Rabbi's Blog

When people age their metabolism tends to slow down. When I was younger, I was able to eat all the treats I wanted and never gain a pound;  now every treat I eat shows up someplace else on my body frame and really annoys me when I get a reality check from the scale. As our metabolism slows, we need to increase our amount of exercise and work hard to prevent those calories from showing up.  Oh for the good old days of inhaling junk food!

Working out by jogging or using exercise machines may help to strengthen our bodies, but, without dieting won’t result in any measurable weight loss. In order to lose weight one must cut down on daily caloric intake. Diet alone may perhaps make someone thinner but will not necessarily make him healthier. It is the combination of diet and exercise that yields results. In the religious world performing mitzvos, while meritorious, will not help the person to grow spiritually.  Mitzvos alone just maintains an individual’s status quo An analogy can be drawn between performing mitzvos and dieting:  Some days I will focus on dieting, and similarly, some days I will focus on performing mitzvos.  Learning and conscientiously striving to be a better person and a better Jew is tantamount to the exercise component for spiritual health.  In order to shed pounds / shed aveira (sins), and gain strength/learning, we need to perform mitzvos/diet and also exercise/learn. Life is replete with different quality levels in every industry. We are constantly confronted with a choice of ‘levels’. A few examples: When buying merchandise, the items will often be categorized by basic or deluxe. When buying meat, there is the choice of regular, lean and extra lean  fat content.  When purchasing a service contract you can choose  a basic or comprehensive plan, and so forth. .  These examples can also be applied to our physical well-being. We can become proactive and more focused on improving our health, or we can be satisfied with the status quo. I believe that there is a strong connectivity between the physical and spiritual worlds: we must work to take care of both our physical and our spiritual health.

The Haftora for Parshas B’Haaloscha is what I would call a double in Jewish literature. The Haftora, taken from the Navi Zecharia, is read twice a year: now and also for Shabbos Chanuka.  This Haftora from Zecharia was chosen because it relates to the rejoicing of the rebuilding of the third Temple connecting to the story of Chanukah and the rededication of the Temple during the second Temple Period. This week takes on the significance from the lighting of the Menorah in the Mishkan that just followed the dedication of the Tabernacle by the Nesiim. The Navi Zechariah in 2:14/15 states: “Rani V’Simchi Bas Tzion, Ki Hininee Bah V’Shauchanti B’Sochech N’um HaShem”. “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold! I will come and dwell in your midst, says the Lord”.  “And many nations shall join Hashem on that day, and they shall be My people; and I will dwell in your midst and you shall know that the Lord of Hosts sent me to you”. The Navi tells us that in the time of Moshiach all the other nations of the world will join the Jews, recognizing us all as the children of Hashem. The Navi comes to tell B’Nei Yisrael two things that can be viewed as level one and a greater level two. The Shaar Bas Rabim explains that man has a natural tendency to forget or suppress a difficult situation  but will remember it at the height of a joyous occasion. For example, if a family member passes away, the pain may subside somewhat as time goes by. But at the time of a family celebration, the pain and memory of the deceased returns in a sharp and sometimes emotionally painful way. To this the Navi responds that the Jewish people suffered at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple and had to endure the very long, bitter exile. When the time of the redemption comes, during the jubilation of the Third Beis HaMikdash, God promises that the hurt will not be remembered or felt. The reason for this universal jubilation is because God will dwell in the Temple amongst us; there will be an overwhelming joy causing us to completely forget the difficult and trying times we have lived through. This is an understanding on a basic level of the goodness Hashem will do for Klal Yisrael. The second and, I believe, much higher- level promise God gives us is that we will see the other nations becoming close to Hashem. We, the Jewish people who always clung to Hashem throughout history, may be annoyed with the ‘other children’ now coming under the cover of God’s presence after having rejected Him throughout history. The Navi again explains the difference between the ‘other’ children who need to bring themselves closer to God - when they deserve it - while Hashem will Himself draw closer to the ‘chosen’ son – the Jewish people - even if they don’t deserve it. In essence, we, the Jewish people, will recognize our place next to Hashem in the future regardless of our past. We were and still are number one in God’s eyes.

The Taamah Dikra explains two kinds of joy, Rani and Simchi. Rani is a new joy or simcha. Simchi is a continuous type of joy that lasts forever. When Hashem comes to be with us, it is level one, the basic joy during a momentary time. Simchi is the best kind of joy, represented by Hashem dwelling amongst us forever in a permanent fashion.

When it comes to the physical packages and opportunities of this world, we are always tempted to go for the better, more complete package. Perhaps it is time for us not to settle for the basic, temporary spiritual joy, but rather to strive for the complete, deluxe joy to speedily in our day help to bring the coming of Moshiach!

Ah Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky