Showing Hakaras HaTov & Reflections of Rav Nechemia Rockove zt’l
October, 2020
I once heard a story about a student of Rav Soloveitchick of Boston. This man, in his 40’s at that time, and a rav in his own right –was sitting in his office learning one night when he stumbled upon a Tosphos. He simply could not understand an element of the logic from this 12 th century French yeshiva. So, he read Tosphos again, and then again, and still, ‘no dice’. He finally thought to himself: What would Rebbe say if he was learning this Tosphos? That was all he needed. In a flash –like a sudden burst of lightning –the correct understanding came to him. Tosphos now may perfect sense! This man was so inspired by this that he picked up the phone and dialed Rav Soloveitchick. “Rebbe” he began, “I know your time is precious, but I felt it was important to tell you that anything I am in Torah, any wisdom that I have learnt, and any abilities I have found in my self, they are all because of you. Thank You!” As soon as he finished saying his part he realized that he may have made a huge error in judgment. The Soloveitchicks are not emotional people, and now he feared he indeed just wasted his rebbe’s time.
The phone went silent for a moment as the student braced himself for a sharp retort. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Rav Soloveitchick responded with the following words: “There is no person on earth, no mater what they have accomplished in this life, and no matter their age, that does not need to hear those two words every once in a while. Those words are ‘Thank You’.
My 9 th grade rebbe, Rav Nechemia Rockove died this week. I never called to thank him.
This is not to say I didn’t have the opportunity. Aside for his always calling at important times in my life –when I became a chosson, when my mother was niftarah, etc. –I would see him from time-to-time. When I was a rav in Buffalo, rebbe would stop in for shachris on his way to New York a few times a year. I will never forget when he davened for the amud in Buffalo. I was a grown man, a rav in his own shul. Yet, due to girsa d’yankusa, I still trembled at the sound of rebbe’s voice. My discomfort reached a fever-pitch when I realized that he was waiting for me to finish the shema. I never felt more out-of-place by the mizrach vant! This is a good time to share with the reader that waiting for a rav for shema or chazaras hashatz is not about kavod. In fact the Rema rules (124:3) that a chazan should not wait for anyone due to
chashivus. The Mishneh Berrura (ad loc. #13) explains that the minhag today of waiting for the rav is due, simply, to pacing concerns. The rav sets the speed of davening so that those who are merely trying to say every word not miss kedusha, etc. By all these occasions, while I was reminded how much he meant to me, yet I never said those words to him. No man is above hakaras hatov (for an amazing idea and story relating to this, I encourage the reader to see ‘Insights’ to ArtScroll Midrash Rabbah on Bereishis, 32: 4) Let me tell you all about rebbe. Rebbe was tough. He was tall and imposing. Most of the boys coming into Ner Yisroel Toronto that year were typical good and wholesome American boys (well, Canadian!). We were solid boys who took our yiddeshkeit seriously. But 13 year-olds need to know how to learn, and he was the one to introduce us into that secret society of the yam hatalmud. He was unrelenting in his demands of us. He informed us on Day-One that he would not respond to us unless we spoke to him in the third-person. Of course, he was not looking for kavod from a bunch of little schnooks, rather he was teaching a new generation what kavod haTorah is all about.
I should point out that his personality as our rebbe was not who he was outside the classroom, and who I saw when I spent time with him years later. His entire persona was an act so as to properly mold righteous bnei Torah. I could still hear him scream, “Reish peh hei!” Reish peh hei (285) is the siman in the Shulchan Aruch that demands that every Jew learn the parsha each week with Targum/Rashi. We even had to sign a paper each week that we learnt that week’s segment on chumash. One day he came into shiur, sat down and made an odd request. “Imagine that on my desk sits an orange” Of course we all giggled to ourselves. “An orange? Imagine?!” But he continued (and if I recall he was quoting from his own rebbe, Rav Elya Svei): “Now imagine that this orange is purple. OK, now imagine that this orange is the size of a grapefruit. And, now, imagine that it is the size of a huge ball –several feet wide –and still sitting on my desk. “Do you have that image of a huge purple ball resting on my desk in your minds right now? Well, that image will be with you for the rest of your life!”
We didn’t know at first what he was talking about, or how this little experiment related to yiddehskeit. But then he concluded. “You may ‘forget’ about it. It may not come back to you ever again. However, the human brain forgets nothing it sees and nothing it thinks about. This purple ball –and any thought you will ever have- can never be
Like that warm city by the Pacific where so many of its citizens began life in another part of the country (or world), much of the English language is made up by words that arrived from other places, most notably French, Latin, Germanic languages, Greek, etc.
This makes for uneven and seemingly capricious rules for spelling.
Growing up in Canada, I spelled ‘color’ as ‘colour’. In fact, I spelled ‘spelled’ as ‘spelt’, making learning about the chamishes minei dagein confusing!
After learning the proper spelling for American English, I had another challenge –transliterations.
As bizarre as English spelling can be, try spelling a Hebrew or Yiddish term!
For example, how does one write the Hebrew name for the middle forefather, the son of Avraham?
Artscroll finds a happy balance in-between the sefardi and ashkanazi pronunciations –‘Yitzchak’–while others spell it Yitzchok, the way most enunciate it.
Virtually every Jewish publishing house has their own rules for transliterations, including Ami. I once published an article for an English Halacha journal. It was close to fifty pages in length with close to one-hundred footnotes. As much time went it to writing the piece, an almost equal time was given to another task. Weeks before publication, I received the article back together with pages describing their specific and exacting rules for how to spell Hebrew names and words, it took me hours to reformat each entry to their liking, e.g. Igros Moshe became Iggerot Moshe.
It was with this in mind that I read a piece of news.
Every year, believe it or not, one of the most followed sporting events in the country is the Scripps Spelling Bee, where kids from around the country compete.
These are not your 7th Grade spelling bee words.
Words like auslaut, erysipelas, bougainvillea, aiguillette, pendeloque, palama, cernuous and odylic need to be spelled (spelt?) correctly, and in a certain time frame. In fact, those were the very words in this year’s final round.
What made news this year was that there was no single winner. Each of the above eight words were spelled correctly by each of the eight finalists making it an eight-way tie.
Because of the above-described complexity of the English language, after a word is given a competitor may ask the judges for certain information.
“Can you use it in a sentence?” is always popular, and allowed. “What is the language of origin?” can be very helpful to figure out how it may be transliterated.
For example, over Shavous we read the chazal relating to Rus and Naomi’s dialogue of gerus. “Where you go, I will go” (Rus 1:16). The Midrash (RusRabbah 2:22) explains that Rus was replying to something Naomi had said. “Ti be Jewish means not going to theaters and circuses”.
Leaving aside the halachic implications of this statement, as well as why -in the entire pantheon of halacha – this was the crucial message to give a potential convert –we notice something else.
The Roman/Latin word ‘circus’ in chazal is spelled beginning with a chuf, not a samech or sin. In other words, it is pronounced kirkus.
This may help explain the ‘soft’ letter C with which it is spelled in English as well.
So why am I writing about the Scripps Spelling Bee? Because, while the news focused on the eight-way tie, we notice something else.
It was the first morning of the first day of the Spelling Bee.
There was electricity in the air. Nervous kids who have been studying for months wiped their sweaty palms on their pants as they anxiously awaited the first words.
Finally, it was time. The first judge spoke, offering the first word of the 2019 competition.
The first word?
Yiddeshkeit.
When a congregant sent me this information, I had a flurry of thoughts.
First of all, I do not even know how to spell that word! As pointed out above, no two frum publications houses could agree as to its spelling –so how can there possibly be a designated national spelling?!
Then I read on and saw that more borrowed terms were a part of the contest. For instance the word ‘keriah’.
My next consideration was if this was a good thing or a dangerous thing.
On the one hand, perhaps that these terms have entered the language shows our influence, but, on the other hand, perhaps they have become just that, words, devoid of their weight, meaning and private significance.
But then I had two final thoughts.
In fact I shared these next thoughts over Shavous, in my yizkar derasha. In my shul, during any yizkar, the room is crammed with Jews of all stripes, levels and backgrounds. Filled with mostly regulars, there are also those who come to shul only for special events or days such as these when they can recall their loved ones.
I explained how I began to fantasize about what it would be like being that contestant; an eleven-year-old kid born in India and raised in Iowa.
The judge says, “Yiddeshkeit”.
The child simply can’t make sense out of the phonetic medley he just heard. He must have kindly asked, “Yiddeshkeit. Can I have the definition, please?”
How many times have I as a rabbi been asked to define my faith, to define Yiddeshkeit?
Can a judge do so in a few words?
How does one define it?!
Then I began to imagine the kid asking the second, most popular of contestants’ questions:
“Yiddeshkeit, Can you please use it in a sentence?”
“Yiddeshkeit, Can you please use it in a sentence?”
“Let us assume” I began “That you are a judge on this panel. How would you use it in a sentence? How do you use it in a sentence in front of family and children?”
We once wrote here how Rav Moshe Feinstein would often warn parents to be careful how they talk about Yiddeshkeit in front of their children. By saying such things as ‘es iz shver tzu zein a yid’ one can destroy their love for Yiddeshkeit.
“Yiddeshkeit. Yiddeshkeit if my raison d’être, my reason for being. Yiddeshkeit” one judge may say.
Another judge, “Yiddehskeit. I feel stifled by Yiddeshkeit. Yiddeshkeit”
Finally, the last judge. “Yiddeshkeit. Yiddeshkeit is a part of, but not the center, of my life. Yiddeshkeit.”
Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to spend Shabbos in Camp Romimu together with TAG High School for their annual Shabbaton. TAG is the Beis Yaakov of the Five Towns.
Every year they have such a Shabbos at the end of the year, and bring in a rav to speak to them. Among the many shiurim I was asked to give was one Q and A, a question and answer session.
I have done these before, and expected a slew of hashkafic and philosophical questions relating to mesora and the amitoshel torah.
However, I was pleasantly surprised.
“May I still say birchas krias shma if it is after zman krias shma?” was the first question.
What followed was an untold number of questions relating to halacha, teffila and hands-on Yiddeshkeit.
I told the girls, and I shall repeat here, how impressive this was.
They were not looking at Yiddeshkeit from without, but it was their lifeblood, the center of their lives.
The old rabbinical story goes of how a maggid once came to a town.
“What will you be speaking about?” asked the rav.
“Chinuchhabanim” replied the maggid.
“No, no!” said the rav, explaining, “There is breakaway school. Due to politics, you need to stay away from that topic “.
