Isralight

Small Tastings of Torah, Judaism and Spirituality from Rav Binny Freedman – Portion of Tazria

March 31, 2022 by admin Comment Closed

In 1948, things did not look promising for the Jews. The Arab armies of Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and forces from Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria prepared to attack the newly declared State of Israel as soon as the British pulled out in May of 1948, vowing to push the Jews into the sea. In Tzfat, where 80,000 Arabs surrounded approximately 3,000 Jews living in the Jewish quarter, the Jews were braced for the worst. One night, a few weeks before the pullout, the British told the Jewish community they were leaving Tzfat in the morning and had reliable intelligence that the Arabs were planning a massive attack immediately following their departure. Predicting a massacre, they urged the Jews to leave the city, even making room for them in the convoy. With eight hours’ notice, they assumed the Jews would panic, but not a single Jew left the city. Sure enough, as the empty British trucks pulled out of Tzfat, thousands of Arabs armed...

Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

March 24, 2022 by admin Comment Closed

Why Eat Kosher? The Talmud tells a story about the famed author of the Mishna, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. The rabbi was walking down the street one day, when a little calf ran up to him and hid under his cloak. Apparently, the calf had run away from the slaughterhouse. The rabbi said to the calf, “Go back to be slaughtered, for this you have been created.” At this point, a Divine decree was made against him because he had not shown pity on the creature. As a result he become sick and suffered for many years, until one day he showed pity on a family of young rats and was suddenly healed. We know that Judaism permits us to eat meat as long as the animal was slaughtered properly, so what did Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi do that was so wrong? He incorrectly said, “for this you were created.” The Talmud is teaching us that, contrary to his declaration, animals were not created for...

Small Tastings of Torah, Judaism and Spirituality from Rav Binny Freedman – Portion of Shemini

March 24, 2022 by admin Comment Closed

Decision Moments: What Makes a Person a Leader Explosions; gunfire; the sounds of battle; ‘lashab’: (lechima be’shetach banui) urban warfare: fought in close quarters; no place to hide, nowhere to run, very little room to maneuver, and no time to think. There are many things the army teaches you, especially in officer’s training. One of the most valuable is the ability to make decisions, often of life or death, in seconds. Such was the moment Lieutenant Eitan (full name with-held for security purposes) of the elite recon unit of the Givati Infantry Brigade found himself in the summer of 2014 in Gaza. The point reconnaissance squad (Palsar Givati), led by Company Commander Benayah Sarel, had just located the entrance to a Hamas tunnel, on the edge of Rafiach in the Gaza strip. Almost immediately the men came under heavy fire from Hamas terrorists who most probably had been lying in wait, waiting for a patrol to come across the exposed tunnel....

Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

March 16, 2022 by admin Comment Closed

Purim: Secrets Behind the Purim Mask Purim celebrates the salvation of the Jews from the wicked Haman's scheme to exterminate all the Jewish men, women, and children living in the Persian empire in the year 357 B.C.E., which essentially meant all the Jews in the world. Some of the commandments of Purim, such as hearing Megillat Esther, which recounts the Purim story, and enjoying a festive meal, are obvious ways to commemorate this deliverance. Other commandments and customs have no apparent connection to what happened on Purim. Why are we required to give charity to the poor, send two food items to a friend, and get so drunk that we do not know the difference between Haman, the villain, and Mordechai, the righteous hero of the story? (This last commandment, I understand, is very rigorously kept in college dorms all year round.) What is behind the customs to dress up in costume and to eat hamentaschen, delicious, sweet tarts named literally, "Haman's...

Small Tastings of Torah, Judaism and Spirituality from Rav Binny Freedman – Portion of Tzav

March 16, 2022 by admin Comment Closed

There is a well-known story concerning John Paul Jones (known as the father of the American Navy) who found himself between a rock and a hard place in the battle of Flamborough on Sept 23, 1779. Facing Captain Pearson aboard the British HMS Serapis, Jones’ boat was outmanned, outgunned, and sinking. When it was clear Pearson had won the day, he called out to Jones to surrender. This was obviously the only sensible recourse under the circumstances. But someone forgot to tell that to John Paul Jones whose response, now the stuff of legends, was: “I have not yet begun to fight“. At which point Jones did the unexpected, demonstrating that the ship that was ‘finished’ had indeed only ‘begun to fight’. He rammed his ship into the Serapis, cleared its deck with sharpshooters and then stormed the deck with his men ultimately taking over the ship. Having lost his ship the Bonhomme Richard, he commandeered the Serapis and...

Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

March 10, 2022 by admin Comment Closed

SOUL-UTIONS TO PAIN The archetypical story about pain is recorded in the book of Job, who experiences horrible tribulations. Job's friends try to give him answers to explain his pain, but Job is not satisfied with any of their answers. In the end, G-d Himself speaks to Job and gives him resolve. Job's friends tell him that there is no such thing as pain without justice. This means that when a person goes through pain it is simply the fulfillment of justice. Pain is not haphazard or accidental. In some way-even if we cannot possibly fathom why-we have deserved our pain. But Job does not accept this answer. Maimonides, the great Torah sage known as the Rambam, says that this answer is actually the true position of Jewish tradition. In fact, when the Rambam discusses the meaning of "pain" or "suffering," he quotes the verse in the book of Job recording the answer of Job's friend who said that there is no pain...

Small Tastings of Torah, Judaism and Spirituality from Rav Binny Freedman – Portion of Vayikra

March 10, 2022 by admin Comment Closed

To hear a calling … I recently received this story via e mail: A lady passing a young boy on the street noticed he was entranced by a pair of shoes in a store window. 'My, but you're in such deep thought staring in that window!' she said. 'I was asking G-d to give me a pair of shoes,' was the boy's reply. The lady took him by the hand, went into the store, and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her. She took the little fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with the towel. By this time, the clerk had returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy's feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes. She tied up the remaining...

Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

March 3, 2022 by admin Comment Closed

Unmasking Nature: G-d’s Love is Here and Now According to Jewish Tradition, as soon as the Hebrew month of Adar begins we must increase our joy because the miracle of the Purim Story happened on that month. Purim celebrates the salvation of the Jews in the year 357 BCE from the wicked Haman’s scheme to exterminate all the Jewish men, women and children living in the Persian Empire, which meant all the Jews in the world at that time. In the Purim story, however, there were no miraculous divine interventions. There were no supernatural plagues and no splitting of any seas. In fact, G-d’s name is not even mentioned once in the entire Purim story recorded in the Book of Esther (Megillat Esther). Although the holiday of Purim is celebrated only on the 14th of the month of Adar, and in some places on the 15th, the whole month is identified with greater joy. Purim is so abundant with joy that its celebration overflows into the entire month,...

Small Tastings of Torah, Judaism and Spirituality from Rav Binny Freedman – Portion of Pekudei

March 3, 2022 by admin Comment Closed

In a cattle car in Poland, in the summer of 1942, Reb Azriel Dovid Fastag, who was the composer of tunes for the Moshitzer rebbe, was headed to his death in Treblinka. It is impossible to imagine what it must have been like. Over a hundred Jews, forced to stand for days on end with only a bucket in the middle of the car for waste, no room to even sit or lie down, no food or water, in the stifling summer heat, all crammed in together heading to whereabouts unknown, for reasons they could not even imagine. Listening to the clickety-clack of the wheels of the train, a tune sprang into his mind, and he composed the now-famous “Ani Ma’amin” tune: “I believe, with complete faith, in the coming of the messiah, and even though he may tarry, I await him nonetheless…” And he began to hum and then to sing the haunting melody, in the crowded cattle car full of...

Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

February 24, 2022 by admin Comment Closed

Successful People Are Unaccomplished Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy, a day of solemn rest to the Lord. (Exodus 35:2) During the forty years that the Israelites wandered in the desert they carried with them a portable temple referred to as the Tabernacle or the Mishkan. The creative acts that are forbidden on Shabbat are those acts similar to the skills that went into building or assembling the Mishkan. The Talmud outlines 39 different categories of such creative acts that are forbidden to do on Shabbat. They represent our ultimate power of creativity which is to build a temple that accommodates the presence of G-d on earth. Of course we know that G-d does not literally dwell in the Mishkan, however, the Mishkan symbolizes our ability to serve G-d and infuse every moment and every place with the presence of G-d. In other words, the greatest accomplishment of a human being is to serve to make manifest G-d’s presence...

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