“ I am Yosef your brother whom you sold to Mitzraim” What was their reaction? There are those who wanted to kill him (Medrash). There were those who say they were ashamed (Rashi). Perhaps both are correct.

NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. Rabbi Peled’s Shiur will resume next week, Rabbi Lehrfield’s Shiur is at 4:15, Mincha is at 4:45 Maariv and Havdalah at 6:25 pm

2. Please enjoy hot coffee and tea in the lobby. 3. Kiddush is sponsored by Young Israel Kehillas Ahavas Shalom 4. Seudah Shlishis is sponsored in commemoration of of the Yartzheits of

Steve Mankes and Chasiba Bizouati. Rabbi Noach Orlowek will be speaking on Transitioning from Shabbos to the Week

5. Mazal Tov to Brian and Mimi Sosnow on the birth of a grandson, born to their children Raissa and Benji Samet. Mazal Tov to the entire Sosnow family.

6. Please do not drop off Shaimos at the Shul. Please contact the Neshama Foundation. Please see page 2 of the Yarn for more information.

7. Blood Drive at Shaarei Tefilah January 12th 9:30—4:30 pm in honor of a complete recovery for Dr. Michael Goldstein.

8. Rabbi Lehrfield’s class in Neveim Melachim is on Wednesday night at 8:00 pm, Gemara class Sunday through Friday at 7:30 am and Dvar Torah on the Sedra daily between Mincha and Maariv.

9. We have reserved the first 2 parking spaces in front of our building for Rabbi Lehrfield and Rabbi Peled. Please do not park there.

Divrei torah from the writings of my Rosh Yeshiva, HaGaon HaRav Moshe Meiselman Shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Toras Moshe, Yerushalayim

Yosef said to his brothers…I am your brother Yosef whom you sold to Mitzrayim. (45:4) Rashi – He revealed to them that he is circumcised (to prove his identity). I received an article in my e-mail written by an assimilated Jew talking about his dilemma about Chanukah. His son was hankering for a tree and wanted to fit into mainstream American life. This father knew they didn’t subscribe to that religion; they had Chanukah! But what was Chanukah exactly? How was he going to sell Chanukah to his son? He confessed, he didn’t know. Growing up, it was all about getting chocolate coins and potato latkes, lighting colored candles—a purely cultural experience with no actual message. So before he spoke with his son, he decided to do some research about the historical background of Chanukah. He bumped into some disquieting, uncomfortable information. The books he read told that the Jewish community in those times was sharply divided between the majority of the population who were cosmopolitan, living in cities, and deeply Hellenized on the one hand, and the minority living in rural areas who were backward, culturally illiterate, religious fanatics on the other. Turns out, the religious fanatics won the culture war against Hellenism and that is what Chanukah is all about! That wasn’t the people he wanted to identify with! He got totally confused and decided not to tell his son the story! Antiochus was bent on having all Jews be on board with Hellenism and the Midrash says he made various decrees against Torah and Mitzvos. One of them was a decree against bris miloh. What does miloh represent to us and to the Greeks that made it such a target? When Eisov and Yaakov were in Rivka’s womb, she received a nevuoh that these two children would have very divergent goals and ambitions. Two nations, two cultures, two ideals. The human being is comprised of body and soul. Eisov decided to live by the sword and become a man of the field—emphasizing the physical aspect of a human being—hunting, trapping, overpowering the weak. We identify with the neshomo and use the human body as a means to facilitate the neshomo’s expression in the world. We elevate the human body by using it in the right way and not letting it control us. Our values are spiritual values and we use the physical to subordinate it to the neshomo. The perennial question is: which component is dominant and which is subordinate? To us, the human body is holy—it can be the vehicle to express kedushoh and refinement of the soul. Part of it has to be cut away in order to carry a bris with Hashem. The body must be put into service of the neshomo and not take the center stage.

