Have Questions or Comments?
Leave us some feedback and we'll reply back!

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Phone Number)

    In Reference to

    Your Message


    WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME – PART ONE

    One of the special
    features of the wonderful
    Yom Tov of Shavuos is the
    reading of Megilas Rus.
    While it is a fascinating
    and delightful story, its
    linkage to the celebration
    of matan Torah, the giving
    of the Torah, is not at all
    obvious. Why we read
    Megilas Esther on Purim
    is a slam-dunk for it’s the very story of Purim.
    So too, Eicha, Lamentations, on Tisha b’Av, for
    it is the mournful dirge of the destruction of
    Yerushalayim and the Temple. But the Megila
    of Rus doesn’t mention the Torah at all and it
    seems to be disconnected from the Shavuos
    spirit.
    One school of thought is that Shavuos is the
    yahrzeit of Dovid HaMelech. Therefore, we lein
    Megials Rus which reveals to us the wonderful
    beginnings of Dovid HaMelech. But, there is
    another reason given which is more central to
    the very essence of Shavuos. In Rus Rabbah,
    the question is asked, “HaMegilah hazeh ein bo
    lo issur v’heter, v’lo tumah v’taharah. Umipnei
    mah bah? L’lamedcha schar gadol shel gomlei
    chasodim – This megilah does not contain
    information about that which is prohibited or
    permitted, that which is ritually contaminated
    of pure. If so, why is it taught to us? To teach

    us the great reward for acts of kindness.” The
    megilah is replete with heroic kindness. The
    dedication of Rus and Orpah to their dying
    husbands Machlon and Kilyon, then to their
    mother in-law Naomi after the death of their
    husbands.The kindness of Boaz to the Moabite
    convert Rus; these are all hallmarks of Megilas
    Rus.
    This is the reason why we read Rus on Shavuos
    – to accentuate one of the core essences of the
    Torah HaKedoshah which is chesed. Indeed,
    the Medrash at the very beginning of the
    Torah says that the Torah opens with an act of
    kindness and closes with an act of kindness.
    Namely, it starts with Hashem clothing Adam
    and Chava when they were naked (Besides the
    creation of the entire world which is the most
    monumental act of kindness. As it says, “Olam
    chesed yiboneh.”), and it finishes with an act of
    kindness when Hashem Himself buries Moshe
    Rabeinu, to teach us that the entire Torah is
    full of chesed. This is why we say the phrase
    Toras chesed in Eishes Chayil for the Torah is a
    compendium of kindness.
    Thus, one of the great lessons of Shavuos is
    for us to reaffirm our commitment to be a kind,
    loving people. Indeed, it is one of the three
    national traits that mark a person as a Torah Jew:
    rachmonim, baishonim, v’gomlei chasodim, we
    are a people who are compassionate, we have a

    sense of shame, and we do acts of kindness.
    The word gever, which means a man and also
    is the Hebrew word for strength, is an acronym
    of rachmonim, baishonim, v’gomlei chasodim!
    There is a scary thought shared in the sefer
    Chemdas Eliyahu. He cites the Gemora which
    asks a historical question. The First Temple
    was destroyed because we were guilty of
    three cardinal sins, idolatry, immortally, and
    bloodshed. However, during the time of the
    Second Temple, we had Torah, mitzvos, and
    kindness. So therefore, why was the Second
    Temple destroyed? The Gemora gives the
    grim answer: we were awash in the sin of
    sinas chinam, senseless hatred for each other.
    The Chemdas Eliyahu comments about the
    phenomena that it is possible for us to be
    saturated with kindness and at the same time
    to be guilty of sinas chinam. This points to
    a sobering reality. We are ready to do plenty
    of kindnesses on our own terms. Still, it isn’t
    necessarily so that loving kindness permeates
    our very beings. For if that would be true,
    it would be virtually impossible for us at the
    same time to be guilty of sinas chinam. This
    is a tough question which we need to confront
    about ourselves. Is much of the kindness that
    we do truly for others or is it more about
    feeling good about ourselves or for our own
    aggrandizement? When Rabbi Akvia said,
    “V’ahavta l’rei-acha k’mocha; Zeh klal gadol

    baTorah – Love your fellow man as you love
    yourself. This is a great principle of the
    Torah,” he was emphasizing this battle against
    being self-centered.
    This Shavuos, let’s turn our thoughts to
    waging this all important battle against our
    own self-centeredness and in that merit may
    Hashem bless us with long life, good health,
    happiness, and everything wonderful.
    To be continued…