Uh Oh! I’m in trouble! I grew up in a family that did not celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. My wife grew up in a family that has a major 48 hour celebration for each birthday and anniversary. Let’s just say that I had to make some changes. I have learned to work very hard to never forget an important day. Today, I missed a very important day: La Revolucion de Mayo! How could I forget, not that I ever knew of, one of the most significant days in Argentine history? If you don’t hear from me ever again, you will understand that I deserved my fate. I need to earn a free pass to escape the consequences of forgetting an important Argentine anniversary. (No such thing for birthdays or normal anniversaries!)

Please don’t tell Debbie, but if I ever survive this terrible sin, I plan to get my revenge! On May 24, 2011, the 20th of Iyar, I will catch my wife for forgetting the important event that occurred in this week’s portion: “It was in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth of the month, the cloud was lifted from upon the Tabernacle of the Testimony.” (Numbers 10:11) She will never again be able to be angry with me for forgetting an important anniversary!

“Is the 20th of Iyar any less important than the 25th of Mayo (May)? It is more important: Otherwise why would it be mentioned in the Torah?”

I know my wife. She will respond, “Why is it important?”

Do you think Rashi’s explanation will be effective: “This teaches us that they spent 12 months less 10 days at Choreiv.” I’m not sure that will be a good response.

Let’s try the Ibn Ezra: “This was the first journey of the people as a camp with the Mishkan.” Somehow, I suspect that the explanation will not earn me a free pass for any important anniversaries I may forget. I need a better explanation.

Let’s see: Perhaps we can combine Rashi and the Ibn Ezra. When I read, “12 months less 10 days,” I immediately think of the Ten Days of Repentance. “Journey,” stressed by the Ibn Ezra, tells me that it is a celebration of movement. I got it! “This anniversary is important because it teaches us that Teshuva is the beginning of a journey – a beginning far more important than a birthday. My journey through life will only be meaningful if I master the art of Teshuva.”

Even after a year spent at Sinai, we still had to do Teshuva! We cannot remain in one place, even if that place is as holy as Sinai. Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur may be days of Teshuva, but the 20th of Iyar is the day we evaluate whether we are living our life’s journey by constantly being willing to change and grow.

Do you think I’ll win my Free Pass?

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

The Hubble space telescope has discovered a planet in our galaxy in the process of being devoured by the star that it orbits, according to a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The doomed planet, dubbed WASP-12b, has the highest known surface temperature of any planet in the Milky Way — around 1,500 degrees Celsius (2,800 degrees Fahrenheit).

WASP-12b, more than 300 times the size of Earth, has the highest known surface temperature of any planet in the Milky Way. It also has a mass 40-percent greater than that of Jupiter, the biggest planet in our solar system. It could be enveloped by its own parent star over the next ten million years, the paper’s authors have concluded. It is so close to its parent star that it orbits it in little more than 24 hours. Astronomers already knew that stars will swallow a planet that comes too close to it, but this is the first time that the phenomenon has been observed so clearly.

“Toward the face of the Menorah he kindled its lamps.” (Numbers 8:3) Rabbi Noach of Ka’arov (Kav Chein) explains that the purpose of the Service of God is to always practice living on the middle path. We should not go too far to the right, nor, too far to the left. We must always be focused on the center. We should not move too far away from the Source of Light, not attempt to come too close, lest we be swallowed up by the Light.

As they say in many holy books, “V’hamaivin yavin,” – One who has understanding will understand!

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

In honor of Akiva S.: “One stormy night when my nephew Roger was about twenty months old I wrapped him in a blanket and carried him down to the beach in the rainy darkness. Out there, just at the edge of where -we-couldn’t-see, big waves were thundering in, dimly seen white shapes that boomed and shouted and threw great handfuls of froth at us. Together we laughed with pure joy, he a baby meeting for the first time the wild tumult of the oceans, I with the salt of half a lifetime of sea love in me. But I think we felt the same spine-tingling response to the vast roaring ocean and the wild night all around us.” (Rachel Carson – The Sense of Wonder)

I study bible once a week with a twelve-year-old, spectacular young man. Together, he, who has not studied much bible, and I, who has spent all my life studying, exult in the magic of the text. There is no age difference, no gap in knowledge, as we listen in to the joyous thundering of the words, showered with a fresh spray of insights and questions.

It is at such moments that I experience my greatest joy in Torah. I revel in its ability to speak to all, the young and old, the student and the rabbi, with the same power and intensity.

Perhaps that sharing was the role of the Levites in the Mishkan. The Cohanim stood above us, directing us in our offerings and service. The Levites connected us and allowed us to share the experience of standing in God’s Home.

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.