Many late nights after an exhausting evening shift at the hospital, I have re-centered myself with your shiurim. It is a constant wonder and delight to have your resources "on tap" while taking a bus to Jerusalem, or just washing the dishes at home. All these things are a blessing, but I have still more for which to thank you.

Na'aleh was a true source of support for me during recent visits to the US. I converted to Judaism over 25 years ago, and my non-Jewish, but supportive, family live in the States. I grew up in the American South, in a place where there were scarcely any Jews at all, let alone observant ones, yet from an early age, I found myself falling in love with Judaism from afar, mostly by way of books. I grew up, I made contact with Orthodox Jews, I went through two conversions. Eventually I came to Israel for a year to study, and just never left. It was as though a Tolkien buff had spent years reading stories and suddenly found herself in Middle Earth. Now my life is here, and for my own family and children, Israel is home.

Over the last few years, I have made several trips back to visit my mother ah"s, during her long illness. It was a daunting prospect to have to deal with such a personal and spiritual challenge without my usual sources of family and community support. Naaleh was my oasis in the midbar during many of those days and nights - a constant source of the truest kind of refreshment and reassurance when I was far from Jerusalem. You made it possible for me to bring the Torah with me wherever I went.

Chana Siegel

Some food products in Israel carry the mark "Kosher Dairy (Gentile powdered milk)" (אבקת חלב נוכרי). This means that the kashruth supervisor of the factory that produces this food considers it kosher, but duly warns practicing Jews who adopted stricter dietary laws for themselves and don't eat powdered milk which was prepared by non-Jews. Most secular Israelis hardly know what it means—if they notice it at all—, and some laugh at it, but for some religious Israelis it is quite important. Some practicing kosher Jews are not strict, others adopt strictures for themselves.

Now this came to music, too. Some religious Jews avoid listening to the singing of women, because it is considered non-modest, due to the saying from the Talmud "a voice in a women is shame" (Brachot 24). Rabbis argue about the meaning of it. A tiny minority are so strict that they completely forbid listening to a woman's voice (except one's own wife). Many forbid listening to a woman's singing; some of them argue that listening to recorded woman's singing is allowed. Some rabbis allow listening to a woman singing as long as the woman and the song are modest.

This is the first time that i saw a CD marked this way. It was sold by a vendor of Jewish traditional music in Jerusalem, who added the sticker himself, knowing that some of his customers may dislike woman singing.

It is good that it is done voluntarily. I hope that the kashruth of music won't become obnoxious, corrupt and commercialized, like that of food.

Parshas vz’os HaBracha is Moshes last wordsa to the nation before he dies. As he is preparing to climb Har Nabo, view the land, and never return, he blesses the nation, a final parting. In this blessing we see a call for unity- a call where he calls of all Bnei Yisrael as one, an unified whole regardless of whether the person can trace their lineage back to Avraham Avinu, or is a convert.

How often do we see the lie being spread that Jews do not accept converts? Or that converts are second class citizens in Judaism? And how often are these lies used by the anti-Semites to fuel this hatred in an attempt to caste Judaism in a racist light? So- how does this week’s parsha counter this lie?

Rught at the start of the blessing Moshe starts ff by recounting how God descended from Har Sinai, light shining from Seir and Paran, surrounded by the myriads of the hosts of Shamayim, to give Moshe the Torah. Then Moshe recounts how the nation took on the Torah, despite the difficulties and stated “Torah tsivah-lanu Moshe morashah kehilat Ya'akov”- “The Torah was commanded to us by Moshe, an eternal heritage for the congregation of Yaakov’

So- what is this start of the blessing telling us? Firstly, here the Torah is alluding to what we have in the midrash, that first Gog offered the Torah to all the nations of the world so they would not in the future be able to say they were denied the opportunity. Where do we see this? The light from Paran alludes to God offering the Torah to the descendants of Esav that lived there, the light from Seir alluding to the descendants of Ishmael- the other nations are not directly alluded to here, but the Midrash makes it clear that it was offered to them too.

