Miller's Musings for Shavuos: A Piece of Me

This week's Miller's Musings is sponsored: 

לעילוי נשמת שושנה רוזה בת נפתלי משה 

and as a רפואה שלמה for

יהודה זאב בן ברכה אלכסנדרה גילה    

                                                                            דבס'' 

MILLER’S MUSINGS

FOR תועובש

A Piece of Me

There is no question that the giving of the Torah was an event totally unique in the annals of history and unmatched in what took place.  A mass revelation, never to have occurred before or to occur again.  Nevertheless in terms of its miraculous nature, we may question what it was about it that made it stand out above all the other wondrous miracles that took place around that time.  Yet this is exactly how it is referred to in Devorim, “since the day that G-d created man upon the earth whether there has been any such thing as this great thing is?”.   What was it about this event that was like no other?

                                                             

Our deliverance from the claws of death in Egypt, the nature-defying plagues and even the incredible display of Hashem’s might at the Yam Suf all had one thing in common.  They displayed Hashem’s greatness and supreme dominance over creation.  They were direct manifestations of His love for us and His desire to avenge our enemies, but they were not Hashem Himself.  We saw what Hashem does and is, but we did not actually connect with the essence of Him.  This, says the Alei Be’er, is what makes the giving of the Torah unique.  For the Torah is not just an expression of Hashem’s kindness, it is a part of Himself.  Har Sinai was the only point at which Hashem revealed not only His relationship with us and the world, but something of His fundamental being.  This is what He bestowed upon us and why there is nothing like the event celebrated on Shavuos.  This may in fact be why there is no Mitzvah of the day, like other Yomim Tovim.  It is because the giving of the Torah can never be commemorated by any other act.  It is so exceptional and incomparable that any form of remembrance, other than learning Torah itself, would be a dilution and unworthy of the day.    

There is an easy mistake to make and consider learning Torah just one other Mitzvah.  We daven, treat people properly, keep Shabbos and we also learn Torah occasionally.  But what we have said should make us realise that absorbing the Torah’s teachings gives us more than any other Mitzvah and is far more than just an instruction book for life. It is a chance to connect the most directly with Hashem Himself.  There is no other Mitzvah that contains this prospect.  So on Shavuos, when we celebrate this wondrous gift we have been given, it may be the most opportune time to think how we can increase our Torah learning, even by a minimal amount.  There is always some time that we can find, as long as our priorities are as they should be.  We can consider how we can best support others in their learning and encourage those around us to participate in it further.  The more we do the more connected we are and the more we make ourselves people who are people of Hashem.

*May this Shavuos help us feel ever closer to Hashem* 

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם 

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Miller's Musings Parshas Behar: Time to go Home

This week's Miller's Musings is sponsored in honour of

 ר' גבריאל עמנואל הכהן יצחק אליעזר בן

 born on ב' אייר

                                                                            דבס'' 

MILLER’S MUSINGS

 בהר פרשת 

Time to go Home

Whether you’re giving bad news, telling a joke or making an announcement, timing is everything.  So the fact that Yom Kippur was chosen as the day to herald the Yovel year, must have some significance.  The Jubilee year was announced via a shofar blast throughout the land of Israel on that day, thereby initiating a year where all land reverts back to its owner, any loans are cancelled out, all slaves are emancipated and agricultural work was restricted.  Accordingly our question must be what the common theme here is and how it relates to our holy Day of Atonement?

                                                             

Perhaps it makes most sense to start with the focus of Yom Kippur as this is the more obviously apparent.  Yom Kippur is a day set aside for Teshuva or repentance.  In essence Teshuva means a restoration of our soul to where it is meant to be, close to Hashem.  This is evident from the word Teshuva itself whose etymology is from the word to return.  Now if we turn to the Yovel and try and find a common denominator between its various implications, we will also come across this idea of returning.  The field returns to its natural, unworked state.  The servants go back to their original freedom.  The financial situation reverts to what it was prior to the loan.  And finally the fields are restored to their original holder.  The concurrent theme of these two time periods, the day of Yom Kippur and the year of Yovel, therefore perfectly coincide, making the Day of Atonement the perfect day for the declaration.  It perhaps reinforces on this crucial day the notion that all things eventually revert back to their initial situation; our body to the earth and our soul back to our Creator, thereby inspiring us to do what we can while in this life to go back to where we should be.

Changing ourselves is incredibly difficult and despite truly desiring that we do so, is still beset by many obstacles that stand in our way.  Some are real and are genuinely difficult to overcome.  But some are obstructions created by our mind, with the encouragement of the Yetzer Horah, and require a readjustment of our way of thinking.  One such example is a tendency to view repentance and character refinement as too challenging because it requires a need to recreate ourselves anew.  To make ourselves different people to who we are seems beyond our capabilities and a task that is unsurmountable.  But viewed as we have presented it, as merely returning ourselves to our natural state, is a far less demanding ask of us.  We have to remember that whatever Hashem requires of us, is only bringing our soul back to where it naturally desires to be.  It is always easier to come home than to reach a new destination and becoming the people we want to be is the truest homecoming of all.

