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                         L'CHAIM - ISSUE # 1088
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                 Lubavitch Youth Organization - L.Y.O.
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             THE WEEKLY PUBLICATION FOR EVERY JEWISH PERSON
   Dedicated to the memory of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson N.E.
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        September 18, 2009    Rosh Hashana         29 Elul, 5769
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                          The Shofar's Message

On Rosh Hashana, the theme of G-d as Parent and Ruler dominates our
prayers. "Our Father, Our King - Avinu Malkeinu" is sung with a
memorable tune that stays with us even after we've left the synagogue.

The Baal Shem Tov taught that the love G-d has for each one of us is
analogous to and surpasses the love a parent has for an only child born
in his old age.

Rosh Hashana is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve. Thus,
it corresponds to the rebirth of humanity and we re-establish our
relationship as children of G-d on these days.

The sounding of the shofar is connected to this central motif of Rosh
Hashana, that of G-d as our Divine Parent.

To better understand this we look to another parable of the Baal Shem
Tov:

An errant prince, an only son, traveled far from the palace. After many
years had passed, the prince yearned to be reunited with his father, the
king. However, by the time he returned to his native land, he had
forgotten his mother tongue. From deep within his soul a cry emerged, a
cry that -- no matter how estranged the child -- a father could
understand.

This fervent broken-hearted plea, of "Father, it is I, your only son,
help me!" broke through the barriers separating father and son more
eloquently than any words the prince might have uttered. At this moment,
the king embraced the errant son.

For thousands of years the Jewish people have wandered in exile. At
times, we even seem to have lost our means of communicating with our
Father. We are very much like the proverbial prince, who when facing his
father the king could only cry.

We are in pain not only because our self-created barriers separate us
from G-d. But also because even when we wish to return we encounter all
sorts of seemingly insurmountable obstacles born of the national and
spiritual exile of our people.

The shofar represents the wordless cry of the only child within each of
us. Chosen because of its simplicity, it symbolizes the incorruptible
nature of the soul connected to the essence of G-d, Himself.

Transcending the conventional modes of communication, the shofar's
shattering wail arouses in us an awareness of the most powerful bond
uniting Father and child. No matter how far we may feel we've strayed
throughout the year, no matter how muted or inadequate our ability to
communicate with G-d, the shofar of Rosh Hashana enables us to reconnect
in a more fundamental and powerful way than previously envisioned.

The "Great Shofar" sounded by G-d signaling the Messianic Age, will
pierce all barriers and penetrate beneath the surface of our very
beings. When G-d sounds the Great Shofar we will be able to express,
completely and openly, the fundamental child/parent relationship we
intrinsically have with G-d. The shofar of Redemption will usher in a
time when the love between G-d and the Jewish people - concealed
throughout our trial-ridden exile - will be fully revealed.

May we all be inscribed and sealed for a good and sweet year. But even
before the New Year may we all find ourselves in the Holy Temple in
Jerusalem with the revelation of Moshiach, now.

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           LIVING WITH THE REBBE  -  THE WEEKLY TORAH PORTION
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Many special practices are observed in connection with Rosh Hashana for
which the explanation given is "to confuse the Satan." For example, the
fact that Rosh Hashana also marks the beginning of a new month is never
mentioned in our prayers; the upcoming month of Tishrei is conspicuously
not blessed on the Shabbat preceding the New Year; and the shofar is not
sounded in the synagogue on the day before Rosh Hashana. In fact, one of
the reasons cited for blowing the shofar during Elul (except for the
last day of the month) is to confuse the Satan "so that he does not know
when Rosh Hashana will be."

What is meant by "confusing the Satan"? Who is this Satan anyway, that
he can be confused by such transparent means, repeated from year to
year?

The Satan is an accusing angel whose function is to bear witness against
the Jewish people. When Jews obey G-d's command by sounding the shofar
on Rosh Hashana, they thereby demonstrate their love for the Torah and
its mitzvot (commandments). Rather than literally "confusing" the Satan,
the prosecuting angel's arguments are stopped in their tracks in the
face of such devotion. Observing the mitzva of shofar weakens the
Satan's grounds for criticism and deflates his case before G-d in the
Heavenly Court.

