War and Marriage
Mira and Moshe, Mazal Tov! It’s done! You are husband and wife.
Mira and Moshe, the Rebbe explains that the Shechinah, the Divine presence, hovers over the couple under the Chuppah, with a revelation that is comparable to the revelation of Sinai and that the marriage is a new covenant between Hashem and the Jewish people through each couple.
You are thus empowered to draw down blessings in this moment for your entire life.
This energy is so powerful that the souls of departed family members are present to share in this experience.
You are surrounded with the energy of your loving parents, your grandparents Rabbi Chaim and Leah Drizin and Rabbi and Mrs. Bronstein all from Florida, my father and Ima from California, 9 of my 10 siblings (there are 11 of us), and all of Moms siblings. Uncles, aunts, cousins, friends from far and near and a local community that loves you both.
You are also surrounded with the light and energy of loved ones not present physically, those from the next world of which our tradition tells us that they too join in the simcha including Mira, your grandmother, my mother, Rochel Leah AH.
Mommy and I had the opportunity to pray on Sunday at the Ohel of the Rebbe and Rebbetzin and among others we prayed at the resting place of my mother and your namesake my bubby Mirel. We invited them to this Simcha and we are sure they are present, showering their blessings and celebrating this amazing moment.
The Maamer, the discourse recited earlier, mentioned the teachings of Torah from our Rebbes, which served as an invitation to them to join this gathering. And so this Chuppah is permeated with their presence as well.
Their memory and energy surrounds you with love and blessing in this moment, under this chuppah, with all the power you need for your blessed life ahead.
These last two years we have learned that we, the Jewish People, derive our identity from something deeper than public opinion, or from how we fit into society. We derive our identity from our rich and deep tradition that is rooted in our holy Torah.
The opening words of this week's Torah portion which blesses your wedding day has an obvious message.
Parsha Ki Seitze opens with the words:
When you go out to war against your enemies, and God, your God, delivers them into your hands. It is an assurance that when we go out to war, if we are with G-d, we will succeed.
Pardon the comparison but it comes from the Chasidic masters. Marriage is like war.
Like the saying or ChatGPT says.
“Marriage is like war. The first year you’re fighting for territory, the rest you’re just fighting for peace.”
“They say all’s fair in love and war… which is why my wife always wins both.
Seriously though a good marriage is the greatest blessing one can have in life. To have a partner to accept you, a partner to accept, to journey life together with love. To raise children together with all the oys and joys. There is nothing greater.
But to get there one needs to go through the battle. Not G-d forbid the battle with each other, although that is there as well sometimes. But the battle with self. To move past our egos, past our wants and needs and past all the things that we have in childhood defined as our inner worth and to realize that we are much greater than them. That we are at our core and we have at our core a piece of the Divine, the presence of Hashem.
To quote the Rebbe: The greatest battle is the building of a Jewish home.
There two very different worlds meet — man and woman, who even spiritually come from different sides.
Yet they are required to unite and create one thing — a faithful Jewish home.
To add; this struggle may have been true in the past, but the Rebbe taught that we are nearing the time of Moshiach and so we don’t need to fight this battle any longer, we just need to let our inner light out.
This is what the verse is telling us; when we go out to battle, we go out OVER our enemies. We can be assured that we are over our enemies, over our egos, when we have Hashem with us. And we are assured that we will be successful in our marriages.
Mira, you are a beautiful light, you have always been. It shines through your eyes, your big black mysterious eyes that carry the mystery of the Divine from your essence. Anyone who meets you immediately connects with your mysterious deep light. It shows up in everything you do, seemingly with the ease of light. All of your artistic skills, your baking with ease, your leadership in Beth Rivkah and in Australia and how all your siblings love you so.
This past year you have demonstrated so much growth this past year connecting with your inner light.
When Moshe came into your life, he saw that light and your light became magnified. Mommy and I have seen that light supercharged these past few months.
Moshe, you are kind and caring, determined and ambitious, your light shines through. We can see how you adore Mira and connect with her light. We can see how the two of you bring a joint light into the world that is so powerful and beautiful.
I am confident that together, you will be able to journey the journey of marriage with joy, harmony, humility and G-d willing with many grandchildren.
Dena and I offer thanks to Hashem for the gift of this moment. Standing under the Chuppah, shechiyanu, vikiymanu, vihigiyanu lizman hazeh, to have brought us to this moment. To see you Mira grown up, to see the hand of Hashem having brought you and Moshe together. To feel the energy of all the possibilities that are ahead.
I pray that the energy of this chuppah and the light that shines from each of you, will carry you forward with the blessings of all the departed that share this moment with you, with the love of all the family and friends present, to build a bayis neman biysroel, al yisodei hotorah vihayahdus, founded on the foundation of Torah and Yiddishkeit as they are illuminated by the luminary of Torah, the teachings of Chasidus. And best wishes to everyone for a Ksiva V’chasim Tova, Lishana Tova Umesukah. Amen!
Continue Reading
