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ROSH HA SHANA YOM KIPPUR

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5776EXODUS MAGAZINE - MONTREAL

September2015

SUKKOT SIMCHAT TORAH

Dear Friends, On Behalf of Chabad Russian Youth Center, We Wish You a Happy,Healthy & Prosperous New Year ! 5776

Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur in our SynagogeYou are Invited to Celebrate

ROSH HA SHANA - Jewish New Year - 5776 September 14-th at 6:00 pm

When:

When: YOM KIPPUR - September 22-nd in the Evening and September 23-rd – Entire Day

Where: At Our Synagogue - 7370 COTE-S.-LUC Road, On the SECOND Floor, Suite # 111

For Additional Information Please Contact Rabbi Moshe Reikhtman at : (514) 777-9161

Ktiva Ve Chatima Tova, Le Shana Tova U’Metuka !

Rosh

Hashana YomKippur

Times of Change From Elul to Yom KippurAfter receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai, Moses pleaded with G-d to forgive the Jewish people for worshipping the golden calf. Moses ascended Mount Sinai, remaining there in a fasting and meditative state for a period of forty days, from the first day of Elul until Yom Kippur, the day on which the Almighty granted forgiveness to the Children of Israel. Since that time, these days are marked as a period of mer-cy on the part of G-d, a most opportune time in which “the King is in the field” and it is up to us to go out and greet Him and crown Him as King in our own daily life.

The ShofarA Wake Up CallOne hundred sounds are blown from the shofar each day of Rosh Hashanah. The shofar is a ram’s horn, the oldest and most primitive of wind instruments, yet its call touches the innermost chords of the soul. Its sound is simple and plaintive — a cry from the heart, like that of a lost child for its parent. It is a call to evaluate our actions and improve our ways, as expressed in the verse: “Awake sleepers from your sleep, slumberers, arise from your slumber — exam-ine your deeds, return and remember your Creator.”

The Ten Days of Return Spiritual AccountingThe ten days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, known as the “Ten Days of Return”, are devoted to asess-ing the nature of one’s relationship with G-d and human-kind. These days, especially the first Shabbat after Rosh Hashana (known as Shabbat Shuva) posess an exception-al capacity for transformation, whether it be in our devo-tion to the Torah or our commitment to our loved ones and the Jewish people as a whole.

September 13–15 September 22–23

Rosh Hashana To Do List

Spiritual AccountingPersonal and honest analysis of the past.Positive resolutions for the future.

Throw Your Sins Away (Sept. 14, afternoon)Walk to a nearby pond for the traditional Tashlich prayer:Throw away your negative energy.

Celebrate the New YearRecite Kiddush over wine at each meal.For a good and sweet year, eat traditional Rosh Hashana foods:Apples & Honey, Pomegranates, Fish head, etc.

TeshuvahThe Return JourneyAlthough often translated as repentance, teshuvah really means “return” — a return to the true inner self that is always connected to its Source. It is an expression of our desire to come closer to G-d. The concept of returning also applies to G-d Himself, in that the spark of G-dliness that is inside every Jew is pushed away when we become distant. By returning to our source, the G-dly spark within us returns to us. The word teshuvah can also mean to turn, and the ultimate expression of our return journey is whenwe can turn ourselves around completely in thought, speech and action.

Kol Nidrei The Jew WithinThe first prayer of Yom Kippur, as the sun is setting, is Kol Nidrei, the cancellation of vows. The significance of this prayer dates back to the persecution of Jews during the Spanish Inquisition of the 15th century, when Jews were forced to convert to Catholicism under the threat of death. Outwardly, the Jews behaved like their Spanish neighbors, but in private they remained devout. Once a year they would gather in secret, declaring Kol Nidrei to vow their commitment to Judaism, despite their seemingly Catholic lives. Kol Nidrei was their proclamation that their external behavior was not who they were. Similarly, our souls are cloaked in external garments, which are not us. Though we may think, talk and act in ways incongruous to our Jewishness, that is not who we truly are. On Yom Kippur, we hope to transcend our outer garments and reach our inner souls.

Prayer is likened to a ladder on which we can ascend and connect to G-d, step by step. On Yom Kippur, every Jew is given the ability to go beyond this normal process to get “beamed up” directly.

Yom Kippur To Do List

Kaparot (Sept. 22, early morning)Ancient custom observed by circling a fowl (or money) over one’shead while reciting a special prayer. Consult your prayerbook.

* From a pre-existing flame.

Light Holiday Candles (Sept. 13: 6:52pm, Sept. 14*: after 7:52pm)Women and girls light up the world. See calendar for blessings.

Hear the Shofar (Sept. 14 and 15, in synagogue)For a complete High Holiday schedule contact usor visit us online

Light Holiday Candles (Sept. 22: 6:34 pm)Women and girls light up the world. See calendar for blessings.

Observe The Day of Atonement (Sept. 22: 6:34 pm - Sept. 23: 7:34pm)No eating, drinking, bathing, applying lotions, wearing leather shoes or marital intimacy.

Yizkor: Remeberance of the DepartedLight Yizkor candles at home before 6:34pm on Sept. 22.Recite the special Yizkor prayer in synagogue at 12pm on Sept. 23.

Sukkot Shmini Atzeret &

Simchat Torah

September 27 – OctOber 4 OctOber 4 – 6The SukkahFeel at Home

“It is fitting that all of Israel should dwell in a single sukkah.”

