Looking Down...

The only time one should look down on someone is when he is helping him up...

 

Mirror Mirror On The Wall

Are you looking for the person who will change your life?

Look in the mirror....

Deal With Your Fears

Turn your fears into successes. פחד - fear, spelled backwards is דחף - push. Your fears should give you a push to move ahead.

Love What You Are

Limitless Goodness - The Inner Essence Of The Jewish Soul

How One Should Daven - Bitterness - Sadness - Joy - Don't Just Translate - Understand!!

לזכות ר' הערש יונתן בן ר' מרדכי אפרים לברכה והצלחה בכל מעשי ידיו הוא וביתו וכל אשר לו

ולזכות ר' יהודה יעקב בן דינה חאשע הוא וביתו וכל אשר לו

The Mishna at the beginning of the fifth perek of Brachos says that one must daven בכובד ראש - [with submission - Rashi, but see עין איה]. The gemara seeks a source and says in the name of Rav Elazar that this can be derived from the pasuk stated about Chana "והיא מרת נפש" - she [davened with] a bitter soul.

This is an IMPOSSIBLE gemara to understand [like many many gemaros for those who have time to ..... think]. We are looking for a source for tfilla with כובד ראש and suddenly we get a pasuk about bitterness. How does one understand this? [Rashi is silent on the matter]. How unfortunate that we go through life translating gemaros [what people erroneously term "learning"] without understanding what they mean.

The explanation - maybe another time. [The simple explanation is that מרירות goes together with כובד ראש. But why? Would it not have been better for the Mishna to say that one should daven with bitterness. Then, the pasuk cited by Rav Elazar would have worked like a charm....]

Anyway, this very same Rav Elazar says earlier [16b] that one must daven with simcha: בשמך אשא כפי - זו תפילה, with your name I will raise my palms - this is tfilla. If one davens this way his rewards is fats and and abundance - בחלב ודשן תשבע נפשי. In addition he merits both this and the next world ושפתי רננות יהלל פי - and with joyous language my mouth will give praise. We see that tfilla is a joyous event. How does this square with the bitterness that is expected of one who davens?  

The answer is that bitterness is not sadness. Bitterness is a source of joy. It is the liberating feeling that something is very wrong and I am going to make it right. So "bitterness" and "joy" can work in tandem. Let us see how the Tanya puts it:

והנה אף אם כשיאריך הרבה להעמיד בענינים הנ"ל כשעה ושתים להיות בנמיכת רוח ולב נשבר יבא לידי עצבות גדולה לא יחוש, ואף שעצבות היא מצד קליפת נוגה ולא מצד הקדושה, כי בצד הקדושה כתיב "עוז וחדוה במקומו", ואין השכינה שורה אלא מתוך שמחה, וכן לדבר הלכה וכו', אלא שאם העצבות היא ממילי דשמיא היא מבחינת טוב שבנוגה, (ולכן כתב האר"י ז"ל שאפילו דאגת העונות אינה ראויה כי אם בשעת הוידוי, ולא בשעת התפלה ותלמוד תורה שצריך להיות בשמחה שמצד הקדושה דוקא). אף על פי כן הרי כך היא המדה לאכפיא לס"א במינה ודוגמתה, כמאמר רז"ל מיניה וביה לשדיה ביה נרגא, ופגע בו כיוצא בו. ועל זה נאמר "בכל עצב יהיה מותר", והיתרון היא השמחה הבאה אחר העצב כדלקמן. אך באמת אין לב נשבר ומרירות הנפש על ריחוקה מאור פני ה' והתלבשותה בס"א נקראים בשם עצבות כלל בלשון הקודש, כי עצבות היא שלבו מטומטם כאבן ואין חיות בלבו, אבל מרירות ולב נשבר אדרבה, הרי יש חיות בלבו להתפעל ולהתמרמר רק שהיו חיות מבחינת גבורות קדושות והשמחה מבחינת חסדים, כי הלב כלול משתיהן. והנה לעתים צריך לעורר בחינת גבורות הקדושות כדי להמתיק הדינים שהם בחינת נפש הבהמית ויצר הרע כששולט חס ושלום על האדם, כי אין הדינים נמתקין אלא בשרשן, ולכן אמרו רז"ל לעולם ירגיז אדם יצר הטוב, והיינו בכל עת שרואה בנפשו שצריך לכך, אך שעת הכושר שהיא שעה המיוחדת וראויה לכך לרוב בני אדם היא בשעה שהוא עצב בלאו הכי ממילי דעלמא, או כך בלי שום סבה, אזי היא שעת הכושר להפך העצב להיות ממרי דחושבנא הנ"ל, ולקיים מאמר רז"ל לעולם ירגיז וכו', כנ"ל, ובזה יפטר מהעצבות שממילי דעלמא, ואחר כך יבא לידי שמחה אמיתית, דהיינו שזאת ישיב אל לבו לנחמו בכפלים אחר הדברים והאמת האלה הנ"ל, לאמר ללבו אמת הוא כן בלי ספק שאני רחוק מאד מה' בתכלית ומשוקץ ומתועב וכו', אך כל זה הוא אני לבדי הוא הגוף עם נפש החיונית שבו, אבל מכל מקום יש בקרבי חלק ה' ממש... ואין לך שמחה גדולה כצאת מהגלות והשביה...

This would beautifully explain the opinon of Rav Elazar that tfilla should be said with a both a feeling of bitterness and simcha.

Later on [31b] Rav Elazar says that one Chana spoke to Hashem with extra boldness and brazenness. חנה הטיחה דברים כלפי מעלה. This may be what the Tanya termed חיות מבחינת גבורות קדושות - vitality from a vantage point of holy power.

This would also be consistent with the opinion of Tosfos [31a] who says that one must daven with both כובד ראש [which Rav Elazar derives from the words והיא מרת נפש - bitterness] and simcha.

This deserves more time and research.....

[שוב ראיתי מש"כ באגרת התשובה פ"י שמשמע שלא כדברינו ועי' בלקו"ש חלק לד עקב שיחה ג ובס' מרבה עמידה הערה ב]

The Mystery Of אל תקרי

What does  אל תקרי - "don't read it this way but that way" mean? We all know, for example, ורב שלום בניך אל תקרי בניך אלא בוניך.

The Shlah Hakadosh says that there are two types of אל תקרי. One where there is an ostensible superfluity or other difficulty in the pasuk and in order to explain it we say אל תקרי which gives deeper insight into the usage of that word. For example, when the pasuk says וכל בניך למודי ה' ורב שלום בניך, the second mention  of the word בניך is superfluous because it could have said ורב שלומם and we would know that it is talking about the בנים. Therefore, the rabbis expounded the word בניך to mean בוניך.

Another example: The pasuk says שומר שבת מחללו and the rabbis say אל תקרי מחללו אלא מחול לו. The problem was that it should have said שומר שבת מחללה referring to Shabbos in the feminine. So the rabbis expounded that Shabbos brings mechila, even to an idolator.

Another category of אל תקרי is when the teaching was passed down from Sinai.

The Rambam says [Moreh Nevuchim 3/43] that אל תקרי is merely a poetic tool [כמליצת השיר] employed in order to help remember ideas but not an absolute, binding drasha. [Similar to an asmachta which we should really discuss at length ועוד חזון למועד].