“Ok. Then I shall speak about talmudtorah”
“No, No!” replied the rabbi again, “There is a big fight in the shul as to what type of shiur I should give. Please, do not go near that topic”
“I see” says the maggid. “Alright, I will speak about the importance of kashrus”
“No, no!” exclaims the rabbi, lnce again, “You see, a new, competing vaad opened up in the city. It is too touchy a topic”
Exacerbated, the maggid exclaims, “I cant speak about Torah, you do not want me touching chinuch, and you wish I stay away from kashrus… what should I speak about?!”
The rabbi innocently responds, “Just speak about Yiddeshkeit!”
Yiddeshkeit never needs redefining –we know its essence –it does need re-marketing or a PR rep to bring it to a new generation, chalila. Rather it us that need to redefine our relationship with it.
To re-define Yiddeshkeit for ourselves; as the center of our universe, our very lifeblood.
Yiddeshkeit –We may not be sure how to spell it, but we know what it means!re-define Yiddeshkeit for ourselves; as the center of our universe, our very lifeblood.
Post lag b’omer, leading up to Shavous, is a season for many simchos. Such events, be they weddings, barmitzvos, etc., afford me a wonderful opportunity. As we know, rabbanim are segregated to their own table –although I was once accidently placed at the children’s table, and, while a story for a different time, we actually had great conversations!
Often it is too noisy to have lengthy exchanges with such lofty colleagues, but when there are lulls in the music I like to discuss interesting recent shailos. Often other rabbanim would have already dealt with such an issue, or, will have fascinating insight into the question.
By a recent event, I was speaking to a rav about a shabbos bris we had over sefira and the shailah if, as with a typical Shabbos bris, avharachamim should be omitted from mussaf. Because this teffilah for kedoshim was composed after the first crusades of 1096 –events that were born during the days of sefira – we general recite it during these days, even on roshchodesh. Would we say it even by a Shabbos bris?
After discussing the various sources who speak of the matter, he shared a separate interesting shailah he received. I responded in kind. We went back and forth until we found ourselves discussing some of our more fascinating shailos.
While some of these questions are not for print –either due to complexity, privacy or other reasons –I did share with him the one shailah I think about most often this time of year. It may even be my most favorite shailah –as it relates to nesinas hatorah.
The process of conversion today is, seemingly, far more rigorous and far lengthier than in years past. There is a reason for this. On the one hand a rav wants the process to be painless, although rigorous. Chazal have often described the dangers of pushing potential converts away – in one instance even blaming the birth of Amalek on that very misconduct (Shabbos 88). Indeed, the basic halacha teaches that one need only teach them a ‘few mitzvos’, some light and some more serious ones. Hillel famously converted someone after he simply requested to learn more about the kohein gadol (Tosphos, Yevamus 24b with shu’tRavAkivaEiger # 41. Cf. Maharsha to Shabbos 31a).
Most prominently, we learn from Rus and her conversation with Naomi that a minimal amount of Torah knowledge is all that is necessary. Indeed, chazal further teach that one of the positive goals in our being so spread out in galus is to bring many converts into the fold (Pesachim 87b).
Yet, on the other hand we are taught the dangers of accepting those who are unworthy, the fear of those who come with ulterior motives, and the ills caused by a beis din that accepts a ger too quickly (see Yevamus 109b with Meiri). Some even recommend waiting a full year from the day one expresses their wish to convert in order to assure all parties that this is the right thing to do (See Mishnas Rebbe Eliezar that this has been the longstanding custom of batei dinnim). And, most famously, we are commanded to inform the potential convert of the difficulty of abiding by the Torah (Yevamus 47b) and the hardships of the Jewish nation (ShulchanAruch 268).
So, and for a number of reasons, many rabbanim today not only teach a tremendous amount of halacha and hashkafa to potential converts, but they also administer a test. While many argue that teaching Torah in such detail to an –at present – non-Jew is problematic, others argue that in our times it is the only way to investigate their seriousness (See IgrosMoshe 3:90).
With this in mind, several years ago a man walked into shul. He was from Cuba, raised in a fundamentalist Christian family. Having studied the bible since his youth, he came to the conclusion that yiddeshkeit is the only truth.
Long story short, over the course of a few years we learned everything together, from the aleph-bais to hilchosshabbos. Throughout, we were in touch with a beisdin in Cleveland with whom I kept abreast of his growth.
A few years into his studies and living with the community, I felt it was time to complete his gerus. He made an apartment with the beisdin, and took off to Cleveland.
After all the sacrifice, the learning, the day finally came. I was sitting in my office when his text came through “Geyurgeyarti!!”, I became a ger.
More amazing than this text was a phone call I received from him just several hours later.
It was close to midnight when my phone lit up. Nervous that something serious happened on his trip back, I anxiously picked up the pone. “Are you ok?”
Everything was fine, baruch Hashem, but he had a shailah, his first as a Jew.
“Rabbi, I arrived back about an hour ago. I was so hungry, but all the stores are closed. So, I opened my freezer and took out some leftovers. I placed them in the microwave to defrost and reheat.
“I am now sitting in front of the food about to eat when I realized that I have a serious issue.
“All this food was cooked when I was a gentile, making it bishul akum!”
This was a fascinating shailah, and it demonstrated his level of knowledge even on his first day as a yid!
Can it be that one’s own food becomes forbidden after gerus?
There is logic both ways. Indeed, two likkutim that I own on gerus come to opposite conclusions. GerusK’Hilchasah (p. 69) rules that such food is forbidden –after all, was not this food cooked by a non Jew?
However, MishnasHaGer by Rav Moshe Klein (son of Rav Menahse Klein, p. 175) disagrees.
He points out that the two main reasons for the prohibition of bishulakum do not seem to apply here. Rashi (AvodahZara 38a) focuses on the concern with eating from non-Jews becoming common, thus leading to a great risk of something non-Kosher being eaten. Tosfos (37b) explains the chief concern as being to prevent intermarriage.
According to either view, the concern here is non existent. Indeed, we find in other cases (like a choleh on Shabbos who has a non-Jew cook for him) where many rishonim allow such food for others once cooked b’heter (e.g. BedekHaBayis 3:7).
It was only later that I realized the connection to Shavuos.
One of the minhagim on this yomtov is to eat dairy (see Rema 494). Any number of reasons are given for this minhag. One sefer I own (Otzar HaYidios, Eisenberger, Shavuos ed. p. 69-71) brings twenty-six reasons found in sefarim!
One of the famous explanations is brought in the MishnehBerrura (ad loc. sif kattan 12). There the Chofetz Chaim explains that after nesinas hatorah we went back to our tents to eat. However, since we just received hilchosshechita we were not yet proficient in these laws to have meat right away, so we simply ate dairy.
However, this approach to the minhag is challenged. The Chofetz Chaim later in life pointed out (LikuteiHalachos, end of Chullin) that if we follow the view that the Torah was given on Shabbos then they could not schecht even if they wanted to and knew how!
To explain the first approach, the seferGeulas Yisroel (a collection of Torah from the Baal Shem Tov and early rebbes –its authorship is disputed and unclear) brings a fascinating approach: already by marah the tzivuy of Shabbos was given, so indeed they were not surprised by their inability to shecht, and perhaps they prepared food before Shabbos. Rather, they could not eat their prepared food because it was slaughtered and cooked while they were non Jews!
This may have been the very first instance of the shailah I brought above!
But it gets more complicated. The ShelalRav (Shavous, p. 211) is not satisfied with the above approach.
For, how could their solution have been to eat dairy at harSinai –it was milked when they were non-Jews, making it choluvakum?!
Perhaps then, we can say that 1-they could not shecht fresh meat due either to it being Shabbos or because they were not yet proficient in the halachos of shechita, and, 2 -they could eat their dairy products for, as the MishnasHaGer suggested above, when the reasons for a gezeira are so clearly not present, and when it was made b’heter, it becomes permissible to eat.
From the first moments of mattan Torah the beauty and complexity of Torah was present!
Is dying because one is a Jew enough to make one a kodosh in the halachic sense?
May, 2019
The old humorous tale had been told a thousand times.
The young, sincere and very frumyungerbucher is on his way home from yeshiva late one night.
As he makes his way through the darkness is he attacked by a gang if ruffians.
They pull out a gun.
He thinks this is it, the end; he will have the zechus to die al Kiddush Hashem.
So he begins to prepare for his final mitzvah:
He closes his eyes and begins to recite, “BaruchatahHashem…asher kidishanu b’mitzvosuv…mikadesh shimcha brabim (to sanctify His name publicly).”
The gang, frightened by this strange incantation in a foreign tongue, quickly runs off.
The bochur gives chase, fearful of a hefsek, he run to catch up to them with his finger to his lips screaming “Nu!, nu!…”!
There is a lot of truth to be found in this oft-repeated anecdote. The Shlah Hakadosh (d.1630) writes (ShaarHa’Osios, aleph, Emes V’Emunah) that there is a special beracha to be said in such an instance. Indeed, I used his version of the beracha (said by many each morning after birchas hashachar) in the ‘story’ above. (See MetzuvahV’Oseh by Hagaon Rav Shmuel Dovid Friedman vol. 1 p. 123 for a wonderful discussion of this Shlah and beracha).
Over the past several days many stories are being told about Lori Kaye hy’d, the congregant in the Palway Chabad who was killed by nineteen-year diseased human being.
In many frum publications the term ‘died al kiddush Hashem’ is used. Recently, I was giving a shiur and began, “May this be in memory of Lori Kaye and all kedoshim”.
“Rabbi” someone interrupted (which I encourage during my shiurim), “You don’t mean that literally, do you? Sure, her zechus is enormous, but halachickly, dying al kiddush Hashem is a sugya in the gemara (Sanhedrin 76) and reserved for certain cases where one chooses death over, say, an aveira. Is dying because one is a Jew enough to make one a kodosh in the halachic sense?” (See Rambam hilchosyesodeihatorah 5:1ff).
The answer of course, is ‘YES!’, she most certainly died al kiddush Hashem.
Nevertheless, while some may bristle at the question, in truth it’s a fascinating one, and one that he was not the first to ask.
Much of this column will borrow heavily from Rebbetzin Farbstein’s ‘Hidden in Thunder’, vol. 2, ch. 10, which speaks in great detail about this issue. English translations are largely based on Deborah Stern. The reader who wishes to delve into this and other topics that relate to the churban Europe in both halacha and hashkafa are greatly encouraged to see Rebbetzin Farbstein’s stupendous works on the subject.