(Talmud)

A sukkah is an outdoor structure, where we eat our meals during the Festival of Sukkot in symbolic demonstration of our faith in G-d’s providence. Its roof is composed of veg-etation such as evergreen branches, cornhusks or bamboo stalks.

“Sukkah is the only mitzvah into which a person enters with his muddy boots,” goes the Chassidic saying. The sukkah, its walls and roofing, encompass us entirely. Our whole being — from our intellect and emotion down to the tips of our toes — is involved with this mitzvah. The sukkah en-compasses its visitors in unison. In this way, the sukkah re-veals the simple and beautiful oneness of a people rooted in the oneness of their Creator. When all of Israel dwells in a single sukkah, our unity transcends our differences.

The Four SpeciesIt Takes All Kinds

“G-d says, ‘Let them be bound together in one bond, and these will atone for those.’” (Midrash)

On Sukkot, the unity of the Jewish people is further ex-pressed by blessing the Four Kinds. The etrog (citron) has both a pleasant taste and smell; the lulav is the branch of the date palm, whose fruit is tasty but has no scent; The hadas (myrtle branch) is tasteless but aromatic; the ara-vah (willow branch) has neither taste nor smell.

When we are bound together, each individual makes up for that which is lacking in the others.

Sukkot To Do List

DancingThe Soul on Fire

“The Torah wants to circle the bimah and dance; since it cannot, we become its feet, transporting the Torah around the reading table, just as feet transport the head.”

(Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, the previous Rebbe)

Though the Torah is usually associated with disciplined study, on Simchat Torah we approach it differently, with intense singing and dancing in a manner that bears no ap-parent relationship to our intellect. We are lifted beyond the realm of our individual identities and become the feet of the Torah. These celebrations reveal that our bond with G-d and the Torah is unconfined by the limits of intellect — it is an infinite and essential connection.

Simchat Torah taps a point in the soul that defies the dif-ferences that exist between one Jew and another.

This type of unified celebration anticipates the ultimate celebrations that will accompany the coming of Mashiach, when we will fully realize and feel our essential connection to G-d and His Torah.

Life After the Holidays Okay... Now What?We experienced the rich spiritual adventures ofof Tishrei, from intesne reflection and prayer, to shofar blasts and dancing like crazy.

So, now what? We are approaching a long streatch on the Jewish calendar with not a single holiday until Chan-nuka, and this is an indication of our challenge: To carry the spiritual accomplishments and excitement of the High Holidays into the rest of the year.

The spiritual highs are beautiful, but the real purpose is to bring it down to earth.

Shmini Atzeret & Simchat Torah To Do List

* From a pre-existing flame.* From a pre-existing flame.

Eat in the Sukkah (from Sept. 27 until Oct. 5)On Sukkot it is customary to eat all meals in a sukkah.Consult the JRCC calendar for blessings

Lulav & EtrogBless the four species on each day, except Shabbat. For blessings and customs, consult page 240 of the Tehillat Hashem Prayerbook.

It is customary to begin preparing for Sukkot immediatelyfollowing the end of Yom Kippur by purchasing the FourSpecies and begining the construction of the Sukkah.

Hakafot: Dance with the TorahOct. 5 and 6See information below.

DANCE ALL NIGHT! MONDAY, OCT 5:

Light Holiday Candles (Sept. 27: 6:25pm, Sept. 28*: after 7:25pm) Women and girls light up the world. See calendar for blessings.

Light Holiday Candles (Oct. 4: 6:11pm, Oct. 5*: after 7:11pm) Women and girls light up the world. See calendar for blessings.

Yizkor: Remeberance of the DepartedLight Yizkor candles at home before 6:11 pm on Oct. 4.Recite the special Yizkor prayer in synagogue at 12 pm on Oct. 5.

The soul is stirring from its slumber, eager to cast off the chains of the material world and leap into the infinite possibilities offered by a new year on G‑d’s earth. It is the kind of stirring that starts revolutions and inspires mass movements – if only it can be properly harnessed and made to last.But like naïve, fresh‑faced, suburban college kids in the sixties, we join the herd marching to the drumbeat of the High Holidays ritual not necessarily because we feel the energy of the soul stirring, but because we are looking for something – something that we lost somewhere along the way of life’s journeys.

An examination of the High Holiday prayer liturgy reveals that much of the language has to do with searching. What are we searching for is the potential for beauty that is hidden within every individual. We are all, in essence, perfect. However, in our worldly experiences, we often involve ourselves in dirty business, whether it be negative thoughts, foul words or actions that we know we are above, which cause the potential for beauty to be lost. Like any lost object, the only way to find the lost beauty within is to retrace our steps and search in the places where it was lost.

The High Holidays, more than any other time of the year, offer us the opportunity to reflect upon and reclaim the hidden beauty that got polluted by our earthly adventures; because the Essence of the Soul is stirring on these days, all we have to do is remove the obstacles, all we have to do it find those thoughts and words and actions that were part of our dirty business throughout the year. By being honest and seeing them for what they are, we reclaim the potential beauty inand Evil, thereby bringing negativity into their consciousness and by extension into the entire world. They were then banished from the Garden of Eden, as the Torah explicitly states, lest they eat from the Tree of Life and live forever. What was G‑d afraid of? Why couldn’t they eat from the Tree of Life and live forever? And if living forever is such a problem, why were humans created to be immortal in the first place?

