Irene was not my first hurricane. That was Agnes in 1971.  One story went around the Jewish community about the Shamash of the synagogue in Wilkes-Barrie, PA, a Holocaust survivor, who, despite being a very old man, rather than evacuate as did everyone else, ran to the synagogue and carried all the Torah scrolls to the safety of the roof, far above the flooding. He refused to get onto the helicopter sent to save him until they had secured all the Sifrei Torah.

It’s one of those stories you store in the back of your mind.  It wasn’t the hurricane that made me remember; it was the earthquake.  I was in Baltimore visiting my mother, may she live and be well, when everything began to shake.  I was with the person who trained me to be incredibly careful with blessings, and to see each beracha as an opportunity, so while everyone else was screaming, I protectively crouched over my mother and recited the blessing over earthquakes.  I admit that I was more focused on using the blessing to honor my mother than I was on honoring God. Little did I know that my blessing was considered an active rejection of Kavod haTorah, Honor of Torah.

It was my mother who taught me about Kavod haTorah. It was she who insisted that as we approached Baltimore, hot and exhausted after the very long drive from Toronto, we stop and change into our Shabbat clothes to greet my grandfather zt”l, “You have to dress in your best clothes to greet one of the greatest rabbis of the generation.” It was my mother who taught me to wash my hands before performing a Mitzvah. I washed my hands before beginning the trip to Baltimore to visit my mother, and, when she asked my for a cup of ice water, I washed again. Her nurse asked me why, and was touched by the explanation, “It’s like you are honoring God when you honor your mother!”

The nurse heard my blessing and thought I was praying. I explained that I was reciting a blessing over the earthquake, just as I do over lightening and thunder. She stopped me on my way to the elevator an hour or so later, and said that she asked a rabbi, and he said that there is no such blessing.

“I’m also a rabbi,” I said.

“He’s a real rabbi,” she responded, “with a long beard and a long coat!”

I laughed, and an obviously observant woman standing next to me, chided me for my lack of Kavod haTorah.

It was at that moment that I recalled the story of the elderly man who risked his life to save the Torah scrolls. That was Kavod haTorah! The rabbi of the congregation told me that the man had served as an example of how lacking he was in properly honoring Torah. (I have great honor for that rabbi’s honesty in speaking to a young teenager.)

I learned one form of Kavod haTorah from my mother. I learned another from the shamash who risked his life to save the Torah scrolls. Am I concerned about the perceived lack of respect for a “real rabbi,” who was unfamiliar with a basic law? No, not really. Am I concerned when people are more focused on external, rather than internal, expressions of honor? Absolutely.

I think I’ll stick to honoring the person who taught me the real meaning of honoring Torah.

Author Info:
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.

Anne Fadiman recently published a collection of essays entitled Rereadings: Seventeen writers revisit books they love. Ms. Fadiman invited famous writers to reread books that were important to them when they were young. Most of the essayists had not read the assigned books in many years, and were often enchanted all over again by a long absent friend.

I often return to Sefarim – Holy Books that played an important role in my development. There are some books on prayer that literally lifted my prayers to a new level. There are books on law that I was unable to put down when I first read them. I often bought numerous copies of these books to share with my children, students and friends. I taught some of them from beginning to end.

I recently returned to one of these books for what Ms. Fadiman would call a rereading. I could not believe that it was the same book I loved so much. I found myself disagreeing with practically every idea in the book. I was so shocked by the experience that I tried the same experiment with numerous other books, most, not all, with the same result. The rereadings were a disaster. I felt that was losing some important friends, even embarrassed that I had ever loved these books so much.

I changed. My thought and philosophy have developed, and I can still acknowledge the important role that many of these books played in my development.

I can read the weekly portion and Haftarah year after year and find myself re-enchanted each and every time. Each reading feels like the first. I read the same words every year and still feel as if I am reading them for the first time.

I can read the words of the Siddur – Prayer Book every single day and find myself enchanted all over again each and every time.

The re-enchantment comes from both the texts and me. The texts alone cannot offer constant re-enchantment without a reader who is willing to be enchanted all over again. I may be willing to be re-enchanted but if the text does not possess that magic power, I will experience disappointment.

Perhaps this is the call of Shema: Hear as if you never heard before. Allow yourself to be re-enchanted. “Na’aseh V’nishma” – We will do and we will hear – we will do in order to nurture the ability to be re-enchanted by what we hear all over again.

Author Info:

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.

“Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb son of Jephunneh, of the spies of the land, tore their clothes.” (Numbers 14:6) Whose clothes did they tear? The Kotzker explains that they torn the clothes of high position off the backs of the other spies. The first step is to expose the Emperor’s New Clothes. We often fall into the trap of measuring others by their externals and Joshua and Caleb wanted to expose the other spies for what they really were.

Author Info:

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.

