Parshas Achrei Mot-Kedoshim & Yom Hatzmaut: Celebrating Israel

An Israeli flag flies on top of Masada, with the Dead Sea in the background

This week we’d like to wish a happy 65^th birthday to someone near and dear to all our hearts: Israel. Yom Hatzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, fell this week, and although we could not be in Israel to celebrate it with her, we have all celebrated in our hearts.

The land of Israel is special and important to all of us as Jews. It is the land G-d told our forefather Abraham He would give to him and his descendants, us. And indeed He did, after our escape from Egypt and our wanderings in the desert. But unfortunately, Israel did not remain in Jewish hands for long. We were exiled from our homeland and scattered across the world.

Today, we have returned to the land of Israel. This tiny sliver of a country – just the size of New Jersey in the United States – is the place we have to call home. No matter what may happen to us in other parts of the world, Israel will always welcome us with open arms into her motherly hug.

We Jews have a special relationship with the land. We turn to face it when we pray and every time we pray, we remember how we long to return there. And indeed, Jews began returning to the land of Israel since just a century after the destruction of the Second Temple. Now, with the establishment of the State of Israel, it has become safer to return than ever before, and Jews have been flocking there by the hundreds of thousands.

In this week’s parsha, G-d prepares the Jewish people to enter the land of Israel. He admonishes the Jews not to behave like the Egyptians (who raised them) or like the Canaanites (who then inhabited the land of Israel). Instead, G-d expects the Jewish people to behave and act differently, better. He provides a guide for proper social interaction in the form of His Torah. By juxtaposing this commandment with commandments against things like bestiality, improper relationships, and idol worship, G-d is highlighting the differences between the Jews and the outside world.

In today’s society, unfortunately, not much has changed from the Egyptian and Canaanite societies of old. Instead of idols we worship money, and improper relationships are flaunted or even encouraged. It is our job as Jews to stand out and behave differently. Each and every one of us can be a light unto the world.

Shabbat shalom!

Read more on Parshas Kedoshim

Read more on What to Say to a Jewish Mourner on Yom Ha’atzmaut

If anyone is going to be here in Adelaide over Lag Baomer, please join us for a celebration.

Well I’ve made it two weeks eating only fresh raw fruit, nuts and vegetables. The longest I’ve ever done in the past was 10 days. Like in the past I’ve maintained exercise and living a normal life. I feel great, and thank G-d have plenty of energy. The only down side is that it takes a lot of time to eat on a raw food diet. Salad takes longer to chew than a chocolate bar, and considering how much salad I need to eat…

Well the good thing is that I can read and eat at the same time. I learned this from my father, who always studies Torah while eating breakfast. Now normally when we learn Torah we should recite the words as vocalising the holly Hebrew letters and words of Torah purify all of our body as explained in many Jewish sources. However reciting Torah aloud while eating is not possible. Therefore my father will read Torah based books in English.

I think I’ve taken on the same practice though not as diligently. I sometimes find it hard to eat and read at the same time. Instead I prefer watching some Jewish study lesson on the internet. There is no shortage of how much Torah there is out there to study.

So maybe the real benefit of this raw food diet I am doing is not entirely physical. Sure there is the increased energy, need for less sleep, clarity of mind and so on. However, perhaps it is all the time gained learning Torah while eating?

The Jewish Bucket List

Hey all, I’ve been inspired to create a Jewish bucket list for my readers on Traveling Rabbi.

Would love to hear your ideas, maybe comment here or send them to me so I can compile them all together.

100 Things for your Jewish Bucket List…

100 things to do in Israel…

100 kosher Foods to try before you die…

100 Jewish rituals to observe…

100 Synagogues to visit…

Here is an Idea of my Jewish Bucket list so far in no particular order:

