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Yiddish
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| Parshas
Tzav
Yud Daled Adar Bais 5765
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Volume
1
Issue 25 |
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PARSHAS
TZAV
"Gershon, please come see me during lunch break after you finish
eating," Rabbi Rothman said. "I'd like to speak to you."
Gershon wondered what his teacher wanted. So did the other boys in the
class. Gershon was one of the best students in the fifth grade. He was
a serious pupil and a nice boy. Everyone liked him.
Gershon hurried through his lunch and got permission to bentsch early.
He met Rabbi Rothman in the teachers' room.
"I don't want to take up all of your recess time," began Rabbi
Rothman, "so I'll get straight to the point. It's about the test
in mishnayos that you will be having next week.
"I started studying already," Gershon told his teacher. "I
want to make sure I really know the mishnayos well."
"Good for you, Gershon," Rabbi Rothman complimented him. "I
know you're a studious boy, and that's just why I asked to see you.
I would like you to study with Levi and help him prepare for the test."
Gershon could not hold back a frown. Levi was a fun boy to be with,
but he wasn't a serious learner. Gershon often helped him with homework,
and it always took twice as long as it would have taken him to do it
himself. Gershon felt uncomfortable. He found it hard to tell his teacher
that he didn't want to do as he was asked.
"I could learn much better on my own," he finally said quietly.
"I know, Gershon," said Rabbi Rothman with a smile. "As
a matter of fact, I can guess the mark you'll get even before you take
the test. You are high on the list of fifth graders who make me very
proud. But we have to think about the others who are not part of this
group. In fact, this week's parshah tells us why."
In Parshas Tzav, the Torah teaches us dinim about the korbanos and the
mizbe’ach upon which they were offered. There is one particular
din that Rashi learns from the pessukim that I want to talk about. Rashi
tells us that the menorah was lit from the fire that was constantly
burning on the mizbe’ach hanechoshes, the mizbe’ach made
of copper.
"But Rabbi Rothman," asked Gershon, "the menorah stood
inside the Kodesh right next to the mizbe’ach hazahov, the mizbe’ach
made of gold. Why should the kohain have had to go out to the court
where mizbe’ach hanechoshes stood and take the fire from there?
It would have been much easier for him to light the fire inside the
Kodesh."
"That's just the point, Gershon," Rabbi Rothman replied. "A
person who is a Torah scholar is like a menorah. From where does the
menorah get its light? That light comes from the mizbe’ach hanechoshes
which stood outside. It is the act of going out beyond his own group
- reaching out to others who are outside - that gives a 'menorah Jew'
the light to shine brightly."
‘Please Tell Me What the Rebbe Said’ (Adapted from Likkutei
Sichos, Vol. XVII)
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Last
Week's Brain Buster:
You’ll find me in this week’s Parsha. If you take away 2—I’ll
be in a corner, if you take away 50—I’ll come closer. What
am I?
Answer: Karban(in hebrew letters)
Parshas
Tzav
I'm
only in a beginning and I end in a sun.
What am I?
____ ____ ____ ____
Please
send your answers to connections@shluchim.org
Congratulations
to Nechama Bell, age 9, from Montreal, Canada, for solving the brain
buster.
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A
Purim Message from the Rebbe
Purim has a special connection to Tzivos Hashem - the Army of Hashem.
The task of Tzivos Hashem is to achieve victory over the Yetzer Harah.
This means that a boy or girl in Tzivos Hashem, listens only to the
orders of their Commander-in-Chief (Hashem), just like Mordechai,
who “did not bow down or bend his knee,” before Haman.
If the Yetzer Harah tries to convince a child to eat something that
is not kosher, or that playing ball is more important than learning
torah, the child answers, "I am not going to listen to you. You
just better keep quiet! Mordechai would not bow down to you, and neither
will I!”
“I am going to learn torah, and I am going to do mitzvos! Because
these are the most important and precious things in the world!"
"Not only that," says the Jewish child, "I am going
to influence my friends in school too, that they also should learn
torah and do mitzvos!"
This is the ultimate goal of Tzivos Hashem: victory over the yetzer
harah for oneself and one's friends, by not bowing down and not bending
the knee.
And in this way, we will all merit to go and greet our righteous King
and leader, Moshiach, and go with him to Eretz Yisroel, where he will
build the third Bais Hamikdosh in its place, and with all its details.
Then the time of galus will be finished, and the geulah will have
begun, and it should all be Now! RIGHT NOW!
Tzivos Hashem Newsletter ~ Based on a sicha to Tzivos Hashem, Adar
12, 5742
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Hi there all you Queen
Esthers, clowns, and Mordechais!
I was very busy this Purim traveling to see Purim parties all around
the world. I saw some excellent costumes. You kids were so well disguised
that I couldn’t even tell the difference between Mordechai and
Haman! If you are a really good detective, you might have spied me
hiding in the corner and watching all of the wonderful things that
you were doing. I just love watching kid-shluchim helping their parents
and teaching their friends.
Lots of Purim parties that I visited had popcorn on the tables. Have
you ever seen popcorn being made? It pops so high and so fast that
it looks like Chassidim dancing at a Farbrengen. I’ve seen popcorn
popping in bowls many times, but this Purim was the first time I saw
popcorn popping on someone’s face! I’m a professional
at seeing so I notice lots of things that other folks don’t
see. My specialty is seeing the un-seen and noticing the un-noticed.
I take after my Zaidy Zelig. He had such good eyesight that he could
see the inside of his eyelids with his eyes closed! As a chossid,
I like to share everything that I know with others. That’s why
I became an eye doctor. Being an eye doctor lets me help other people
see things, too. And that brings me to the story I want to tell you.
Remember all those supermarket shoppers who I invited to my house
for a grand Purim bash? One of them was a little curly-haired girl
with big, round glasses and fifty-five freckles on her face. Every
time Haman’s name was mentioned in the megillah, I noticed that
her freckles would bounce all over her face like popcorn popping.
After megillah reading, she approached me and asked if I knew why
her freckles were so jumpy. I told her that they were trying to fight
Haman. The freckled-faced girl looked nervously around her. “I
don’t see Haman! Where is he?” she asked in a frightened
voice as her fifty-five freckles jumped faster and faster.
I calmed her and her freckles down and explained that she couldn’t
see him but she could hear him. That was because she had a mini-Haman
inside, talking to her.
We all have a mini-Haman living inside of us. As you can imagine,
since the Purim story happened so long ago, mini-Haman is a really
old, grumpy man by now. All he likes to do is sit around on his rocking
chair, make mean faces, and stop us from doing what needs to get done.
He hates when Jewish children take action and do mitzvos. Every time
we get excited about doing a mitzvah he tells us, “Don’t
bother getting up, stay here and keep me company instead.”
But we can’t let grumpy, old Haman win. We need to copy those
fifty-five freckles- and take action. Whenever a mitzvah comes our
way we need to jump up like popcorn and do it with chayus and a smile.
As kid--shluchim you always need to set the right example for your
friends. When they see how excited you are about doing mitzvos, they’ll
want to do them too. Before you know it, the whole world will be jumping
and popping with mitzvos!
Keep popping mitzvos!
Dr. Getzel
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Did
you ever wonder why everyone dresses up on Purim?
1. On Purim it’s a Mitzvah to have fun. And it’s so much
fun to wear a great costume.
2. We’re supposed to have fun ‘ad delo yada,’ which
means ‘to the point of not knowing’ the difference between
Baruch Mordechai and Arur Haman. When we dress up in our costume, no
one knows who we are.
3. In a costume, we hide from others. In the megillah, Hashem also hides.
Big miracles take place, but Hashem’s name isn’t mentioned
in the Megillah even once! Every-thing seems so natural, you could think
that Hashem didn’t even have anything to do with it! But we know
better.