The Maharatz Chayes in his Mavo Hatalmud asks on the Rambam's opinon from a gemara in Brachos [31]. The gemara says that one must daven with seriousness [בכובד ראש] because the pasuk says השתחוו לה' בהדרת קודש אל תקרי בהדרת קודש אלא בחרדת קודש and then the gemara rejects this and says that maybe the pasuk is to be understood simply as meaning בהדרת קודש and not בחרדת קודש and it means that one must dress up for davening. But according to the Rambam [who says that אל תקרי is like an אסמכתא], the simple meaning should not preclude an אל תקרי and it could mean both. So why does the gemara reject the אל תקרי on the grounds that the simple meaning is the correct way of understanding things?

Moreover, Chazal expound on the pasuk ושמרתם את המצות that one must not be lax in observing mitzvos. אל תקרי מצות אלא מצוות כדרך שאין מחמיצין את המצה כך אין מחמיצין את המצווה אלא אם באה מצווה לידך עשה אותה מיד. We see that the אל תקרי doesn't completely change the simple meaning of the pasuk [אין מקרא יוצא מידי פשוטו] because we know there is still a mitzva to guard the matzos making sure that they don't become chametz. In addition, we expound that one may be lazy in fulfilling mitzvos. [עי' כתב וקבלה שמות י"ב י"ז]

If so, what is that gemara's problem with saying אל תקרי בהדרת קודש אלא בחרדת קודש? It can mean both הדרת קודש - dressy clothing, and חרדת קודש - seriousness and submission? Why does the simple meaning have to preclude an additional layer of meaning as expressed in a אל תקרי

וצ"ע

[עי' אינצ. תלמודית ערך אל תקרי להרחבה ומקורות]

לזכות ידיד נפשי הרב אליעזר זאב שליט"א בן דבורה וכל בני ביתו, לברכה והצלחה בכל מעשי ידיו

The Meaning Of Hiddur

The word "hiddur" in Hebrew means to honor. והדרת פני זקן - Honor the elderly. ודל לא תהדר בריבו - Don't honor a poor man in a dispute. ולא תהדר פני גדול - Don't honor the rich [in a dispute].

In Aramaic it means to "return". In fact - the two meanings are connected. In Hebrew we mean that one should suddenly "turn back" and honor. One would be inclined to say "How can I fine this poor man" and jump backwards and not fine him so the pasuk says ודל לא תהדר בריבו. One might jump back in fear and honor the rich in a dispute where he is liable, so the pasuk says ולא תהדר פני גדול.

The gemara says that הידור - honor, means don't sit in his place, don't contradict his words etc. הידור would seem to have a proactive connotation and not a passive one ["don't"]. But now we understand that it really connotes passivity - "step back and don't...."

That is also the meaning of the drasha of the gemara [brachos 31] about davening: השתחוו לה' בהדרת קודש אל תקרי בהדרת אלא בחרדת - The word הדר is expounded to mean חרד - fearful. Now we understand why....

Pilei Pla-os!

[ע"פ הכתב והקבלה ויקרא י"ט]

A thought: How would הידור as beauty fit in with this [הידור מצוה, הוד והדר]?

לזכות הרב אליעזר זאב בן דבורה וכל בני ביתו לברכה והצלחה וכל טוב סלה!!!

New Articles

Parshas Ki Savo. Huuuuuge!! בס"ד

Give Them Time

When I was a kid, men went to shul and women stayed home with the babies. This is logical as men are obligated to go to shul and women are not. In addition, women can nurse and are better with babies than men [with all due respect to us..] so it makes sense that they should be the care-givers, at least during davening.

Times have changed. I now see all over that men are taking even little babies to shul. Why? Don't these babies have mothers? Of course they do. How would they have been born otherwise?

If the mothers are not home then the men should stay home. Shul is not a place for babies. The fathers who are bringing their babies are not davening properly because they are constantly busy tending to the baby's needs and in addition the babies cry and disrupt the tefilla.

Today I saw a new one. Two kollel men took their babies to the beis medrash and learned afternoon seder with their chavrusos [when they weren't busy with the babies]. A busy beis medrash and crying babies?!

Really, really - they should stay home. If mommy can't be there and they can't find a baby sitter then using the beis medrash as a nursery is not appropriate.

We love babies. One day they to will be יושבי בית מדרש - just not yet at the age of three months.

Give them time....

A Scandal

Every so often I write about this and because it is especially perturbing I will repeat the theme....

Parents, often highly intelligent and educated, spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on their children mis-education, and after 12 years of day school, [many of them] can't properly read a sentence in Hebrew, are unfamiliar with most of the Chumash, just about all of Nach, barely know halacha and are not motivated to know more. Not to mention the low level of commitment to keeping halacha and lives that are primarily, outside of some religious symbols, very secular. It goes without saying their gemara skills and knowledge rival that of a beginning 4th grader. I write with no hint of hyperbole. Anyone involved in Jewish education will confirm this.

What is more remarkable is that the parents themselves usually went through the system and should know better...

Why do parents put up with this? It is their money and more importantly - their children.

Why are schools not revamping the system? It stinks.

This is scandalous.

The miracle is that these kids come to Israel where some are saved. But then they return and raise children who go through the same system and the problem perpetuates.   

Who Says Men Don't Remember?

Moishe and Miriam Epstein were shopping at the mall. Suddenly Miriam looked around and Moishe was gone. Miriam was quite upset because they had a lot of shopping to do. She searched for a while before she decided to call Moishe on his cell phone to ask him where he was.
In a quiet voice he said, “Do you remember the jewelry store we went to about five years ago, when you fell in love with that diamond necklace that we couldn’t afford and I told you one day – one day, I would get it for you?”
Miriam choked up and started to cry. “Yes I remember that store,” she said trembling.
“Good,” replied Moishe, “Because I’m at the ice cream store next door.”

Modern "Spirituality"

RABBן MONDAY MORNING IN SHUL: "Will everyone please turn on their tablet, PC, iPad, smart phone, and Kindles to Art Scroll page 232. And please switch on your Bluetooth to download the sermon."

P-a-u-s-e......

"Now, let us daven. Open your Apps, BBM, Twitter and Facebook, and chat with God"

S-i-l-e-n-c-e .......

"As we accept your kind tzedakah donations, please have your credit and debit cards ready."
"You can log on to the Shul Wi-Fi using the password 'Hashem18.' The Shammes will circulate mobile card swipe machines among the congregants:

Those who prefer to make electronic fund transfers are directed to computers and laptops at the rear of the Shul.

Those who prefer to use iPads can open them.

Those who prefer telephone banking, take out your cell phones to transfer your contributions to the Shul account.”

This week's shiur will be held on the various Facebook group pages where the usual group chatting takes place. Please log in and don't miss out.

Thursday's Talmud Torah study will be held live on Skype at 1900hrs GMT. Please don't miss out.

You can follow the Rabbi on Twitter this weekend for counselling and prayers.

Not Crooks

The editor of a small Israeli newspaper, furious over several government bills that had recently been passed, printed a scathing editorial with an enormous headline:

"HALF OF THE MEMBERS OF THE KNESSET ARE CROOKS."

Many of the Knesset members were outraged and exerted pressure on the editor to print a retraction. He finally gave in to the pressure and ran his apology with the headline:

"HALF OF THE MEMBERS OF THE KNESSET ARE NOT CROOKS."

Letter To Someone Who Fell Big Time

A letter from the Steipler to someone who was פוגם בברית קודש.

I was bothered by the omission of a mention of the Rambam in Hilchos Teshuva 7/7 עיי"ש וצריך לי עיון.

Hataras Nedarim Via Skype

As founder of the Yeshiva G'dola D'skype, I found this question quite interesting....


Around the time of Rosh Hashana, I will not be in the proximity of people who can do Hatarat Nedarim for me. Can I do it via Skype?