*May this Shabbos bring us right back home*

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם 

Please feel free to print out and distribute in your shul 

If you would like to sponsor a week of Miller’s Musings l’ilui nishmas someone, for a Refuah Sheleima or to celebrate a Simcha please send a message to millersmusingsrabbi@gmail.com or to 07531332970

Miller's Musings Parshas Emor: Down, But Not Out

This week's Miller's Musings is sponsored 

for a רפואה שלמה for אברהם יעקב בן שרה טשארנא

                                             דבס'' 

MILLER’S MUSINGS

 אמרפרשת

*Down, But Not Out*

To serve in the Beis Hamikdosh was a tremendous privilege and awesome responsibility.  It required dedication but also sacrifice.   All Kohanim had restrictions in terms of their being allowed to attend funerals and in the case of the Kohen Godol this applied to even close relatives.  An additional distinction between them was with regard to being an onen, the status of a person whose close relative has died up until the funeral.  Although a regular Kohen was prohibited from performing his service in the Beis Hamikdosh at this stage, the Kohen Godol could continue performing his role unabated.  Why the disparity between them and what is the principle behind this law?  

                                                             

Standing before Hashem as a Kohen, acting as a representative of a fellow Jew or the nation as a whole, demanded thought, focus and a constant awareness of the act they were performing.  This need for total concentration on the task at hand, meant a Kohen who had just lost a loved one, was unfit for service.  A person whose mind would be so absorbed with thoughts of loss and grief, would be incapable of the single-mindedness that was required.  The Kohen Godol, however, says Reb Shneur Kottler zt’l, was a person elevated above his peers and was thus expected to be at a higher level. Even in his emotionally weakened state it was demanded that he retain the absolute dedication to his role and confine his thoughts to those only of his duty to Hashem and His people.  This was why he was chosen for this exalted position, due to his superior character and exceptional devotion and commitment.

The nature of the world is one in which there is day and night, summer and winter, darkness and light.  This is surely a reflection of life in which there are times of happiness and joy, interspersed with moments of sadness and tragedy.  In the good times keeping Hashem’s Torah is relatively easy. When feeling content and joyful, we may have a natural desire to do what is right, due to gratitude or perhaps simply in congruence with our general peace of mind.  But when the bad times inevitably arrive, be they short-lived or long-lasting, we often lose the desire to be our best and resign ourselves to sub-standard versions of ourselves.  We justify our actions by reasoning that we did not choose to be in the predicament we find ourselves, therefore it is not our fault.  How can I do the right thing when I feel so low!   We surely have no choice.  But deep down we know that though it may be more difficult and at times incredibly challenging, we always have a choice to act as we should.  It may take immense effort to bring that light into the gloom, but by doing so we are taking control of those parts of our life that are within our influence and showing how great we can be.

*May the radiance of Shabbos help us shine bright no matter what*    

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם 

Please feel free to print out and distribute in your shul 

If you would like to sponsor a week of Miller’s Musings l’ilui nishmas someone, for a Refuah Sheleima or to celebrate a Simcha please send a message to millersmusingsrabbi@gmail.com or to 07531332970

Miller's Musings Parshas Kedoshim: Love Knows Some Bounds

This week's Miller's Musings is sponsored:

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם 

                                                                            דבס'' 

MILLER’S MUSINGS

קדשים פרשת

*Love Knows Some Bounds*

“Love your neighbor like yourself”. This is something rather easier said than done, especially when in the company of rather challenging characters and difficult personalities.  Yet this is what we must do, no matter how testing it may be to do so.  The Posuk that compels us in this regard, finishes off with the statement “I am Hashem”, which although perhaps strengthening our need to comply with the commandment, still requires our understanding as to why it is mentioned pertaining to this particular Mitzvoh.

                                                             

One character trait essential for a person to be considered a true righteous individual is humility.  This was certainly the case with the great sage Hillel Hazoken, and yet we find that at the Simchas Beis Hasho’evah in Yerushalayim he would declare “If I am here everything is here”.  This does not seem the assertion of a man steeped in modesty.  To answer both our questions Rebbi Yosef Leib Bloch explained that just as we must ensure all our actions are within the framework of what Hashem wants, so too the Mitzvos we perform. Loving another is not something that can be just done freely and without thought.  Rather it must be based on and rooted in the principle of “I am Hashem”, a structure of beliefs and ethics that have been laid down for us by Hashem.  Anything within that structure will bear tremendous fruits.  Anything outside of it is misplaced love and damaging.  This is why “I am Hashem” comes at the end of the command to love each other and it is what Hillel meant.  His concern was that the joy and delight found at the Simchas Beis Hasho’evah might be simply an excuse for frivolity and unruliness.  But if “I”, the “I” of “I am Hashem” is here, if this is our focus, then everything is here!  Everything that should be.  Love, joy and service to Hashem.

There is nothing that would seem to get universal acclaim quite like this commandment to love each other like yourself.  It would certainly seem to fit in with modern society’s proclivity to declare every way of life to be as acceptable as each other.  But there is a fine line between respect for every human being and respect for every human being’s choices.  Everybody has a right to our love, care and compassion, but not every lifestyle should be valued in the same way.  Those that go against the “I am Hashem” paradigm of our existence, must be rejected in accord with our Torah’s values.  This does not detract from our obligation to love every person, but loving them is not a contradiction to viewing their chosen path as harmful.  In a world so worried by what is politically correct and less worried by what is actually correct, we must spread love to all, but first and foremost to the One who gives us all and follow His ultimate truth in all we do.

*May Shabbos help us exude warmth to all we meet*

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם 

Please feel free to print out and distribute in your shul 

If you would like to sponsor a week of Miller’s Musings l’ilui nishmas someone, for a Refuah Sheleima or to celebrate a Simcha please send a message to millersmusingsrabbi@gmail.com or to 07531332970

Miller's Musings Parshas Achrei Mos: All By Myself

This week’s Miller’s Musings is sponsored in honour of the wedding of Chaim Lehrer to Michal Tepper, daughter of Rabbi and Mrs S Tepper. Mazal Tov!   

ד''בס   

MILLER’S MUSINGS

מותאחרי  פרשת 

All By Myself

The holiest person, on the holiest day of the year, in the holiest place on Earth.  That’s an awful lot of holiness which would surely have a powerful impact on anyone who witnessed it.  But who saw the Kohen Godol enter the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur?  Absolutely no one.  Without doubt this would be a tremendous opportunity for some, or all, of the Jewish people to be inspired by such unparalleled sanctity.  So why does Hashem specifically demand that no person should be present at this moment, when so much could seemingly be gained by others experiencing it?

                                                             

There is a principal that has many practical implications in our service of Hashem, which states ברוב עם הדרת המלך, loosely translated to mean that a greater number of people gives greater honour to the King.  Due to this concept it is often considered to be a superior situation if there are more people involved in a Mitzva, as this is deemed a better tribute to Hashem, our King.  This is certainly true in many situations, but, says Reb Shimshon Dovid Pincus zt’l, there is a certain advantage that being alone achieves, which is unattainable when in any company.  He explains that truly raising oneself to what we are capable of, can only be done when alone, unencumbered by the influences and judgements of those around us.  Only when we are totally by ourselves can we see who we truly are and act in ways that are truly us, rather than to some extent the product of being viewed by others.  In such a crucial moment for the Jewish people, when so much is at stake and everything that is done carries with it such weighty implications, the Kohen Godol needed to be entirely alone so that he was able to reach that pinnacle of who he could be and what he could achieve at that time.  This was why there could be no one to see him at that critical time for our nation. 

The world today has become one that has made it easier and easier for people to connect with each other, but harder and harder for us to ever be alone.  We almost always have something with us that creates a potential for communicating, even when we are seemingly by ourselves.  There is a phenomenal potential for good in this ability, but it must be kept under control so that we can find those opportunities to act without the knowledge of others and perform Hashem’s will in solitude.  We must find time to talk to G-d alone, to learn Torah when no one else is around and to do random acts of kindness that no one else will see.  These are the actions that show who we really are and then elevate us beyond it.  These quiet points of connection with Hashem, and only Hashem, may be the most vital component of our Jewish life and what yields the most real and valuable accomplishments of all our Jewish endeavours.  Seek out those moments.  It is well worth the effort to do so.                   

*May the serenity of Shabbos provide us with some precious moments of solitude*

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם    

Please feel free to print out and distribute in your shul 

If you would like to sponsor a week of Miller’s Musings l’ilui nishmas someone, for a Refuah Sheleima or to celebrate a Simcha please send a message to millersmusingsrabbi@gmail.com or to 07531332970

Miller's Musings Parshas Metzora and Shabbos Hagodol: High Holy Day

This week’s Miller’s Musings is sponsored:

לרפואת יהושע חיים בן חסיה

דבס''

Greatness is a term that is perhaps thrown around a little too easily these days. But there is only one Shabbos that is called Great, and that is this week’s Shabbos, the one before Pesach. The grounds for being given such a notable name is due to the great miracle that occurred when the Jewish people took a lamb for the Pesach offering. Despite the sheep being a deity in the minds of the Egyptians, no massacre or attack took place for such a blatant affront to what they deemed sacred. The question I would like to address is why this auspicious day was set on the Shabbos each year, rather than on the tenth of Nissan when the miracle happened, whatever day that might fall on? This is the case for most days of commemoration, so why the difference her?                                                             