The other things we do "to confuse the Satan" may also be explained in
this light. Blowing the shofar throughout the month of Elul brings the
Jewish people to true repentance even before Rosh Hashana, nullifying
the Satan's arguments before he is called to testify. Not sounding the
shofar on the day before the New Year proclaims to the entire world that
the Jewish people have already done teshuva and have no further need to
hear it! When the Satan sees how confident the Jews are that they will
emerge victorious in judgement his voice is stilled.

Similarly, not drawing attention to the fact that Rosh Hashana marks the
beginning of a new month may be explained with the following analogy:
When engaged in battle, military strategy dictates that an army not
reveal all of its weaponry to the enemy, lest the opposing side
intensify its campaign against them. We do not mention the new month
(and the many merits accrued by the Jewish people in its observance) so
as not to arouse the Satan to boost his efforts and devise new
strategies.

Just being cognizant of the lengths one must go to in order to "confuse
the Satan" in itself brings a Jew to teshuva, ensuring a favorable
judgement and a good and sweet year for the entire Jewish people.

                    Adapted from the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

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                             SLICE OF LIFE
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                         Sound bite of the Soul
                          by Shimona Tzukernik

We are sitting on the slopes of a hill that roll downward like the sides
of an open bowl. Sunlight is ladled upon me. The amphitheater is thick
with dreamers, a gypsy soup of souls, come to celebrate song and
anticipate freedom.

Bands sing of freedom from Apartheid. Juluka takes the stage. They are
playing Scatterlings of Africa. All of itself, the music lifts me off
the grass and bounces me like musical notes down the hill. I dance and
dance. I dance in joy. But I also dance in pain, for others and yes,
inexplicably for myself. Even as my body buoys, my heart slides with the
knowledge that this is not my music. This is not me.

I recently read of an experiment in which a violin was placed at one
corner of an acoustically perfect hall and a second in the opposite
corner. As the first was stroked just once, the second lifted that
vibration from the air and began to sing in kind. Now, dancing beside
the stage, I know the sounds of Scatterlings are not my touchstone. I am
with the crowd in the bowl of light and dreams of a better tomorrow. I
have the same hopes for Africa and wear the same clothes. Yet I am
alone, an outsider. The question I cannot yet articulate is this: When
the essence of my being flows out from within G-d, when it moves across
the heavens and touches my life, how does it sound? How does it
manifest? Light travels darkly across the skies and comes to shine only
when it touches our atmosphere. So too I sense, my soul travels in
silence. But when it touches the skin on the back of my arm, when it
enters my eyes and rests in my bones, what sound does it make? Can
anything at all capture the essence of a human being?

Some months later I am standing in shul. It is Rosh Hashana. We are
about to hear shofar. I have learned that Moses blew a ram's horn in the
desert to alert the Jews to move...or rest...or prepare for battle. I
have also learned that he used the left horn of the ram sacrificed by
Abraham in place of his son; the right horn is hidden, waiting for
Moshiach to blow as he calls us to the Holy Land. But my mind is not
thinking of that just then. It moves between rumblings that my legs are
too thick and memories of a black sable antelope with its majestic horns
I once saw gazing like a hidden prince from the African underbrush. Then
cry, call, song! The shofar is moving within me. It has happened upon -
within - me. Its sound begins at the narrow mouth of the horn where the
lips of the rabbi kiss it with air, circles to its wavy rim, flows into
the broad and curled cup of my ear, pouring into a singular unity within
my brain, within my being. How, I wonder, did I never hear this before;
never recognize this sound of my soul?