Before the war, Rav Yehoshua Moshe Aronson was a rav in Sanniki (near Warsaw). He was deported to the Konin labor camp and later to Auschwitz.
He wrote a secret diary, now published under the name AleiMeroros (Bitter Leaves) about his time during the war.
He initially laments:
“Is there a Kiddush Hashem dying at the hands of the Germans? There is no offer to save one’s life by accepting another religion… Although the Nazis were fighting…not only against the Jews but everything Jewish, they did not order us to transgress our religion. They chose a policy of systematic liquidation. The question is whether a Jew killed for being Jewish sanctifies Gd’s name through his death.” (see AleiMaroros p. 305)
Rav Dessler echoes this question (MichtavM’Eliyahu 3:348) in a letter to his son:
“Many people have asked in amazement: What is gained by these deaths? If they had died because of an edict of apostasy and given their lives in the sanctity of Gd’s name, it would be something. (But) These murderers did not insist on faith…”
The Slonimer Rebbe (d. 2000) also once wondered aloud in one of his annual derashos about churban Europe (1984 and 1989 discourses, published in Ha–ArugahElecha), seeing the question a little differently:
“On the hand, it is the greatest spectacle: six million holy Jews attained an exalted level of performing Kiddush Hashem. But on the other hand, it is distressing…that in fact that most of the people being killed had no idea that they were performing Kiddush Hashem, and did not have the privilege of offering themselves for the sanctity of His name. After all, all Jews were killed (meaning, even non-believers)… nor was there always peace of mind when they were killed. How could this be called death al Kiddush Hashem?”
Of course, all three answer the question, and all explain how indeed all deaths at the hands of our enemies, all who pay the ultimate sacrifice simply for being a Jew is automatically a kodosh in the strongest sense of the word.
As Rav Aronson explains, “But when the Gentile has trouble with the word Jew and with the very idea of Judaism as well, the Jew’s death is (always) a kiddush Hashem. Since the nations of the world know that these are Gd’s chosen people and that their harassment comes solely based on this…their death are automatically a kiddush Hashem.”
The holy Piasecner Rebbe, Rav Kalonymos Kalmish Shapiro hy’d, saw how many learned Jews believed that while their death would be seen as holy they may not be considered to have died al Kiddush Hashem.
To combat their feelings, he shared the following:
“The akeida was not only a test of Yitzchak, but also the commencement of a form of worship that requires total sacrifice for Hashem and the Jewish People. The akeida was a test of the desire and intent of Avraham and Yitzchak. It was never accomplished in reality because the malach told Avraham “Do not harm the lad” (Bereishis 22:2).
“For this reason, the murder of a Jew…consummates the akeida! (In other words) The akeida was just the beginning –the expression of intent and desire –while a murder of a Jew is the akeida’s conclusion. Thus, the akeida and the murder of all Jews (because they are Jews) are componants of one event”!
But in the case of Lori Kaye it is even clearer; her death even more remarkable.
The Maharam M’Rutenberg (d. 1292) witnessed many Jews being killed simply for being Jews; he himself died while being held in captivity.
He writes (Teshuvos #517):
“When someone resolves to die for the sake of kiddush Hashem (referring, it would seem, even if one is resolved to die for the ‘crime’ of being a Jew alone), from that point on, no matter how they are killed, he shall feel no pain at all…”
Someone like Lori who acted, who jumped in front of her rav has not just diedal kiddush Hashem, for the ‘sin’ of being a Jew, but in her final moments taught the world how to live and to actal kiddush Hashem!
Writing just a few years before his passing, the Ohr HaChaim Hakodosh (d. 1743), interprets a series of pasukim relating to the korbanos (Vayikra 6:1-3) in a stunning manner.
What follows is a truncated version of his words, hameivin yavin (translation follows Rav Munk):
“We may consider this whole paragraph as an allusion to our present and final exile, designed to console us about the depressing conditions we find ourselves in. Inasmuch as the soul of every Israelite refuses to be comforted seeing our exile appears to be interminable, we are certainly in need of some comfort. At the time of this writing the exile has already lasted far longer than our previous exiles combined, …already 1672 years have passed since the destruction of the Temple… The afflictions the Jewish people suffer in exile achieve for us what the sacrifices achieved on the altar, i.e. atonement for our sins… ‘burnt…all night’ means enduring the whole ‘night’ of exile… The Torah informs us that when the dawn of that ‘morning’ (of redemption) finally looms, Hashem’s anger will burn and consume all those who have tortured us during the many years of our exile and especially the Western nations…The words “and the fire of the altar” allude to the many afflictions we have endured…The word also recalls the self-sacrifice exhibited by Isaac when he lay bound on the altar. …By ‘linen tunic’ the Torah means that when that time arrives even rachamim will consent to Hashem avenging the wrong done to the Jewish people and that Hashem makes a visible mark of the blood of any Jew who was killed because he was Jewish.. On the day when Gd goes out to exact retribution from our enemies He will wear that garment on His heart…Martyrs are the most beloved by Hashem; nothing separates them from Hashem at all. The Torah alludes to the absolute affinity which exists between the martyrs for the Jewish faith and Gd Himself… ״ In referencing the burnt fats of the shlemim offering, he states, “these allude to the tzadikim and wholesome ones, choice members of klal yisroel (who Hashem chooses as sacrifices)”
This majestic Ohr Hachaim can offer us some comfort in galus.
While martyrs may feel no pain, their surviving families do.
May Hakadosh Baruch Hu bring the Kaye’s a nechama, may she be a powerful melitzah yeshara, and may we all be zocheh to hear the derashos of the Rav Aronson and the Piasecner Rebbe –together with Lori and the six million kedoshim in attendance –in the era of the great reunification, that of techias hameisim, the age of bilah hamaves lanetzach.
May the ‘morning’ of the Ohr Hachaim arrive soon!
While our mesorah teaches that she felt no pain, we know that those around her feel tremendous agony.
May Hakadosh Baruch Hu bring them a nechama, may she be a powerful melitzah yeshara, and may we all be zocheh to hear the derashos of the Rav Aronson and the Piasecner Rebbe –together with Lori and the six million kedoshim in attendance –in the era of the great reunification, that of techias hameisim, the ageof bilah hamaves lanetzach.
One Pesach seder several years ago one of the finest members of my shul, and his family, was by our table.
This individual is a very soft-spoken, kind and serious person. His wife and children are equally full of chein.
Because we have so many guests for each seder –and not enough kosos to go around–my wife purchased large and beautiful glass goblets that would be used for the arbah kosos. Allow me to repeat the fact that they were very large cups.
I was using my standard kiddush cup and wasn’t paying much attention to what the guests were using, until after the second kos.
During ShulchanAruch this guest was slurring his words and had, well, the giggles.
It was so odd seeing him like this. He was the straightest shooter I knew.
His wife explained that his family follows the halacha that one must drink the entire kos of wine for each of the arabakosos, no matter their size (see Bach 472; Shulchan Aruch 472:9, inter alia).
These glass goblets must have contained half a liter of liquid space!
Meaning that by the forth cup he drank about two liters of wine –and it showed! By nirtzah me and my kids delighted in watching this usually soft-tempered man gloriously act out all the animals in chad gada.
We have since purchased smaller kosos for guests, as the chazal teach, “Eight things are harmful in abundance and beneficial in moderation…wine.” (Gittin 70a)
Yiddeshkeit and Alcohol: A History
The Gemara, on the one hand, teaches (Eruvin 65) that “Wine was created so as to console mourners,” the Midrash in Bereishis Rabba (36:4) teaches that “[Wine] caused exile and will continue [to do so] in future generations.”
Similarly, “Wine gladdens the heart of man” (Tehillim 104), and “Do not drink, for its end is blood.” (Bamidbar Rabba).
The Midrash Tanchuma (Shemini 11) relates the story of a son who slowly weaned his drunken father off his dependence on alcohol. When he felt it was safe to let his father out of the house they went for a walk, and came upon an old drinking buddy of his father’s. The friend was lying in his own filth in the road, laughing to himself. Hoping that his father would now see the loss of dignity associated with drunkenness, the son pointed him out to his father. However, the father ran over to his old friend and whispered into his ear, “Where did you find such good wine?”
Based on the above Tanchuma and Esther Rabba (5:1) the Gra interprets the verse in Mishlei (23:35), “They struck me and I did not become ill” as symbolic of an alcoholic who becomes oblivious to alcohol’s negative effects and even claims that his addiction is virtuous—a sort of Stockholm syndrome. (See Artscroll’s Esther Rabba ad loc., footnote 28 and ‘Insights, A’ for further elaboration)
For a wonderful treatment of this topic and on addiction in general, see Judaism and Psychology by Moshe HaLevi Spero, Ktav Publishing, Yeshiva University Press, 1980, pages 120-141.
While it has been argued that frum Jews seem to have a lower rate of alcohol abuse in proportion to its drinkers than many other groups, if true, this is due to our being grounded in alcohol’s reality, not because of our denial of it (see American Sociological Review, 1980, Volume 45, “How Jews Avoid Alcohol Problems,” pages 647-664; TimeMagazine “Jews and Alcohol,” March 17, 1958; The Daily Beast, “Pass the Manischewitz, Please,” August 2008; and The New Yorker, “Drinking Games,” by Malcolm Gladwell, February 2010.)
What About Purim?
Over the years many organizations have begun to crack down on alcohol usage of young people on Purim (See Rambam, hilchosyomtov 6:21 for precedent for such bans and concerns). Some in our communities have met this with a touch of cynicism, as they hold the mistaken belief that yiddishkeit doesn’t subscribe to such a negative view of alcohol. While there are, indeed, many statements in the Torah and Chazal that refer to the positive aspects of alcohol, they pale in comparison to the number of statements against it. This is similar to the current medical view that in the right setting, small but regular alcohol consumption can be beneficial, yet it can also hold great potential for abuse.
In Talmudic parlance, there is a difference between a shasuy (drinker) and a shikkar (one who is drunk); see Eruvin 64a.
But what about Purim? Do not chazal teach (Megilla 7b) an obligation to become so intoxicated (with wine, cf. Orchos Rabeinu 3:56) to the point of not knowing the distinction between the blessing of Mordechai and the curse of Haman?
How do we understand this obligation in light of the above?
The Chofetz Chaim (Biur Halacha, 695) asks these questions, and they are asked in even more detail by the Avuderahm.
