Monthly Archives: July 2020

“After Destruction and Desolation, comes Hope and Consolation”

B’’ H

Rabbi Daniela Szuster 

This Shabbat, which falls after the commemoration of Tisha B’Av, a day when we remember the  destructions of the Temples in Jerusalem, among other tragedies in the history of the Jewish people, is called Shabbat Nachamu because the special Haftarah that is read on this Shabbat begins with the words:  “Nachamu, Nachamu ami”…, “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people…” (Isaiah 40:1).

There is a period of seven weeks between this Shabbat and the Shabbat prior to Rosh Hashanah, during which a prophecy by the prophet Isaiah is read on each Shabbat.  This cycle of Haftarot is called Shiva denechamata, “the seven haftarot of consolation,” those that speak about the comfort that God will gradually provide to the people of Israel.

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The Importance of Asking the Right Question
B”H

By Rabbi Rami Pavolotzky

This Shabbat is Shabbat Chazon, literally the “Shabbat of the Vision,” named after the opening word of the Haftarah for this week, which is also the first word of the Book of Isaiah. This is the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av, the fast of the ninth of Av.

Isaiah’s vision describes the sins of the Children of Israel of his time, as well as the destruction that would come as a result of the people’s sins, “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for God has spoken: Children I have reared, and brought up, and they have rebelled against Me. The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s feeding trough; but Israel does not know, My nation does not understand” (Isaiah 1:2-3).

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“Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah: five sisters, who united, were able to claim, with dignity and courage, a right that they deserved”

B”H

Rabbi Daniela Szuster

This week’s parashah tells us about a special situation that I would like to focus in this message. The Torah tells us that there were five sisters, Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah, daughters of a man who was called Zelophehad. These five sisters approached Moses, Elazar the Cohen (priest), the chieftains and the whole assembly to explain their situation and to ask for a change in the law. (B’midvar 27:2).

What was their request? It is written in the Torah: “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not one of the faction, Korah’s faction, which banded together against the Lord, but died for his own sin; and he has left no sons. Let not our father’s name be lost to his clan just because he had no son! Give us holding among our father’s kinsmen!” (B’midvar 27:3-4). These five sisters are claiming the right to inherit the land of their father because he didn’t have sons.

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The Leader’s Punishment
B”H

By Rabbi Rami Pavolotzky

This week we read parashat Chukat. One of the stories told in this parasha is the famous (and sad) story of “Moses and the rock.” In this episode, Moses, the longtime leader of the Children of Israel, loses control of himself and is punished by God in a particularly harsh way. Let’s review this story. 

The Israelites are camped at Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, when Miriam, Moses’ sister, suddenly dies. Immediately after that we are told that the people don’t have water. The people start complaining bitterly about the lack of water to Moses and Aaron. God instructs Moses to, “Take the staff and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and speak to the rock in their presence so that it will give forth its water. You shall bring forth water for them from the rock and give the congregation and their livestock to drink” (Numbers 20:8).

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