“Rejoice on Purim till you can no longer distinguish between ‘Cursed is Haman’ and ‘Blessed is Mordechai’.” – Talmud Megillah 7b.

The popular contemporary work, Nesivos Shalom, by the late Rebbe (Grand Rabbi) of the Slonim Hasidic sect, Rav Shalom Barzovsky ob”m, gives a novel and poignant interpretation of this classic Talmudic directive:

“We must rejoice on Purim till we no longer feel the difference between the Mordechai periods of our lives, when we merit insight and enlightenment, and the Haman periods, in which we find His presence concealed.” (quote from Rabbi Yitzchak Adlerstein’s archives on Nesivos Shalom)

The Almighty only does good, but many times it’s seemingly impossible to see how the abundance of evil and negativity in the world are ultimately good. On Purim though, one can achieve, and should make every effort to achieve, a level of joy where we not only see the silver linings, but the precious clouds themselves – “when you’re smilin’, the whole world smiles with you.”

To learn more about Purim please take a look at our Purim articles at Torah.org, and listen to our Purim audio at TorahMedia.com.

Good Shabbos …and Happy Purim!
Rabbi Mordechai Dixler
Program Director, Project Genesis – Torah.org

I have something unusual to share with you this week. Just in time for our Purim appeal, iGive.com sent us a challenge. We’ve been members of iGive for years, since they started as “eyeGive” and provided donations in return for clicks alone.

Now they help us when you “Shop for the Cause” … and they’ve challenged us to drum up new members.

Here’s how it works: You’ll get an email from us next Wednesday afternoon, with a link to their site. If you sign up for iGive between noon Wednesday, Central Time (that’s 1pm on the East Coast, and 8pm in Israel), and noon Thursday, and visit any of their 700 stores through iGive… they will give Project Genesis a dollar. And it won’t cost you a penny!

Now that may not seem like much, but it’s all about the numbers. This week, we read in the Torah that everyone was able to donate as much as they wanted to the Temple, but everyone donated just a half-shekel for the daily sacrifices. And those half-shekels, added together, provided for the sacrifices for the entire year — with funds left over!

If we raise $10,000 via this upcoming appeal (which will, of course, request your support via check or credit card as well), we’ll be able to finally launch our redesign project, which has been over a year in the planning and will touch every aspect of the entire family of Project Genesis websites.

Please watch your mailbox! We don’t want to send the link now, as sign-ups outside that 24-hour window will not be part of the challenge. And you know someone would just click and go ahead.

Good Shabbos!
Rabbi Yaakov Menken
Director, Project Genesis – Torah.org

I am very reluctant to get involved with an obviously parochial political matter. But I feel it is important to encourage everyone to participate in a plea for clemency for a mentally-impaired individual due to be killed by lethal injection early next week.

25 years ago, a 19-year-old man, Martin Grossman, was caught in a park discharging a firearm. This was a violation of his parole on a burglary charge. High on drugs, he shot the park police officer trying to report him.

If we decide that an IQ of 77 reduces a 19-year-old to the maturity of the average 17-year-old, then he wouldn’t be a candidate for the Death Penalty. Indeed, for 25 years he has been a model prisoner and has expressed profound remorse for his thoughtless cruelty. He understands that he will live out his life in jail, one way or the other.

By and large, as I said, I stay away from these cases. But I urge everyone to read the words of Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, and for more details, an amicus curiae brief filed in pleading for clemency in this case. I think and hope you will agree that even strong supporters of the death penalty see room for profound discomfort in this case.

Please write or call Florida’s governor, Charlie Crist, if you share my feelings. His e-mail address is Charlie.Crist@eog.myflorida.com, his phone number is (850) 488-7146 and he can be faxed at 850-487-0801.

Good Shabbos!

Rabbi Yaakov Menken
Director, Project Genesis – Torah.org