Dear friends,

Shavuos has passed, and we will be having quite a dry spell before there are any new times of renewal. Does that mean that you are doomed to a several month spell of FOMO?

Sort of…

The best time of all is real life. That's where you give birth to yourself, and let the true you emerge. One of the ways in which your choices happen is by stepping back and figuring out what your priorities really are. There is a bit of Gemarah that says, “Rabba bar Machsya says that Rav Chamma bar Guria says that any city that has the roofs higher than the roofs of the synagogues will eventually be destroyed as it says, “To trample Hashem’s house and to establish its destroyed places”

The reason that I gave you an exact quote is that there are quite a few things that you can see in it that may change your focus. One is that everything here is attributed. I don’t much about Rav Machsya and even less about Rav Chamma, but there is one thing that I do know; Rav Machsya was an amorah, a teacher in the Talmudic era, someone who was close to the Oral Law in ways that I will never know. He had the opportunity to meet with and observe people who were one step closer to Sinai, and who had direct linkage with those before them. It doesn’t just take you back to Moshe, it takes you all the way back to the One who gave the Torah, who is the same One who created the world. 

When  you look around you or (for those of you who like this sort of thing) when you learn about the incredible intricacy of literally everything physical, you see the Hand of a giver, the One who wants you to live and interpret His world in ways that give you meaning, you know this because he chose to make you a human being.

Humans are the top of the pyramid, but we are simultaneously the only ones who could choose not to find their place. Everything in the world is still connected to its source just as much as it was on the day it was created. You are no exception. Your body, soul and evolving history are connected to Hashem. Every choice can get you closer to the One who creates life every second, or distance you. The scholars of the Talmud chose to learn, to explore, and to ultimately share what a human can know of the pattern that governs every choice you can possibly make.  

Here they talk about living in a city; a topic which is not an easy one just now.

I am aware, that as I write this, the incredibly painful destruction takes place every night in many of Americas metropolises. Wanton, heartless destruction, surrounds you if you go out to see the scene. It didn’t come out of nowhere - there is history that has to be confronted. From the perspective of the Talmud, one thing must be said.

The fact that there is rage doesn’t mean that its offshoot is justice. There is nothing remotely resembling justice in looting a Gucci bag or a large-TV screen.

The voice of anger is always the same. This can be true of genuinely justified anger (Imagine the anger a parent would feel if their child was murdered), or trivial anger (the kind that you feel when you find yourself asking, “how dare he park where I wanted to park”). The voice says, “This isn’t how it should be; it should be the way I want it to be”. The underlying assumption is, of course, that the way you want “it” to be must be right.

How can you know?

The Talmud says that the beginning of the destruction of a city is when the roofs of the local buildings are higher than the roofs of the synagogues. Maharal explains this by saying that spiritual reality is inherently more exalted than material reality. That would mean that values that are eternal (and you can only know what they are from the Torah) have to be seen as transcending material reality. What happens when this is reversed? When questions of what morality really means are not asked? You have a situation evolve in which the purpose of life, its Source and its meaning are forgotten. What is remembered is how good material pleasure feels, how loud the desire for status talks, and how marvelous it feels to experience a little righteous indignation. This mixture is what you see every night. To use Maharal’s words; “lowliness is a part of the physical world (it was created to follow, not to lead);  exaltation belongs to the non-physical world. When you reverse this, the inherent plan Hashem had for the world and order for the world that the Torah reveals, is destroyed”.

What does this mean in plain language? It means that the indignation about a murder (which, needless to say is part of the Torah’s system, and reflective of valuing the true worth of human life) is just. Looting, violence towards the law officers (whose lives are not less valuable than that of Floyd), are not part of this system. It is part of another system, one in which whoever is most vicious wins. It’s a perversion of what being human is all about.

What does this have to do with you?

Do you always put the right things first? I try to, but I don’t always succeed. The immediacy and the here and now nature of living in a way in which grabbing for what you want gives you instant pleasure is sometimes overwhelming. It can be the pleasure of saying what shouldn’t be said because it feels so good, or doing something that shouldn’t be done for the same reason. 

