ParshaTzav

This comes from Chabad.org
Parsha in a Nut Shell

G‑d instructs Moses to command Aaron and his sons regarding their duties and rights as kohanim (“priests”) who offer the animal and meal offerings in the Sanctuary.

The fire on the Altar must be kept burning at all times. In it are burned the wholly consumed ascending offering; veins of fat from the peace, sin and guilt offerings; and the "handful" separated from the meal offering.

The kohanim eat the meat of the sin and guilt offerings, and the remainder of the meal offering. The peace offering is eaten by the one who brought it, except for specified portions given to the kohen. The holy meat of the offerings must be eaten by ritually pure persons, in their designated holy place and within their specified time.

Aaron and his sons remain within the Sanctuary compound for seven days, during which Moses initiates them into the priesthood.

This comes from a Breslov idea.
The Torah is compared to fire (cf. Jeremiah 23:29).

Today we don't have a Beis Hamikdash to bring sacrifices to.
In their place we pray three times a day (four on shabbos)
In place of the Toda offering, for example, one who has survived a dangerous situation, has been healed form a serious illness or who has traveled over an ocean, says the Birkat Hagomel during the Torah reading.

Torah study also helps one's teshuva.
Just like the fire on the altar would burn our sacrifices of repentance, so to the "fire" of our Torah study burns away our transgressions.

Shabbat Shalom V'Chag Pesach Kosher V'Samayach

640 million dollars

If the 99% hate the 1% so much, why are they buying up lottery tickets to try to win the national Mega-millions which has reached $640,000,000?

Are the 99% trying to become part of the greedy, racist, rightwing 1%?

Hmmm.

Be a king. Not a fool

There is a teaching in Judaism.

The Hebrew word for heart is lev, the place of emotion. Begins with an L (lamed)
The word for brain is mo-ach, the place of intellect. Begins with a M (mem)

The word for king is melech. Begins with a mem followed by a lamed. (ml)
The word for fool is lemech. Begins with a lamed followed by a mem. (lm)

When a person puts their mem (mo-ach), intellect, before their lamed (lev), emotion, they can be a king.
But if they put their lamed (lev), emotion, before their mem (mo-ach), intellect, they are a fool.

Listening to reports surrounding the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin is a prime example of this teaching.
The conviction of the shooter, George Zimmerman, in the press without waiting for the evidence,
the bounty put out on his head by the Black Panthers, Spike Lee's tweet with, what he thought was Zimmerman's address, the wearing of hoodies by members of different branches of government, the photos of Trayvon as a 14 year old teenager juxtaposed next to an old photo of Zimmerman in an orange prison jump suit instead of a photo of 17 year old Trayvon with his bling and tattoos and a more current photo of Zimmerman in a suit.

These images can also be found on the Internet but the media will not use these because they don't stir up a person's emotion.
This might lead the public to view things differently like let's wait to hear the facts and the evidence before we lay all the blame at Zimmerman's feet.

It's tragic that a person has lost their life.
That being said, it would also be tragic to rush to judgment like with the Duke La cross team, the Tewana Brawley story or the Professor Gates episode.

By not using their heads first, and only reacting with emotion, the news media, the professional race baiters, Sharpton, Jackson, the Black Panthers, Farakahn and to some extent the current President will, end up looking like a bunch of fools.

Who is the close minded one?

Last Sunday was the Dallas Kosher Chili Cook Off.
It is held every year as a local Dallas fundraiser for different charities.

( They really wouldn't know good chili if it jumped up and bit them in the tuchis. Chabad of Ft Worth entered several years ago with my chili recipe and we weren't even mentioned.(!פאסקודניאקס)

This year, I assume without thinking, they scheduled a woman to sing the Star Spangled Banner.
Now for those of you that don't know or follow Jewish law, men are not supposed to listen to a woman sing. In laws of Tznius ( modesty ) a woman's voice is considered arousing to men.

Now before you get all bent out of shape guys, you know there have been songs that certain women sing that "get your motor running."
Kim Karnes singing "Betty Davis Eyes"
Billie Holiday, Ertha Kitt or Peggy Lee singing anything did it for me.

So those Jewish groups that observe this law reminded the organizers of this, so they had a man sing it instead.
In this weeks TJP, the local Jewish paper here in DFW, there was a letter to the editor about the switch
from someone from the JWV of Dallas. I can't tell you if this person was a man or a woman because it was one of those gender neutral names.

This person stated that the organizers decided to "bend to the wishes of a narrow-minded minority (especially when it comes to women's equality) and violate the equality of women as guaranteed under American Law"

Now who is the "narrow-minded" one.
Without the participation of the Orthodox organizations, schuls, schools and the "DK", the Dallas Kosher organization that supervises the kashrus of the event, there would be no Dallas Kosher Chili Cook Off every year.
By letting the man sing the National Anthem everyone was able to participate.
If the woman would have sung, some would have been left out. Including some of the sponsors, and the event would not raise the amount of tzedaka that it did.

So again. Who is being narrow-minded?

Sacrifices

This week's Parasha is the beginning of Vayikra.
It deals with many halachas of karbonos, sacrifices.


I hear many times from people that lean toward the less observant brands of Judaism when talking about mitzva observance and the coming of Moshiach " You want to see animal sacrifices in the Temple? That is barbaric"

Maybe this will help.

The pasuk starts "Speak to the Bnei Yisrael and say to them ' When one of you brings an animal as a sacrifice to Hashem..."

The Jews brought sacrifices for different reasons  and on different occasions.
One occasion was when one transgressed a mitzva.
The Torah commands  us to bring an animal to be sacrificed as an atonement for that transgression.
Now how does killing an animal in a ritual atone for a sin?


In the Hebrew, the Torah uses the words "mi-kem...min ha-beheimah---from you...from the animal"
When you bring this animal sacrifice, it is to represent the animal in you. That part of you that caused you to transgress. You are symbolically killing the animal within you. It is as if you were the sacrifice.

" If you bring a sacrifice "from the animal" you merit to be classified as "man"
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

A Guten Shabbos

Happiness

"Always remember:
Joy is not merely incidental to your spiritual quest.
It is vital."
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov
(The Empty Chair)

I don't get it.

If, as Obama says, drilling and producing more oil will not help the price of gas to go down, then why are he and his henchmen in the Senate wanting to release more oil from the emergency reserve?
Hmmm.

G-d Help Us

Always being a few years behind the rest of the world, I am now blogging.
This will be a way to share things about the world according to Me.

Hashem Save Us!!!!