Rosh Hashanah and the Circle of Life

As I sit here writing, the smell of sweet challah fills the room. Yes, the holiday season is here – let the baking begin!  Round challahs, circular pies, and sweet spherical apples abound in my kitchen this time of year.

Undoubtedly the sweets are one of the parts of Rosh Hashanah we all look forward to most.  After all, most of us have a sweet tooth – even if we don’t like to admit it!  The New Year just wouldn’t be as tasty without sweet raisin challahs, honey on apples, simmering tsimmes, and delicious desserts.

The symbolism of honeyed foods during our New Year’s celebration is obvious in the way we wish one another a sweet new year.  But our celebration of symbols goes much deeper than taste. We also have the visuals to consider.

So, why are our challahs round?  The simple answer is the same reason we eat round foods like lentils and eggs when we are mourning: to symbolize the circle of life.  Circles and cycles are a crucial part of our Jewish faith.

The secular world tends to view birth as the start and death as the end, full stop.  Similarly, each year is viewed as its own entity that begins at January 1^st and ends at December 31^st.  Judaism is different.  We view life as a cycle that simply goes around.  We don’t look at death as an ending so much as a new beginning – before we were born we were spiritual beings with no physical presence and after we die we return to that state.  Similarly, we do not view each New Year as the end of an old year so much as the return to the beginning of a new one.  It is a circle.

This is epitomized in our reading of the Torah.  As soon as we finish the Torah we immediately begin again.  The Torah is not just a novel that has a beginning and an end.  Once we read it we don’t put it down and say “Oh, that was a great read.”  No! We immediately start again.  The Torah is circular (even the shape of a scroll is round!), so that the end is just the start of beginning again.  Think about it – a bar mitzvah boy does not wait for Bereishit to start his reading of the Torah – a bar mitzvah boy begins reading the Torah right away, as soon as he becomes bar mitzvah.  The Torah is a circle and can be begun at any time!

The round challah at Rosh Hashanah symbolizes this life cycle.  Just as the seasons go round and round with no definite beginning and end, so too does Jewish life.  Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of another season and the round challah reminds us that we would like to continue to go round and round until we once again arrive at Rosh Hashanah again.

We would like very much to thank the Adelaide Jewish community who has been so lovely to us during this past year.  We are looking forward to celebrating the cycle of Jewish life with you again in 5775.

Chag sameach and shana tova!

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“Israel Needs Your Help”

Around the world anti-Semites are boycotting Israeli products. In Israel, rocket sirens disrupt work, negatively affecting businesses. Along the borders, soldiers continue to risk their life’s to fight terror and keep our land safe from those who wish to destroy us. Israel will survive this ordeal as it has with Gods help time and time again. Israel will be victorious. Israel will defeat her enemies. You ask, ‘what can you do?’ because you want to help. You can instantly make the path smother for those who fight and struggle.

Do you part to help.

THE CHALLENGE
1. Purchase a bottle of Israeli wine to use on Rosh Hashana.
2. Post a photo of the bottle, or you and the bottle together.
3. Nominate 3-5 people to take the challenge.

You have until September 24, 2014 to post a photo of the Israeli bottle of wine you are committing to drink on the Jewish New Year

Or else….

If you don’t buy a bottle of Israeli wine, you must give $18 to Tzedakah to one of the three following charities. We chose these charities because they are not as well known as some of the larger ones. The listed three charities are doing amazing work and every small contribution makes a noticeable difference.

LEKET Feed a Hungry Child

Serving as the country’s National Food Bank and largest food rescue network, Leket Israel works to alleviate the problem of nutritional insecurity amongst the growing numbers of Israel’s poor. In 2013, with the help of over 50,000 volunteers, Leket Israel rescued and distributed 25 million lbs of produce andperishable goods, 1 million prepared meals, and 1.1 million (8,000/school day) volunteer prepared sandwiches to underprivileged children. Food, that would have otherwise gone to waste, was redistributed to hundreds of nonprofit partners caring for the needy. Leket Israel offers nutrition education, capacity building, and food safety projects to further assist our partners.

ISRAEL FREE LOAN Assist an Israeli Business

Communities throughout the country have been under rocket attack. Most prevalent, this has hit home for small businesses in the south, which have been under constant fire, causing businesses to work only part-time or close for the time being. These small businesses serve as the sole source of livelihood for the families who own them. The donations we receive from you will enable us to respond quickly and help them. In addition, every donation to IFLA is leveraged, as it is recycled and results in a growing “helping value” over time.

YASHAR LACHAYAL Help a Soldier

Yashar LaChayal brings soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces what they need when they need it. Yashar LaChayal has developed relationships with IDF commanders around the country, and therefore they are quick to contact our representatives when their units or individual soldiers are in need of assistance. But we do not wait to hear from them! Yashar LaChayal representatives are on the move, visiting IDF bases throughout Israel, on the borders and in remote locations, to see what the actual needs of our soldiers are. Once we determine what is lacking, we set out to fill the gap.

CLICK HERE FOR FACEBOOK EVENT

Parshas Nitzavim-Vayelech: The Power to Choose

We all have the freedom to choose how to act. We can choose to do good things or not good things. We can say things to make others smile or to make them cry. We can use our hands to hit or to hug. The choice is up to us.

This is why G-d doesn’t punish and reward us straightaway for the things we do. If He did, we would in effect have no choice. Imagine, if you were immediately struck down with lightening for breaking Shabbat, would you break it? Of course not! G-d wants us to choose to do the things He asks.