G‑d wants us humans to choose Him freely. So he sticks us in a world (and a body) full of uncertainty, a reality in which denying G‑d and pursuing evil are viable options. For us to live and choose freely, those moments that were lost to negativity.Simply put, in order to go from a state of being lost to a state of being found, I need to call in the search and rescue team – an honest search into my self and my thoughts and words and actions with a determined effort to rescue the lost opportunities that are revealed in the search, no matter how difficult it may be, and to reclaim that energy. And then all I have to do is let your Soul shine.

The result is, hopefully, not just a temporary high and a passing phase, but an experience that is transformative, resulting in lasting change. Yeah, this isn't always the case, but there is hope. I have had such experiences in the past, moments of elation that carried with me, whose effects became a permanent part of my narrative and journey, the effects of which I feel to the day. Usually it happens when I put in the necessary inner work, the inner exploration and preparation to reach the moment of truth in a state of readiness. But sometimes it also just seems to happen.

e is real, and it beings me one step closer to living a more holistic life, bridging the gap between by ideal self and my actual self. The struggle between what I want and what seems right becomes less of a battle, as the universal wisdom and Divine will become more internalized, and I become more aligned, sometimes in subtle ways, with the purpose of my existence. With that comes a much more holistic attachment to life and love and others, and more freedom since I feel less coerced and more impelled to live the good life, which becomes less of a moral imperative and more of an inner intuition

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September 2015 TISHREI 5776

OBSHINA.CA

contents| JEWISH SOUL

Chaos in the World I surely do not have to point out to you that the question of “why do the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper?” is a very old one, and was already asked by Moses...

— From letters of the Rebbe

| LIFE ON EARTH

The Whole World in Our Hands On Rosh Hashanah, our state of being determines these things: What sort of light will shine in this world? Upon what sort of earth we will stand and what sort of life will surround us?

— by Tzvi Freeman

| JEWISH THOUGHT YOU AT YOUR BESTHow much of your potential has been actualized? As you may have guessed, this is a trick question. Because we must first know how much potential we have before determining the amount that has been tapped.

— by Simon Jacobson

| PERSPECTIVES THE IRONY OF THE ExPULSIONS FROM GAZA Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza 10 years ago was a strategic disaster. But it could have been much more devastating if the ideologues behind it had their way. Formally, the withdrawal was supposed to do two things...

— by Caroline Glick

MONTREAL JEWISH MAGAZINE

j e w i s h s o u l

Chaos in the World

I am in receipt of your letter in which you write about happenings in the family and ask why such untoward happenings

did occur, though you find nothing in your conduct and activities that would justify them.

I surely do not have to point out to you that the question of “why do the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper?” is a very old one, and was already asked by Moses who received the Torah from G‑d and handed it over to each and every Jew as an everlasting inheritance for all times. As you probably also know, the whole book of Iyov (Job) is devoted to this problem and it has been dealt with ever since.

The point of the answer given by our Sages, as it has often been explained at length, is by way of the example of a small child who does not understand why his father who is such a wise and kind person sometimes acts in a way which causes a child pain and tears. It would not surprise any person that the child is not in a position to understand the ways of his father although, be it noted, only a number of years separate them in age, and also in intelligence. At the same time, the child instinctively feels and knows that his father loves him and surely it is everything for his benefit, and not for the benefit of any other child or for his own benefit, since it would be unthinkable that a father who has a one and only son, cause pain to his child for the benefit of a stranger or for his own benefit.

If this is so in the case of a child and his father, where the distinction between them is only relative, in terms of age and intelligence, as mentioned above, how much

more so in the case of a created being and the Creator, where the distinction is absolute and unbridgeable. Indeed, it would have been most surprising if a human being could understand the way of G‑d, except to the extent that G‑d Himself, in His kindness, has revealed some aspects of His Divine Providence and in a necessarily very limited way. Moreover, our Torah, the Totah of Life and the Torah of Truth, assures us that when a Jew strengthens his faith and trust in G‑d, Whose benevolent Divine Providence extends to each and everyone individually, and Who is the essence of Goodness, and it is the nature of the Good to do good – this

in itself opens new insights into a better understanding of G‑d’s ways and at the same time speeds G‑d’s blessings in the kind of good that is revealed and evident.

And, as mentioned earlier, this fact that Moses already pondered this question, did not in the least affect his simple faith in G‑d and did not in any way affect his observance of the Torah and mitzvos in his daily life and conduct, and this is also what he bequeathed to each and every Jew in all future generations.

It is surely also unnecessary to point out that this question that might arise under certain circumstances in the life of an individual can just as well be asked in connection with the long‑suffering history of our people in exile for the past 1900 years and more. Yet, here too, despite the persecutions, martyrdom and suffering, our people tenaciously clung to the Torah and mitzvos as their only way of life and it has not weakened their belief in and confident hope of the ultimate true and complete redemption through our righteous Moshiach, when it will become apparent that the whole long and dark exile was a blessing in disguise.

Much more could be said in this subject, but I hope that the above will suffice to help you regain fully your true Jewish perspective, especially as what has been written above is not intended to answer the question once and for all, but merely to help minimize the doubts and questions which might distract a Jew from his innate simple faith in G‑d and in His infinite loving kindness and justice, which is an integral part of every Jew’s heritage. EM

From the letters of the Rebbe

Two weeks before the Jewish new year begins, we read one of the most enigmatic phrases in the Torah. Most

enigmatic because its simple meaning seems so radical and strange: “You cause G‑d to speak today.” Generally it is translated differently—in many forms—but the chassidic masters go ahead and explain it according to this simple meaning: On this day, the day of Rosh Hashanah, the Creator awaits us to bring Him to speak.

