The Child Teacher
THE CHILD TEACHER
The decor’s incongruence is quite stark. After all, one does not expect a mounted mortar shell in a child’s classroom. But this is not any mortar, nor is it any class. This is a Jewish school in the Gaza Strip decorated by one of the 5,347 rockets to have fallen on the Katif settlements these last four and a half years.Despite the violence, the business of education continues. Even though the disengagement plan specifically states that no Jews will be left in Gaza, the Education Ministry has yet to issue guidelines on placing the 3,600 school children in alternative establishments. On the contrary, parents remain legally bound to register their children now for schools which are supposed…
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The Last Pesach
Our community has grown in so many ways, including the most important one; its families are hungry for more Jewish knowledge. Nowhere is this more evident than a week before Pesach. The Rabbi’s phone is constantly ringing with ever more difficult and complex questions.
The Seder Is No Gamble
It was raining hard, the roads were slick and my eyes should have been glued to the street. But with a dark, angry sky filled with heavy clouds, it was the flashing neon light that caught my attention instead. I looked up and saw, for the very first time, a sign that read, “Coconut Creek CASINO….Open 24 hours.
It’s been there for months I am told. But somehow, I’ve just never noticed. So why of all days with the festival of Pesach fast approaching do I see it now? I ask myself that very question and the answer hits me like an overcooked matzoh ball.
The Casino is the last stronghold of the once proud and mighty Seminole Indian; a…
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All Are Welcome
“Whoever is hungry, let him come and eat, whoever is in need, let him come and join in celebrating the Pesach Festival.”
The table is set, the children sit eager to ask the four questions and all are anxious to begin the Seder. But wait! Before one can begin, rich and poor alike prepare to share their meal. The invitation, if studied closely, consists of two phrases. According to our Sages, “Whoever is hungry” refers to those so poor they cannot afford the basic necessities for the Seder. To them we gladly say, “Come and eat.” The second phrase, “Whoever is in need” refers to another sort of hunger. Among our brethren there are those who are poor in spirit….
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Question & Listen
The summer of 656 CE was hot and bloody. In the Arabian Peninsula temperatures ran high, but tempers flared even higher as an armed revolt erupted against the third Caliph (successor) since Mohammed. Only thirty four years had passed since the Koran had been written and already there existed scribal variations. Othman the Caliph issued an official text and declared all the others to be un-kosher. This incensed the faithful of other tribal groups and a civil war arose which still plagues the Moslem world.
In contrast, the Five Books of Moses have enjoyed more than thirty three hundred years of consistency. Torahs today read exactly as they did when the Jews first crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land….
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Four Sons Drink Four Cups
When one grows up in a religious community, there are a completely different set of jokes and teasing one must endure. Therefore every Pesach I would brace myself for the annual taunt that some chacham (wise-guy) thought he invented. You see, I am the third child in a family of four boys. Thus, I was labeled the tam, the simple son who happens to be the third sibling in the Haggadah.
It was not until many years later when studying Chassidus (Jewish mystical philosophy) that I discovered hidden meanings that revealed another dimension of the four sons. Even the last child, the one that cannot ask was explained by the Rebbe Rashab (the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe) as an individual who…
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A Precious Prayer
Four sons related to each other by their Father in heaven: one of them is wise, the other is wicked, the next is simple and the fourth, alas, is one who does not even know how to ask.
Which son are you? Which one would you like your own child to be? I have a sneaking suspicion that even the wicked sibling would not relish the thought of being the one who could not even formulate a question. But is this son really so bad? In Chassidic lore, the Rebbe Rashab once highly praised the last child, explaining that this refers to a person who, despite the many challenges that life presents, does not question his Creator.
Or as another…
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Joseph & the Four Cups
Why do we drink the four cups of wine at the Seder? The usual explanation focuses on the four expressions of redemption found in G-d’s promise to Moses. Other reasons offered are connected to the four sons mentioned in the Hagaddah and to the four Matriarchs.
One fascinating interpretation attributed to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi suggests that the four cups of wine are related to the four times that the word “cup” is mentioned by Pharaoh’s jailed butler as he recounts his dream to Joseph in the prison. Although it may interesting that the word appears four times, we certainly may wonder what relevance do the troubles of Pharaoh’s butler have for us on our night of freedom? Of course,...
