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BS"D
Erev Shabbos Kodesh, Parshas Va'yakhel/Pekudei, Shabbos Chazak, Parshas
HaChodesh,
Shabbos Mevorachim Nissan (HaChodesh HaYeshios), 26 Adar 5773, March 8, 2013
MI SHE'NICHNAS B'ADAR, MARBIN B'SIMCHA!
AS WE ENTER THE MONTH
OF ADAR, WE INCREASE IN JOY!
Shabbos Shalom u'Mevorach,
A git Shabbos, a lechtigen Shabbos! This Shabbos is a great, great
Shabbos. It's Shabbos Parshas Vayak'hel/
Pekudei, Shabbos Chazak, Shabbos Parshas HaChodesh, Shabbos Mevorachim
Nissan. This coming week is
the divide between the 2 months of Adar and Nissan which is bein geulah
l'geulah (between redemption and
redemption). Hashem should help that this time should bring a geulah for
us as well - everyone individually
and all together, with all good influences, in great measure, for us and all
around us, and for gantz Klal
Yisroel!
The Verse says in the Parsha, "va'yak'hel Moshe es kol Adas Bnei Yisroel,
va'yomer aleihem, eileh ha'dvarim
asher tzivah Hashem, la'asos osam" (And Moshe gathered the entire
Congregation of the Children of Yisroel,
and he said to them, these are the words which Hashem commanded, to do
them). According to the
Commentators, "eileh ha'dvarim asher tzivah Hashem" - "eileh
ha'dvarim" means Anochi Hashem (which is
the mitvah of emunah/faith). These are all the mitzvos; faith is the
foundation of everything.
It happens to be that a goy asked me today what the definition of faith
is. I answered him that the definition
of faith is to believe. When you believe something, automatically as a
result of believing, you feel and have
it. And I told him, when you believe and know that you have money in your
account, you're happy because you
can spend it. If you believe the police are behind you, you believe and
you're scared and take it into
consideration. When you believe and live with something, the result is a
fact in your life. He asked me if
belief is fear. And I said no, whatever you believe is a reflection - it
is what happens. If you believe that
there is an Elokim and that He gave the Torah, and you believe that there is
s'char ha'mitzvos (reward for the commandments), and the opposite - punishment
for misdeeds, the more you believe, the more mitzvos you
will do. As you truly believe that for every mitzvah you will get a
reward. And you live with this fact. The
more you believe in punishment, the more you will fear Hashem.
So if this is the case, "eileh ha'dvarim... la'asos osam" - which
means you have to do, then what do you have
to do to believe? The Torah teaches us to get emunah/faith, you have to
do something. You have to
exercise and implant within yourself the faith. You have to learn the
Torah and do the mitzvos and observe
and see that Hashem exists and controls everything.
The Passuk says further regarding the mitzvah of Shabbos. Shabbos
declares faith. Observing the Shabbos is
only with faith. The root of the mitzvah of Shabbos is to show that
"my work means nothing and is nothing;
only Hashem does". Not by working does it give me sustenance; only Hashem
gives us sustenance. This is
why it says in last week's Parsha that Shabbos is a covenant and sign between
us and Hashem. Observing the
Shabbos, not doing work on Shabbos, this is what brings us success and
blessings.
Faith is not an easy thing. It's very difficult to achieve it. But
when you achieve it, it is very, exceedingly
valuable. It is difficult to achieve true emunah, and Hashem forbid, it's
easy to lose it. We have to keep
studying and observing it to achieve it. And whoever achieves emunah
achieves the greatest thing. As a
result of faith, you gain trust, and as a result of trust, you gain simcha
(joy). So when you have emunah,
you're the most joyful and happy always with whatever happens.
When you have emunah/faith, then we can gather together and be united.
Because there's no jealousy when
you have faith. No one can take what belongs to another. Each
person receives what is meant for him.
Therefore we can have unity, and unity brings further faith. All mitzvos
are like a domino-effect. This is
what the Passuk says "la'asos osam". As when you have the
faith, it leads to do more mitzvos, and you have
joy, and so on. Emunah/faith is the entire Torah, from beginning to
middle to the end.
As we stand now and go out from the month of Adar and enter the month of
Nissan, which Nissan is the Month
of Salvations, as we say, "HaChodesh ha'zeh she'yeshios, makifos bo"
(this month that salvations surround it).
Makifos also means to borrow as the Apter Ruv zy"a said. So this
month we can borrow salvations, even if a
person doesn't have merit. So let's all observe this time and encourage
ourselves with faith, and to take the
opportunity of these days to achieve the right emunah and the salvations with
all good influences. Therefore
this Shabbos is Chazak - we encourage each other to take the opportunity and
use these days to benefit from
this time of great influences and achieve our goals to bring the ultimate
salvation.
I will close my words, I spoke to my father today to say "a git Shabbos".
I told him that the connection between
Va'yak'hel Moshe and Eileh Ha'Pekudei, that if we will fulfill the
"va'yak'hel Moshe", if we are united with the
right emunah and trust in Hashem, then comes "eileh ha'pekudei" - we
can count our money and see the
results of all good influences. He told me that "eileh
ha'pekudei" is not only this, but also a language of "pakad
pakadti" (I will surely redeem) - it's a time of salvations.
I can say one more thing, before we say "chazak, chazak" and the
Chumash closes itself, it says "Anan Hashem
al ha'Mishkan yomam, v'Eish tihyeh lailah bo, l'einei chol Beis Yisroel, b'chol
mas'eihem" (the Cloud of Hashem
was upon the Tabernacle by day, and the Fire was by night, in the eyes of all
the House of Yisroel, in all their
journeys). Laila means a time of darkness, and b'chol mas'eihem - in all
challenges and things which occur.
V'Eish means emunah shleima (perfect faith). We must always be chazak,
chazak with emunah. Then we can
survive all darkness and everything which surrounds the darkness. With
emunah we can overcome all
challenges. And the emunah has to be chazak, chazak v'nis'chazeik - we
must study the emunah over and over,
and with this we can overcome everything and anything.
May Hashem help that we should have the merit to take the opportunity of these
great days, as we said before,
and we should benefit from these days, and merit to have all salvations
individually and communally, with the
salvation of all Klal Yisroel - Umein!
Please remember to keep us in mind in these great days. A git Shabbos!
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