Back in 1996, Rabbi Finman was asked to speak to the niece of one of his students. After spending many hours answering her questions, the woman gave Rabbi Finman her e-mail address. Rabbi Finman wrote the woman a note and included in it a short insight into that week's Parsha and a short Chasidic story.
Realizing that this was something no one was yet doing,, Rabbi Finman sent the missive to his mailing list of about 30 people. Requests from recipients friends came pouring in. The next week Rabbi Finman sent the e-Parsha to 100 people. Within a year more than 2000 people were receiving it. Today, more than 14,000 receive the e-Parsha weekly and the requests keep coming in.
Lech 5786
Noach 5786
Haazinu Yom Kippur 5786
Vayelech 5786
Nitzavim 5785
Lech 5786
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Click on the link to be directed to this week's YouParsha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTvvaWyTFJA Abraham's tests
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The Rebbe writes in HaYom Yom, "Breishis is a cheerful Parsha even though its ending is not all that pleasant. Noach has the Flood, but the week ends on a happy note with the birth of our father Avraham. The really joyous week is Parshas Lech L'cha - Genesis 12 - 16. We live every day of the week with Avraham, the first to dedicate his very life to spreading G'dliness in the world. Avraham bequeathed his self-sacrifice as an inheritance to all Jews."
The Rebbe refers to this week as being totally happy. In looking at the story line: Avrohom is told to leave his home and go to some unknown place. When he gets there, there is no food. He travels to Egypt where his wife is abducted. He leaves there and has to deal with a recalcitrant nephew. His nephew is captured by a warring army. Avrohom leads a small party to attack this much larger army. His wife cannot have children. She tells him to marry the slave girl and then yells at him for getting her pregnant and, at age 99, G'd tells Abraham to circumcise himself. This is happy?
Life is filled with tests (click on the YouParsha included in this missive). Hashem tests people to show them their strengths. What may seem to be a punishment or misfortune is in reality a great expression of Hashem's love for us. The Alter Rebbe explains in Chapter 11 of Igeros Hakodesh that Hashem gives us the opportunity to show our faith in him. It is easy to say everything is Divine Providence when everything is going well. Since, as the Talmud states, no evil comes from above, all that happened to Abraham showed immediate good. He left Charan - a disgusting place, found himself in Egypt where he became wealthy, made a treaty after the war that essentially made him king of Canaan, became the progenitor of the chosen people and entered into an everlasting covenant with the Almighty - indeed a happy week.
If no evil comes from above, how does the Rebbe say that Parshas Noach is not such a happy Parsha? The period before the flood was an initiation period for man. It was unfortunate for man that the original paradigm did not work - people became corrupt and were wiped out. The evil did not come from above - it came from below
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A certain young scholar, who had accomplished much in his Torah-study, discovered in an obscure tome of Kabbalah that if a suitable person were to pass forty days and forty nights without uttering a single unnecessary word, he would merit the exalted spiritual state of ruach hakodesh - divine inspiration. He spent the next 40 days studying Torah and avoided social contact. The required period passed without mishap. But he could not understand what had gone wrong.
He decided to journey to the Chassidic Rebbe, Rabbi Yisrael of Rhyzhin. When he arrived at the Rebbe's court, he was astonished to see that the Rebbe lived in extraordinary luxury! Home, furnishings, clothing and appurtenances were all made of the most expensive materials and were of a quality fit for the highest level of aristocratic decadence. Was this any way for a spiritual leader to live, a Chassidic Rebbe no less?
He wondered if he had made a mistake in coming. He decided to leave without even speaking to the so-called holy master. As he passed the Rhyzhiner's house, he saw the Rebbe emerge. Four magnificent white steeds had been harnessed to a carriage worthy of royalty. As the Rebbe was about to mount to his seat, he paused and patted one of the horses on the head, three times. This was too much for the frustrated scholar to bear. He dashed over to the Rebbe and challenged, "Explain to me, please, exalted sir, in what spiritual work is a Chassidic master engaged during the time he is petting a horse?" The Rhyzhiner gazed at him a moment before answering benignly, "Ah, but you do not understand. This special horse just completed forty days and nights without uttering an unnecessary word!"============================================
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