Who spreads out the earth upon the waters

I saw the world and yesterday!

A flight of Angels tore

It's cover off and Heaven lay

Where Earth had been before.

I walked about the countryside

And saw a cricket pass.

Then, bending closer, I espied

An ecstasy of grass.

(Elizabeth B. Rooney; Eschaton)

Even when we do not have the Beit Hamikdash through which to view the Heavens, we can still bend down and find, "an ecstasy of grass," sparks of Heaven sprinkled throughout the world; sparks through which we can glimpse Heaven.

By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

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Goodness and Blessing

“May it be Your Will, God, our Lord, and the Lord of our forefathers, that You inaugurate this month upon us for goodness and for blessing.” We pray for Moshe’s third trip even before we receive his report of his second. We pray assuming that we will not only be forgiven, but will be granted even more as Moshe ascends Sinai for a third time. We acknowledge God, that He is our Lord. We call on the merit of our forefathers. By: Rabbi Simcha Weinberg

Shekalim 1

Parent and Child: Rabbi Shlomo Kluger (Kehillat Yaakov; Shekalim 1) explains that when the Holy One, Blessed is He, created a person with a body and soul, He gave them as a gift to the person. We belong to ourselves, and God relates to us as independent children. However, when we rebel against God, it is considered as if we have stolen the gift of our lives from the Creator. A thief who cannot repay what he has stolen is sold into slavery to pay his debt. It is impossible for us to repay the Creator for the gift of life, and we are sold, so to speak, into slavery. When we offer the Half Shekel we are paying half the debt, the second half is forgiven by God, Who never completely lets go of the relationship of parent to child. The Half-Shekel is a statement that we are acting in partnership with God, our Father. One must have intention that he is giving his half of the shekel together with God. One should focus on God as a loving parent when giving the Half Shekel. By: ...

A Prayer Of The Poor Person

The 26th of Shevat is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Dovid Halevi Segal, author of Turei Zahav (the Taz) (1586-1667), son-in-law of the Bach. Born in Cracow. Unofficial Rabbi of Posen 1619-~1640. Headed famous yeshiva at Ostro from 1643, escaped Cossacks 1648-49 to Lublin, then Moravia. Settled in Lemberg (Lvov). Lost 2 sons to violent deaths in Spring of 1664. Sent his son Yeshaya and son-in-law Aryeh Leib (later to be the Shaagas Aryeh) to investigate Shabsai Tzvi. He also wrote Divrei Dovid on Rashi al HaTorah. “When you lend money to My people, to the poor person who is with you, do not act toward him as a creditor.” (Exodus 22:24) The Talmud rules that if two people, a poor person and a wealthy man, approach you for a loan, you should first lend money to the poor person. While this may seem obvious, there is actually a reason we need this specific instruction: A wealthy man is usually hesitant to ask for a loan, which is not true about a poor person who is more desperate. We may there...

Partners In Prayer - Siddur

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