#Pesach #Sheni on the way to Lag B’Omer #2014 with inspiration and kindness!

So happy to get ready for Lag B’Omer 2014 & Ari Lesser this year in top form 🙂  But before that The 14th day of Iyar – this coming Tuesday night / Wednesday day – is known as Pesach Sheni. Last class of Session 4, 10th Habit!<- “Getting high, staying high with this Inner message of 2014” , the 10 habits towards 10 commandments getting ready for Session 5! Lag B’omer to Shavuot 2014!

It’s also the yahrtzeit of the holy Rebbe Meir baal Haness.

Rebbe Meir, a third-generation Mishnaic sage or Tanna, is affectionately known as Rebbe Meir “Baal HaNess”, or “master of the miracle”. He is one of the most quoted sages in the entire Talmud and one of the five (some say seven) latter pupils of Rebbe Akiva. His father, a righteous convert, was a descendant of the Emperor Nero.

The Gemara (tractate Avoda Zara, 18a-b) tells us that Rabbi Meir was married to Bruria, a brilliant woman and the daughter of the holy Rabbi Chanina ben Tardion, one of the ten martyrs whom the Romans persecuted. The tyrannical Roman occupiers sentenced Rabbi Chanina and his wife to be executed for teaching Torah publicly. They sentenced his daughter – Bruria’s sister – to be placed in a brothel. Image, above: Rebbe Meir’s holy gravesite in Tiberias

Bruria asked her husband to save her sister. Rabbi Meir took a bag of gold coins and said to himself, “If she has remained chaste, a miracle will occur for her, and if not, there won’t be a miracle.”

He then went to the brothel disguised as a Roman cavalryman, and asked her to sleep with him. She refused, claiming she was in the midst of her menstrual period. When he offered to wait until it was over, she said, “There are many other women here that are more beautiful than I.” He then realized that she used this tactic with everyone who sought her and concluded that she indeed maintained her chastity.

The disguised Rebbe Meir then he offered the gold coins as a bribe to the guard. The guard replied, “When my supervisor comes, he will notice one girl missing and he’ll kill me.”

Rabbi Meir answered, “Take half the money for yourself, and use the other half to bribe the officials.”

The guard argued, “And when there is no more money, and the supervisors come – then what will I do?”

Rabbi Meir answered, “Say, ‘elaka d’Meir, aneni – G-d of Meir – answer me!’ and you will be saved.”

The guard was not yet convinced: “How can I be sure that this will save me?”

Rabbi Meir replied, “Look – there are man-eating dogs over there. I will go to them and you will see for yourself.” Rabbi Meir walked over to the dogs, threw a clump of dirt at them, and they ran at him to tear him apart. He cried, “G-d of Meir – answer me!” and the dogs retreated. The guard was convinced, accepted the bribe and he gave Rebbe Meir Bruria’s sister.

The story’s not yet over: When the group of supervisors came, the guard bribed them with the money. Eventually, the money was used up, and it was publicized what had happened. They arrested the guard and sentenced him to death by hanging. They tied the rope around his neck and he said, “G-d of Meir – answer me!” The rope tore, much to everyone’s amazement. He confessed, so they put out a warrant for Rebbe Meir’s arrest. The guard was saved.

The Romans distributed an engraving with Rebbe Meir’s likeness on it and proclaimed that anyone seeing such a person resembling  should turn him in to the authorities. One day, some people spotted him and ran after him, so he fled and entered a harlot’s house. They barged into the house in pursuit. Eliyahu HaNavi – Elijah the Prophet – appeared to them as a harlot who embraced Rebbe Meir. “If this was Rebbe Meir,” they said to each other, “he certainly would not have acted like this!” Rebbe Meir escaped and fled to Babylon.

Ever since, there is a surefire tradition in Judaism that when a person is in peril, Heaven forbid, he should give charity, and dedicate it in the memory of Rabbi Meir Baal HaNess. He should then say “Elaka d’Meir aneni” – three times, which means, “G-d of Meir – answer me!”

Rebbe Meir’s yahrtzeit, the anniversary of his death, falls on Pesach Sheni, the 14th day of Iyar, which this year falls on Wednesday, April 24, 2013. This is a special day to give charity in the name of Rebbe Meir and to ask for all your heart’s wishes. Even better, try to visit Rebbe Meir’s holy gravesite in Tiberias, overlooking the Sea of Galilee. It’s a special place where thousands flock to, for many have seen miracles in their own lives after visiting there.

May Rebbe Meir’s holy memory intercede in our behalf, amen!

At the end of the year the boys get up and speak from the heart. One fellow echoed the sentiments of many of us when he said, “I thought I came to this school to give Hashem another chance, but at the end I realized that it was Hashem

who had given me another chance.” In Torah.Org ,Rabbi Frand on Parshas Beha’aloscha brings that Tosfos in Tractate

Kiddushin [37b] says that when the Torah describes Pesach Sheni [the “makeup” Paschal offering], it is actually implying an indictment of the Jewish people for not offering the Korban Pesach during the next 39 years. The fact is that during the next 39 years — after the offering of the Pesach sacrifice that year — they never again offered a Korban Pesach. This was the first and only time they brought a Paschal sacrifice during their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. The Haftorah of the first day of Pesach [Yehoshua Chapter 5] describes the next time that they offered a Korban Pesach, after they had already entered the Land of Israel.