Here’s the good news. Once you know who you don’t want to be, you are much closer to being who you do want to be. We have all summer to practice!
​
Love,
Tziporah Gottlieb (can’ya believe it? I am still floating

Dear friends,
​
Soon you will be reliving standing at Mount Sinai at what is arguably the greatest moment humankind ever experienced. Receiving the Torah changed everything. It made it possible to live a life in which you actually end up where you want to be, and your example changes the game for the rest of the world as well. When you look at words like “morality” the source of all of the basics and far more, was that day in Sivan. No gift can even begin to compare to what Hashem gave us on that day.
An interesting halacha concerning gifts (don’t you like to hear about gifts?) relates not to the gift, but to the panache of being a giver. 
Let’s say that your motive is magnanimous; the reason that you are giving the gift is completely altruistic; you have been made aware of someone else’s genuine need, and want to help them out by bearing some of their burden.  Your next move ideally is to do your best to make yourself as “small” as the situation allows. In fact, if you can be invisible to give anonymously that would be perfect. Your goal is to let them feel dignified, not needy or “unfortunate”.  Being in need “translates” to many people as failure, lack of street smarts, and vulnerability. When you give discretely, you save the dignity of good people.  
 
Need isn’t the only language of giving. Sometimes it is the language of closeness and even of love. If you give something out of love, then being anonymous is not only unnecessary, it is antithetical to your purpose You have to really be there, not just to soak up the good feelings, but to let the other person know that you using the gift as  a means of conveying a far deeper message. You want to let them know that you are giving them yourself.
Hashem gave us the Torah out of love.
There was nothing subtle about those days in Sivan when we faced the mountain. If you were there, (and in the most genuine sense, you were), you would have heard lightening and seen thunder. You would have seen the mountain ablaze, shaking violently, and the heavens and earth meeting. What that means is that you would be forced existentially to acknowledge that the system you have always know isn’t what you thought it was. You may be under the impression that reality is objective. You take it in through your senses, and let your mind interpret what you saw (heard, smelled, touched or tasted). You know that Hashem can control nature; there’s nothing new there for a people who saw the sea split, and who had lived through the plagues in Egypt. What is new to you, is that He also controls your ability to perceive reality. He controls your senses. If He wants you to be able to see thunder, that is His choice and prerogative. He can and did make our abilities change by changing nature from within us. Why would He do that?
He gave the Torah out of such love that wanted it to be clear to us that He is giving us something of Himself, the power and energy that usually is hidden from the human eye. He wanted us to know how beloved we are.
Did it ever happen to you? Did you receive a gift from Hashem that He “signed”? Those times when you had every reason to assume that life would take a specific path but just didn’t. Did you have personal “U turns”?
I think we all have had times in which the word “definite” turned out to be relative. Step back from yourself for a moment. Think about where you are today, and where you were when you were eleven. Could you have predicted the changes that would unfold?
When the miracles happen you sometimes have to work hard to notice them. They are not as visible as they were at Mount Sinai, and habit can be so stupefying that nothing that you experience opens your eyes. 
So out of love, Hashem gave us another gift; one that occurs frequently. He made it possible to live without falling into the trap of letting time erode your sense of wonder.
Time is hard to define. We relate to it by using artificial constructs; minutes hours days. Who decided a minute has to have 60 seconds? If it isn’t the words we use all of the time (seconds minutes, hours, days) what is it?  One definition of “time” is that it is the measured progression of change. The earth has its cycle, and its movement is how we keep track of things. Every week we take a break from the constant movement, at least to some degree. When you keep Shabbos, and you take yourself out of time & space, you are experiencing a gift. It is the one that the Talmud tells us is a gift from Hashem’s treasury. 

Time can be a cruel master. How many times have you heard someone tell you something that sounds like, “You have to be there by 5.00”. Or “You have to complete the report by Jan.20.” or “The casserole should stay in the oven for 1 hour. Leave it in longer, it will be dry tasteless and touch. Take it out too soon it will be runny and repulsive. “ Sometimes, the “someone” who forces you to submit to the clock is you!  Shabbos is the time when you leave what Alsheich would call the world of “fragmentation”, where a million competing goals vie for your undivided attention. You enter what he referred to as “the world of unity”. 
Imagine a 5000-piece puzzle. When you finally put it together you discover that not only does it form an interesting picture, but it also simultaneously portrays the artist who designed it. During the week you do your best to put the pieces of a fragmented universe together. On Shabbos you find meaning. 
This is the greatest gift of all.
The word Torah is sourced in the word ‘horaah’, which means teaching. The Torah inevitably teaches, instructs, and lets you see the way. Without the Torah, navigating the world spiritually would be ‘mission-impossible’. Shabbos is considered to be so significant, that if it was on one side of a scale, and all of the other mitzvot on the other side of the scale, the scale would balance. 
This year Shabbos and Shavuos are come together.  The two greatest gifts!
Enjoy every moment.
Love
Tziporah

Dear friends,
It is Lag B'omer night. This year I am here, in my living room, not in Meiron. 

