....Shavua Tov....

Shavua tov my sweetest children Adam and Danielle.

I want you to know how much I was lifted and carried by each of you throughout Shabbos.

Danielly....having arranged on your own to travel in an armored van with a driver and nine friends to the holy community of Shiloh in the West Bank for Shabbos...mom and I are so very proud of you.

5 girls and 5 boys....a minyan....the required number to pray as one together.

The source of the minyan... of 10 is the spies...the maroglim...12 who went out to see the land of Israel but only Joshua and Caleb truly saw the land of milk and honey properly.

The eyes of the other 10 were clouded by misplaced truths and a misplaced understanding of holiness....yet they were of course still Jews....and a Jew is always a Jew....and this therefore is the source of the minyan.

Chazal holds that there are 10 energies of the soul....and it is this beautiful image that I see in my mind's eye as I imagined the armored van carrying the 10 beautiful Jewish souls including my precious daughter Danielle to Shabbos in Shiloh.

Shiloh....which we learn in Parshat Vayechi...."for Shiloh shall arrive and his will be an assemblage of nations"....the midrash explains that the word Shiloh is a composite of the words shy and lo, "a gift from him"...a reference to the Mashiach....to whom all nations will bring gifts....the Mashiach who will come from Shiloh.

....Shabbos in Shiloh....AMAZING!!

It is known that in the eye of a hurricane....at its very epicenter... is absolute calm....this was Shiloh for you this past Shabbos.

Despite all of the dangers driving in to Shiloh and returning to Hod Hasharon after Shabbos....despite the appearance of danger as almost all of the grown men who live in Shiloh carry weapons at all times....you experienced a calm, a true Shabbos menucha, a completeness, a peacefulness and a joy rarely if ever experienced.

I am so very happy for you my precious Danielle.

....and Adam having taken a bus with 2 friends from Jerusalem to the small community of Netivot....a half a mile or so from Gaza....and then hitch hiking further south...deeper into the negev to kibbutz Alumim....an even shorter distance to Gaza....within rocket range of the ketusha rockets of our enemies for Shabbos.

....and such a beautiful Shabbos you had my most beautiful son.

The energy and Kedusha that were the experiences tasted by you and Danielle this past Shabbos direct my mind to a specific lesson offered in Parsha Vayishlach which we read this past Shabbos.

When Yakov wrestles with....some say Esav's angel....others say....Yakov's own soul....the angel tells Yakov...."No longer will it be said that your name is Yakov, but Yisrael"....

Later in the Parsha Hashem says to Yakov...."Your name is Yakov. Your name shall not always be called Yakov, but Yisrael shall be your name".

Hashem's blessing was adding Yisrael to Yakov....not replacing Yakov with Yisrael.

Why was Hashem's blessing different?

Because Yakov needs both names.

Yakov is the man who lives in physicality but elevates it to its spiritual potential.

Yisrael is the man who is spiritual and brings spirituality down to this earth.

Hashem is saying to Yakov that your children need both and must be taught both.

Danielle and Adam....through the Yakov within each of you... you helped transform the physical communities of Shilo in the West Bank and the speck of desert in Alumim....and made them holy....and made each of them a Kiddush Hashem.

And through the Yisrael within each of you....you were able to draw down the divine sparks of Hashem's holiest Kedusha and bring that spirituality to places surrounded by our mortal enemies in Shiloh and within the range of the ketusha rockets of our enemies in Gaza.

For mom and me you were our shabbos candles this past shabbos....the flames of your neshamas flickering and reaching ever higher.

May your beautiful neshamas continue to be ablaze for all time.

I love you so!!!

B'simcha
Papa