Reb Shlomo: Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach » Shelach Manos

Purim and Shelach Manos: Sending our love and our thoughts

Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach — Sun, 15 Mar 1992 23:50:50 +0000

When you love somebody very much, you think about them even when they are not there. This is ‘shalach manos’; sending gifts of food to one another, through a messenger. Why not face to face? Because in this way you are telling your friends that you are sending them your love, your thoughts, even when they are not there.

Everybody knows that the downfall of the world is ‘loshon harah’. The Gemara says that Haman is the master of ‘loshon hara’. Mordechai and Ester are masters of NON-’loshon hara’. On Purim we do not send ‘shalach manos’ face to face; we are telling each other, even behind your back, I shall not speak evil about you.

Purim: The beginning of our redemption

Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach — Sun, 15 Mar 1992 23:46:10 +0000

Our holy rabbis called Purim “the Dawn” – the sun isn’t rising yet but it’s no longer night. It’s in between,which is what makes dawn so special. According to our holy rabbis it is the time when babies wake up and want to be nursed, the time when husband and wife wake up and want to be so close to each other. It is the time when the light of the Messiah is shining. It is a time when everyone dreams that today is the day of their redemption.

Anybody who has ever been up all night has tasted the awesome depth and sweetness of davening at dawn. Have you ever prayed by the Holy Wall at dawn?

So Purim is the beginning of our redemption. We’re waking up being drunk with the joy of being Jewish. Dawn is still too dark; we don’t really see each other. We only see with the eyes of our soul and my soul sees only G-d. On Purim I send out gifts but not face to face. This is how I let you know I see you with the eyes of my soul. That is why I love you so much.

from a Purim letter from Reb Shlomo zt”l 5752

Photo

Reb Shlomo with Zusha Ben Avraham Zimmerman

Purim: Patience for people we love the most

Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach — Sat, 17 Mar 1990 09:06:57 +0000

Reb Shlomo explains why on Purim we should have patience for people we love the most. He tells the story of the first shelach monos that his daughter Neshama gave him

Purim: Tears as shelach manos

Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach — Tue, 13 Mar 1984 13:42:35 +0000

The Heilige Rizhiner “nebech” (sadly) was in prison. And there was no-one to give shelach manos (Purim gifts) and he didn’t have anything. And he was standing by the window of the prison, and he remembered how beautiful it was in Ruzhin, with all the thousands of Yidden (Jews), and he began crying a little bit. He said Ribono shel Olam, Master of the World, I give you my tears as shelach manos. And so I want to say, Ribono shel Olam sadly enough, shelach manos of tears he had already for so long. I want to bless Yidden that this time we should Ribono shel Olam, we want to give you our laughter for shelach manos.

Audio

Click here to listen to Reb Shlomo telling the story od Rabbi Yisroel of Ruzhin
The Shelach Manos of Tears

Background

In 1838, Rabbi Yisroel of Ruzhin was accused of complicity in the death of two Jews accused of being informers and was imprisoned for two years by the Russian authorities. On his release he moved to Kishinev, then to Iasi and other places before finally settling in Sadigora, Bukovina (Carpathian Mountains) in 1842. There he re-established his court in all its glory.