Many Explanations
We must first mention that many poskim understand the mitzvah of drinking on Purim in its simple meaning (see ShaareiTeshuvah in the name of Yaavetz and ChachamTzvi). This should not, challila, be seen a contradiction to the above sources that show a negative attitude toward heavy drinking. Rather, precisely because it is rare to ever allow for such drinking did chazal need to come and permit it. The fact that it is once a year clearly is not running against moderation.
Indeed, the Maharsha to the above gemara states, “…this is not to become silly in drunkenness and to run after and/or act in foolishness and untoward language, for this is not joy, rather foolishness…”. The Shelah gives the same warning (Megillah, ner mitzvah 14-15).
In other words, and as the Biur Halacha ibid. alludes, it is not an obligation per se, rather a once a year allowance, should one want to and if they can trust their judgment (see Chayay Adam).
However, there are many other serious views as to how to read this Halacha.
The Rema (695:2) famously rules that one need only drink more than usual, and then take a nap due to tiredness onset-ed by the wine. For, when one is sleeping he is ad d’lo yada! This is also alluded to in Rambam (hil. Megillah 2:15). The Pri Chadash and the Pri Megadim advise one to follow this approach, as our generation is weaker than in the past. (See also Yesod V’Shoresh HaAvodah 12:7)
The Yad Ephraim on the margins of the ShulchanAruch (ad loc.), as well as the Sefas Emes (Megillah 7b), reads the gemara as saying that one should drink ‘ad’, meaning until and no further that he gets so drunk that he does not know such a distinction. In other words, the gemara was setting a limit how much one can drink! (See also Kol Bo #45; Divrei Shaul to Megillah; Emek Beracha in the name of Rav Yisroel Salanter)
In fact, the Maharsha (Bava Metzia 24a) explains that when chazal teach that there are three things regarding which a chacham may lie, one of those items is ‘puria’. As opposed to the simple meaning of this word, Marharsha suggests it refers to Purim –in that a talmud chacham may pretend and fool others into thinking that they are drunk when in truth they are not!
The Brisker Rav explains this strange obligation based upon a technical matter (Emek Beracha, seudas purim). Typically, the yomim tovim have an obligation of simcha, and our requirement to eat meat and drink is only but a heicha timtza –a means –to get there. Not so on Purim. The pasuk states that Purim was established for‘misheth v’simchah’, meaning we were obligated to drink not as a means to attain simcha alone but for drinking itself.
The BiurHalacha (ibid.; see also in more detail the Avudrahm) suggests that since the various events in the Purim story happened through wine and intoxication, the same is obliged on us. Thus, we find seudas Achashveirosh and the death/exile of Vashti, as well as
the downfall of Haman all happening at festive and drink-filled events. The Megilas Setarim (Rav Vidal HaTzarafti, hakdama; not to be confused with another sefer on Esther by Rav Yaakov of Lissa under the same name) points out that this is usual for yomim tovim; we always celebrate through the consumption of the very means that the miracle happened, be it choressees/mortar on Pesach or cheese (story of Devorah/Chanah) on Chanukah. Purim should be no different. See also Nachal Eshkol who states the same but adds that when Achashveirosh and Haman finalized their evil plan they celebrated over drink (Esther 3:15), and chazal (Esther Rabbah 7:25) teach that this was a punishment for the sale of Yosef which was also caused due to drinking. On Purim we do a ‘turnabout’ and drink, but this time l’shem mitzvah.
Some suggest (see, e.g. Avuderahm, et al.) that since ‘arrur haman’ and ‘baruch mordechai’ equal the same numerical value, all chazal were saying is that one should drink until the point that figuring out each gematria, and that they are indeed the same, would become a burden.
The Mishneh Berrura (ibid. sif kattan 4) in the name of the Taz and the Gra suggests that one should simply drink to the point that his simchah confuses him as to which is better: the downfall of the wicked or the salvation of the righteous.
The Levush (siman 670:2) reminds us that chazal (Megillah 12a) teach that our original aveirah that caused these events was our eating and drinking by seudas Achashveirosh. We redeemed ourselves by fasting for three days (Esther 4:16). Perhaps then we drink on Purim and feast so as to turn this sin into a mitzvah again.
The Chasam Sofer (Derashos, p.196) states we are obligated to drink just enough that if we were down about a matter this measure will bring back some joy and tolerance. Minchas Eliyahu reminds us that chazal teach (Eiruvin 65a) that wine was create for aveilim, so as to feel better when one is down. Shushan too became mournful (‘avel’ 4:3) until (9:22) we went “u’mei’avel l’yom tov’.
While we could go on with further explanations, allow me to end with following: Chazal teach (Midrash Mishlei 9:2) that Purim is the only
yom tov that will remain in the time of moshiach. Rav Shlomo Zalman Aurbach explained that while Purim will still be active, the mitzvah of ad d’lo yada will vanish (see Rutz K’tzvi 2:p.322; Pardes Yosef, purim, p.410; sefer Meishiv K’Halachah)!
The navi tells us (Yeshayahu 29:9) “…they were intoxicated but not from wine…” Perhaps when moshiach comes we will finally be able to attain the highest level of joy without any worldly aid.
When I was in 8th grade in Eitz Chaim of Toronto, my rebbe was Rabbi Mordechai Yaffe, now roshyeshiva of Mesivta Ateres Yaakov in Lawrence, NY.
One day he asked all of the class to take any one coin we had on us and place it on top of our hand. These were the days of my youth when I –and everyone-always carried coins for the soda machine, so finding coins for each student was not difficult.
We all placed either a penny or a nickel or a quarter on the top side of our hands.
“Raise your hand if you feel the coin on you”, he asked.
We all raised our (other!) hand.
He then said, “Ok, keep the coins where they are, and I will continue with the gemara Makkos”.
He then preceded to teach us gemara.
A few minutes later, he suddenly stopped wherever it was we happened to be doing in our learning and said, “Ok, raise your hand if you still feel the coin on you”.
Nobody raised their hand.
We were suddenly reminded that we had these coins resting on our hands that whole time. For, after the first minute or so we got used to it, and did not even feel them there anymore on our skin.
He then told us that this is a life lesson. To be honest I do not remember for sure what the lesson was –as there are many one can bring out from this (and if he is reading this, I apologize; although I am sure he is enough impressed that a student such as I was would recall something from that year!).
Perhaps what he was seeking to draw was the fact that after time we can all grow numb. This is true whether its wealth, or even, sometimes, tzar – nothing ever feels like it feels at first.
This is especially true when it comes to certain legacy issues that rabbanim are felt to bring up over and over again. At a certain point, we feel that it may be overkill, and one more drasha on this topic will undermined the cause.
One example of this may be the topic of technology. At least in the charedi and chasideshe world, the concerns surrounding this has been spoken of over and over. By this point the human am got the message –we hope.
Perhaps this is true.
But I wish to share something –in fact it behooves me to share something – that many parents may not be aware of. An additional concern that I never expected; one that I hope shocks some parents from their slumber.
Of late, young teenagers have been meeting with their rabbanim at numbers not seen before. Now, it is already odd for a teenager to ask to meet with their rav. But it is what is often the purpose behind this request that should give us all pause.
“Rabbi, I do not believe in Gd”.
We will not now discuss how one deals with such a crisis of faith. Rather, for our purposes, let’s discuss one of the reasons we have seen such an increase of such statements, and at such tender ages.
In the course of talking to these young men and women, rabbanim note their level of knowledge in certain scientific, historical and philosophical realms –although often quoted by these youngsters inaccurately.
“Where are you getting this information”, the rabbi will at some point ask.
Invariably, the response is, “YouTube” (or another free streaming service).
Imagine for a moment a parent –who believes that they monitor their child’s internet use. Let’s even postulate that they only allow its use for homework. Let’s further propose that in this home they even keep the computer in a public space (as they should!). So, the father comes home and sees his daughter with earphones on while watching a lecture online. He sees the ‘Cambridge’ emblem behind the speaker. “It’s a professor from a prestigious university!”, he says to himself, “Likely work for school”.
“I bet she is so bright that she needs to learn at the college level!”, he thinks as he moves on to other matters in his life.
But in this case, he assumed too much. His child is watching one of the many militants and well-spoken atheist who knocks and mocks toras chazal (the term “‘militant’ atheist” used to describe these fundamentalists and proselytizing non-believers is used by even the New York Times, as far back as 1929; all that has changed is our children’s’ quick access to their toxicity).
So unaware are we about the above that when talking about the dangers of the internet, this is the furthest concern from our minds!
We all had questions when we were young. But, back then, to further investigate them we would have to go the library. Frankly, many were simply too lazy to become an apikores!
No longer. Punch in the words ‘age of the universe’, or ‘dinosaurs and the Torah’ and your child will be introduced to thousands of innocent looking videos about these heavy topics taught by brilliant and confident teachers you do not know, who often have poisonous, cynical, and noxious views toward anything religious, spiritual or Divine. These videos will then link to other videos, taking your innocent ben or bas Torah down a rabbit-hole so easily, and so quickly that even Nimord would have never imagined possible.
When I hear an eleven or twelve-year-old speak of ‘organized religion’ or use other hot-button terms I become aware from where they have become indoctrinated.
Of course, there are other, more obvious concerns that arise from wonderful advances in technology, but this one has taken me off guard.
And its not the only new issue to which I was introduced of late.
A few weeks ago I was invited by Rabbi Marc Volk of the National Council of Young Israel to moderate a series of public discussion to take place in a number of frum communities of all stripes.
Most recently, in Hollywood and Bell Harbor, Florida, parents of the local day school were invited to take part in such a discussion.
We had arranged for a panel, made up by the local rabbi, the head of the local modern-orthodox day school, and a clinical phycologist so as to inform, educate and guide the parent body of these and other challenges of raising children today.
I was shocked, bewildered and educated by what many of these panelists said. Just when we thought we understood the concerns of technology, it turns out that we have only scratched the surface.
Of course, technology has led to many advancements in the class room. There is no question that there is a myriad of positives that it has brought and will continue to bring to the world. However, if we are able to say (Yoma 72a) that, lahavdil ad lanetzach, even the Torah can be a sam hachaim if used correctly, yet a sam hamuvess if, R’l, not, then it behooves to not turn a blind eye to such a dichotomy regaring lesser things, and the challenges we find ourselves in today.
Next week I will quote from these professionals –and others –about how to tackle these very new and threating issues.
This is a conversation we all need to have.
