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                                  B"H
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                         L'CHAIM - ISSUE # 1425
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                           Copyright (c) 2016
                 Lubavitch Youth Organization - L.Y.O.
                              Brooklyn, NY
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             THE WEEKLY PUBLICATION FOR EVERY JEWISH PERSON
   Dedicated to the memory of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson N.E.
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        June 10, 2016           Bamidbar           4 Sivan, 5776
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                              Our Children


    The Midrash teaches that the Jewish people were given the Torah
    after they offered future generations as the guarantors.
                         by David Y.B. Kaufman

Recently all our children came to visit, with all our grandchildren. It
was crowded, hectic, chaotic, a lot of fun and very revealing.

Inter-generational interactions, and intra-generational interactions,
are very important. In many ways, they provide nourishment to the
nuclear family (parents and children). Of course, such family
get-togethers are becoming increasingly rare in our increasingly mobile,
fractured society, especially ones where the dynamics remain positive,
as opposed to the almost cliched arguments, tensions and fights that
occur, the dredging up of past wounds and unresolved rivalries.

And our digital age is a two-edged sword, on the one hand, contributing
to the factions, distance and lack of communication, superficial,
healing or otherwise, and on the other allowing us to stay in touch and
connect much more intimately and immediately than ever before. The
immediacy of email or text, or the visuals of FaceTime or Skype, etc.,
allows us to communicate, to be part of each other's lives, to defy
distance and dissonance and distractions in ways only imagined before.

Of course, I'm not the first to make these observations, but their power
and poignancy struck me deeply during their visit, as I watched and
interacted with my children, now grown, and especially my grandchildren,
even as I wrestled with my own health issues and its impact on my
future.

In the face of the inevitable uncertainty of our futures, children, and
perhaps especially grandchildren, give us not only a measure of hope,
not only a sense of continuity, but a reassurance that our lives have
value, meaning and substance. We have not only been a partner in
creation, we have revealed something of the Eternal. From generation to
generation includes us in a larger community, transforms us into
integrated parts of a greater whole.

Whether we play with our grandchildren, or watch them play with each
other -indeed, whether we are the uncles and aunts, or even the cousins,
that join or extend a family - and as we observe the interaction of the
next generation with its own next generation, we participate in a
continuity that both emphasizes our moments and broadens our souls. We
discover a spiritual rootedness in our physical encounters, elevating
the mundane spinning of a toy or reading of a book to an almost sacred
experience, like the mystical attachments that arise from the
repetitions of prayer.

Driving it all is the simple joy of being - being there and being with.
And as they struggle into competence, we, too, regain our own, finding
ourselves renewed, as it were, in their joyful discoveries.

We come together all too briefly and all too infrequently, and even as
we maintain contact, interest and involvement, we yearn for the
immediacy of a prolonged presence. But every moment is a blessing, and
as we, the elder generation, struggle with our own inner conflicts, our
own ailments, our own (still) becoming, it is a comfort to have not just
the connection, but the relationship with children and grandchildren. A
gift from the Almighty, we bless them, but even more, they bless us.

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           LIVING WITH THE REBBE  -  THE WEEKLY TORAH PORTION
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In this week's Torah portion, Bamidbar, the Jewish people are counted
and organized. Every one was counted, every one had their place under
the banner of their tribe, surrounding the Mishkan,  the Tabernacle.

These countings are so significant, that our Sages named this fourth
book of the Torah "Chumash Hapekudim," the Book of Numbers.

The portion of Bamidbar is always read right before Shavuot, the day G-d
gave us the Torah at Mount Sinai.

What is the significance of this counting? What is the connection
between this counting and Shavuot?

In the innermost chamber of the Mishkan stood the Ark, the Ark. In the
Ark were the tablets of the Ten Commandments which we received from
Hashem on Shavuot.

Around the Mishkan camped the tribe of  Levi and around them, all twelve
tribes.

Being counted and organized around the Mishkan, teaches us that each of
us have a specific part, a unique mission, that we are being counted on
to do in the service of Hashem, symbolized by the Mishkan.

Being counted also unites us as one, with one grand purpose.

For this reason too, every one of us had to be at Mount Sinai to receive
the Torah. G-d was telling us, "You each are absolutely necessary, you
each have a unique part of the Torah that was given specifically to you
and to you alone." When you do your mitzva (commandment), all of us are
effected by it, as being counted makes the sum whole.  When we camped at
Mount Sinai we were as one man with one heart, united as a people,
united in purpose.