My heart is full of joy, not only for my marriage, which should begin tomorrow, but for all of the light and goodness that fills the world in the merit of Rabi Shimon.

Our entire tradition of looking inward, and discovering how close we are and how beloved we are, this stems from His revealing the parts of the Torah that bring this home to your hearts.

As high as he could fly in a spiritual sense, he was never above taking each person He encountered and saying, I am here for you, no matter who you are, what you have done, or where you have been.

You are invited (virtually) to my website to see our chaseneh on video.
​
Much, much love to you all. 
Tziporah

Dear friends,

Did you ever notice that your body and your soul feel they are just as hostile as towards each other as Muhammed Ali the famous boxer would be if he had to fight the angel Gabriel?  Your body and soul engage in no holds barred battles at times. What makes it more complex, of course is that it is you against you. Both sides of you are creations of G-d. They have one source, and its up to you to do what you can to make peace between them. The Torah tells you “be holy”.  If you were in the midst of the battle between you and you, what would this tell you to do? 

The literal meaning of sanctity in Judaism is being separate from everything that limits you-subjectivity, time, and space.

TIME our lives are short, far too short to do and see everything that came way before your entrance, and will continue afterwards. I personally suffer from a permanent case of FOMO (fear of missing out).
SUBJECTIVITY begins when you interpreted life from the vantage point of your personal experience as a child. I still remember our cleaning man, Buzzy. He had gold teeth. He was tall, and to me as a young child was almost mythic in his presence and strength. My impression of Black people is altered by his presence in my life. How can you possibly move beyond subjectivity? 

PLACE You also live in your own “space”. I will always be touched by the combination of the secular but very Jewish Flatbush of my youth, Crown Heights, Yerushalaim and more. Each place left an imprint. How can the Torah possibly expect me (or anyone else) to rise beyond the inherent limitations that are part of living? 
It doesn’t expect you to win the battle. It expects you to keep fighting. 

There are two separate but not contradictory paths to walk. One is facing up to the enemy. Escape is neither possible nor desirable. 

Learn to say “no”. I have my ups and downs. Once, when I realized that fudging things when cornered is a real limitation, I resolved to stop. No more semi-truths. I was crossing the street at a red light in the Central bus station here in Yerushalaim. A young policewoman stopped me with a real “gotcha” look in her eye. She asked me whether I noticed that the light was red. I knew that the line she expected was “no. I just was in such a hurry that I wasn’t paying attention”, which most likely led to a “next time pay attention!” song of victory and a ticket. Instead, I told her the truth. “I noticed.” “Was there some kind of emergency?” “No’. By this time her sense of victory had melted away. She was not used to fighting when there was no enemy. She gave me a ticket, and she was almost in tears as she handed it to me. I didn’t know that this is how things would have worked out. We were both more human at the end of the less than five-minute interaction. If it hadn’t, I still would have gained something real by resisting the very real temptation to save myself 180 shekels by fudging it. I won this round. 

The other path is learning to say “yes”. I will do what Hashem wants of me, rejoice in the feeling it gives me, and use the same energy for something better in the future. Fiery orators who changed the world for the good could have been manipulative domestic monsters if they had not used the love of combat for the good. One path is conquest, and the other path is redirecting. Either way, your victory will be real, strengthening you for the next round. The Torah tells you “Be holy, because I Hashem your G-d is holy”. He is transcendent, beyond limitation and most relevantly willing to give you something of Himself when you ask for it.  

He did something more. He gave us the rules. If you look at Shabbos for a minute, you see both paths merging. There are all the don’ts. No phone. No car. No fast food. No limitations. No ego. No “it’s all about me”. You win this one. There are all of the “yes”. Can you handle eating exquisite food (okay, maybe my food isn’t’ exquisite, but the Moroccan fish (or Yellow Nile Perch) isn’t bad. Neither is the mousse. It certainly lets you step back and recognize that the world Hashem made for you is one in which there is so so much pleasure given as a free gift. You like the way your house looks; you like the way you look. You like your guests or your hosts. There is al awful lot of “yes”. 

