ועל זה דוה לבנו

 

מילים דומות מגמות הפוכות

לפעמים מדבר ה'נפש החיים' בשפה כמו חסידית מכמה בחינות (ראה היכל הבעש"ט גליון ה), אך המגמה הפוכה לחלוטין: למקד את הכל בחוויית הלימוד וקיום ההלכה בלבד. גם כאשר ה'נפש החיים' מדבר במעלת מהות תורה בסגנון הזוהר ש'אורייתא וקוב"ה כולא חד', ושהתורה היא מהות ה' (ראה שער ד פרק י), סגנון דומה להפליא לסגנון בעל התניא (תניא פ"ד ופרק ה ועוד רבות), הרי מגמותיהם הפוכות: ה'נפש החיים' רוצה להדגיש שכיון שהתורה היא חד עם קוב"ה לכן אין לשאוף למטרה חוץ תורתית והלכתית, לימוד התורה הוא בלבד שיא השיאים של חוויית היהדות, שהרי התורה היא ה' בעצמו. והדברים אף מחודדים ביתר שאת (מאשר ב'נפש החיים') בניסוחו של בעל התניא (סופ"ד): "ואף שהתורה נתלבשה בדברים תחתונים גשמיים הרי זה כמחבק את המלך ד"מ שאין הפרש במעלת התקרבותו ודביקותו במלך בין מחבקו כשהוא לבוש לבוש אחד בין שהוא לבוש כמה לבושים מאחר שגוף המלך בתוכם". וה'נפש החיים' אכן כותב (שם) "ובשעת העסק והעיון בתורה ודאי שאין צריך לענין הדבקות כלל כנ"ל שבהעסק ועיון לבד הוא דבוק ברצונו ודברו יתברך והוא יתברך ורצונו ודבורו חד..והוא ענין מאמרם... הקב"ה נתן תורה לישראל ואומר להם כביכול לי אתם לוקחים, וז"ש בכמה מקומות בזהר דקודשא בריך הוא ואורייתא חד". הרי שההנחה של אורייתא וקוב"ה כולא חד שוללת "דביקות" נוספת בעת לימוד התורה.

ולמרות לשון התניא, רוצה בעל התניא להדגיש משהו הפוך: שמכיון שהתורה כולה חד עם הקב"ה לפיכך בעת הלימוד הוא יכול להגיע להרגשה של אין עוד מלבדו, הוא יכול להפנים ולהזדהות עם אחדותו ית'. העובדה שהתורה חד עם הקב"ה נותנת ליהודי את האפשרות לבטל את ההסתר האופף אותו, הישות המעמידה אותו. ולשם ענין זה הוא צריך להרגיש את מלוא קדושת התורה. אך באם לומד את התורה ואין לו דביקות, חסר לו אז מימד הדביקות של התורה. נמצא שלפי ה'נפש החיים' עצם לימוד התורה יש בו דביקות ולפי בעל התניא בגלל שהתורה היא חד עם הקב"ה זה מחייב אותו להבין עד כמה שהוא מציאות נפרדת ועד כמה הוא רחוק, וכיצד בלימוד שלא לשמה הוא מאבד את כל הקשר עם נותן התורה. נמצא שיש כאן מלים דומות אך מגמה הפוכה לגמרי.

Muslims Say It's Unfair To Judge Their Entire Religion Based On The Actions Of Several Million

 WORLD — The international Muslim community issued a collective statement this week explaining that it would be unfair to judge their religion based on the bad actions of several million of its members.

Despite decades of repeated violent attacks in various parts of the world that have taken the lives of many thousands of innocents, Muslims urged the world's population not to judge the religion harshly based on the actions of such a large number of them.

"We don't appreciate all the Islamophobia going around these days," Iman Muhumman Abdul said in a written statement. "Our beautiful religion should not be judged harshly due to the errant actions of a few million of our adherents. Most of us, well, some of us — tens and tens of us — don't think all Jews and infidels should be murdered. There are more than zero peaceful Muslims living throughout the world. Probably."

The statement came on the heels of the 25th anniversary of 9/11, with many calling for renewed respect for the religion responsible for the greatest attack on American soil in history.

"Our people are mostly peaceful," Abdul explained. "True, we teach our children to hate Jews from birth, and there are many of us who fantasize daily about the complete annihilation of the West, but the hundreds of thousands of deaths attributed to Islamic terrorism over the past 100 years have nothing to do with who we really are as a people.

At publishing time, a suicide bombing plot had been thwarted against schoolchildren who accidentally drew the Prophet Muhammad during an art class.

Shimmy Biegeleisen Hy"d

Shimmy Biegeleisen was not only my friend, he was there at the beginning of my journalist career and I was there near the end of his life. As reporters, we try to stay outside the stories but sometimes the hand of God throws us into … not the middle, but the periphery.

When President Trump spoke about Shimmy in his 9/11 Memorial address, everyone was buzzing curiously. A few individuals called his widow or one of his children, but the family were just as surprised the President had chosen to use his story as a sympathetic vignette. They were pleased, and proud, especially because it was so genuine. 

The story of Shimmy begins in a famous family, known for the multifarious collection of works available at the Biegeleisen book store. It sells Jewish tomes in a way unlike most other Judaica stores. Instead of promoting the current bestsellers and filling shelf after shelf with the least original — hence least controversial — material, it prizes novelty and variety.