When a soldier does his mission, he positively effects his army and his
country.

I love having visitors and thank G-d I'm blessed with many. Bikur
Cholim, visiting the sick, is a great mitzva. One time when I was
visited by long time friends of mine, after being with them for a few
minutes, I could sense that there was a quality to their visit that was
special. I could tell that this is their special mitzva. Perhaps when
their souls stood at Mount Sinai, visiting the sick was given to them as
one of their unique missions.

By each of us championing our unique missions, we will surely merit to
stand once again together, like one man with one heart this Shavuot,
with the coming of Moshiach.

    By Rabbi Yitzi Hurwitz, yitzihurwitz.blogspot.com. Rabbi Hurwitz,
    who is battling ALS, and his wife Dina, are emissaries of the Rebbe
    in Temecula, Ca.

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                             SLICE OF LIFE
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A scribe, or Sofer, began the painstaking process of transcribing a new
Torah scroll for the Chabad of the Rivertowns, a growing Jewish
congregation in Dobbs Ferry.

The day was a festive one, though the new scroll's origin is one of
hardship.

That is fitting, says Jean-Marc Orlando, who is donating the Sefer
Torah, because turning darkness into light is a familiar Jewish story.

Orlando, a former-high-level employee at French bank BNP Paribas and a
practicing Orthodox Jew, was attending a 2011 work summit in Amsterdam
when his life suddenly careened away from him. He was forced to attend
two screenings of a training film that depicted the CEO of Deutsche
Bank, a major competitor, as Adolf Hitler.

Orlando, a dual citizen of the United States and France, is of Tunisian
ancestry. His grandmother was abducted by the Nazis, only narrowly
escaping deportation.

As the video aired at that training session, he fled the building and
began to weep on the street outside. That night, he called Rabbi Benjy
Silverman, of Chabad of the Rivertowns. The two had been friends since
Orlando began attending the nascent congregation in 2006.

"There was no better person to talk to," Orlando said. "This hit me in
my core, and who better to speak to than with my rabbi?"

Silverman still remembers the tremble in Orlando's voice.

"It was a very difficult time," Silverman said "To him, this was not
just an attack against him but an insult to his Judaism, an insult to us
all."

An apology, according to a lawsuit he later filed, was all he wanted.
Instead, he faced intimidation and threats.

"Orlando, I've heard enough," a superior told him, according to his
court complaint. "If you dare open your [expletive] mouth one more time
on this topic, I will take care of your career and what is left of it."

Within a year of the incident he was fired.

Orlando's health deteriorated. He was diagnosed with depression and
began having seizures. A top performer who was well-respected by
colleagues, he was fired in 2012.

Orlando settled the landmark discrimination suit against his former
employer in February 2016 for an undisclosed amount.

What he did with some of the money, his rabbi said, is of tremendous
inspiration to him, to the Chabad community and to Jews worldwide.

The Torah is the holiest book in Judaism and the centerpiece of
religious services.

The new scroll, which will cost around $40,000, will travel to Israel
where a second scribe will do the bulk of the work, expertly
transcribing it character by character. The process can take upwards of
a year and is done according to strict religious regulations.

It ultimately will return to Dobbs Ferry, where the final character will
be written.

Orlando, who still lives in Scarsdale and now works for his own
financial technology company, says his gift will long outlast his own
story.

"We will have 20 generations that will learn and read from this Torah,"
he said. "This (case) will be forgotten in 10 years, but people will be
inspired in the future, not by this incident but by the Torah itself. It
is a candle that we lit in the darkness."

                                           Reprinted from lohud.com

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                               WHAT'S NEW
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                               Be There!

Each year on the festival of Shavuot we relive the giving of the Torah
to the Jewish people by G-d at Mount Sinai by hearing the Ten
Commandments read in the synagogue from a Torah scroll. It is a special
mitzva (commandment) for every man, woman and child to be in the
synagogue on Shavuot to hear the Torah reading. This year, the Torah
reading that tells of the giving of the Torah will be read on the first
day of Shavuot, Sunday, June 12, in synagogues around the world. Many
Chabad-Lubavitch Centers sponsor "ice cream" parties (in keeping with
the ancient tradition of eating dairy products on Shavuot) for the young
and the young at heart. To find out about the closest Shavuot ice cream
party call your local Chabad-Lubavitch Center.

