WHEN BUSH COMES TO SHOVE...In this week’s Parasha Bo, B’nei Yisrael finally leave Egypt after so many years of physical and spiritual degradation. They begin their journey to reclaim the land of Israel which was promised to them and to their forefathers. Their goal now is to inhabit the land of Israel while receiving the Torah, their life mission, on the way to their destination. They will then take it into their new homes and new-found country. Once having done so, their new challenge will be to maintain and nurture their accomplishments.
A person has two main challenges in life:
A person has two main challenges in life:
1. Achieving one’s goals and
2. Maintaining the accomplishment of those goals. For example, a teenager might dream of buying a new car so he or she saves up and finally buys the car. In order for the car to continue running properly, it must be maintained with scheduled tune-ups. A person might want to get married, so he or she goes out on many dates until finally a match is made. The goal of marriage has been achieved, but the new-found challenge is the maintenance and nurturing of the relationship. The same applies to running a business, buying a home, learning Torah, raising children, living a healthy lifestyle, buying a pet, etc. First comes the goal, then comes the energy to continue the momentum. Both aspects are vital to the achievement of life’s challenges.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu has helped us in achieving our dreams and goals as a Jewish nation, first by having the Land of Israel and then by allowing us to dwell in Yerushalayim “the pupil of the eye”. This is an enormous gift and privilege which previous generations could only dream of accomplishing. Yet as in any goal, even one of an entire nation, once achieved, the work and challenge is the consistent maintenance, development and growth of the initial accomplishment. We have Yerushalayim, I hope that we merit the continuation of that goal.
The following remarks were given by Natan Sharansky this past week as he stood under the Hupah at the wedding of his daughter Rachel.
This is a story of aspirations and the challenges of the preservation of these aspirations.
“In Jewish tradition after Kiddushin and Hupah we take one step back, look at our personal Simcha from a broader perspective, and break a glass in memory of Jerusalem. And here I want to say a few words.
This moment takes me back to our Hupah, Avital's and mine, 34 years ago. It was in a small, one room Moscow apartment where four friends held a sheet above our head. The number of guests hardly reached a Minyan.
It was the first Hupah in our lives that we ever saw and all that we could do was simply repeat after the rabbi every move and every word - while hardly understanding many of them. But when it came to breaking the glass, the rabbi spoke about Jerusalem and we became instantly reconnected to our reality. It was so obvious to us that we were in the very last stages, the final meters, of the thousands of years of struggle to return to Jerusalem. And this Hupah, ours, invigorated our determination to win this battle and made us feel powerfully that it was within our reach.
Today, we are standing here: You, Rachel, are the first Sabra in the Sharansky family, and you, Micha, the first new immigrant in the Danzinger family. And we are in Jerusalem! The dream has come true.
But if we are here already, in the unified capital of the reborn Jewish state, what is the meaning today of breaking the glass? What is the dream we still yearn for? What is our - your - challenge?
When I compare your Hupah and our Hupah, I think that the challenge which you face is much more difficult. Our aim was so simple and so clear. We had to win the battle and nothing could deter us.
Today, on the one hand you have to be builders and guardians of Jerusalem, and at the same time guardians of the idea of Jerusalem. You have to physically build the earthly Jerusalem and keep alive the power, energy and uniqueness of the heavenly Jerusalem.
The power of unity, and connection to the generations of our people is in heavenly Jerusalem, of Yerushalayim Shel Ma'ala.
The two of you met a year ago and immediately starting talking, and haven't stopped talking till today. And it was clear to all of us who enjoyed watching the beauty and intellectual and spiritual power of your talks that this union was made in the heavens.
Now that you are turning this union into a material and physical one and building your home in Jerusalem, keep the spiritual power of this past year throughout your life.
For Baba Ida, your birth, Rachel, was the most powerful proof of our victory over our enemies. She wanted to send your picture to the whole world, but first and foremost to the enemy. I am sure that for Savta Ida and Savta Grace - who was excited to get the news of about the impending wedding just before she left us - as well as for all the generations of the Danzinger, Horowitz, Sharansky, Stieglitz and Milgrom families - this Hupah is their victory. It is the victory of all the generations who were true to the Jewish people's oath of Jerusalem.
Now let's break the glass.”
Hakadosh Baruch Hu has helped us in achieving our dreams and goals as a Jewish nation, first by having the Land of Israel and then by allowing us to dwell in Yerushalayim “the pupil of the eye”. This is an enormous gift and privilege which previous generations could only dream of accomplishing. Yet as in any goal, even one of an entire nation, once achieved, the work and challenge is the consistent maintenance, development and growth of the initial accomplishment. We have Yerushalayim, I hope that we merit the continuation of that goal.
The following remarks were given by Natan Sharansky this past week as he stood under the Hupah at the wedding of his daughter Rachel.
This is a story of aspirations and the challenges of the preservation of these aspirations.
“In Jewish tradition after Kiddushin and Hupah we take one step back, look at our personal Simcha from a broader perspective, and break a glass in memory of Jerusalem. And here I want to say a few words.
This moment takes me back to our Hupah, Avital's and mine, 34 years ago. It was in a small, one room Moscow apartment where four friends held a sheet above our head. The number of guests hardly reached a Minyan.
It was the first Hupah in our lives that we ever saw and all that we could do was simply repeat after the rabbi every move and every word - while hardly understanding many of them. But when it came to breaking the glass, the rabbi spoke about Jerusalem and we became instantly reconnected to our reality. It was so obvious to us that we were in the very last stages, the final meters, of the thousands of years of struggle to return to Jerusalem. And this Hupah, ours, invigorated our determination to win this battle and made us feel powerfully that it was within our reach.
Today, we are standing here: You, Rachel, are the first Sabra in the Sharansky family, and you, Micha, the first new immigrant in the Danzinger family. And we are in Jerusalem! The dream has come true.
But if we are here already, in the unified capital of the reborn Jewish state, what is the meaning today of breaking the glass? What is the dream we still yearn for? What is our - your - challenge?
When I compare your Hupah and our Hupah, I think that the challenge which you face is much more difficult. Our aim was so simple and so clear. We had to win the battle and nothing could deter us.
Today, on the one hand you have to be builders and guardians of Jerusalem, and at the same time guardians of the idea of Jerusalem. You have to physically build the earthly Jerusalem and keep alive the power, energy and uniqueness of the heavenly Jerusalem.
The power of unity, and connection to the generations of our people is in heavenly Jerusalem, of Yerushalayim Shel Ma'ala.
The two of you met a year ago and immediately starting talking, and haven't stopped talking till today. And it was clear to all of us who enjoyed watching the beauty and intellectual and spiritual power of your talks that this union was made in the heavens.
Now that you are turning this union into a material and physical one and building your home in Jerusalem, keep the spiritual power of this past year throughout your life.
For Baba Ida, your birth, Rachel, was the most powerful proof of our victory over our enemies. She wanted to send your picture to the whole world, but first and foremost to the enemy. I am sure that for Savta Ida and Savta Grace - who was excited to get the news of about the impending wedding just before she left us - as well as for all the generations of the Danzinger, Horowitz, Sharansky, Stieglitz and Milgrom families - this Hupah is their victory. It is the victory of all the generations who were true to the Jewish people's oath of Jerusalem.
Now let's break the glass.”
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