ב"ה
 While the federal government and emergency rescue organizations focused their efforts on fighting the fire and providing shelter for those now homeless from the blaze, Chabad of Los Alamos set their sights on those frequently overlooked during such a disaster - the children.
Bad things happen. They happen to good people. They also happen to bad people. The difference is not so much in what happens, but in what happens to the person. When bad things happen to bad people, they are confirmed in their badness. "We knew it all along," they say. "The world is a bad place. The only way to get anywhere in life is by being badder than all the other baddies." When something bad happens to a good person, it makes him or her a better person.
The History,the Customs, the Lessons and the Secrets Lag BaOmer means "the 33rd of the Omer," for this is the 33rd day of the 49-day "Counting of the Omer" which connects Passover to Shavuot. On the Jewish calendar, this corresponds with the 18th day of the month of Iyar; on the secular calendar this year it falls on Tuesday, May 23.
Panes is a hot drink made with boiling water, vodka and sugar, and is immensely popular in the shtetlach of rural Russia, especially on the long winter nights. Chassidus is the mystical-philosophical teachings expounded by the Chassidic masters, immensely popular in the shtetlach of rural Russia, especially on the long winter nights. Once, when Reb Areh Dokshitzer was in Lubavitch, the Rebbe said to him: "I hear that in Dokshitz they study Chassidus with panes. Tell me, what connection is there between the teachings of Chassidism and a samovar of panes...?!"
My daughter was hoping against hope that I'd detect something in the fine print on the wrapper that she hadn't been able to find. "I'm sorry, Sarah," I said, handing it back to her after a careful search. "I just don't see any kosher mark." "I can't believe what I just saw!" Cindy exploded and set on to berate me for destroying Sarah's sense of fun and spontaneity, encouraging compulsive behavior and contaminating our kid with fearful and superstitious ideas. She found it "scary" that the kid gave up a piece of candy she obviously relished "like some zombie follower of David Koresh."
What is mysticism? The word conjures up connotations of lofty abstraction, other-worldly meditation, abstruse speculations into the meaning of existence--a world apart from, perhaps even opposed to, the mundane and prosaic questions that make up the texture of daily life.
Where was G-d during the crusades, the holocaust, the Hebron pogrom? How could G-d allow the black plague to happen? There are no answers to these questions, and misguided attempts at explaining them away invariably result in embarrassed retreats, waffling, and covering oneself with obvious platitudes regarding G-d's inscrutability. The subject is simply beyond us, and the questions are best left alone. Chassidic teaching, however, does not leave them alone.
Any love that is dependent on something--when the thing ceases, the love also ceases. But a love that is not dependent on anything never ceases. Which is a love that is dependent on something? The love of Amnon for Tamar. And one that is not dependent on anything? The love of David and Jonathan.
The Hebrew month of Iyar celebrates Pesach Sheni, the second opportunity for those who missed the Paschal sacrifice at the Temple. Rabbi Mendel Katz, director of the Aleph Institute, understands a great deal about Jews who need a second chance. |
Bechukotai
Full Parshah Summary With Commentary 
THE REBBE: 50 YEARS PREVIOUS ISSUE | ||||||||||||||