                          Chabad Center at JFK


The Chabad Center at JFK/Kennedy Airport in New York has expanded its
activities and now has a permanent facility in the airport. The
dedication of the facility was held at the conclusion of the reciting of
Kaddish for the Center's founder, Rabbi Yekutiel Rapp of blessed memory,
who passed away tragically last year.  The programming of the Center at
JFK has expanded in this past year and is the fulfillment of Rabbi
Rapp's last conversation with his son just two hours before his passing.

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                            THE REBBE WRITES
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             Adapted from a letter to the Lubavitch Women's
         Organization convention, dated Lag B'Omer, 5731 (1971)


Torah from Sinai begins with the Ten Commandments, of which the first
two: "I am G-d, your G-d" (the root and foundation of all positive
mitzvoth - commandments) and "You shall have no other gods" (the root
and foundation of all prohibitions) proclaim the Unity of G-d. A
precondition to the Giving of the Torah was the unity of the Jewish
people (as it is written, "And Israel encamped there facing the
Mountain"- in the singular form, indicating, as our Sages explain, "as
one person with one heart"). The essence of the Giving of the Torah is
to realize in the material world the Unity of G-d, through the "one
nation on earth," the Jewish people, fulfilling the 613 mitzvoth of the
one Torah.

At first glance it is difficult to understand how such unity can be
achieved, considering that G-d Himself created mankind as diverse
individuals, differing in their opinions ("as they differ in their faces
so they differ in their minds"), living in a world which He likewise
created variegated as to climate and physical features. How can a whole
nation attain true unity within itself and bring unity into such a
diversified world?

The explanation is to be found in the verse, "And they stood themselves
under the Mountain (Mount Sinai)" - all of the 600,000 adult men, their
wives, sons and daughters. This means that, as they were about to
receive the Torah, all submitted themselves to it so completely, that
mundane matters ceased to exist for them, as it were; their
self-effacement (bitul) and joy of receiving the Torah left room for
nothing else. And since the "Mountain" was the same for all, and all
were permeated with the same feeling of self-effacement and joy, this
brought true unity to all the individual Jews, and also unity into the
world, through the one Torah.

The Jewish people began with one family, that of our ancestors Abraham
and Sara, and ever since then the Jewish family has been the foundation
of our people. In the family, too, each member is a separate individual,
with a particular function and purpose in life assigned to him and her
by Divine Providence. Unless there is unity in the family, there can be
no unity of the Jewish people. How is family unity achieved? In the same
way as mentioned above: When all the members of the family accept the
One Torah from the One G-d in such a way that the Torah and mitzvoth are
the only essential thing, and all other things are merely secondary, and
have a significance only insofar as they are related to the essence -
then there is true unity in the family.

In attaining this family unity - bearing in mind also that Jewish
families are the component parts of the Jewish people, hence the basis
of the unity of the Jewish people, as mentioned above - the Jewish
mother and daughter have a most important part, being the Foundation of
the Home, as has been underscored on previous occasions.

Needless to say, the said unity must be a constant one, without
interruptions; this is to say, it must be expressed not only on certain
days of the year, or certain hours of the day, but in every day of the
year and in every hour of the day. This means that a Jewish home must be
wholly based on the foundations of the Torah and mitzvoth, and so
permeated with the spirit of Torah dedication and the joy of mitzva that
this should be reflected also in the conduct outside the home, in the
street, and in the entire environment.

Herein lies the essence of the "integrity" and unity of the Jewish
family and of Jewish family life - the main theme of this year's
Convention.

It is hoped that this point will be brought out at the Convention with
the proper clarity and forcefulness, together with its aim and purpose -
its realization in daily life, in keeping with the basic principle of
our Sages of blessed memory: The essential thing is the deed.

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                              ALL TOGETHER
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In a spiritual sense, the lessons from Hakhel are applicable even in the
Diaspora, even in the time after the Temple's destruction. Hakhel
involves gathering together all Jews: men, women, and children. Hence,
it is appropriate that everyone take part in assembling all the Jews.
Men must try to influence men; women, women; and children, children to
gather together. May it be G-d's will that the men, women, and children
all accept good resolutions in regard to all the above and that we will
climb over all the boundaries and limitations of exile and proceed to
the true and ultimate redemption. Then we will hear Moshiach read the
Torah in the Temple courtyard.

                                                  (The Rebbe, 1981)

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                        A WORD FROM THE DIRECTOR
                         Rabbi Shmuel M. Butman
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Shavuot is "the season of the giving of our Torah," the time when G-d
gave the Torah to the Jewish people. On Shavuot, the Rebbe would bless
the congregation to "receive the Torah with happiness and inner
feeling."