However, none of this has anything to do with the singularity of the nation- of the Jewish people, regardless of their ancestry, being a single, equal whole- denying none who come into Judaism. Actually- it does. The last sentence I quoted above shows this singularity- this unification and the rejection of the lies of the anti-Semities. Where? In the phrase “Kehillat Ya’akov”- the Congreagation of Yaakov. This phrase is specific- it addresses all Jews- not just those whose mother’s were Jewish and can trace their descendants back to Avraham. How do we know this- by the term CONGREGATION. If it was meant to exclude those who had converted, the more restrictive term of Bnei Yisrael- the children of Israel could have been used, or even Bnei Ya’akov, the children of Yaakov (this would fit the theme of the blessing very well as the blessings to each of the tribes parallel the blessings given by Yaakov to his sons before his death).

So, as Moshe is dying, in his final blessing, he addresses all Jews- from those who were descended from Yaakov and his family that had descended to Egypt, to those that had converted and joined with them when they left Egypt. He addresses them all- including those outside of the tribes in the blessings of the land of the tribe with whom they would dwell- for they, too, would benefit from those blessings.

So, the next time you hear someone trying to claim that converts are not allowed, or are lesser jews than those born Jewish- just remember the phrase uttered by many a three year old at their upshiernes as their verse of Torah “Torah tsivah-lanu Moshe morashah kehilat Ya'akov.”

After Yom Kippur, when we ask for forgiveness, we can see ourselves as righteous. Shouldn't that be celebrated with a feast of happiness? "Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." (Psalm 97:11). The basic commandment of Sukkot is in Leviticus 23:39-43:

"Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God."

So, the feasts of the fall are all celebrations of the future - Rosh haShana - the feast of trumpets. The day of the return of Jesus. Yom Kippur, day of atonement - Judgement day, and finally Sukkot - when we sit with the Lord in his kingdom. Sukkot is also one of the three feasts of pilgrimage to the temple. It closes a circle that way. Sukkot - birth of Jesus. Passover - death on the cross. Shavuot - Holy Spirit, and finally Sukkot again - kingdom of heaven.

Agriculturally it's the feast of the fruit harvest. The harvest of the firstborn fruits. Firstborn fruit. Also a picture of the Messiah.

So why do we need to have this Sukka? First of all, the obvious, written answer - because we dwelled in sukkot in the desert. It's related to the Exodus. It's about trusting God to lead us to where we need to be. It's about God with us. Imanuel. It's in the fall, when it starts to get chilly outside. We're thrown outside by God at the time of the year when it's starting to be cold. Because we shall do it for the mitsva's and the tradition's sake, not because it's pleasant. It's about remembering that God is in charge, and we need to trust him to lead us right. It's a temporary building to remind us that our life is a short temporary time. It's also about the Messiah who took his temporary dwelling among us. Yeshua was, with a little New Testament math, probably born on Sukkot. He was born in a Sukka.

Also, the Sukka is the only mitsva that you have all around you. When you enter a sukka on sukkot, you're inside the mitsva. It's like a divine hug. This symbol of Yeshua our Messiah - all around us. For seven days.

There's also the ushpizin - we have make believe guests every day of the sukkot week. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Josef, Moses, Aaron, and David. What do they all have in common? They all lived like nomads at some point in their life (or their entire life). This ushpizin gets its final climax in the Messiah who travelled all over Israel to preach and teach. This could explain Peter's reaction when he saw Jesus together with Moses and Elijah - he wanted to build a sukka, one for each. Did that happen at sukkot...?

Sukkot is the holiday of the holidays. Whenever the bible states "the holiday" without saying which, it is Sukkot. It's harder to relate to it than to Passover as we don't have a specific historic occurence to tie to it. Because it's tied more to the future. But we can still relate to the birth of the Messiah which was in the past, we can look forward to what God has promised us in the future, and we can look around us in the present and see that we are not nomads, we have a pretty good life. It could be much worse. We can see that we are dependent on God and vulnerable to the environment. Back then, the wheather. Nowadays to the USA stock market. We are never protected. We always need God. And as a people that has lived as nomads for so long, it is good to remember.

