B"H
MAZEL TOV TO THE FELLERS ON THE BIRTH OF A BABY BOY!
ב"ה
With gratitude to the Almighty we announce the birth of a son שי'
On Sunday, 29 Tammuz, Erev Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av, July 31st
Thank G-d Mother and Baby are well!
The baby will enter the ‘Bris’- covenant of our Forefather Abraham of Peaceful Memory,
G-d willing, this Sunday, 7 Menachem Av, August 7th at 12:30 p.m.
At Bais Chana - Lubavitch House
400 Marie Avenue West, West St. Paul.
May we always merit sharing simchas!
With prayers that we immediately merit the fulfillment of the prophecy that
“These days will be transformed to ‘gladness and great joy’” with the arrival of Moshiach,
Menachem Mendel and Nechama Dina Feller
In honor of the newborn, the traditional “Shalom Zuchur” will take place at Lubavitch House,
This Friday night, Shabbos Chazon - in conjunction with “Seudas Leil Shabbos” dinner.
The traditional “Vach nacht” with Torah Study and Shema reading
Will take place at our home on Motza’ei Shabbos.
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A Jewish vision of redemption ultimately emanates from the source whence destruction receives its energy. Shabbat Chazon ("Vision") precedes Tisha B'Av so that the vision of a glorious future can combat and neutralize the destructive forces concentrated on this fateful day. A true visionary has the ability to see a good future through even a troubled present. This idea is embodied in the Sage's statement that Moshiach is born on Tisha B'Av. He is conceived in the collective super-consciousness of the Jewish People and his birth is the manifestation of the deep belief in the ultimate redemption of the world. This universal vision, imprinted within the very day of destruction, forms the essential core of the soul of Moshiach.
(Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburg at inner.org)
Shabbat Chazon
The Shabbat preceding the Ninth of Av is called Shabbat Chazon—“Shabbat of the Vision.” This Shabbat’s reading from the Prophets begins with the words Chazon Yeshayahu, the “vision of Isaiah” regarding the destruction of the Holy Temple. The legendary chassidic master Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev said that on this special Shabbat, every Jewish soul is shown a vision of the third Holy Temple. The purpose of this vision is to arouse within every Jew a yearning to actually see this edifice which will be built by G‑d, and to do as many mitzvot as possible in order to realize this dream. While this vision may not be sensed with the physical eyes, the soul certainly experiences this vision, and it affects the person on the subconscious level.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to:
Ruchama Feller (10 Av)
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Tisha B’Av (Tuesday, August 9)
What happened on the Ninth of Av?
A Historical Overview
The 9th of Av, Tisha b'Av, commemorates a list of catastrophes so severe it's clearly a day specially cursed by G‑d.
Picture this: The year is 1313 BCE. The Israelites are in the desert, recently having experienced the miraculous Exodus, and are now poised to enter the Promised Land. But first they dispatch a reconnaissance mission to assist in formulating a prudent battle strategy. The spies return on the eighth day of Av and report that the land is unconquerable. That night, the 9th of Av, the people cry. They insist that they'd rather go back to Egypt than be slaughtered by the Canaanites. G‑d is highly displeased by this public demonstration of distrust in His power, and consequently that generation of Israelites never enters the Holy Land. Only their children have that privilege, after wandering in the desert for another 38 years.
The First Temple was also destroyed on the 9th of Av (423 BCE). Five centuries later (in 69 CE), as the Romans drew closer to the Second Temple, ready to torch it, the Jews were shocked to realize that their Second Temple was destroyed the same day as the first.
When the Jews rebelled against Roman rule, they believed that their leader, Simon bar Kochba, would fulfill their messianic longings. But their hopes were cruelly dashed in 133 CE as the Jewish rebels were brutally butchered in the final battle at Betar. The date of the massacre? Of course—the 9th of Av!
One year after their conquest of Betar, the Romans plowed over the Temple Mount, our nation's holiest site.
The Jews were expelled from England in 1290 CE on, you guessed it, Tisha b'Av. In 1492, the Golden Age of Spain came to a close when Queen Isabella and her husband Ferdinand ordered that the Jews be banished from the land. The edict of expulsion was signed on March 31, 1492, and the Jews were given exactly four months to put their affairs in order and leave the country. The Hebrew date on which no Jew was allowed any longer to remain in the land where he had enjoyed welcome and prosperity? Oh, by now you know it—the 9th of Av.