The Chiddushei HaRim (1799-1866) questions Tosfos’ assertion that this was an indictment of the Jewish people. The reason why they did not offer the Pesach during the years in the wilderness was not because they did not care about the Korban Pesach. Rather, they did not offer the Korban Pesach for a technical reason. The Halacha requires that everyone who brings a Korban Pesach must be circumcised and all the male members of his family must be circumcised. During the 40 years in the wilderness, they were unable to perform circumcision as a result of the adverse conditions that existed in the desert. Such an operation would have presented a danger to the child.

For forty years, their hands were tied. They were victims of circumstances beyond their control (anusim). This was a technicality. It was not due to callousness or a bad attitude on their part. So why, asks the Chiddushei HaRim, does Tosfos call this an indictment of the Jewish people?

The Chiddushei HaRim answers that the indictment consists of the contrasting attitude, between the people who brought the makeup Pesach that year and all of the Jewish people for the next 39 years.

In the book “City on Fire,” compiled by Sarah Shapiro, about the twin tower tragedy of September 11, they bring on p. 197, Rav Matisyahu Salomon who cites the Alter of Slabodka who explains the prophecy of Malachi like Rav Moshe and elaborates on this point. He says in part,

                        “If a Torah Jew, who represents Yiddishkeit [Judaism], walks down the street, mixes with people, and is obviously not a happy person, if he doesn’t show that his life has content, if he is not an example of refinement and fulfillment, then he is shouting to the world, ‘It isn’t worthwhile to serve Hashem.’

                          He is saying to everyone, ‘We didn’t make it, but you made it. You are happy people. You have your entertainment, your pleasures….and I go around with my long face.’ You are telling everyone, ‘What benefit do we have in keeping His mitzvos?…It isn’t pleasure. It isn’t life itself. It isn’t an achievement. I don’t feel fulfilled….’ Hashem seems to have pushed us away, and we seem to be affirming those who do what they want, who extract the pleasures of life and seem to get a better deal. And that’s an indictment of Torah observance.”

                       Rabbi Zelig Pliskin, in his sefer “Growth Through Torah,” p. 18-19, brings from Rav Yeruchem Levovitz that the very first verse in the Torah Genesis 1:1, makes us aware that Hashem is Creator and Ruler of the universe. This will make a major change in you for the rest of your life. You realize that there is a reason for everything. The world has meaning and purpose.

                          Rabbi Pliskin elaborates that without meaning in life even if one accomplishes a lot, has health and wealth, fame and fortune, there is a strong feeling that something is missing. It is. Without meaning, there is no real enjoyment and satisfaction. Yes, a person can have moments of excitement, joy, and even ecstasy. But they are short-lived. When the high feelings settle down, there is emptiness. Nothing seems to really matter.

                         Rabbi Pliskin (ibid.), continues to say that without meaning in life there is no real enjoyment, but once you internalize the awareness that there is a Creator of the universe, you see plan and purpose. There is an inner glow and a drive for spiritual growth. Those who lack this realization see only the external actions and behaviors of those who live with the reality of the Almighty. They are unaware of the rich inner life of such a person. The true believer in the Creator is a fortunate person. He sees divinity in every flower and tree and in every blade of grass. His life, regardless of how it unfolds, is full of purpose and meaning. While he appreciates this world as a gift of the Creator, he looks forward to an eternity of existence. This is the profound message of the first verse of the Torah.

                       Rabbi Pliskin concludes with a story of a certain well-known communal leader, who as a teenager saw Rabbi Moshe Feinstien for the first time. He remembered something that Rav Moshe said that made an indelible impression.

                        Rav Moshe was saying, “People destroy their children by always repeating [in Yiddish] ‘Es is shver tzu zein a Yid (It is hard to be a Jew).’ No, it is not hard to be a Jew. It is beautiful and joyous to be a Jew.”

                        Rav Moshe’s face glowed with pride and happiness when he said those simple words, and the young listener recalls that he too became suffused with pride in his Jewishness.

1. Wow your spoiling us with all these Midnightrabbi inspiresd revelations!

   THE GUIDE FOR HUSBAND WIFEY HAPPY!

   A Midnightrabbi inspires spiritual guide to make a practical difference!

2. • We are almost by the climax of the year with Lag B’omer 2014 in less than a week, listen to how we planned this music mystic hour to go and click on the blogs to see how it all manifested thank G-d 🙂 the-inspiration-behind-the-spiritual-guide-to-our-husband-to-make-a-happy-wifey!

     

     Midnightrabbi Music and Mysticism hour @yeshivat Ashrenu Bet Shemesh Educational Center educational-…

     #MAZELTOV in Israel, Thursday 15th May, we will have a Bar Mitzvah for our #Ethiopianstudents. We will start the celebratory prayer with their new acquired #tefilinand #tallitot at our beautiful #campus after 7am .
     Then a celebratory moving breakfast will be served with parents and friends, presents and words of encouragement on reaching manhood #successfully. A trip to Jerusalem, Israel with Lunch and #inspiration! Sincere thanks from all our students and this #keymomentwas fulfilled in the right way. Please Email umuse613@gmail.com please as im no longer working for the jaffa institute!