If I can finish this with a zionistic tone, I also wish to state that we will live in our sukkas for seven days. And then go back to our real houses. It is to remember, it is not for real. For we are no longer nomads. We are Home. We are in Israel. And we will never ever ever be moved again. The USA can make up as many road maps they want, and they can make up plans to steal our land to create a 23rd arab country as much as they want. We will not move. If God is with us, who can go against us?

"For the sin we have committed before you in throwing off the yolk."

I never really thought about this line so much in the past - I had always focused on more specific things that I could think of in very practical terms.

What does it mean to throw off the yolk? It means we have shirked responsibility. It means that we had a duty to do something, and we neglected it.

I began to think about some of the major problems facing the world - genocide in Darfur, man-made global climate change, terrorism, hunger, natural disasters - and the list simply didn't stop.

I started thinking nationally to both America and Israel, wondering what I should be doing to influence the outcome of the upcoming election, and what I could do to work towards peace for Israel and her neighbors.

I thought locally about the community I lived in, and the people who I saw every day who might be in need of help or assistence in some way - my synagogue, my neighbors, my friends and family.

That's not a yolk, that's hundreds of yolks! Do we really need forgiveness for not solving every woe in this world? Who is not guilty of throwing of one of these countless yolks?

"It's not possible to do everything," I told myself, but it's imperative that I do something. Throwing off the yolk is unacceptable. We don't need to carry every yolk, but we need to be thinking about what need there is out there in the world, and how we can best fill it.

Shana Tova.

Be careful about taking the bible/torah/koran out of context to beat each other with.  Be careful that you do not become a judger of others and their lives.  Instead focus on their messages of hope, love, brotherhood towards all that these books were meant to give us all.  By you condemning others with these books you achieve two things:  You condemn yourself, and you do God a disservice by turning them away from his word.

Remember we can take any book and place our own human meanings into it any way we can imagine.  We can twist its words.  We would be much better to focus on our own sins than point out the sins of our brothers and sisters.  Change starts with you.  You only control YOU.

via Day of Atonement celebrated in Q-C / QCTimes.com.

Adults of the Tri-City Jewish Center, Rock Island, took turns holding the ornate Torah scrolls as the Yom Kippur evening service began Wednesday evening.

Rabbi Michael Samuel chanted the Kol Nidre prayer that marks the beginning of the day-long journey through the Jewish Day of Atonement. Many fast, refrain from work and attend services during this time.

“There is a time of the year when the soul needs purification,” Samuel said.

The words of the Kol Nidre echo back to the Spanish Inquisition, Samuel said, which was officially enacted in the 1400s to expel or force Jews to convert to Christianity.

“Many chose to remain behind and converted to Christianity but they continued to gather to make a promise to God. We didn’t intend to convert to Christianity,” Samuel said.

The five Torah scrolls at Davenport’s Temple Emanuel are covered in white to symbolize purity. Member Joanne Satin created the coverings in memory of her husband, Rabbi Henry Karp.

People ages 13 and older go without food and water during Yom Kippur.

“When I go to temple, I don’t find fasting hard to do. If I was at home I think I would find it harder to do. It’s only one day,” said Sheryl Hassell-Bennett, a member of Temple Emanuel.

Jews will welcome the next festival, Sukkot, or thanksgiving, at sunset Monday.

The Feasts of Israel, set by God, are not only commemorative in a historical context, but are also prophetic.

The first three feasts in the 1st month point to the Messiah's First Coming; the last three feasts in the 7th month, to His Second Coming. The middle feast highlights the Church, in more ways than is generally recognized.

