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Dear Chaverim:
As the Nine Days approaches, our RCA team is busy making sure that you are prepared for what looks to be a painful but meaningful Tisha B'Av. We are also working hard planning for the new year ahead of us – as well as anyone can plan at this point. A Strategic Plan for the RCA is in the works, and we are excited to share that with our membership in the coming months. Many thanks, in advance, to the Officers of the RCA who will gather for a full day this week to discuss our collective future.
I. Resource Material for Tisha B’Av (Updated)
The following is to let you know what to expect to receive from us in the coming days for preparation for Tisha B'Av:
1. Kinnos and Derashah Materials
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My team is preparing extensive chomer on the kinnos in general, and on particular kinnos, in light of the matzav. A sample – for the first kinnah of the morning – can be found here. I hope to send out on Rosh Chodesh
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Note: The Kinnos notes will make extensive references to the thought of Rav Soloveitchik. I will assume that you own or can obtain a copy of the Koren Selichos with the notes from Rav Soloveitchik (abbreviated as KRS in the notes). I have taken the liberty to copy from the pages of The Lord is Righteous in All of His Ways (abbreviated at TLIR). I recommend that you purchase the sefer if you do not already have it in your library. See here for Ktav Website.
- Please feel free to share! If you have thoughts that can be used by your chaveirim, please forward to me before Rosh Chodesh Av for consideration for inclusion in the packet.
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Tzohar has an online digital booklet including 10 stories [mentioned below], including both destruction from 10/7 as well as rebuilding and heroism (i.e.- נחמה), articles, as well as a קינה on the destruction of בארי. See here.
2. Videos
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Serving on All Fronts: The Etzion Foundation is offering a special program and film screening for your community. The documentary "Serving on All Fronts” tells the story of the “Swords of Iron War" through the eyes of students, staff, and alumni of Yeshivat Har Etzion in Alon Shvut and the Stella K. Abraham Beit Midrash for Women in Migdal Oz. The film describes their heroic, inspirational, and at times tragic experiences through the prism of unwavering belief in God. 60 minutes. Please register by August 5th Click: Registration Form for Screening of Movie Serving on All Fronts
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OU offerings, https://www.ou.org/tishabav/
3. Kinnos for Oct. 7
- We will share with you, in Hebrew and, bli neder, with translation, a number of Kinnos to commemorate Oct. 7.
- Kinnah from Rav Rimon
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Kinah from Tzohar on the destruction of Kibbutz Be’eri.
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See this article from Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter about the issue of writing new Kinnos.
4. Links to purchase books
II. Chomer Lidrush for Matos-Masei / Nine Days
What are we willing to sacrifice for what is important in our lives? In a piece from Torah Today by Pinchas Peli, we are taught an important lesson in giving things up for what matters from our parsha. Here’s a preview:
They appeal to Moses (Numbers 32:5): "Bring us not over the Jordan." They do not say openly that they want to separate themselves from the rest of Israel, who are heading towards the Land; all they want is to be exempted from the personal obligation of aliya.
The reason for this unexpected request lies in the fact which is told at the beginning of the story—that "the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a great multitude of cattle." They had too much wealth invested in the country in which they lived now. They were too well-to-do to take aliyah seriously. In the plea of the tribesmen of Reuben and Gad to Moses, they used the most polite and humble language: "If we found favor in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession." Not so Moses. His answer bluntly and poignantly puts the challenge to them: "Shall your brethren go to the war, and shall ye sit here?"
Important lessons about what we sacrifice – and how that sacrifice looks a bit different from those of our brothers and sisters living in Eretz Yisrael. Full piece here.
How do you make sure your message gets across? Emanuel (Manny) Adler, who many of know from Teaneck, when he was the Associate VP of the Orthodox Union, used our parsha in an OU publication to explore how we communicate with one another – and how those methods change with time. He quotes a Sfas Emes on our parsha explaining the difference between Amirah and Dibbur, two ways of verbally conveying a message:
A Dibbur penetrates the ear of the listener with its message. The koach hadibbur, the power of speech, is often referred to as the koach hachibbur, the power to unite speaker and listener in purposeful communication.
Moshe Rabbeinu was unique among prophets in that God spoke to him “mouth to mouth … in a vision.” Rashi explains that this vision was in fact the dibbur – the message was so real that Moshe could actually see it.
The same can be true of the way we communicate with one another. Our means of communication are so incredibly accessible and quick, yet we have failed to use our means of speaking in a way that elevates the content of our communication. “We, as Jews,” Manny writes, “can utilize that which God gave us – namely, the Torah – to elevate our communications, our dibbur, to heightened levels of spirituality”.
This message is not only relevant to our parsha, but our times as well. He concludes:
As we begin the Nine Days, let us not view this period as merely a time during which we eat dairy meals and refrain from swimming. Let us use this period to transcend the empty communications that surround us and rededicate ourselves to the highest form of communication possible, the study of Torah, and thereby hasten the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu.
- Does it Feel Like We’re Going Backwards?
Life is a journey – but it’s one made up of many smaller journeys. In picking up on what seems like a step backwards for Am Yisrael in the midbar, Rav Asher Weiss poignantly reflects on the constant journeys of our own lives – even those that feel like they are going in the wrong direction. Sichos Minchas Asher, Emunah u’Bitachon.
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