On Thursday I turned twelve years old and became a “Bat Mitzvah” - a responsible and dependable Jewish adult. This is such an important and exciting milestone I have been looking forward to and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to travel together with my father to pray at the Rebbe’s Ohel to receive the blessings I know I will need as I embark on my life’s journey as a Jewish woman. On the flight, my father and I studied a special booklet the Rebbe distributed in the winter of 1992 on the Yartzeit of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, after whom I am named. The booklet is a collection of the Rebbe’s teachings about the critical and vital role women play in Judaism culled from various public talks and letters spanning over forty years of the Rebbe’s leadership. In it, we discovered a letter addressed to the Chabad Women’s Convention which occurred days before the holiday of Shavuot in 1957. The Alter Rebbe, the founder of Chabad and the author of the Tanya declared that a Jew “must live with the times” which means we can understand our divine mission for any given time period based on the lessons we glean from the Parsha of the week. In that spirit, the Rebbe in his letter to the participants of the convention explained an inspiring lesson we can learn from the common theme of the two Parshas relevant to the weekend of the convention, Bamidbar and Nasso. In both sections, we learn of G-d’s instructions to Moshe and the Jewish people on how to transport the Mishkan (the divine tabernacle) through the desert as they journeyed towards the Promised Land. Although this process was only practiced many thousands of years ago, it is recorded in the Torah at great length and we learn about it today because it teaches us a tremendous lesson in our daily lives. Although the Jews were then in a wilderness, in a place with extremely harsh living conditions, they were able to build an edifice for G-d. It stood at the center of their camping grounds and was the focus of their travel formations. The lesson is clear. Even when Jews find themselves in a spiritual wilderness, surrounded by conditions that are hostile to Jewish life and living, we have the ability to build a home for G-d as the focus of our lives as we journey toward the ultimate goal which is the coming of Moshiach. Since my Bat Mitzvah day occurred within the week of Parshat Bamidbar and my celebration in El Paso will happen during the week of Parshat Nasso, I feel this lesson is extra relevant to me as I continue my journey. I must always remember that my mission in life is to be a beacon of the light of Torah, Mitzvah, goodness and kindness and transform the spiritual wilderness of our world into a divinely serene garden, ready for the era of Moshiach when peace and serenity will reign for all.
Rabbis' Blog
My Bat Mitzvah Meditation
Judaism and Materialism Explained
“Am I a bad Jew if I do mitzvot to get rewarded with health and wealth?” Seems like a fair question as many instinctively associate Judaism with spirituality. While the loftiest level of divine service is certainly more altruistic, here is why an attitude of anticipating material reward is certainly not wrong or inappropriate.
In this week’s parsha the Torah states, “If you follow My statutes and observe My commandments and perform them, I will give your rains in their time, the Land will yield its produce… you will eat your food to satiety, and you will live in security in your land… I will remove wild beasts from the Land, and no army will pass through your land…” Simply put, G-d makes a deal with the Jewish people: do what G-d wants and life will be excellent. On the surface it seems counterintuitive to motivate Jewish living by promising material benefits. After all, when someone studies Torah properly and is passionately involved in Mitzvah observance, their interest in materialism is inevitably diminished and physical reward is no longer appealing. The reward doesn't match the deed. The same could be asked about how the prophets and sages describe the future era of redemption through Moshiach with fantastical depictions of food miraculously sprouting overnight and every conceivable delight and convenience available at our fingertips. Can the divine purpose in creation really boil down to a materialistic wonderland? The key to understanding all of this is to appreciate this premise: Judaism is not meant to enhance life; it is life itself. G-d’s will and wisdom as manifest in the Torah is the blueprint of creation and must impact every aspect of our reality - even materialistic delights and conveniences. Torah study is not limited to stimulating the mind’s curiosity and Mitzvot are not exclusively expressions of passionate feelings for divine closeness. Living life according to G-d's divine code of conduct for humanity is meant to elevate and perfect every fiber of our being, even materialism. War, famine, illness and hatred are an aberration; an indication that our world is not properly aligned with its Creator, and Torah is meant to fix that. The fantastical descriptions of the Messianic era are not petty indulgences in exchange for our compliance, rather symptoms of world perfection. In that era, everyone will have peace, food and health. Rockets will not fall over helpless civilians, the misery and squalor of refugee camps will end and hatred and malice will cease. Everyone will have access to clean drinking water, disease will disappear and medicine will only serve as a medium to better understand G-d's wondrous creation. Maimonides declared we must believe this can happen, and anticipate it will imminently happen. Most importantly we must know we are empowered to actively make it happen. For one good thought, spoken word or deed can be the one to tip the scales for the entire world and usher in that blessed era we all so desperately await. May it happen right now!
The best way to reform people
People complain to me about our society's political and ideological polarization, and many blame it on the media. A friend who is a journalist once explained to me that media companies know there is more money to be made by pitting people against each other than by bringing them together, and craft their programming and talking points accordingly.
While this may seem to be a good business strategy for some, it’s tragic when regular people adopt those habits and speak negatively about anyone who thinks or behaves differently from them. “But how can I just sit back while my neighbor/colleague/relative espouses such foolishness?” people ask. “Are we not obligated to call out such foolishness?”
Recently I heard a story of a 12-year-old orphan who was expelled from several schools in the span of a few months and gave much grief to his struggling mother. Worried no school would agree to accept her son as a student, she requested an audience with the Rebbe and dragged her son with her to the midnight meeting.
After she tearfully described her predicament, the Rebbe turned to the boy and said “Don't you want to make your mother happy?”
“No!” the boy brazenly replied.
“Very good! He only speaks the truth…” the Rebbe said with a big smile.
“That moment changed my life forever,” the boy recalled over 50 years later. The Rebbe’s positive compliment about his truthtelling became the catalyst for the turning point in his young and difficult childhood.
This week’s parsha is called “Emor” which means “Speak!” Although the word is the beginning of G-d’s command to Moshe to “speak to the Kohanim, Aharon’s children,” the fact that the name of the parsha is the one word “Emor,” indicates that there is a general instruction for all of us to speak.
What type of speech can the name of this week’s parsha be instructing us to engage in? Speaking words of Torah is already a separate commandment in Deuteronomy quoted in the famous paragraph of the Shema. Prayer is also a separate mitzvah, so what other “speaking” mitzvah is there?
We are instructed to say good things about people, especially when their behavior seems to warrant the opposite reaction. Not to condone such behavior or ignore it, but because speaking positively about others - even in their absence - is the most powerful way to reveal their inherent goodness. Because speech is a revealing agent. Just like speech reveals your hidden thoughts, speaking of others’ virtues - however hidden - forces them into the open.
Tuesday we will celebrate Lag B’Omer. The famous Talmudic sage Rabi Akiva had 24,000 students who died in a horrific plague because of their animosity and inability to speak positively about each other. The plague started after Pesach and ended on Lag B’Omer, celebrated ever since, to emphasize the importance of always finding the good in others. Because this is the best way to perfect humanity and the entire world and usher in an era of eternal peace and tranquility through Moshiach.