Years later, I have many identities in my repertoire. I am wife and
mother and daughter and sister. I write and teach and draw and dream. I
cry and complain. I am the wearer of an angry mask, the singer of love,
the wager of futile battles, the hungry for meaning. But the shofar I
heard that morning calls to me in penetrating and haunting song,
reminding me that these are merely mani-festations of self. They are
notes and instruments. Who I am is neither the air of my exuberance (or
anger) rolling through a trombone, nor the metal of cymbals as I clash
in contact. I am not the dreams of wind on a reed, nor the fear of a
vibra-ting string. My soul is more than the sum of my life. I am not the
roles I fulfill but rather an actual part of the Creator. As I pair down
these various roles and tasks, I distill information to its essence. I
discover who I am outside of what I do, without what I have, without
even my own name. I return to who I really am. It is then that I hear
the shofar - the sound bite of the soul, my distilled essence.

When I listen to the shofar, I get a glimpse of how G-d experiences me.
I need to know that so that I can live from His perspective also. My
"self" is so isolated. I don't want a contingent life, one that I remake
in circumstance. I don't want to live at the mercy of my emotions or
following the ebb of sustenance. I want to find that one point from
which I can build an authentic life. How novel to free myself from the
romantic notion of self! How liberating to cut the ropes that tie me to
an "individuality" that is anchored down by subjective deductions about
meaning. Give me rather the one note of the shofar. Pure. Distilled.
Essence. It allows me to come at me from G-d's understanding - a
singular and absolute identity.

Sit with me on the note just a moment longer. Hear, as it spirals round,
that having cleansed ourselves of the limitations of self and ego, we
are not stripped bare of "identity." On the contrary, inside the song of
that one note is an identity vaster and richer and subtler than the
universe. Resonant within the distilled essence of Shofar, is the
presence of true individuality. Counter-intuitively, having surrendered
attachment to self-hood, we discover the infinite dimensions within our
singular, essential self. It is much richer than an orchestra. At that
point, I discover, I am high C and low A, I am treble and bass cleff
together, the drums and the bells. The sound of the shofar is in this
sense much like the flames within a coal. Or the sweetness in an apple.
Even a spark in a flintstone. The flame and the flavor and even the
spark of heat are hidden within their source. But I cannot slice the
coal or the apple or the stone open and say, "Behold! The flame. The
flavor. The spark. Here, take it." They are there and yet not there. So
too, once I touch the soul in an essential way, I rediscover
individuality hidden there in a way one cannot point to. Yet now, I am
free to re-enter that space without being limited by it.

So in shul at 20, having danced alone in the crowd at a concert under
the sky, I hear the shofar for the first time. Really hear it. I am free
and without a name. And then I know that my name is Shimona and that
tomorrow I will dance and run, and try to paint anything as black as
that beautiful black prince in the underbrush.

       Reprinted with permission from TheJewishWoman.org, a project
                                                     of Chabad.org.

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                               WHAT'S NEW
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                             New Emissaries

Rabbi and Mrs. Shmuel Menelson have arrived in the Hayovel neighborhood
in Rechovot, Israel, where they are focusing on youth programming. Rabbi
Moshe and Sara Chanowitz arrived recently to St. Martin/St. Maarten in
the Caribbean Islands where they are establishing a new Chabad House
serving the local Jewish community and visiting tourists

                              New Centers

The South Denver Chabad Jewish Center directed by Rabbi Avraham and
Hindy Mintz was recently dedicated. The centerpiece of the $2.5 million
building is a preschool. Chabad at USF, directed by Rabbi Uriel and
Dvorki Rivkin, has acquired a new property that will eventually boast a
3,000 sq. ft. facility.

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                            THE REBBE WRITES
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                          25 Elul, 5718 (1968)

The month of Elul, especially the Days of Selichot and the Ten Days of
Repentance, is the time dedicated to sincere introspection and a careful
and honest examination of the record of the outgoing year, with a view
to the proper deductions and resolutions which are to regulate one's
personal daily life, as well as that of his home, and all his affairs in
the year to come.

Moreover, these are exceptionally propitious days, days permeated with
the core of the Psalm recited twice daily: "Search my inwardness: Thy
inner essence, O G-d, do I seek" (Ps. 27:8).

