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“A Cup of Coffee
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A Quick Thought”
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Spark Of Jewish Experience
Masei
July 28, 2011
26 Tammuz, 5771 |
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| Dear Friends,
In appreciation to the staff of The Afikim Foundation for all their help, and to Torahanytime.com for giving us the mic.
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| How Do You Like to Travel? |
How many readers out there like to travel? Some people consider it fun. In fact, the word “vacation” means ‘to vacate one’s premises’. The idea of a vacation is to have a change of pace. A different scenario from our everyday, sometimes, monotonous life could be very therapeutic. When one returns from a vacation he should be refreshed and ready to continue his consistent, habitual existence. But traveling could be a bit overwhelming; packing and unpacking is a chore. One of the best comedy routines (and it was clean) of the famous comedian of the 70’s, George Carlin, was about ‘stuff”, in which the entire meaning of life is to find a place for your stuff. He makes fun of how one goes traveling and is a little frantic taking stuff from one place to another. His reaction plays on our fears of traveling.
We read in this week’s parasha the detailed description of where our ancestors traveled in the desert. Rabbi Noach Olbaum asks ‘why is it necessary to go through every juncture of their travel routes?” The Torah is not a history book nor is it a GPS. Presumably, there must be a lesson to be learned for the Torah to emphasize their travel itinerary.
If one thinks about it for a moment, one would realize how difficult it must have been for our ancestors to schlep all their bags, tents, belongings, and let’s not forget, some had small children. Moshe’s instructions to the Israelites were to move immediately when the clouds of glory moved. There was no warning in advance; sometimes they camped at a certain destination for months; sometimes the cloud of glory would move after only two days. It was very unpredictable; this kind of tours would drive anybody nuts.
Apparently, with all the Israelite’s inconveniences, we do not find any mention in the Torah and the sages, that they complained; there was not one utter of displeasure; that’s incredible! We should be proud of our ancestors for not moaning and groaning and rolling their eyes and screaming ‘again?!’, every time the clouds move.
The children of Israel showed great restraint and a very strong belief in G-d, and it is no wonder why they’re called the greatest generation that ever lived. We should learn a lesson and be very proud of their tremendous sacrifice of going on the spur of the moment when they were instructed and not losing their cool.
One of the fates in which our people inevitably fall into is ‘the wandering Jew’. We must be careful with our journeys because sometimes traveling makes us forget who we are. Our values are compromised because we get frantic of our new temporary environment, the new people that we meet and the pressure of constantly watching over our belongings. The schlep can make us develop thin skin and intolerance. It’s important to stop and take a deep breath and focus briefly on our principles. The Torah is trying to teach us to be yourself outside of your home and not to lose sight of what we build as respectable Jews. This is an important lesson that we should learn from this week’s parasha.
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| Blessings for a Newly Married Couple |
When a couple marries, they are treated like royalty for seven days. They are not permitted to work, and friends and family throw a festive meal daily in their honor for a week. When my wife and I were a chatan and kallah, we felt it was a lot of fun having parties thrown on our behalf. This is very different than western culture where couples go on their honeymoon right after the wedding. However, more and more couples are realizing the importance of shevah brachot and schedule the honeymoon for a later date. If one is sensitive enough, he’ll realize that Jews like to make many brachot. In fact, they have a blessing for almost everything. The Zohar teaches us never to be skimpy on brachot. When one recites a blessing and an angel in the heavens says amen, it’s as good as gold.
There is a concept in our Torah where the inception or the beginning of something is the most crucial, most pleasurable and most potent; the first few seconds of smelling a nice odor is powerful, then it loses its scent. Similarly, taste and feel also have the same powerful beginning affect. Perhaps that is why when one wants to understand himself or others, they explore his or their childhood. Many things we like and don’t like results from childhood experiences. Marriage is the same way. We shower the chatan and kallah with brachot in the beginning of their marriage, hoping the positive vibe will turn to actuality.
In sheva brachot (seven blessings), the chatan and kallah sit in the front table similar to a king and queen. They are the focus of the meal and it’s an obligation on the guests, similar to the wedding night, to make the couple happy. At the end of the meal, after birkat hamazon (grace after meal), the seven brachot are recited.
There is an interesting scenario when the last day of sheva brachot (seventh day) falls on Shabbat, and seuda shleshit (the afternoon meal) is the chosen meal for the festivities. Although it seems like an optimal time to celebrate, problems could arise. Meals can be alarmingly long. Of course everyone wants to say a few words on behalf of the couple, his relatives, her relatives, and some in between. (Since it is Shabbat and no one is driving, it’s safe to have a little extra Vodka or Scotch!) Singing is a must, especially as a tribute to the chatan and kallah. Before you know it, it is already nighttime.
Do we still have the Mitzvah (commandment) to say sheva brachot after dark? One has to understand in Jewish law, the day starts at night. Therefore, do we say a new day (yom rishon) had begun already and we missed the opportunity for the ceremony or however we go by the ruling that if one did not finish the meal, one can prolong the Shabbat well into the night (which is the next day) and therefore the last day of sheva brachot is also extended?
Presumably one might think you can, because we frequently prolong the Shabbat, but Rabbi Eliyahu ben Haim, as well as Rabbi Itzhak Aminov site a source (Rebbi Akiva Eiger). One cannot recite the sheva brachot since it is considered the next day. Also, many blessings are recited at a sheva brachot; a bracha consists of some heavy-duty names of G-d, which complicates the matter in this questionable state. If one just prolongs the Shabbat, he is only adding the prayer of retzai, which is found in the grace after meal and has no bracha. So, it’s not such a big deal. A remedy is to start earlier. This way one would have significant time for a fun and memorable time spent with the new couple.
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| Breakfast Cereals: Shredded Wheat & Granola (Parts 5 & 6 of the 6 Categories) |
This week we conclude our breakfast cereal series. It can be very confusing which blessing one makes on any given cereal. Actually, some would proclaim it’s an adventure because of the complex ingredients found.
Before we discuss the last two categories, I would like to ask the readers what feelings come to mind when reading this? “My dad was so awesome. My neighbor and I wanted to collect the Pokémon toys in the box of Fruit Loops. So my dad bought an entire shelf of fruit loops in the supermarket so the two of us could eat through the cereals for the toys. Eventually, we figured out that we didn’t have to eat the cereal. We just dug down into the boxes for the toys”.
The fifth category is shredded cereals. Shredded wheat cereal is made from cooked wheat kernels, which are shredded and then baked. The bracha is mezonot.
Granola cereal is our last category of the series. Granola cereals are made from rolled oats and other ingredients, which are toasted. We have learned that grains which are roasted (without being cooked) are subject to the bracha of ha’odama.
Ah yes, who can forget the breakfast cereals, the cheap prizes, sugary milk left over, crossword puzzles and mazes found on the box. In grade school, we’d play Sigmund Freud by going over to people and trying to figure out their personalities by asking them what cereal they eat in the morning. Cereal is part of our culture; it’s part of our lives.
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Sincerely,
Rabbi Avi Matmon
Spark of Jewish Experience
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