Every child is fascinated by the problem of the caterpillar and the butterfly. But most of us, forget these things and become absorbed in matters of consequence. Scientists form one group of individuals in whom childish traits persist: for the adult scientist still wonders about the problem of the caterpillar and the butterfly. He has never grown out of that exasperating period of childhood characterized by the eternal, “Why?”

Perhaps creative genius is simply the persistence of childishness into adulthood in certain individuals: The persistence of curiosity to make scientists and philosophers, Torah Scholars and Servants of God; of wonder to make poets and painters, rabbis and “prayors”. Of imagination, of dream stuff, in all these various categories, though it may be wiser not to pursue the childish analogy too far.

Which is exactly what happens in this week’s portion; The Children of Israel took the analogy of childishness too far. Moses even complains to God, “Did I conceive this entire people or did I give birth to it, that You say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a suckling, to the Land that You swore to its forefathers?” (Numbers 11:12) Rashi compares them to, “A child escaping from school.”

I can’t imagine watching the Clouds of Glory signal the camp to move without a sense of childish wonder. I can’t imagine eating Manna without a child’s excitement. I can’t imagine studying Torah without the fascination that made me treat my father as the original Google with my incessant insistence on “Why?”

However, childish wonder does not mean that we must act as children. We cannot eat at God’s table laden with treats only to complain about what’s missing. How can someone who maintains childish wonder when studying Torah simply accept ideas as a child being told what to do, without asking “Why?” Should that spirit of a child be expressed as belief in spiritual super heroes who are angelic since birth? Are we not taking that childish wonder a little too far?

Perhaps the people looked to Moshe with that same childish wonder. He went up to heaven and spent 40 days and nights with God. Wow! He is beyond us! He brought Manna. He brought water from a rock. He can do anything. He became their father and mother.

So, God instructed Moshe to appoint the Seventy Elders and He emanated Moshe’s spirit on to them and they began to prophecy. They experienced that Moshe was not some kind of super hero; he was what all of them could be. He too shared the childish wonder over God’s words and miracles, but as an adult on a serious search.

Perhaps we can read the name of the portion, Behaalotecha, as “When you grow up!” or, “Grow Up! Why Doncha?”

Author Info: 



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 Rabbi Moshe Stepansky and his comment to “The Futurist“: The Tanchumah (Bamidbar 2) teaches: This can be compared to a ruler who entered a province, and when its citizens saw him they fled. He entered a second province and the citizens ran away. He then went into a remote town, and when the citizens saw him, they began praising him. The ruler said, “This is the best city in the province. I will build my house here and I will live here too.” So too, when the Holy One, Blessed is He, came to the sea, it ran away from Him, as it is stated, “The sea saw and fled.” (Psalms 114:3) He appeared on Mount Sinai and they fled, as it is stated, “The mountains skipped like rams.” (Verse 4) He came to a remote wilderness, they, Yisrael, received Him and praised Him, as it is stated, “The wilderness and its cities will raise their voices in song.” (Isaiah 42:11) The Holy One, Blessed is He, descended into it, as it is stated, “The wilderness and the wasteland will rejoice over them, the wilderness will be glad and blossom like a lily.” (Isaiah 35:1)

This is an astounding Midrash, however we will attempt to explain it: Behold, all the miracles that God performed were in order that all should recognize and know that He is the Creator of all, and guides all that exists in both the upper and lower worlds, to do with them according to His Will. God implanted this belief in their hearts, and this, was the purpose of all the miracles.

This awareness was not temporary, for, although it did not actively function in them after time, it exists in their hearts as a “Zechair,” a living memory, as the verse says, “He made a memorial for His wonders.” (Psalms 11:4)

However, the Torah that God gave us, can be used to conceive His Divinity and Unity, and how He exercises Providence over all that exists.

This is the explanation of the verse, “The Tablets were God’s handiwork, and the writing was the writing of God.” (Exodus 32:16) God is “written into the Torah,” so to speak, and a person is able to conceive God’s actions through toil in Torah.

This is the meaning of the Midrash when it says that the sea fled, or “Barach,” which can also mean to expand into the future. The effect of the miracle expanded far into the future. The desert in the Midrash, refers to Torah (See the Zohar) The Holy One, Blessed is He, said, “Here I will build My home,” meaning that God lives within the Torah, and through Torah a person can find Him and His actions.

This is at any time and any moment. All the miracles live in the Torah, and a person can conceive the workings of all the miracles by studying Torah as if he actually experienced the miracles. This is why the Torah is described by the Midrash as the Home of God. “G-d’s essence hovers in the Torah and it is within the Torah that Man can try to understand how G-d operates. And that is what is meant as ‘G-d’s dwelling place’.” (Kol Simcha, Bamidbar)

Author Info: 



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.

