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By Rabbi Tuvia Bolton, Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim, Kfar Chabad, Israel 

This week’s Torah reading is Acharai Mot which means ‘After death and it hints at how Judaism is completely different from all the other religions.

The Jewish calendar has TWO ‘New Year’s’:

Tishrei is the first of the DAYS and Nissan (six months later) is the first of the MONTHS!!

The reason for this is explained in a Midrash (Shmot Raba 15:11) “When G-d created His world he chose the month of Tishrei…. but when He redeemed the Jews, He chose the month of Nissan”.

So the month of Tishrei is for the world. But the month of Nissan is for the Jews.

That’s why Nissan contains the first Jewish holiday; Passover which is called Zman Cherusenu; “The Time of our Redemption” There is no holiday anywhere even vaguely similar. No other race, nation or religion celebrates or even claims they were miraculously released from total slavery as like the Jews.

But even more; on Nissan, the Jews believe it will happen again: they will be redeemed with bigger miracles by Moshiach. Only Jews were born from and are yearning for ‘redemption’.

But Judaism also defines ‘redemption’ differently than everyone else. It is not only political or even spiritual autonomy.

The Egyptians were spiritual people. They knew the deepest spiritual secrets by which they could even transform sticks into snakes and water into blood.

The Jews LEFT that to become connected to the Creator of the spiritual and Moshiach will connect (redeem) all mankind!!

That is the message of “Ach’ray Mot. To become ‘higher’ than death’ i.e. higher than spirituality.

Here is a story that was told by Rabbi Shmuel Gruzman Chabad representative in the town ‘Migdal’ near Tiberius (Bait Moshiach Magazine #505) to help explain.

There are presently some eight billion people in the world and all of them were born. Even animals and plants are ‘born’. Seemingly, nothing seems more natural and far from religion or miracles than having babies ….. until there are problems.

Rabbi Gruzman knew such a case; a religious Jewish couple that after many years of marriage had no children.

They visited doctors, professors, and experts of all sorts both conventional and unconventional but nothing helped.

They increased giving charity, prayed without respite and tried all the recipes or concoctions they heard of but it didn’t happen.

They were so desperate that the husband, although he was a sworn ‘mitnagid’ (opposer of the ‘chassidic’ teachings of the Baal Shem Tov and the ‘Chasidim’ that follow them) even agreed to go visit Tzadikim (Chassidic leaders) for blessings and advice.

But the years passed and no children.

Finally, her father suggested that they both go to see the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

“Forget it!!” was her husband’s emphatic reply. “It’s enough that I went to those other Chassidic Rebbes and nothing came of it. But I’ve heard about the ‘Lubavitcher’… it’s all a bluff!! Even worse than that ……it’s forbidden!!! That’s what I heard. So I’m not wasting my time.”

His father-in-law tried to convince him otherwise but there was simply no one to talk to. He refused to even bring up the subject.

But another year passed with no change. They tried more new methods, even flew to Europe for a treatment or two. And all that time his father-in-law calmly had been ‘softening him up’ about the Lubavitcher Rebbe, throwing in a question or two until his son-in-law finally admitted that not only had he never even heard a concrete reason why to oppose the Rebbe …. he never even dared to ask.

But there was another reason he couldn’t go; his friends also opposed the Rebbe. They too were mitnageds. And although they too had no real reason; if they heard he had visited the ‘Lubavitcher’ he would become an outcaste.

So it was arranged that they would travel to the Rebbe in such a way that no one would know about it and instead of a private meeting they would stand in line on Sunday morning when thousands of people waited to receive a dollar from the Rebbe and no one would recognize them.

It worked! They flew to Brooklyn, went to the Rebbe’s Synagogue on 770 E. Parkway, stood in their lines, (There were two lines, one for women then afterward one for men) and no one noticed them.

The husband stood and watched from afar but after a long wait he saw that his wife was standing before the Rebbe. She asked for a blessing for children. The Rebbe gave her three dollars and blessed her with good news saying ‘one dollar is for you, the other for your husband and the third is for the child’!

They both felt something special… something ‘clicked’. It was different. Even he admitted it. But it wasn’t to be so simple because they returned to Israel, another year passed with no news and his enthusiasm waned.

She made up her mind to go again but this time her husband refused to join her and announced he would have no part of it.

“You fooled me once,” he shouted “You aren’t going to do it again! In fact, you know what??” He pulled out his wallet and took out the dollar she had given him a year ago and waived it in the air almost threw it to the ground and yelled, “I have no need for this dollar of your Lubavitcher Rebbe!!”

But she had made up her mind. She again flew to Brooklyn and on Sunday she again stood in line to speak to the Rebbe. But when she again stood face to face with him she froze. She simply couldn’t speak a word.

The Rebbe gave her a dollar and blessed her with good news… thousands of people were waiting behind her… she had taken enough of the Rebbe’s time.

She was just about to continue walking on when the Rebbe held out another dollar and said “This is for your husband…. If he doesn’t want it, you hold on to it yourself! And here is a third dollar for the birth… an addition to the first one.”

When she called home and told her husband what the Rebbe said he was really impressed. “How could he possibly know that I didn’t want the dollar? And how did he remember that he had given you a dollar? Why, it was over a year and tens of thousands of people ago.”

But it was nothing compared to when he found out what the Rebbe meant by “an addition to the first one”:

Nine months later, against the prognosis of all the doctors, she gave birth to …. Twins!

This explains how Judaism is different.

The fact that G-d created the world and made man in it to serve Him is a miracle. That is represented by the month of Tishrei: the month that contains the holidays of ‘service’ and ‘repentance’: Rosh HaShanna and Yom Kippur.

But, like in our story, all that can be taken for granted: nature, birth, even service of the Creator can become natural and limited …. Like Tishrei; part of the creation. Therefore, once in a while G-d gives us obstacles and challenges to make us realize that EVERYTHING is really miracles.

That is represented by the month of Nissan, the holiday of Passover. And the message of the Jews to the world.

Like in our story the couple realized that birth and life is much more miraculous than they ever dreamed.

That is hinted at in the name of our section; Achrai Mot means “After death”.

In other words, after a person ‘dies’ to his ‘natural’ limited outlook on life then he/she can really begin to live ‘Jewish’… in a way that is always appreciating the miraculous powers, assistance and opportunities that G-d gives us.

Indeed, man was created to live eternally, and this eternal life is still available to each of us.

This is the purpose of Moshiach. Just as the Rebbe did in our story and is still doing to the Jewish people: to make them see the ‘redemption’ and true infinite meaning, miracle and infinite life in every detail of the world.

It is in our ability to bring Moshiach even one moment sooner, and not much is lacking. We are standing on the merits of thousands of years of Jewish prayers, self-sacrifice, faith and suffering.

Now it could be that just one more good deed, word or even thought can bring
Moshiach NOW!

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