Welcome to Ohel Simha Park Avenue Synagogue
295 Park Ave, Long Branch NJ 07740
Phone: (732) 571-2711
Email:Business@OhelSimha.com

The Rabbi’s Message
When the author of the Sefat Emet was a young boy, he stayed
up all night to learn Torah, and by the time the morning prayers
came, he had dozed for a few minutes and he came a little late to
the minyan. His grandfather, who was a great Rebbe and was in
charge of bringing him up, began to rebuke him for being late to
shul. He said to him, “If this is your attitude now, what will
happen when you get on in life; if you want to succeed you can‟t
be lazy, etc.”
The young grandson took the rebuke with his head lowered to
the ground and didn‟t try to defend himself. After the grandfather
left, the boy‟s study partner, who had learned with him all night,
exclaimed, “Why didn‟t you defend yourself and tell him that you
were up all night and that‟s why you were late?” The youngster,
who succeeded his grandfather and became a big Rebbe himself
later on in life, told his friend, “I learned this from the perashah of
Matot. When Moshe rebuked the tribes of Gad and Reuben for
wanting to inherit the land on the east of the Jordan, he suspected
them of wanting to shirk their responsibilities and of not wanting to
fight with the rest of the Jewish people. After Moshe finished his
speech they answered that they were not intending to abandon the
Jewish people, but were planning to fight with their brothers. We
see from here that they did not interrupt Moshe while he was
rebuking them because when someone points out our faults,
especially someone who cares for us, we should listen rather than
object and defend ourselves. This way even if we were right this
time, we would have learned something for the future.”
This is true today as much as back then. Whenever our loved
ones or our friends say anything to us, we become defensive and
sometimes even take the offense against them. We should realize
that every rebuke or criticism can be helpful in our development if
we open our minds and hearts and listen! Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Shmuel Choueka