E-TORAH
AUGUST 27th – 28 AV
CANDLE LIGHTING 7:11 PM
SHABBOS ENDS 8:10 PM
What Is New @ FREE
Friday Night Live! Save The Date! Next week 8:30 PM is Friday Night Live! Come & Bring Your Friends For A Special Evening of Delicious Food, Great discussions, Socializing, and More.
Grand Raffle! FREE’s Hebrew School presents a grand Raffle for a Brand New 2008 Nissan Quest or $12,000 cash! Get a ticket to help support Jewish Children’s Education and enter for your chance to win. Click here to purchase your tickets online.
HebrewSchool! Once again we would like to invite you to sign up for next year’s Sunday Hebrew School. We have incorporated new teachers, curriculums and program. Our exciting and unique program that is guaranteed to inspire your child(ren). Please visit our website for more information or to register online.
Smile on Seniors (SOS). FREE is proud to introduce this innovative program aimed to meet the needs of seniors within our community. We will match volunteers with a local senior who will then be visited every week for 15-30 minutes. To volunteer for this exciting project please email Mrs. Pessy Notik.
Save the Date! Rabbi Laibl Wolf, noted lecturer and spiritual mentor will be visiting on Sunday, September 7, 8:00 p.m. at Chabad of Skokie, 4059 Dempster Street in Skokie. He will be speaking on "Practical Kabbalah," discussing the secret of sanity and balance in a world going mad. Admission is $12 in advance online, $15 at the door. For more info or to rsvp, visit http://www.skokiechabad.org/706585.
A Torah Thought!
The Torah portion of Re'ei, illustrates the great power that teshuva, or returning to G‑d, can have. This is illustrated in the section about the "town that was led astray."
In general, the Torah is very stringent when it comes to laws concerning idolatry. Indeed, idol worship is one of the three transgressions, along with incest and murder, for which we are required to give up our lives rather than transgress. And in certain circumstances, the Torah decrees capital punishment for those who worship idols. Re'ei discusses the possibility of an entire town that has been lead astray and is engaging in this transgression, and refuses to repent of its evil. In such a case, the entire village is obliterated from the face of the earth.
Maimonides explained that if the inhabitants do teshuva and return to the One True G‑d, then of course the town is not destroyed.
There is something very unique about this law. In every other instance of wrongdoing where a beit din (Jewish court) is empowered to mete out punishment, the sinner's repentance has no bearing on, and in no way prevents, the sentence from being carried out. But in the case of the "town which was led astray," if the people do teshuva the town is allowed to remain in existence.
The explanation for this lies in the special category which is created by the "town which was led astray." When an entire populace is misled to serve false gods, the town attains the status of an idolatrous community. No longer are the inhabitants viewed as individuals who are sinning, but rather the entire community, as a community, is considered as deserving the harsh punishment entailed in the Torah. But if all the people sincerely repent, they revert to their former status as individuals and are no longer in this special category, and their town therefore avoids having to be destroyed.
This underscores the immense power of repentance, which can nullify even the harshest of decrees. We also learn from this chapter, if albeit in a negative fashion, the power inherent in unity. When we stand united and dedicate ourselves to good and positive causes, we can attain great heights. Conversely, when a group of people join together and unite to do evil, it causes the greatest damage and destruction.
The Jewish People draw their solidarity from the fact that all of us, all over the world, comprise one entity. We are likened to one soul which is divided and then put into the several million physical bodies which we inhabit. True repentance therefore reveals a Jew's inherent unity with his fellow Jews and with G‑d Himself.
Adapted from the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
The King of Persia was ill. Though all his physicians tried to cure him, none succeeded. Finally, one physician declared that lion's milk was the only possible remedy.
The Persian ministers sent a message to King Solomon, known far and wide for his wisdom. They knew that if anyone could figure out how to procure milk from a lioness, it would be the wise King.
King Solomon chose the wise and courageous Benayahu ben Yehoyada to carry out the dangerous mission. Benayahu set out for a lioness's den, taking with him some servants and ten young goats. He approached the den and went close enough to be able to see that the lioness was nursing her cubs. At that point, Benayahu threw the beast one of the goats and watched with satisfaction as the lioness devoured it hungrily.
Each day Benayahu ventured a little closer to the lion's den, threw a goat, and watched as the lioness eyed him less and less warily. By the tenth day, Benayahu was standing at the lioness' side. The giant animal allowed Benayahu to touch her and even draw some milk.
Their mission accomplished, Benayahu and his servants returned home with the lion's milk for the ailing King of Persia.
The Persian royal messenger took the milk and set out on the long journey back to his native land. On the way, he lay down for a rest and fell asleep. He dreamt that various parts of his body were arguing, each one claiming credit for safely conveying the lion's milk.
"We went to fetch the milk from the Land of Israel and deliver it to the king," claimed the feet. "We are by far the most important."
"We are the ones who are actually carrying the milk," exclaimed the hands. "We have made sure that not a drop has spilled."
The tongue now spoke up. "I am the most important part of the body. Because of me, the king was able to articulate his request that someone bring him the lion's milk!"
Upon hearing these words, all the other parts of the body pounced on the little tongue and ridiculed it: "Who are you, smallest and least significant of us all? What is your strength compared to ours? You are altogether worthless."
But the tongue refused to be intimidated. "We will see who is the strongest when we stand before the king tomorrow!"
Shaken by this strange dream, the messenger woke up and hurried to complete his mission. When he arrived at the royal palace, he went before the Persian king and bowed deeply. "I have brought the dog's milk you requested," he announced.
"Dog's milk!" the king roared. Before the servant could utter another word, the king ordered him imprisoned, to be hung the next morning.
That night, the servant lay on the stone floor of his cell. Sleep did not come to him easily, but when it did, he had another strange dream. The parts of his body were continuing their argument from the previous day.
"Now you must truly admit that I am the most important part of the body," exclaimed the tongue happily. "If you admit that I am the most powerful, I will save you tomorrow." The entire body unanimously agreed that the tongue was, indeed, the most powerful part of the body.
When the servant awoke, he instinctively knew what he must do. On the following day, as he was being led to the gallows, he asked for one last privilege before he died: to be brought before the king once more.
When this wish was granted, the servant said, humbly, "Your majesty! I did truly bring you lion's milk, as you ordered. You see, we hunters sometimes refer to lions as dogs. Please, give me a chance. Drink the milk. If it cures you, then you will surely know that I tell the truth."
The king drank the milk and began to feel better immediately. Within no time, he had recovered. The messenger was awarded his life and became the living example of King Solomon's statement in Proverbs: "Life and death are up to the tongue."
Have A Wonderful Shabbos!!