---

While a general Hatarat Nedarim (=HN) within days of Rosh Hashana is just a minhag (see Chayei Adam 138:8), it is good that you are looking for an opportunity to do it.

 

There is a machloket Rishonim (see Beit Yosef, Yoreh Deah 228 and Ran, Nedarim 8b) whether hatarat nedarim (=hn – annulling (a) specific oath(s)) requires the presence of the oath taker (noder). The gemara (Nedarim 8b) asks whether a husband can be an agent to request his wife’s hn and concludes that he can. Some say (including R. Shimshon) that others, who are less impacted by it, are certainly effective based on the general rule that agents can carry out halachic processes. The Rambam (Shvuot 6:4), accepted by the Shulchan Aruch (YD 228:16), is among those who require the oath taker’s presence.

 

We must see how absolute this ruling is, on a few levels. The Keren Ora (Nedarim 8b) and Kiryat Melech Rav (on the Rambam ibid.) suggest that it is a Rabbinic law, with the latter explaining that we want the noder to be self-conscious, to discourage making this a common practice. Rav Auerbach (Minchat Shlomo, Nedarim ibid.) suggests that it is to enable effective discussion of the grounds for the hn.

 

Classical poskim suggest exceptions. The Rama (YD 228:16, based on the Yerushalmi) says that the hn can be done through an interpreter, but the Shach (228:29) and Taz (228:21) say that this is only because the noder is present. More significantly, the Taz (228:20) cites the Rashba who says that even those who disqualify an agent allow the noder to submit his request to beit din in writing. The idea is that the request must be transmitted without using intermediaries, but it works even without formalistic interaction between the noder and the beit din. The Taz also cites the Rivash (370), who disallows writing. (The Rivash’s proof is from the midrash about Yiftach’s haughty refusal to go to Pinchas to undo his oath, which seems to indicate that a letter would not have sufficed.) The Taz does not take a clear stand on hn by letter, and the Pitchei Teshuva (228: 9; see also Kol Nidrei 19:3) allows it in a case of significant need.

 

Poskim have been discussing the use of telephones for halachic matters. One crucial issue is appointing the facilitators of a get. This a more difficult matter than ours because of the need to ascertain identity and for a possibly higher level of connection between the husband and the facilitators (see discussion in Tzitz Eliezer X:47 and article by Rabbi H. Jachter in Techumin XIV). Another area of interest is berachot heard via telephone. One cannot fulfill mitzvot through such a beracha, but leading poskim have argued whether one can (Yechaveh Da’at II:68) or cannot (Minchat Shlomo I:9) answer “Amen.” Hn by phone could follow the same logic, or can be more lenient (if a practical rather than formal connection between the two is enough) or more strict than other applications (if presence is a Torah requirement).

 

A Skype discussion is no worse than a written request for hn. After all, one’s written word does not have a special status in this context (proof of this claim is beyond our present scope). Rather, the important thing is to convey the requester’s message effectively without another person’s intervention. In some ways, Skype is preferable. It allows for give and take between the parties and creates a personal connection that could provide a measure of self-consciousness (see above). In the latter, it might even be a slight improvement over telephone. Audio/video’s greater improvement is in regard to cases (arguably, gittin) in which authentication is crucial, as it is easier to impersonate a voice than a voice and appearance.

 

In conclusion, when necessary, one can rely on hn by phone (see Shevet Hakehati IV:239) and by Skype. We note briefly that HN before Rosh Hashana may require less halachic precision, and therefore leniency is fully acceptable.

 

Machon Eretz Chemdah

Washing Hands With Soap On Yom Kippur

Is it permissible to wash one’s hands with soap after leaving the toilet on Yom Kippur or only with water?

---

It is a matter of debate whether afflictions other than eating and drinking, such as rechitza (washing hands with water) and sicha (classically, smearing the skin with oil) are of Torah origin or are Rabbinic (see Beit Yosef, Orach Chayim 611). Rechitza is permitted when it is not for enjoyment but to remove dirt (Shulchan Aruch, OC 513:1). The hygienic need for washing hands after use of the toilet is no less significant than of dirt.

 

Your question is a good one because sicha is more stringent than washing. The Yerushalmi (Yoma 8:1) says that sicha is forbidden even when it is not for pleasure. The gemara (Yoma 77ab) does permit putting oil on chatatim (a type of skin disorder) or for the needs of the sick. Our questions are: 1. Is using soap sicha? 2. If so, does the need for soap justify its use?

 

The gemara (Yoma 76b) talks of sicha in reference to oil. Tosafot (ibid. 77a) assumes that it applies also to smearing animal fats on the skin. Apparently, the two main ingredients in solid soap are vegetable oils and animal fat (although liquid soaps, which we use because of melacha, are more diverse). Yet soaps seem to be fundamentally different, in that the point of sicha is usually to have the skin absorb the substance. This is also evident from the gemara’s (Yoma 76b) portrayal of sicha as being like drinking. In contrast, soap is intended to be applied and soon thereafter removed with only a tiny amount being absorbed. However, we do find very mainstream Acharonim, including the Mishna Berura (554:28) and the Aruch Hashulchan (YD 117:29), who assume that using soaps is sicha. The context of the latter is a discussion of whether it is permitted to use non-kosher soaps, which depends on how far we take the equation between sicha and drinking. On that topic, Rav Ovadia Yosef (Yechaveh Da’at IV:43) adds to other reasons for leniency, the idea that using soap is “less than regular sicha, as it is immediately washed away with water.” I do not know that he meant that such “less than regular” sicha is permitted on Yom Kippur, but the statement corroborates the salience of our distinction and adds at least slightly to the grounds for leniency.

 

Why is sicha stricter than washing (i.e., it is forbidden even without intention for enjoyment)? The Magen Avraham (614:1) says that it is because sicha generally provides greater enjoyment. Rabbeinu Manoach (Shvitat Assor 3:9) says that since most people wash off dirt with water, using oil looks like it is being done for enjoyment. Similarly, Tosafot Yom Hakippurim (Yoma 77b) says that since one can use water, the higher level of sicha was not permitted without special need. Since soap is rarely used for enjoyment, people are unlikely to be confused of his intentions, and it has a function that water does not provide, logic would seem to allow its use for hygiene just like water. Nevertheless, it is quite possible that anything that is under the category of sicha is forbidden even when it does not share the reasons for stringency. The Mishna Berura (554:28) might imply this, as does the common ruling/practice to forbid roll-on deodorant on Yom Kippur.

 

Still, the above makes it easier to permit the use of soap based on need. The Shulchan Aruch (OC 614:1) says that it is permitted to do sicha for a sick person. It is logical (albeit, arguable) that it should be similarly permitted to take action to prevent disease, which health experts say soap does. Certainly, circumstances impact the degree of need to use soap. It also seems hypocritical for one whose use of soap is inconsistent to pick Yom Kippur to be careful about it. However, we believe that halacha permits use of soap on Yom Kippur in cases where a basic level of hygiene calls for it. One should use simple, not luxurious, soap, and it is even better to dilute it to the point that it has a water-like consistency (see Dirshu 614:1 in the name of Ohr L’tzion).

 

Machon Eretz Chemdah

 

Sgula For Children

The holy Rebbe Rephael of Bershid was once a guest at the house of the holy Rebbe Shmuel of Kaminka. The daughter of Rebbe Shmuel, who was barren, asked for a bracha for children.

Rebbe Rephael said that simcha is a sgula for children.

When the daughter told this to her father Rebbe Shmuel, he said that the Tzaddik learned this from the Torah, Neviim and Ksuvim.

From the Torah, as it says, ותצחק שרה בקרבה לאמר - Sarah laughed when she heard that she was going to bear a child.  