Just as He redeemed the Jews in Persia of old, so we pray He will redeem
us, with the immediate revelation of Moshiach NOW!
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Ella Eteinmetz, age 7
Sarasota, Florida
My name is Ella Steinmetz from Sarasota,
Florida. I am 7 years old and my mommy home-schools me. We learn Parsha
every Wednesday and Thursday, and for me I like this the best, because
it’s like listening to a story. I am proud of myself because my
Kesiva has improved. We also learn Yiddish
and Hebrew and it’s fun being able to speak in Hebrew and Yiddish.
One of my favorite activities is to help in the preschool that my mother
runs. My mother and father also run a Hebrew school, and I help by being
a Dugma Chaya to all the children in my class. (Even though I know everything
they learn, I go to Hebrew school so that I should have time to be with
friends my age.) In my free time I play Yiddishe songs on the piano,
and also enjoy art. I hope that one day my art teacher will teach me
to draw a picture of the Rebbe. In my free time I enjoy playing legos
and helping with my younger brothers.
I have 2 brothers learning in New York. I have one sister learning in
Chicago, and my oldest brother in Detroit. I can’t wait until
I’ll be able to join my brothers who learn in New York. One of
my favorite parts of my Shlichus is inviting guests and friends after
Shul to our home for a Shabbos meal. I like to help my mommy and tatty
prepare for Shabbos by helping with the cooking and cleaning. I like
having company on Shabbos, and
I am sure that they are proud of the D’var Torah that I say. I
am very proud to be a Shlucha of the Rebbe and help to bring the Ge’ulah.
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Just like in the time of the Purim story, Hashem made a nes and
the Yidden were saved at the last minute, throughout Jewish history,
many Jewish communities have been saved by a nes. To remember
this, the community would celebrate a ‘Purim’ every
year on that day. Here are a few stories of different ‘Purims’
of communities around the world.
Purim of Saragossa
The Purim of Saragossa was established in the year 1440, (565
years ago). In the city of Saragossa, Spain, the Jews were ordered
to appear at a public reception honoring the king with all of
the Sifrei Torah of the community. The yidden who lived in Spain
were Sefardim who have big fancy cases for their Sifrei Torah.
The rabbis of the community decided that it would be safer to
remove the Torahs from their cases, and were sure that the king
would never know the difference.
Unfortunately, there was a man in the community named Marcos who
was a troublemaker. He went to the authorities and told them about
the rabbis' plan, and said that they planned this because they
don’t like the king.
The king was furious about this and at the reception he ordered
the Jews to open the cases at once. The yidden were terrified,
they knew that the punishment for disobeying the king would be
very big, but they had no choice so they opened the cases. They
were completely amazed
and dumbfounded when they saw that all of the cases contained
Sifrei Torah.
What they didn’t know was that the night before, the shamosh
of the shul had a dream in which Eliyahu Hanavi appeared to him
and ordered him to replace the Sifrei Torah in their cases. The
dream was so real that the shamosh did as he was instructed, but
he had no time to tell the rabbis what he did.
The king saw that the Jews were innocent. He ordered that Marcos
be punished severely. To remember the nes, the rabbis established
a special Purim that would be celebrated on Yud Zayin and Yud
Ches.
Purim of Rhodes
In 1840 (165 years ago) a blood libel was brought against the
Jewish community on the island of Rhodes. (A blood libel was something
the Goyim used to bring against the Yidden. They would say that
the Yidden killed a Goyishe child and used the blood to make Matzah.
Of course we know that this can’t be true because Matzah
only has flour and water in it and we are careful never to eat
any blood. We even check eggs carefully to make sure that there
is no blood spots in it. But unfortunately,
the Goyim would bring a blood libel often and many times, terrible
things happened to the Yidden because of it.)