The store stood out from its earliest days in the mid-20th century. Instead of namby pap, they were Mom-and-Pop in a fresh, refreshing way. They attracted a wide array of scholars and intellectuals alongside earthier book buffs. You were likely to meet Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) or Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) or Isaac Bashevis Singer (1903-1991) browsing alongside prominent rabbinical figures.

The great Jewish singer and composer, Shlomo Carlebach (1925-1994), loved to nurture his theological side by finding lesser known works hiding in the legendary labyrinth of bookshelves. Shimmy told me that once Carlebach was navigating the aisles and filling his hands with books. His wife was following, baby daughter in her arms. As Carlebach was getting ready to pay the cashier, his wife called out, “Look, the baby reached out and touched these books.” He cheerfully added those to his “cart.”

While appreciating that bookish world, Shimmy entered the world of finance, eventually working his way up to Vice President at Fiduciary Trust, offices in the World Trade Center, aka the Twin Towers. 

He and I attended school together in the Rabbi Chaim Berlin yeshiva. I was a year or two ahead of him, but as an aspiring writer, I looked at him as literary royalty. We set up a creative writing “office” in his dormitory apartment. I brought the English typewriter and Yaakov Shapiro (subject for another column) had the Hebrew.

We all pecked away, pursuing the dream. I got one mystery story published, alongside one review of a public lecture, and amassed enough rejection slips from magazines for a fleet of paper airplanes. Shimmy would always pop in, read a page, and encourage me to press on.

That was 1976. A quarter-century later it was August 9, 2001. That day the Sbarro restaurant at the corner of King George and Jaffa Streets in Jerusalem was blown up by a Palestinian suicide bomber. Sixteen people were killed, including seven children and a pregnant woman. That woman was the only child of Holocaust survivors, and her first child was never born.

That night I was in New York City, where I had a summer radio show with Judah Levin, the great pro-life activist. I stepped into Chap-A-Nosh, the iconic Brooklyn kosher Chinese eatery that opened in 1973 and folded earlier this year. Shimmy was at his favorite table in the back right corner, with our mutual friend Benjamin Berry. They were true pals, always engaged in a business deal or community activism.

Shimmy called out a greeting. I stopped over at their nook and he asked, “Will you speak about the Sbarro bombing on your show tonight?” I acknowledged that was a good idea and promised to take it on.

At the time, I did not know to be grateful to God for affording us this moment to say good-bye. One month later, he was the victim of a bigger bombing, and it was left to me to cover his passing. In Hebrew they say: “He went to menuchos (restfulness), we went to anachos (groans).” In English we might say: “He went to peace, we went to pieces.”

Now President Trump has reminded us all of this good man. Shimmy Biegeleisen was lying on the floor of his office, telling his wife and children with his last breaths that he loved them, asking his friends to look after them. He died a moral hero as well as a martyr, exhibiting that beautiful bouquet of middle class solidity merged with energetic communal engagement.

Those two attacks are always locked together in the Jewish communal mind, Sbarro and Twin Towers. Several people attending a 30-day memorial service for the Sbarro victims came “late to work” at the World Trade Center and “missed” the fiery furnace. God had saved them — and you, and me — to fight the evil that still lurks below … and sometimes, above. [The American Spectator] 

Repentance

I wish all of my beloved friends a גמר חתימה טובה. 

I would like to ask mechila for anything I might have written that offended anybody.

My intention in having this blog is to be מרבה כבוד שמים but as a human I am liable to make mistakes. 

Thank you. 

 

Buzzer Beater !!!

HEAVEN - Day Six of Aseres Yemei Teshuva - In an unbelievable, last-second turn of events, a man on his deathbed did a complete teshuva—sincerely repenting and returning to Hashem—securing his portion in the Olam Shekulo Tov with just 0.4 seconds left on his life clock.

After being hit by a bus and rushed to a local hospital, 76-year-old Daniel Greenberg knew he wasn't long for this world. Remembering the famous teaching in Maseches Avodah Zarah that "there are those who acquire their eternity in a single hour," Greenberg achieved true, heartfelt teshuva right at the proverbial buzzer with his final breath.

"Whoooaaaa! The mad lad actually pulled it off!" one malach exclaimed in the Yeshivah Shel Ma'alah. "Incredible!"

Another added, "Amazing! He acquired his Olam Haba literally at the Neilah of his life!"

According to Shamayim sources, the tzaddikim and malachim eagerly welcomed Greenberg to the Heavenly Court, not feeling cheated at all by the fact that he spent a lifetime steeped in aveiros before repenting at the last second.

"The Rambam explicitly rules in Hilchos Teshuva that even if someone was a rashei gamur all his days and did teshuva in his final moment, none of his sins are remembered," noted the Malach Michoel. "The Gates of Repentance are always open, especially during the Aseres Yemei Teshuva."

According to the Satan, Greenberg was "this close" to a long painful, career in Gehenom. "I had the whole prosecution case written out for his Din," he complained, pacing nervously in the Heavenly Court. "Then he plays the ultimate teshuva m'ahava card right before his soul leaves his body. We got robbed!"

At publishing time, Greenberg's family was so moved by his dramatic final return to his Creator that they immediately began studying the parshas hashavua and announced they would be attending shul every Shabbos.