Parshat Naso

In Parshat Naso it does say,
That if a husband suspects that his wife did stray,
He brings her to the Beit Hamikdash right away,
Her loyalty is tested on that day.

Hashem's name is written on a parchment with ink,
It is placed in a cup of water which she must drink,
If she is guilty her death is imminent,
She is blessed with beautiful children if she is innocent.

Why would Hashem agree,
To have his name erased totally?
Hashem agrees wholeheartedly,
Because a Jewish marriage is so holy.

There is nothing greater in life,
Then bringing peace between a husband and wife,
Because a marriage joins two halves of one soul together,
We must do all we can to make a marriage last forever.

From this portion we learn a marriage tip,
Every day, one needs to work on their relationship,
There are three P's to keep the peace,
So that a loving relationship will only increase.

If one is upset at their spouse they should not respond right away,
They should take a PAUSE, before something they say,
They should look at the situation from another PERSPECTIVE,
Giving the benefit of the doubt, is much more affective.

The most important thing to remember,
Is that a spouse is a treasure,
Because a spouse is a PART,
Of a person's soul and heart.

Souvenir: peace sign bracelet

Shavuot Poem

On Shavuot, the Jews received the Torah at last,
When Moshe went up to heaven, the angels said, "Not so fast!"
The Torah has a view,
On real estate too!

A man must offer to sell his land to his neighbor,
Before selling it to a stranger,
Because buying land from a neighbor is an opportunity,
That doesn't come by so easily.

The angels were the Torah's neighbor,
Moshe was the stranger,
Since they are closer to Hashem,
The angels felt that the Torah should belong to them,

To answer the angels, Moshe was told,
Let us see how the debate could unfold,
The Torah is not a piece of land, Moshe could say,
But the angels could refute it right away.

The reason that land is singled out from all the rest,
Is because it can not be moved, its location makes it the best,
Even if you shop around,
The advantage of buying land next door can not be found.

Torah is singled out from all the moveable objects in the store,
Because it can not be manufactured in China or Singapore,
For objects that can be moved you can shop around,
But another Torah can not be found.

The angels could claim,
That a neighbor's land and Torah are the same,
Because they are both unique, the angels could be sure,
That the Torah would remain in heaven like before.

There is an amazing law that does say,
That if a neighbor wants the land to plant today,
And a stranger wants the land to build a home right away,
Then the stranger is the one who gets his way.

To the angels, Moshe's response was clear,
Did Hashem take you out of Egypt this year?
Is refraining from idol worship a challenge for you?
Do you have parents to honor and listen to?

In this physical world things are not black and white,
We have an evil inclination to fight,
But when we overcome our challenges and do what is right,
We build a home for Hashem and reach the greatest height.

The Torah has to be in a world so low,
Because this is where Hashem wants His home to go,
This is how we fulfill our mission,
And realize Hashem's desire and vision.

Building a home for Hashem is our priority,
We received the Torah for this purpose specifically,
On Shavuot the Torah is given anew to every Jew,
Because we are all part of Hashem's construction crew.

Souvenir: blue resin torah

Parshat Bamidbar

There once was a puzzle piece with a beautiful design,
He lived in a box with many other pieces so fine,
The puzzle belonged to a girl of three,
She loved her puzzle dearly.

The pieces the girl would often count,
To make sure she had the right amount,
The little puzzle piece didn't want to be counted with all the rest,
It said, "I'm an individual, I want to shine and be the best."

The girl said to the puzzle piece,
"When you are counted with the rest your value does increase,
Yes, you have much talent and a magnificent design,
But when the puzzle is complete that is when you really shine."

In Parshat Bamidbar, Hashem gives a command,
The Jews should be counted, their total would be grand,
Since Hashem knows everything,
What is the point of this counting?

Hashem wanted the Jews to be counted for our sake,
There is a point that Hashem wants to make,
When things are counted together with care,
A common denominator they must share.

Our common denominator is that we all have a Neshama flame,
From the soul perspective, we are all the same,
On the outside we are different from each other,
But in the inside we are all part of one another.

Each individual person is necessary for sure,
When connected together we can accomplish so much more,
To create a beautiful puzzle is our goal,
Every Jew is an important part of the whole.

My personality I don't need to ignore,
By being counted my individuality is enhanced even more,
I am not just a number, on the contrary,
I am part of Hashem's family.

Souvenir: puzzle piece

Parshat Bechukotai

In Parshat Bechukoti, the Torah does say,
The rewards we will get, for walking in Hashem's way,
But why is it that in exile we don't see,
The rewards that Hashem promises immediately?

