רב עובדיה יוסף ז"ל - Rav Ovadia Yosef z”l | אמרו במדרש רבא, חיבה גדולה חיבבן הקדוש ברוך הוא לישראל, שעשאן דגלים, שנתן לכל שבט ושבט דגל משלו בצבע האבן שהיתה משובצת בחושן המשפט על לבו של אהרן הכהן, וכך כל שבט היה ניכר למרחוק, וידעו שזהו שבט ראובן, וזהו שבט שמעון, וכן על זה הדרך. וכל זאת מתוך חיבה לישראל, שנאמר "הביאני אל בית היין ודגלו עלי אהבה", דגלי עם ישראל היו עלי לאהבה. ובכלל זה שהיו ישראל מצויינים בעזרת הדגלים, נכלל כל סדר הליכתם ונשיאת ארון הברית, שהיה הכל בצורה מסודרת ומאורגנת להפליא, כשהם עם הבהמות שאיתם וכל משאם, והילדים אשר חנן ה' אותם, כולם היו צועדים וחנים תמיד בצורה מסודרת ומופתית, כמו שנאמר "איש על דגלו באותות", שהיה סדר הליכתם לאות ומופת לכל העמים. כל הדברים הללו באו ללמד אותנו דרך חיים של איש ואישה בעבודת ה' ובכל דרכיו, כי כל סדר חייו של האדם חייב להיות מתוכנן ומסודר על פי תכנית מסודרת, לפי מה שתיכנן כל אדם לעצמו, וכאשר מצליח לעמוד במטרות שהעמיד לעצמו, ידע כי הוא הולך בדרך הנכונה בעבודת ה', ועדיו לגדולות. אבל בהעדר סדר ותכנית נכונים, עלולים חלילה כל עניני הקדושה, ואפילו הגדולים ביותר להשתבש ח"ו. וחכמי המוסר אמרו, שהסדר גורם ליישוב הדעת, והמסודר במהלכו בדרך ארץ, הוא מסודר גם בעבודת ה', וזהו לא רק בדברים הגדולים, אלא אף בדברים הקטנים, הליכה מסודרת, לבוש מסודר, ישיבה מסודרת, ואפילו מנעליו יהיו קשורות בצורה מכובדת ומסודרת, כי זהו תנאי חיים לחיים מסודרים ומאושרים. ואשרי מי שזוכה לכך. |
A Story - of Tea | An 18th-century Japanese nobleman had a tea maker, and one day he asked him to accompany him to the great city of Edo (later Tokyo). He wanted to show off to his friends in his professional tea-maker. The tea maker knew all about the tea ceremony, but nothing more. As the tea making ritual rules required, a tea-maker should dress as a samurai, a Japanese warrior. One day, when the tea-maker was walking down the street, he ran into a real samurai who invited him to a duel. The tea-maker was not a warrior, and knew nothing about sword art, and he even explained it to the samurai, but he would not listen. If you are dressed as a samurai, you must fight as a man! Rejecting an invitation for a fight means in Japan to disgrace your family and your master, so the tea-maker had to accept the invitation, although that means certain death. He only asked that the battle be held the next day, and his request was accepted. The tea-maker was close to panic, and he ran to a fighting school. If he was about to die, at least he would do it with dignity! The schoolmaster would never have accepted a man without recommendations, but the tea-maker's desperation touched him. He agreed to teach the tea-maker the art of death, but first he asked for tea. Our man performed the ceremony as required, quietly, with concentration and peace. When the school principal saw this, he shouted, "You do not have to learn the art of death, your mental state is now enough to deal with any samurai, and when you see your enemy, feel as if you are serving tea." The ceremony was over, and the tea-maker felt that he was ready to die. The next day the samurai was astonished to discover how peacefully the man stood before him, slowly taking off his coat and slowly holding the sword. “Perhaps,” the samurai asked himself, “this tea-maker is actually a skilled sword holder, a great master, who can easily kill me?!” He bowed to the tea-maker, apologized for his behavior the day before, and hurried away. |
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Community Matters | ● Ahavat Yisrael and Ahavat Haberiyot, love for the Jewish people and love for all humanity, are values central to the Bayit’s mission to be a warm, welcoming, and inclusive community. ● We encourage all dwellers of the Bayit - individuals, tefilot, and communities - to read the full policy on the CPC page of the Bayit website in order to learn about the practices and protocols that are designed to help prevent abuse of children from occurring in the Bayit. ● Appropriate boundaries are tools for fostering the healthy warmth, welcome and inclusivity we seek to create. Appropriate boundaries protect children as well as adults and help to create a safe environment for all. ● Cleaning after Kiddush. We ask all adults and kids alike to help in keeping the bet-keneset organized, and to help with clean-up after kiddush. TODA RABA :) ● Reading Aliya laTorah: It has been our practice that the Olim laTorah may read their portion. Please practice your Aliya well, including the Teamim. Errors of pronunciation and intonation distort the Torah text and its sanctified meaning. If you need help in learning how to read, email us. *** ● Kol Hakavod to all the Sunday early-risers (that’s 8:15am ;) who joined the only Sephardic tefila in Riverdale. *** ● Sunday Shaḥarit tefilot are ON every Sunday at 8:15am. Donuts-Coffee sponsorship is welcomed! *** ● Stay Tuned for all BA upcoming events. Share your thoughts with our Board members: Ami Aharon, Akiva Small, Illan Donnard, and Roberta Kraus; Email us @ bethaharon@gmail.com to get the weekly BANewsletter.  *** ● Berukhim Habaeim to all our new members, individuals and families. We encourage old-timers, young & younger, to look near you and welcome those who are new in our community.
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