Neviim: רני עקרה לא ילדה - Be joyous barren one who hasn't given birth - if she is joyous then she will conceive.

Ksuvim - מושיבי עקרת הבית אם הבנים שמחה - If the barren woman is happy she will become a mother.

[This is more correlation than causation but the idea is true. In fact - simcha is a sgula for just about everything good...:-)].

Some Thoughts On An "Underrated" Sugya - Thought Provoking

לזכות ידידי אהובי ר' צבי משה בן איתן אברהם הלוי לברכה והצלחה הוא וכל הנלוים אליו

3 opinions about how to stand for davening - Why no cross reference?

The mishna [Brachos 30] says that one may only daven with כובד ראש – seriousness [literally a "heavy head"]. There is another gemara in Yevamos [105b] that also discusses how one must daven and quotes three opinions. 1] Your eyes should be focused downwards. 2] Your eyes must be focused upwards. 3] Your eyes should be looking down and your heart should be focused above.

 The first opinion apparently holds that one must be submissive when davening. The second opinion holds that one must feel a sense of spiritual elevation and the third opinion merges the first two opinions and strives for both submission and elevation.

What is odd is that our gemara [in Brachos] doesn't mention that gemara [in Yevamos] and that gemera doesn't mention our mishna. Since they seem to be talking about the same issue it would be only natural to cross reference in one or both places.   In fact, the Rif here does mention the gemara in Yevamos but our gemara omits it.

 

Why?

The gemara in Rosh Hashana [26b] also discusses a similar issue. There is an argument there whether the shofar should be bent or straight פשוט או כפוף . Rashi understands this to be a dispute as to whether one should daven on Rosh Hashana with one's face downward, in a submissive pose, or straight up with more confidence. Once again it would seem that this discussion would be germane to our gemara in Brachos, yet both gemaros neglect to mention each other.

 

Any thoughts?

[The sefer Marbeh Amida הערה א  the Gaon Hamechaber has a mehalech … ע"ש]

 

After writing this [on the 134 bus going to Binyanei Ha-umahJ] I found the sefer עין אליהו  who writes that the machlokes in Yevamos is dependent upon two opinions found in Brachos. The opinion that says that one must daven with his eyes down is following the mishna that one must daven with כובד ראש. The opinion that one must daven with one's eyes upwards is following the opinion mentioned in the Braisa in Brachos that one must daven with simcha [are the two opinions necessarily arguing? That is apparently a Machlokes rishonim which we may or may not return to on these pages:-) - E.E.]. The conclusion of the gemara is that both are necessary. As far as the body is concerned one should be submissive, for the body comes from a putrid drop. Therefore, one should daven with one's eyes downwards. As far as the soul is concerned one should feel elevated and confident for the soul is a piece of Hashem כביכול  [the language of the Tanya – חלק אלו-ה ממעל ממש!]. Therefore, the heart is focused upwards.

 

The Pnei Yehoshua in Brachos understands כובד ראש  to mean that one should literally have a "heavy head" and bow his head down a bit while elevating his heart heavenwards, in order to fulfill the conclusion of the gemara in Yevamos [not like the עין אליהו  we mentioned earlier who understands that כובד ראש  precludes having one's heart directed upwards]. 

 

Either should be fine

The Turei Even asks [Rosh Hashana 26] that if the gemara in Yevamos concludes that one needs both submission and uprightness, why is there an argument on Rosh Hashna about whether the shofar must be  פשוט or כפוף  - bent or upright. Since you CAN'T have both, either should be fine?

Paroh Vs. Moshe

 Rav Dov Hakohen Kook Shlita [עד שהמלך במסיבו עמ' ס"ג] contrasts the obligation to have one's heart directed above and his eyes below with a heavy head to the behavior of Paroh who had a heavy HEART [כבד לב פרעה] and an elevated head [מי לי בשמים לי יאורי ואני עשיתיני – "Who is to me in heaven, the river is mine and I created myself"]. The contrast to Paroh's arrogance is Moshe the quintessential humble person who also was [literally] in the heavens.

I hope that this discussion provokes yet more discussion....:-)

  

Seek Out My Face

Regarding the previous post...

 

The pasuk says לך אמר לבי בקשו פני את פניך ה' אבקש - About you [Hashem] my heart said, seek out My face, the face of Hashem I will seek out.

 

"Seek out My face" simply means the face of Hashem. But it can also mean  - my own face. My heart was sent by Hashem [as the commentators explain] to tell me that I should seek out my פנים - pnimiyus, deep recesses of my soul, and the result will be that את פניך השם אבקש - I will be seeking out the face of Hashem. For to find my true self is to find Hashem. 

 

צור לבבי וחלקי לעולם - The rock of my heart and my portion forever, says Dovid Hamelech. Who is in the hearts of the Jewish people, explain Chazal on this pasuk? Hashem. To look inside is to find Him.

 

People are ALWAYS looking outside. Hence the obsession-addiction to their social media toys. We don't look inwards but outwards. Hence, we find nothing but emptiness and constantly try to fill the void with more. But alas, it is a bottomless pit...

 

If we look inwards, to the world of deep emotion and profound intellect - we will traverse a bridge that will lead us to the One who is not only Above but Below as well.

 

לזכות ר' משה גבריאל בן יהודית לברכה והצלחה בכל מעשי ידיו הוא וביתו וכל אשר לו 

 

Addicted - Thank G-d For Shabbos!

All day. Every day. Clicking. Pressing. Texting. Scrolling up. Scrolling down. Talking. It never ends. Wherever I go. In shul. The Mikva. The supermarket. The Beis Medrash. The bus. The street. The Kotel. Mother's picking their kids up from nursery.

All day. Every day. Clicking. Pressing. Texting. Talking. It never ends.

TGFS!!!

[More to come bl"n...]

Pollard's Release From Prison

R' Aviner

Q: When Jonathan Pollard is finally released from an American prison after thirty years, should he recite Ha-Gomel?

 

A: Certainly, as the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 219:1) rules that one who is freed from jail recites this blessing.

 

Q: But the Mishnah Berurah writes in the Biur Halachah (d.h. Chavush) that in the case of one who is imprisoned but not in danger, the Sefardic custom is to recite Ha-Gomel but the Ashkenazi custom is not to do so, and Pollard is Ashkenazi.  Furthermore, there are rules in a American prison and people are not randomly killed there.

 

A: 1. He has been in danger on account of the harsh treatment he received there, including years of solitary confinement.  2. He has been with other prisoners who could have murdered him (Piskei Teshuvot 219:4).  3. He has been in a life-threatening situation various times on account of illnesses, and he continues to be very sick.

 

 

Q: If so, it is clear that he should recite Ha-Gomel…

 

A: Furthermore, the Kaf Ha-Chaim (219:1) brings that Sefardim should recite Ha-Gomel when being released from jail on account of the lack of personal freedom, even if there were wonderful conditions.  And Ashkenazi Poskim hold that one recites the blessing if one is bound in handcuffs and this is the case here (Piskei Teshuvot ibid. #1.  Although Ha-Rav Chaim Kanievski said that Pollard should not recite Ha-Gomel based on the simple understanding of the words the Mishnah Berurah writes in the Biur Halachah brought above.  Parashah Sheet "Divrei Shi'ach" – Parashat Re'eh 5775 - #131).

 

Q: Should we recite Ha-Tov Ve-Ha-Meitiv?

 

A: Yes, upon the good news of his release (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 222:1.  And this is also the opinion of Ha-Rav Chaim Kanievski.  Parashah Sheet "Divrei Shi'ach" – Parashat Re'eh 5775 - #131).