If we look back in history, the contrary we see,
The most righteous Jews suffered terribly,
Why is it that the Jews suffer persecution in every generation?
Why are the most evil always running after the Jewish nation?

The answer is that during exile Hashem is concealed,
G-dliness is not revealed,
Holiness and spirituality are hidden but very much alive,
Evil is attracted to holiness, because that is the only way it can survive.

The end of the exile is like the labor pains before birth,
But when Moshiach comes, evil will be eradicated from this earth,
All the veils, curtains and obstacles will be dissolved,
With G-dliness, Torah and Mitzvot we will be involved!

The world will be in a perfect state,
To enjoy fruit that we plant, we won't have to wait,
Everything will be absolutely great,
With a parable, all the above, we will illustrate.

There was once a king who was as lost as could be,
In the deep forest, tree after tree was all he could see,
His hunting party was nowhere to be seen,
It was like a terrible dream.

Suddenly, rain began to fall,
There was no one to hear his call,
He didn't have an internet connection or a cell phone,
He was drenched to the bone.

In the distance he finally saw a small light,
In the clearing there was a small hut in sight,
Moshe the Jew, opened the door right away,
He offered his guest a place to stay.

Moshe gave his guest whatever he had,
With goat's milk and straw the king was glad,
The next morning, Moshe took his guest to the city,
The king was as grateful as could be.

The next day, a royal carriage did arrive,
Moshe was taken by surprise,
Moshe came before the king,
He was rewarded with everything.

A few days later, Moshe did meet,
His friend Yankel, walking down the street,
When Yankel heard what Moshe did for the king,
He decided to try the same thing.

To bring goat's milk and straw to the palace, was quite silly,
Yankel was thrown out of the palace immediately,
In the forest, the identity of Moshe's guest was unclear,
Therefore the goat's milk and straw, to the king, was dear.

To the bitter exile, the forest does compare,
In our exile, Hashem is hidden but near,
Every Mitzvah to Hashem is so precious and dear,
We will receive the greatest rewards with Moshiach this year!

Souvenir: present box

Parshat Behar

Parshat Behar, on the mountain, it does mean,
Hashem spoke to Moshe on Mount Sinai, so green,
When you enter the land, on the seventh year, you must let it rest,
For six years, to work your land, you should do your best.

Why isn't the verse reversed,
If the six years of planting come first?
With Hashem we need to touch base,
And ask ourselves why we are working in the first place.

Do we live to eat or do we eat to live?
Do we work to make money or do we make money to give?
Do we give up on raising a family to have a career,
Or do we have a career to support our family so dear?

Before we go work to do our part,
We have to have our perspective straight from the start,
To devote the seventh year to Hashem, is our priority,
Hashem is the one who gives prosperity.

This applies to resting on Shabbat too,
Hashem sustains every Jew,
We won't make an extra dime,
If on Shabbat, in the office we spend time.

There is a lot we can learn,
From a parable about an urn,
A unique urn had six spouts all around,
Filling up cups of coffee, six men were found.

The seventh man did complain,
Because there was no coffee by the time he came,
"If only there was a seventh spout,
There would be coffee for me, he did shout."

The amount of coffee that the urn can contain,
The man didn't realize, remains the same,
If you add an extra spout,
No extra coffee will come out.

We need to have faith and learn,
That Hashem decides how much money we will earn,
In six days or seven, we will earn the same amount,
To give Tzedakah and to put into our bank account.

***************************************

For another lesson on perspectives we don't have to look far,
It is clear in Parshat Bechukotai, which is often read with Behar,
In Parshat Bechukotai, it does say,
That we need to give ten percent of our earnings away.

A person could say, it's not fair,
I don't want to share,
From this story we will see,
That giving Tzedakah should be our priority.

A charity collector once asked a rich man for a donation,
He was turned away with an explanation,
The wealthy man said that he already gave his share,
He showed his charity receipts from the past year.

Looking around the room, the collector did see,
The wealthy man's home full of beauty,
The collector asked if he could share,
A Torah thought for all to hear.

When the Beit Hamikdash stood in all its glory,
Tithing from one's flock was mandatory,
How was this process done?
The animals walked out of the pen one by one.

The owner would count one, two, three,
With red dye the tenth would be marked immediately,
Why was this exercise necessary?
Why did each animal have to be counted individually?

The owner would realize, as the animals walked out the door,
That although he was giving, he was getting much more,
It was as though Hashem was saying, "After giving you nine,
I'm asking for just one to be mine."