Your life is unique. There will be many times in which you are challenged, and you (hopefully) will have to courage to say no. To dishonesty. To despair and fear. To rejection. To losing your bond with Hashem. There will be many times in which you will have the opportunity to say yes. Use your talents and abilities meaningfully. Take the material realities of your life, and uplift them. Make the world a better place by giving charity. Talk to G-d so you feel His presence as an alternative way of communicating your vulnerability to other people. Let Him into your life. Talk to Him as you would talk to good friend.
Your life has so many chapters!  This is not only true of your personal history, but it is true of the flow of time and its faithful diary, human history. Every era has its challenges and its inspiration. Sometimes there are gigantic people, such as Avraham or Moshe, who find Hashem through the depth and commitment of their personalities and righteousness. Their lives were extraordinary, but one thing sticks out. They didn’t have it easy. They didn’t have constant visible interventions. The miracles that they experienced were enormous, but infrequent. This was the path that Hashem set forth for them. Later generations (especially in the time of the Temple the miracles were more frequent (imagine going to the Bais HaMikdash just to see a few of the constant miracles). 

In the time of the Second Temple the miracles were even more frequent, almost unbelievably so, because the darkness of the time demanded that the people (who were no where near the level of Avraham or Moshe) be fed more light. Hashem makes each era uniquely. The one thing that is true of every era, is that Hashem gives you the way to reach out in its frame. All of the streams lead us to the era of Moshiach, each era in its own way.

The trick is to figure out YOUR live, and YOUR times.  The Corona virus challenges you in every way. You don’t know where your life will take you. No one is really “safe” (and no one ever was). You are facing uncertainty wherever you look. Don’t feel lost.
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The path is the same one that humans faced all along. Learn to say no. Learn to say yes. Learn enough Torah to fit it into your moment to moment reality. No matter what, your stream will take you to the great river of the era in which the whole world is full of knowledge of G-d as the sea floor is full of water.
 
Love,
Tziporah  

​Dear Friends,

I haven't been in touch for a really long time. So much has happened since we we were last in contact.

The Corona epidemic emptied the schools here in Eretz Yisrael. At first many of the girls who were planning on being at home for Pesach were sorely disappointed - they knew if they were to return that they couldn't get back into Israel without 14 days of quarantine, which can't take place in a dorm. Then, as the need for greater precautions were announced, it was clear that the schools would have to close, leaving the girls with not option but to return.

The salt water that you will soon be eating at the seder was felt and the recognitions that Hashem is forcing so many people out of His land was bitter. The isolation that the government had the foresight to impose was the first ray of light from my perspective. No distractions.  No escapes.

You have no choice (unless you want to fill the empty spaces with denial) to recognize that every breath of air is a gift. 

Every moment of life is a gift.

Every person you encounter is a messenger with something Hashem has arranged for him to give you.

This week's parsha, Tzav talks about many offerings. One of them is the korban todah. It was offerred when a person recovers from a serious illness, is released from prison, returns from a potentially dangerous sea journey, or crosses the desert. I can hear the audible 'why?' but the nagging question that I ask so many times, raises its head: 'Well, who caused the illness?". Who allowed the danger?" The answer as usual, is far more complex.

The Torah tells us that in the future all of the sacrifices will no longer be offered except for the Thanksgiving offering. The reason that it won't join the other korobonos is because, in the future, you will see that all of the pain, lonliness, danger and feelings of being trapped and imprisoned, were all for your good.

Hashem gave me personally a wonderful gift, in bringing me my chossen, Rabbi Gottlieb together. I hope that some of the light we feel can be felt by you too.

Emunah is the source of all joy.
Make it yours,
Let it make you its beloved companion.

a safe shabbos,

Tziporah

Dear friends,

The questions that can’t be answered are much more numerous than the ones that can. The news reports are endless, flooding you with a river of facts and semi-facts. How many people were stricken? How many are under quarantine. How many fatalities. The answers change by the hour. The scope of the pandemic has never been equaled. There is nothing to which it can be objectively compared. The endless hype is only a symptom of an underlying issue.
We hate saying that we have no control.

Being able to talk about the stats, symptoms and numbers brings things down to the great world of The Describable. That world is one in which we are very comfortable. The only problem is that control is an illusion, and that knowledge is only what your senses can pick up and transfer to your brain.  
Rambam illustrates the reality of human limitation in his usual succinct way. “If you saw a bird, and also saw an iron bar, you can imagine an iron bird that flies in the sky”. He lived about a thousand years ago, but he already could envision a plane. However, “If you never saw a bird, and never saw metal, you would not be able to “see” a flying metal bird”. 

