Community Magazine February 2019

20 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE A Pendant So magnificent that will quickly get you many compliments. Everlasting Any Occasion PENDANTS 539 West Englewood Ave, Teaneck, New Jersey 07666 (973) 885-2648 info@photopendants.com Check out our website for more unique gift ideas www.PhotoPendants.com No Jewish home is complete without a Kiddush cup, It is engraved with a photo of a loved one, or your favorite photo! The photo is guaranteed to stay forever. A d d i t i o n a l 10% selected line of Jewelry Likewise, the big fish also teaches us a lesson of faith. He spends his days pursuing the small fish from behind. He makes every effort to catch him, but never succeeds. When he finally relaxes and takes a break, the little fish comes swimming right into his open mouth. Gd’s message is: “You think it’s your effort and your diligence that brings you your parnasa? The more you chased, you never caught one fish.” Once you give it over to Gd, He says, “You remember me? Don’t worry. I am with you. Now the fish will come right into your mouth.” Thus, the Rabbi taught his students a fantastic lesson in emuna from both fish: The fish going this way, and the fish going that way. The Week’s Beracha Comes from Shabbat This story may also be a basis for our custom to eat fish on Shabbat. The holy books teach that all the beracha of the week comes from Shabbat. It’s like a wellspring of blessing, right in the middle of the week - three days before and three days after. That’s why we don’t refer to Shabbat as the weekend. To us, Shabbat is “week-center” that brings beracha both to the days before it and after it. All the parnasa we make during the other six days comes from Shabbat, yet ironically, we don’t work on Shabbat. The days in which we are industrious derive their success from our faithfully keeping Shabbat. Sometimes, keeping Shabbat requires bitahon on our part, for example, in an industry where Shabbat is the busiest day of the week, as in retail. Our job is to understand that success in sales is not the winning product, nor the savviest marketing; it’s all the Ribbono Shel Olam. We demonstrate this by the fact that we don’t make any effort on Shabbat, yet that generates the beracha for the rest of the week. As we say in the Lecha Dodi on Friday night: “ Likrat Shabbat lechu v’nelcha, ki hi mekor ha’beracha - Let us walk toward the Shabbat, for she is the source of blessing.” Therefore, we eat fish to remember: Where we put our faith in Gd we always win. When we rely on our own abilities, we lose. This lesson of the fish may also explain an unusual feature of their anatomy. Fish are one of the only creatures without eyelids. A fish never closes its eyes, even when it’s sleeping. This reminds us that the eye of Gd is always watching over us, when we put our trust in Him and close our own weary eyes and sleep. What Happens When We Relax Our Bitahon There’s a famous story of a rabbi and his student who were making a long journey by horse and buggy. They reached a very steep descent, and the student got scared, thinking there’s no way the horse is going to make it down this mountain without tumbling over. He panicked and screamed out “Shema Yisrael,” preparing to jump out and save himself. But the rabbi held his arm and said, “Sit tight. It’s going to be okay.” Sure enough, they made it down safely. They continued to travel along flat terrain as the student לעילוי נשמתם של משה בן עליזה, יצחק הלל בן עליזה, והנרייט לאה בת עליזה, דוד בן גילה, רבקה בת גילה, יהושע בן גילה, משה בן גילה, שרה בת גילה, יעקב בן גילה, ואליאנה בת גילה. ולרפואה שלמה ליוסף בן אהובה מסעודה, שילת אהובה בת עליזה, ודניאל בן עליזה.