Candlelighting (Los Angeles)

7:29 PM Friday Mincha:

7:45 PM

LATEST SHEMA: 9:33 AM

Parshas Vaeschanan / Shabbos Nachamu

Friday, 12 Menachem Av 5774 / August 8, 2014

Land and See By Yanki Tauber

"Don't you see?" we insist when the person we're arguing with won't recog-nize the shining truth that's staring us both in the face. "Oh, I see..." we con-cede when yet another comfortable fallacy is debunked. We may have five senses with which to apprehend our world, but somehow, "I smelled it with my own nose" or even "I felt it with my own hands" doesn't carry the authority of "I saw it with my own eyes." What we "see" -- whether literally or figura-tively -- is unequivocally, incontestably real.

"Let me cross over," Moses implored G-d as the people of Israel camped on the eastern bank of the Jordan, "and let me see the good Land." But G-d refused. We all know the tragic tale. Moses, who had taken the people out of Egypt, who had climbed Mount Sinai to receive the Torah for them and returned to teach them the word of G-d, who for forty years tended to their hungers and thirsts, their doubts and complaints and rebellions -- Moses was to die and be buried in the plains of Moab, and his disciple, Joshua, was to lead a new generation of Jews into the Promised Land.

But upon closer examination, Moses' prayer was at least partially answered. Moses asked to cross over and to see the Land; G-d refused the first part of the request and granted the second. "Ascend to the top of the summit," G-d said to Moses, "... and see it with your eyes; for you shall not cross this Jordan."

Our sages note that all Moses' achieve-ments are eternal and everlasting. Moses liberated us from slavery, and from that moment we have been in-herently, irrevocably free: nations may subjugate us physically, but no force on earth can subdue the Jewish soul. Moses gave us the Torah, and never shall the Torah depart from Israel. Even the Mishkan, the "temporary" Sanctuary built by Moses in the desert, was never destroyed (as were the permanent Divine abodes built by Solomon and Ezra in Jerusalem), but mysteriously hidden away in an undisclosed place, where it remains intact to this very day.

Chassidic teaching explains that this is the deeper reason why Moses was not

allowed to enter the Land of Israel. If Moses would have settled us in the Land, we could never have been exiled from it. If Moses would have built the Holy Temple, it could never had been destroyed. If Moses would have established the people of Israel in their homeland as a "light unto the nations," that light could never have been dimmed.

If Moses would have crossed the Jor-dan, that would have been the end: the end of the struggle, the end of history.

G-d wasn't ready for the end yet. So He decreed that Moses remain in the desert. But He did allow him to see the Land. And because Moses saw it, and because the effect of everything Moses did is everlasting, we, too, can see it.

At all times, and under all conditions, we have the power to ascend a sum-mit within us and see the Promised Land. No matter how distant the end-goal of creation may seem, we have the power to see its reality, to know its truth with absolute clarity and absolute conviction.

We are still in the midst of the strug-gle. It is a difficult, oft-times painful struggle; but it is not a blind struggle. Moses has seen to that. - chabad.org

Chabad of Beverly Hills 409 Foothill Rd.

Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Chabadofbeverlyhills.com

Rabbi Yosef Shusterman

310-271-9063

The Chabad Weekly

The Shabbat is Shabbat Nachamu, Sabbath of rejoicing.

We are hopeful that G-d will console us for the destruction of the Holy

Temple and Jerusalem. The Haftora portion for this week and the next six weeks reflects this theme of consola-

tion. This Shabbat is known by the special

name of "Shabbat Nachamu" because we read the Haftora portion which begins, "Nachamu, nachamu ami -

Console, console My people." Our Sages have taught that it is sig-nificant that there are seven Haftora

portions of consolation. The first con-solers are the tzadikim trying to com-fort Jerusalem upon her loss. But she will not be comforted. The second, is

the patriarch Abraham. Again, the city will not be consoled. Next is Isaac,

then Jacob and then Moses. Each time the city will not be consoled. The

sixth Haftora is Jerusalem's plea for consolation and finally, G-d Himself,

consoles the Holy City. According to the Midrash, the reason

why the word "console" is repeated twice is that G-d is comforting us for the destruction of the first Holy Tem-ple and also for the second Holy Tem-

ple. G-d's consolation and our com-fort lies in the fact that G-d has prom-ised us that there will be a third Holy Temple, greater than the first two.