In truth to fully answer this question is beyond the scope of this Musing. But to begin to understand the concept, we must first try to comprehend the full extent of the significance of Shabbos. Shabbos is not just a holy day like other Yomim Tovim. It is a day of sanctity that originates and was established in the days of creation. All other Yomim Tovim in fact draw their holiness from Shabbos, the root of all hallowed days, and it contains within it the sanctity of all those festivals. This is a profound and rather esoteric idea, but the Ohr Gedalyohu tells us that only through the power of the Shabbos preceding the Yom Tov, can we fully embrace and utilise the spiritual potency of the Yom Tov itself. The fact that the Jewish people took the Korban Pesach on the Shabbos was therefore no coincidence. It was only because of that Shabbos the miracle could occur, so that they were then able to experience the holiness of the day of Pesach and bring the offering on this day. This is why Shabbos is always the day of remembrance. Without it, it could simply never have been.

I think that as one grows older, Shabbos becomes more and more appreciated. But what we perhaps do not appreciate is just how singular a day Shabbos in fact is. Reflecting on what we have been saying, we should come to a realisation that Shabbos is far from being just a ‘day off’, but is a day of limitless potential, containing connections to G-dliness that no other day can equal. How we spend that day is therefore of course pivotal and must be something that is considered. It is of course a time for family and nurturing our relationships and this may well include relaxation and leisure. How we spend those times though, must still be viewed through the prism of what Shabbos is. Are we talking about business, other people in a negative way, or subjects not in keeping with the holiness of the day? Are our activities enabling or inhibiting the power that Shabbos conveys? Such a gift as Shabbos must be truly valued. To not do so would be ungrateful, but worse than that, a tragic waste.

*May this Shabbos be one we will be sincerely proud of* 

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם 

Please feel free to print out and distribute in your shul 

If you would like to sponsor a week of Miller’s Musings l’ilui nishmas someone, for a Refuah Sheleima or to celebrate a Simcha please send a message to millersmusingsrabbi@gmail.com or to 07531332970

Miller's Musings Parshas Tazria: All Burnt Up

This week's Miller's Musings is sponsored 

by David and Dalia Mechlowitz wishing everyone a beautiful Shabbos

                                                                            דבס'' 

MILLER’S MUSINGS

 תזריעפרשת 

All Burnt Up

The concept of impurity requires some understanding.  It is not as many understand it a sign of some sort of defilement or something untoward. But, put briefly, it is in essence a void where there was once holiness. The process by which a woman became pure after birth, is one that requires both a burnt offering and a sin offering.  The Torah puts them in that order, but, as Rashi tells us, although the Kohen read the relevant portions of the Torah in that sequence, the sin offering was actually brought first.  The obvious question here would be why the Kohen did not read in the same order in which they were offered up on the altar?  

                                                             

Every offering that was brought in the Beis Hamikdosh was offered as a means to achieving a particular goal.  But each one also represented a part of our general Torah observance.  The Nachalas Eliezer tells us that the burnt offering that was consumed in its entirety by the altar’s flames, signified the end goal of our task in this world, when we have managed to devote all that we are to His will. The sin offering denoted an earlier part of the process to reach our purpose, where we work on detaching ourselves from our negative acts.  That done, we must then focus on ensuring we are also actively doing that which is right.  The order in which the korbanos were brought reflected this progression.  But lest one become too lackadaisical and think that merely divorcing ourselves from sin is enough, the Kohanim reminded us by their reciting of the burnt offering passage first, what our ultimate objective must be, to give our entirety to Hashem in all we do.

Imagine starting a business or institution.  What is the first question that must be asked?  Surely, before one can go any further, the initial focus must be on what we are trying to achieve.  Once this has been determined everything else is a consequence of this and every decision and function is judged on how it contributes to the overall goal.  If the prime objective is to make money, everything that the company does must be in order to produce this result.  Our purpose here is to connect with Hashem in all we do and in that way become attached to the only true good. When you consider that this is our entire purpose in being created and our sole objective of being here, it makes complete sense that we evaluate our lives accordingly.  This is of course a process, but it is only logical that every aspect of our lives be examined for how we can use it to bring Hashem’s presence into it.  We must work, we must eat, we must have leisure time, but there are always ways to elevate those times in some small way to create G-dliness in what we do.  We owe it to ourselves to do so.  It is the whole point of being here after all.

*May our Shabbos be spent in ways entirely for Hashem*   

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם 

Please feel free to print out and distribute in your shul 

If you would like to sponsor a week of Miller’s Musings l’ilui nishmas someone, for a Refuah Sheleima or to celebrate a Simcha please send a message to millersmusingsrabbi@gmail.com or to 07531332970