The Jewish answer to this question is that life requires balance, we must live for ourselves, and for others.
The Chassidic answer to this question is that we must live for ourselves in order to be able to live for others.
The Torah has lots of commandments and laws, that as Jews we do our best to follow.
But why, why does the Torah have so many rules? Why does G-d need us to do so many things for Him all the time?
In this week's Torah reading of Terumah, the Torah tells of how G-d instructed Moses how to build a mobile temple in the desert. The amount of detail borders on obsessive, with precise materials, colors, sizes, and even process on how to produce this temple.
Why the need for so much detail? Why so many rules and laws, G-d could just say, build a temple and oh, please make it nice.
The Zohar, the fundamental book on Kabballah explains that the relationship between G-d and the Jewish people is like the relationship of a marriage, between a man and a woman.
In the marriage relationship, details matter very much. In fact, it’s in the details where the relationship really thrives. It is very romantic when for example, one spouse prepares breakfast for the other with all the details and specifics of how they know their spouse likes it. Just a simple breakfast would be good enough, but this spouse wants to show love which is done effectively by attention to detail.
In our grand relationship with G-d, He tells us what He wants from us, and of course leaves it up to us to decide when, how and where we will do what He asks of us.
Similarly in a relationship, we know our spouse and what they enjoy and appreciate because over time we have learned these details. And in a healthy relationship, spouses don’t demand of each other, rather they allow themselves to be surprised by the other.
G-d does the same with us. He desires a close relationship with us, so He lets us know what He wants and what He likes and gives us the choice to step into the relationship and make Him happy. In turn, He makes us happy by giving us the things we need and want in our lives.
The Torah is teaching us that the proper way to live is to take care of ourselves in order that we be able to properly take care of others. How do we take care of others? By doing for them what they need and want.
So do we live for ourselves or for others?
In this context the answer is, we must live for ourselves in order that we be able to live for others.
G-d wants us to be healthy and happy so that we have the ability to do Mitzvahs like helping and caring for others, first caring for those closest to us and then by extension our neighbors, friends and community.
Today, the seventh day of Adar, is the birthday and the day of passing of Moses. He lived exactly 120 years.
Moses lived for himself so that he can be there for others.
Moses is the greatest leader in history because his life was dedicated to others, he was holy and humble himself in order that he be able to be the leader that the Jewish people needed.
G-d gives us the greatest gift in life, to be able to find the joy in living for others.
Discussing life in the light of Chabad Philosophy
On Zoom:
Meeting ID: 895 6598 0718
Passcode: tanya
Presented in English by Rabbi Mendel Zaltzman
MVP Mitzvah Volunteer Program
Thursdays 4-5pm
For boys and girls in Grades 6th- 8th
At each weekly program MVP's will prepare special personalized packages for seniors that will be delivered safely in time for Shabbat.
Join the weekly meetings at the Bris Avrohom of Fair Lawn location, to prepare and personalize the packages and have some treats and fun while we work.
Parents and Kids Hamantashen Bake
Sunday, February 21
2pm and 6pm
Online and Limited In-person availability.
Registration now open!
Purim in the Great Outdoors Thursday, February 25 5:30pm- 7:00pm
Megillah Reading! Bounce House! Train Rides! Hot Food and Drinks!
Music! Costume Contest! Treats and Gifts! Arts and Crafts!
On the Bris Avrohom of Fair Lawn Parking Lot
Moishe walks into a deli on the lower east side of New York City and asks Chaim, the owner, “Do you have pickles?”
“Do I have pickles?!", exclaim Chaim. "Right here I have sour, half-sour, and oversize. Step over here for the gherkins. This barrel is full of bread & butter pickles. That one’s got brine pickles. Those three barrels are all classic dill. That vat holds the sweet dill. And those shelves are for Hungarian, German and Polish pickles.”
“Wow! You must sell a lot of pickles!”, says Moish.
“Well, to be honest", says Chaim, "not so many. But the guy I buy from?
Boy can he sell pickles!”
WEEKLY eTORAH
The second half of the book of Exodus presents a dramatic shift from the first half of the book. Until this point, G‑d was the active member in the relationship with the Jewish people. G‑d brought the Ten Plagues, liberated the Jews from Egypt, split the sea, spoke the Ten Commandments and dictated Jewish civil law, while the Jews were passive recipients of all that G‑d was doing. Finally, in the second half of the book, the Jewish people were called upon to take the initiative and build a home for G‑d.
The sages teach that the commandment to construct a home for G‑d includes the directive to construct a figurative home for G‑d within every person. From this perspective, the detailed descriptions of the Temple and its furniture, which comprise almost five portions in the Torah, have a spiritual equivalence within ourselves.
The Sanctuary was built of three components. The walls were made of ten-cubit-tall wooden beams, the beams were supported by silver sockets, and the roof was composed of coverings made of wool and animal skins. To build the figurative Temple within ourselves, we need to find the beams, coverings and sockets within our soul and dedicate them to the service of G‑d.
The Kabbalists explain that the ten-cubit beams represent the ten faculties, three intellectual and seven emotional, within every human soul.
The foundation of the entire structure was the silver sockets into which the beams were inserted. The spiritual equivalent of the sockets, the foundation of the soul’s structure, is the capacity to be committed and devoted to someone or something.
The curtains that served as the roof of the Tabernacle, covering the entire structure, represent a person’s will and capacity for pleasure, referred to by the Kabbalists as the “encompassing powers of the soul.” Will and pleasure affect and inspire all of the faculties. The sages teach us that “a person should always study where his heart desires,” because the encompassing power of will triggers and awakens the specific power of understanding.
Understanding that the Temple is a symbol for the human soul explains the commandment that the Jewish people donate the materials necessary to construct the Sanctuary. In this week’s Parshah, the Torah tells us that each individual donated both to the construction of the walls and to the covering of the Sanctuary in the amount they chose, according to their heart’s desire:
The L‑rd spoke to Moses saying: “Speak to the children of Israel, and have them take for Me an offering; from every person whose heart inspires him to generosity, you shall take My offering.”
Yet there was another form of donation, specifically designated for the silver sockets, where everybody was required to donate an equal amount:
This they shall give, everyone who goes through the counting: half a shekel. . . . The rich shall give no more, and the poor shall give no less than half a shekel.
There were two forms of donations, one with an equal, set amount for each person to donate, and another that was open-ended, each person donating according to his heart’s desire. There are aspects where all are equal, and other aspects where each person is unique and has a distinctive contribution to make. When it comes to the specific faculties of the soul—intelligence, emotion, wisdom, kindness, willpower—each of us is unique. Thus the contribution to create the structure is individualized. Yet the foundation of the structure, the foundation of the relationship with G‑d, the power of devotion and commitment, is the same for everyone. We all are equal in our capacity to devote ourselves to G‑d, yet the nature of our devotion and relationship is based on our own specific personality and is therefore unique to each individual.
