More from the Visit with the Holy Rabbi

Another warning -again this is not a "from my Kishkas" posting but other things that were discussed with the Rabbi in his office.
Without a background and a strong interest the following could be quite difficult to follow.

(After the Sefer (book) went flying off the shelf) -So portion that the ribbon pointed us to was talking about a girl 12 - 12 1/2 making a vow, promise or a swear. What might that be? ( The following isn't necessarily in order)

One caveat- we are taught in Judaism that someone's name is their essence. We are also taught that parents get a little prophesy when they name their kids of their kids names should be.

The first thing that he noted (and wrote down) when we started to discuss Shoshie was the commandment of "honoring your mother and father" - that he asked us more about and was noted as a major important thing.

The first thing the Rabbi showed us when examining and analyzing Shoshie's Hebrew name was the Hebrew words for "women" and "honey (sweet)" - I didn't grasp fully how we saw this (I have to follow back up with him) but these two words began our journey.

The next thing the Rabbi did was look at the first letters of both of Shoshie's Hebrew names Shoshana Rachel (shin/sin, a reish) and the Denise's name which is Golda Baila he took the numerical value of both the gimmel (3) and the Beis (2) and came up with a hey. (which equals 5) . Putting that all together the sin,reish and hey spells - Sarah- the wife of Abraham and the one who was famous for "making the souls" of women. Introducing, teaching and showing them how to have a relationship with God. (interesting to note is that Denise and I have been involved in Jewish educational outreach all of our lives together)

Next, the Rabbi took the last letters of Shoshie's Hebrew names they being the "hey" in Shoshana and the "lamed" in Rachel. He took the last letters of both of Denise's names (an alef and an alef) and combined both of them (equals 2 which is a letter Veis)
Spelling that all out is a; hey, lamed, and veis = Halave - It means "The Heart" - There is so much that I could read into this, comment on etc but those who understand how i have been described "a heart on 2 legs" and my wife and what we do - let's just say "Halave-The Heart" is interesting; especially also since that goes with Sara making souls.

A few more tidbits
Shoshana, Shoshie's name means "Rose" in Hebrew. A perfect Rose has 13 petals -Shoshie was in her 13th year of life. She was born the 12th of Kislev - She was 12 years old. She was born in December the 12th month on the solar calender.

The letters that make up the word Cheshvan, the month that Denise and I got married can be found in her name. We actually got married on Rachel emainu's yahrzeit - Shoshie has Rachel in her name. Rachel who was married to Yaakov our forefather is known for being the person who continuously cries for the Jewish people to come back to Hashem, merit to bring Moshiach, to come back to land of Eretz Yisroel and complete redemption and freedom for all of humanity with no more sickness, evil, poverty etc. until resurrection of the dead when the souls of everyone we have lost in our families will be together again in enlightened bodies forever.

How will people be revived for this? How do revive someone who becomes faint in this world? Smelling salt - why? Because the most sensitive sense we have is that of smell. When describing the "pleasure' of the Almighty when we brought sacrifices to Hashem in the temple, it says "it is a pleasing aroma". When we have lost the additional soul that we had gained on the onset of Shabbos, at the end of Shabbos, during the Havdalah ceremony (when we demarcate the transition from the Holy shabbos to the mundane week) we use spices to revive us from having lost our extra special 2nd soul that we had throughout the Shabbos.
Shoshana which means "Rose" a flower that is know for it's fragrance. It is the "Rose's job to bring fragrance to the world, a fragrance that is pleasing to Hashem. What is that in this world? All of the good deeds we do and all the things that we have been writing about Shoshie; living with and sharing that joy of life and living, accepting, appreciating and loving all people, making others feel comfortable, creating peace with and amongst friends and yes things like I wrote before; honoring us, eating Kosher, keeping Shabbos, not speaking Loshon hara. Hashem is happy with that fragrance in a world of the smell of garbage on a hot humid day in Manhattan, on a long weekend where they were supposed to pick up the garbage on a Monday and it's the 4th of July. (I lived in Manhattan for 7 years, but only 1 tree on my block) Maybe Shoshie's promise has to do with magnifying a great fragrance on this earth and maybe that was her mission. (Maybe !)

Shoshie was twelve years old..... the 12 tribes ...... unity...... shoshie's shaloshim fell out on Shavuos, the time where there was unprecedented unity of the Jewish people - Oh and she died during the period of the Omer (a time of mourning when we can;t shave, listen to music, get married) when 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiba died because as the Gemara says that they didn't show the proper amount of respect for each other that they could have. Her passing and all of the praise of how she treated others is a direct contradistinction of what had happened with Rabbi Akiba's students as if she passed away at that time to show us how we have to treat each other and a tikun for the Omer period.

Before the Torah was given it was said that the fore-fathers and mothers kept the Torah. What that exactly means escapes me but what I do know is that Avraham did something that spiritually mimicked Tefillin - after the Torah was given we were now privy as to what tefillin looks like, how it is made etc. The Jewish people were in a sort of training for receiving the actual Mitzvot on Mount Sinai. Shoshie too for the most part lived her life before her bas Mitzvah training for the time period that she would be bas Mitzva and obligated in the Mitzvot. Denise and I feel that this points us to our new reality that before Shoshie passed, our Judaism was real ..... very real..... but to an extent - now after her petira, our new realizations of reality, a more than a peek behind the mundane curtain of life but our eyes are opened very wide, this has all left us very awake, very. It's all real now, too real-life is for keeps, the Torah is true and everything we ever thought about God and his Torah is more real and true for us.

Last thing
Shoshie does have some grieving in the world of souls (gan eden) where she is at. Although she helped to create an explosion of increased Torah and Mitzvot all over the world, she can't actually "do" a Mitzva or learn Torah herself in this world any more. Her only ascension in the next world comes from when we do a Mitzva for her, or in memory of her. We can give Tzeduckah in her name and she gets the credit for the Mitzva of Tzeduckah. (How cool is that) I daven with Kavanah because I was inspired to do so (because of her) after her passing, it is as if she is doing it. We can continue to water the garden with our Mitzvot, Torah and kind deeds to magnify the fragrance of our Rose. May the result of our actions and speech result in the most pleasing aroma to Hashem, may we still continue to be inspired by Shoshie and her memory, may we accomplish much in our moments, hours and days so it can be said that just as Shoshie lived 10 good years in each and every year she lived and accomplished a life time of work of a perosn who lived out their 120 years, so to you made it all count.

Shabbat Shalom
Mike