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Sometimes we look at things in our life, and in our spiritual work, and we see coincidences. We know, technically, that we sometimes read two readings together, and sometimes separately. In a leap year, in order to come to the end of the year and have a portion to read every week, we read the portions separately. But in a year that is not a leap year, like this year, we read them together.

I was reading this week that the significant point that comes from almost every aspect of this Shabbat is the power of unity and the power of love.

The kabbalists say the reason why we read them together is to awaken the power of unity. I want this to not to seem like a small point. If you have been here for awhile, you have read them together and separately, and realize that everything that occurs and relates to our spiritual work is never a coincidence. The reason these two portions are being brought together today is to awaken the power of unity.

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Those of you who have been around a long time, probably back 20 years, it hasn’t been like this for a while. One of the things the Rav would always talk about in Queens is the importance of the Sefer Torah, and how lucky we are to have the knowledge of the kabbalistic meditations included in the Torah.

The Centre having its own sofer was very new. And the Rav was happy about having our mezuzah, tefillin, and Sefer Torah written by the scribes who know the meditations. The Zohar talks about the importance of knowing how to write using the meditations.

Shimon Shafarti, who is in Florida now, who was in Paris, every week that was all he would talk about. Over and over he talked about the importance of the Sefer Torah.

It’s been a while so I would like to talk about it one more time. We know when we connect to the Zohar, it’s within the original Aramaic where the Light is found.

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The Kedushat Halevi (Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditshov) writes that Pinchas is the same being as Eliyahu Hanavi, Elijah. He is physically alive, in his physical body.

The body, for most of us, has two parts: the body and the soul. Our soul is where the actions and desire to transform, the Desire to Share comes from. And then there is the body. It’s a consciousness as well as a physical body — the consciousness of the Desire to Receive for the Self-Alone. For most of us, it’s two separate at things: the Desire to Share that comes from our soul, and the Desire to Receive for the Self-Alone that too often overwhelms us, which is the desire and consciousness of the body.

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There is a section in this week’s Parashah, as we come to the end of the Fourth of the Five Books of the Torah. They are coming to the land of Israel, and they are about to enter it. Devarim is not chronological, but it’s a recap. This week they are at the borders of the land of Israel.

The Zohar tells us something very interesting. We know there were 12 tribes. Two tribes, Gad and Rueben, had a lot of cattle. They came to Moshe and said, “We know in the land of Israel there is a lot of Light, but we have a lot of cattle. We would rather stay here on the other side of the Jordon. The cattle will have more places to graze. Let the other 10 tribes go into the land of Israel.”

If you look at this simply, maybe they got angry and lost some of their wisdom. They know in the land of Israel the true connection will occur. Suddenly these two tribes say we have too many cattle. Let us stay on this side of the Jordan and it will be easier for us.

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This is an article from Time Magazine August 14, 2006

Exclusive: Madonna Speaks About Her “Big, Big Project”
Move over, Angelina and Bono. Another superstar is bound for Africa, this one with money and spiritualism in a plan to care for orphans
By BELINDA LUSCOMBE

Posted Thursday, Aug. 03, 2006
Malawi, a Pennsylvania-sized country in southeast Africa, has four things in abundance: AIDS, malaria, drought, and tobacco (its major crop). It also has a functioning democracy and little conflict. To date, therefore, it has not attracted much attention from the rest of the world. But that’s about to change. Malawi is about to be hit by a force that has thrown much more robust countries for a loop. Her name is Madonna. (more…)

In this week’s Parashah, the Torah talks about what will happen when they enter into the land of Israel. The Creator tells Moshe to tell the Israelites when they come into the land of Israel they are to set up these cities, called ari miklat, cities where if a person would kill another completely accidentally, he would have to run to these cities and begin the purification.

After they cross the Jordon, they will set up six of these cities. If a person completely accidentally kills, he runs there and begins his purification process.

Then toward the end of the explanation of the set up, the person who would accidentally kill another person will stay in these cities until the death of the High Priest, of the Kohen Hagadol. After the death of the High Priest, then all of those who had accidentally killed another person could go back to their house.

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We are in the middle of the three weeks, the period from the 17th of Tammuz to the 9th of Av. The Apte Rebbe asks why do we read this portion during these three weeks, which are called the yemei bein hamyitzarim? All the greatest connections of the year, the greatest holidays, those times when the greatest Light is revealed, are spoken about in this reading. There is certainly a reason for this. Why on this Shabbat, occurring during the darkest of the weeks of the year, during these three weeks, why do we read about the holidays at this time? (more…)