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Titolo: Please Tell Me

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                                     B"H
                     Please Tell me What The Rebbe Says
          Based on the teachings and talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe
          Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson on the weekly Torah Portion
                              Adapted for Youth
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                             Tazria-Metzora-Iyar
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                            Tazria-Metzora
Last week's parshah, Shemini, spoke about animals: which animals are
kosher and when animals are considered tameh.
In this week's parshah, Tazria, we learn about people, that a person
can become tameh and that he can make himself tahor again.
But shouldn't the Torah have taught us about the tumah and taharah of
people before it teaches us about the animals?
The Midrash discusses this question.
One of our sages, Rabbi Simlai says: "Just as man was created after
the animals, so his laws of tumah and taharah come after the laws
about animals." (Rashi, beginning of Tazria.)
Why was man created after the animals? So that if he doesn't follow
HaShem's will, he is reminded how unimportant he is, that even a tiny
mosquito was created before him.
The Alter Rebbe explains that a person can be considered lower than a
mosquito because he can decide to do something which HaShem doesn't
want. A mosquito, and all the other animals don't have a yetzer hora
that tries to pull them away from HaShem's will. This is why the Torah
teaches us the laws of the tumah and taharah of people after the laws
about animals.
Being tameh means being less connected to HaShem. To reconnect himself
and become tahor, a person has to work hard, because he was created
with a yetzer hora.
We usually study things starting from the easier level to the harder.
Since animals don't have a yetzer hora, their laws of tumah and
taharah come first. People have to put in much more effort to
reconnect themselves to HaShem, because they have their yetzer hora
to deal with. So the laws of tumah and taharah of people come
afterwards.
Rabbi Simlai actually saw this as a compliment to man. He said: "True,
Man was created after the animals because of his yetzer hora and his
laws of tumah and taharah are more difficult. But when he works at it
and puts in effort, he can connect himself closely with HaShem and
uplift himself much higher than all the rest of creation."
       (Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, Vol.  VII, Parshas Tazria)
                             ------------
                                Tazria
Everyone was shaking Uncle Shmuel's hand and wishing him: "Mazel Tov!
Mazel Tov!" Avromie was also excited about his new cousin's bris, but
he kept thinking about the tiny baby's crying.
"Don't worry about little Meir," Avromie's father calmed him. "He's
fine. Just look at him, he's sleeping peacefully now. He even looks
like he's smiling in his sleep!"
"I'm not worried, Tatti," replied Avromie. "I was just wondering why
HaShem commanded us to have a bris when we're so tiny - only eight
days old."
"There is something very special about the number eight...," his
father began to explain.
"I know!" interrupted Avromie. "We learned about eight last week in
Parshas Shemini. The number seven is a symbol of natural things - like
the seven days in a week. The number eight is a symbol of things which
are higher than nature."
"Good for you, my little Talmid Chochom," his father complimented him.
"And by the way, speaking about the parshah, isn't it interesting that
your cousin Meir's bris is taking place during the week in which we
read: 'And on the eighth day you shall circumcise....' "
"But still, Tatti, why do we have to have the bris when the baby is so
tiny? He doesn't even understand anything. Couldn't we have it when
he's eight years old? It would still be connected with the special
number eight."
"Actually, Avromie, being eight days old and not understanding much is
exactly what the bris is all about."
"What do you mean, Tatti?"
"The bris between HaShem and the Jewish people involves a very deep
connection. Our link to HaShem does not depend on what we understand
or feel. It comes from our neshamah, which is far above our
understanding. Even though there are many things about HaShem that we
don't understand, we trust in Him and follow His laws.
"And our connection to HaShem is not just something spiritual; it is a
real part of our everyday lives. And so we make a bris with HaShem in
our actual flesh. Do you know who was the first Jew to have a bris
when he was eight days old?"
"Yitzchak," Avromie answered.
"Good," his father replied. "But Yishmael claimed that he was greater
than Yitzchak because he had a bris when he was 13 years old. 'I
understood what I was doing and I still agreed to have a bris, while
you were only a baby,' Yishmael bragged to Yitzchak.
"Yishmael was wrong. Our connection with HaShem is far above
understanding, and that is why Yitzchak's bris - and little Meir's and
every Jew's - should be performed when he's eight days old."
            (Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, Vol. I, p. 19ff)
                                -------
                                Metzora
Avromi took a deep breath as he and Yankie passed by the matzah bakery
on the way to school. "Aahh!" exclaimed Avromi, "I can't wait to eat
that crispy, delicious matzah at the seder."
