BITTERNESS TO SWEET, DARKNESS TO LIGHT

Dear Family,

I hope that everyone is well.

Refuah shleimah for Yechezkiel ben Ester.

A big Mazal Tov to Hy Fisher, Naomi's father, who has just celebrated his 99th birthday BH! We have such great respect for your achievements Hy, and wishing you many more active years till 120!

And Naomi and Chanan (Ashley) also feature for themselves this week. Mazal Tov on your Anniversary! Wishing you many more healthy and happy years together with much happiness from all of your Family!

Mazal Tov to Hirshy and Mariasha on their upcoming Anniversary on Shabbos. Wishing you both much continued success in everything that you do, all with much joy!

Mazal Tov to Mendel and Freida on their Anniversary next week. Wishing you also much continued success together and with much happiness!

Mazal Tov to Zalmy Davidoff senior on his birthday next week. Wishing you a year of much success and new achievements Zalmy. I saw a vort this week, that the opposite of old is not young. It is new. To be continually learning and seeing new avenues of possibility.

Mazal Tov to Pam Koval on her birthday this week!

I learnt a short but deep Maamer of the Rebbe(from 1981) this week about the Menorah which is discussed in this week's Sedra Behaalosecha, based on this week's Haftarah speaking about the vision of Zechariah:

He saw a gold Candelabrum (Menorah) with a large bowl above it from which 7 tubes emerged, feeding oil into the 7 lamps of the Menorah.

Near it were 2 olive trees, one to the right of the bowl and one to the left....

I will try and summarise how the Rebbe explained this.

• The Menorah with its 7 branches, all beaten together from bottom to top with one piece of gold, represents our individuality, but all united together with one Father. All the different parts of the Menorah, from the lowest to the highest were all equally united within the one whole.
• There are 7 levels of Service, 7 Emotional Attributes, and we have had 7 Shepherds (Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov etc) who have transmitted G-dliness to us through the ages.
• The function of the Menorah in the Temple was to spread light outward to the whole world.
• Each of us individually has been compared to a small menorah. The imagery is that we are the candle dish. And in this dish is the oil and the wick, which represent Torah and Mitzvot. And with this we play our role in spreading light to the world.
• Zechariah saw the Jewish people as golden even in the time of exile, even in the time everything is so difficult, and even although our standards are so low. (2 other prophets had described the Menorah in exile as silver dross, and impure silver)
• Olives are bitter, but when we crush them, we produce oil which produces light, and we can therewith transform the darkness to light.
• Our work (avodah means to make a change) in the dark exile, before the coming of Mashiach is to work with our 7 emotions. Not to be deterred by the difficulty of the work (the bitterness), and to use force against our negative emotions (iskafiah and ishafchah), to bring about sweetness from the bitterness and light from the darkness.
• The conquering of the 10 Nations in Eretz Yisrael, refers individually to our 7 emotional attributes plus 3 intellectual. The 3 'Nations' on the East side of the Jordan (the '3 intellectual attributes') will only be conquered with the Coming of Mashiach, and this will bring about a much greater light to the world.

This is why Zechariah saw the Jewish Nation as a GoldenMenorah, even through the dark exile, due to the hard and bitter battle that we are voluntarily engaging!

Gut Shabbos to all, and with much light!