They call and demand:

Search for the innermost and the profound within you; seek out also the
inwardness of everything around you, the soul of the universe; search
for and bring to light the G-dliness that animates and pervades the
world!

Both aspects - the honest self-appraisal and the search for the inner
essence of things - are interrelated and interdependent.

In evaluating the results of the outgoing year, one is very prone to err
by taking into account only the external, both in himself and in the
environment. In doing so, one is on equally treacherous grounds in
regard to setting the pattern of daily living in the year to come.

To forestall this misleading approach, these auspicious days sound their
message and challenge: Do not sell yourself short! Do not underestimate
your capacities and abilities!

For, no matter what your spiritual "stock-in-trade" is, your "visible
assets" - the existing possibilities that you have to conduct your life
in accord with the teachings of our Torah, no matter how formidable is
your strength of character and your ability to cope with a frustrating
environment, and with undaunted perseverance to follow the path of the
Torah and its mitzvot, much greater and richer are your "hidden
reserves" of powers to create new possibilities, and of inner qualities
giving you the ability to overcome obstacles and to shape your life and
the lives around you to be in harmony with truth and goodness.

In order to reveal and apply these powers, however, it is necessary that
you search for and release your potential forces. But you are promised:

"You will discover - because you will search with all your heart and
soul" (Deut. 4:29)

What has been said above is more especially and more fully applicable to
those who occupy positions of spiritual leadership and influence, from
the rabbi of the community down to the individual parent who sets the
pace of the spiritual life of the household and family.

All too often do we see them stymied by doubt and fear, afraid to use,
what seems to them, a strong word or excessive demand lest they might
alienate, instead of attract.

To them these days address themselves with this message and challenge:
Search inwardly; seek deeply and you will unravel the innermost
treasures of those whom you would lead and inspire; evaluate them not
externally, but according to their inner resources, according to the
capacity of their soul, the veritable spark of G-dliness from Above.

For with the right approach and by indefatigable effort you will be able
to uncover and activate in everyone his inner spiritual resources, so
that he begins to animate his daily life.

Have confidence in your fellow-Jew and give him what he, as a Jew, truly
expects from you: the whole Torah with all its precepts, unvarnished and
untarnished, as it was given from Sinai, in its true eternity, for the
Torah is eternal for all times and places.

Only through this approach can one attain a true estimation of oneself
and of those who look up to you for guidance and leadership, a true
estimation that will make the year a full year - full in content and
achievement commensurate with your fullest resources, and also full of
G-d's blessings, materially and spiritually.

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                            A CALL TO ACTION
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                               Throwaways

On the first day of Rosh Hashana, following the afternoon prayers, we go
to a body of water - for water symbolizes kindness, preferably one with
fish which have ever-open eyes - and recite the Thirteen Divine
Attributes of Mercy. We then shake out our pockets or the corners of our
garments, symbolically throwing our sins into the water. One who is not
within walking distance of water on Rosh Hashana can fulfill this custom
in the days before Yom Kippur.

    In memory of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg and the other
    kedoshim of Mumbai

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                        A WORD FROM THE DIRECTOR
                         Rabbi Shmuel M. Butman
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On the eve of this new year, 5770, we would like to wish the entire
Jewish People our sincerest blessings for a k'siva vachasima tova,
l'shana tova u'msuka - to be inscribed and sealed for a good, sweet
year, with blessings from every letter of the Hebrew Alef-Beis. May this
year be:

