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This Shabbat is Shabbat Mevarchim ("the Shabbat that blesses" the new month): a special prayer is recited blessing the Rosh Chodesh ("Head of the Month") of the upcoming month of Sivan, which falls on Tuesday of the following week.
Prior to the blessing, we announce the precise time of the molad, the "birth" of the new moon. See molad times.
If you walk in My statutes (Leviticus 26:3)
The word chok ("statute" or "decree"), which gives the Parshah of Bechukotai its name, literally means "engraved."
The Torah comes in two forms: written and engraved. On the last day of his life, Moses inscribed the Torah on parchment scrolls. But this written Torah was preceded by an engraved Torah: the divine law was first given to us encapsulated in the Ten Commandments, which were etched by the hand of G‑d in two tablets of stone.
When something is written, the substance of the letters that express it—the ink—remains a separate entity from the substance upon which they have been set—the parchment. On the other hand, letters engraved in stone are forged in it: the words are stone and the stone is words.
By the same token, there is an aspect of Torah that is "inked" on our soul: we understand it, our emotions are roused by it; it becomes our "lifestyle" or even our "personality"; but it remains something additional to ourselves. But there is a dimension of Torah that is chok, engraved in our being. There is a dimension of Torah which expresses a bond with G‑d that is of the very essence of the Jewish soul.
(Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi)
G‑d spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying . . . (Leviticus 25:1)
What has the Sabbatical year to do with Mount Sinai? Were not all commandments given on Sinai? But the verse wishes to tell us: just as with the Sabbatical year both its general principle and its minute details were ordained on Mount Sinai, so, too, was it with all the commandments—their general principles as well as their minute details were ordained on Mount Sinai.
(Torat Kohanim; Rashi)
Rabbi Ishmael says: The general principles of the Torah were given at Sinai, and the details [when G‑d spoke to Moses] in the Tent of Meeting.
Rabbi Akiva says: The general principles and the details were given at Sinai. They were then repeated in the Tent of Meeting, and enjoined a third time in the Plains of Moab (i.e., in Moses' narrative in the book of Deuteronomy).
(Talmud, Chagigah 6a–b)
B'H
Mazel Tov
Yonni & Ronna Hain
(nee Boltin)
on the birth of a
SON
SOLLY
SHLOMO AKIVA
BROTHER TO ASHER & JOE
MAZEL TOV TO THE GRANDPARENTS
SUSAN & PHILLIP BOLTIN (MELB)
CLAIRE & LEN HAIN (MELB)
MAZEL TOV TO THE GREAT-GRANDPARENTS
ANITA EPSTEIN (MELB)
ELAINE BLOCH-JAFFE (MELB)
NORMA BOLTIN (MELB)
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MAZEL TOV
Yossi & Chana Leah Schneier
(nΓ©e: Lebenholc)
on the birth of a
DAUGHTER
Mazel Tov to the grandparents:
Sam & Tamara Schneier
Yossel & Rochel Lebenholc
Mazel tov to the great-grandparents
Speak to the kohanim, the sons of Aaron, and say to them . . . (Leviticus 21:1)
"Speak" and "say"—enjoin the elders regarding the youngsters.
(Talmud; Rashi)
The above dictum, which constitutes a primary biblical source for the concept of education, also offers insight into the nature of education.
The word used by the Talmud and Rashi—lehazhir, "to enjoin"—also means "to shine." Hence the phrase "to enjoin the elders regarding the youngsters" also translates as "to illuminate the elders regarding the youngsters." Education is not only an elder teaching a youngster; it is also an illumination for the educator.
(The Lubavitcher Rebbe)