The governor of the island arrested the leaders of the community
and said that they should be killed. But the child (that the Goyim
said was killed by the Yidden) was
found alive and well. The leaders were released.
On Yud Daled Adar, the Turkish sultan, Abed Almagid, issued a
royal decree that the Yidden would keep, stating that the blood
libel is not true. From that day on, the Jews of Rhodes celebrated
a double Purim to remember that story.
Purim of Chios
This Purim, known as "Purim de la Senora" (the "Purim
of the woman of honor"),
remembers when a Jewish woman spoiled the plans of the Spanish
navy (part of the army that fights with ships) and saved her community.
In the year 1595 (410 years ago), the Greek island of Chios was
surrounded by the Spanish navy led by King Ferdinand of Spain.
A Jewish woman who lived in a house joining onto the local fortress
went out early in the morning to the big outdoor oven to bake
bread for her family.
Sparks from her coal fire accidentally lit the storeroom of ammunition
which was in the nearby fortress, causing a frightening explosion.
The Spanish navy which was anchored nearby quickly sailed away
in terror, and this saved the Jewish community from the Inquisition
which the Spaniards always established in the countries they captured.
(The Inquisition was started in Spain after all the Yidden were
expelled from
the country. Many Yidden didn't want to leave because they had
owned lots of land and all other reasons, so they pretended to
become Goyim but secretly did the Mitzvos and learned Torah. The
Inquisition would send spies to watch these Yidden - called Marranos
- and see if they were keeping any of the Mitzvos. Even if a family
only cleaned their house on Friday, the Inquisition would arrest
them and do very bad things to them. The Inquisition was in Spain
and in any country that Spain captured)
(Adapted from L’chaim Weekly)
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LAST
WEEKS WINNERS
Level
1: Levi Weg, age 6, Tulsa, OK & Baila Rochel Leah Goldstein, age
6, San Diego, CA
Level 2: Sheina Glazman, age 10, Riga, Latvia & Mendel Gurevitch,
age 8, Gold Coast, Australia
See
the Printable Version of Connections for incredible FUN PAGE on Purim.
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Ta’anis
Esther Checklist: - Thursday, Yud Gimel Adar – March 24, 2005
We fast on Yud Gimmel Adar, to remember of the fast of Mordechai, Esther,
and all the Yidden.
I remembered to give 3 machatzis hashekel – half-coins –
to tzedakah before mincha.
It
is a tradition to give three half-dollar coins to tzedakah to commemorate
the machatzis hashekel that each Jew gave as his share in the karbonos
in the time of the Bais Hamikdosh. This minhag is usually done in shul
before mincha on Ta’anis Esther or before the reading of the megillah.
Purim Checklist:- Friday, Yud Daled Adar – March 25, 2005
I listened to every word of the megillah on Thursday night, and banged
my gragger when I heard Haman’s name being mentioned.
I listened to the megillah on Friday, I made sure to listen very quietly
and I heard every word.
I remembered to give matanos l’evyonim– tzedakah –
to at least two poor people during Purim day.
I gave mishloach manos– food gifts – that have at least
2 different ready-to-eat foods – to at least one of my friends.
Boys give to boys and girls give to girls. (The Minhag Beis HaRav -
The Minhag of the Rabbeim- was to include both food and drink in the
mishloach manos and to give it to at least 3 people.)
I ate a special Purim seudah with my family – I made it very lebedig.
I remembered to say V’Al Hanisim in shemoneh esrei and bentching.
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Chinuch
Yaldei Hashluchim
Rabbi M. Shemtov
Rivky Lokshin
Dabrushy Pink
Aydla Vechter |
Connections
Proof-Readers:
Rabbi A. Lipsey
Mrs. G. Junik
Rabbi L. Zirkind |
Va’ad
Hashluchim:
Rabbi Y. Deren
Rabbi O. Goldman
Rabbi Y. Greenberg
Rabbi B. Levertov
Rabbi Y. Shemtov
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