The Fall Feasts: Yom Kippur

from the October 07, 2008 eNews issue, by Chuck and Nan Missler
http://www.khouse.org (visit our website for a FREE subscription)

Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, is perhaps the most important holiday of the Jewish year. Yom Kippur is observed on the 10th of Tishri. This year Yom Kippur will begin at sunset on October 8th and end at nightfall on October 9th. Yom Kippur is considered the holiest and most solemn day of the year. It is a day of repentance and reconciliation. Yom Kippur is a Sabbath day. Therefore most Jews refrain from working and will attend synagogue services. It is also traditionally a day of fasting.

It was on this day - the only day - that the High Priest was able to enter the Holy of Holies, and then only after elaborate ceremonial washings, offerings, and associated rituals. This was also the day that two goats were selected, one for an offering and one as the "scapegoat." As many aspects of the feasts were prophetic, the scapegoat is also Messianic. The ceremonial acts that were to be carried out by the High Priest on Yom Kippur are described in Leviticus 16 (see also Exodus 30:10; Leviticus 23:27-31, 25:9; Numbers 29:7-11). Since the loss of the Temple in 70 A.D., the God-centered observances of the Torah have tragically been replaced with a man-centered, good works system of appeasement through prayer, charity, and penitence.

Yom Kippur traditionally ends with one long note of the Shofar, a musical instrument usually made from a ram's horn. The significance of the ram's horn is traditionally rooted in Genesis 22. Here God commands Abraham "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." Abraham is called upon by God to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, as a test of his faith. After God halts the sacrifice at the last minute, Abraham spies a ram trapped by his horns in a nearby thicket and offers the animal instead as a sacrifice.

It is interesting to note that this is the first instance in which the word "love" appears in Scripture. God commands Abraham to sacrifice "thine only son Issac, whom thou lovest."  In this passage Issac is identified as Abraham's only son, but what about Ishmael? If you examine this passage of scripture in detail it becomes clear that Abraham was acting out prophecy. This strange event was a foreshadowing of Christ's death on the cross as a substitutionary offering for our sins. In fact, it may have even taken place at the very same spot where the "only begotten Son" of God was later crucified.

Woven throughout the Old Testament feasts is the foreshadowing of God’s plan for the redemption of mankind. Those of us who have placed our trust in Jesus Christ are able to enter behind the veil and stand in the Holy of Holies. We have forgiveness because of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Please take a moment during this most holy of days to reflect on all of these things and to repent of any unconfessed sin in your life.

For more information about the Feasts of Israel and other important topics please visit Koinonia House Online.

By Yaffi Spodek

Issue of Oct. 10, 2008

The JCC of the Greater Five Towns has joined with the Ohel Bais Ezra Lifetime Care Foundation to offer a program called Project CHINUCH –– Children Need Chizuk. Funded by a grant from the Caring Commission of the UJA Federation, the new initiative provides the services of a certified social worker one day a week in several yeshivas and day schools in the Five Towns, to help children face emotional and personal challenges stemming from academic demands, peer conflicts and family dynamics.

“Kids are under a lot of pressure and it becomes overwhelming for them at times,” explained Howard Foster, the JCC’s assistant executive director, who is helping to coordinate the program. “Kids can have difficulties moving forward and this puts an extra professional in the schools to help them navigate these challenges.”
The seven participating schools include Bnos Bais Yaakov, Brandeis, DRS, SKA, HAFTR, HANC and Darchei Torah. Ohel’s Judy Hulkower, LCSW, will work from students from Bnos Bais Yaakov and SKA, and Dov Wilkes, LCSW, will visit the remaining five schools one day each week.

“Though each school has their own guidance department, our social workers are there to supplement a very strong need,” said Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, LCSW-R, Ohel’s director of community health services. “Our workers try to focus on social skill-building, relationships and positive images.”

“In addition to what the schools already offer in terms of guidance, the students will benefit from having another person to go to,” Foster elaborated. “The social worker will go on the same day every week to the same school, so there will be a sense of continuity with the school, teachers, guidance counselors and students.”