What do we bring G‑d to speak? The ten sayings by which the world was originally created—“Let there be light!” “Let there be a sky!” “Let the earth sprout forth herbage!” Everything, up to and including, “Let there be a human being.”

On Rosh Hashanah, our state of being determines these things: What sort of light will shine in this world? What sort of heavens will stand beyond our heads? Upon what sort of earth we will stand and what sort of life will surround us? As impossible as it may sound, we are responsible for the creation of our very own being—“Let us make man.” And in “Let us make man,” all the rest of creation depends.

In the beginning, before we were here, creation could be in only one direction. G‑d spoke and the world came to be. Every year, that act of creation replays on the awesome day of Rosh Hashanah. Last year’s lease on existence was for one year only, and now the entire process must begin again.

You would think that lease would be renewed on the anniversary of the first day of creation. But no, the process—and negotiations—waits for our day, the sixth day of creation, when the human being was first created. Because, in the language of the Zohar, “From this point on, everything is initiated from below.”

Not just initiated. Driven.In three ways, the human being is

responsible for his own creation. All of them are hard work; all are contained in the verse, “A man is born to labor.”

“What sort of labor?” ask the sages of the Talmud. Perhaps for the labor of work? But no, that is not enough. Perhaps for the labor of talk? But no, that is also not enough. Perhaps for the labor of Torah—and yes, that is it.

The words of the sages are deep with meaning, much deeper than they seem. For in all three of these forms of labor lies the purpose of the human being. And in all three, we partner in creating our world.

Our first labor is that the Creator should create.

Existence, after all, is not a given—there is no reason why anything should exist at all. And once it does, there is nothing of the moment now that insists that the next moment of existence must follow.

How then is this world sustained? Through the labor of our work.

“G‑d is your shadow,” reads the psalm, and the Baal Shem Tov explained, “Whatever you do, G‑d shadows your actions.” Not as a shadow of darkness that has no substance of its own, but more like a personal shadow or assistant, who is there with you, to magnify the impact of your efforts.

You create—a home, a business, a life. G‑d shadows that and He creates—your entire world. You create with integrity and honesty, He does the same. That’s what we mean when we say that Rosh Hashanah is a day of judgment. It is a statement not of belittlement, but of empowerment: According to your actions are the ten sayings

of Creation each year. And so your world will be.

Now that there is a creation, it requires meaning. A creation without meaning is like a word that spells nothing. It is not a word, it is a string of letters. As a story that tells nothing is not a story, so too a creation without meaning can barely be said to exist.

Whatever intent the Creator had in creating this world, He certainly let no inkling of it pass through His words. He said, and it was. But why? Why should there be light? Why a sky? What is all this cycle of life and renewal? Like a supervisor ordering about his underlings, “Lay the cement here! Put up a girder here!” with no reasons given, no room for understanding, like a meaningless string of letters, so the world came into being.

In this case, there were not even any underlings to carry any of it out. A concert played for deaf ears may be a wasted concert, but it still has beauty of its own. In this case, there was no concert, just a string of

All meaning was withheld, so that the final creature could come and discover it on his own.

commands. In the six days of Creation, all meaning was withheld, so that the final creature of this creation could come and

Tzvi Freeman

the Whole World in our hands

l i f e o n e a r t h

l i f e o n e a r t h

discover it on his own.Which is what Adam did on the first Rosh

Hashanah, the birthday of humankind. He opened his eyes to a world that appeared to have always been here just because it was here with no need to justify its existence, or even any knowledge that it is an existence and that there is anything to justify. Adam lifted his eyes to the vast sky above, filled with stars at night and a bright sun by day. He gazed about at the bustling flora and fauna of endless diversity. He beheld mighty mountains and majestic waterfalls, flowing rivers and verdant forests.

And he cried out, “I know what this is! This is not just a jungle! This is the garden of a great and magnificent King! This is not just a sky! This is the vast glory of my Maker! This is not a sun, it is the warmth and love of He who made me! This is not just teaming life, a tiger, an elephant, an ant and a fish—this is the infinite beauty of my Creator in endless forms! This is not just a mountain, or a waterfall, or a river or a forest—this is all the majesty of the Infinite, who created a world out of kindness and might, beauty and wonder, glory and majesty, so that His creatures might know Him!”

Man said, “It is light! All of it is light!” And everything became light.

G‑d made the world. Adam gave it a place to stand.

“On three things the world stands,” taught Rabbi Shimon the Tzadik, one of the earliest sages of the Mishnah. “On Torah, on the labor of prayer, and on acts of loving‑kindness.”

Some had the world stand upon the back of a turtle. Others upon the shoulders of a mighty man. Rabbi Shimon had it stand upon the meaning we provide for it. And how do we provide it meaning? By connecting our minds to the mind of our Creator, opening our hearts to His boundless love, and laboring to transform His world into a place where one being cares for another, so that the many become one and darkness can no longer find a place to hide.

And then, the world has meaning. And so, it stands. It becomes real.