                            *   *   *
There's a lot more to matzah than its crunchy taste.
Our sages call it the bread of belief and tell us that in the merit of
the Jewish people's belief in HaShem, they were redeemed from Egypt.
What is so special about the Jewish people's belief in HaShem?  After
all, many people all over the world throughout the generations have
believed in HaShem. Yet our belief is different.
What makes many people believe?
A person looks around and sees a world made up of billions of details,
all existing according to many sets of rules.
"This could not have come to be all be itself," he thinks.  "There
must be a Creator who makes it all happen. I wonder how big, strong,
wonderful and powerful this Creator is," he asks himself.  "He must be
bigger and more powerful than nature itself," he decides.
But our belief is different.
We do not look at the world and decide that there must be a Creator.
We know that HaShem has always been there, even before the world ever
existed. It's not nature that teaches us to believe in HaShem; we know
that He is way above nature, and we rely on Him and trust Him at all
times.
For example, if we would ask a farmer who is planting seeds in the
ground: Why are you doing that? You are taking a perfectly good kernel
which can be eaten as food for animals or people and you are burying
it beneath the ground!
The farmer would smile and explain: "This is the way nature works.
When seeds are put in the ground, we can count on them to grow."
Yet the Talmud tells us that a Jew puts his trust in HaShem and plants
his field. A Jew doesn't rely on nature alone. He relies on HaShem. He
plants his seeds and believes that HaShem will make them grow.
And what might that farmer think when the rules of nature suddenly
change and supernatural things happen? He may then begin to believe in
a Creator who is greater than nature. But he may also try to explain
that the supernatural things that happen are not really so
supernatural; they may be just nature doing something unexpected.
Afterall, it is hard for a person who is used to following nature to
stop and start thinking about something higher than nature.
This is what happened when the great miracle of Kerias Yam Suf
(Splitting of the Sea of Reeds) took place.
Not only the Sea of Reeds, but all the bodies of water in the world
also split. When the nations saw this, they asked what was happening
and they were told about Kerias Yam Suf. They were amazed and became
fearful of the Jewish people.
But soon some people had different ideas. "Wait a minute," they said.
"We heard that all over the world, waters split. Then this is not a
sign of some great Creator doing supernatural things for His chosen
people. It's just a strange natural event taking place."
A Jew will not make this mistake. He believes that HaShem is way above
nature. HaShem made the rules of nature and He changes them as He sees
fit.
A Jew's trust in HaShem is the same for both the natural and
supernatural things. Everything - the natural and supernatural -
all comes from HaShem.
This is hinted at in this week's parshah - Metzora.
A person who spoke lashon hora suddenly saw blotches of white -
tzoraas on the walls of his house, then on his clothes, and then on
his skin.
Tzoraas is clearly supernatural - a message from HaShem that the
metzora must mend his ways.
Just as tzoraas came clearly from HaShem, so a Jew believes that
everything - the supernatural and natural - all come from HaShem.
        (Adapted from Likkutei Sichos vol. I, pg. 239 ff)
                              -----------
                            Tazria-Metzora
Do you get goose pimples when you are scared, or a nervous stomach
when you are excited? Isn't that strange? After all, it's your mind
and heart that feel excitement or fear. Why do your hands and stomach
react in this way?
HaShem created our bodies to be sensitive and to react to the things
which we think and feel.
The Torah tells us that there was a time when people were so
sensitive, that they could actually see a change on their skin because
of something they said. When a person would speak bad things (lashon
horah) about other people over and over again, blotches of discolored
skin, tzoraas, would appear on his body.
The Torah calls this person a metzora. Metzora is short for motzi shem
ra - saying bad things about someone else.
Tzoraas is a type of tumah, impurity, from which the metzora had to
purify himself. If a person discovered it on his body, he had to leave
the entire camp of the Jewish people and follow the Torah's
instructions for purifying himself. Since he separated one Jew from
another, therefore, the Torah tells him that he must stay away from
the rest of the people until he becomes purified.
If the metzora has to stay alone, away from everyone else, who is
going to help him become pure? A kohen.
Kohanim are kind and loving ahavas Yisrael Jews. Listen carefully to
Birkas Kohanim - the Priestly Blessing - in shul. The kohanim say:
"Baruch Atah HaShem...who has commanded us to bless His nation,
Israel, with love."
The metzora did not show Ahavas Yisrael when he spoke badly of others.
