pitcher.
What is the connection between the Jewish People and a pitcher? Just as
the only purpose of a pitcher is to be a vessel to carry water, so too the
only purpose of the Jewish People is to be the `Water Carrier' -- the
vessel of the living waters of the Torah.
Just as a person cannot live without water, so too the Jewish People cannot
survive without the Torah.
When we look at our history, it is clear that what has kept us a nation
during 2,000 years of Diaspora has been our devotion to the Torah and our
precise observance of it.
Also, just as water always finds the lowest place, so too the Torah can
only be absorbed by someone who is truly humble.
[Source - Bnei Yissaschar; Ruach Hachaim]
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You Are What You Eat!
Your body is designed to be the servant of your soul. It is the
intermediary between the inner and the outer worlds. Naturally, a servant
can be willing and pliant, or coarse and obstructive.
Just as a craftsman needs the best tools to produce fine work, likewise the
human soul requires a pure body to execute its appointed task. Forbidden
food, food which is not kosher (lit. `fit') contaminate the soul so that
holiness will not flow through the body. It renders the body obtuse and
insensitive to spirituality.
The foods that the Torah permits heighten Man's awareness of the Divine,
and his desire and ability to serve his Creator.
Everything physical owes its existence to a holy spark buried within it.
When you eat, your body extracts the physical nutrients from the food. But
there is something else that is actually keeping you alive, because "Man
does not live by bread alone, but by that which emanates from the mouth
of Hashem." Hashem has placed Divine life-sustaining sparks into food.
These sparks that keep us alive.
On Tu B'Shevat (15th Shevat/22-23 January), we rejoice over the fruits of
the Land of Israel, which are filled with these Divine sparks.
There are seven species for which the Land of Israel is praised -- food
made from the wheat, barley, wine, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and
dates.
After eating any of these, we make a special blessing for the produce of
the field and the desirable, good and spacious land that Hashem saw fit to
give to our forefathers.
Even within the Land of Israel, the fruit of some places is more full of
kedusha (holiness) than others. The locale with the greatest potential
for holiness is the land around Tiberias. Just as a baby in the womb
derives nourishment through its umbilical cord and its navel, so too the
`navel' of Eretz Yisrael, the place from which the land derives its
kedusha, is the province of the tribe of Naftali, the valley of Ginnosar,
and the city of Tiberias. The name `Tiberias' comes from the Hebrew word
tabur, which means `navel'. And the word Ginnosar means `Garden of
Princes.'
Who were these princes that visited Ginnosar? They were the aristocracy of
the Torah world -- its Torah sages. The sages would journey to partake of
its fruits.
The Talmud relates that Rabbi Abahu ate of these fruits until a fly would
slip off his forehead. Rashi explains that he became exhilarated when he
ate; and his face shone to such an extent that a fly would slip off his
smooth forehead.
The fly is a symbol of impurity and sin. It is repelled by someone of
intense holiness. The prophet Elisha was recognized as a holy man,
"because no fly ever flew over his table."
When Rabbi Abahu ate of the fruits of Ginnosar, quite possibly on Tu
B'Shvat itself, he experienced a heightened spirituality which brought a
spiritual sheen to his `forehead.' His wisdom and holiness were so intense
that they repelled the dark forces, symbolized by the fly.
Source -`Fruit for the Soul' by Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Feuer in The Jewish
Observer, January 1986
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SEEING AND BELIEVING
"If I'd seen the parting of the Red Sea, then I'd also believe in G-d! If
G-d wants me to believe in Him, why doesn't He reveal Himself to me like He
did to the Children of Israel at the Red Sea?"
Sounds familiar?
After the Six Day War, you couldn't get a pair of tefilin in Israel. Boxes
of second-hand tefilin were sent from the States. Everywhere there was a
sense of a miraculous delivery.
After the Gulf War, we rushed to tear the plastic sheeting from the windows
of our `sealed rooms.' It was Shushan Purim, and the `coincidence' was
striking: Haman and Saddam, defeated on the same day!
Taxi drivers quoted verses from the prophets about sealed rooms. Everyone
saw the Hand of G-d. And yet... Two or three weeks later, the glow had
faded and what had been an unforgettable encounter with Divine Providence
had been replaced with the usual bickering in the supermarket.
At the Red Sea, the humblest member of the Jewish people -- a maidservant -
- had a greater vision of the Divine than the prophecy of the prophet
Yechezkel. And Yechezkel saw the mystical workings of how Hashem runs the
world.
And yet, a few short weeks later, these same Children of Israel had fallen
prey to an idol.
How was this all possible?
A maidservant remains a maidservant, and a taxi driver a taxi driver,
unless...
One of the lessons that we can learn from the incident of the golden calf
is that miracles by themselves don't change you.
Unless we take the inspiration of the moment and turn into concrete changes
in our behavior, we will stay who we are, with the same limited vision that
we had before the miracle.
If we don't work on who we are, we may experience the miraculous in our
lives, we may experience great awakenings. But without the hard work of
character improvement, we will not be able to hang on to the inspiration of
the moment; and we will return to the slumber of unawareness.
Shabbat Shira - The Sabbath of Song - when we read the Song that the
Children of Israel sang after crossing the Red Sea is on 17th Shevat /
January 25th
Source - Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz
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SHEVAT
Crown of Torah
Eating / Taste
Time of Delight / Chrysolite
Pure Olive Oil
House of love / Friends
Making Happy / Asher / Bless
Time of clear rational thinking
Time of spiritual and
intellect revolving
Time of selfless giving
and serving.
Shevat.
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