בס׳ד

"Where does it say that you have a contract with G-d to have an easy life?"

the Lubavitcher Rebbe



"Failure is not the enemy of success; it is its prerequisite."

Rabbi Nosson Scherman



1 Jun 2014

Remembering Har Sinai

We find in the Torah that many mitzvos are Zecher L’Yetzias Mitzrayim.  We don’t find mitzvos that are Zecher L”Maamad Har Sinai.  Rav Aharon Kotler asks, since the whole point of leaving Mitzrayim was to receive the Torah, aren’t we focusing on the wrong thing?  Mitzrayim is only a means to the end of receiving the Torah.  Shouldn’t we be concerned with remembering Har Sinai?

He answers that memories are needed for something that happened in the past and isn’t here right now.  We can’t move the past forward, so we take ourselves back in time.  This applies to Yetzias Mitzrayim where remembering is appropriate.  However says Rav Aharon, Ma’amad Har Sinai is something that can happen every moment of every day.  When a person learns the way he should, that moment itself is no less than when we stood by Har Sinai.  He proves this from the gemaros where we find Tanaim learning Torah and consumed in fire, such as Rebbi Eliezer and Rebbi Yehoshua at the Bris Milah of Elisha ben Avuya (Yerushalmi Chagiga 2:1) and Yonason ben Uziel where birds flying overhead were burned by the fire (Succah 28a).

We see from hear that limud hatorah BiKedusha UB’Tahara can actually bring the same Kedusha of Ma’amad Har Sinai right here and right now.  Even people with short memories can constantly enjoy hearing the words of Hashem anytime anywhere! (Kol MeiHeichal - Shavuos 5766)
http://revach.net/moadim/shavuos/Rav-Aharon-Kotler-Why-Always-Zecher-Yetzias-Mitzrayim-and-Not-Zecher-Har-Sinai/2312


Members of Reform and Conservative synagogues have signed on to recent full-page advertisements in Jewish newspapers around the country, blasting their denomination’s leaders for supporting the (eventually failed) bid of the self-labeled “pro-Israel, pro-peace” lobby J Street to join the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
...“Voting to include J Street in the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations was not advocating for diversity. It was falling for duplicity,” said the Conservative ad,...
http://www.sdjewishworld.com/2014/05/31/conservatives-reform-debate-j-street-role/




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