 

Q: When should we recite this blessing?

 

A: Upon his release.

 

Q: Why don't we recite the blessing now over the good news that he will be released?

 

A: We only recite it when he leaves the prison and is free, since there can always be complications.

 

Q: Should everyone recite this blessing?

 

A: Anyone who is truly joyous.  See Aruch Ha-Shulchan (ibid. #1).

 

Q: Should one recite Mechaye Ha-Meitim when meeting him after his release?

 

A: No, since we have known all along that he was alive.  We only recite this blessing if we have not heard from someone in over a year and there is a possibility that he is dead.

 

A: Should one recite Shehechiyanu when meeting him after his release as one does when not seeing his friend for 30 days?

 

A: Yes.  Although there are those who do not, for various reasons, customarily recite Shehechiyanu over seeing a friend (see Piskei Teshuvot 225:2.  And Ha-Rav Chaim Kanievski said that one should not recite Shehechiyanu when seeing Pollard based on the Mishnah Berurah 225:2.  Parashah Sheet "Divrei Shi'ach" – Parashat Re'eh 5775 - #131).  But Rabbenu Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah quotes all of these blessings in Sidur Olat Re'eiyah (Vol. 1 pp. 380-382) as the basic Halachah lays out (and see Shut She'eilat Shlomo 3:83-84, 86).  

 

Q: But Shehechiyanu is only recited when one is joyous to meet his friend, and not when one has never met the person (Shulchan Aruch ibid. #2)?  And is someone who visited Pollard in prison, as Ha-Rav did, in the category of a "friend"?!

 

A: This is a unique case (see Piskei Teshuvot ibid. #2).  Pollard is all of our friend since he saved our entire Nation from the non-conventional weapons of the enemy.  When the Netziv met the Aderet for the first time, he recited Shehechiyanu (see Ha-Rav's commentary on Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 59:21).

 

Q: This was special since the Aderet was a Torah giant!  And the Munkatcher Rebbe recited Shehechiyanu upon seeing the Saba Kadisha for the first time (Shut Yayin Ha-Tov #48-49), as did Ha-Rav Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld over the Munkatcher (Masaot Yerushalayim p. 21).  And Ha-Rav Ephraim Greenblatt ruled that one should recite Shehechiyanu the first time he meets Ha-Rav Moshe Feinstein (Shut Revivot Ephraim 6:104).  It therefore seems that this is a special halachah for Torah giants!

 

A: One who saves his friend, and all the more so one who saves the entire community, has an aspect that is comparable to a Torah scholar.  See Pele Yoetz Erech "Hatzalah", who explains the saying of our Rabbis: "Even those of Israel who are empty are as full of Mitzvot as a pomegranate [is full of seeds]."  How so?  It is those who save lives.  And the Pele Yoetz emphasizes: One who saves lives is greater even than a Torah scholar. 

 

Obstacles To Change

Rabbi Dr. AJ Twersky - Jewish Action

Of course a person should do teshuvah, but I am a bit puzzled. I observe Shabbos, I keep kosher and taharas hamishpachah. I daven every day, I attend a Daf Yomi shiur and I am honest in my business dealings. What exactly should I do teshuvah for?”

People may not actually say this, but some certainly think this way. Yet King Solomon said, “For there is no man so fully righteous that he always does good and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20). Even the greatest tzaddik is not free of sin. How, then, can a person who is quite far from being a perfect tzaddik not feel a need to do teshuvah?

Several psychological defense mechanisms tend to discourage an individual from changing, from doing teshuvah. The obstacles to teshuvah are denial, rationalization, trivializing, projection, habituation and ego.

1} Denial

Throughout Tanach, the prophets repeatedly exhorted the Jewish people to abandon their errant behavior, but as is evident from the Scriptures, they were not very successful. Isaiah explains why. “Surely you hear, but you fail to comprehend; and surely you see, but you fail to know. This people is fattening its heart, hardening its ears and sealing its eyes, lest it see with its eyes and hear with its ears and understand with its heart, so that it will repent and be healed” (Isaiah 6:9-10). No psychology text can improve on Isaiah’s description of denial. Because people are intent on doing whatever they wish, they resort to denial, one of the best-known defense mechanisms so that they are unaffected by the reality of what they see and hear.

We are creatures of habit, and we are comfortable when we can do things without the need to exert much effort. Change is uncomfortable, and in order to avoid this discomfort, our minds block out those realizations that would call for change. The natural state of all matter—including human beings—is inertia, but one must force himself to overcome inertia in order to grow and change.

2} Rationalization

Denial enables a person to maintain the status quo. When reality threatens to overcome denial, the mind employs other defense mechanisms to reinforce the denial—such as rationalization. One of the themes in Proverbs is the tendency to rationalize. Ramchal says, “If a person is confronted with one’s laziness, one will doubtless come back with many quotations culled from the sages and the Scriptures and with intellectual arguments, all supporting, according to his misguided mind, his leniency with himself” (Mesillas Yesharim, Chapter 6).

Denial is not always possible, so the mind is very clever in rationalizing; in other words, justifying one’s actions by giving logical-sounding reasons for them. The Torah stresses the gravity of speaking lashon hara, for example, which requires both teshuvah vis-à-vis Hashem and forgiveness from the victim. Oftentimes one who speaks lashon hara may attempt to justify his behavior by claiming “But it’s the truth!” Defamatory speech is lashon hara, even if it is true.

3} Habituation

The Talmud says that when a person does a forbidden act several times, it loses its opprobrium. Habituation enables one to think that these transgressions are permissible. His conscience is lulled into thinking, It’s really not so terrible. Thus, even though the morning minyan begins promptly at 6:30 am and ends at 7:05, there are some minyannaires who habitually show up at 6:45 and leave before everyone else. They are so accustomed to arriving late and davening at breakneck speed, they see nothing wrong with it.

4} Projection

One who projects onto another will not be able to do genuine teshuvah. Sins committed against another person are not forgiven on Yom Kippur unless one has obtained forgiveness from the offended individual. The defense mechanism of projection turns things around: I did not offend him. He offended me. He should really be apologizing to me.

5} Trivializing

The tendency to trivialize halachah is another impediment in the road to teshuvah. I missed Minchah, but I was so busy at the office. Anyway, it’s not a big deal. Or, I chatted with my friend during the Reading of the Torah, but doesn’t everybody? (This is the only sin for which the Shulchan Aruch says, “There is no forgiveness.”)

6} Ego

Inasmuch as teshuvah for an offense against another person requires that one make amends and ask forgiveness, there is ego resistance to humbling oneself, apologizing and making restitution where required.

One of the axioms of human behavior is that a person will always choose to do that which is most comfortable for him. We find that an addict will not agree to change until he hits “rock-bottom,” i.e., that the pain incident to the addiction is greater than the pleasure it provides. This is equally true of the non-addict. Therefore, oftentimes individuals only agree to change when they have reached rock-bottom.

But what can constitute rock-bottom for the non-addict? A person who contemplates his life goals and sees that his behavior is jeopardizing his reaching those goals may reach rock-bottom. But this requires giving serious thought to defining one’s goals and purpose in life. Confronting death can usually lead to such introspection. I recently attended the funeral of a great talmid chacham. A man next to me said somewhat somberly, “Reb Z. is taking along with him much Torah and mitzvos. What will I be taking along?”

The first chapter in Mesillas Yesharim is entitled “A Person’s Obligation in His World.” The theme of Mesillas Yesharim is the refinement of one’s character. Changing one’s character traits is a major challenge and is usually met with great resistance. Many times real change won’t happen until one realizes that unless one does so, his life is meaningless.

