The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.
I always like walking in the rain, so no one can see me crying.
Laughter is the tonic, the relief, the surcease for pain.
Charlie Chaplin
Shallooom sweeetest friends!!!!
This dvar Torah is dedicated to the zchus of my most beloved friend, Hatzadik Reb Jeremy Wernick and his family that they should be zocheh to all of the brachos possible in ruchniyus and gashmiyus!! I LOVE them!
And a refuah shlemiah and much bracha to my most beloved and special friend, a man of impeccable character who walks in the path of Avraham Avinu, R' Yehoshua Meir Ben Rochel Sarah.
This parsha is, if I may, cooolllll! I mean, until now it was universal - Adam, Noach and all of the chevre. But things didn't work out so there had to be a chosen people that starts with Avraham. I am really happy to be Jewish. Otherwise - among other things, no good Jewish girl would marry me and it is clearly not good for man to be alone. Nor is it good for man to be in debt but that doesn't stop a lot of us....
Anyway, the Medrash quotes the pasuk in tehillim שִׁמְעִי בַת וּרְאִי וְהַטִּי אָזְנֵךְ וְשִׁכְחִי עַמֵּךְ וּבֵית אָבִיךְ - "Listen daughter and see, incline your ear and forget your nation and the house of your father" and applies it to Avraham. He listened carefully to the voice of Hashem and followed it by leaving his nation and fathers home.
But what is the meaning of the double listening - שמעי .. והטי אזנך?
We Jews have a special way of viewing life. We are firmly anchored in the PAST, completely focused on the PRESENT and always have an eye on the FUTURE.
The name of Hashem is הוי"ה which denotes היה הווה ויהיה - was, is and will be. We live that way.
We, on the heels of Avraham, believe in the PAST event that we didn't see - Hashem created the world. That is שמעי - We listen and believe even though we can't see and didn't experience creation.
Then comes וראי - we see Hashem with us on a daily basis. In Egypt and other times we experienced open miracles. But even today we experience open miracles. Like a baby. A sperm cell meets an egg and miraculously a HUMAN BEING emerges after nine months. And EVERY TIME it comes with an elbow. Where is the elbow in the egg or sperm cell? And how does the elbow always find its way to the middle of the arm? And a nose - ALWAYS in the middle of our faces. How did this complex organ create itself out of almost nothing? And why doesn't it ever grow on one's ankle?? So many miracles. And then of course there are red blood cells that transport oxygen to your body's organs and tissues. White blood cells help your body fight infections. Platelets help your blood to clot. BY GOLLY!!! How did my body know to develop those? And we can't forget the DNA. The information stored in DNA must by no means be underestimated. So much so that one human DNA molecule contains enough information to fill a million-page encyclopedia, or to fill about 1,000 books. Note this fact well: one million encyclopedia pages, or 1,000 books. This is to say that the nucleus of each cell contains as much information as would fill a one-million-page encyclopedia, which is used to transfer genetic information to every cell in our bodies. WOW!! As Bill Gates put it - our DNA is much better programmed than any computer. We can't forget our miraculous return to Israel and the fact that the Cubs finally won the world series. Avraham Avinu SAW Hashem in the PRESENT, as do we. וראי.
Then והטי אזנך - listening for the future. We all await the day when Hashem's glory will be revealed to all of mankind and we will no longer have to pay taxes. ביום ההוא יהיה ה' אחד ושמו אחד.
This is also expressed in our Shabbos davening: Friday night we smell a lot of after shave in shul say אתה קדשת את יום השביעי תכלית מעשה שמים וארץ - We talk about creation.
Shabbos morning we sleep through davening so we can get to the cholent and kugel kiddush say ישמח משה talking about the giving of the Torah when we SAW Hashem, as it says אתה הראית לדעת. Hashem opened up the heavens and we saw Him, and continue to do so until this very day. Especially if we go off our meds for a few days. Then we see LOTS of things.
Shabbos afternoon we sleep our heads off we say אתה אחד ושמך אחד talking about the great future when all will acknowledge the unity of Hashem and we will thus be able to get to our plane without 2 and half hours of security checks, putting all of our belongings on the conveyor belt, taking our computers out of the case, removing our shoes and smelling the airport up with our sock odor. For in those great days, there will be no more Islamic extremism because there will be no more Muslims. Muhammed Ali will change his name to "My Chamud ["cute" in Hebrew] - Eli".
We must always keep these three points in mind when living our lives. Our glorious past starting with Hashem's creation, the all important present which encapsulates an eternity if we utilize it correctly and the future we anxiously await when this messed up world [which gets more messed up by the day] will finally reach its ultimate tikkun.
Is that SOMETHING???
[Based on the Sfas Emes 5649 - 1889, which incidentally was the year Charlie Chaplin was born - which explains the quotes above].
BELOVED HOLY FRIENDS!!! An incredible Shabbos to all and may we share many smachot togther!!!
Love,
Me 
