chabad jerusalem

This week, I attended an inspiring and eye-opening event in the Shomron, the beautiful northern hill country of Israel.  The event was a mikveh dedication near the settlement of Yitzhar.  With this mikveh, a young family of six with a small yeshiva on the premises could say that they have now established a permanent settlement in Israel.  The Talmud tells us that one should not live in a city without a mikveh, so the building of this mikveh turned this settlement into a permanent establishment.  This part of the country is where the Jews entered the land of Israel on three different occasions (with Abraham, with Yaakov and with Joshua).  In our weekly Torah portion (Vayechi), this part of the land is called the “shoulders” of Israel.  It is the source of Jewish pride and strength, just as the shoulders of an ox are the strongest part of its body.  Joseph, who is buried in this area, was described as an “ox” in the Torah, because of his ability to implement big changes in the world, as he did in Egypt.  For some photos of the dedication, go to our Facebook page (Jerusalem Connection).  Every part of the land of Israel corresponds to part of the Jewish soul, and we are not whole until all Jews are settled in all of our land, learning the entire Torah.  For more on the weekly Torah portion, go to our weekly words of Torah, at www.jerusalemconnection.org/weekly.  To know what’s going on with Chabad in Jerusalem, go to www.chabadjerusalem.org, and if you would like some instruction in Jewish spirituality, go to www.jewishsprititualbooks.com 

We seem to be off by about one week.  Generally, we can detect a correspondence between the weekly Torah portion and at least some current events.  Last weeks’ encounter between Jacob and his brother on some level corresponds to the ongoing contest of wills between Israel and the American president regarding how to deal with Iran.  The Biblical encounter ended when Jacob’s brother got a sudden “love rush” and kissed and embraced Jacob.  No such rapprochement has occurred between Washington and Jerusalem, at least not yet.   However, the Biblical narrative has moved on, even while the US-Israel contest remains in full force.  This week it is Jacob’s son Joseph who is the protagonist, and Joseph takes the action down to Egypt.  Even though it looks like Joseph was having a hard time in Egypt, he ended up on top.  Moreover, whatever he seemed to be doing in Egypt was a mere front for what was really taking place.  So, we also need to be aware of the “soul” dimension in everything that we are doing – Joseph certainly was, and that’s how he came out on top.  For more on that, visit us at http://www.jerusalemconnection.org/weekly   And if you have a hankering for more soul food in the form of books, go to http://www.jewishspiritualbooks.com/shop   Look forward to seeing you there!

Of course, it was only “yesterday” that we fasted and mourned over the loss of our Temple, the Beit Hamikdash…but it’s already time to move on to another period of the year, the period known as Ellul, in preparation for the “High Holidays” about to come upon us in another month…

Is Ellul important?  You bet it is…the King is in the Field…He is accessible, all we have to do is go out to find Him, get connected.  It’s not always this easy, so get with it friends, it’s the month of Ani ledodi v‘dodi li (“Elul”) – “I am for my Beloved, and He for me” – but it starts with us, the Jews, simply going “out to the field” to meet the Him,  The rest of the year, He’s in His palace, inaccessble, but now is the time to reach and get reconnected…more to come…