ROOTS

Dear Family,

Hope everyone is well.

BIG MAZAL TOV ON THE ENGAGEMENT OF PENINA AND AVI!!! WHAT AN ACTION PACKED WEEK IT HAS BEEN FOR ALL KIND OF RELATED ARRANGEMENTS AND TRAVELLINGS ETC BH.

Wishing the wedding to be beshaah tova umatzlachas, and you should build a Binyan Adei Ad together with much joy and in good health.

The Public Engagement is Sunday night at Bongarts 1494 Carrol St. Crown Heights, NY 11213 from 7pm onwards BEH.

The Dvar Torah for this week is dedicated to this good news.

By Hasgocha Pratis ('coincidence') this is the same week that Mommy and I met and got engaged in 1979!

Baty and Shmueli also got engaged in this upcoming week.

So when Mommy and I got engaged, we met because she had come to a European Convention of Neshei Chabad which was taking place in London, and the theme of the Convention was ROOTS.

Now when Avi and Penina got engaged it was on the Shabbos of last weeks Sedra, Vaera.

And Vaera starts that 'Hashem promises Moshe that He will soon fulfil the promises He made to Avraham, Yitzchok, and Yaakov'.

And Rashi comments on this with one phrase ' To the FATHERS' ie even although each one had their own specific nature and character, their primary virtues were that they were FATHERS.

AND THEN I WAS THINKING, ISNT THAT INTERESTING THAT AVI'S NAME STANDS FOR AVRAHAM AND AVI MEANS MY FATHER!

Part 2 to the story is that Mommy and I were having a Lechaim on the Anniversary of our meeting and engagement, and we were looking at this Book which was published, about the Convention.

And of course we were looking at one of the special events ie that one of the participants got engaged ie Mommy!

And so I was browsing through the Book and what caught my attention was the Letter which The Rebbe wrote to give his blessing to the Convention, which was on the theme of ROOTS.

And here again came up the theme of FATHERS and MOTHERS!

There were a few interesting points which I saw.

1. The roots of our Jewish people are our FATHERS AND MOTHERS, the founders of our People.

2. The roots of a plant are constantly the source of nourishment for the plant.

3. The roots do work for their own development and growth, BUT THEIR PRIMARY FUNCTION IS TO NOURISH THE PLANT TO ENSURE ITS FULL DEVELOPMENT.

4. The roots also PROVIDE A FIRM BASE AND ANCHORAGE FOR THE PLANT SO THAT IT DOES NOT GET SWEPT AWAY BY WINDS AND OTHER ELEMENTS.

5. Similarly our FOREFATHERS and FOREMOTHERS have provided distinctive qualities which have blended together to produce the unique quality of our Jewish People.

6. In particular AVRAHAM, who stood up as a single person against the whole world with mesiras nefesh, to recognise Hashem, which has been passed on to his Children till today (ie we are still a very small Nation in a world with many gods, continuing to express the work of Avraham's blief in one G-d)

7. MOTHERS and daughters. Here the Rebbe addresses the women in particular ( as it was a Womens Convention) and brings out a beautiful point. Ie THE NATURE OF THE ROOT IS TO BE HIDDEN AND THEY DO THEIR WORK HUMBLY, AGAIN IN A TWOFOLD FASHION, OF ACTIVELY PURSUING ONES OWN GROWTH, AND THEN SECONDLY STREGTHENING THE GROWTH OF OUR PEOPLE. IE OUR WORTHY MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS ARE NOT CONCERNED WITH WHAT THE WORLD AND ITS FASHIONS ARE DECLARING OUTSIDE. RATHER THEY ARE CONDUCTING THEIR HOMES FROM THE INSIDE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF OUR SACRED TORAH AND MITZVOS. AND RATHER THEY ARE TAKING PRIDE IN OUR OLD FASHIONED, YET ALWAYS NEW AND ETERNAL ROOTS.

Welcome to the Family, Avi. And MAZAL Tov to you and Penina.

Gut Shabbos. Wishing all of us many simchos!