Tuesday, October 31, 2017

A Big Day

What occurred on October 25th 1971:

A man dies two days after being shot during an Irish Republican Army attack on the British Army in Belfast

Belgium & People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations

General Meeting of UN agrees to admit People's Republic of China

United Nations votes to expel the Chinese Nationalist ruled Taiwan and admit the Communist People's Republic of China

I kicked my mother in the stomach many many times [from the inside]. She had to go to the hospital. "Beis Cholim Har Sinai" in Upper Manhattan. [Sorry mom - it seemed like the only way out of there]. Then I came out of my little hiding place [called by Chazal "קבר"]. I looked for a mountain and Moshe Rabbeinu but didn't find. Since then I have been trying to get back there. To the real Har Sinai. And since that fateful day - life has never been the same for neither me nor my mother.

הודו לה' כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו!!!! 



Remembering The Day Of Death

This is POWERFUL!!





The Moral Decline Of Society

I was raised with this credo that our goal is to be part of the world and actively engaged. As I got older, I uncovered the fallacy of such an approach. Yes, ideally we are to be a light unto the nations but this is not accomplished when we adopt the spirit and adapt to the mores of general society. The last few weeks have  revealed in so many ugly ways [I don't know details because I avoid reading salacious material that pollutes mind and soul. I just know in general how many scandals there have been. The latest  - 3 professors from Dartmouth who were suspeneded for ....] what the "real world" is like. 

As I wrote in the last post, our mandate is to be a holy nation - ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש - and we can only accomplish this if we distance ourselves as much as possible from the filth that abounds everywhere. 

Everywhere. 

That includes minimizing our contact with social media, entertainment etc. etc. 

It doesn't mean that we shouldn't work and earn a living. But it does mean that afterward we return to our Jewish ghettos and try to raise our families in purity. The way to influence the world is to make a Kiddush Hashem wherever we go, elevating our levels of kedusha, increasing our learning [especially laws relating to financial honesty] and intensifying our davening. 

And always, always - bi-simcha! 

A Holy People


Mussar at times weakens a person because he is fighting against himself. Kedusha strengthens a person because he is enhanced and empowered by connecting to the source of all existence. When one lives a life of kedusha he is in love with himself and all of existence because he appreciates the Divine source of everything. We are not to be defined as a "moral nation" but a "holy nation". Our focus is on kedusha where morality and mussar of course also play an important role and are critical components. We start with mussar, but ultimately - we must achieve holiness. 

These passages are MAGICAL!  


המגמה האחרונה בחיים היא הקדושה. הקדושה היא חטיבה עליונה, שאין בה כלום מהחולשה שבמוסר. הקדושה איננה נלחמת כלל נגד האהבה העצמית, הטבועה עמוק במעמקי נפש כל חי, אלא שהיא מעמידה את האדם בצורה עליונה כזאת, שכל מה שיותר יהיה אוהב את עצמו, ככה יתפשט הטוב שבו על הכל, על כל הסביבה, על כל העולם, על כל ההויה. אין בתכונה של קיבוץ ציבורי בשום אופן אפשרות לנטיה של החלשת האהבה העצמית, ואיננה בה כי אם הירוס מוסרי, אם יזדמן, ורקבון פנימי האוכל כל. על כן אי אפשר כלל לדרוש שיהיה בעולם עם מוסרי, כי אם עם קדוש, עם שכל מה שיגביר את עצמו, כל מה שירומם את ערכו בפנים ובחוץ, כן ירומם ויגביר את האור והטוב בעולם. ונמצא שהתמצית הטוב שבמוסר כלולה היא כבר בהקדושה, בצורה יותר מפוארה, יפה ומענגת.

.המוסר הוא הפרוזדור, והקדושה הטרקלין. כשהפרטים מכשירים את עצמם בהטהרה של המוסר, מתעלה הקיבוץ, הכלל, להיות קדוש. המוסר הציבורי כבר הוא מנער מעליו את האבק של הדימגוגיה שבמוסר, ועוטה הוא, על ידי ההתקבצות של ניצוצי המוסר שבפרטיו, את האורה של גבורת הקדושה, שהיא מתעלה על ידי ההעמקה דוקא בהאהבה העצמית. ולהיפך כשהפרטים עוזבים את הטהרה המוסרית, האבוקה הנפשית הציבורית מתכנסת בתכונה של טומאה, ומתגלה מפלצת איומה של עם כבד עון, הרע מכל חיה רעה, ומנוול מכל בריה משוקצת.

Too Many Converts

Sadly, there are many Jewish converts to Christianity or "Messianic" Jews. Far too many. Millions upon millions of dollars are spent on this yearly. The common denominator of virtually all of them is that they never received a proper Jewish education. Just about nobody with a decent education ever converts. That is why this is a non-issue for most of us - we don't have friends who converted because the people we associate with are Jewishly educated. 

I was reading the account of a Jew with a very Jewish name who described how he converted. He said that he was down and depressed when he met some missionaries. They convinced him that they were correct when they showed him the 53rd perek of Yeshayahu and based on that he converted. 

That was so puzzling. The perek never says that Yoshke is Moshiach. It never says that he is G-d. It never says that Hashem changed his mind and rejected the Jewish people. It never says that one need not keep Torah law anymore. Nothing about a virgin birth. Nothing about a second coming. Just a story about a suffering servant .  How does that prove Christianity? Lots of people have suffered over the centuries!! Based on the nonsensical and baseless assumption that the perek refers to Yoshke he converted.

How sad. 

May Hashem remove all of our fallen brothers and sisters away from the tumah and help them return back home.   

Busy

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Death In Life

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Grief

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Monday, October 30, 2017

Early Purim?



