Special Features
KOL MITZVOT HASHEM = 612. When you do the mitzva of TZITZIT you are reminded of the other 612
P'til Tekhelet - The Association for the Promotion and Distribution of Tekhelet, Jerusalem In light of the fact that the mitzva of Tzitzit, in general, and T'cheilet, in particular, is from this week's sedra, we include some items from the P'til Tekhelet website, and encourage you to surf over there and see what they've got. The Talmud describes Tekhelet as coming from a sea-creature called a chilazon. In a homiletic passage, the chilazon is characterized as "similar to the sea, being similar to [but not] a fish, and coming up from the sea once in seventy years [rarely]." Chilazon in modern Hebrew means "snail". Rabbinic, historical, archaeological and chemical evidence point to Murex trunculus snails as the source of Tekhelet. Murex snails possess a gland which contains the source of Tekhelet. Dibromoindigo, which originates from glandular secretions of a fresh snail, bonds chemically to wool when put into solution in a reduced state (vat dyeing). In the presence of sunlight, the dibromoindigo debrominates to indigo, leaving color-fast blue wool. There are different opinions regarding how Tekhelet should be tied. Bear in mind that the technique chosen does not qualify or disqualify the mitzva, except for certain minimal requirements. Today, Tekhelet is being tied following the opinions of various legal authorities including the Vilna Gaon, Rambam, Sefer HaChinuch, and Chabad. www.virtual.co.il/orgs/orgs/tekhelet
NCSY B'YISRAEL NEWS Every Tuesday afternoon for the past 2 years, NCSY has sent a contingent to the Ramle-Lod area to run activities for the 8th grade girls of the Ha'Rin School. Our hopes have been to impact the girls to continue their religious education on the high school level. This year, Sharon Waldman and Dalia Sender arrived in Lod every Tuesday to conduct recreational as well as educational activities for the largely, Ethiopian chevra. Under the auspices of Ulpanant Elad, the girls met to talk, learn, and yes, play. They went to the beach (where some of the girls had never been!), go-carting, and to the water park - always learning and absorbing the lessons of derech eretz and respect for others. This past Thursday, June 15, NCSY threw a goodbye party for the girls. Each of the 35 girls who attended received a personalized book of T'hilim. When asked, at this juncture, how many of them were interested in continuing their religious education, the respnse was overwhelmingly positive - with 100% saying they plan to. This, in contrast, to the total lack of response to the same inquiry when asked in September, is a tremendous accomplishment, B"H! One girl - Truya Sahalo - was named NCSYer of the year. This girl, one of 8 children, came to all NCSY activities, events, and Shabbatonim, sometimes on her own, without knowing anyone else. She slipped in to each new chevra with ease, enthusing and enjoying every time. We hope to continue with this important work next year, and the next, and next...
From the desk of the Director Dear TT reader, In these troubled days in Israel, would you prefer to be a Calev or a Yehoshua? That is the question. Calev was seemingly just another spy, bidden with the others to bring back a report on the Promised Land. Like the others, he too saw fierce giants - but was not perturbed. Calev was the first to resist his pessimistic peers; he silenced the people and declared the apparently impossible possible. Yehoshua was blessed with an additional holy letter to his name. Thus fortified, he was more than just a tribal representative. As Moshe's student, now endowed with an inner perceptive quality, he could not but disagree with the malingering majority. On hearing the people moan, both Calev and Yehoshua rent their garments and praised the Land. Note, however, that in recording the story of the Spies, the Torah recalls Yehoshua before Calev. However, when Hashem declares their reward, He mentions Calev before Yehoshua. Does that tell us something about the importance of speaking up against the tide of opinion and of standing up for classical Torah values? Should one's attributes incorporate those of Calev and Yehoshua? Can we have one without the other? That is the question. Sincerely yours, Menachem Persoff Director, Israel Center
I accustomed myself not to want that which I do not want.
There are two types of Evil Impulses (YEITZER HARA): One that incites people to sin, and the second that convinces them afterwards that what they have done was a good deed.
from Hasidic Wisdom by Simcha Raz (Elkins/Elkins)
[The Shlach Homepage]
|
