We all know the experience of listening to someone who keeps saying the same thing over and over again, literally the same words again and again and again… and again!
And we think... please, you’ve made your point already, we get it, you can stop talking… anytime today would be good.
But what if the point being made can only be stressed by repeating the same words over and over again and over again, to bring out the idea that there can be things that look, sound and behave exactly the same, but yet, are still unique.
This is so true when it comes to getting along with people, except it's reversed. We are all so different in looks, behavior, perception and thought process, yet in reality we are all the same.
True unity and love comes from a real understanding that leads to the experience that we are truly the same despite apparent differences. From the realization that differences exist to bring out each individual's uniqueness in order that we be able to compliment and help each other, because each individual matters and has something special to offer that others don’t.
When we approach differences with respect, appreciating the uniqueness of each person, we can come to real love and fulfill the Mitzvah of love for your fellow as yourself.
-Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Mendel & Elke Zaltzman
Jteens Stand with Israel
Teens joined for an educational evening, discussing the situation in Israel, getting answers to many questions and myths circulating social media, hearing personal accounts from 2 IDF soldiers, and enjoying a falafel dinner.
Women's Shavuos Night Out
In honor of the holiday of Shavuos, women joined for a beautiful evening, making flower arrangements, enjoying wine and desserts and inspiration about the holiday.
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.
Community Calendar 5782
Production of our beautiful, full color community calendar has begun for the new 5782 year.
The new Community Calendar will be published in September 2021 for the new 5782 Jewish year.
The recent growth of our community requires us to print 4000 calendars this year, most of which are mailed free to Jewish homes in the North Jersey area.
Please take a moment to see how you can support this important project.
Yankel always worried about everything all his life. But one day his coworkers noticed Yankel seemed like a changed man.
They remarked that he didn’t seem to be the least bit worried about anything. Yankel said he’d hired a professional worrier and no longer had any problems.
“A professional worrier?" they said. "What does that cost?”
“$150,000 a year.”
"150k a year?! How on earth are you going to pay him? You are about to declare bankruptcy!"
"Well that will be his first worry."
WEEKLY eTORAH
After describing the order in which the twelve tribes of Israel traveled through the desert, the Torah tells of the census of the tribe of Levi, the tribe tasked with transporting and building the Mishkan, the Tabernacle.
Like everything in the Torah, the details of the story of the Levites are just as relevant to our lives today as they were to our ancestors in the desert. For we, too, are tasked with the mission of the Levites, to erect a home for G‑d in a spiritual desert, the world we live in. In order to create this sanctuary, we rely on the spiritual part of ourselves, on the Levite within our soul.
The tribe of Levi was divided into three families. The families of Gershon and Merari were tasked with transporting the curtains that covered the Mishkan and the wooden planks of the Mishkan walls. As the Torah tells us:
"This is the service of the Gershonite families to serve and to carry. They shall carry the curtains of the Mishkan and the Tent of Meeting, its covering and the tachash skin covering overlaid upon it, and the screen for the entrance to the Tent of Meeting . . . [As for] the sons of Merari . . . This is the charge of their burden for all their service in the Tent of Meeting: the planks of the Mishkan, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets."
To create a sanctuary in our lives, to build a haven of spirituality in the midst of a spiritual desert, we too employ the skills of the Levite families. Like the families of Gershon and Merari, we must create walls and a roof in order to take control of our environment. We must cultivate the capacity to say no, to reject negative influences, temptations and distractions.
Yet saying no, rejecting the distractions and negativity, is not enough. The third family of Levites, the family of Kehat, was tasked with transporting the vessels of the Mishkan, the Ark, Menorah, Table and Alters:
"Aaron and his sons shall finish covering the Holy and all the vessels of the Holy when the camp is set to travel, and following that, the sons of Kehat shall come to carry [them], but they shall not touch the sacred objects for [then] they will die. These are the burden of the sons of Kehat for the Tent of Meeting."
Like the family of Kehat, we too must fill our space with the holy vessels, with positive experiences.
The spiritual mission of each of the Levite families is alluded to in their names. Gershon is derived from the word garesh, which means “to chase away." Merari comes from the word mar, which means “bitter.” They represented the difficult task of learning to say no to that which seeks to pull us away from our commitment to holiness. Kehat, on the other hand, is derived from the biblical word yikhat, which means “to gather.” Kehat teaches us to cultivate positive experiences and gather them into our sanctuary, to use them as a conduit to fulfill the purpose of our creation.