This will take place through Moshiach in the Messianic Era as the Rambam writes: "In the future time, the King Moshiach will arise and renew the Davidic dynasty, restoring it to its

initial sovereignty. He will rebuild the Beit HaMikdash and gather in the

dispersed remnant of Israel." This year may we merit to have the

true consolation which G-d has prom-ised us all these years with the com-

ing of Moshiach and the rebuilding of the Holy Temple.

(From: L’Chaim # 1183)

Shabbat Schedule

Announcements:

Yartzheits: Sara bas Ester

Kashani – Av 16, Nassar Java-

hery - Av 17, Leo Novak – Av

19 .

Happy Birthday to Rabbi Men-

achem Mendel Shusterman,

Basya Moskowitz, Avital Talli

Aminzadeh, Chana Davidpour,

Mendel Mintz, Joshua Eghbali,

Sara Zakariaee, Yosef Nour-

mand and Avigail Shaulian.

Happy Anniversary to Dr. and

Dr. Allan Dauer and Dr. and

Mrs. Zeev Rav-Noy .

Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs.

Reuven Mintz on the Bar Mitz-

vah of their son Mendel and to

the grandparents, Rabbi and

Mrs. Yosef Shusterman.

Tanya 8:45 AM

Shacharit 9:30AM

followed by

Kiddush,

Cholent &

Farbrengen

Pirkei Avos 6:35 PM

Mincha 7:20 PM

followed by

Seuda

Shlishit

Shabbat ends

8:29 PM

Vol. 17 Is

sue 44

B”H

GOOD SHABBOS!

From there you will seek the L-rd your

G-d and will find Him (Deut. 4:29)

It is precisely when you seek the L-rd

your G-d "from there" - from the

depths of your heart and with a sense

of complete nullification before the

Creator, that "you shall find" - the

sudden revelation of the greatest G-dly

light. (The Baal Shem Tov)

Hear O Israel, the L-rd our G-d, the L-

rd is One (Deut. 6:4)

Our Rabbis said: "Hear - in every lan-

guage." One can accept the yoke of

heaven in any language, not just in the

Hebrew tongue. Likewise, in every

object that a person sees and every

sound which reaches his ears he must

strive to see that "the L-rd our G-d, the

L-rd is One." We can find G-d's great-

ness and absolute unity reflected in

every single thing which occurs in the

world. (Sefat Emet)

- lchaimweekly.org

SCHEDULE OF CLASSES

Sunday 8:00 AM

Gemara – Tractate Sanhedrin

(men)

Monday 8:00 PM

Chumash (men and women)

Tuesday 8:00 PM

Gemara B’Iyun

Tractate Kesuvos (men)

Wednesday 8:30 PM

Halacha and Tanya (women)

Thursday 10:00 AM

Chassidus (women)

Daily

Chassidus 6:45 AM– 7:15 AM

Halacha Between Mincha

and Maariv

There will be no classes this week.

Daily Minyonim Weekday Shacharis: 6:00 AM & 7:30 AM

Sunday Shacharis: 7:00 AM & 9:00 AM

Mincha/Maariv: 7:40 PM

Story of the Week:

A LOST LURIA DOVID-LEIB MARASOW

In 1943, in the town of Gutschein, Germany, the Luria family, direct descendents of Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the holy Arizal of Tsfat, wel-comed their firstborn son into the world with tremendous joy. But the joy was short lived. Just a few hours later, the Nazis rounded up the town's Jewish population, the Lurias among them, and herded them into cattle cars bound for the concentration camps in the East. Miriam Luria held her little bundle tightly in the dank, cramped car, desperate to save him from discov-ery and certain death. She had a few pills with her, and she placed them in the baby's mouth, hoping that the overdose would cause him to sleep silently. Days later, the train came to a jar-ring halt. They had arrived in Auschwitz. Starved and dazed, the Jews of Gutschein joined the l ine for selektzia, the selection deter-mining who was suitable for slave labor and who was destined for the gas chambers. Miriam was young and able bodied, and she drew a breath of relief as she passed the selection. On her back, hidden deep inside a sling, her baby boy slept on, blissfully unaware of the cruel world into which he had been born. Miriam knew that if her baby re-mained in the camp he would cer-tainly be discovered. Soon she saw her chance. Passing close to the electric fence surrounding the camp, she noticed a kind-looking peasant on the other side. With a prayer on her lips, she threw him her backpack. The kind man felt sorry for the child and promised to do what he could. He kept his word, and shortly there-after brought the tiny Luria to an orphanage for gentiles. Miraculously, both Miriam and her husband survived and were liber-ated from the camps at the end of the war. They immediately began to comb Europe, trudging from one orphanage to another in search of their precious son. Each negative reply pushed them deeper into de-spair. But they did not give up. After years of false leads, they followed a tip to Paris, where they found their little bundle, now a five-year-old boy. The family emigrated to Australia soon after being reunited. As Miriam put it, they wanted "to be as far away from Europe as possible."