Part 2
Unknown Unknowns
Rebbetzin Meira Davis has served her community for four decades. The Young Israel of Hollywood/Ft. Lauderdale had fifty families when the Davis’s arrived; today they have six-hundred.
Although her husband is now retired, they still live in the community and their influence is still being replenished daily.
Like many rebbetzins in Young Israel shuls, she would give a series of shiurim to eleven and twelve year-old girls in preparation for their basmitzvah.
She was once speaking to these girls about the importance of, and beauty in, Shabbos kodesh.
Looking to make the class interactive, she asked them, “Does anyone wish to share share what they enjoy –look the most forward to –when it comes to Shabbos?”
“The zemiros at my Shabbos table” said one.
“Being able to daven without worrying about school,” said another.
But it was what the third girl said that was most surprising. “What I enjoy the most about Shabbos is that my parents can’t use their phones. This means they can finally pay attention to me”
The rest of girls knowingly, and nervously, laughed in agreement.
I mentioned in last week’s column how I was asked to moderate a series of public discussions on the challenges of raising children in our dor yasom.
The latest was held in Florida.
Along with rebbetzin Davis –who shared the above story –the panel consisted of the new rav of the shul, Rabbi Weinstock, and the head of the local community day school, Rabbi Yoni Fein.
I have led three such panels in different cities thus far, and invariably, the discussion moves quickly to technology.
While my role as the moderator is perfunctory – simply to open with divreitorah and to frame the questions through the prism of hashkafa and mesorah – I have been absorbing a tremendous amount from the varied panelists.
At the above panel discussion, one of the michanchim responded to rebbetzin Davis’s above remarks by saying, “I once saw a father pushing his three-year old on the swing in the park. He would push the child, and in the few seconds before the swing would return back, quickly check his phone!”
What message are we sending (no pun intended!)?
As we pointed out last week, many tune out when they hear topics relating to ‘the dangers of technology’. Its ‘old hat’, ‘well known’ and –according to some, ‘overstated’.
However, being a new issue, there is a lot we still do not know, or are just now discovering. To quote former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, there are known unknowns -things we know we do not know. But there are in life also unknown unknowns – things we do not even know we do not know.
In the last column I shared one disquieting result of technology that few were aware of; and that was just the tip of the iceberg. Of course, there are positive uses for technology, this goes without saying, and is not the focus here.
Allow me to share some of the most striking points raised by these professionals:
There have been many stories in papers of how kids these days have lost the one natural skill of real communication and interaction; of listening to an other and responding in kind, of reading social ques. One mechanech in a modern school told the story of a class trip to Washington, D.C. Sitting on the long bus ride, he watched as a group of kids sitting next to each other were looking down silently and typing endlessly into their phones. “Why don’t you guys talk to each other?” he suggested. “We ARE!” they responded!
One phycologist on a panel shared his concerns with FOMO, a new term that stands for ‘Fear Of Missing Out’. Due to social sharing sites and texting photos, our children see a particular image of the world and the lives of others. This has weaponized envy. Children and teenagers do not yet have the maturity to understand that what they are seeing is a photo-shopped image of the the lives of others. “Let me give you an example” he continued. “I once watched as my neighbors left their house on their way to the chasunah of their eldest daughter. The mother said, ‘Lets all take a family picture together before we leave’. But the other children were not interested, and her husband was tense to get to the hall. The mother became inpatient and hurt. Bickering ensued, until everyone relented and took a quick photo, quickly smiling for the camera and then, just as quickly, they went back to their hurt feelings. Now imagine this mother texts this ‘family portrait. People will see this happy family –all made up –and on their way to their child’s wedding. ‘What a perfect family’ they may think. ‘Why can’t my family be like this one?’ some may question. Ahh, but they only got a window into a millisecond of their lives! But that millisecond, and the thousands of other milliseconds from people’s lives, have severely and harmfully distorted our children’s’ view of the world! It has been disastrous for shalom bayis”
One menahel expressed another missed concern. He explained how kids who are given more liberal access to technology are more challenged by teffila. “We are all confronted when it comes to having kavanah. But a child who is trained in ‘swiping’ and in quick ‘page views’ can hardly recover from this mindset. Their ability to shut out the world and focus may be something they suffer with for the rest of their lives”
In one city, a mechanech pointed out (in a school where most teenagers had smart phones) that in past generations a parent could quickly discern if something was bothering their child (e.g. is they stopped bringing a certain friend over). Now, because their life is online and their face is so often in front of a device, these parents have little indication of their inner pain”
We have to consistently educate ourselves in these matters. Parents cannot let their children be their educators when it comes to this new world we live in.
The navi famously teaches,“That he may turn the heart of the fathers back through the children, and the heart of the children back through their fathers-lest I come and smite the earth with utter destruction” (Malachi 3:24)
Malachi is foretelling not one, but two important messages that will be happen congruently.
First, yes, that children will return, and this often will awaken their parents and other older generations – “That he may turn the heart of the fathers back through the children…”
During what was coined ‘The baal teshuvah Movement’ of the 50’s and 60’s through the 80’s and 90’s the first half of this pasuk was referenced and quoted to the point of ubiquity. And, it does not only refer to classic baalei teshuvah either. Rather that this same generation would see an explosion in the level of Torah learning across the globe. No longer were most people simply frum, rather we became daf yomi yidden, kovea ittim l’Torah lawyers and doctors; we were all returning to the higher ideal of our past.
However, and as chazal warned, we must avoid quoting just slices or segments of pesukim (Megillah 22a); for without a full context from an entire pasuk critical points may be missed.
In this case, the second half of the navi’s message – .“…and the heart of the children back through their fathers…” –seems to teach us that once returned to yiddeshkeit, we mustn’t allow the next generation -our children -allowance to do what the preceding generation needed to do before them – continuing the inimitable idea of children teaching parents. Rather, the children must never again be the educators.
The dangers if we fail in heeding this warning is made clear by this pasuk’s conclusion, “…-lest I come and smite the earth with utter destruction”.
This is a prescient and revelatory message. For this, the generation after, is a generation where the temptation of children educating their parents is indeed remarkably and frighteningly tempting.
Things are changing so rapidly that parents are left largely in the dark, relying on the schooling of their young children to guide them on what they should be concerned with.
This is an untenable situation.
Newton’s third law of physics teaches that “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”.
Like the olam hagashmi, so too the olam haruchni. The issue of technology is here to stay. Its results-both positive and negative-are just now being learned. One thing is for certain, this is not a one-off; we must constantly update ourselves on the newest and latest ‘reactions’ being discovered, so that we can fulfill our greatest mission as parents: protecting those who can’t protect themselves.
Although deeply knowledgeable, it is still uncommon to find my wife perusing one my halachasefarim at the Shabbos table. Yet, that is what I found her doing the other week.
She explained that she saw the title, “Tu B’Shvat L’Halacha” and wondered how there could be enough material to fill an entire sefer on a topic that is barely even mentioned in the Shulchan Aruch.
I responded that this is exactly why I purchased the sefer –due to the same curiosity. Even more interesting, I shared with her, at this point I own three sefarim dedicated just to Tu B’Shevat!
Such are the times in which we live. I own two sefarim just on left-handedness in halacha, two on hilchos kiddush levanah, another two just dedicated to copyright in halacha, and one on the halachos of one who is incarcerated!
I own an entire sefer dedicated to snow in halacha, and even have an essay from Rav Yosef Zevin z’l (the founding editor and author of Enclyopidia Talmudis) on Shakespeare in halachah!
Many of these come in handy. Several weeks ago a complicated shailah arose relating to aliyos in my shul. There is a sefer –close to 1000 pages –just dedicated to hilchos krias haTorah that helped me crack this unique code.
We live in the era of likuttim.
However, there is one topic in halacha that has produced the most number of likkutuim: Medical Ethics. I am not alone in rabbanus when I say that I own well over fifty volumes that fall under the rubric of this most serious and vexing topic.
The other week my shul hosted Rabbi Dr Avraham Steinberg for a Shabbos. He alone has published well over ten volumes on this topic. While the reader can find out more about him in the featured interview in this issue, I wish to share something he mentioned at the Friday night oneg.
He pointed out that the term ‘Medical Ethics’ does not, obviously, exist in halacha. Halacha is halacha, whether its what constitutes a blech on Shabbos to organ donations.
However, due to the scattered nature of many of these halachos, the complexity of these issues, and the newness of many shailos, we have chosen to go along with this artificially named topic.
Nevertheless, most readers will not have to deal with answering shailos relating to these heady issues.
However, there is one area of medical ethics –one subject relating to Ami’s Medical Issue –with which many of us need a refresher course on.
Many people do not realize, that in addition to an important mitzvah and chesed, bikur cholim is also its own siman in Shulchan Aruch, with its own laws and guidelines regarding which we would be wise to follow.
I refer to the halachos involving bikur cholim.
Like other topics, there are many likkutim on this subject, however the classic is by Rav Aaron Levine.
Rav Levine published an encyclopedic work titled ZichronMeir –a classic among rabbanim –with haskomos ranging from Rav Shach to Rav Gifter. He is also a close family friend.
Some thirty years ago, he took from the third chapter of that work and published an English work just on this topic. I encourage every reader to get their hands on it.
Several weeks ago I mentioned in this space how a member of my shul was in a serious car accident.
This was erev Shabbos. By motzai Shabbos the waiting area was packed with friends. There were at least fifty people there! Instead of caring for their father and husband they had to entertain all of these well meaning people.
He was in an induced coma, so their stay was unnecessary. Come, give the family a hug, ask if they need anything, and then leave.
Another time, I witnessed someone go into a seriously ill patient’s room and asked his wife if he cold take a picture of him to show friends who could not make it of his status!
We do not visit people to fulfill our own curiosity or to check off a list, rather to help the patient and family.
This is a mitzvah deroisa (according to most, cf. Rambam. Even according to him it still falls under ‘v’ahavtah…’), and perhaps several mitzvos, and should be done with great thought and care.
I always advise people to call a spouse or significant other before just showing up to visit. Even if one is confident that a choleh wants one’s company, he may not wish you to arrive at certain times due to kovod habrios.
One should be mindful that the shechina is present by a choleh siman 335:3), and one should act accordingly. How awful is it to witness someone visiting another in a serious condition in golf-outing clothes?
We should not sit at the head of the bed (where the Shechina resides), and many do not sit at the foot of the bed either.
More importantly, the Maaver Yavok brings down (introduction) that one must enter the room not in a state of gloom and dread, but of confidence and with an upbeat nature.
The person you are visiting knows you care by your visit; he need not also be informed of his condition by your face.