Rabbi Akiva gave five instructions to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai when Rabbi Akiva was incarcerated in prison (See Berachot 61b): Rabbi Shimon said to him, “Master! Teach me Torah!” Rabbi Akiva said, “I will not teach you (to protect his student from being imprisoned).” Rabbi Shimon said, “If you do not teach me, I will tell Yochai, my father, and he will report you to the government (for more serious crimes than those for which you were imprisoned [Maharsha])!” Rabbi Akiva said to him, “My son! More than the calf wishes to suck, the cow wishes to suckle.” Rabbi Shimon said to him, “But who is in danger? Is it not the calf (the student) that is in danger?” Rabbi Akiva said to him, “1. If you want to get yourself choked, hang yourself from a tall tree. 2. And when you teach your son, teach him with a book that has been corrected from mistakes. 3. Do not cook in a pot in which your friend has cooked. 4. If one wishes to perform a Mitzvah and profit handsomely, he should eat the produce and will have capital. 5. If one wishes to perform a Mitzvah and have a pure body as well, he should marry a woman, and to him, children!” (Pesachim 112a-b)

Rabbi Akiva said to him, “My son! More than the calf wishes to suck, the cow wishes to suckle.” Rabbi Shimon’s “threat” in front of the Roman guards was a question about using Torah to address more complex threats. (See “Acquiring Torah 13) The cow wants to suckle because the milk is heavy, and because she wants to nurture her calf. Rabbi Akiva’s answer, coded for the Roman guard, addresses the role of Rabbis as teachers: The best teachers are those who love their subject so much that they are desperate to share their wisdom. The only way that Israel will continue to search for the best teachers is if the teachers convey their love for teaching. Israel searches for teachers who love their learning so much that they are desperate to share their wisdom. The teachers are not interested in authority or power. They are not focused on people behaving properly; they simply love to teach. It is that love that keeps Torah alive.

Make a list of the most exciting and precious ideas you have learned, insights that have changed your life. Are you desperate to share them? Do you convey your love for what you have learned when you share your Torah?

Author Info:
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.

Rabbi Akiva gave five instructions to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai when Rabbi Akiva was incarcerated in prison (See Berachot 61b): Rabbi Shimon said to him, “Master! Teach me Torah!” Rabbi Akiva said, “I will not teach you (to protect his student from being imprisoned).” Rabbi Shimon said, “If you do not teach me, I will tell Yochai, my father, and he will report you to the government (for more serious crimes than those for which you were imprisoned [Maharsha])!” Rabbi Akiva said to him, “My son! More than the calf wishes to suck, the cow wishes to suckle.” Rabbi Shimon said to him, “But who is in danger? Is it not the calf (the student) that is in danger?” Rabbi Akiva said to him, “1. If you want to get yourself choked, hang yourself from a tall tree. 2. And when you teach your son, teach him with a book that has been corrected from mistakes. 3. Do not cook in a pot in which your friend has cooked. 4. If one wishes to perform a Mitzvah and profit handsomely, he should eat the produce and will have capital. 5. If one wishes to perform a Mitzvah and have a pure body as well, he should marry a woman, and to him, children!” (Pesachim 112a-b)

Rabbi Shimon said, “If you do not teach me, I will tell Yochai, my father, and he will report you to the government (for more serious crimes than those for which you were imprisoned [Maharsha])!” This patently absurd threat is understood as Rabbi Shimon’s way of expressing the intensity of his desire to learn from Rabbi Akiva. Perhaps we can see more in what we have described (Acquiring Torah 12) as a coded conversation:

Rabbi Shimon’s father, Yochai, was known to be close to the Roman authorities. He was, what was known in Europe and Russia as an Askan, someone who dealt with the government to help his brethren. Rabbi Shimon understood that Rabbi Akiva was demanding that Rabbi Shimon assume a leadership role. However, “he will report you to the government for more serious crimes than those for which you were imprisoned,” meaning, we will constantly be accused of crimes far more serious than studying Torah. It will not only be the Torah scholars who will assume leadership roles, but the Yochais, the askanim, as well. “Teach me,” said Rabbi Shimon, “how to guide the people who are not Torah scholars, who will confront ever more complex issues. This is the most important Torah issue: How it guides our responses to all issues!”

It is impossible to truly acquire Torah if studied as something separate from every aspect of life. Our approach must be Rabbi Shimon’s, who insisted that even the Yochais of the future will need Torah’s guidance.

Author Info:
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.