This blessing intimates that not only does Shavuot commemorate when we
were given the Torah, but also the time when we accept and "receive" the
Torah.

The Rebbe explained that our personal experiences on Shavuot should
reflect both of these qualities: giving and receiving the Torah. The
Rebbe urged every Jewish man, woman and child to become a teacher of
Torah. The Rebbe explained that not only would the people being taught
benefit from the Torah study, but that the teacher would benefit greatly
as well.

Our Sages have taught that if a person knows even just the Hebrew letter
alef, he is obligated to teach someone who doesn't know alef. There are
hundreds of thousands of Jewish men, women and children who don't know
"alef," or don't know about Shabbat candles, or about the mitzva
(commandment) to give charity, or that Shavuot   begins this Saturday
night. But you know! And you can teach your Jewish friend, co-worker,
doctor, teacher.

On the first day of Shavuot (Sunday this year), we will read in the
synagogue the verses in the Torah that recount the giving of the Ten
Commandments. Being in the synagogue for the Torah reading enables us to
relive the experience of our ancestors had at Mount Sinai.

Our Sages have assured us that an increase in Torah study and mitzva
observance will bring about increased blessings in all matters. May this
also lead to the ultimate blessing, the coming of Moshiach and the
ultimate and complete redemption. May it be in the immediate future.

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                          THOUGHTS THAT COUNT
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And the L-rd spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of
Meeting (Num. 1:1)

"In the wilderness of Sinai" teaches that a Jew should be as humble as
Mount Sinai, the smallest of all the mountains; "in the Tent of Meeting"
teaches that he should be joyous, as the word for "Meeting," "Moed,"
also means festival. The greater one's humility, the more genuine joy he
will experience at having merited to be able to serve G-d.

                                      (Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk)

                                *  *  *


Take a census of all the people of Israel (Num. 1:2)

Moses' counting of the Jews caused the Divine Presence to rest among
them. Every Jew realized that he was part of an exact number, and that
he, the individual, had the power to influence the fate of the entire
nation. Similarly, Maimonides writes (Laws of Repentance): "Every person
should consider himself...half innocent and half guilty, and the whole
world as if half meritorious and half culpable. If he does one mitzva,
he tips the balance to the side of merit and brings salvation to himself
and entire world." Thus by arousing them to repentance, the census
caused G-d's Presence to dwell among the Jews.

                                              (Shnei Luchot HaBrit)

                                *  *  *


Our Sages note that the giving of the Torah at Sinai required the
presence of all 600,000 Jews; if just one had been missing, the Torah
would not have been given. The portion of Bamidbar is always read before
Shavuot, the day on which the Torah was given, to remind us of this
principle. Furthermore, it reminds us that it was not enough for all
Jews to be present; it was necessary that the Jewish people be united in
love for one another. "Israel camped there [before Mount Sinai] as one
man with one mind." This peace and unity is the channel for all Divine
blessings, including the greatest of all - the coming of Moshiach.

                                                  (Peninei HaGeula)

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                            IT ONCE HAPPENED
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The upcoming holiday of Shavuot is the anniversary of the passing of
King David.

Living in the Holy Land of Israel in the times of King Saul and King
David, there were constant wars. Time and again, the Philistines
attacked the Jews, sometimes in small bands, often with large armies.

One time, the Canaanite armies overpowered the Jews. They swarmed into
Shilo, destroyed the Tabernacle, and carried off the Holy Ark in
triumph. But their rejoicing was short lived. First they placed the Ark
in the temple of their god, Dagon. But the next morning, they found the
idol on the floor, with its head and hands off. Terrified, the people
sent the Ark to a different city. But after a few days, everyone there
became sick and started dying. From one place to another, wherever the
Ark went, it brought only death and terror.

The Philistines realized that they had to get rid of the Ark. Their wise
men advised placing it in a beautiful new wagon, together with gifts of
gold and silver. The wagon would be hitched to two nursing mother cows.
"Let us see where they pull it to," they said scoffingly. To their
amazement, the cows ignored their hungry baby calves, and pulled the
wagon right back to the Jews. It was an open miracle. All Israel
rejoiced. For the next 20 years, the Ark remained with a righteous man
named Avinadav.