This is from my archives and occurred on the Upper West Side of Manhattan a number of years ago. 

The following is based on a true story....

I walked into the elevator tonight and I saw children in Purim costumes. I thought "This is strange. Purim in the middle of Cheshvan!"

Then it occurred to me why the costumes. "Is it halloweeeenn?" I inquired in a loud and dramatic voice. 

"Yesssss" the kids answered me. 

So I first looked at the little 6 year old or so girl. "What are YOU dressed up as?"

"A fairy".

"A FAIRY!!" I cried out. "Of course!" I then slapped my forehead as if my thick brain was at fault for not figuring out something so obvious.

I then turned to the bigger girl. "What are YOU dressed up as?" Truth be told, I didn't like her costume and she didn't seem the congenial sort. 

"A vampire."

"OHHHHH, A VAAAAMMMMPIRE!!!"

Then I turned to the cute two year old or so boy being held by his mother and asked "What are YOU?"

His mother answered as if I had just come down from Mars and asked the most klutz kasha, "He's an astronaut".

"AN ASTRONAUT!!! OF COURSE! AND THE CUTEST ASTRONAUT AROUND!!!!".

Everyone in the elevator laughed. 

"You know what IIIII am dressed up as?" I asked everyone and no one in particular.

I, wearing my hat, dark suit, beard and dark coat, continued. "A RAAAAABBBIIIII!!".

This was met with laughter. They obviously felt that I am not worthy of being a Rabbi. That requires vast knowledge, sterling qualities, fear of Heaven and behavior that constitutes an example for all. What a funny costume for a guy like me.

I couldn't agree more.....:-)

An Ocean Of Love

Yisrael Besser 
Mishpacha Magazine 

One of the highlights of the week during my own time at Yeshivas Mir was Rav Nosson Tzvi’s Friday shmuess, delivered in his dining room. Since he spoke in English, the crowd was somewhat different from the standard audience. Rav Nosson Tzvi seemed different too: he was more relaxed, and he spoke with a certain freedom and candor.

There would be a sefer open on the table when we filed in — more often than not, Chofetz Chaim al haTorah — and he would share an insight or thought, using it as a springboard to other topics, often anecdotes and incidents from the preceding week.

But always, he would return to the same theme. The same word, really.

Torah.

No composer, no poet, has ever invested a word with more feeling than he infused into that word. “Tey-reh,” he would say, his voice lyrical, an ode of yearning and love.

His heart was a like a guitar, each string sensitive and awake to hisorerus, and on those Fridays, he’d share the inspiration with us.

During the week marking the yahrtzeit of his revered fatherin- law Rav Beinish Finkel, he described how Reb Beinish succeeded in keeping all his holy fire inside of him, showing nothing to the world. Rav Nosson Tzvi used the words of a zemer that his father-in-law would sing on Leil Shabbos, “Libi uvsari yeranenu l’Keil chai,” to express the avodah of Reb Beinish, whose innards sang.

Then the Rosh Yeshivah stopped, mid-shmuess, and began to sing the words “Libi uvsari, libi, libi uvsari,” to a niggun composed by Rav Meir Shapiro. Instantly, everyone began to sing along, and for several minutes, we tasted — if only temporarily — what it means: Libi uvsari yeranenu ...

During those weeks that he’d met with gedolim, come Friday he would allow us a glimpse of his impressions. This week I met Rav Shmuel Wosner, he told us, and he spent the shmuess describing the incredible yishuv hadaas he’d seen, the way the Shevet HaLevi measures each and every word before he speaks, the tranquility that envelops him.

He told us of observing Rav Elyashiv before an appointment, and illustrated the simple, almost childlike way the gadol hador learned the Gemara, chanting, “Amar Abaye ... what does Rava answer? You hear Abaye? What do you say to that? And you, Rava, how will you respond to Abaye’s claim?”

One week, he described how as a yungerman, he was walking along with Reb Chaim Shmulevitz, engrossed in learning. They walked up the road across from Yeshivas Mir, passing by a strip of stores, and Reb Chaim suddenly stopped in front of one of them. It was a shoe store, and in the doorway was a large basket filled with little children’s footwear, a mountain of tiny shoes. Reb Chaim was silent for one minute, two minutes, and then a tear fell from his eye.

Rav Nosson Tzvi was bewildered. Reb Chaim explained. “I saw the pile of little shoes, shoes that will be purchased by mothers for their own toddlers, most likely the first pair. I started to think about the feelings of a mother buying that first pair of shoes for her child and the joy that will fill her tender heart as she prepares to equip him for the path ahead. Contemplating her joy, I feel it too, and therefore I cry.”

That was the shmuess. That day, we cried along.

And sometimes, he would tell us about his youth, about the teenager who came from Chicago to visit his great-uncle, the Mirrer rosh yeshivah, Rav Leizer Yudel Finkel.

He would often describe how he slept in Reb Leizer Yudel’s own home, in a curtained-off section of the living room. Reb Leizer Yudel would arise early, four o’clock in the morning, and learn eight blatt before Shacharis, knowing that he’d be consumed with yeshivah duties all day. The nephew from Chicago would often feign sleep and watch his uncle’s entry to the room.

“He would tiptoe in so as not to wake me, still in his shirtsleeves,” Rav Nosson Tzvi recreated the scene years later. “He wore a wide smile, and as he approached the seforim shelf, he spread his arms apart. He leaned over and embraced the seforim, kissing lone volumes, saying the names to himself, like a mother saying ‘good morning’ to her children.”

Then Rav Nosson Tzvi stopped, his own face pained with nostalgia, and listed off the names, saying each one slowly. “Teshuvos HaRosh, Ri Migash, Rav Akiva Eiger, Afikei Yam ...” We, his listeners, wanted nothing more than to run and master those seforim, so melodious was his voice.

Rav Nosson Tzvi would tell about his first winter zman in yeshivah, after Rav Leizer Yudel had convinced his parents to allow him to remain in Jerusalem for a few months.

“The rosh yeshivah arranged six chavrusas for me, three groups of two, with each two teaching me a different twenty blatt in Masechta Bava Kamma. They chazzered it with me three times each, so that I reviewed it six times with chavrusas. Then, I reviewed those same sixty blatt seven more times on my own, for a total of thirteen times. After that, I felt like I’d entered Bava Kamma.”

The Rosh Yeshivah would smile. “You know what? Bava Kamma is still so special to me...”

There was something he didn’t tell us. Rav Leizer Yudel had approached the most prestigious yungerman in the yeshivah, Rav Chaim Kamil, and said, “I am trusting you with developing a diamond. Don’t let me down.”

Ultimately, Rav Chaim Kamil would become rosh yeshivah in Ofakim, in the Negev, but he remained the rebbi muvhak of Rav Nosson Tzvi until his own passing, just a few years ago.

And one last story from the Friday shmuess: The Rosh Yeshivah had married off a son that week, in Bnei Brak. Of course, we’d all gone to the wedding — not out of a sense of duty, but with the excitement reserved for family and close friends. The chasunah was something special, an outpouring of love and reverence for a roshyeshivah of thousands, from thousands.

“I want to share something with you, gentlemen,” the Rosh Yeshivah began the Friday shmuess that week. “After the chasunah this week, my new mechutan said to me, ‘I never saw a relationship like the one you have with the Mirrer bochurim; zeh k’mo okyanus shel ahavah, it’s an ocean of love.’ ”

Rav Nosson Tzvi looked around the room, his eyes shining as he focused on each and every person. Then he continued, “I just wanted to say thank you.”


Rav Schachter On Rav Nosson Tzvi

The Lanky Kid With The Cubs Cap

Today is the yahrtzeit of Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the Rosh Yeshiva of Mir Yeshiva. An article by Jonathan Rosenbloom:


As I prepared to leave for the funeral of Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, of blessed memory, I received a call from a reporter from Sydney.

She wanted to discuss the antics of the zealots in Ramat Beit Shemesh. The next day Sky News called to discuss sexually segregated buses.

I told both reporters the same thing: Stop wasting your time on fringe groups and trivial issues. If you want to understand the Charedi community, first find out why over 100,000 people attended the funeral of Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, with tens of thousands of adults sobbing openly and unashamedly. If you want to understand a person or a community, observe what he or they honor: “[A] person [reveals himself] according to what he praises” (Proverbs 26:21).

Who was the remarkable man whose passing inspired such grief? When Rabbi Finkel took over the reins of Mir Yeshiva from his father-in-law, Rabbi Beinish Finkel, in 1990, he had already been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.

Many wondered how he could carry the burden, yet under his leadership the 1,000-student yeshiva expanded rapidly. New buildings were built; another branch was started in Kiryat Sefer. One yeshiva head quipped that Rav Nosson Tzvi might as well put a roof over the entire Beit Yisrael neighborhood (adjacent to Mea She’arim) and call it Mir Yeshiva. Today, 6,000 students learn in Mir Yeshiva’s many study halls, making it the largest yeshiva since the completion of the Talmud, perhaps the largest ever.

“Even when I lie down, I can’t rest because of the trembling,” he told one of his brothers-in-law, “so I think of ways to spread Torah.” Our Sages say that the Ark carried those who carried it. And so it was with Rav Nosson Tzvi.

After one long flight to Los Angeles, a crying stewardess told those who came to the airport to meet him, “Promise me you’ll never let him do this again. How could you do this to this holy man?” When people accused his brothers-in-law of “shlepping him” on grueling trips, they replied, “We don’t shlep him, he shleps us.”

He used his debilitating disease to build more Torah and to teach. A rich businessman refused his request for a large donation. “I can’t,” he said. The rosh yeshiva told him, “I can’t either, but I do anyway.” He received the donation.

Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, was once was brought to see the rosh yeshiva along with a group of prominent businessman. They had not been told of his Parkinson’s, and instinctively averted their eyes when he entered the room. Soon they heard a bang on the table and Rav Nosson Tzvi commanded them, “Look at me.

“I know you are all busy men,” he continued, “so I’ll be brief. What is the most important lesson of the Holocaust?” He proceeded to describe the situation of the Jews arriving in Auschwitz and other death camps, after having been packed into cattle cars for days, without water or facilities of any kind, and then being separated from their loved ones. When the lucky ones reached a barracks, they were given one blanket for six people. They could choose to share it or each one could try to grab it for himself.

They chose the former. “The greatest lesson of the Holocaust,” he concluded, “is the triumph of the human spirit. Now, each of you return to America and share your blanket with five others.”

Someone once asked him for advice on how to learn Torah even amidst afflictions. Rav Nosson Tzvi told him that he didn’t know. “I learn with great simcha,” he said. He refused to take the strongest medicines to control his disease for fear they would cloud his mind or rob him of his memory. When he mounted the dais in the Mir Yeshiva to give a lecture in the main study hall, he had to hold fast to two podiums to remain upright and he never knew whether he would be able to control his tongue sufficiently to speak. Once a violent tremor threw him from the couch, on which he lay prone, onto the floor while in the middle of learning with a student.

Even before he was helped up, he was asking his study partner to repeat the interpretation he had been offering.

Just as one would not begrudge the money spent to ransom a loved one, he viewed his ordeals as trivial price to pay for teaching and learning Torah, and not as selfsacrifice.

Everywhere he went, people of all ages rushed to be within four cubits of him and witness a soul that had so transcended the limits of the imperfect vessel of his body.

OUR SAGES give several possible explanations for the tests with which a tzaddik (righteous person) is afflicted.

Sometimes those tests serve to actualize his potential; sometimes to publicize his greatness. I will never forget the first time I saw Rav Nosson Tzvi, over 30 years ago, at the wedding of a former student. I had no idea who he was, but I could not take my eyes off of him. A Mona Lisa smile did not leave his lips the entire time I watched. It conveyed goodness and love and elation in a student’s joyous occasion. I asked someone, “Who is that man who looks like an angel?” The special qualities were already there.

With love, he inspired thousands of young men to reach heights they had never dreamed possible. In the Mir Yeshiva, under Rav Nosson Tzvi, it did not matter where you were from, your family connections, or how high your IQ. Rav Nosson Tzvi was prepared to help each student reach his potential. He never forgot that he had arrived at the Mir Yeshiva, lanky teenaged Nattie from a coed Jewish high school in Chicago, wearing a Cubs hat (though, he quipped, the golf clubs were left behind).

From his days as a young newlywed until he was felled by a sudden heart attack, he made it a practice to establish study sessions with any student who requested one.

A rosh yeshiva several decades Rav Nosson Tzvi’s senior once came to visit him. Despite Rav Nosson Tzvi’s protests, the older scholar insisted it was incumbent upon him to visit someone who knew 3,000 students by name. “I’m not sure if I know each one by name,” Rav Nosson Tzvi said, “but I love each one.” All those who entered the Mir found out that this was true.

A ba’al teshuva (returnee to religious observance) recently arrived at the Mir from the Ohr Somayach Yeshiva could not find the special penitential prayers in an unfamiliar prayer book. His humiliation was rising by the second, until Rav Nosson Tzvi, who had somehow noticed his discomfiture, came rushing over with a prayer book open to the correct page. Such stories are legion: Rav Nosson Tzvi checking on students in their sealed rooms during the Gulf War; Rav Nosson Tzvi personally taking a student who fainted in class to a doctor and then insisting that he move into the crowded Finkel home; Rav Nosson Tzvi accompanying a student who was about to be married in his search for an apartment; Rav Nosson Tzvi, just back from a fund-raising trip abroad, crying at the beginning of his Friday Torah class because “I missed you all so much.”

Those who had been sure the rosh yeshiva would not remember them from years before in the yeshiva were astonished to be greeted as “My Chaim,” in a long receiving line, or to be reminded of a difficulty they had posed to the rosh yeshiva a decade earlier. Some sought to avoid imposing on the rosh yeshiva to officiate at their weddings, which entailed him arriving in a wheelchair and being assisted by at least two others to the chuppa. To no avail. Inevitably they would receive a call in the middle of wedding that the rosh yeshiva was outside and wanted to wish the new couple “mazel tov.” A former student from America begged the rosh yeshiva not to attend his son’s bar mitzvah at the Western Wall. “I missed your chasanah 15 years ago; I’m not missing the bar mitzva,” Rav Nosson Tzvi told him.

“Not a blade of grass grows unless an angel strikes it and says, ‘Grow,’” our Sages teach. Rav Nosson Tzvi was that angel for tens of thousands of students and dozens of promising young scholars whom he appointed to give classes in Mir Yeshiva. The image of the rosh yeshiva learning in a freezing cold room to be able to meet his daily quota of learning inspired. But above all it was his smile, the way he grasped your hand in both of his, that will leave a lasting impression.

Mendy entered the Mir Yeshiva after an indifferent career in other yeshivot. But the rosh yeshiva was always ready to provide another chance. Toward the end of a long five-month semester, the rosh yeshiva announced that he would like the unmarried students to commit to learning 12 hours a day, without any breaks. It never occurred to Mendy that the rosh yeshiva could have meant him. A few days later, the rosh yeshiva approached Mendy and asked why his name was not on the sign-up list.

Mendy could not believe the absence of his name had been noticed among hundreds of names. But when he saw that the rosh yeshiva was serious, he signed up. The first days were very difficult. But after dropping into bed exhausted on the third night of the new regime, Mendy found himself dreaming about the Talmud in his sleep.

The next morning he told the rosh yeshiva what had happened. Rav Nosson Tzvi spontaneously began to dance with him in the study hall.

Now you know why we are weeping.

Ma-or Eynaim - Part 4: BEAUTIFUL TORAHS!:-)

קדש לי כל בכור פטר כל רחם בבני ישראל באדם ובבהמה לי הוא, (שמות יג, ב).

שתקדש את כל הראשית להשי"ת, כמו ראשית דגנך (דברים יח, ) ראשית עריסותיכם (במדבר טו, כא) וכדומה. פטר כל, הראשית מכל המצות, רחם בבני ישראל שתרחם על איש ישראל, באדם ובבהמה בין שהוא מכונה אדם ובין שנקרא בשם בהמה תרחם עליו, לי הוא, כלומר שהעסק שלי אם הוא אדם או בהמה ולך אין לחשוב בזה כלל, כי אם שתרחם עליו.  

וישב משה את דברי העם אל ה' (שמות יט, ח). 

דהם השיבו נעשה ונשמע, ואיתא במס' שבת ובמדרש (שמו"ר כ"ז, ט) דהקדימו נעשה לנשמע וכך מידת הש"י ב"ה וכתיב (ישעי' ס"ה) והיה טרם יקראו ואני אענה. וזה וישב משה את דברי העם אל ה', דמשה לימד זכות לפני הקב"ה שיתנהג ה' עמהם ג"כ כמוהם שהקדימו נעשה דמידתם יהיה ג"כ בהשי"ת כנ"ל.  