At the same time, they did their best to erase any trace of the Jew-ish identity that had been the cause of so much suffering. They named their son Alex and never told him that he was a Jew. Alex was never taken to a syna-gogue. He only learned that he was Jewish from his classmates, who mocked him. Once, Miriam brought her son to a rabbi, hoping that he would be able explain the mystery of Juda-ism. But "he didn't really explain anything," Alex said, "He just gave me all the right reasons why they hate me…" * * * * * In the summer of 2013, a friend and I travelled through central Australia in a motor home loaded with Jewish supplies and enough kosher food to last for several weeks. We were on a mission for Chabad of Rural and Regional Australia (RARA), searching for Jews who could use some Jewish inspiration. Thumbing through the white pages in Ballarat, Victoria, we noticed the name "Luria." How did the name of one of the noblest rabbinic families in Jewish history end up in the Ballarat phonebook? We took note of the address and decided to try our luck. A man who appeared to be about 70 answered our knock, and we explained that we were rabbis travelling through the outback visiting Jewish people. Alex's face lit up. "The Christians were coming after me for a long time to try to convert me, and I would never listen. But I always wished that the Jewish commu-nity, my people, would reach out to me in the same way," he said. During our visit, Alex Luria put on tefillin for the first time in his life and placed a mezuzah on his doorpost. As we were about to leave, Alex stopped us: "My father always told me that I was a de-scendant of a rabbi named Isaac Luria," he said. "Ever heard of him?" Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-1572), known as the "Arizal," who lived the last few years of his life in Tsfat (Safed), became revealed there as one of the greatest Kab-balists of all time. His writings form the basis of almost all later Jewish mystical works. Needless to say, we saved Alex's phone number and promised to keep in touch. As we drove away, we couldn't help thinking that the Arizal must

have had immense satisfaction from seeing his descendant re-connect to his heritage. It had been a very long journey, but Alex Luria was finally on his way home. Source: Supplemented by Yer-achmiel Tilles from a post on //Chabad.org, Ascentofsafed.com

HaYom Yom Menachem Av 13 "Speak of them when you sit..." Our

sages explain that "speak of them"

refers to words of Torah. How-

ever, in Torah –study itself there

are many gradations, and all these

gradations are here explained:

"When you sit at home," refers to

the soul's occupation with Torah

when it is in the trove of souls,

before its descent to this lowly

world.

"When you go on the way," refers

to the time during which the soul

descends from world to world,

from plane to plane, until it comes

below to this lowest world to be

invested in a physical body. There

the soul "goes in the way" of this

world until the time of old age,

until -

"When you lie down," when man's

appointed time arrives. Then, too,

the Torah will protect him, as ex-

plained in Chapter Six of Avot,

until -

"When you rise up," as it is said,

"When you awaken (it shall be your

discourse)."

Our Sages said, "The Jews

never had festivals like the 15th

of Av and Yom Kippur." The

15th of Av, this reflects the

transformation of darkness into

light. It reflects the fullness of

the moon of Av, the time when

the positive intent hidden

within the negative factors of

that month will be revealed.

This is emphasized by our

Sages' statement that the Holy

Temple was destroyed in Av

"so that" it be rebuilt in Av.

(The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Shab-

bat Nachamu, 5749-1989)

PIRKEI AVOS Ben Zoma said: "Who is rich?

He who is happy with his lots" (Ethics of the Fathers 4:1).

The key that unlocks the riches in all things is the ability to be

happy with your circum-stances, no matter what they are. This skill lies within every

person's reach. It does not de-pend on the fulfillment of de-

sires, and can be achieved only when one has meaning in one's existence. Our commitment to

the Torah--a sacred, Divine guide to Jewish life--can

change the most miserable of fates into a meaningful exis-tence. ("Ethics From Sinai")

(L’Chaim 278) - lchaimweekly.org