Human wisdom is compared to a ladder. You can walk up many rungs, but you can get stuck. The top of the ladder is where Hashem’s grandeur replaces the world that your senses project. To reach the top, you have to be humble. When you can step back you can finally get a more honest perspective as you put Hashem back in the picture. It means reaching a point in which your heart and mind agree, and they both find themselves saying,” I see what I see, but the entire picture belongs to You”.

Rambam also tells you that for Moshiach to come, one thing has to happen. You have to be educable. That doesn’t mean that you have to be perfect, Hashem’s commitment to His people doesn’t make perfection a pre requisite to becoming ourselves, which is what redemption really means. It means that you have to be humble enough to say “I don’t know”, and recognize that there is no one upon whom you can depend other than Hashem.

I am sure that in your life there have been times in which the rug was pulled out from under you. The flight was cancelled. The position was filled. He didn’t like you enough to marry you. The diagnosis was much less severe than what the illness actually was. These moments can be transformational.
In last week’s parshah you have Moshe making an interesting request. He asked Hashem to show him His glory. This may leave you wondering, didn’t Moshe read the beginning of this letter? Didn’t he know that humans don’t see the whole picture? He obviously did. He didn’t ask Hashem to see Him, He wanted to find Hashem’s glory.
So many things happen in the world that conceal Hashem’s glory. The hardest one to swallow is that the good people suffer at times, while at times the really bad ones seem to have easy pain free lives. The way this is put in the classical sources is “the problem of a tzadik who has evil and an evil man (rasha) who has good”. 

You can look at these words from an entirely different angle. Even the worst of us has some good. It may be buried under untold layers of selfishness, despair and fear. If you go to the trouble of seeking out this bit of good you can make a dramatic change. If you relate to it as the key to the deeper and more genuine piece of G-dliness in a person who has lived a bad life, you can change his way of relating to himself. His entire identity can be altered. For this reason, Hashem, who is the only one who knows anyone’s inner workings, will sometimes let the rasha see undisguised good, and let him find the place of peace, gratitude, and wonder that can change him if he is willing to be changed. Sometimes the opposite takes place, and with this, I will get personal.

You are good. So many of you are real Tzadikim. Knowing you has been one of the best things that ever happened to me. But you are tzadik v’ ra lo. A tzadik with some bad still hidden inside. You ask Rabbanim (and very rightly so!), “What is this for? What does Hashem want of us?” or “What should I change?”. The underlying whisper is, “I look at myself and see a clean slate. I don’t see anything that needs correction. What is there for me to do differently?”. Sometimes, Hashem in His kindness will present you with situations that can bring out the hidden tzadik in you. The tzadik that can only surface when things don’t go as you would have chosen. When the stress that this terrible plague brings everyone, hits home, the tzadik in you can come out. It can take you to recognizing that other people need your validation, that you need to express your care, that your prayers can come to express a deeper level of trust in Hashem than you ever believed that you had inside you.

So, I’ll end with a rather strange wish, which is that the plague be forgotten, that it be a rung that takes us closer to Moshiach (which feels so plausible given that everything else seem so surreal), and that its impression takes us to being more than we ever thought we could be.
​
Love,
Tziporah    
 

Dear friends,

It feels like Purim!
It’s not just the Neve girl’s costumes, or the need to plan a menu for a feast that begins at a set time but doesn’t end at any set time and features an uncertain number of guests.

When I was looking at the Parshah, it hit me. It’s the time of year when you can change your identity, and adapt a much happier and more positive one. What set me off in that direction was the narrative about the eight garments that were made for the Kohein Gadol.  There is a little bit of kohein in all of us, even those of us who are in no way related to Aharon’s descendants. Before the Torah was given, Hashem told us how it would transform us into being “A Holy nation and a kingdom of kohanim”, people who can uplift the beast within us, and who can bring down blessings. 

When you confront your real life; work, relationships, school, and living with yourself (which can be daunting), you can make choices. You can be a kohein. That means letting your life take you to a higher plane. The Kohein in you can see the beauty and design of nature and of your body, and at the same time experience the intricacy, challenge, and little victories that you have when you try to make your encounters with other people. They come more easily when you accept their “beastly self” and your own “beastly self” as being part of life, but not life itself. 