Project CHINUCH, which began in September, also plans to conduct three educational workshops over the coming months, which will be open to parents and the entire community. With the help of guidance counselors, administrators, students and parents, the social workers will identify and discuss the most pressing issues at each school and address them accordingly.

“We’ve worked together with Ohel in the past and this seemed like another perfect opportunity, so we came together again,” Foster added.

By Rabbi Avi Billet

Issue of Oct. 10, 2008

It is a bit of a challenge to reflect on Yom Kippur before it happens. This issue of The Jewish Star went to press before Yom Kippur, but may reach readers’ hands after the chag.

Perhaps this is merely a reflection of what the day is supposed to be for us. During the Ten Days of Repentance, as we do our introspection and make our promises and resolutions for the coming year (not the ones we annul at Kol Nidrei and in hatarat nedarim), we may even pause to reflect over the waiting period between the Day of Judgment that is Rosh Hashana, and the Day of Atonement that is Yom Kippur. Have we been judged favorably? Will we be sealed for another year of life?

For a long time I have been challenged by the 2.7 percent chance people have to pass away during this ten-day period. Those who die in this one thirty-sixth of the year — when was their sentence written? When was the judgment concluded? A few days ago, or one year ago?

In truth, there is no way we could really know. I like to think that their judgment was issued a year ago, when G-d declared, “This will be your last year, but it will be the longest ‘last year’ you can possibly have.”
In a sense, Ha’azinu confirms the best of the worst and the best of the best for the Jewish people, while it concludes with a very personal account of what G-d will wreak on non-believers and enemies of G-d’s people.

Some sample snippets, beginning with 32:36: “G-d will then take up the cause of His people, and comfort His servants...[G-d] will then say: Where is their god, the power in which [non-believers] trusted?...But now see! It is I! I am the [only] One! There are no [other] gods with Me! I kill and give life! ...I am Life forever...I will bring vengeance against My foes, and repay those who hated Me... Let the tribes of His nation sing praise, for He will avenge His servants’ blood. He will bring vengeance upon His foes, and reconcile His people [to] His land.”

This is not a “politically correct” speech, of course, but as G-d is not running for election, He can say what He wants.

Then, in 32:45, we read “When Moshe had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, ‘Pay close attention to all the words through which I warn you today, so that you will be able to instruct your children to keep all the words of this Torah carefully. It is not an empty teaching for you. It is your life, and with it you will long endure on the land which you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.’”

On this last verse, Rashi (32:47) has a very important comment. He says the Torah is not a volunteer system. There is reward to be given to those who follow it. Furthermore, he says, there is no such thing as a pointless verse in the Torah from which you cannot learn profound lessons. Even the identity of Timna in Bereishit 36 is used to show how much people wanted to marry into Abraham’s family.

Chizkuni also has a profound comment. Torah study should never be viewed as a useless and worthless pursuit. If we don’t study it, we won’t know what is a transgression and a culpable punishment, and what is a mitzvah (commandment) which merits great reward.

If my assessment of those who pass away between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is on target (who will prove my theory wrong?), then a lot of credit goes to the 2.7 percent of people who pass away in this period. They were extraordinary, remarkable Jews.

But the parsha gives us the ingredients to become extraordinary, remarkable Jews ourselves. We must become Jewishly literate. We can never stop and be satisfied with what we knew in high school or even with what we’ve learned up until now.

Some people are happy if their children know more than they know. But this is one New Year’s resolution that must be renewed year after year because the previous sentence is wrong. With so many books in print, in Hebrew and in English, there is no excuse for any Jew not to seek more knowledge.

Devarim 30:14 states: “It is something that is very close to you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may do it.” A Hassidic teaching on this verse explains, “It is close to you. You say (in your mouth) you want to do it. You feel (in your heart) that you want to do it. Well, now it’s time to put up. Go do it!”

Avi Billet welcomes your comments and thoughts. avbillet@gmail.com.