Rabbi Akiva gave five instructions to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai when Rabbi Akiva was incarcerated in prison (See Berachot 61b): Rabbi Shimon said to him, “Master! Teach me Torah!” Rabbi Akiva said, “I will not teach you (to protect his student from being imprisoned).” Rabbi Shimon said, “If you do not teach me, I will tell Yochai, my father, and he will report you to the government (for more serious crimes than those for which you were imprisoned [Maharsha])!” Rabbi Akiva said to him, “My son! More than the calf wishes to suck, the cow wishes to suckle.” Rabbi Shimon said to him, “But who is in danger? Is it not the calf (the student) that is in danger?” Rabbi Akiva said to him, “1. If you want to get yourself choked, hang yourself from a tall tree. 2. And when you teach your son, teach him with a book that has been corrected from mistakes. 3. Do not cook in a pot in which your friend has cooked. 4. If one wishes to perform a Mitzvah and profit handsomely, he should eat the produce and will have capital. 5. If one wishes to perform a Mitzvah and have a pure body as well, he should marry a woman, and to him, children!” (Pesachim 112a-b)

Rabbi Akiva’s death sentence could not have been more horrible than it was. The Romans understood how his existence threatened their control over Israel. It’s hard to imagine that the authorities allowed the Rabbinic guide of the Bar Kochva rebellion to have visitors while awaiting his execution. It’s hard to believe that they allowed Rabbi Akiva’s students to have any access to him, even through a window in his cell. They certainly supervised any interaction the leader of the Jewish people had with any of his followers. If all this interaction was in secret; why would Rabbi Akiva hesitate to teach Rabbi Shimon? He knew that Rabbi Shimon would always study Torah and be in danger from the Roman government.

We also have to wonder what Rabbi Shimon wanted to learn from his Rebbi in the final days of Rabbi Akiva’s life. I suspect that the student wanted his master to share lessons he learned from his situation. Therefore, the entire “conversation” was Rabbi Akiva’s way of teaching Rabbi Shimon, even when he said, “I will not teach you.”

The Roman guards heard: Rabbi Shimon said to him, “Master! Teach me Torah!” Rabbi Akiva said, “I will not teach you.” They heard Rabbi Shimon send a message that the Jews would continue to study Torah even after they witnessed what happened to Rabbi Akiva. They would have been concerned had they not heard Rabbi Akiva’s response, “I will not teach you.” They tasted victory.

Rabbi Shimon was asking Rabbi Akiva to direct the Jewish response to his death sentence.  How will we continue to study Torah without you?

Rabbi Akiva responded, “I will not teach you.” You have to rise to the occasion and become the teacher.” Torah study does not survive only on what the teacher shares with his students; Torah study continues to thrive because, teachers focus on the principle, “make many students independent (Avot 1:1).”

Torah study demands that we use our learning to become involved and take responsibility.

Author Info:
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.

“One cannot compare someone who has reviewed his studies one hundred times to someone who has reviewed them one hundred and one.” (Chagigah)

Rabbi Yechezkail Levenstein zt”l explained that the latter is not someone who simply reviewed his studies one extra time. It describes someone who focused on “Achat” – the One -, as he studied.

We live with enhanced awareness of God on Rosh Hashana. We can take that awareness and add it to our studies, so that whenever we learn we remember “Achat” – The One.

Author Info: 



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.

Rabbi Yose taught: Every action in which a person engages that is not in the service of the Holy One, Blessed is He, turns into a breath that goes drifting through the world. And when the person’s soul departs, that breath whirls it through the world like a stone in the sling (David and Goliath), as it is written, “The soul of your enemies He will sling from the hollow of a sling.” (Samuel I 25:29) Who will sling? That breath conducting it through the world. So, everything done under the sun that is not in the service of the Holy One, Blessed is He, turns into a breath – but it is breaking of spirit, for it breaks the spirit, rising and falling in the world, as it is written, Breath (ur’ut ruach), and shattering of spirit.” (Ecclesiastes 1:14)

But whatever is service of his Lord is called ‘above the sun’ and becomes a holy breath. This is seed sown by a person in that world. What is its name? Righteousness, as it is written, “Sow for yourselves righteousness.” (Hosea 10:12) This conducts a person when his soul departs from him, raising him to a place where supernal glory is found, to be bound in the bundle of eternal life, as it is written, “Your righteousness will march before you.” (Isaiah 58:8) – leading you, raising you. To where? To the place of which it is written, “The glory of God will gather you in.” (ibid.)

All those souls conducted by that holy breath are gathered in by the one called “Glory of God”, enwrapped within it, as it is written: “The glory of God will gather you in.” This is called “Tranquility of Spirit”.

Happy are the righteous for all their actions make them worthy of the World to Come.

(Zohar, Volume 2:59a-b, Translation & Commentary by Daniel C. Matt – The Pritzker Edition 2007)

Breath is used to describe the effect of non-purpose driven action as we breathe without thinking. We take it for granted and forget that God used His breath, so to speak, to blow a soul into Adam.

The breath that is used to sound the shofar is directed upward, to ‘above the sun’ to remind us that we must live with a sense of great purpose, and that all for which we ask on Rosh Hashana must be to help us achieve our purpose, master ourselves and cleave to God.

Author Info: 



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.