A year of "Arise and have mercy on Zion,"... uplifted in matters of
Moshiach and the Redemption... faith in G-d and Moses His servant...
traveling with the Heavenly clouds... Revealed Wonders; Wonders in
Everything... the building of the Holy Temple... trust; Great wonders...
the true and complete Redemption; Dignified Wonders... victory... the
seventh generation is the generation of Redemption...King David lives
and is eternal; "Those who rest in the dust will arise and sing and he
will lead them"... Moshiach is coming and he has already come... the
revelation of Moshiach; "He will redeem us"... "And they believed in G-d
and in Moses His servant"; "This one will comfort us"; the wonders of
true freedom... a new song; an abundance of good (Rambam); the king
shall live; inscribed and sealed for a good year... the harp of
Moshiach; learning Moshiach's teachings; the coming of Menachem who will
comfort us... the King Moshiach; wonders... revealed miracles... a
double portion; treasures... the completion and end of exile... the
revelation of the Infinite Divine Light; "Humble ones, the time of your
Redemption has arrived," wealth, materially and spiritually; "Jerusalem
will dwell in open space," paratzta - 770; Your servant David will go
forth; the ingathering of the exiles... acceptance of his sovereignty by
the people; Rebbe - Rosh B'nei Yisrael; peace... a new song...
Moshiach's shofar... unity of the Torah, unity of the Jewish people,
unity of the land of Israel; Resurrection of the Dead... "A new Torah
will come from Me"

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                          THOUGHTS THAT COUNT
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                     From the Rosh Hashana Prayers

May everything that has been made, know that You made it.

In the future, when Moshiach comes, every creation will understand and
recognize that within everything in this world there is a G-dly power
which makes it exist and gives it its life-force. This is the meaning of
this prayer which we say on Rosh Hashana. We beseech G-d to reveal His
Kingship in this world - "May everything that has been made, know that
You made it" - because in truth nothing exists without this G-dliness.

                                     (Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi)

                                *  *  *


This is the day which is the beginning of Your work.

The world was created on the 25th of Elul. Rosh Hashana, the first of
Tishrei, is therefore the sixth day of Creation. How, then, can we say
about Rosh Hashana, "This is the day which is the beginning of Your
work"? The fact of the matter is that the entire purpose of Creation was
to make a "dwelling place below" for G-d and this is accomplished
through man. Because of this, before man was created, it is impossible
to say that the world existed in the true sense, for its purpose was
still missing. Therefore, the sixth day of Creation, on which man was
created, is "the beginning of Your work."

                                                    (Likutei Torah)

                                *  *  *


For You are He who remembers forever all forgotten things.

One of the great Chasidic masters said of this verse: G-d remembers only
those things which a person forgets. If a person sins, but he remembers
that sin and it troubles him, G-d forgets it. But if he sins, and he
forgets about the sin, it doesn't bother him, G-d remembers it. The same
is true of mitzvot (commandments). If one does a mitzva and remembers it
always, thinking himself great to have performed the commandment, G-d
forgets it. But if a Jew does a mitzva and forgets about it - doesn't
become impressed with himself over it - G-d remembers it.

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                            IT ONCE HAPPENED
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It happened in 1648. The infamous Hetman Bogdan Chmielnicki led his wild
hordes of Cossacks against the Jews and Poles of the Ukraine, and he
almost succeeded in exterminating all Jewish communities along the
Dnieper River. Barbaric cruelties, surpassing even the Crusaders', were
the daily bread of these devils. In Kiev, scores of Jewish men, women
and children barely escaped with their lives. They hid in forests and
swamps, constantly in fear of sudden death from the long sabers of
Chmielnicki's Cossacks. Only at night, under cover of darkness, did
these unfortunate fugitives dare to creep out in search of food for
their families.

Rabbi Meyer of Shivotov, which was once one of the largest communities
near Kiev, was the spiritual leader of this group of refugees. He had
lost his wife at the hands of the Cossacks, and his thirteen-year-old
son Hershel was his only consolation. Gifted with a beautiful voice,
which made its listeners laugh or cry at the will of its master, Hershel
assisted his father greatly in keeping up the low spirits of his
companions. More than once, his magical songs held them back from
surrendering to the merciless hands of the Cossacks or from committing
suicide.