Uncompromised honesty is necessary to see through the psychological defenses that are a barrier to teshuvah. Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Penitence and Yom Kippur are days in which one should be inspired to evaluate the meaning of one’s life. Only when we are aware that we need “fixing” will we do teshuvah.

Go Out To War

Rabbi Moshe Shalit

The declaration, "When you go out to war against your enemy" [Devarim 21:10], is interpreted by the author of the Tanya as the "Divine soul" going out to battle against the evil inclination – the "animal soul." Rebbes of Chabad who followed him expanded this basic idea by finding new details in the verse that refer to this war. The following are some examples of their comments.   "When you go out" – By the very fact that it arrived in this world, the soul left its natural habitat, high and exalted directly under the Throne of Glory. The act of leaving is in itself an act of war. If we left and have arrived in this world, we are already in this war. It is important for us to recognize this fact.   On the other hand, we must take into account that we must always feel that we are on the move – leaving our natural place and going into "enemy territory" because this is G-d's will. The only way we can win the war is to continue to "be led" by our close clinging to G-d, to feel that this world is external to our natural place, but we must always remember that we have been placed exactly where G-d wants us to be. We have not come here in order to float above reality and to withdraw from humanity, we are searching for "close contact," and we want to be active and have an effect on the world.   "To war" – Even though the ultimate goal is not to shatter the evil inclination but rather to refine it and mend it – to achieve a situation where the evil inclination also loves G-d – we must wage war along the way to the exalted goal. The evil inclination will never reach a stage when it changes direction and accepts our way if it does not first suffer from painful blows. The war must change it into a "tool" for refinement and mending.   "Over your enemy" – What is written is not "against" your enemy but rather "over" your enemy. You are definitely on top, because you come with the power of a Divine soul which is "part of the G-d above."   There is another and deeper explanation. Remind your adversary what is "above your enemy" – what is above him, his own spiritual root. In this way, you will remove the basis of the evil. The foundation of the animal soul stems from the beasts that are mentioned in the legends of creation. The foundation of the enemies, according to mystic lore, is the separation from divinity, whose goal is to create a fire of yearning that will lead to a renewed closeness. As time passed and the worlds descended lower and lower, the distance for the purpose of becoming closer became a void and was blocked. When we awaken the animal soul from its foundation, "over your enemy," the possibility will arise to overturn it and to bring it into our forces. "When man began to fight the war, the opposite side lost its force." "And you will capture its captive" – Aside from the victory itself, there are other bonuses. The captives are Divine sparks which exist within the shells and the evil inclination, and now they return home, to become holy.   The captive entity from the evil inclination is still called "its captive." It is still related to evil, because within it there are still special powers, like the extra merit that those who have repented have over the entirely righteous people. The sparks have unique strengths, and the novelty stems from the fact that they reach us as a result of our waging war.   The Holy One, Blessed be He, gave the shells strength, and this is strong and true power. He also gave us strong and true power, in order to be able to conquer them. This is not a victory over a meaningless void, because the Holy One, Blessed be He, created them with great power in order to oppose sanctity, but we are able to capture this strength from them! And when we capture such strength, the novelty is great and prominent.

Keep The Cow

There once was a 94-year-old rabbi in the 1890's in a small shtetle in Poland whose worn-out body began to surrender. The shtetle doctor prescribed for him a shot of whiskey three times a day, to relax him.

However, not to be lured into worldly pleasures, he declined. But the doctor heard that the rabbi loved milk. So he instructed the rabbi’s wife to spike his milk three times a day.

Eventually, the elderly rabbi approached his final hour. As several of the townsfolk gathered around him at his bedside, the townsfolk asked if there were any words of wisdom the rabbi wanted to leave to the people in the town.

"Oh, yes," he replied. "Never sell that cow!"

The Merit Of A Chesed

L'zchus R' Moshe Gavriel ben Yehudis l'bracha vihatzlacha bichol maaseh yadav, hu vi-chol ha'nilvim eilav!

The great gadol and tzadik, Rav Chaim Kreiswirth, the Chief Rabbi of Belgium, whose yahrtzeit was last Thursday, related that an act of chesed saved his life.

One time the Jews were rounded up by the gestapo and each person was asked if he was a Jew. One person denied it [Rav Chaim said that he doesn't know if this person survived the war]. Rav Chaim affirmed that he was. So the Nazis told him to pray his last prayer because he is about to be killed.

Rav Chaim asked Hashem to save him in the merit of his helping Yeshaya'le Mishna. A Nazi was told to take him to the forest and kill him there. On the way there, Rav Chaim asked the Nazi if it was right to kill young people. The Nazi said that it wasn't. He added that he himself has 3 children. He shot in the air and told Rav Chaim to run away.

Who was Rav Yeshayale Mishna? When Rav Chaim was 17 years old, he was giving shiurim in Warsaw and had a room with one bed. One time, the Grodzisker Rebbe sent to him a blind man named Reb Yeshay'le Mishna and asked to set him up with a place to stay so that he can undergo treatments for his eyes. Rav Chaim couldn't find him a place to stay so he gave up his own bed and slept on the cold floor for a few weeks until Reb Yeshaya received his treatment and was healed.

Rav Chaim said that it was very difficult but he believes that in the zchus of this mitzva he was saved.

Nonacceptance

From my archives....

"The pain that you create now is always some form of nonacceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what is. On the level of thought, the resistance is some form of judgment. On the emotional level, it is some form of negativity. The intensity of the pain depends on the degree of resistance to the present moment, and this in turn depends on how strongly you are identified with your mind."
When you feel pain over a certain reality or circumstance it is mostly because you don't accept this reality or circumstance as being to your benefit. Accept it as the absolutely BEST thing for yourself [as we believe it is and כל מה דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד] and the pain will disappear.

We also resist because we judge. We decide "This is NOT the right thing for me". Who am I to judge what is right and what is wrong??

We are also negative. We tell ourselves  "This is bad". That is negativity rearing its ugly head.  

Accept your reality as PERFECT for the present time and find yourself experiencing momentary bliss.

Jews call it "Emunah".

Why Do They Have To Be Short?

“I have black guys counting my money. … I hate it. The only guys I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes all day.”

(Donald Trump USA Today, May 20, 1991)

GPS Override

David was speaking to his brother Jacob the night before David was set to pack up his family and drive off to Jacob’s home in the country for the week.
Jacob: You all set for the trip tomorrow? Do you need directions to our new place?
David: No, I’m all set. I have the address, a GPS, and a GPS override.
Jacob: What’s a GPS override?
David: My wife.

Perfect Medicine

Yenta had to call Dr. Clayman to get him to check on her husband David. He was not looking well at all.

After Dr. Clayman examined David, he said to Yenta, "Your husband is extremely fatigued and needs a lot of peace and quiet.”

“Oh my goodness, doctor,” Yenta said. “Is there any medication you can prescribe?”

“Yes,” replied Dr. Clayman confidently. “If you want to help him recover, please take one tranquillizer, four times per day.”

I Apologize - Be Divine

Every time I re-read an article on the blog I find typos, despite my efforts to publish typo-less posts. I considered firing my copy-editor who is responsible to make sure that every post comes out correctly. But where do I find someone who a] does everything for free and b] works whenever I want him to - regardless of the hour. So I will keep him.

Plus - it is weird firing yourself.

But nevertheless - my apologies. To err is human but to forgive is divine...

The Bliss Of Ignorance

From the New York Times:

IN the mid-1980s, a University of Arizona surgery professor, Marlys H. Witte, proposed teaching a class entitled “Introduction to Medical and Other Ignorance.” Her idea was not well received; at one foundation, an official told her he would rather resign than support a class on ignorance.