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I Don’t Know Any Wicked Sons
Moses’ message on the eve of the Exodus is revolutionary. He speaks of Jewish duty; not to G-d or country, but to the children. In three very distinctive passages, he instructs the soon-to-be-freed slaves to relate to the kinderlech the story of liberation from Egypt.
To gain liberty, Moses declares, is the work of one night; to sustain it is the work of every generation. Freedom requires a hands-on education. Only when children taste the bread of affliction, can they fight its scourge.
Political or military victories alone are not enough. Freedom lies in the human heart; when it dies there, no constitution can save it. This liberty is not merely the freedom to do as one pleases. That is…
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Who Knows One? Not the Angels
It is not Judaism’s most famous song. That honor, I believe, belongs to Dayeinu, or according to others that I have surveyed, I have a little Dreidel. Nonetheless, it is an old camp favorite that is prominent in many Hagaddahs. Indeed, I can still remember those long Shabbos afternoons in camp listening to a staff member bellow, “Who knows one?”
Of course, all the children would respond, “I know one. One is Hashem. One is Hashem in the heaven and on the earth.” Even first-time campers caught on quickly. It all seemed very simple and straightforward.
However, as I grew up, I discovered that Judaism, even its songs, is anything but simple. The question, “Who knows one?” was not rhetorical….
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Delegation of Power to Sell Chometz
Delegation of Power to Sell Chometz
I the undersigned, fully empower and permit Rabbi Yossi Denburg to act in my place and stead, and on my behalf to sell all chametz possessed by me, knowingly or unknowingly as defined by the Torah and Rabbinic Law (e.g. chametz, possible chametz, and all kind of chametz mixtures).
Also chametz that tends to harden and adhere to inside surfaces of pans, pots, or cooking utensils, the utensils themselves, as well as pet food that contain chametz and mixtures thereof.
Rabbi Yossi Denburg is also empowered to lease all places wherein the chametz owned by me may be found, particularly at the address/es listed below, and elsewhere.
Rabbi Yossi Denburg has full right to…
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Pesach Sheni - Second Chance (21:1)
SECOND CHANCE (21:1)
The Talmud, basing itself on the very first verse in this week’s Torah portion of Emor, tells us about responsibilities. According to our Sages the “great” (adults) have the obligation to instruct the “small” (children) in the observance of mitzvot.
In Chassidic philosophy these terms are not limited to interpersonal relationships. Just as there are “the great” and “the small” in the world at large, within the microcosm of man these concepts also exist. The great, meaning the mind and intelligence, are there to guide and teach the small - the limbs, the practical implementation. Does one learn only in order to know, or also to do? Assuredly, the greatness of Torah study is that it brings…
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Invest Right
(Hebrew writing)
The literal translation of this verse is, “If a person will inadvertently sin by doing any of the things that G-d commanded shall not be done…” Although this straight-forward text is clean and unambiguous, that did not stop one of the great Chasidic masters of a century and a half ago to add another unique interpretation. According to him, the verse also means, “A person may sin when he does one of G-d’s commandements in a way that he should not have one it.”
While most people understand that one must atone for sins committed, this new perspective adds that one must sometimes ask forgiveness for mitzvot (good deeds) as well. This concept is best illustrated with the…
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Question & Listen
The summer of 656 CE was hot and bloody. In the Arabian Peninsula temperatures ran high, but tempers flared even higher as an armed revolt erupted against the third Caliph (successor) since Mohammed. Only thirty four years had passed since the Koran had been written and already there existed scribal variations. Othman the Caliph issued an official text and declared all the others to be unkosher. This incensed the faithful of other tribal groups and a civil war arose which still plagues the Moslem world.
In contrast, the Five Books of Moses have enjoyed more than thirty three hundred years of consistency. Torahs today read exactly as they did when the Jews first crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land….
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Mitzvah Preparations
Don’t look now but it’s coming fast and furious. Pesach , that is. In fact, if my calendar is telling the truth, in exactly twenty one days Jews the world over will be reclining at their respective Seders.