Which means that when you stand before your Creator on that awesome day of Rosh Hashanah when all the universe is renewed

again, aware that you speak not to some foreign god removed from you and this world, but to the One who chooses to generate all existence in its every detail at every moment from the void, you, your self‑sentience and your very sense of “I” included—at that moment a burning question must arise in your mind: In what way do I exist? How could I exist? What room is there for me to exist in the context of such an all‑consuming existence?

There could be only one response. You say to this awesome presence, “I exist because you choose I should know you. I exist because you choose to desire my love. I exist because you choose that a puny being such as me will do whatever it can to fix up Your world, out of Your love for me, to let me partner with You in your act of creating this universe.”

And now there is meaning. And now there can be a world.

But that is not enough. The creation, to be complete, must draw its Creator within itself. And that is achieved when we provide its Creator some interest in creating it.

From the evening of Rosh Hashanah until the shofar is blown the next day, all of existence is in limbo. In the language of the kabbalists, the inner world has departed and the outer world is in a coma. G‑d does not speak, His thoughts of the world cease, the ten sefirot return to nothingness, and the cosmic mind switches off. As a person on life support who can barely be said to remain alive, the world wavers at the most liminal border of existence. Most vitally, the Creator’s very interest in sustaining existence departs as well, as though He were saying, “Why should I have a world, whatever its meaning?”

“Know that which is above you,” says the Mishnah. But the Hebrew can be read as “Know that which is above from you.” Explained the Magid of Mezritch: Know that all that occurs above is from you. But his disciple, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, took that much further: Not only that which occurs, but the very existence of all that is above—up to highest emanations and even the primal will and desire of the Creator—all is from you. All that exists came to be only from the thought of what you would

accomplish in this world on your own. 12And now, to bring it to exist again, you

much reach back to that primal thought.How do we bring the Creator within

His creation? By touching not just upon this world’s meaning, but upon the delight the Creator has in it. To do that, we must contribute something novel, something of our own. That is what is expressed in the labor of Torah.

There is Torah, and there is the labor of Torah. To study Torah is to connect your mind to the mind of your Creator. To labor in Torah is to delve deeply into that Mind, struggling with that which is beyond your own mind, reaching beyond your own self, until you tunnel deep enough to discover that which lies beneath all that was ever said, and yet, until now, was never spoken. To labor in Torah is to discover new Torah—Torah that was given at Sinai, but not yet received. Until you, now, have revealed it.

The subconscious of man connects with the subconscious of G‑d, and from there, something entirely new enters the world. This is the human being in his ultimate sense: Man, the creator. Not simply a creature that brings potential into actual, but one that creates something new on his own initiative. A creature that becomes a partner in the creation of his own world. At which point, the ultimate Creator looks with the ultimate delight and says, “Yes! There I am! Something new has been made! I am creating from within My creation!”

This is the labor for which we have strived all these generations, and the focus of every Rosh Hashanah: To recreate our world. To make order from confusion, harmony from destruction, caring and compassion where apathy had reigned, light out of darkness.

Soon, very soon, will be a time when we will behold “the new heavens and the new earth that I have created.” And we will say, “We, too, were partners in that creation.” EM

Tzvi Freeman is the author of a number of original renditions of Kabbalah and Chassidic teachings, including the acclaimed Bringing Heaven Down to Earth. Tzvi’s books are available online at chabad.org.

How much of your potential has been actualized? As you may have guessed, this is a trick question. Because we

must first know how much potential we have before determining the amount that has been tapped. The real question then is: Do you know how much potential you contain? How deep is your soul? Or in the words of Alice's Wonderland: How far down does the rabbit hole go?

This is not a mere academic exercise; it is the key to solving many if not most of our challenges and struggles. How many of our problems are a result of us feeling hopeless and demoralized due to a wrong or underestimated assessment of our true potential? How many of our concerns would be resolved if we knew that we had the resources and strength to deal with them?

Think of it this way: When faced with a dilemma, how much of the challenge is the issue itself and how much is it our confidence in our ability to find a solution? Who is in a better position to handle a predicament: One with more potential (but less awareness of his latent power) or one with more confidence and conviction (but with less potent fire‑power)? All this underscores the critical importance of getting to know how powerful you actually are as opposed to how powerful you think you are.

The Holiest Day of the YearNow imagine that you have one day a year

when you can meet yourself face to face. A day when core soul is bared and you can see who you really are — not just who you think you are.

Wouldn't that be something?Well, we are indeed given such a day. That

day is called Yom Kippur. A day when we can travel into the innermost depths of our souls, and discover hitherto unknown recesses and dimensions that can empower you to achieve the seemingly impossible.

Yom Kippur opens up doors to the core of our inner souls, to our very essence, and how to channel those intimate powers into our daily lives and relationships.

.The Kabbalists and Chassidic masters teach us that the soul as it were is comprised of five dimensions, one curled into the next:

1. The surface level of the soul is Nefesh – sensory life. The medical definition of

biological life: a beating heart, a live brain, a breathing organism. In the language of he Kabbalistic sefirot — the functional lowest three sefirot, netzach, hod, yesod (neh"i).

2. Layer two is Ruach – emotional life. The higher middos, chesed, gevurah, tiferet (chaga"s).

3. Neshomo – intellectual life. Mochin, chochma, binah, daas (chabad).

These first three levels are immanentm, conscious and localized dimensions (kochos penimi'im). Then comes the transecendent, non‑localized powers of keter (the crown abve the head):

4. Chaya – transcendent life. Arich (the lower domension of keter).

5. And finally Yechida – oneness – the pure essence of the soul. Atik (the higher dimension of keter). Yechida, oneness, is the pintele yid – the inner dot, the purest point of your most intimate self. The inner child of innocence. Your core.