In the meantime, David became king and fought a series of battles until
he had totally defeated the Philistine enemy. "Now at last," he thought,
"there is peace. I can bring the Ark to where it belongs, to Jerusalem."
In his heart, David yearned to build a permanent home for the Ark, a
Holy Temple that would be an eternal dwelling place for G-d's Presence
in this world.

Bringing the Ark to Jerusalem was not a simple thing. This was the Ark
of G-d, with the Ten Commandments in it. Special honors and a ceremony
had to be arranged. Tens of thousands of Jews were invited to attend,
and 150,000 judges. The Ark would be brought in the same beautiful wagon
that the Philistines had made, to remind everyone of the great miracle
that had taken place.

But the decision to use the Philistine  wagon proved to be a fatal
mistake. A huge crowd accompanied King David to the home of Avinadav.
The Ark was loaded onto the wagon pulled by prize oxen. Lively music
filled the air. Musicians played the harp, the flute, and drums. Tens of
thousands of people followed the procession.

The Ark, however, is not allowed to be placed in a wagon. It must be
carried on the shoulders of men from the Levite family of Kehot. As the
procession passed by the farm of Aravna the Jebusite, where the Holy
Temple would one day be built, the oxen suddenly lost their balance, and
the wagon shook.

"Oh no!" cried Uzza, the son of Avinadav. "The Ark is falling!"
Instinctively, he ran forward and stretched out his hand to support the
Ark. No sooner did Uzza touch the holy Ark, than he suddenly fell
lifeless to the ground. The Ark did not fall. It floated in the air,
supported only by its own holiness.Whoever saw it was filled with fear
and awe.

The procession could not continue. The death of Uzza put a halt to
everything. The Ark was instead taken to the home of a righteous person,
named Oved Edom. For three months the Ark stayed there, and Oved Edom
prospered unbelievably. His fields produced bumper crops, and all the
women in his family - his wife and eight daughters-in-law, gave birth to
healthy children. Everyone could see that great blessing had come to him
through the Ark.

Once again, King David prepared to bring the Ark to Jerusalem. This time
the Ark was covered, as it was when the Jews had travelled in the
desert. And the Levites carried the Ark on their shoulders.
Miraculously, they did not feel its great weight. It even seemed like
the Ark was carrying them.

Shofars and trumpets were sounded to remind everyone of the solemnity of
the occasion. King David did not dress in royal robes, but in simple
white linen, like a Priest on Yom Kippur. On his head he wore tefillin,
and in his arm he cradled a small Torah scroll.

King David was euphoric. The Ark was returning. The Tablets that G-d
Himself had given at Mt. Sinai had been taken way from the Jews. And now
they were coming home. With boundless joy, King David danced before the
Ark, leaping and cavorting with happiness.

Finally the Ark was brought into the city and placed in a special tent
that had been prepared. Then the king blessed all the people, and
presented every one with a loaf of bread, a portion of meat, and a flask
of wine, so that they could all rejoice with their families.

When King David's  wife, Michal, the daughter of King Shaul,  saw her
husband from the window, dancing and leaping in the street, she was very
upset. She had never seen such behavior in her father's house. It seemed
to her lowly and shameful for a king to make such a spectacle of himself
in public.

When David came home, she could not contain her feelings, and burst out
with harsh words against him. "How could you behave like that?" she
said. "Have you no sense of dignity? You have brought shame on the
kingship and shame on us all."

"No," said David, "that is not true. If I danced in public before the
Ark, it was only for the honor of G-d. He is my great Master! Before Him
I am nothing, less than a simple common person. For He is all my honor
and my joy, and whatever I did is only for His sake."

And so the Ark with the Tablets of the Ten Commandments came to its
resting place in Jerusalem. King David then began making plans for the
building of the Holy Temple where the Ark would one day find its
permanent home, may it be restored speedily in our days.

                                            From The Moshiach Times

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                            MOSHIACH MATTERS
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The Messianic King will arise in the future and restore the Davidic
KinG-dom to its former state and original sovereignty. He will build the
Sanctuary1 and gather the dispersed of Israel.All the laws will be
re-instituted in his days as they had been aforetimes;sacrifices will be
offered, and the Sabbatical years and Jubilee years will be observed
fully as ordained by the Torah. Anyone who does not believe in Moshiach,
or whoever does not look forward to his coming, denies not only the
teachings of the other prophets but also those of the Torah and of Moses
our Teacher.

                  (Mishneh Torah of Maimonides, Laws of Kings 11:1)

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               END OF TEXT - L'CHAIM 1425 - Bamidbar 5776
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