Week's Roundup - Stay stuck or liberate? Passover provides the eternal Divine answer and plan of action
Highlights from this week's learning and events; An eternal message from the Torah about how accessible Liberty and Freedom is for every single human being.
Did you know that the Torah has an eternal Divine Message that applies to every single human being? Authentic Torah learning grounds us in reality, both what we can observe and what is beyond our observation, grasp and even understanding, and leads to practical positive action. Positive for us and positive for those around us. Torah reveals our Divine Innate Spiritual Compass and brings our Spiritual Backbone to the forefront of life.
If you have adopted some or all of Enlightenment thinking, learning Torah will challenge everything you believe and hold dear.
In each Week’s Roundup, you will find a special topic, links to this week’s learning, the Torah perspective on current events, upcoming learning and action suggestions. This week we embrace Liberty - the Divine type. Learn, take hope and take action, and share.
Pesach (Passover) is starting in just 5 days. It’s the story of a world transformed by the shocking declaration of a few that humanity does not have to limit itself to the constraints of the natural order.
To have freedom from physical slavery we must first be free of spiritual slavery. And, who carries the keys?
Well you and I do, each for our own shackles.
Imagine watching a man in a dark small prison cell with no doors and outside is bright sunlight and someone beckoning him to walk to freedom. Yet, he is just stuck inside bouncing up against the walls.
So too, our lives.
We live in the straights and constraints of limitations - mitzrayim - the same word as Egypt. But yet, G-d Al-mighty is constantly beckoning us, from within us, to leave those limitations.
The only piece we are missing is taking literally that liberty is literally one thought away for every person every moment in every place.
On Passover, G-d Al-mighty declared to the world that the totally impossible is completely possible and inevitable.
No slave had ever escaped Egypt. It was just too compelling of an illusion.
But G-d Al-mighty said, follow Me and you are are out now! Your prior captors will actually eject you from your constraints, as Pharaoh himself shrieked for the Jews to leave immediately.
So how do we it?
While we don’t need ritual to connect to G-d Al-mighty, the right ritual with the right intention can propel us into a new state of mind beyond the natural order.
For over 3000 years, the Jewish family has gathered to intensely focus on Redemption - the how and what, then and now. By reciting and singing the Haggadah, based on four Torah verses, eating Matzah and drinking four cups of wine, the family is taken to new heights of realizing that they really are free after all and they can already start rejoicing now.
By connecting to G-d Al-mighty as the source of our liberty, not our oratory, our writing nor our physical strength, we connect to the Infinite Divine that is in us.
By becoming a servant to the Divine, you are not a slave to any other man, and not even a slave to your own impulses.
Take some time to watch these Haggadah videos where you can learn the overall picture of the Haggadah as you have never read it before. Part I: Passover (Pesach): Haggadah Part 1 - How to leave stress behind every day.
Passover (Pesach): Haggadah Part 2 - Inspire your soul and others with compassion and gratitude:
Passover (Pesach): Haggadah Part 3 - Experience freedom every day you pray is being uploaded right now and will be available here soon. Scroll down to the last video on the Passover Playlist.
You can download a Haggadah here. Matzah can be found in most supermarkets in America. And kosher wine, too.
So gather your family ‘round on the nights of Wednesday, April 5, and Thursday, April 6, and talk as much and for as long as you can about Redemption and Liberty and connecting to G-d Al-mighty. By turning off your cellphones, by not discussing the news, the sports and the entertainment, you will be taking some important first steps to real Liberty. By celebrating the presence of those around you, you will be fulfilling the fundamental responsibility of being grateful.
And if you are sitting alone, because of your prior choices or the choices of others, know you are not alone for the Creator Himself is with you, intentionally bringing you into completely new existence at every instant with unconditional Love.
May this be the greatest Pesach ever, for you and your family, and for the entire world, when G-d Al-mighty’s Vision of a world in which every man, woman and child is redeemed from slavery is fulfilled and may, as we conclude the Haggadah, Next Year in the Holy City of Jerusalem, which the Prophet Isaiah will be the destination for every human being every month as “My House will be called a House of Prayer for All the Nations”, be fulfilled already this year!
Let me know in the comments or send me an email by hitting reply to share what you did this year for Passover.
Shabbos is coming, a reminder for every human being that they are an intentional creation of G-d Al-mighty right now and a continuing beneficiary of His Love, His Joy and His Abundance! What an incredible moment to increase even more in joy!
Action: Use the link above to check Shabbos Candellighting times in your city around the world. Shabbos Candlelighting time in New York City this week (3/31/23) is 7:02 pm and Shabbos ends at 8:02 pm.