All of our wealth, from Hashem does come,
We need to share with everyone,
We need to change our perspective,
And give without being selective.

Souvenir: play money

Parshat Emor

In this week's Torah reading, to count the Omer it does say,
During this time period, the Omer we count every day,
To receive the Torah we are delighted,
We count for seven weeks to show we are excited.

On the second day of the Pesach holiday,
An Omer, which is a measurement of barley, was offered right away,
It was an offering of thanksgiving,
For the harvest season that was beginning.

What is the connection between the Omer offering,
And the seven week counting?
There is another question that we need to explain,
Why do we count the days that past instead of the days that remain?

The counting of the Omer is a journey,
Of transforming freed slaves into royalty,
Let us take a lesson from this story,
And become truly free!

There once lived a family,
That was as poor as can be,
For clothes and food they had no money to pay,
They moved to the garbage dump one day.

They ate leftover food and played with broken toys,
That were thrown out by other girls and boys,
They ran around freely and didn't go to any schools,
They had no chores and no rules.

One day the king rode by,
When he saw the children he began to cry,
He offered the kids an opportunity,
To come with him to the palace and live royally.

The children said, "No, thank you,"
To go to school and have manners they didn't want to do,
They wanted to be free and have fun,
With this life only one boy was done.

Yisrael, was the only boy who was grateful to the king,
He went to the palace and learnt everything,
He couldn't run around and be wild anymore,
But he married the princess and was happier than ever before!

When the Jews were freed from Egyptian slavery,
Their spiritual state was one of barley,
Being free was a dream come true,
Now they thought, no one would tell them what to do.

Every Jew has a G-dly and an animal soul,
At this point the animal soul was in control,
Now that they were finally free,
The animal soul said, "Now, it's all about me."

No schedule or rules, for an animal is O.K.,
For a human being it is no fun after a day,
The animal soul has to be trained to see,
That there is more to life than barley.

In this world there are many physical things that are tempting,
When we run after our desires, it is our animal soul that we are serving,
When we give in to our emotions and wants, we are still in slavery,
All the materialism in the world won't make us happy.

To ourselves we need to be true,
We are Hashem's children with a mission to do,
Our mind has the ability to rule over our emotions in the heart,
To follow the palace rules is where we start!

When Yisrael came to the palace, he had to cleanse himself and shower,
For seven weeks, to refine our character, we have the power,
The world laughs and says that the palace rules are extreme,
But following Hashem's laws is what true freedom does mean.

We count the days that passed,
We concentrate on our accomplishments and make them last,
Instead of thinking about what should be mine,
We make our animal soul shine.

By time the holiday of Shavuot rolls around,
Our selfish animal soul can not be found,
Our animal soul is transformed totally,
We are free to serve Hashem wholeheartedly.

On Shavuot the Jews brought an offering made of wheat,
Two loaves of bread which is made for humans to eat,
The two loaves represent the G-dly and animal soul,
Working together to fulfill one goal.

When our G-dly soul rules over our animal soul we are freed,
To refine ourselves, on Shavuot we succeed,
Shavuot is our wedding anniversary,
We are truly royalty!

Souvenir: Sefirat Haomer chart

Parshat Kedoshim

Long ago lived a sage of great fame,
Hillel the elder, was his name,
Once a man tried to put him to the test,
The entire Torah on one foot, was his request.

While the man stood on one foot that day,
This is what Hillel the sage did say,
"Love your fellow as yourself, is the Torah in its entirety,
All the rest in commentary."

"Love your fellow as yourself," seems like a nice ideal,
Is love something we can be commanded to feel?
On our perspective it does depend,
When we look at the essence, everyone is a friend.

To a candle each one of us does compare,
Candles can be found everywhere,
Candles come in every size, and shape,
There are many different scents like lemon, berry and grape.

Although candles come in every color of the rainbow,
There is one thing we all know,
In essence all candles are the same,
What they have in common is their flame.

On the outside our differences appear,
We have different opinions to share,
Each one of us is special and unique,
Some like blue while others prefer pink.

But on the Inside, we are all the same,
We all have a Neshama, flame,
For every Jew, we can feel love,
Because every Jew is a child of Hashem above.

When the layers we uncover,
We are one family, we discover,
To put the soul first is the key,
The soul is the #1 priority!

To love your fellow as yourself, in this Torah portion we see,
The other 612 Mitzvot are commentary,
Because all the Mitzvot were given,
To reveal the G-dliness that is hidden.

Souvenir: birthday candles