 

 

Dr. Witte was urged to alter the name of the course, but she wouldn’t budge. Far too often, she believed, teachers fail to emphasize how much about a given topic is unknown. “Textbooks spend 8 to 10 pages on pancreatic cancer,” she said some years later, “without ever telling the student that we just don’t know very much about it.” She wanted her students to recognize the limits of knowledge and to appreciate that questions often deserve as much attention as answers. Eventually, the American Medical Association funded the class, which students would fondly remember as “Ignorance 101.”

Classes like hers remain rare, but in recent years scholars have made a convincing case that focusing on uncertainty can foster latent curiosity, while emphasizing clarity can convey a warped understanding of knowledge.
 

In 2006, a Columbia University neuroscientist, Stuart J. Firestein, began teaching a course on scientific ignorance after realizing, to his horror, that many of his students might have believed that we understand nearly everything about the brain. (He suspected that a 1,414-page textbook may have been culpable.)

As he argued in his 2012 book “Ignorance: How It Drives Science,” many scientific facts simply aren’t solid and immutable, but are instead destined to be vigorously challenged and revised by successive generations. Discovery is not the neat and linear process many students imagine, but usually involves, in Dr. Firestein’s phrasing, “feeling around in dark rooms, bumping into unidentifiable things, looking for barely perceptible phantoms.” By inviting scientists of various specialties to teach his students about what truly excited them — not cold hard facts but intriguing ambiguities — Dr. Firestein sought to rebalance the scales.

Presenting ignorance as less extensive than it is, knowledge as more solid and more stable, and discovery as neater also leads students to misunderstand the interplay between answers and questions.

People tend to think of not knowing as something to be wiped out or overcome, as if ignorance were simply the absence of knowledge. But answers don’t merely resolve questions; they provoke new ones.

Michael Smithson, a social scientist at Australian National University who co-taught an online course on ignorance this summer, uses this analogy: The larger the island of knowledge grows, the longer the shoreline — where knowledge meets ignorance — extends. The more we know, the more we can ask. Questions don’t give way to answers so much as the two proliferate together. Answers breed questions. Curiosity isn’t merely a static disposition but rather a passion of the mind that is ceaselessly earned and nurtured.

Mapping the coast of the island of knowledge, to continue the metaphor, requires a grasp of the psychology of ambiguity. The ever-expanding shoreline, where questions are born of answers, is terrain characterized by vague and conflicting information. The resulting state of uncertainty, psychologists have shown, intensifies our emotions: not only exhilaration and surprise, but also confusion and frustration.

The borderland between known and unknown is also where we strive against our preconceptions to acknowledge and investigate anomalous data, a struggle Thomas S. Kuhn described in his 1962 classic, “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.” The center of the island, by contrast, is safe and comforting, which may explain why businesses struggle to stay innovative. When things go well, companies “drop out of learning mode,” Gary P. Pisano, a professor at Harvard Business School, told me. They flee uncertainty and head for the island’s interior.

The study of ignorance — or agnotology, a term popularized by Robert N. Proctor, a historian of science at Stanford — is in its infancy. This emerging field of inquiry is fragmented because of its relative novelty and cross-disciplinary nature (as illustrated by a new book, “Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance Studies”). But giving due emphasis to unknowns, highlighting case studies that illustrate the fertile interplay between questions and answers, and exploring the psychology of ambiguity are essential. Educators should also devote time to the relationship between ignorance and creativity and the strategic manufacturing of uncertainty.

The time has come to “view ignorance as ‘regular’ rather than deviant,” the sociologists Matthias Gross and Linsey McGoey have boldly argued. Our students will be more curious — and more intelligently so — if, in addition to facts, they were equipped with theories of ignorance as well as theories of knowledge.

----------------------------------

This is a very Torah-dike idea. A person must start learning with the knowledge that he is ignorant which engenders humility. The more we know and learn, the more ignorant we realize that we are and the more humble we become.

If people would have this attitude they would be much more willing to hear other opinions and less quick to react when hearing something different from what they believe at this present moment.

Hashem has create a vast physical universe and a spiritual universe many times larger. Let us open our minds and hearts to try to comprehend His infinite wisdom with the knowledge that we are not even scratching the surface.

In the words of R' Yediah Hapnini "תכלית הידיעה שלא נדע" - The purpose of knowledge is to realize that we know nothing.

On this idea I saw the following on the website of Yeshivat Har Bracha:

רב גור גלון

אי הוודאות הובילה לחטא

 

בפרשתנו אנו קוראים על אחד החטאים הנוראים ביותר שחטאו אי פעם עם ישראל- חטא העגל. על חטא העגל נאמר שבכל הפורענויות הבאות על ישראל במהלך ההיסטוריה יש חלק מפרעון חטא זה. החטא מתואר בפסוקים: "וירא העם כי בושש משה לרדת מן ההר ויקהל העם על אהרון ויאמרו אליו קום עשה לנו אלוהים אשר ילכו לפנינו כי זה משה האיש אשר העלנו מארץ מצרים לא ידענו מה היה לו".

 

המניע לחטא העגל, על פי פשט הפסוקים, הוא חוסר הידיעה. העם לא יודע מה קרה למשה ולכן הוא מבקש עגל. ישנה כאן מחשבה שהעם אמור לדעת מתי משה ירד מההר ומה קורה לו, ושאם יש חוסר ידיעה צריך לעשות אלוהים, לעשות משהו שיהיה בשליטתו וידיעתו- לעשות עגל.

 

כאשר מציינים חוסר ידיעה עורפים עגלה (כפי שאפשר לראות למשל בפרשת עגלה ערופה). לעומת זאת העגל מבטא ידיעה- "ידע שור קונהו". המקובלים מבארים שהמילה עגל היא מלשון עיגול . העיגול הוא הקו הסופי, הסגור, הברור, העולם הוא עגול. לעומת זאת, הקו הישר מבטא אינסוף, דבר בלתי נתפס, עניין שלא נגמר ולא מוגדר. כפי שכתבו עוד המקובלים שעגל הוא מלשון גילוי, שרצו העם שהכול יהיה גלוי ומובן[1].

 

הרצון להגדיר

 

עם ישראל מרגיש צורך להגדיר "אלה אלוהיך ישראל"- זה הכוח שהעלה אתכם מארץ מצרים. זה איננו כוח מעורפל, אינסופי ואלוקי, אלא כוח נתפס, חומרי ומוגבל.

 

מטבעו, קשה לאדם להתמודד עם דברים לא מוגדרים, לא נתפסים, ענקיים. יש באדם נטייה לגמד, להקטין ולהגדיר כל דבר.

חטא העגל הוא חטא הקטנת האלוקות, זהו חטא שלא מאפשר אי הבנה, שלא נותן לאדם להבין עד כמה הוא לא מבין.

משה רבנו, איש הענווה, מבושש מלבוא, וישראל שנלקחה מהם הענווה, רצים לתת הגדרות, סייגים וגבולות לאלוקות. ההבנה הגדולה שיש כוחות שאיננו מבינים, שיש דברים ומהלכים שמעבר ליכולת הקליטה שלנו היא חלק משמעותי מאוד מעבודת ה'.

 

האמונה היא חיים

 

בתפיסה הנמוכה, מה שהאדם לא מבין לא קיים, לא רלוונטי, אך אנו יודעים שהאמונה היא לא שכל ולא רגש היא חיים, כדברי הרב סולובייצ'יק זצ"ל: "אין התודעה הדתית חותכת מופתים, אין היא מקישה ולא מסיקה, מרגישה היא וחיה את האלוה בתוך תוכה של התודעה האונטולגית (הישותית)".