One of the more challenging parts of being a kohein (part time…) is that other people are hard to really know. Their souls (and your soul...) are an aspect of Hashem, Who has no limits, no description, and is invisible by its nature. You “see” the soul through the garments that it wears. The soul’s garments are thought, speech and action. Think about the people in your life who occupy significant amounts of space! You may find that communication is really your key in “seeing “their thoughts, and interpreting their actions. You are right (doesn’t that feel good?).

When Hashem created the first person, the Torah says that “He blew into him the soul of life”, which Targum Onkelos translates as “the spirit of speech”. The Midrash tells us that Hashem planned Adam before he brought anything else into being.  A “whisper” of everything that was created is part of Adam. Adam had the potential to take himself upward, and elevate the entire world along with him.  Adam was originally “clothed” in garments of spiritual light (Kutones ohr in the text), which were “bigdei kehunah”, a kohein’s garments. This means that his thoughts, speech, and actions (until the sin) were all done in ways that could have made him more and connected to his source.

Then things changed. The effect of the sin was that the “garments of light” were no longer his. He had betrayed his mission. Human thought speech and action sometimes looks really ugly. Periodic mass murders, now somewhat normal, tells you something about the face of action. The almost unprecedented verbal abuse and negativity in the public sphere all have a message. They tell you that somehow many people no longer think in terms of the inherent beauty and meaning of life, they are out of touch. Speech and thought have been compromised.

The situation isn’t hopeless. 

The Parshah tells you that Hashem provided garments that can replace the old ones. There are new ways of thinking, speaking and feeling, and of doing. You can learn how to change “clothing” and change direction.
Each one of the kohein gadol’s garments atoned for a specific area of failure, and opened the gate to replacing failure with change.

1-The trousers were made of pure white linin. They atoned for carnal sins; Through the Torah, base desire can be a source of profound spiritual connection by living a life of purity.

2-The shirt atoned for sins of bloodshed. It covered the heart, the seat of passion. Hatred can be rejected, and the same passions redirected into love, caring, and connection

3-The turban atoned for the kind of arrogance in which you can come to hearing only your own thoughts, and living to coronate yourself in endless acts of ego fulfillment. If you are aware of there being a Mind beyond and above your mind, you can make another choice. You can live to coronate Hashem, by replacing your will with His.

4-The Efod, a garment made of many colors and designed like an apron, covered the Kohein’s back. It atoned for idol worship. When you see the world as a self-contained system, with nature (which really is just a series of rules that repeat themselves) somehow exists independently, you can fall into all sorts of nature worship. Today, not that many of us are drawn to actually serving idols, but many of us worships nature in other ways. When you see the world through the eyes of a person who lives for pleasure, or for controlling, or for making money, who do they think is really running the show? When you look at the world for what it is, you can do one thing and change everything. Put Hashem back into the forces of nature that He authored. Look at the sun, and see it as raw energy, the source of all growth - you have all the components you need for idol worship. Look at the sun and see it as Hashem’s creation, His medium for generated growth, you have devotion.

5-The Choshen. Straps that extended over the Kohen’s shoulders had two onyx stones on them which were attached to the next garment. It was a rectangular piece of cloth, folded over so it had an inner “pocket”. Each side had a different design. The twelve tribes of Israel were represented by precious stones upon which their names were carved. When a parchment with a Divine Name was placed in the pocket, the stones had power similar to that of an oracle. Letters would light up to form words and at times messages. This garment atoned for sins in judging. You may feel that you never sit in judgment because you aren’t an actual judge. Mistake! You most probably act as judge and jury several times a day. You can develop a negative and distrustful relationship with others (if that’s what you want...). All you have to do is to judge them unfavorably at every possible occasion. You can change all of this! You can begin to question your interpretation of events. You can bring down brachah, like an actual kohein.

6-The next garment is the sash which atoned for thoughts that are so private that they are known only to your heart. Everyone has dark places. You can end up being consumed by guilt. Alternatively you can recognize that Hashem m is there wherever you are, and you can ask Him for His help.

7- The next garment is the coat. It was made of sky blue wool. It atoned for purposeless and negative speech. If you want to know who you are, listen to the words that come out of your mouth. When what you communicate reflects your awareness of Hashem in the soul of every person you encounter, you will not speak lashon hara. The “trick” is not to be blinded by superficial differences that make you brand people as “other”.

8-The tzitz: The Kohein wore a diadem (like a necklace, but worn on the head, so the chain goes over the head, and the words are on the Kohein’s forehead). The words were, “Kodesh La ’Hashem”, sanctified to G-d. This made not only the kohein, but everyone who saw the tzitz see them as they actually are. This leads to feeling the awe of Hashem’s knowledge of what you are, and awake a deep desire for Tshuvah.

