WEALTH

Dear Family,

I hope everyone is well.

Mazal Tov to Miriam Brocha on your upcoming birthday next week. Wishing you a wonderful year with much success Miriam. The midot for the sefirah on your birthday is netzach of tiferet – endurance in compassion ie the ability to be compassionate to another through good and even difficult times.

Mazal Tov to Nechama Levy whose birthday is on the same day. We love you Nechama and look forward to seeing you again soon. Wishing you a happy year.

This weeks Parsha is Shemini, (the Eighth day), and because of the set up of Yom Tov this year through Pesach, it works out that we read this parshah 8 times! This is not so usual and the expression describing it is ‘Shemini shmonah shimnah’. – When Shemini (the parshah) comes up 8 times (shmonah), it is a sign for WEALTH (SHIMNAH). – each word based around the root meaning 8.

There is also many 3’s connected to this year.

We received the Torah in the year 2448 of the Hebrew calendar, and we are now in the year 5778, ie 3330 years ago!

Talking about the Hebrew calendar, we have been learning the Laws of the New Moon in Rambam this week (and for the past few weeks).

These laws are fascinating, especially if one enjoys maths and astronomy, but even if not, it is still very interesting to see how advanced is the Torah guidance on this subject, and actually how it relates to Pesach and the month of Nissan.

It says in Devarim 16:1 ‘Observe the month of Spring, (chodesh ha aviv) and offer a Passover sacrifice’

This led our Sages to make our unique ‘luni-solar’ calendar, which allows Pesach to always fall in spring.

It prevents both types of problems of having just a solar year calendar like the Christians, whereby the calendar months never correlate with the phases of the moon, or a lunar year like the Mohammedan calendar, which results in no specific winter or summer months. This results in religious festivals that can fall at any time during the year.

As a result of the above passage, Nissan becomes the first month of the Hebrew calendar year.

And look at the beauty of our Hebrew language – the Hebrew word for spring is aviv – this is made up of אב and יב ie father (av) of 12 (months) -(numerical equivalent of yud and beis is 12)!! I read all this in a very interesting book called ‘A Glimpse of Light’ by Dr Schamroth, which explains Rambam’s Laws of the New Moon.

There is a minhag to place a key inside the challos on the first Shabbos after Pesach, ie this coming Shabbos.

It is supposed to be a segulah for WEALTH.

Therefore, eat your challos carefully!

Gut Shabbos to all, and wishing everyone a year of ABUNDANT WEALTH IN BOTH THE PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL.