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YPM MEMBERSHIP PAYMENT

A short beautiful idea on Ki Tetze, to uplift and to be shared on your Shabbat table with Friends and family. 

Are we concerned about a donkey's thoughts? How important is it to be sensitive? Do tzitzit need to be inside or outside a cemetery?

Shabbat Shalom, Eliyahou Binyamin Moses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AdiPd6H6GE

Dear Mogen David Family,

In the beginning of Parashat Chayei Sarah we learn of our matriarch's petira. After Sara Imenu's 127 productive years she returned to the Ribbono Shel Olam. Avraham’s reaction is what we would expect with a slight, of subtle, twist in order.

"Vayavo Avraham Lispod L'Sarah V'livchota" And Avraham came to eulogize for Sarah and to cry for her. (23:2)

Rav Soloveitchik, in his essays on death and mourning entitled Out of the Whirlwind, remarks that Avraham's actions are the reversal of normative practice. When, Rachmana Litzlan, we hear of the death of a loved one, our initial reaction is emotional, expressed by tears and pain. Our secondary reaction, perhaps much later on, is intellectual. We process what this person meant to us, to our community; this is expressed in a hesped, a eulogy, which is meant to convey how this person influenced and impacted us in this world.

Yet we see with Avraham the exact opposite. His first reaction is intellectual, Lispod, and only then do the emotions overflow--V'livchota!

Rav Soloveitchik explains that Sarah Imeinu was such a crucial and essential part of our Mesorah, our tradition, that Avraham was able, somehow, to recognize that her petira was an even greater loss to the Jewish people than his own personal, emotional loss. He loved his wife, but recognized her greatness and impact far outweighed his personal connection.

Obviously, we are not Avarahams or Sarahs.

Our reaction to tragedy and loss should be one of tears and pain. But we need not wait until we loose a loved one to appreciate their contributions to our families, our community, and the Jewish people. Let us appreciate one another emotionally and intellectually.

Shabbat Shalom U'mevorach!

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yehuda Moses Rav HaKehillah/Senior Rabbi