RECONCILING TURBULENT AND SERENE

Dear Family,

I hope that everyone is well and settled back into work after a busy Tishrei

Wishing a refuah shleimah to Yechezkiel ben Ester.

Mazal Tov to Eliana on her Batmitzvah. I saw pictures of you and your party, Eliana, and it was so beautiful BH. Wishing you a year of much continued beauty and happiness, with much achievement in both gashmius and ruchnius!

Mazal Tov to Netanel on his birthday next week. BH much celebration in LA this week. Wishing you a great year Netanel with much achievement in school and all your activities BEH.

This week's Sedra, Noach, speaks about the world flood, but we also have our own personal difficulties which can flood our lives.

The Alte Rebbe in Torah Or mentions that mayim rabim, the many waters, are the worries that we have about making a living and our daily challenges, and these try to drown out our deep hidden love for Hashem

However the flood waters are also called mei noach, ie serene waters. Because our challenges can carry us up to higher and more refined levels, in the same way that the Ark rose above the waters, to bring one to a level of serenity, when the waters recede.

(The Hebrew word for ark is teivah, which in Hebrew also means words. Ie The words of Torah and Prayer can lift us above our many worries)

This paradox came up quite often in the Sedra, and I heard a connected teaching from the Baal Shem Tov on V 6:17, speaking about the window , or light, in the Ark.

The Hebrew word used for this light is tzohar.

The Baal Shem Tov explains, that the Hebrew word for troubles is tzara, which is the same letters as tzohar, just in a different order.

This means, that in life when we have tzara, we should not go looking all over the place for solutions. The solution and light (tzohar) can be found within the problem.

And by finding the solution we see that the problem was really an opportunity to be greater than before.

He concludes, "How do we access the tzohar in the tzara?"

By finding a teacher, delving into the 'ark' of Torah, and the 'ark' of prayer and meditation.

Gut Shabbos to all