Our most tangible experiences are on the outer layers of the soul; what our surface senses and basic consciousness can perceive. But our truest and most meaningful experiences are on the inner levels of the soul, the deepest of them all – on the yechida level.

However, the deepest recesses of the soul are shrouded within its outer layers, which

in turn are encased in the hard crust of the physical body and material universe.

Thus, we have three daily prayers (shacharit, mincha and maariv) corresponding to the first three conscious soul‑dimensions (nefesh, ruach, nehsomo, nara"n) which we can access in our daily life routines.

On Shabbat and holidays we add a fourth prayer (musaf), reflecting the transcendent chaya dimension accessible on these material‑labor‑free days.

And once a year, achas ba'shono (lit. once a year), all the layers are stripped and we experience the fifth dimension — hence the fifth neilah prayer at rthe conclusion of Yom Kippur — “achas,” the oneness and unity of the innermost dimension of the soul, the holy of holies – yechida sheb’nefesh.

Like the high priest who entered the holy of holies only on the holiest day of the year, on Yom Kippur, the holiest part of each soul enters the holiest space in existence, and can access the innermost core of its being.

This is the story of our lives. We are born pure and innocent children. Children who dream enchanted dreams, believe that everything is possible and expect the most. Vulnerable children – unpolluted and uncorrupted. Then life’s challenges being to seep into our experiences. We slowly

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(some faster than others) learn about deceit, duplicity, disappointments and unrealized expectations. As the years roll on the outer layers of our soul and the body’s shell harden, innocence lost and expectations lowered. As we experience harsher realities many of our dreams and idealism wanes, until many of us come to a point of silent resignation, distracting ourselves with outer stimulation, anything that will relieve our existential loneliness. Some develop sharper tools like cynicism or worse.

As much as we crave intimacy which resonates deep within us, the sad fact is that sensory stimulation consumes our daily lives, obfuscating our innocent essence, to the point that our inner life is most often left wanting if not plain starving.

So is there hope? Can we reach our inner yechida?

The answer is yes — on Yom Kippur. But it is not a simple process.

Entering the souls’ holy of holies is not a light matter. We don’t enter there at will and without great care. Being the purest place in your heart and the most intimate dimension of the soul, yechida (the holy of holies) is extremely sensitive. Every subtle move, even the slightest quiver, has a dramatic impact on that most tender of places in our psyches. Observe a newborn child’s’ ultra sensitivity to touch and surroundings. [This is why abuse that touches our intimacy, especially as young children, has such devastating consequences]. By means of analogy: A strand of hair on your sleeve is harmless, but in your eye it is highly irritating. Our outer organs are protected from bacteria, but exposing our internal organs requires a highly sterilized environment. The subtler and purer the place, the greater the care necessary to preserve its pristine character.

But one day a year we are given the power to enter our holy of holies. And we enter with great care: We fast and suspend, as much as possible, our immersion in the material world. We spend the day in prayer and clothed in white – all to set the proper ambiance to enter the holiest place in our souls.

That one day is Yom Kippur – the day of the fifth dimension, when we celebrate yechida: The one and only day in the year when each of us has the power to access our innocence.

On this day you can become like the High Priest and enter your own holy of holies.

On Yom Kippur you return to your child, to your innocence, to your purest place. But this time, the innocence and exuberance of the child comes joined with the seasoning and experience of an adult. [One of the most awesome sights is to witness the fusion of adulthood and childhood. Observe an elder who still maintains the twinkle – the spunk, enthusiasm and possibilities – of youth].

And therein lays the power of Yom Kippur.Yom Kippur tells us that your intimate

innocence is never lost. Perhaps concealed. Maybe deeply concealed. Your child may be hiding. After your child has been hurt and disappointed, after he or she has seen how cruel people can be – your child goes into hiding. What emerges is an adult with a metal sheet of armor, an extensive and complex battery of defense mechanisms, protecting the vulnerable child from the pains of the world. Sometimes the child is so well concealed that the “mature adult” cannot even see his own child within.

But then we are given a day like Yom Kippur, when we are able to open the doors, and peer inside. And as we do – the child within is given the power, permission and strength to peer out back to us.

Can you see your child, your core, your yechida?

Even the most cynical among (and within) us has a pure side. Even the most jaded has a moment of truth. Yom Kippur teaches us the most vital message of hope: Never give up on your self – on your inner, pure self. No matter how challenging your life has become, no matter how worn down you are, despite your bitter disappointments, losses and wounds – your inner yechida always remains intact.

Even if you give up on everything, never give up on that pure child that lies embedded within you. That child – the holiest part of your heart and soul – may be your last vestige of your greatest potential, and the last refuge of hope.

If nothing else – one day a year hold on to what is most dear. Give your child, your soul, a chance to speak to you.

Cherish your child. Protect her. Nurture her tenderness. Above all, be kind to her. After all, she is you – the best of you. EM

The Jewish view of the end of days differs greatly from other apocalyptic visions. It will not need to be violent, and there will be no need for more wars. Even the punishment of the wicked can happen by peaceful means.

