Today’s class is dedicated in memory of my maternal grandmother, Frida Riva bat Hannah. She obviously had a great impact on my life. I don't even have to mention her name to bring us a zechut to her neshama. One story about her sticks in my mind, a story of Emuna and Bitachon. But before I share the story, I want to share an important lesson:
The son of Rav Yerucham Levovitz, Rav Simcha Zissel Levovitz, lived in Monsey, and my family knew him.
Someone once asked him what his father, the great Mashgiach of the Mir, said about a certain topic on God’s Hashgacha/ supervision over the world. His answer was a lesson in itself. He said, “Let's put aside what my father said; my mother told me, God runs the world.”
There are certain things that you get from your mother or your grandmother, without delving into the deep esoterica of God's supervision. My mother taught me that God runs the world. That's an important lesson- it may not the main topic of today’s lesson, but it’s an important lesson on its own, because we talk about Emuna and we talk about the Jewish people, and we get a lot of our Emuna from our families, from our ancestors.
The first time Shema Yisrael was said, Yisrael was Yaakov Avinu. He was the one that we were speaking to. In all languages, in all countries, our grandmothers expressed their connection to God, that God Above helps, whether in Arabic, Yiddish, or any other language. It’s something that is part of our DNA; it’s not in our brains, it’s in our hearts and our emotions.
And now for the story:
When my grandmother was older and ill with a dreaded disease she once fell down in front of the shul. But when someone reached down to pick her up, her response was, “Someach Hashem l’kol Noflim/God picks up those that fall. I'll get up myself” That is inborn Emunah and Bitachon, and that’s the way the Jewish people are raised.
And now we will discuss our topic of the day- Shema Yisrael
Shema Yisrael are the opening words of Keriat Shema. We don't start with Hashem Elokenu Hashem Echad/Hashem is our God. We start with the words Shema Yisrael.
We are discussing Shema Yisrael because it’s necessary for our high holiday preparation, and we’ll be saying that pasuk in our Rosh Hashana prayers.
How do we know that the words Shema Yisrael are truly important? There are two sources.
The first is from the Gemara in Hulin 91 B, where it says, “Fortunate are the Jewish people that mention God’s name after two words- Shema Yisrael, whereas the angels only mentioned God's name after three words, kadosh, kadosh, kadosh.” Rav Wolbe is bothered by this. Is there something significant about how words you use?
He answers that it’s not about the words, it's about what we need to get there.
The angels have to go through contemplating God's holiness in the heavens, on the earth, forever and ever. But the Jewish people just have to contemplate what it means to be part of the Jewish people. All of our Emuna is hiding inside of us, as it says, Elohei Avi/the God of my father.. This is not something that I came to on my own, this is something that's part of us.
There used to be a bumper sticker that said, “I found it,” about some religion. And the response from the Jewish people was, “We never lost it. We always have it. We've had a constant line back to Avraham Avinu.”
That is Shema Yisrael, a part of which is also our responsibility to the Jewish people; to make sure that they also realize that Hashem Elokenu Hashem Echad. There are many ways to do this, to let people know about Hashem. You can share a Torah link or email with someone, and have them sign up. There are wonderful emails out there.
There are also great books to give people. Rabbi Ashear has a great series, Living Emuna, that has sold close to 200,000 books for volumes one through six, in many languages, and topics.
There is also a very nice book, The Bet Halevi on Bitachon, from Artscroll. Recently, I’ve been working on reprinting a few thousand copies of this book, in a smaller size with a soft cover, to give out to schools, shuls and camps because not everyone sees them or gets them.
I'm going to print them in China, which will take a few months, but we'll get a discounted price.
I needed $25,000 for this initiative, and Baruch Hashem, I'm halfway there. So now I’m turning to my friends in Bitachon cyberspace, whom I don't really know, hoping that someone will say, “Yes, I'd like to do that.” We're thinking big now, so if somebody wants to give $5,000, you can text me directly @ 9176742358, and I’ll explain what it's all about. You'll get a large amount of books if you'd like, to give out yourself.
But we need to reach $25,000 in order to get this large printing done.
In case you are the type that doesn’t like to donate money for books
(As someone recently said, “I'm not a book guy, I don't like giving money towards books.”), as the fellow that approached this man on my behalf answered, “This is not a book project. This is a Hessed project, because there's no bigger Hessed than giving somebody Emuna.” So if you're ‘not into books,’ but you are into Hessed, giving out a book can change somebody's life.
We are looking for a large number, if you're able to, but of course, everything counts and we'll take small donations as well.
You can QuickPay me at
9176742358,
Or send a check to:
Yad Yosef
1036 Ocean Parkway
Brooklyn, New York 11230
(Write Bet Halevi Project on it),
Thank you, and Tizke Lemitzvot