1. Visit The Western Wall
2. Go on an all-inclusive Pesach retreat
3. Make the perfect bowl of Chicken soup
4. Tefilin Challenge for 30 days
5. Tiffilin challenge for one year
6. Charity Challenge: give every day for 30 days
7. Charity challenge for one year
8. Be president of some organization: WIZO, B’nei Brith, JNF etc.
9. Re-learn Bar Mitzvah Haftorah
10. Light Shabbat Candles for one year every Friday
11. Visit the great Synagogue in Sydney
12. Enjoy a service in the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem
13. Eat a felafel on the streets of Jerusalem or Tel Aviv
14. Snorkel or Scuba dive in the Red Sea
15. Float in the Dead Sea
16. Throw a Chanukah party with homemade jelly doughnuts and latkas
17. Bake your own hamentachen on Purim and send to at least ten people
18. Convince your Rabbi to let you give a Saturday morning Sermon
19. Visit the oldest Synagogue in your country, State, Province, continent, world
20. Raise 10,000- 50k or 100k for your favourite Jewish Charity
21. Serves on a board of something you believe in: Synagogue, School, etc.
22. Write a Jewish Cook book with all your Bubes, mother, friends, and your own favourite kosher recipes
23. Write a Jewish book, on anything
24. Go on a kosher cruise
25. Meet your favourite Jewish Author, Rabbi, Sports personality, Singer
26. Host a Friday night dinner
27. Fast the whole Yom Kippur (no cheating)
28. Complete all 5 fast days during the year (start with no food then no water)
29. Study a tractate of Talmud
30. Learn to sing 5 Shabbat songs
31. Learn to blow the shofar and blow it every day for the month of Ellul
32. Pray at the burial site of some famous Rabbi or great Jewish leader you admire
33. Don’t talk for the entire Yom Kippur
34. Break your Yom Kippur fast with your best friend or family member with a l’chaim on a whisky or down a beer (consult your doctor first)
35. Build a Sukkah
36. Decorate a Sukkah
37. Make a blessing in the Sukkah on each day of Sukkot
38. Be the last one dancing on Simchat Torah
39. Go to the hospital/orphanage etc. and give Chanukah gelt (money) and chocolates
40. Get dressed up on Purim as your favourite superhero, movie character etc.
41. Host  a Purim Hamentachen swap
42. Learn to chant the Meggilat Esther
43. Participate in a Passover Seder that goes until 5:00am or later…(this way no one will have out done you!)
44. Bake your own matzah
45. Host your own Seder
46. Learn to recite the mansihtana in a foreign language. Make it extreme, maybe in Swahili or Urdu…something unique!
47. Develop perfect vocal sound effects for the ‘chad gadya’ song: a cat, dog, Angel of death…
48. Eat the right amount of Matzah according to the Rabbi. Not just a bitsy piece…go on eat three whole Maztahs!
49. Count the Omer every day until Shavout
50. Do something special for Yom Hashoah: ideas
51. Visit Auschwitz
52. Send flowers, cookies, to some Israeli soldiers with a card telling them how much you love them, on Yom Hazikaron
53. Learn Israeli dancing
54. Make your own falafel balls
55. Walk the National Israel Trail. All of it or part of it
56. Study in depth the history of Israel. Read a few books
57. Stay up and study the whole night of Shavout
58. Bake your own cheesecake, blintzes and lasagne. Make your own ice cream
59. Volunteer for a month in Israel, on a kibbutz, Magen David Adom, in a hospital, study centre..
60. Successfully make a shiduch (match a couple who get married)
61. Go on the ‘March of The Living’
62. Learn to speak, read, write Hebrew
63. Learn to read and speak Yiddish
64. Visit the death camps in Poland
65. Start a Jewish Charity for something you believe in
66. Visit one hundred Chabbad houses around the world
67. Fly first class on El Al (is it any better?)
68. ???
69. ??
70. ?

Parshas Tazria Metzora: Tzaraas: Sometimes a Bad Thing Can Be a Good Thing

This week’s Torah portion speaks about various physical blemishes and conditions which can afflict a person.  The tzaraas, which is commonly translated as “leprosy” is not really a physical malady at all, but rather a spiritual one.  From the sages we learn that it comes about as the result of evil speech, or lashon hara, and afflicts not just his body, but his clothing and his house as well.

The Talmud, in the tractate Negaim, which deals with these types of blemishes and conditions, notes that “a person sees all kinds of blemishes except for their own.”  Although being afflicted with tzaraas was undeniably something we would want to avoid, it is not necessarily a good thing that we do not experience it today.  Tzaraas was G-d’s way of showing people the error of their ways and giving them the opportunity to correct and improve themselves.

The Midrash relates that Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel asked his servant, Tavi, to buy him something good from the market. The servant returned with some tongue. Rabbi Shimon then asked his servant to buy something bad from the market. The servant returned with more tongue. “How can this be? I asked you to buy something good, you bought tongue; I asked you to buy something bad, you also bought tongue?” Replied Tavi, “It has good and bad. When it is good, it has a lot of goodness. When it is bad, it is very bad.”

Thus we see that our tongues and our mouths have incredible power.  We can use them to do incredible good, but all too often we use them for bad, too.  We speak badly of others or eagerly spread juicy gossip.  In essence, it is best to stick to the mandate, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”

Indeed, Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel taught, ”I grew up my entire life amongst scholars, and I did not find anything as beneficial to the body as silence; action is the main thing, not talk, and whoever speaks too much will bring sin [upon himself].” In the words of King Solomon, “Even a fool is considered a wise man if he remains silent.”  The more we speak, the more likely it is that we will stumble and accidentally begin to speak badly.

This week, let us all work on reducing the amount of lashon hara we speak.  This requires intense concentration on what we are saying. We must carefully watch our words.  It is a good start to pick one hour during the day and to work on not speaking badly during that one hour.  Then we can expand that hour to include two or three, until we become accustomed to being fully conscious of and in control of our speech. In this way, perhaps, we will earn the right not to need tzaraas anymore.

Shabbat shalom!