From an email...
Shaaalooooom sweeeetest friends!!!!!:-):-)
A huuuuge mazel toooooov to R' and Mrs. Eli Mishaan on the birth of a baby boy. May he grow up to be a light unto the Jewish people and follow in the footsteps of his illustrious parents.
A huuuuuugggeeee mazel toooovvv to my chavrusa and beloved friend Rabbi Ari Mirzeoff and the Rebbetzin on the birth of their daughter in Florida. May she always shine brightly like the sun [of Florida?] and bring her special parents much joy.
A huuuuuge mazel to Mr. and Mrs. Jules [R' Yitzchak Yonah] Ehrman on the engagement of their granddaughter Gila Shoshana to Avreimi Freidman of Ashdod. An additional mazel tov to Gila herself, her mother [and my wife] and siblings [and the rest of the family] on the tremendous simcha. Every Jewish simcha is a special simcha for me but after raising such a special girl for almost 20 years and having derived such incredible nachas, the joy is boundless.
I thank Hashem from the bottom of my heart for all of the kindness He has bestowed upon me and particularly regarding my daughter Gila. I have no words to express the bracha I received and all I can do as the baal simcha [literally "owner of the simcha"] is to share it with others and bless you all that you should be zoche to marry off children with simcha, nachas, health and PLENTY of money so that the simcha is complete.
This dvar Torah is dedicated to the people who loaned me the money to enable me to finalize the shidduch [they will remain anonymous so that everybody doesn't go to them...:-)]. Without them - no shidduch, no Avreimi and Gila, no wedding after Shavuos, no engagement party this monday night [everybody is invited to both], no anything. So my gratitude to them is boundless. May they all receive Divine blessings in all that they do. Hashem will give me the money to repay them and in addition will pay them back Himself with much interest [probably more than 10 milion percent...].
In this week parsha the Jews are asked to request from the Egyptians vessels of gold and silver so that Avraham doesn't say "Hashem, you fulfilled your promise to enslave the Jews in Egypt but what about your promise to give them great bounty [רכוש גדול] when they leave" [Brachos Chapter One].
The question is - Why doesn't Hashem fulfill His promise just because He promised?? Why is He only concerned with Avraham's potential complaint?
The Holy Klausneberger Rebbe related that during the Holocaust, after a particularly torturous day under the brutal hands of the Nazis, he lay down in the bunker next to a completely secular Jew. The Jew whispered to the Rebbe that he knows that he will get rewarded in Olam Haba. The Rebbe asked how he was so sure. He was after all a sinful Jew.
The man explained that Hitler investigated into every person to see if in the last three generations there was any trace of Judaism in order to torture and kill such people. If I am enough of a Jew to be here, said the "heretic", then I am also enough of a Jew to receive reward in Olam Haba....
The Rebbe was pleased. "Now I can answer a difficult question. Why did Hashem only give the Jews many presents because Avraham Avinu would otherwise complain that it is not fair that they were enslaved and then not receive the promised wealth. Why is it not enough that He just promised?
The answer is that Hashem could have said that since the Jews served idols in Egypt, just like the Egyptians, they deserve no gifts afterwards. However, Avraham Avinu would came back and said "If they were Jewish enough to endure the torture of slavery, then they are Jewish enough to receive the reward that goes with it." THAT is a convincing argument. [How a tzadik's mind was working during the hell of the death camps....!]
Sweetest friends!!
As I celebrate and plan my upcoming simcha, I reflect upon the history of the Jewish people and all of the slaughters and terrors that we as a people have endured and am filled with gratitude that we have reached this stage. To live in Israel and raise children who are so pure and holy, much holier in many cases that their parents and other ancestors despite the materialism and emptiness that pervades our iphone, youtube, instagram, facebook, whatsup, netfilx, twitter generation is a source of unspeakable joy.
If parents try their best to seal their children off from all that is impure, unholy and a mammoth waste of time and in addition educate the children to experience the joy and granduer of living a pure Torah lifestyle coupled with a huge dose of siyata dishmaya, they will merit to see great nachas in a kedusha form. emerge.
I was no better [and in fact much worse] than my special, holy parents and am so gratified to see a generation that often exceeds their parents. The Chosson and Kallah that will be forging an eternal covenant want nothing more than to build a home filled with kedusha, ahava, chesed and avodas Hashem with simcha. They both realize that what the outside world is offering them is often poison to the mind and soul. They haven't been tainted by pervese Western notions of love and marriage [I won't tell you how many times they met or where...]. That world often seems shiny and attractive on the outside but the results of broken homes, addictions, abuse etc.etc. prove that such a path is fraught with destruction and chaos. I am not saying that one should be a hermit and disassociate himself from everything in the world. But I am saying that one must be very wary of anything "out there". The kedusha and simcha that Torah has to offer us is the sure and well trodden path to Paradise.
Have a beautiful Shabbos and may we celebrate many simchas together!!!
Bi-ahava rabba,
Me
If parents try their best to seal their children off from all that is impure, unholy and a mammoth waste of time and in addition educate the children to experience the joy and granduer of living a pure Torah lifestyle coupled with a huge dose of siyata dishmaya, they will merit to see great nachas in a kedusha form. emerge.
I was no better [and in fact much worse] than my special, holy parents and am so gratified to see a generation that often exceeds their parents. The Chosson and Kallah that will be forging an eternal covenant want nothing more than to build a home filled with kedusha, ahava, chesed and avodas Hashem with simcha. They both realize that what the outside world is offering them is often poison to the mind and soul. They haven't been tainted by pervese Western notions of love and marriage [I won't tell you how many times they met or where...]. That world often seems shiny and attractive on the outside but the results of broken homes, addictions, abuse etc.etc. prove that such a path is fraught with destruction and chaos. I am not saying that one should be a hermit and disassociate himself from everything in the world. But I am saying that one must be very wary of anything "out there". The kedusha and simcha that Torah has to offer us is the sure and well trodden path to Paradise.
Have a beautiful Shabbos and may we celebrate many simchas together!!!
Bi-ahava rabba,
Me