Ready for just one more? World War II and the Holocaust, historians conclude, was actually the long drawn-out conclusion of World War I that began in 1914. And yes, amazingly enough, the First World War also began, on the Hebrew calendar, on the 9th of Av, Tisha b'Av.
What do you make of all this? Jews see this as another confirmation of the deeply held conviction that history isn't haphazard; events – even terrible ones – are part of a Divine plan and have spiritual meaning. The message of time is that everything has a rational purpose, even though we don't understand it.
ב"ה
Parshas Devarim
Shabbos Night
Shabbos Candle lighting: 8:14 pm
Kabolas Shabbos/Maariv: 8:14 pm
Shabbos Dinner: 9:30 pm
Shabbos Day
Shacharis: 10:00 am
Kiddush Lunch: 1:00 pm
Mincha: 8:30 pm
Maariv: 9:23 pm
Havdala: after Maariv
What's In A Name
ARIEL means "lion of G-d." Ariel was a leader who served under Ezra (Ezra 8:16). It is also a symbolic name for King David's city, Jerusalem (Isaiah 29:1).
AZUVA means "abandoned." Azuva was the wife of Caleb (I Chronicles 2:18) According to the Talmud, Azuva was another name for Miriam because she was "abandoned" when she had leprosy. A later Azuva was the mother of King Jehoshafat (I Kings 22:42).
The True Translation
By Tali Loewenthal
In our multinational society, translations are an important part of life. Ideally, they enable different peoples, who have totally different ways of thinking, to connect together. But are translations always accurate?
The Parshah of Devarim (Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22), beginning the fifth and final Book of the Torah, presents Moses giving talks to the Jewish people, explaining what the Torah is going to mean in their lives when they enter the Land of Israel. The Sages tell us he did not only speak to them in Hebrew: he also translated the Torah into the seventy languages of the original seventy nations of the world.
This was opening the possibility for future translations of the Torah, as in our time, communicating aspects of Torah thought to very disparate kinds of people: men and women with different life-styles, with different questions. The Torah has answers for them all, but these have to be translated in a way which they can understand.
Now, this is a sensitive and possibly dangerous process. A false phrase in the translation might lead a person in the wrong direction, with serious consequences. In fact, the Sages were very anxious about an actual event in Second Temple times, when the Torah was translated into Greek. The Greek king of Alexandria was fascinated by the idea of the Torah, and ordered the Sages to produce a translation. He was worried they might falsify something, so he made seventy two Sages sit in separate cubicles, so that each one would write an independent version. Miraculously, their translations tallied with each other, even when it came to delicate passages which could easily be misconstrued.
Nonetheless, the later Jewish sages commented that the day the Torah was translated into Greek "was as difficult for the Jewish people as the day when the Golden Calf was made, because the Torah cannot really be translated." What is meant by the comparison with the day the Golden Calf was made?
Incidentally, the worship of the Golden Calf caused Moses to break the Tablets of the Law on the 17th of Tammuz, commemorated recently with a fast. This began the Three Weeks which culminate with the fast of the Ninth of Av, when both Temples were destroyed.
The Sages were worried about a false translation of the Torah. In a sense, that is exactly what the Golden Calf was: a false translation of spirituality. The people wanted something spiritual which would be here, in our lower world. A true translation of holiness would be the Sanctuary, or the Temple. According to Nachmanides, the Golden Calf was actually intended to substitute for Moses. Moses' role was to connect the Jewish people with G-d. A false translation of this role was the Golden Calf: an idol, which would only separate people from G-d.
However, ultimately the translation of the Torah into Greek had a positive effect: it communicated the Oneness of G-d to all nations. Further, Moses' translation of the Torah into the seventy languages was the key to the communication of Torah in our own time, to Jews all over the world.
The effect of this spread of Torah will eventually be the transformation of the sad day of the Ninth of Av into a joyous festival, with the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. This, at last, will be the true translation, translating sorrow into joy.
If you need a place to stay for Shabbos,
please call Rabbi Mendel Feller or
Mrs. Nechama Dina Feller,
651-457-6778 for arrangements.