Purim will be here soon! 

Whether or not you dress up on the outside, dress up on the inside. You can and will discover the self you like the best.
​
Love,
Tziporah

Dear friends,
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Sometimes titles don’t tell you much, but this week when I was at Project Inspire, the title said it like it is.
The amount of people, and their variegated backgrounds was in and of itself inspiring. No one was there for any reason other than to try to learn how to be a source of inspiration to the huge number of unaffiliated Jews you come across just by being alive. The speakers were all wonderful. I shouldn’t say all. I didn’t hear most of them. The program was designed to make it possible to select which class you want to hear, and there were as many as six (!) classes going on simultaneously. I haven’t as yet learned the art of being at more than one place at a time, so I missed quite a few of them. They can be heard on Torah Anytime, so nothing is permanently gone.

The most moving speech of all was given by a man whose wife went on the famous JWRC trip to Israel. (I think that is the initial, but many of you will realize that I am talking about the trips that are organized to give women a sort of renewal of their relationship to Torah, and a reconnection to their roots). She came back with a real love of making challah. As far as he was concerned, this was a great hobby; he had no interest in the religious angle. It took time, and the willingness and patience of several rabbinic mentors, but he came to share the spiritual equivalent of adrenal rush that learning Torah gave him. Another speaker was able to succinctly tell parents that approval (which is necessary, but by definition related to what is done) isn’t the same thing as acceptance (which is even more necessary, because it has to do with being, not just with doing. By definition acceptance means that your child feels emotionally safe in your home). These two insights are just the tip of the iceberg. Just listening to the man who is the CEO of Aish, and watching a movie about its founder was another part of the experience, as was seeing some of the authentic Torah greats of our times relating to the need to reach out to ordinary people.

You may be wondering why I am telling you all this, after all it will be another year before there will be another Project Inspire weekend, and a lot of water will flow under the bridge until then. The reason is that we have just read Parshat is Trumah.

The word Trumah literally means “uplifting” even though its colloquial meaning is donation. Hashem told the Jews in the desert to “Take trumah for Me”. Notice it says that we should “take”, not “give”. How is donating material things taking? It feels more like giving. The most honest answer is the best way to take, is to give.

When you look at where your life has led you, and you look for the golden moments, you will often find that the moments when you gave of yourself in a way that had genuine meaning were right up there, far more than the moments when you received anything that a human can give.

The Torah tells you what the result of this kind of “taking is”. Hashem says, “Make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in your midst”. If you give of yourself, then Hashem’s presence becomes part of your life.
The people in Project Inspire were takers just as much as they were givers. They were in the midst of the endless process called, “becoming”, and what made it even better was that the audience was just as much involved in this p process.

When I came home, I began to look for givers who are takers. In Neve it’s so easy to find them! Rabbi LIff (who heads mechina for those of you who live in a cave) gives constantly. Just yesterday, he mentioned that one of the teachers took notice of one of the student’s rather unusual last name. “This is the name of one of the most famous rabbis of his time. Are you a descendent?” the teacher asked. As things turned out, she is, and the moment of sensitivity to having deep roots wasn’t lost on her. When Rabbi Liff told me about this, he was literally beaming. He was so glad that the girl, who was only in Neve a short time, had an experience that touched her. The moment belonged to him almost as much as it belonged to her.
My Bnos Avigail girls made a musical Melave Malka, with original songs and dances as well as script that was both meaningful and funny (which doesn’t always happen as you know too well). I missed it because I was in the States. When the madrichot told me about it, they were there- enjoying “their” dances, songs and skits.

This Parshah and the coming ones are there to tell you how to do it. How to concretely and honestly become the kind of person who takes/gives and has Hashem dwell inside your heart. You will learn about what the Torah tells you your mind can be by learning and giving/taking by telling you all about the Ark of the Covenant. You will learn about your heart and soul by studying the menorah, about your body and your endless appetite for everything the world offers by studying the sacred table.

All the best!
Take in 
The World
And make it yours
To give

Love,
Tziporah

Dear friends,

Today is Tu Bishvat! It’s the Rosh Hashanah for trees, meaning at this time Hashem determines the way each tree will receive its nurture. The majority of rain has fallen, and now the sap will begin to rise from the ground, and feed the tree what it needs to grow. This year has been especially blessed, and I look forward to great Israeli fruit this summer.  If you aren’t expecting to be here to bite into the luscious summer fruit, you can very reasonably ask what the Rosh Hashanah of trees has to do with you. 