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Aharon Dovid ben Chaya Yochanan Baruch HaKohen ben Frumma Etta Etta Mindel bas Chana Tzofia bas Shoshana Daniel Yaakov ben Masha Tzvia Leora Rachel bas Chaya Raizelle Boruch ben Sorah Gittel Etel bas Chana Perel Devora bas Sora Sara Aria bas Masha Raizel Tuvia Chaim ben Shulamit Chana bas Yaakov Chaim Daniel ben Meri Malka Rivka bas Devorah Michael Ha Levi ben Esther Yisroel Yehuda ben Rachel

Mindal bas Chana Yitzchak ben Zisel Shmuel ben Sarah Ezra Chaim ben Rivka Yosef Noach ben Leah Tzivia Esther bas Frayda Leah bas Sara Shifra Yehudis bas Yafa Leah Yehuda Reuven ben Rachel Batsheva Yehudit bat Ita Yakov ben Chasya Nechama Aidel Malka bas Sara Leah Yehuda Meir ben Tzipora Netanel Ilan ben Sheyna Tzipora Shimshon ben Hassiba

If you would like to sponsor the Shabbos morning Kiddush following the Main

Minyan or Seudah Shlishis please contact the Shul office at 305-651-3591.

Mincha for the Week Sunday 5:35 Monday 5:36 Tuesday 2:00 and 5:19 Wednesday 5:37 Thursday 5:38

Schedule of Rabbi Peled’s classes

Sunday morning 8:15-8:55 am Chovos Halevavos: Shaar HaBitachon

Sunday morning after 9:00 Shacharis: Sefer HaChinuch.

Monday night 8:15 pm: Arvei Psachim (Gemara).

Tuesday night 8:00 pm: Ohr Fellowships Learning-Teaching program.

Thursday afternoon Lunch and Learn 1:15 at BookXchange 35 SW 12th Avenue #105 Dania Beach

Shabbos afternoon Mesilas Yesharim for men and women– next week

Mon-Fri right after 7:20 Shacharis: Halachos & Inspiration on the topic of Lashon Hara.

Shabbos morning 20 min after Kiddush Mishna Berura-Laws of Shabbos.

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We are looking for someone to donate a new plexiglass cover for the

Shulchan in the main Shul to replace the one that is broken. Please contact

the office if you would like to make this donation. Thank you!

A Meditation on Brachos

By Moshe Sussman

Imagine a bowl of Cheerios filled to the brim. I know if you have children you’ve had

this experience. Now you’re pouring in milk which fills all the vacant space between the oat

bran treat until the milk forces everything to the top of the brim. You add just a little more

milk and one of the Cheerios falls out. You pick it up and push it back into the bowl, but when

you do, another Cheerios falls out from the other side of the bowl. Again, you attempt to slip

the delinquent Cheerios back in. Again, another one slips out the other side, and so on, and so

on.

This is the universe.

If you believe that Hashem is One, and that the only real existence is Hashem, then it

follows that the universe is like this bowl of Cheerios, full to the brim with atoms which fill all

space with energy. Since energy travels over, under, around, and through everything that

exists, then tapping on one atom will create a chain reaction extending the energy of that tap

to the other side of the universe instantaneously.

This is the nature of oneness in the universe. Just like the bowl of Cheerios.

Now, consider the effect of emitting a new energy into the universe. We humans have

been given the gift of being able to do just that using our free will, our consciousness, and our

physical being. Just as hearing sound is the result of energy waves traveling through the

universe, entering your ears, and being transformed into a recognizable sound, so, too, we are

able to emit sounds by speech. In other words, we can put energy into the universe by

speaking.

When we make a bracha, we begin by taking energy from our consciousness and

sending it down from our brain to our throat. Hopefully, we are intending what we want to

say with focus, which magnifies the power of this energy.

Simultaneously, we are sending energy from our belly, our physical being, up through

our lungs, mixing it with the mental energy in our throat, formulating it with our mouth and

tongue, and expelling it out into the universe. Hopefully, it will have the effect we are seeking

with our kavanah, that is our aim. But, as Khalil Gibran wrote in his book “The Prophet” about

having children, we shoot our arrows into the air, but we have no real control or knowledge as

to where they will land. We can only hope that, if it be G-d’s will, our kavanah, our intention,

will carry the day.

It follows from this reasoning that the thoughts we think and the feelings we feel in our

bodies, culminating in the words we speak, have an actual physical effect on the world

around us.

New class starting January 5, 2020 8:15-8:55 am

Chovos Halevavos: Shaar HaBitachon with Rabbi Peled

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Avraham Tanev

Reliable driver, Airport

specials available!

Also available for

deliveries

917-345-1709

NEW EMAIL ADDRESS FOR THE SHUL :

yikasnmb@gmail.com

Please make a note of this change in your email