Pesach (Passover) is coming. Make sure to sell your chometz using this link and buy Shmurah matzos, which can often be found in your local grocery store.
Here is some of the learning we did this week:
These videos are available in the content library at RabbiSmith.org (in parentheses) and also on YouTube by clicking the name of the learning. When you watch on YouTube please like, share and subscribe so the message of hope reaches more and more people. See below at the end of this article a list of upcoming classes both in person and on Zoom.
Check out our new YouTube shorts here. Make sure to subscribe while you are there so you get notified as new ones come out.
Sunday Learning
👉 2023-03-27 - Mitzvos Hashem - Rabbi Steif #54 - Clarity and strong judges brings peace and harmony (Playlist - Mitzvos Hashem of Rabbi Steif for Bnai Noach).
Wednesday Learning
👉 Zecharia 8:23 - Parshas Tzav: Great Shabbos before Pesach - Manifesto for everyone to return to G-d (Zecharia 8:23 Playlist).
Thursday Learning
👉 Emunah (Faith) in Action 45 - Beis HaLevi 32 - Permitted to make an effort to give a boost to develop certainty in G-d Al-mighty. (Emuna (Faith) in Action Playlist)
👉 Gate of Oneness - Definitions of Chassidus #9 - עמק - Uncover Your Depth (Gate of Oneness Playlist).
👉🌟🌟🌟Parshas Tzav-Shabbos HaGadol- Clear Strong voice of the Jewish People sparks Redemption 4 all men (Torah Lessons Playlist).
On Substack this week:
On Substack, I write about the practical implications of Torah learning, and how to keep our thinking clear, grounded in honesty and common sense. Here’s The Rabbi Smith Bulletin for this week: A number are in draft so stay tuned!
A Torah perspective on the world around us…
Ask in the comments below about topics and news you would like the Torah perspective on.
A peek ahead…
You can watch the Pesach video series on the Pesach Playlist. Topics include:
A thought in concluding for now…
Thank G-d, we live in the most inspiring and incredible times in the history of the world. We have a great and beautiful mission before us. The need in the people is great, time is of the essence and the undertaking is massive, but eminently doable with the help of G-d Al-mighty. Please consider a generous gift to bring this message of hope to thousands more people, by clicking here.
May G-d Al-mighty bless you and Gut Shabbos!
See more actions further down. Torah learning and positive actions are the key to our future.
Upcoming Learning:
All learning uses the following Zoom link: https://bit.ly/BeisMedrash. Sponsor learning in honor or memory of a loved one.
👉Yeshiva Shem V'Ever
Shabbos Afternoon (Saturday) 4 pm Eastern
We will be learning Torah relevant to non-Jews with Jews and non-Jews.
Tanya: Sha'ar Hayichud v'HaEmunah - the Gate of Oneness and Faith
In person in Passaic, New Jersey, only.
👉Rabbi Steif Mitzvos Hashem
SUNDAY 7 am Eastern (1 pm Germany time) - CLASS ON 4/2 BUT NOT 4/9
Rabbi Steif wrote this holy book to avert the Holocaust by making sure that both Jews and non-Jews should know clearly G-d Al-mighty's rules for non-Jews.
👉Zecharia 8:23 - Weekly Torah Portion, Prayer and Talmud
WEDNESDAY 8:00 pm Eastern - NO CLASSES 4/5 AND 4/12
Learn the week's Torah Portion (parsha) as it is relevant to every man, Prayer for every man and portions of the Talmud that are relevant to non-Jews
👉Emunah (Faith) in Action
THURSDAY 10 am Eastern - NO CLASSES 4/6 AND 4/13
Only with tranquility of the soul can we hear G-d Al-Mighty's voice clearly, know what to do and have the strength to do it effectively
👉Gate of Oneness
Words on the Torah Portion
The Torah Experience - Life Fully Lived
THURSDAY 8:00 pm Eastern - NO CLASSES ON 4/6 AND 4/13
Study the Gate of Oneness (Sha'ar HaYichud) by the Mittler Rebbe which teaches us how to think clearly. Delivered by Rabbi Shimon Chyrek. Rabbi Smith speaks on the weekly Torah portion at the end of the class.
Actions:
PRAY that G-d Al-mighty open your eyes and heart to see that really you are free to choose right now to leave the shackles of your habitual thinking and only take seriously secure thoughts, love and understand and gratitude.
Break the shackles of one slavery right now. What will you choose?
This message of Hope can and must reach even more people. Please gift generously to propel this message to more people. Time is of the essence. The mission is monumental, but with G-d Al-mighty’s help it eminently possible. May G-d Al-mighty bless you for your generosity.
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