Live In or Live Out?
08/11/2013 12:53:02 PM
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 Live In or Live Out?Fascinating really. Israel is deeply embedded in the consciousness of our people. Those who are more observant pray for her three times a day and whenever they eat. Even those who are not as pious care deeply about her and think about her often. As we learnt in our very first JLI course, "The Land and the Spirit"- Israel is our mission, Israel is our destiny. And yet so much of our history, from our very inception as a people, occurred outside Israel! The first completely Jewish family - Jacob's - was founded outside of Israel. It was in Charan that Jacob was married and his children were born! Let's try to understand this apparent paradox. This week's parasha, Vayetze, is the parasha of Exile. At the beginning of the parasha, Jacob leaves Israel. At the end he returns. In the intervening 22 years he works, marries, has his children and becomes extraordinarily wealthy. One could say, that it is in the parasha of Vayetze that he becomes a mensch. It is here that he reaches the peak of his life's accomplishments. But Vayetze is unique in another way. It is the only parasha in the Torah where there are no paragraph breaks. It is one long paragraph from the beginning until the end. Imagine reading it the way it is written - you would be out of breath long before you reached the half-way mark! So why is it written this way? Because Jacob did not "settle down" in Exile. He was there for a reason - to fulfil his goal of establishing himself, marrying, and having children. Jacob may have been in Charan, but his heart and mind never left Israel. He didn't even take a breather! As soon as he had accomplished what he set out to do, he was back in Israel. Paradoxical isn't it? On the one hand, Jacob's greatest accomplishments were in Exile. On the other, his heart, mind and the deepest recesses of his soul, never left Israel. When you consider it deeply, however, it is not contradictory at all. It is precisely when you are not swallowed up by your work - when you keep sight of your ultimate goal and constantly check your daily involvement against what you really wish to achieve - that you achieve the most. As Jews, we must never be concerned for only ourselves and our own ethnic group. We have a message for the entire world. It is for this reason that G-d, in His Providence, has caused us to go into Exile - it is His way of "compelling" us to share that message. However while fulfilling G-d's mission, there is a real danger that we will be influenced by the mores of the world. To avoid this, it is imperative that we never lose sight of the fact that we are not at "home". Our true home is Israel in both the physical and spiritual sense. We are merely in Exile on a "business" trip - to do G-d's business. Just like Jacob, our souls were sent down into the world to accomplish G-d's mission. Just like Jacob, we were exiled from Israel to make the world a better place. Through his conduct, Father Jacob has taught us, his children, a very powerful lesson. In order to succeed in our mission and achieve our goals, we must learn to be in our work and out of our work, "in the world" and "out of the world" - at one and the same time! Hatzlacha Rabba - Much success in your life's work! With best wishes for a Good Shabbos, on behalf of the Rebbetzen and all of us at South Head. Rabbi Benzion Milecki OAM. Shabbat Shiur
After Kiddush in the Herbert Hall
Get Involved but don’t get Dirty! G-d wants us to engage with the world while remaining true to our souls! How do we manage the tension? Join us as we learn a powerful lesson from Jacob’s relationship with Lavan.
Jewish Science
Dr Velvl Greene 
Dr Velvl Greene was with NASA's Planetary Quarantine Division in the 1970s when the Space Agency was looking for life on Mars. Some people told him this type of work was forbidden by Jewish law. But the Rebbe told him, “You should look for life on Mars, and you should keep looking for life on Mars. If you don’t find it, then keep looking elsewhere, and do not stop looking, because to sit here in this world and say there is no life elsewhere is to put a limit around what G-d can do. And nobody can do that!” Click here to read the full story. JLI
The Will to Live
Lesson 2 raised much discussion as students looked at what possible purpose there is in a non-functional life and end of life treatments. Rabbi Milecki concluded that due to the nuances of this topic it is optimal to have individual discussion with a rabbi regarding these issues and that there are no such things as blanket statements when it comes to medical directives. Check us out on Facebook or view our Photo Gallery.  Brookie ReportsLots Coming! There are so many great things coming up before the end of the school year so make sure you put them all in your diary. You don't want to miss out!
Don't forget you can contact me anytime for full information on all youth activities. Call 9371 7300 ext 3 or email youth@southhead.org Looking forward to seeing you in Shul and wishing you a Good Shabbos. Brookie and the Youth Crew Parasha Sheet
Vayeitze
Q. Our Parasha this week begins by telling us that Yakov left the land of Be'er Sheva for the land of Charan. This statement is seemingly redundant as it was just at the end of last week's Parasha that the Torah told us that Yakov fled the city of Be'er Sheva for Charan (He fled from his brother Esav who wanted to kill him). However, we know that everything written in the Torah is written for a purpose, so what could the reiteration of this statement possibly mean? A. Yakov was the first of the forefathers whose children all followed the ways of Hashem. In order to accomplish this, Yakov needed to leave the comfort of Be'er Sheva and overcome the struggles that were found in Charan. Particularly, through entering a situation that would endanger his ability to serve Hashem and persevering in that type of environment, Yakov was able to build his family and the foundation for the future of the Jewish nation. Yakov knew of all of these dangers that awaited him in Charan and so he made a pit stop at the Yeshiva of Shem and Ever for fourteen years before carrying on to Charan. Before arriving in Charan Yakov also went out of his way to pray to Hashem. He knew that he was about to build his own home and he knew that before doing so it was necessary for him to strengthen his relationship with Hashem and the way to do this was through prayer. This is an important lesson for us, living in the twenty-first century. When a Jew is beginning to build a home he may think that although up until this point he dedicated his whole life to Torah study, now he can put his Torah study aside and spend his time working in order that he can 'make it' in the 'big' world. This is why the Torah stresses that Yakov left Be'er Sheva for Charan and he spent time davenning to Hashem before going to Charan. There are many obstacles that distract our observance of Hashem's Torah and make serving Hashem quite difficult. But, like Yakov we need to overcome these struggles and distractions. It is only through overcoming these that we are able to build a stronger connection with Hashem. This in turn produces a stronger Jewish home filled with light and warmth. Before starting to build a home it is important to strengthen both our relationship with and commitment to Hashem as this will provide the strength needed to overcome the obstacles and struggles you may face. And these obstacles will be far greater than anything experienced beforehand so it is very important to first strengthen our connection and relationship with Hashem. The above lesson is based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and adapted by Brookie Milecki To learn all about the Parasha, download our Parasha sheet! Please share our Parasha sheet around your Shabbat table and let your family and friends explore the Parasha of the week together with you. Communal Events
The performance on Sunday 17th November at 5.30pm is dedicated to raising awareness about the Gift of Life Australia program. Bookings: |
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Touch and Go
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666 Old South Head Rd Rose Bay, NSW 2029 (02) 9371 7300 |
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SHMINI
Rose Bay, NSW 2029
(02) 9371 7300