But isn’t He asking a bit much of us? After all, 613 commandments sure sounds like a lot. And some of them, like keeping Shabbat, are pretty demanding. But remember – nobody has to keep all of them because not all of them apply to us. Some mitzvot apply only to kings or priests. Some apply only to women and some only to men. There is no person on the planet to whom all of them apply. So perhaps keeping the Torah is not as hard as it seems.

The fact is that G-d created us. He knows what we are capable of. He knows our limitations. There is no mitzvah for us to fly around everywhere because we have no wings. On the other hand, there is a mitzvah not to speak gossip because we have mouths and we can choose what to use them for, even if it is hard!

In this week’s parsha, Moses reminds us that the Torah “is not beyond you nor is it remote from you. It is not in heaven… It is not across the sea…. Rather, it is very close to you, in your mouth, in your heart, that you may do it.”

This coming week, as we sit in the synagogue on Rosh Hashanah this is something we must keep in mind. We can keep the mitzvot, if only we try. We have to stop thinking that things are too big or too much. It is like climbing Mt. Everest. It seems very tall, but if we just take one step at a time, we will find it is far from impossible.

Shabbat Shalom!

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Parshas Ki Savo: Respecting Our Elders

This week, Rebbetzin Rachel was speaking with a 77-year-old woman. This woman is unique in that not only is she a proudly self-proclaimed “older person” but she also works (yes, still works!) with the elderly. She even lives in an independent living facility where, she says, she is further surrounded by “old people.” (Her words, not ours!)

Chances are that few people understand the situation of older people in today’s society than this woman, who lives with them, works with them, and even is one! Sadly, she pointed out that many older people in today’s society feel discarded. Young people, she said, don’t want to hear what the elderly have to say. She said some young people have even told her she and other old people are “always complaining.”

What a stark contrast to Judaism! When Moses tells the Jews about the evil people they will meet in their future, he describes “a brazen people who will not respect the old.” In other parts of the Torah, Jews are instructed to go out of their way to help an older person, even if they are not Jewish. Parshas Kedoshim even tells us specifically to stand when an elderly person (someone above the age of 70) enters the room, even if he/she is not a Torah scholar!

The elderly are a treasure. They have wisdom, insight, and life experiences with which we younger people are not yet endowed. The advice they can give us is invaluable and the stories they can tell us fascinating, and indeed, priceless. To see so many of the elderly treated so poorly in today’s society is heartbreaking.

The good news is, we can each help to change this. Studies show that people live longer, happier, and healthier lives if they are valued by society. If we visit the elderly and show the world our Torah values by honoring them, we can change the world in three fundamental ways: changing the life of the person we are visiting, changing our own life by absorbing their wisdom, and changing the behavior of others by acting as an example and role model.

This week, let us all be true Torah examples of love, respect, and kindness for our elders.

Shabbat Shalom!

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Parshas Ki Seitzei: Biting Off More Than You Can Chew

Often when we get excited about something, we just want to dive right in.  No matter what it is – a project, a resolution – we always want to start out perfect.

The problem is, it is often more than we can handle.  One of the most important keys to making a resolution and sticking to it is to make a resolution you can keep.  It’s all well and good to make a resolution to start exercising by going to the gym three days a week, but if you make a resolution to go to the gym seven days a week, you will soon find it impossible.  While that may be a good resolution for someone who already goes to the gym five days a week, it is not a good resolution for someone who doesn’t exercise at all.  As they say, “baby steps”!

This week’s parsha contains more mitzvot than any other parsha in the Torah – 74 all together!  That’s a lot of mitzvot!  When we look at a list like this, it seems really daunting.  It’s all well and good to resolve to keep all 74 of these mitzvot if you already keep 65 of them, but if most of them are new to you, it’s just not realistic to expect to keep them all.

People often think that Judaism is an all-or-nothing religion.  “Why keep kosher at home if we plan to eat out in non-kosher restaurants?” some people ask us.  The truth is, every mitzvah counts.  If you can start keeping kosher at home, that’s a big mitzvah! Even if you still do eat out.  Eventually, if you keep growing in your relationship with G-d, you will be able to stop eating non-kosher out as well.  It’s not being a hypocrite, as some people might claim. It’s simply taking baby steps!

G-d created us, so G-d knows what we are capable of.  We each have great potential, but we have to build up to reach it.  Just as a skyscraper is not built in a day, nor is a spiritually great person.  And along the way, G-d judges us according to our level.  G-d does not compare you to someone who is “better” than you.  You’re not being measured against Abraham or Moses.  You are being judged in comparison to yourself.

This is an important lesson to remember now that we are in the month of Elul and Rosh Hashana is approaching.  As we stand before G-d for judgment, He is not asking us to beperfect – He is asking us to be better.  Now is the time to ask ourselves, are we better than we were last year? Or are we just the same?  There is still time to make a change, to make a difference, to grow.

And as for all those commandments in this week’s parsha?  The good news is, you probably do most of them anyway! Returning a lost object, helping a neighbor in need, being kind to animals, and speedy burial of the deceased are all things we all (hopefully!) do already.  Rather than feeling overwhelmed, choose just one or two things to improve.  As this parsha reminds us, Miriam was punished for speaking badly about Moses, so too we should each work on not speaking badly of others.  Avoiding speaking and listening to gossip is a fantastic mitzvah we can probably all work on.  Let’s all grow, together!

Shabbat Shalom!

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