Winston Churchill had it right. He was the British Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and was assigned to Palestine, which was at that time a British protectorate. Tel Aviv was the first all Jewish city to be built. The mayor, Meir Dizingoff (yes, he was mayor Meir), presided over a dusty village that wanted badly to be resurrected as a city. When he heard that the Great Man was planning a trip to Tel Aviv, he became acutely aware of one problem. Churchill was expecting to visit a city, not an adolescent settlement. The decision was made. Saplings would be quickly planted along what was optimistically referred to as the Main Street. When the entourage arrived, the day was unusually windy. The saplings swayed and finally one by one they hit the sandy floor of what today is Kikar Rothchild. Churchill looked on and then faced Dizingoff and told him what I feel is one of the most important pieces of mussar that Tu BiShvat holds. “You have to have roots if you want to grow”.

Growing roots takes time. Humans ae compared to trees in the Torah (although it would be far more accurate to say that trees are compared to humans). The context is making war. Even under those circumstances, you don’t just destroy fruit trees, because, “A man is a tree of the field” they should not be wasted. We have roots branches and produce fruit. The worst thing you can do is waste your opportunity to be you. All of this growing takes time. When you “grow” yourself you don’t necessarily notice anything happening. You feel like you are the same person you were yesterday. This is an illusion. All growth that’s real, is subtle. You can nurture yourself by giving yourself the equivalent of water sun and earth. Kuzari compares Torah to water in this that it descends from a higher place, and is necessary to stay alive. You may say (honestly) that there are many people out there who are alive and well, and don’t make Torah part of their lives. The deeper question would be “how alive is alive”. Being alive means being the midst of constant change and growth. The Torah takes you places that you wouldn’t get to on your own, places within you that are more “elastic” than you realized.

A student told me that she loves Shabbos but hates its details. I asked her for an example, and she told me that refraining from washing off a tiny stain from a particle of food seems to her to be an innocent enough act. Why go around looking like your host didn’t give napkins, especially in Israel, where this is a distinct possibility? The answer is that everything that’s inside of you demands that you take control of your life, your appearance, and the way people perceive you. It’s easy to get stuck in the unending desire to always be in control. Shabbos takes you out of what the Kabbalists call the world of fragmentation. Your appearance, self-esteem, ultimate happiness may feel as though they are one, but they are not. The easiest way to see this is by asking yourself “If wasn’t Shabbos observant, and washing off the food would be a no-brainer. Would that mean that people would like me better, my self-esteem would be iron clad and my personal happiness set in stone? Of course, the answer is no, because this is a tiny fragment of life. Shabbos takes you to the “place” of unity, in which you see yourself as part of a greater whole, and surrender control to Hashem as a way of defining yourself as part of His plan. 

The sun you need is the mitzvos. The effect of sun is to generate growth. One example of how this works is the laws of charity. I am not a miser (just rather frugal…..), but I have no doubt that even if the Torah didn’t demand that I give charity, that I would. Twenty dollars here, ten dollars there, and perhaps if a particular cause touched my heart, something more substantial once every great while. There is no way that I would give away thousands of dollars a year, the way people do when they tithe their money. Once I began doing this, an interesting thing occurred. I no longer had a feeling of “owning” my money. It came to me via Hashem’s generosity in giving me what it takes to work, and the means to give charity. It’s His. Another interesting thing that happened is that instead of giving impulsively to whatever seemed most pressing at the time, I thought more about it because I felt that I had to deal with Hashem’s money with greater respect. 

The earth you need to grow is maintaining a connection to the stuff that makes you yourself, your holy ancestors and the earth of Eretz Yisrael in which they lived. You come from a people for whom growth is organic. There are innumerous peoples who are more populous; in fact, there are few peoples who as small in number as we are. Everything about the moral basis of Western civilization, all of the great world religions take their inner workings from us. 

Combining the water sun and earth is a long-term process. This is a great time to ask for the gift of patience and clarity, as you enjoy the fruit that Hashem has provided! The Talmud suggests that you pray for a good esrog. Most of you know that each of the four species that we take on Succot parallel a specific part of the human body. The esrog is the “heart” (and an actual heart is shaped like an esrog, not like a valentine). Let Hashem open your beautiful, feeling, sensitive heart.

So. Have a great too bishavat!
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Love,
Tziporah