The Talmudic teaching you mention illustrates this: “In the future, there will be no need for purgatory. G‑d will remove the sun from its sheath. The righteous will be healed by it, and the wicked will be punished by it.”

The “sheath of the sun” could be the atmosphere, the photosphere, the ozone layer, all of the above, or something else entirely, but the Talmud here is talking about a change in spiritual climate.

In Torah teachings, the sun represents G‑d’s light. In our current world, this light is hidden. Just as the sun has a sheath that covers it and filters its light, so too the laws of nature cover over G‑d’s light in the world. The divine hand is often hard to detect, and life can sometimes seem random and meaningless. G‑d is there if you look for Him, but He can easily be missed, and the world can seem like a very dark place.

But one day soon, it will all make sense. When the Messiah comes, G‑d will reveal Himself, His light will shine unblocked, the veil will be lifted, and we will see that it was His hand guiding the world all along. Nothing was random, nothing was a mistake, and everything was part of His ultimate plan.

This awareness will be a healing for the righteous. They always knew that G‑d was there, and it pained them that He could not be seen. They will take pleasure in feeling G‑d’s closeness and seeing goodness prevail, which is what they dedicated their lives to achieve.

But for the wicked, it will be a punishment. When the truth is revealed, when the game is up, they will feel the pain of having wasted their lives on emptiness and triviality. The greatest punishment is to discover that you got it wrong, that you built our life on false ground and missed out on doing so much good.

The sun will shine. The question is, are you blocking the light or helping unveil the light? Is yours a life of enduring worth, or are you preoccupied with the pettiness that will one day melt away? The future is bright. You can help make it so.

f u t u r e t e n s eMOSHIACH MUSINGS

Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza ten years ago was a strategic disaster. But it could have been much more devastating if the

ideologues behind it had their way.Formally, the withdrawal was supposed to

do two things. It was supposed to strengthen Israel’s diplomatic position vis‑à‑vis the US and Europe by demonstrating Israel’s commitment to Palestinian statehood, and it was supposed to enhance Israel’s security by redeploying the IDF along more defensible lines.

Neither argument for the withdrawal was particularly plausible. But due to the media’s lockstep support for it, neither was seriously challenged.

The truth is, these justifications were never anything more than a smoke screen to hide the true purpose of the withdrawal from the public. The real purpose of the withdrawal from Gaza was to deal a strategic blow to Zionism and the Jewish character of the state.

For the ideologues of the Left, like the failed peace process, the expulsion of 8,500 law‑abiding, productive Israelis from their homes and communities in Gaza was not an end to itself, but a necessary precondition for destroying the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

The destruction of those communities – and the expulsion of the 350,000 Jews who live in them – was also not an end unto itself. For the leftist ideologues who invented the idea of unilaterally withdrawing from Gaza, destroying the settlement enterprise is a necessary precondition for destroying religious Zionism.

And religious Zionism has to be destroyed in order to destroy Zionism.

This true purpose of the Gaza withdrawal was made clear by leftist ideologues in the months that preceded the withdrawal.

For instance, Haaretz published an editorial a month before the withdrawal explaining, “The real question is not how many mortar shells will fall, or who will guard the Philadelphi Route [between Gaza and Egypt], or whether the Palestinians will dance on the roofs of [the destroyed communities].

“The real question is who sets the national agenda. The disengagement of Israeli policy from its religious fuel is the real disengagement currently on the agenda. On the day after the

disengagement, religious Zionism’s status will be different.”

As the leftist ideologues perceived things, it wasn’t enough to simply kick the settlers out of their homes and destroy their communities. They had to be humiliated and made to suffer in order to ensure that no one would dare to identify with them.

As a consequence, when the idea of building a new settlement for the evacuees in southern Israel was floated a few months before the withdrawal, the Left firmly opposed it.

Haaretz columnist Avirama Golan explained that doing so would empty the expulsions of political significance.

In her words, “Transferring the evacuees from Gush Katif to a brand new neighborhood built especially for them along the beautiful strip of Nitzanim transmits a problematic implicit message. This is a message that says to the Jewish settlers in the territories: ‘You are a chosen group. You will not be like all the other Israelis.’ If this is what the government does in the evacuation of Gush Katif, the main sting of the evacuation of the settlements will be neutralized. It will be as though nothing has been done.”

The goal of the Left in destroying the Jewish communities, and indeed the goal of the so‑called peace movement was laid out

explicitly in November 2013 by Ron Pundak, Yossi Beilin’s partner in negotiating the Oslo Accords with the PLO in 1993.

In an interview with the International Crisis Group Pundak explained, “Peace is not an objective by itself. It is a way to transition Israel from one era to another: to an era of what I consider is a normal state. Israelization of society rather than its judaization.”

Demonization and disenfranchisement were key components of the Left’s campaign against Jewish Israel. For the withdrawal from Gaza to serve as a stepping stone toward a withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, the public needed to become fully alienated from its fellow Israelis whose lives were being shattered.

Opinion‑makers from Dan Margalit and Ari Shavit to Yair Lapid jumped on the anti‑religious bandwagon and sought to outdo one another in stirring up irrational hatred for the 8,500 Jews of Gaza and their supporters.

Margalit called for the institution of a numerus clausus against religious Zionists serving in the IDF. Strict limits, he said, should be placed on the number of religious Israelis permitted to serve as officers.

Lapid insisted that the settlers were not his brothers and he wouldn’t have a problem going to war against them.