In addition, one should be mindful that one’s family may be keeping certain information from the patient (see TzitzEliezar 10:27;25, inter alai), and should consider speaking to them before a visit. I recall once how a nurse shared dire information with a patient who did not know yet that his situation was that critical. We must be vigilant to avoid this.
The Rema rules (335:4) that if one visits a choleh and does not daven for them then they do not fulfill the mitzvah. However, one should be careful not to scare the choleh with their teffilah. I always share this halacha with the patient, “The halacha is that we must daven for your recovery upon a visit. This shows our bitachon…”
Too often the people in our communities who need visitations the most are the least visited: the almanah, the ger. While visiting our close friends is an important mitzvah, visiting someone who may not be expecting it may make an even greater impact.
Often times, as a rabbi, I will enter the wrong room. I am sure I am not alone in this happening. Instead of just saying ‘I’m sorry’ and then leaving, one should stop for a few minutes and be mevaker the choleh, even if they are non-Jewish. The idea of visiting a non-Jewish choleh is codified in Shulchan Aruch (335:9). In addition, this will make a wonderful kiddush Hashem.
Do not tell the family that you know a great doctor or another hospital that is great.
While such advice has its place, it should be b’tznius, carefully, and through someone else close to the family first.
Bring something innocuous that the family may need: some snacks and drinks, toys for children.
And, finally, I have found that sitting and learning a little with the patient is a great elixir.
While Torah mustn’t be used as medicine, it may be used to cheer someone up.
It also a reminder that one’s refuah –ultimately– resides with the riboneh shel olam.
It has been said that history may not exactly repeat itself, however it does seem to plagiarize from the past.
As I write this, a large percentage of the frum world is being osek in mesechtesChullin due to daf yomi, which deals largely with hilchos shechita.
I wish to talk about shechita this week, for the above reasons, and also for rabbinic reasons that will become apparent at the end of this article.
Many may not be aware, but shechita, even today, is banned in many countries.
In Switzerland, for example, a ban has been in place since the turn of the last century. While some argue strong anti-Semitic undercurrents as the genesis of some of these bans – interestingly, the German Supreme Court abrogated the German shechita ban post WWII saying that it was both arbitrary and rooted in Anti-Semitism (BGH-IV ZR 305/59, 1960; Shechita, pg. 250) – it should bring even greater pause to us living in this great country that most of these current bans, if not all, began as protests from the (conceivably well intentioned) press, populace or animal rights groups appealing to the conscience of the body politic.
There are many in these same countries who seek today to ban even imports of Kosher meat. We must mull over the glaring prospect of future and long-term anxieties coming in the form of a knight in a white coat and a stethoscope around his neck.
In 1974, the Federal District Court of New York heard the case of Jones vs. Butz.
Helen Jones took Earl Butz to court. Mr. Butz was the USDA secretary at the time.
She was joined in her suit with several animal rights groups. Their complaint?
Shechita was argued to be inhumane and was, also, said to be in violation of the “Establishment Clause” of the constitution (see ‘Animals in Law: A Sourcebook’, by Jordon Curnnut).
Thankfully, the Supreme Court ruled that shechita would continue to be allowed, thereby creating a precedent to look back on in the future, however, the fact that this was even accepted as a case – mental gymnastics are needed to accept that the plaintiff(s) in this case should have been viewed as relevant parties affected by shechita – should cause great alarm and keen awareness toward future concerns.
But it is not so simple. It may shock the reader to learn that –as The New York Times reported (September 5, 2008, pg. A-17) – that shechita is in principle already prohibited under current animal cruelty laws, rather an exemption is in place for the religious needs of some!
Shechita has been the source of many private protests and legislative bans throughout the latter part of our Diaspora. It was banned in Vilna before the war and in Germany in 1933 as the first major law against her Jewish denizens. Like learning how vital brismila is to our survival from the Greek’s desire to ban it, those evil men of the last century were not fools. They understood, as did chazal, that assimilation happens through food, and keeping our yahudus un-poisoned by shifting morals requires we have some limits of communal eating.
It is of critical import to note that in 1917 (see Reishtags Drucksachen der 13 Legislatur Periode II, no. 1039) in a letter still extant, the Germans assured the Jews that shechita would not be banned.
No one saw it coming.
Bans came in many forms. Some may even have seemed innocuous, at first. For example, due to influence from Germany’s bans, by 1936, the Polish Parliament banned the sale of shechted meat to anyone other than Jews.
This may seem like but a small inconvenience, but in truth it would make meat-selling impossible. Since we no longer do nikkur on the hindquarters to remove cheilev and the gid hanasheh, we often simply sell that part off. But now that would be impossible, causing the meat prices to become prohibitive!
Rav Chaim Ozer (Shu’t Achiezar 3:84; see also Shu’tIgros Moshe y’d 2:42) had to issue a unique psak temporally allowing nikkur to be re-introduced.
Already in the 19th century, animal welfare groups had a particular carnivorous hunger for shechita banning. (For further study, see Shechita (Edut Neemana), byRabbis Munk, Munk and Levinger, Feldheim, 1976). And, already in 1894 a group was formed to publish articles that would convince the masses that shechita was indeed humane (see Shechita, pg 17).
In the late 1880’s Prussian authorities were pressured to ban shechita due to its ‘abuse’ toward animals. Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch’s letters in response are strikingly harsh and his warnings unapologetically dire. He especially stressed the dangers in ever expressing doubt toward the Torah’s Law and its treatment of animals (see ShemeshMerapah pp 33, 38 in a letter sent to shochtim of New York regarding “whitening” meat, 43-44, 207-209; seferZikaronYadShmuel, pp. 246-249. See also ‘Rabbi Samson Refoel Hirsch’, Artscroll, pp. 292-293 and 12-14)
So, aside for the daf, why am a writing this brief history lesson now?
A few weeks ago I shared with the reader how I was invited to give an address at and for Harvard Law School.
Iy’H, after Ami’s medical issue, I will conclude that story, but for now let me share what the topic was about.
In the wake of the events at Rubashkin a decade ago, in addition to many –news organizations and Jews alike – jumping to conclusions, some went even further R’l.
As many are aware, a group of conservative rabbis got together and started an organization called ‘Magen Zedek –An Ethical Certification For Kosher Food’.
They write: “The cornerstone of the program is the Magen Tzedek Standard, a proprietary set of standards that meet or exceed industry best practices for treatment of workers, animals, and the Earth; and delineates the criteria a food manufacturer must meet to achieve certification. Upon successful certification, the Magen Tzedek Commission will award its Shield of Justice seal which can be displayed on food packaging.”
Harvard Law School held a conference on Jewish Law and had invited the creator of the above project to argue its case.
I was asked to come and show why such an idea was wrong, unfeasible and quixotic.
However, what I did not discuss that day –and couldn’t – was another error in their judgment.
Let’s leave aside the true reports on shechita from the real secular authorities which are quite positive in terms of animal welfare – i.e., Dr. Temple Grandin, the leading export on the humane treatment of animals, who has worked closely with kashrus agencies for years. It is the lack of concern for and respect of history from this organization that is staggering.
Irrespective of intent, do they not realize that they are confirming an old canard in the eyes of small-minded people. Are they not aware that to many this will be seen as, ‘Finally, kosher food and that kosher ‘tax’ may become ethical’?
How safe do they believe shecitah is in galus, are we are in galus?
My, how comfortable they seem to feel in this temporary –although wonderful –home!
How naïve could they be? And, how blind to history is their public mission?
Instead of informing the world regarding how animal rights was first codified into law by klal yisroel, they have emboldened the worst of our society.
These United States are the greatest refuge known to klalyisroel’s recent history and is a nation predicated on chesed. That chesed is extended to its citizenry in the form of a G-d given right to freedom. Regrettably, in a just society good people and causes are often infiltrated and than commandeered to fulfill a deviant end.
To be clear, it is not that I should fear that shechita will be targeted with a direct ban per se, rather, we must not lose completely the ‘Diaspora Mentality’ and indeed in many other countries they have focused on the other more “humane” ways of killing and demanded that those be the exclusive method of slaughter, with no exception for religion (as was the 1974 case before our Supreme Court mentioned above).
“Ein Davar Chodesh Tachas HaShamesh” –There is nothing new under the sun.
This idiom is not only an observational reality but also a warning and a teaching to look at yesterday’s narrative as we move forward in our destiny of tomorrow.
I will conclude with the words of Rav Yirmayahu Kaganoff, my predacesor in Buffalo and the founder of my vaad:
“Rav Shamshon Rephael Hirsch explains the mitzvah of gidhanosheh as a message that although the spirit of Eisav will never conquer Yaakov and his descendants, Eisav will be able to hamstring Yaakov and prevent him from standing firmly on two feet. Thus Yaakov goes through history with an infirm physical stand and gait. By having to remove the gidhanasheh, whenever Yaakov’s descendants sit down to eat meat, they realize that their continued existence is not dependent on their physical strength and stamina, but on spiritual factors which can never be weakened by Eisav’s might”.
New Fruits? A Seder? Shehechiyanu? And Other Tu B’shvat Mysteries
January, 2019
Rabbi Moshe Taub
I.
A ‘Seder’ on Tu B’Shevat?
I was first introduced to the idea of having a ‘seder’ on Tu B’Shevat only a few years ago. Had I missed learning about this concept at home or in yeshiva, or, was this something new?
It goes without saying that everyone should follow their rebbeim and parents in all matters of minhag and halacha, and that what follows is not challila to dissuade anyone from joining such an event, but rather an explanation as to why, perhpas, this minhag has not caught on in some circles.
For those unfamiliar, some mekubalim and chassidishe rebbes have a yearly ‘Tu B’Shvat seder’ with some similarities to the pesach seder.
These are often called a ‘peiros tish’.
While some contend that the origin of such Tu Bishvat sedarim is found in the Ari’Zal, I could find no mention of any such concept in any of his teachings or his students’ writings (readers are welcome to correct me here, and always).
Instead, the very first mention of such a seder is in a sefer titled ‘ChemdasYamim’.
There one finds a whole chapter instructing us how to perform just such a seder on Tu B’shvat.
“Various perakim of tanach and Zohar are to be said… Four cups of different colored wines are drunk. mezonos and 30 different fruits (!!!) are to be eaten…Before each fruit you have kavanah for different combinations/intents of the shem havayah….”
This chapter was reprinted as a stand-alone pamphlet in 1753, titled ‘Kuntros Pri Eitz Hadar’.[See Image Below]
It is of historic interest to note that the original sefer Chemdas Yamim was printed without a traditional ‘shaar blaat’ -a title page where the author’s name, date of publication, motivation, etc. are found.
No less than Rav Yaakov Emden strongly asserted that the author of this work was none other than of Nosson (Nathan) of [G]Aza, the famed ‘disciple’ of Shabsei Tzvi.
Nosson helped birth their public pronouncement of ‘Yechi Melech HaMoshiach’, chanted whenever this rasha was nearby (see JewishEncyclopedia, 1906 edition, entry: ‘Shabbethai Tzvi’ at length).
While there were certainly great leaders who disputed Rav Yaakov Emden’s claim, all agreed that, at best, this Sefer was written by an unknown person – perhaps holy, perhaps not.
Even the minhag among many to also serve ha’adama ‘fruits’ (e.g. bananas) at their ‘peiros tish’ dates back to the Chemdes Yamim.
Some find evidence for Rav Emden’s accusation in concealed messages found throughout this sefer. For example, some of the suggested phrases and incantations it offers to be said during this ‘seder‘– specifically those referring to our future redeemer – are the gematria of ‘Shabbsei Tzvi’.
The Steipler Gaon (d. 1985) went as far as refusing to touch a book that simply quotes the ChemdasYamim!
The publisher of an early Amsterdam edition of this work – aware of the controversy surrounding its mysterious authorship – wrote the following poetic allusion to the fracas in his introductory note:
“If you find in it (this sefer) a fruit that doesn’t look virtuous, thenthrow away the peel and eat its inside flesh”
In that publisher’s opinion, one could discard the possible chaff of the source for the grains found in the material itself.
However, unless such a ‘seder’ is one’s parents’ or rebbe’sminhag, it may be wise for one to speak to their rav before adding this, or any new minhag, unfounded in chazal, to their Jewish repertoire.
Among the many minhagim popularized by the Magen Avraham are the following two:
The minhag of eating fruit on Tu BiShvat (Tu B’Shevut?-see below for its proper nikkud) (131:16)
The minhag of placing trees inside ours shuls on Shavous (494:5)
(On the latter, while the Magen Avraham was not its inventor, he certainly popularized it: spreading spices on the floor of shul for Shavuos is brought by the Maharil, and, to spread out grass to remind us of receiving the Torah is mentioned already by the Rema; but it is the Magen Avaraham who records bringing trees inside of our shuls (cf. Gra).
As for the minhag of eating special fruits in Tu BiShvat, this is first mentioned by Rav Yisachar Susan, a contemporary of Rav Yosef Karo, who moved from Morocco to Tzfas. However, again, it was the Magen Avraham – about one hundred years later- who taught it to the world.
He writes:
“The custom among ashkanazim is to eat fruits of the trees [on Tu Bishvat]”.
This, of course, is based on the mishnah (Rosh Hashana 1:1) that teaches us that Tu BiShvat is the rosh hashana of the trees (relating to hilchos terumah and maaser). In fact, sefarim bring down that the pasuk ‘v’eitz hasadeh yitein piryo-and the tree of the field will give forth its fruit’ is the exact gematria of ‘chamisha asar bishvat’!
Let’s compare this to the other minhag that he also made well-known – that on Shavuos we place trees in shul. He explains that this is due to what we are taught in a mishnah (Rosh Hashana 1:2) that Shavuos is the yom hadin/day of judgement for the ‘peiros hailan-fruits of the trees’.
But wait!
Aren’t these minhagim inverted?!
On Shavous –when it’s fruits themselves that are judged – we should eat fruit!
And, on Tu B’Shevat –when the trees are arbitrated –we should, then, bedeck our shuls with trees!
Not having access to the various wonderful Torah search engines, I was hoping I would either discover an error in this question, or, would perhaps stumble on a sefer also bothered by this. B’chasdei Hashem, the latter occurred. While learning a sefer (whose name now escapes me!), I was delighted to discover that Rav Avraham Yaakov Freidman, the first rebbe of Sadigur (d. 1883) asked this very question (EmesL’Yaakov, Tu B’Shevat, 5627)! ‘Serendipity’ has always been my favorite English word, as it succinctly represents hashgacha pratis to the common eye, and perfectly captures the ideal of ‘yagata u’matzasa’.
His answer to this question reimagines how we are to view these days and these minhagim.
As we know, a tzadik is compared to a tree (see, e.g., Bamidbar 13:20 with Rashi), and the students of such tzadikim termed as their peiros/fruits.
In life, every person plays the role of both student and teacher, master and apprentice.
On Shavuos we focus on our role as the fruits/students to our rebbeim. We are being judged as to what type of leaders/trees we will have or accept upon ourselves. We therefore bring in trees to shul to remind ourselves that we must choose tzadikim and geonim as our leaders, and to learn and be influenced by chaveirim who are just, kind, and noble.
In contrast, on Tu B’Shevat the tzadikim/trees themselves are being judged; referring to what type of talmidim/fruits they will have, so they eat special fruits and recite a shehechiynu.
We too wish to be rebbeim -positive influences. But to whom? What type of talmidim will we have? What type of talmidim will the gedolim have?
What arises from this is an utterly new mindset to these distinct minhagim:
Tu B’shvat:We all have fruits/talmidim, for we are all rebbeim in some capacity to some people; our actions have influence. We therefore wish to ensure that our lessons to these students be those of Torah, and sweet and fruitful. Thus, we eat delicious and new fruits on this day of trees.
Shavuos: On the other hand, we are all talmidim as well. During this time of fruit is when we draw focus to that ‘talmidim’ status; we therefore entreat for trees/rebbeim who are worthy. Thus, we adorn our shuls with such verdancy.
A whole new outlook on two fêted minhagim!
On this note, the sefer Pri Yitzchak (21:9) brings a story from Rav Yizchak Issac Eichentsein of Zichitchuv (d. 1873).
One Tu B’Shevat, by his tish, there was not enough fruits for the many chasisim who had gathered.
When the rebbe saw their frustration in the faces of those who did not receive anything from him, he cried out:
“Is it fruit that you want? Do you know where you can find fruits? (Now quoting a famous chazal) ‘These are the things whose fruits are eaten in this world but whose principle is still maintained for the next….and talmud torah is equal to all of them (Shabbos 127)’”!
In other words, the ikar of this minhag is a reminder to be a proper teacher, and student, of Torah.
Beautiful!
Allow me to suggest another, more elementary reason for the seemingly peculiar switch of the Shavuos and Tu B’Shevat minhagim.
It is well known that the Gaon of Vilna was not agreeable, to put it lightly, to the Shavuos minhag of setting up trees in shul. Because non-Jews sometimes celebrate their deity(ies), R’l, with trees in their homes and churches, for us to then develop a new and similar custom could be a violation of the biblical precept of ‘bchukoseihem lo seileichu’ (see Chayei Adam {vol. 2, 131: 13}, Chochmas Adam {89: end 1}, and Maaseh Rav {#195}; this goes back to Part I where we alluded to the suspicion new minhagim, not based on chazal, are sometimes held).
Perhaps, then, while the MagenAvraham did not go as far as the Vilna Gaon as to outright ban using trees ever, perhaps even he felt that doing during the winter month Shevat –which so often falls out around their ‘holiday’ season of trees –was something with which he and others felt uncomfortable. So, they therefore switched around the Shavuos minhag with that of Tu B’Shevat.
{Christian use of trees during their winter festivities dates back to the 15th century]
III. When the New is Old The Minhag of Shehechyanu on Tu B’Shevat
On Tu B’Shevat, many have the custom of not just eating fruits, but to eat ‘new’ fruits; those that would demand a shehechiyanu be made.
While I have been unable to discover a clear source for this minhag, most rationalize it based off a fascinating gemara (Yerushalmi, end of perek 4 in Kiddushin):
“Said Rebbe Bun in the name of Rav, man will one day have to give an accounting on that he saw delicious items [of Hashem’s creation] and did not eat them. Rav Elazar (ben Pedas) was concerned for this teaching and would gather enough money to be able to seek out all items once a year”
The Chofetz Chaim even brings this chazal in his Mishnah Berrura, in hilchos berachos (225:19), although without tethering it to Tu B’Shevat.
The TashbeitzKatan (siman 320) explains that the purpose of this chazal is so that one may have the ability to pronounce extra berachos to Hashem. Indeed, the ‘Sefer Chasidim’ (from the Rosh’s nephew) teaches based off this same chazal that once a year a person should gather the new fruits and make a shechiyanu. Since the new year for trees begins on Tu B’Shevat, this would be the most appropriate day to fulfill this inyan. (YalkutYosef; see also MeshechChochma to Bereishis 1:16).
Now, one may think that fulfilling this minhag today is far easier than in earlier times.
For example, when I lived in Western New York, the big grocery chain there was called Wegmans. They are most famous for their fruits and vegetables. Not only are they known to carry the freshest and most delicious options, but their variety was incomparable. From time to time, they even carried ‘citrons’ (esrogim)! Their peaches in January tasted better than those from other stores in August! Their produce department alone is bigger than many other entire grocery stores.
So, come Tu B’Shevat one could find any fruit in the world!
But in truth, this leads to a most serious halachic issue, one that applies to stores of even lesser quality product.
True I can find such fruits on Tu B’Shevat, but these fruits are available the whole year! There are no more ‘seasons’ for fruits!
Is it still possible to make a shehechiyanu on, say, a pomegranate in its season (October-February in the US) when one can find them in May shipped from another country?
Rav Moshe Feinstein (IgrosMosheoh’c 3:34) has a very lengthy teshuvah on this matter, which is beyond the scope of this space. While he comes out that one may still make a shehechiyanu on fruits in their new season –even if available, albeit of lesser quality, throughout the year –he suggests that it may be better to avoid the beracha, as, anyway, shehechiyanu is not an obligation to begin with (Magen Avraham, siman 225).
The Satmar rebbe (Zemiros Divrei Yoel, p. 341) on the other hand was adamant that one mustn’t ever say shehechiyanu in our day when such fruits are available throughout the year.
So, for those seeking to make this beracha on fruit, perhaps dried-out boxer is not the best option. Rather, one should seek to find a new and fresh-looking fruit, that has not been consumed in some time, and one which brings some excitement.
IV. Name, Please?
Although ‘Shevat‘ is most often pronounced with a patach, this month is referenced in tanach only once, and with an altogether different vowelization.