Such a large group of people cannot hide for long without rumors of
their whereabouts spreading. They were forced to withdraw deeper and
deeper into forests and swamps to escape the oncoming hordes of
Chmielnicki's Cossacks. Unwittingly, however, they entered the hunting
grounds of Chmielnicki's rival, a man of no less cruelty: Booyar, the
leader of the Tartars. But there was one story told about this abnormal
maniac that threw a somewhat human light upon him. He was the obedient
son of an old nomad woman who controlled him with a wink of her eye.

Finding themselves suddenly trapped from the rear, Rabbi Meyer's group
of refugees began to say "Vidui," the confession of sins and last
prayer, in anticipation of death. Coming from the midst of their
suppressed cries and prayers, Hershel's voice was suddenly heard saying
Kaddish, praising G-d at this last moment while they were facing the
naked swords of the Tartars. As if by magic, the tumult died down. The
faces of the Jews lit up, and the cruel savagery, the murderous gleam
disappeared from the eyes of the Tartars who crowded around their
helpless victims. Their raised hands dropped; spellbound, they listened
to the boy who, fully aware of the seriousness of the situation, had put
all his powerful emotion into his voice.

Booyar looked out of his tent and witnessed this strange scene. Foaming
wildly, brandishing his sword, he stormed forward. He was ready to kill
his own men for being fooled by the wretched Jews. Coming closer, he saw
that Hershel was the cause of his men's unusual conduct. Booyar grasped
the boy's hair with his hand and lifted his sword to chop his head off.
In midair his arm was caught by the thin but powerful hand of an old
woman. Turning around wildly, Booyar was confronted by his mother. "Do
not kill these people, son," she said. "They are under my protection.
This boy will sing for me until we reach Constantinople. There you can
sell him and his people at a high price." After some hesitation, Booyar
gave in.

Thus Rabbi Meyer and his people were saved from certain death. They were
dragged along for many months, until the Tartars reached Turkey. Many
thousands of refugees from Spain and Portugal had come to this country
during the reign of Suleiman II and his Jewish adviser, Don Joseph of
Naxos. They had built a beautiful synagogue in Constantinople and had
organized one of the most powerful congregations of that time.

It was Rosh Hashana when Booyar brought his victims to the market. All
the Jews had gathered in the synagogue, which was right near the
marketplace. Many non-Jews in the market looked curiously at the
wretched figures of these slaves-to-be. But they had little faith in the
Jews' ability to do hard work; they preferred the strong and
healthy-looking natives brought by ship from afar.

Under the stress of traveling in captivity, Rabbi Meyer and his men had
lost track of time. They did not even know that this day was Rosh
Hashana. While they were standing in the marketplace, stared at and
ridiculed by the idle onlookers, they suddenly heard the sound of the
shofar coming from the nearby synagogue. Rabbi Meyer and his people
began to cry as Hershel started the "Unesane Tokef" prayer. His voice
rose above the noise of the market and soared up to the Gates of Mercy.

The crowd of Jews gathered in the big synagogue heard Hershel's prayers.
They rushed out into the marketplace, and saw the boy and the poor Jews
held for sale by the Tartars. At the command of their rabbi, they
hurried home to gather all their valuables and funds. They succeeded in
redeeming their brethren. Saved from a terrible fate, Rabbi Meyer and
his group joined their liberators in the synagogue. Together they
followed Hershel's jubilant voice, thanking G-d for His help at the
height of their misery.

From The Reunion, by Gershon Kranzler, published by Kehot Publications.

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                            MOSHIACH MATTERS
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The Baal Shem Tov wrote in a letter that on Rosh Hashana of the year
5507 (1746), his soul ascended to the heavenly realms, where he was
granted the privilege of entering the palace of Moshiach. "I asked the
King Moshiach, 'Master, when are you coming?' And he replied: 'When your
wellsprings [teachings] will be disseminated outward.' "  From this
reply it is apparent that the Baal Shem Tov's teachings - Chasidut - are
closely connected with the coming of Moshiach. Chasidut is the vessel
for the great light of Moshiach.

                                                 (Likutei Dibburim)

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             END OF TEXT - L'CHAIM 1088 - Rosh Hashana 5770
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