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GOOD MORNING! Sukkot is the holiday of joy. One way to bring more joy into your life and into the world is through personal relationships. Speech is a way of drawing people close or pushing them away. That is why the Torah places so much emphasis on the Laws of Loshon Hora - the laws guiding speech.
It is interesting to note that a large percentage of the Al Chaits -the transgressions listed in the Yom Kippur prayer book for which we ask forgiveness - deal with speech. Gossip can ruin lives, assassinate reputations, split families, alienate friends and destroy businesses.
Last year a fabulous book was published - GOSSIP: Ten Pathways To Eliminate It From Your Life And Transform Your Soul By Lori Palatnik with Bob Burg (Simcha Press). The nationally syndicated gossip columnist, Liz Smith, even made positive mention of it! The book tells you how to expunge gossip from your lives in order to live in a gossip-free environment. It's available in major bookstores!
Would you like your words to soothe instead of sting? Heal
instead of hurt? And build instead of burn? Here are the:
TEN PATHWAYS TO ELIMINATE GOSSIP
Q & A: WHAT IS THE ESSENCE OF SHEMINEI ATZERET AND SIMCHAT TORAH?
Friday evening, October 17th, begins Sheminei Atzeret which is actually a separate festival adjacent to Sukkot. Rashi, the great Biblical commentator, explains that atzeret is an expression of affection, as would be used by a father to children who are departing from him. The father would say, "Your departure is difficult for me, tarry yet another day." After the Jewish people prayed for the life and happiness of the 70 nations of the world, the Torah and the Almighty keeps us one more day for a special holiday to make requests just for ourselves.
Yizkor, the memorial service for parents and relatives - and Jews who have been killed because they were Jewish or in defending the Jewish people and Israel - is Shabbat morning, October 18th.
Saturday evening begins Simchat Torah, the celebration of completing the yearly cycle of Torah reading and beginning it again. The evening and again the next morning are filled with dance and songs rejoicing in the Torah and thanking God for our being Jewish and that the Almighty gave us the Torah! We read the last Torah portion in Deuteronomy, V'Zot Habracha and then begin immediately with Bereishit, starting the book of Genesis. If you take your kids to synagogue twice a year - one time should be Simchat Torah!
Torah Portion
Shemini Atzeret is the concluding Yom Tov of the Sukkot holiday. We read Deuteronomy 14:22 -16:17 which includes the topics of: tithing crops, remission of loans during the Shemitah year, to be warm-hearted and open handed to the destitute, Jewish bondsman, Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot, going to Jerusalem for Shelosh Regalim, the three pilgrimage festivals - Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot - with offering to celebrate the festivals.
On Simchat Torah we read V'Zot Habracha to complete the Book of Deuteronomy and thus the whole Torah. This Torah portion begins with the blessing of Moshe, right before he dies, for the Jewish people and each tribe. Then Moshe ascends Mt. Nebo where the Almighty shows him all of the land the Jewish people are about to inherit. He dies, is buried in the valley in an unknown spot, the Jewish people mourn for 30 days. The Torah then concludes with the words: "Never again has there arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Almighty had known face to face ..." and then we start again the yearly cycle of reading the Torah with the reading of Bereishit, Genesis!
Dvar Torah
based on Love Your Neighbor by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin
The Torah states:
"And this is the blessing, wherewith Moshe, the man of God, blessed the Children of Israel before his death." (Deuteronomy 33:1)
Why is Moshe called "the man of God" in this verse?
The Midrash Psikta D'Rav Kahane answers that, "Moshe was not called 'the man of God' until he spoke in defense of the Jewish people." Moshe pointed out the loyalty of the Jewish people to God in verses 33:3-4 - that the Jewish people cleave to the Almighty even in times of adversity and are loyal to the teachings of the Torah transmitting them to our children. The Midrash informs us, "Whoever speaks out in defense of the Jewish people is elevated."
Anyone can find fault with others. True greatness is to see the good points of others.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
No one gossips about
other people's secret virtues.
-- Bertrand Russell