Shabbos Bereishis

Shabbos Bereishis

INTRODUCTION

Shabbos Bereishis, the final Shabbos of the festive month of Tishrei (itself the 'head' of the coming year) constitutes the 'climax' that encapsulates Tishrei.

On the other hand, the festive period is now over and we begin the new cycle of reading the Torah (starting with Parshas Bereishis); we now face the challenge of 'unpacking' the inspiration and spiritual powers that we have collected through our divine service from Rosh Hashanah through Simchas Torah, and utilizing them throughout the coming year in our daily divine service.

INFLUENCE YOUR YEAR

• Our manner in which we approach and perform our divine service on Shabbos Bereishis has a continuous effect on the entire coming year. 34

PLAN TO FILL YOUR YEAR WITH SPIRITUALITY

• Every man, woman and child can therefore appreciate that Shabbos Bereishis is the most fitting time to formulate a program for activating the spiritual powers that we gathered during the Tishrei festivals in our daily affairs – at home, work, school and so on.34

REINFORCE YOUR TORAH AND MITZVOS

• For a start, each of us should resolve to strengthen all activities concerning Torah and Mitzvah throughout the entire coming year. 35

STUDY MORE TORAH

• We should add and bolster our regular schedules for Torah study; both our personal pursuit of individual subjects as well as our maintaining the universal study cycles (such as the daily study of Chitas).35

IMPROVE YOUR MITZVOS

• We should further enhance our performance of Mitzvos, and particularly of the Mitzvah that equals all others – giving Tzedakah; this includes donating to the Keren Hashanah Fund (which distributes Tzedakah on behalf all donors each day of the year).35

DAILY CONDUCT

• We should also advance our service of 'Let all your activities be for the sake of Heaven' and 'Know Him in all your ways.' This means utilizing everything in the universe in a manner that furthers Hashem's honor; a goal which we realize by using everything to advance the observance of Torah and Mitzvos or even as actual Mitzvos.35

HAFATZAН

• The main thing is that we fulfill the obligation carried by every Jew in our present generation: To disseminate Torah, Judaism and Chassidus; to bolster fellow Jews in their divine service; and particularly to draw close those Jews who did not merit an adequate Jewish education (not through any fault of their own, but rather due to Divinely-orchestrated circumstances).35

REACH THE LAST JEW AND BRING MOSHIACH

• The dissemination of Judaism should be given vital emphasis in our present times – for it is apparent that the sole explanation36 for Moshiach's delay is that there is yet a Jew (who is unaware that we are waiting for him) to whom we must reach out – in a pleasant and peaceful manner – and return to his or her true self and true 'life,' namely, a lifestyle based on Torah and Mitzvos, which constitute 'our life and the length of our days.'37

YOUR WORD COUNTS

• Every Jewish man, woman and child should assume an active role in this dissemination; we see clearly how a Jew who presently considers himself ‘foreign' to the Torah lifestyle can be powerfully influenced by a heartfelt word – even coming from a small child.38

YIDDISHKEIT IS HIS ESSENCE

• Our influence on fellow Jews is particularly effective when we speak sincere words from the heart and inform them that being a Jew, he or she contains a soul that is 'an actual part of Hashem' therefore Torah and Mitzvos are in fact not at all 'foreign,' G-d forbid, but rather constitute their very own inheritance and essentially, our own true existence.35

WE'RE ALL WAITING

• Our message and its impact is further strengthened when we explain to our fellow Jew that the entire nation, including its greatest figures as well as all the souls of Jewry from all past generations – and even the very Shechinah (Divine Presence) which is in a state of exile alongside ourselves – are all waiting for and are dependant upon him or her in order to finally depart from Exile!39

KEEP REACHING OUT

• To facilitate a greater measure of success in our dissemination of Judaism, it is fitting for each of us to take stock from time to time and ask ourselves: How many Jews have I brought closer to Yiddishkeit in recent days...?40

DAILY DILEMMA

• One of our daily Shiurim [lit. "measures"; used to refer to regular sessions of Torah study] ought to be the following Sha'er, "evaluation”: What further could I do in order to hasten the coming of Moshiach?!40