Rosh Chodesh Adar I
MisheNichnas Adar Marbim B’Simcha, When the month of Adar arrives we should increase our joy!
Rosh Chodesh Adar I
MisheNichnas Adar Marbim B’Simcha, When the month of Adar arrives we should increase our joy!
Tu BiShvat shiur
We thank Hashem and to connect the special holiness that is in the trees, nature and fruits that HaKadosh Baruch Hu created. We want the trees to have a good judgement, so we thank Hashem for the delicious fruits that he gives us.
Parsha Vayetzei – Chapter 30 – Verse 22-25
Hashem turned nature upside down and finally Rachel becomes pregnant! Rachel bore a son and said, Hashem has gathered my shame, I don’t have to be embarrassed anymore, so she calls him Yosef. Yosef means “add on” – please add onto me another child. She was already davening for another child. Suddenly after 22 years in Lavan’s house, after Rachel gave birth to Yosef , Yaacov says it is time to go. He wants to go back to land of his people, his parents in the land of Canaan.
Parsha Vayetzei – Chapter 30 – Verse 16-21
Rosh Chodesh Shevat
Yaakov came from watching Lavan's sheep. Leah goes to greet him and says you come to me, as I made a deal and I paid for you in exchange for the dudaim. He laid with her that night and Hashem himself helped them and that night Leah became pregnant and later gave Yaakov her 5th son (and his 9th) son, Issachar (יִשָּׂשכָר) In Hebrew, Issachar means either “man of reward” or “hired man.” His name is associated with the circumstances of his birth.
Zebulun (זְבוּלוּן) was the 6th son of Jacob by his wife Leah and the 10th of all Yaakov's sons. Leah said, “Hashem has endowed (zabad) me with a good gift (zebed), now my husband will dwell (zabal)with me, because I have borne him six sons”. The name Zebulun means “dwell” (also translated “honor”) and sounds much like the Hebrew words for “gift” and “endowed.”
At this point, Leah made a calculation. She knew through ruach ha Kodesh that there would be 12 tribes. She already had 6 sons, her 2 maid servants each had 2 sons, while Rachel had no children. She realized that her sister would feel short changed and embarrassed if she had another son.
Leah was already pregnant again, and so she davened to Hashem to help Rachel, and to make her child inside her womb a girl., as she had such compassion for her sister. (Everything Leah received was through her tremendous power of tefillah (prayers) to Hashem.) Hashem did have mercy and changed the sex of Leah's child to be female, and she gave birth to Dinah. Hashem then blessed Rachel and she gave birth to Yosef (יוֹסֵף). His name translates to “he will add.” Yosef was Yaakov's 11th son.
Parsha Vayetzei – Chapter 30 – Verse 14-15
Reuven was in the field, and he tied his donkey to a bush. When he came back to the donkey, he saw the donkey was dead. This bush was called dudaim (mandrake), was a sought after plant, as these flowering herbs were thought to enhance a woman’s fertility. It was very hard to come by because whoever pulled it out of the ground died. Reven took the mandrakes and brought them to his mother. Leah & Rachel, then argued over the mandrakes. Leah said, you took my husband, and now you want these. This argument proves to us the greatness of Rachel's deed because of not only in what she did for Leah, but even more so in the way she did it. It is considered the greatest act in the world to come.
Finally they came to an agreement. Leah would give Rachel some of the mandrakes as a trade for allowing Leah to sleep with their husband, Yaakov that night.