He needs to be shown the right way to act - and kohanim, with their
strong love for their fellow Jews, can do this job best. Because he
cares for another Jew, even a metzora, the kohen goes out from the
Beis HaMikdash, the holiest place in the world. He walks to the
outskirts of the city, to the place where the metzora is staying, to
help him become pure and come back to his community with more ahavas
Yisrael than he had before.
           (Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 27, p. 88ff)
                              -----------
                                Metzora
Does the name of this parshah surprise you? After all, a metzora is
someone who speaks lashon hora and has to be separated from the rest
of the Jewish people. Shouldn't the name of every parshah in the Torah
be connected with something good and positive?
The parshah begins Zos t'hiyeh toras hametzora - "This will be the law
for the metzora." Like many other parshiyos, the name was taken from
the first words. But long ago, our Rabbis called this parshah, Zos
Tihiyeh and not Metzora.
Why was its name changed? And why was it changed to Metzora, which
stresses wrongdoing much more than do the words zos tihiyeh?
Looking into some of the laws about a metzora will help us answer
these questions.
The Torah tells us V'huvah el hakohain, that the metzora should be
brought to the kohain. Don't the words "should be brought" sound like
the metzora has to be taken to the kohain, instead of going eagerly on
his own? From these words, it seems as if the metzora is not
interested in doing teshuvah or purifying himself!
This can happen. The metzora may not even realize that he has caused
arguments and a lack of Achdus because of the lashon hora he spoke. He
may not feel that he has a lot to do teshuvah for.
HaShem is kind and patient. He commands the metzora to live alone, in
a place where he will think about what he has done. Being alone causes
feelings of teshuvah to grow in the metzora's heart. These feelings
come from HaShem, who helps all of us turn to Him in teshuvah.
So at first, it's as if the metzora is being brought to the kohain,
because his feelings of teshuvah come from outside, and not from deep
inside himself.
Afterwards, the Torah tells us V'yatzah hakohain el m'chutz lamachaneh
- "and the kohain will go outside the camp," to the metzora. By now,
the metzora has been working on himself. His teshuvah is coming from
within, and he is worthy that the kohain should come to him.
Now we can read the first words of the parshah with a deeper
understanding.
Zos tihiyeh - it will yet happen that, toras hametzora - the metzora
himself will turn to Torah.
In the past, the parshah was called Zos tihiyeh - "This will be,"
meaning that it will happen in the future. But as the years passed,
and the Jews came closer to the geulah, they began to call the
parshah, Metzora. Since we are in the time just before Mashiach, we
can already sense the change that will take place - when even a
metzora will be able to "become Torah."
          (Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, Vol. VII, p. 100ff)
                             ------------
                                 Iyar
After the fourth grade finished their Rosh Chodesh davening, their
teacher, Rabbi Goldman, told the class: "Today is the first day of
the month of Iyar. There is something very special and different about
this month. Does anyone know what I mean?" Many hands were raised.
"We celebrate Lag BaOmer in Iyar" said Itzy. It's different from the
other holidays of the year."
"And we have Pesach Sheni," added Yonah. "There is no other holiday
when we are given a second chance to fulfill its mitzvah."
Rabbi Goldman shook his head. "True, Lag BaOmer and Pesach Sheni are
special days, but there are important holidays and fasts in many other
months as well. I am thinking of something which makes every single
day of the month of Iyar different."
The class was thinking quietly when Benny suddenly called out, "Oh!
I get it."
All the boys turned towards Benny as he pointed to the chart on the
classroom wall. "We have a mitzvah every single day of this month,
sefiras haomer. Every night, we recite the berachah and count the
omer."
"But we count the omer during the months of Nissan and Sivan too,"
argued Leibel.
"There's a difference," insisted Benny. "We count the omer only on
some of the days of those months. In Iyar we count the omer every
single day of the month."
"Good thinking, Benny," Rabbi Goldman complimented him. "And besides
counting there is something else we are working on every day of this
month. The Hebrew word sefirah also means "shining." During every day
of the Counting of the Omer, we should try to make our middos shine."
           (Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, Vol. I, p. 263ff)
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          End of text - Please Tell Me - Tazria-Metzora-Iyar
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Please Tell me What The Rebbe Says
(Snip)
Molto interessante, ma non sarebbe stato piu' adatto
a it.cultura.ebraica che e' nato da poco?
P.S. Io i.c.e. l'ho visitato, credo che ogni tanto
un contributino ce lo lascero'.
P.P.S. Le espressioni da te riportate sono in ebraico, in yiddish,
o parte in ebraico e parte in yiddish?
Andrea
salo...@mediacomm.it
"Io parlo diciassette lingue... Tutte in yiddish!"
(Moni Ovadia)