The famous Chassid, Reb Zalman Moshe HaYitzchaki, was not known as someone who was particularly stringent about using only “clean language.” His juicy farbrengens were interwoven with a wide range of choice words dedicated to the Yezer Hara and his allies. Words that the average person would refrain from saying, to say the least…
“G-d your G-d you shall follow and Him shall you fear; His commandments shall you keep and to His voice shall you listen, Him shall you serve and to Him shall you cleave.”
The commandant to tithe ten percent of our produce in the Land of Israel is taken from the verse, “Take a tithe of all the seed crops that come forth in the field each year.” This refers specifically to the ten percent of our produce that we must consume in Jerusalem.
The Rebbe writes in the HaYom Yom of 27 Av: “Elul is a month of reckoning. Just as a businessman who wants to run his business properly and most profitably must take stock from time to time and correct anything amiss, so too must we act in our spiritual work of Avodas Hashem.
“If there will be a destitute person among you, any of your brothers, in any of your cities, in the Land that G-d, your G-d, is giving you. You must not harden your heart or shut your hand from your destitute brother. Rather you must surely open your hand to him…”
Joy is central to Judaism. We are commanded to serve G-d with joy at all times. This is particularly true during the Jewish Holidays, when we are commanded to show our joy more demonstrably, as it states in this week’s parsha with respect to the Festival of Sukkos: “You shall rejoice on your festival…”
August 29, 2019