והאיש משה ענו מאד מכל האדם (במדבר י"ב ג).

 פי' שמשה רבינו היה ענו כשהתבונן בשאר כל אדם אמר שכשיהיה שאר האדם כערכי היו עובדים לה' ואני איני עובד כ"כ באימה וביראה כראוי לפי ערכי. 

והאיש משה ענו מאד וגו' ויאמר ה' פתאם וגו' ויחר אף ה' בם וגו 'והנה מרים מצורעת כשלג וגו' (במדבר ג-י) 

אצל הרה"ק המאור עינים זצוק"ל היה פעם שאדם אחד הרע לו מאד, ואח"כ התחיל לרדת מנכסיו והוצרך לפייס את המאו"ע, וכמה פעמים היה מפייסו והיה משיב לו כמו שאתה מפייסני כך אני מוחל לך, עד שפעם אחת מחל לו בלב שלם והתחיל מתפלל בעדו, וכל מה שהיה מתפלל בעדו יותר, היה האיש הנ"ל מחוסר לחם יותר רח"ל. ואמר המאו"ע אני לא הייתי חייב בדבר הזה כלום, שהתפללתי בעדו בלב שלם, אך שזה גרוע יותר כשהצדיק מוחל על עלבונו בכל ליבו אז השי"ת תובע עלבונו, ולכך כתיב והאיש משה ענו מאד ולא הרגיש בזיונו, ולכך תבע השי"ת נקמתו. 

זאת התורה אדם כי ימות באהל (שם י"ט י"ד). דרשו חז"ל (זוה"ח קנח:) אין התורה מתקיימת אלא במי שממית עצמו עליה, ולכאו' יקשה איך ימית עצמו. והביאור הוא שימית את העצמו, ר"ל שלא יכוין להנאת עצמו כלל. 

הרה"ק המאור עינים זצוק"ל אמר: כשאני ישן אז היצר הרע מגרש את הזבובים ממני, שמתירא שכשאקוץ אלמוד תיכף.

בשבת במנחה אומרים לפני קריאת התורה אומרים הפסוק "ואני תפילתי לך ה' עת רצון אלוקים ברוב חסדך ענני באמת ישעך" )תהילים סט, יד( כידוע שניסים שלא כדרך הטבע באים משם הוי"ה, וניסים מדרך הטבע הם משם אלקי"ם שהוא בגימ' הטב"ע. ואיתא בדברי חז"ל שאסור לבקש על ניסים, אולם י"ל שבעת רצון שאני. וז"פ ואני תפילתי לך ה', תפילתי שנזכה לניסים משם הוי"ה, אף שאין לבקש לניסים שהם למעלה מהטבע, לז"א עת רצון, ולעת כזאת שאני.


איתא בגמ' (ברכות י.) לעולם אל ימנע אדם עצמו מן הרחמים אפילו חרב חדה מונחת על צוארו. 

ויל"ד הא קא חזינן שכמה בנ"א מבקשים רחמים ואינם נענים. אמנם בודאי מה שיצא מפי חכמ הגמ' הקדושה לא יחזור ריקם, וכן הוא אמת כי לכל או"א יורדת השפעה לעולם מכסא כבוד ית' למעלה מכל העולמות בחסד וברחמים גמורים אשר שם אין כלל דין, ויורדת לכאו"א השפעה גדולה, רק כשמגיע להיכל הראשון אז מתעורר דין רח"ל לקטרג הלא חייב האדם ע"ז וע"ז ולמה לעשות לחייבים טובות, ואז צריך האדם לעורר רחמים עליו עד שבזכות הרחמים יחוש השפעתו להלן לעולם השני, וכן בכל העולם אשר ההשפעה הולכת יש כמה מקטרגים מאד, ולכן צריך רחמים גמורים להורידה, וכאשר הרחמים גברים להורידה לעלמא דין, ואז מתחילים מקטרגים מזה העולם ג"כ אין שיעור, לכן צריך ג"כ רחמים גמורים. ואם יתחכם האדם לעורר רחמים בלי שום הפסק, בודאי יבואו לבקשת מבוקשו, רק מחמת שמבקש פעם ושתים ושלש ופוסק, ואזי נתעכב השפעתו על העולם וממתנת מתי יבקש עוד הפעם, ואפשר שבפעם הזאת יבוא מבוקשו, ומפני העדר הבקשה נעדר המבוקש רח"ל. וע"ז אמר הגמ' לעולם אל ימנע אדם עצמו מן הרמים, היינו בלי הפסק.


איתא בספר מאור עינים פר' האזינו וז"ל: איתא בש"ס (יומא פ"ה ע"ב) דרבי ס"ל דיוהכ"פ מכפר בין לשבים בין לשאינם שבים, לכאורה, איך אפשר שרבי יהיה סובר שיוהכ"פ מכפר אף לשאינם שבים, הרי אמרו חז"ל (ב"ק נ' ע"א) כל האומר הקב"ה ותרן, אך נראה דודאי שבלא תשובה אינו כלום, אך הפי' הוא ע"פ מה שארז"ל בזוה"ק (ויחי רי"ט) על עוון הוצאת ז"ל רח"ל אמרו כולהו חובין תליין בתיובתא לבר מהאי, וזהו שאמר אף לשאינם שבים, ר"ל אף לאותם שאין מקבלים אותם בתשובה כל השנה, דהיינו על עוון הנ"ל, ביוה"כ מקבלים אותם. כן כתוב בספר מאו"ע, ואמר ע"ז הרה"ק ר' יצחק מסקוירא זצוק"ל בשם אביו הק' המגיד מטשערנאביל זצוק"ל, כי כשאמר זאת אביו הק' המאו"ע זצוק"ל תיכף אמרו אז בעולם העליון הלכה כר' נחום, מאז והלאה פוסקים שם בעולם העליון על ענין זה כהרה"ק המאו"ע זצוק"ל. 

פעם באו אל הרה"ק המאור עינים זצוק"ל אנשים המקושרים אליו מהאמלע והלכו אליו ברגליהם, וקרא עליהם המקרא מה יפו פעמיך בנעלים (שה"ש ז, ב), פי' בזמן ביהמ"ק היה כוונת המקרא על העולים לרגל (סוכה מט:) ועכשיו קאי על המכתתים רגליהם לצדיקים. ופי' עוד: בנעלים, כי כל הנסיעות נעולים אצל השי"ת. 

הרה"ק המאור עינים זצוק"ל אמר: אין כוונת היצר הרע כל כך על העבירה, כמו שכוונתו על המרה שחורה של העבירה. 

להרה"ק המאור עינים זצוק"ל בא פעם נפטר אחד לבקש ממנו שיעשה לו טובה, שאל לו הרה"ק אם היה רגיל לשבת במסיבת רעים בש"ק בלילה או ביום או בסעודה שלישית, והשיב שלא, אמר לו הרה"ק המאו"ע א"כ לא אוכל לעשות לך שום טובה. 

הרה"ק המאור עינים זצוק"ל אמר: כך קבלתי מרבותי, כשיהודים מתאספים ביחד, הגם שאין מדברים דברי תורה, ובלבד שלא ידברו דברי הבלים, אזי אם יבוא מלאך ה' ביניהם יתבטל מהמציאות עד שאין בו ממש. 

הרה"ק המאור עינים זצוק"ל: אז נדברו יראי ה' איש אל רעהו ויקשב ה' וישמע ויכתב ספר זכרון לפניו ליראי ה' ולחושבי שמו. (מלאכי ג' טז). 

ויל"ד מהו הלשון נדברו שהוא לשון נפעל, הי' צ"ל אז דברו, גם קשה כפל הלשון יראי ה' איש אל רעהו וגו' ליראי ה' ולחושבי שמו. ויל"פ יראי ה' שקאי על בני אדם המדברים איש אל רעהו על יראי ה' ומספרים בשבחם, היינו יראי ה' שהם הצדיקים הם נדברים בין איש לרעהו, עי"ז הם גורמים שיהיו שפתותיו דובבות בקבר, והצדיק מוכרח גם הוא שלא להיות כפוי טובה ולהמליץ בעדם לפני הבורא ב"ה. וזהו המכוון ויקשב ה' וישמע, מה שמדברים עבור הצדיק ומה שהצדיק ממליץ בעדם. ויכתב בספר זכרון ליראי ה' ולחושבי שמו ג"כ קאי על שניהם, שנצמח מזה פעולה טובה לשניהם, להצדיקים שעי"ז שפתותיהם דובבות בקבר לחושבי שמו המדברים על יראי ה' להשפיע להם כל טוב. 

זכותו יגן עלינו ועל כל ישראל אמן

Me-or Eynaim - Part 3

In Tikkun Chatzos there is a section called Tikkun Leah and another called Tikkun Rochel:

בעת שהיה הרה"ק המאור עינים זצוק"ל אצל הבעש"ט הק' פ"א עמד בעת שהבעש"ט עלה על העגלה שלו לנסוע על הטיול כדרכו בקודש, והרה"ק המאור עינים היה משתוקק מאד שגם הוא יסע בצותא חדא עם הבעש"ט לטייל, וסבב והלך אצל העגלה ורצה לפעול בזה אשר הבעש"ט יקבל אותו עמו בנסיעה הזאת, וכאשר הבעש"ט עלה על העגלה ענה ואמר להמאו"ע: אברך, אם תגיד לי איזה חילוק יש מתיקון לאה לתיקון רחל אתן לך רשות ליסע עמדי. מיד השיב המאו"ע: הנה מה שפעלה לאה בבכי' פעלה רחל זאת בשמחה. ותתיכף לקחו עמו על העגלה.

Ma-or Eynaim - Part 2: It Is Warm In Israel

שמעתי מכ"ק אדמו"ר הרה"ק ר' ירחמיאל משה מקאזניץ זי"ע, שהרב הקדוש רבי נחום מטשערנאביל היה פ"א בציון של הבעש"ט הק', בימות החורף, והקור היה גדול ועז מאד, ועמד שם באנפילאות ]גרביים] זמן רב, לערך שתי שעות, ושאלו אותו איך יכול היה לסבול קור כזה זמן ארוך, והשיב, כי הבעל שם הק' המשיך לכאן אוירא דארץ ישראל, ובארץ ישראל היום האויר חם.

Be Doubtful Of Yourself



A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth: this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert-himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt…

For the old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts, which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which will make him stop working altogether.

G.K. Chesterson 

ואין אפוטרופוס לעריות. 

Ma-or Eynaim - Part 1

Today is the yahrtzeit of the Holy Maor Eynaim. A myseh told by the Tolna Rebbe ztz"l: 



ידוע המעשה המפורסם: שאצל הרה"ק המגיד רבי דב בער ממעזריטש זי"ע שמע זקיני (הרה"ק ה"מאור עיניים" זי"ע) את הבשורה שהולכת לרדת נשמה גבוהה שתקרב רבבות בישראל לאביהם שבשמיים, ומיד הזדרז ללכת לביתו אולי יזכה בנשמה הגבוהה הזו, בדרכו עבר אצל הרה"ק רבי פינחס מקוריץ זי"ע וביקש ממנו שיעזור לו לקבל את הנשמה הגבוהה שעליה דיבר המגיד ממעזריטש. רבי פינחס מקוריץ הלך עמו למקווה וטבל בכוונות מיוחדות עלה ואמר הצלחתי בתפילתי ואתה הולך לקבל את הנשמה הגבוהה הזו שהולכת לרדת לעולם! וכך היה שנולד לו המגיד מטשרנוביל רבי מרדכי זי"ע, הוא ביקש עוד מרבי פינחס מקוריץ שגם הדורות הבאים אחריו יהיו גדולי ישראל, ושוב טבל בשבילו רבי פינחס עלה ואמר שפעל בטבילתו ובתפילתו גם לזאת וכל בניו ונכדיו יהיו צדיקים מפורסמים, וכך היה, שמונת בני המגיד מטשרנוביל ונכדיהם כולם היו ראשי אלפי בני ישראל וניהלו חצרות קדושות והקריבו לבם של ישראל לאביהם שבשמיים, שוב ביקש זקיני בעל המאור עיניים מרבי פינחס מקוריץ שיבקש מן השמיים שלא יצטרכו בניו ונכדיו לאחרים, ועל זה כבר לא הסכים אלא אמר לו: אי אפשר לבקש על הדבר הזה, הם יצטרכו לאחרים ואחרים יצטרכו להם, וזה ענין שיש כזה קשר בין החסידים לצדיק וגם זה העניין של הפדיון, לא רק לקשר נשמה בנשמה ולעשות טובה לנשמה, אלא שכך קבעו שהם יצטרכו לאחרים ואחרים יצטרכו להם.

We Will Return - But Will "We"?

לזכות ידי"נ הרה"ג ר' איעזר זאב בן דבורה וכל ב"ב

Avaham says to the two lads who accompanied them to the Akeidah ונשתחוה ונשובה אליכם  - We will bow down and return to you. 

That is odd, given that Yitzchak was not inteneded to return but to be slaughtered and sacrificed. So what does ונשובה אליכם mean? 

And what is the meaning of ונשתחוה - We will bow? What were they doing when they bowed? 

When they [and we] bowed we display our intention to lower our materialistic, physical side or even our limited qualities, thereby elevating our souls. 

Then it says ונשובה אליכם - we will return to you. This means that we will return to influence the world. When a person reaches a certain elevated level [such as when he lowered his body by bowing], his perspective is that it no longer matters where he is when influencing the world. So yes, Yitzchak will not return in body - but his legacy and soul are forever. Both Avraham and Yitzchak will return as Avraham said - just in different forms. Avraham with his body, Yitzchak with his soul.

Read this gem!     


Sunday, October 29, 2017

Extra Word?

ויקם וילך אל המקום אשר אמר לו הא-להים

Avraham arose and went to the place that Hashem told him [for the akeidah]. 

If the pasuk says וילך then we know he "arose". That is the ONNLY way to get anywhere. So why the extra word ויקם? 


Two Lads And Yitzchak His Son

ויקח את שני נעריו אתו ואת יצחק בנו - The pasuk says that Avraham took two lads with him [important people need accompaniment - Rashi] and Yitzchak his son. 

Two huge questions I had: 

1] Shouldn't Yitzchak be mentioned first?? He is far more prominent in the story than the two lads?

2] Didn't we sort of know at this point that Yitzchak is his son???


Relax!

Hashem tells Avraham to sacrifice his son. Then the pasuk says וישכם אברהם בבוקר - He got up early in thr morning. 

WHHAAATTT? If he got up, that means that he went to sleep. 

Yes, says the Rav ztz"l - He was calm and collected and went to sleep. 

A great lesson for our anxiety stricken generation. 

Not Edible

Image result for image players huddle

"OK guys! Is the pshat in the ptur of אינו ראוי לאכילה because it is as if he didn't eat anything, he ate something else or he ate this food but the איסור doesn't apply because it's not ראוי לאכילה??"

A-A-cheinu Kol Beis Yisrael

Image result for image players huddle

Big Question!



Image result for image players huddle


"OK guys. Is pshat in Shanyim Ochazim that each guy is holding on to half or that each guy is holding on to the whole thing??"

What About Bal Yachel??


Chatas Ha-of Habaah Al Ha-safeik


Explicit Vs. Non-Explicit

There was a Rav who lived in Yerushalayim 50 years ago named Rav Dov Beirush Weidenfeld [d. 10th of cheshvan 1965] and known as the "Chebiner Rov". He was called the שר התורה - a title only given to the top of the top. He wrote a set of sfarim called the דובב מישרים [he originally wrote ten volumes but most of them were lost. They recently republished what we have in four volumes - please buy yourself a set]. He was not only a giant of Torah but a geshmake mentsch. There are numerous great stories about him. I am not aware of any biographies of him in English but I hope someone writes one [there is one in Hebrew]. 

He asks [ח"ג סי' פב] what the halacha would be in a case where there is a case of pikuach nefesh and one must do a melacha. He has two options: One melacha he needs to do is explicit in the Torah while the other one is אסור מדאורייתא but not explicit. Or one is an אב מלאכה and the other a תולדה.

He says that one should do the melacha that is NOT explicit in the Torah. He writes as follows: 

הארכתי בזה ונשכח ממני מה שכתבתי, אולם ראיה אחת אזכור שהערתי מתוספות יבמות דף ז ע"ב ד"ה ואמר עולא שכתבו דלא ניחא שידחה ביאת כולו דכתיב בהדיא אבל ביאה במקצת לא כתיב בהדיא עיי"ש אם כן מוכח מדברי התוס' דמאי דכתיב מפורש בתורה אין לדחות היכא דאפשר לבחור במה שאינו מפורש בתורה

Explanation: A Metzora is not allowed to go into the the עזרה until after he brings his korbanos and therefore he stands outside and just puts his fingers and toes inside in order to be purified with the blood applications, because partial entry is permitted. Asks Tosfos: Since ביאה במקצת שמיה ביאה - a partial entry is called entering, then why don't we just permit him to go completely inside? Tosfos answers that a complete entance is explicit in the Torah and therefore we prefer he only go in partially which, although also from the Torah, it is not explicit. 

This is seemingly a clear proof that one must prefer the non-explicit איסור over the explicit one.

Cool!:-)

Not so fast....

He then brings a question on this from his son ישראל הי"ד - The gemara [128b] talks about a woman who gave birth and is in need of oil which she doesn't have at home. We want to bring it to her it in the least אסור manner. The first choice is that her friend bring the oil in the palm of her hand [which is a shinui]. If that is not enough then she should soak her hair in oil [and then wring it out]. If that is not enough she should bring it in the normal way in a כלי. Asks the gemara - What do we accomplish by having her bring it in her hair in order to avoid carrying it in the normal manner in a כלי, since she will still transgress the melacha of סחיטה when she wrings it out of her hair??! עד כאן דברי הגמרא

According to the principle we established [that non-explicit is preferable over explicit] the gemara is difficult to understand. סחיטה is a תולדה while הוצאה is an אב מלאכה. It should be self-evident then that we would prefer that the woman who gave birth should be brought the oil in a way that would necessitate סחיטה and not הוצאה. So why does the gemara assume that we gain nothing by having her do סחיטה instead of הוצאה?

From this sugya it appears that it is no worse to do an אב than it is to do a תולדה. But before we proved that non-explicit [similar to a תולדה] is "less אסור" than explicit? And according to the Rambam - הוצאה is explicit in the Torah while סחיטה is not. 

We are in a quandry - aren't we?

What do you think?

Bracha Unclothed

The gemara [Bava Metzia 46a - see there] understands the Mishna to be discussing this seemingly odd case of a person who is standing naked on the threshing floor and thus can't perfom a kinyan chalifin. The gemara asks - ואיכפל תנא לאשמעינן גברא ערטילאי דלית ליה כלום? - Did the Mishna trouble itself to tell us such a remote case of a person who is standing naked on the threshing floor?


Asked the Chebiner Rov: Why wasn't the gemara bothered by a different issue - to redeem Maaser Sheni [which is what the Mishna is discussing] one needs to make a bracha. How does one make a bracha while wearing what [unfortunately] many women in New York city "wear" [or better "don't wear"] in the summer?? [I like to be melamed zchus and call it "insomnia". They just forgot to get dressed.]

Link

For the yahrtzeit - here

The Hekdesh Of A Fetus

לזכות ר' יוסף עזרא בן אסתר וכל ב"ב 

First a few preliminaries and then the kashya.

We pasken that one may sanctify an animal while it is yet in utero and thus prevent the kedusha of bechor from taking effect after birth [Temurah 24b]. 

The Torah says that one may not sacrifice an animal before its 8th day. The gemara [Yoma 63b] adds that not only may one not bring the animal as a sacrifice but one may also not sanctify [מקדיש] the animal before the 8th day. Tosafos ask [Zevachim 12a, Yoma 10a] – How then may we sanctify a fetus which is not yet 8 days old? They answer that since it is not yet fitting to be brought as a sacrifice, there is no prohibition to sanctify it.

The gemara [Temurah 25] asks what the din would be if a first born animal was sanctified as an Olah while still a fetus and the sanctification would take effect after most of the animal comes out. Would it become a Bechor or an Olah? 

The Chebiner Rov, Rov Dov Beirush Weindenfeld [שו"ת דובב מישרים ח"ג סי' ס"ב] was presented a question based on the foregoing, asked by the progidous bachur Yosef Altman הי"ד: How can the gemara consider the possibility that this animal will be an Olah? The sanctification was to take effect AFTER the animal is born and thus is already fitting to be brought as a sacrifice. According to what we learned from Tosafos – an animal that is fitting to be a sacrifice may not be sanctified before the 8th day?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Answered the Rov – 

נ"ל ... כיון דאמירתו היתה בשעה שהיה עוד העובר במעי אמו רק חלות ההקדש התנה שיהיה ביציאת רובו, הוי כאילו הקדישה במעי אמו דאזלינן בתר אמירה.


Since the proclamation of sanctification [הקדשה] was done when the animal was still a fetus – we follow that time and not when the sanctity was to take effect after birth. Hence the hekdesh has the capacity to take effect.

He gives an example from the world of Terumos and Maasros. There is a din that one may only separate Terumah מן המוקף - namely that the Terumah and the fixed, leftover produce are near each other. The Ra"sh [Challah 3/1] taught that if one separated Terumah so that it would only take effect after a certain period of time, then even when if it is not מן המוקף when it takes effect it doesn't matter, as long as it wa sמן המוקף when he originally separated the produce. Similarly, since when he was originally מקדיש the animal was not yet fitting to be sacrificed, the הקדש is valid even though it was before the 8th day. 

Good one!!!

But it's not so pashut!:-)

The halacha is that if one marries a woman after thirty days and in the meantime the shtar ripped or was lost then the marriage doesn't take effect. Why don't we say that since the shtar was extant originally, it doesn't matter what happens later? According to the Chebiner we should follow the time of the original giving of the shtar!

Suggested Rav Avraham Genechovski ztz"l: Maybe we can answer that there is a fundamental difference. In the Kiddushin case – the kinyan can't take effect in the absence of a shtar. With respect to the korban – the חסרון is just in the animal that it may not be made הקדש now [after it was born]. In the latter case we may follow the time of the original הקדש and not the time when it takes effect. 

וצריך עוד עיון!