The pasuk states in Zecharia 1:7:
“On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month-that is, the month of Shevut-in the second year of Daryavush, the word of the Hashem came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the navi, saying.”
The beis has a kumutz and not a patach. It would seem that nekudos matter, as these same three letters could also read shevet/tribe if the vowels are off.
As I tell my congregants, just like the English words address, contrast, present and project who’s meaning utterly changes upon where one places just the accent or where one stresses the syllable, we should be mindful of dikduk – especially when vowel related! -as well.1
However, perhaps because the names of our months were taken from bavel, are of ostensibly non-Jewish origin, and are largely in the Acadian language (Yerushalmi, Rosh Hashana, see Bavli, Rosh Hashana, in Tosfos, 7a), their pronunciation is not as critical (see also Emes L’Yaakov to Shmos 12:2 and to Vayechi 49:7 for a fascinating discussion as to why we allowed such non-Jewish names).
Let’s close this Tu B’Shevat post with a positive idea.
Although of Babylonian origin, our holy sefarim still share secrets behind the names of our months.
When it comes to Shevat, many suggest that it stands for Shnas Besuros Tovos (a year of good tidings)
Speaking of Grammar: In the ‘Talk’ section of BMG’s Wikipidia page, we find this debate among editors:
The grammatically-correct transliteration of the Hebrew גָּבוֹהַּ is GOVOAH. NOT GOVOHA. (Just like נֹחַ is Noach, not Nocha!) ——–05:07, 10 March 2010 (UTC) You’re right about the grammar, but the name of the school is Govoha.–205.156.136.229 (talk) 19:03, 10 March 2010 (UTC)I’m not so sure you are right, as Noach has no nekudah in the Ches while Govoha does have a nekudah in the Heh.–Shmaltz (talk) 04:37, 2 November 2010 (UTC) But while we’re on the subject of Hebrew grammar, the correct Hebrew word for study group is ‘chavurah’, not ‘chaburah’ as it is called many times in the article. The latter term (“chaburah”) means injury or wound. This is not really a criticism of the article or its author, per se, since it can be argued that s/he is only duplicating the very prevalent de facto yeshivah usage. Well, the yeshivah world tends to be rather ignorant of and oblivious to Hebrew grammar, in general, and here you have just one more telling example. But in this case, the error almost borders on the absurd — as if the members of the group engage in some kind of mutual (or self-) flagellation. Toddcs (talk) 20:04, 25 October 2010 (UTC) It’s Aramic not Hebrew.–Shmaltz (talk) 03:34, 26 October 2010 (UTC) Mmmm… seems unlikely. Could you cite a source for that, or an example from a recognized (pointed) Aram[a]ic text, please? Toddcs (talk) 22:12, 29 October 2010 (UTC) BTW, what seems to your purely am haeretzdig brain is not going to change a name or a fact. In any event I did take the time to search for one, Pasachim 86b. —Shmaltz (talk) 02:20, 31 October 2010 (UTC)Oh and look at this.–Shmaltz (talk) 02:22, 31 October 2010 (UTC) Rabbi Shmaltz, clearly you were offended by something I wrote. So sorry, I sincerely ask your mechilah. Toddcs (talk) 23:34, 1 November 2010 (UTC)Of course I was, I always get offended when I have to answer someone that his arrogance clashed with his ignorance.–Shmaltz (talk) 04:12, 2 November 2010 (UTC) Shmaltz, the nekudah in the Heh is there in order to show that the Heh is pronounced as a consonant, (yes, consonant), and is only found in places where the consonantal Heh is at the end of the word. Ches does not need the nekudah because Ches is always a consonant. For more info., please see: Mappiq. ——— 20:21, 15 December 2010 (UTC) Did I ever argue about גבוה? Shmaltz (talk) 23:49, 15 December 2010 (UTC)Yes, on 04:37, 2 November 2010 (UTC). ——— 03:13, 21 December 2010 (UTC)Sorry for my previous erased comment, I couldn’t find that comment. Thanks for clarifying. BTW, another example is מלפני אלוה יעקב most people don’t pronounce that right.–Shmaltz (talk) 17:13, 21 December 2010 (UTC)↩︎
Chesed Shel Emes & Two Stories from Opposite Sides of Anonymity
Febuary, 2019
Several years ago I received a voice message from an organization that find matches for organ donations among the frum.
“Please call us back Rabbi Taub, it is time sensitive”.
I was running into mincha when I heard the message, and I was shaken.
I spent the teffila negotiating with myself that to be told that I was a match would be a beracha, and that when I call back I should not show any fear.
Following davening, I took a deep breath and dialed the number.
“Yes, Rabbi Taub, we still have a Lakewood address for you and we are updating all of our files this week, can you give us your cureent address please?”
I would be lying if I said that I did not feel a little relief. Of course, I would have said yes if the call was of a more serious nature, but it was a reminder that getting ‘the call’ is far more frightening than daydreaming of getting it. Those that do such chesdadim are on the top of the chesed chain.
This past week I heard about just such a chesed.
About twenty years ago, Avraham Levine was helping his father in law, R’ Ely Dovek, run Israel Book Shop in Brookline Mass., the premier judaica shop in Boston and her surrounding area.
There was a woman who worked across the street at the kosher market, let’s call her Deborah. Deborah who would come in to the book store and purchase a very particular type of book.
Aryeh Kaplan books on mitzvos, history books, The Midrash Says, etc.
Avraham, who is a keen individual, recognized a theme, and figured that this Deborah was in the process of becoming a ger tzedek.
It is very common for a beis din and the sponsoring rav to give a very specific book list to conversion candidates. More, they urge them to live and work among the frum community so as to become seeped in the culture of their soon to be faith.
Avraham and Deborah would talk about different books to help her on her journey. He would also help her with any questions or complications she may have been dealing with in the sometimes-painful yet always-majestic process of becoming a Jew.
Avraham could recognize a good person, and he soon asked if she herself would like to work at the book shop.
She readily agreed, and we can only imagine her excitement at being able to familiarize herself that much more with the written word of Torah!
At times, and without getting into specifics, it was challenging. But Deborah was now converted, needed a job and was still navigating her place in klal yisroel.
She stayed on. Soon, she was married. Then children. Baruch Hashem much Torah has now sprung from that once young soon-to-be convert.
In fact, Deborah still works in Israel Book Shop today!
Avraham, however, about ten years ago moved to Lakewood where he took over Judaica Plaza, one of the world’s premier sefarim stores.
While his business in Lakewood was doing well, Avraham’s health was not.
He was in desperate need a of a Kidney Transplant. There were matches that were close, that fell through or that were besieged with technical issues insurmatable.
Recently, the organization Renewal called him with good news, they had found a match!
This time everything looked clear.
But something was odd. Although names are always kept confidential, both the donater and the donatee would cause the same name to appear on Renewals caller ID: ‘Israel Book Shop’.
Avraham, you see, never changed that identification from his cell…and Deborah still worked there.
It did not take too long for R’ Avraham to figure out that of all people the lideny that was to save his life would come from Deborah, a georis he had helped so much twenty years ago!
The surgery went well, Baruch Hashem, and Rav Yeruchum Olshin spoke at the seudas hodah that Avraham made for his community, friends and family.
Rav Yeruchum quoted a Chofetz Chaim. The pasuk in the shiras hayam states “nuchisa b’chasdechcha, am zu gedalta, nayhalta v’uzecha el nveh kudshecha- You led this nation (out of Mitzraim) with kindness…”
The Chofetz Chaim wonders that either we earned our redemption, in which case it was not simply an act of chesed on the part of the Riboneh Shel Olam, or, if it was a chesed, then there should not be many sources that allude to merits that caused our geulah?!
HE explains that chazal tell us that zechus that led to our redemption was the chesed one Jew did for another while in slavery.
Explains the Chofetz Chaim, what goes around, comes around. Because we did an act of chesed this alone causes Hashem to act with chesed with us!
Which leads us to our second story.
Most, like me, can’t keep up with messages. Between, voice mail on their cells, home, office, texts, emails, snail mail and items left with my secretary, I can spend my day just getting back to people.
I know I am not alone, so as a shul we are careful not to besiege people with too many emails.
In addition, an oversaturation of shul EVENTS! DINNERS! SHIURIM! Will cause people –the fear is –to just leave most of emails unopened.
The other day, however, Steve Baruch, a neighbor and member of the shul, noticed a posting on a Five Towns website:
“CHESED SHEL EMES. There is a Holocaust survivor
that passed away in our communityand the funeral will be this Friday, December 28, at 11 AMin Union field Cemetery in Queens. The address is82-11 Cypress Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385. ONLY ONE PERSON GOING SO FAR.
If you can come to this levayait is such a big mitzvah.
And if you can help get a minyan to come so she can have kaddesh said for herit would be a great mitzvah too.”
“Can we send this to our shul?” he asked. I thought it would be a nice idea, however, it being the middle of a Thursday, I could not see too many opening, then reading then arranging their schedule to go on a erev Shabbos.
Fast forward twenty-four hours later, when I was walking into shul for mincha before Shabbos.
Steve Nissenfled, another member, pulls me aside. “Rabbi, you will not believe this. Over two hundred people showed up! You could not move! The guy who runs the ground had to turn people away, he said the phone did not stop ringing!”
It was not just our shul. So many members sent me regards from this person or that person this past Shabbos. Whenever I asked them “Where did you see them?” the response was invariably, ‘That levaya in the Five Towns”.
By Shalosh Seudos, I was sitting with a member who was there. “What did the rav say?” I asked.
“Well, he was a wonderful Chabad rav, Rabbi Mendelsohn, and he talked to the granddaughter directly, the one functioning remainder from this family.
“He looked at her and said…”
He started to cry as he repeated the words
“He said…look around, look at all the people who came. These people…These people are your family”
The next morning in shul I shared the above story with the following message. The pasuk states in the parsha (Shmos 2:6) that Bisya “opened the basket and she saw the child (yeled) he was a weeping lad (na’ar), and she had compassion on him, and she said, “This is [one] of the children of the Jews.”
Many meforshim seek to explain the change from a yeled to a na’ar, as the latter always refers to an older child and not one Moshe’s age.
The Mincha Bellula, Baal Haturim, Chizkuni and many others re-read the pasuk so that the yeled was Moshe, but the na’ar was in fact Aaron crying over his lost brother!
To this some explain the ending of that pasuk: Moshe cried, his brother was pained by his needs, and that iis how Bisya came to the conclusion’… This is [one] of the children of the Jews’. For Jews always take care of their own.
