Prague

Hey! So today is Friday which means its time for a dvar torah and then some pictures from Prague..


This Weeks parsha is Ki Teitzei- "When you go out". We are currently in the month of ELUL- acronym for ani ldodi vdodi li which means-  Mine is the beloved and my beloved is for me. The first two words of the parsha are ki teitzei means when you go out and first two letters- ani ldodi- i am for my beloved. This relates about going out of yourself and being for the other,  being for Gd and working on your avoda, and being ofr another person. 

What is the key to happiness? The people who are looking for happiness all hte time are the people who are furthest way from happiness- they are so focused on finding that one thing they are losing sight of everything else that is around them. The key is to GO OUT WITH JOY. It is a difficult thing to do, but wherever youre going or what you are doing, you can have a purpose doing it.  What can you do and be helpful over here, or how can you change someone's day? That is a way of looking at what you can give and do to help get out of yourself. If we do this successfully, we can eventually merit to bring moshiach, in our days iyH!! 

Have a beautiful Shabbos!!! 

--Dvar brought to you by Mayanot Moment by Rabbi Glass.

Here are pictures from yesterday and today. A big thank you to Tori and Katie for hosting me all week!!! Today we went around the Jewish quarter and went inside a bunch of the shuls. They were stunning inside filled with stained glass and designs and HUGE. I couldnt take any photos inside, but there are a few from the outside. 

In front of the philharmonic

Crossclub- where it all happens

a market that has been around since the 14th century!

A sort of atomic clock

an old shul

view of Prague

Largest metronome in the world!!

Katie and me

Parshas Shoftim

Good Shabbos everyone =) this will be my last post in the states for a while b"H =) Sunday I am starting my adventure for the year. I'm taking off two semesters at NYU and traveling and studying in the seminary Mayanot in Jerusalem. I'm going to try to update this blog once a week with the parsha and iyH another post a week updating all my friends and family about what I'm doing in Israel. Stay posted and thanks for following!

Chabad house of Yorba Linda! 

This weeks parsha is Shoftim and it begins with laws of the administration of justice.

"Judges and justices of office you shall appoint to you all your gates"
the world could not endure without justice. We need it to keep things in order and people at peace and happy. It is a mitzvah for the jewish people but also it is part of the Noahide code wich apply to all mankind. To do righteous and justice is even more acceptable to G-d than sacrifice.

There must be law and order in society if man is going to survive. all disputes should be settled by wise honest judges. However, this doesnt mean we should always run to court and initiate litigations.

"judges and officers you shall appoint to you" to and for yourself. judge yourself. search your heart and concsious before you run to court. In the Gamara it states  "settlement by arbitration is a meritorious act" it promotes peace and harmony and is 'charitable justice'

'Yeshua halevi states that "in all your gates'  in literal sense of cities but also in a figurative sense which applies to every individual. Our sages refer to our eyes ears and mouth nostrils as the 7 gates of the soul. all the orifices of the human body are referred to as gates. This parsha cautions us that it means to you- to you personally, our personal gates. We should sit in judgement of what comes into us and ensure that they remain pure. Just as they are the entry for sin and transgression, they can be the gates for holiness. When we practice honest justice and righteousness with ourselves, we avoid the need and unpleasantness of litigation with others which promotes a love for one another. We can all strive for a stronger ahvas yisroel which will help us eventually merit to bring moshiach.

May we all filter in holiness and bring Moshiach now

Good shabbos!

--This week's dvar is based off Rabbi Immanuel Schochet on chabad.org

My next post will be in Prague iyH and from then on in ERETZ YISRAEL!!!!

Re'eh

 This weeks Parsha goes over the kashrus of different animals. Hashhem gives us signs of whether or not an animal is kosher- split hooves and chews its cud are common examples. Now there is a question whether these animal characteristics are actually just signs and it shows if the actual animal is kosher, or whether these features is what makes the animal kosher. Is the fact that it has split hooves shows us it is kosher...or is it the split hooves itself that makes it kosher? The answer is important is what if an animal has some kind of defect, and its hooves arent split, or arent split all the way....or if it has another feature that would deem it unfit for a Jewish person to consume. Or the other way around, what if an unkosher animal randomly had features that would make it kosher?? Are these features merely signs or the actual intrinsic reason they are kosher

According to halacha, if an animal has some sort of feature that would make it seem unkosher, but its mother and species have that characteristic, then the animal is kosher to eat. So this means that these signs act as arrows pointing to what we need to look at to know that it is kosher or not.

However, even though these features arent the actual reason they are kosher but are signs to tell us the animal is kosher, we can still learn from these signs. Each feature has a reason and lesson we can learn from but I'm going to go into one of them

We can only eat from animals that have a split hoof. Why is that? A hoof is different than a paw in that it is elevated off the ground. The paw is in a very close and intimate state to the ground, into this lowly world.The hoof proves a point just how we are here in the earth but the way we interact with it is that we need to make sure we stay in an elevated state. We have a mission here and we can't get stuck in only the gashmius of the world. Secondly, it is split. This shows us that while we are elevated, we are still in this world and we should sue our elevated state to elevate the world around us. We should go into the world and spread kedusha instead of just staying in a secluded circle. Lastly, with the hoof being split, there is a right and left side. this demonstrates the love and fear we feel of Gd through our emotions and work. Everyone has a natural tendency towards either love or fear in their avoda and one or the other usually comes easier. The equally split hoof shows that even if one comes easier, we need to work on our avoda of both love and fear even if one doesnt come as easy. Avraham's hardest test was to sacrifice his son, which is a test of fear. His other ones were involved with love of Hashem, so they came easier and almost naturally to him. We need to work on our avoda as a whole with what comes easy and what not so easy.

With the hardships in Israel, hurricanes, and earthquakes, Hashem is telling us Moshiach is almost here, we just need to work on both love and fear and ahavas yisrael to show we are ready and merit to bring the geula!

Good Shabbos!!! =)


for a real live deer chewing its cud...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL_bGZSg634

Today is my last day at my internship! I had such good experiences at Secret Road and am going to miss it! I learned about music placement in film and TV and heard great music from awesome artists like Ingrid Michaelson, Meiko, Andy Grammer, Brett Dennen, and Civil Wars. Off to more and new adventures in the music industry…


Parshas Vaetchanan
In this parsha we have one of the most basic pesukim in the whole torah (we say it in aleinu)  “You should know today and you shall return it to your heart, that in the heavens above and the earth below there is nothing but Gd.” This verse shows the concept of the unity of Gd. It shows us how Gd wants us to LIVE with this thought. It starts in the intellect but shouldnt stay there but rather comes down into your heart and affects your emotions.
There is a story about Chasidm farbrenging and they had this discussion…each chasid had his own interpretation for what the verse meant
1. “You should KNOW today”. this emphasizes and the clarity just like how you have the clarity that it is day right now.
“That YOU should know.” He stressed that it was you and not about someone else knowing, its about how you internalize it.
“You should know TODAY” and not tomorrow- if you want to start something you should start today and not push it off till tomorrow.
We need and can learn from all these of these chasidim. In order to actually internalize something and take it from intellect and into our hearts, we need these 3 steps. One we need clarity and have it clear as day. Then we need to internalize this clarity and break it down and understand it and work it out- which will ultimately bring us to the third which is the present and action upon our knowledge.
once we can do that, we can fulfill our ultimate goal in spreading kedusha throughout the whole world.
Have a beautiful Shabbos and weekend =)
—dvar from Rabbi Meir Levinger on ‘Mayanot moment’