Shavit wrote that the settlers deserved no

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protection from the IDF, because as far as he was concerned, they weren’t Israelis.

Day after day the media machine spewed out hatred and derision against the Jews of Gaza. Day after day the public was told that religious Zionists were fanatics and potential terrorists.

The police, public prosecution and Supreme Court all joined the action. The civil rights of opponents of the withdrawal were trampled. Organizers of lawful protests were subjected to warrantless pre‑dawn raids on their homes. Protesters, including children, were arrested without charge and often held in custody for months.

Police interdicted licensed buses en route to lawful demonstrations to prevent law‑abiding citizens from protesting the planned expulsions.

Given the atmosphere of hatred that blanketed the country, as the expulsions approached, the Left had every reason to believe that it was on track to destroy its harshest ideological opponents and so remake Israel in its post‑Zionist image.

Perhaps the most promising aspect of the expulsions, from the Left’s perspective, was that the IDF was tasked with carrying them out. Having the most beloved and revered institution in the country carry out the Left’s dirty work meant that any attempt by the settlers to defy the expulsion orders would be viewed by the public as an assault not on the Left, but on the army. And that would finish off whatever residual public sympathy for the settlers that the pre‑expulsion demonization hadn’t successfully expunged.

But then someone gummed up the works.Five months before the expulsions, then‑IDF

chief of General Staff Lt.‑Gen. Moshe Ya’alon appointed Brig.‑Gen. Gershon Hacohen to command the expulsions from Gush Katif.

Hacohen was a tank division commander appointed to the Northern Command. He was appointed because he was a prince of the national‑religious community.

Hacohen’s grandfather had been one of the founders of Mizrahi, the religious‑Zionist movement.

His father was one of the founders of the Gush Emunim settlement movement.

After Ya’alon appointed him to command

the expulsions, Hacohen came under massive pressure from the Right to resign his commission. If you quit in protest, he was told, then the expulsions will be canceled.

But Hacohen felt differently. As he saw it, the minute the Knesset approved the plan, there was no turning back. The expulsions would happen. And if he resigned his commission, the Left would have wrecked his reputation in a heartbeat. As the son of settler leaders, his action would have been immediately explained away as the act of a settler fanatic and as proof that religious soldiers shouldn’t be promoted.

Hacohen understood the Left. He knew that it meant it when it said that its goal was not only to destroy the settlements in Gaza but to discredit religious Zionism in order to de‑link Israel from Judaism.

Because Hacohen recognized the Left’s purpose in conducting the expulsions, he understood that it wasn’t simply the fate of Gush Katif that hung in the balance, but the future of Israel itself.

And so, when he set about preparing the expulsions, Hacohen conceived an operation that would prevent the expulsions from serving any larger destructive purpose.

For the Left’s plan to succeed, the expulsions had to be perceived by the public as a physical and ideological clash between the settlers and the soldiers.

Hacohen worked to prevent the public from receiving that impression. Rather than prepare the soldiers for a clash with the settlers, Hacohen set up the expulsions as a national tragedy which the soldiers and the settlers would experience together.

To this end, in the weeks before the expulsions, Hacohen ordered his officers and soldiers to mingle inside the communities of Gush Katif they were set to evacuate. Rather than treat the villages as hostile zones, soldiers and officers were given the opportunity to see that the settlers were no different from them.

By the time the expulsions were carried out, the soldiers felt little alienation from the settlers. Consequently, the clash the Left anticipated never happened.

Instead, Israelis glued to their television sets watched as soldiers and settlers prayed and mourned together at the soon‑to‑be‑

abandoned synagogues of Gush Katif. They watched as the commander of the Golani Brigade embraced the youth of Moshav Gadid and cried with them.

Far from destroying the Jewish character of the state, let alone destroying the bond between religious Zionism and the state, the expulsions strengthened both.

Weeks after the withdrawal was completed, Haaretz’s Orit Shochat lamented, “Soldiers who experienced the evacuation won’t travel to an ashram in India because they discovered that there is an ashram next door. The same Jewish religion that they hadn’t seen up close for a long time embraces them into its fold with song and a tear and a common fate.

“They have now sat arm‑in‑arm at the synagogues in Gush Katif, they have now felt the holiness mixed with sweat, they have now moved rhythmically and sung songs, they have stood in line to kiss the Torah scrolls, they are now half‑inside.”

Shochat was a lone voice on the Left. Most of her comrades didn’t understand what had just happened.

Ehud Olmert for one didn’t get it at all. When the next year Olmert ordered the police to forcibly evacuate Amona, a neighborhood in Ofra, he expected that it would be easy. He assumed the public would support the move, just as it supported the withdrawal from Gush Katif. In the weeks leading up to the evacuation, the media conducted the same demonization of the settlers in Ofra that they had of their brethren in the Gush Katif.

But the public wouldn’t stand for it. When the police attacked the youth holed up in the homes set for destruction, the public sided with the settlers, not with the police.

Far from preparing the psychological foundation for further expulsions, the IDF’s conduct of the withdrawal from Gush Katif destroyed that foundation.

The public was no longer willing to accept the lie of settler fanaticism.

The settlements of Gaza were destroyed ten years ago. Israel has been paying the physical price of the strategic lunacy of the withdrawal ever since. But due to a significant degree to Hacohen’s leadership, ironically, Israeli society emerged stronger, more Zionist and prouder of its Jewishness than ever before. EM