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yo,
hope that everyone had a great week and rosh hashana preperations went well
(or at least the day off was nice). as to last weeks question regarding the
name of dan's lab rat, a number of very creative suggestions came in. after
long debate josh krug's suggestion of 'ozzy' ( as in your shevet name) was
chosen. as the new year is upon us, i wish dan and ozzy much succsess in
there jiont educaional efforts.
more intersesting stuff- for those of you that have not yet heard,
tali rappaport is going out with aron zelig. looks how all the generations
over lap!!!!
****LOTS OF BIRTHDAYS******
oct 1- alex radunsky oct 3- noam wiessman
oct 5- sam packer oct 6- tzvi weiss
oct7- shosh wolf oct 7- shosh kramer
tara bendavid gracsously gave us pre rosh hashana words of wisdom. thanks
tar for sharing your torah! (this dvar torah was written in memory of Moshe mordechai ben natan natah ztl, who will especially be missed over the yamim noraim)
Everyone has been hearing about the idea of teshuva and I think that many
people don't really understand what it really entails. The Rav explains that
there are 2 aspects of teshuva - kaparah and taharah. Both of these aspects
are used in the torah to describe the day of Yom Kippur (vayikra 15:30). We
have this dual aspect but what does each term mean?
Kaparah is when one gets rid of the punishment that is connected with
the sin. Rashi explains that the word kaparh is very similar to the word
koper = ransom. When we do kaparah it is a ransom to hashem so that our
punishment and then sin will be taken away. However it is not enough to just
get rid of your sin. One must elevate himself and grow from his experience.
That higher level is that of taharah. Tahara makes an impure person pure.
Kaparh is just getting away form you sin and not doing it again . the higher
level which is taharah is getting away from the atmosphere that caused the
sin. There are two ways to achieve taharah - one is soul searching. One must
really look inside if himself and his deeds and see what he needs to fix and
work on. the other way is through breaking your will or desires to do bad
things .s o there is an active and intellectual process involved in doing
taharah. But if one does tahara properly he can reach a higher level then he
was at before.Both the aspects of kaprah and taharah are crucial to do teshuva. On
Rosh Hashanah the teshuva that we have to do is a preparation for Yom Kippur.
We are starting to really focus on our teshuva ,the Rav calls this type-
herhor teshuva, it is a sudden realization that you need to do teshuva. And
to an extent it gets the person scared - Once one has had this he can start
to work towards Yom Kippur with his teshuva through these two aspect of
kaparh and taharh. - so it not enough to just get rid of your sin but you
must use it to elevate yourself to a higher level.My friend told me a nice parable that helps to put all of this into perspective. She said that everyone is connected to hashem with a string.
When man sins the sting is cut and man is very far from G-d. However when man
does both these aspects kaparah and taharh - one has does real teshuva. When
one does teshuva then hashem reties the string. When the string is retied it
is shorter then it was originally, bringing you closer to hashem. That is
what teshuva does - it brings you closer to hashem. So I hope that everyone
will be able to fill these two aspect in order to have complete tehsuva
which will lead to a meaningful rosh Hashanah and eventually Yom Kippur. An d
if there is anything that I did to hurt or offend everyone I apologize and
hope that you can forgive me. *****IMPORTANT STUFF******
*simchat torah in margate- where? margate!!!!! start letting myself,
reina and joey knowing that you are coming!!
*thursady night learning program- girls started last night- tali tara and
i were there- where were you? it was realy nice, i will let you know the
week before next time. *boys learning- yu thursday nights- learn- grow- have fun
i would like to take this oppertunity to wish each and every one of you a
shana tovah and the hope that your upcoming year will be as meaningful and
full of growth and happiness as possible. my life's experiences be like the
apple and the honey, hard the bite into but sweet to taste.
shana tovah1
devora
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