 

וכדברי הרב צבי יהודה:

"יש אפיקורסים החושבים שאמונה היא 'אי יכולת הבנה'. באמת אמונה היא יותר מהבנה…כל הניתוחים האם אמונה היא שכל או רגש הם פיטפוטים שטחיים, שכל ורגש אינם אלא צדדים פרטיים וחלקיים של כוח החיים שבאדם, של החיוניות הרוחנית שבו. האדם הוא שכל-רגש-רצון ועוד – גם יחד, כל אלה הם גילויים של האדם החי, של 'נשמה שנתת בי', של 'נשמת חיים' שבאדם. צלם אלוקים שבאדם מתגלה בכל הגוונים שלו…מתוך כך, אנו נפגשים בהגדרה האמיתית של אמונה: אמונה היא חיים 'צדיק באמונתו יחיה', חיים כוללים בתוכם את השכל ואת הרגש וגם את הרצון".

את כוח החיים שלנו, את הנשמה האלוקית שמחייה אותנו ואת כל היקום, איננו מבינים. אי אפשר להגדיר חיים, אי אפשר להגדיר נשמה ואי אפשר להגדיר אלוקות. אלו דברים שנמצאים וקיימים אך לא מוגדרים, וזוהי גדולתם ועוצמתם.

היכולת לחיות גם באי ידיעה, המאפשרת לנו להפתח לעולמות של גודל וחסד ושל עוצמה אלוקית.

יהי רצון שנזכה להבין עד כמה איננו מבינים, לדעת לחוש אמונה, להבין כמה אנו חסרים למול העניין האלוקי, וכך להיפתח ולהיות צינור להופעת האלוקות בעולם.

---

[1] וכך כותב הרב ברוך שלום אשלג זצ"ל: "שאו מרום עיניכם וראו מי ברא אלה'. 'מי' – אור חסדים, 'אלה' – אור חכמה בלי חסדים" (זהר, הקדסה"ז, אות ז').

השטן שואל: "מי ה' אשר אשמע בקולו". ואז צריך לקבל הכל כחוק – חסדים, השפעה, למעלה מהדעת, אמונה, בחינת משה. אבל אלה – ידיעה, "אלה אלהיך ישראל".

עגל – חכמה וידיעה, הוא ההפך מהפרה, אמונה. לכן קבלת "חוקת התורה" זה תיקון למעשה העגל".

וכפי שממשיך לבאר זאת תלמידו הרב אברהם מרדכי גוטליב שליט"א: "נמצא, על פי חכמת הקבלה, בזה שאמרו העם: 'אלה אלהיך ישראל', בעצם הכריזו על כך שרוצים לעבוד את השי"ת דוקא בבחינת ידיעה, ולא בבחינת אמונה. שזה נבחן שרצו לעבדו רק באופן שתורגש מציאות ה' יתברך בכלי הקבלה והדעת שלהם, ולא באופן של השפעה ואמונה למעלה מהדעת. ולכן נבחן זה לעבודה זרה. וכן נרמז זה בענין של עגל, כידוע שבמרכבה העליונה יש ד' פנים: אריה שור נשר אדם, כאשר אריה הוא קו ימין, שור הוא קו שמאל, נשר הוא קו אמצעי, ואדם הוא בחי' מלכות המקבלת מג' הפנים הנ"ל. נמצא שענין של עגל הוא קו שמאל (קו השמאל הוא הדין לעומת החסד האין סופי, הדין מייצג את ההגבלה), דשייך לשור. גם 'עגל', לשון גילוי, שחפצו דוקא בגילוי ה', ולא לעבדו באמונה כנ"ל".

 

Never Too Young

"Four year old tells me the dirt under her nails makes them grow. First lesson in correlation versus causality. Never too young!"

"Lifanecha"

לזכות ידידי אהובי ר' אריאל ישעיהו בן פסח דוד

 



 

What opportunities does man have when he awakens from his slumber?

 

The purest light of holiness comes when you ready yourself to receive this light at the very moment you wake up. You have not yet been tainted by this material world, and feel the renewed spirit of life coming upon you. From the semi-dead state of sleep to the new reality of invigorated life. This is the BEST time to feel the tremendous divine love that faces you and to proclaim מודה אני לפניך - I thank BEFORE YOU, IN YOUR PRESENCE. When one is in the Beis Hamikdash the Torah calls this in numerous places לפני השם. When we awaken, we have the opportunity to taste a little of that לפני השם - standing in the presence of the One Above. That is TREMENDOUSLY uplifting and elevating as we start our day. קודש קדשים ממש.

 

 

מודה אני לפניך.

 

The Rav put it like this....

 

ההארה הראשונה של הקדושה היא ההופעה היותר זכה, היותר רוממה ומשוגבת, והיא באה לאדם כשמכין את גבורת נשמתו לקבל את האור הטוב הזה תיכף בהתעוררות הראשונה, בהרגישו בקרבו את רוח החיים של הערות והקיצה. אז מצטירת לפניו הגדולה האלהית הנוכחית מכל מלא המון עולמי עד ומכל מקורותיהם החיים, והוא מוצא את עצמו מצוי נוכח פני אל עליון, ובאהבה עליונה וחבת מתיקות ידידות קדש אומר את הבטוי האדיר המלא עז קודש קדשים : לפניך.



 

 

Wonder of wonders:-).

Female Empowerment - Woman's Football - Tzu Veymen Tzu Veymen - Bite The Dust - Mikva - Bittul - How Rav Kook Signed Off

"Female Empowerment". I quoted that phrase in the previous post. It makes me VERRRRRY uneasy. Torah is not the WFL [Woman's Football League]. We are not looking to empower ANYBODY, other than HKB"H. We are actually looking to DISEMPOWER ourselves and rid ourselves of any delusions of grandeur.

Let us take a pasuk we say twice a day in Elul [truly empowered women daven three times a day so they say it too:-)]: ה' מעוז חיי ממי אפחד - Hashem is the strength of my life from whom shall I fear.

Let us advance to Rosh Hashana when we are ממליך [crown as King] Hashem and not ourselves. The whole idea is to DETHRONE ourselves for a personal sense of haughtiness is the root of sin.

Yom Kippur - A day of contrition and confession admitting our great inadequacy and expressing a desire to change.

Succos - Temporary dwelling. Life is temporary. 4 species - they quickly wilt and die - asdoes the schach. Kosher Succah - Minimally a flimsy 2 walls and a third only one foot wide. We have no real refuge in life other than Hashem. [See famous essay of Maran HaRav]. כי יצפנני בסוכו - Hashem hides me in His succah. Complete submission to the higher power.

The popular poem we sing on Simchas Torah, 
העז וההדר צו וועמען צו וועמען? - לחי עולמים
Strength and glory, to whom to whom? To the Life of the worlds [Hashem].

There are countless other places where this is expressed. The notion of "self-empowerment" IS mentioned in the Torah but in a very negative context. We are warned not to say כוחי ועוצם ידי  - MY strength and the power of my hand accomplished all of my success.

Every day in davening we supplicate Hashem at the end ונפשי כעפר לכל תהיה - We want to be DUST to all. Not Betty Freidan and her ilk, talmidos vi-talmidei talmidos, who are always on the hunt for more power but nullification.

Woman [and men if they are fortunate] immerse in a mikvah, bringing about purity. טבל - immersion, shares the same letters as .... בטל. We dunk in order to nullify [בטל] ourselves to something higher and holier. That is the holiest.

THAT is the greatest power.

Sweet friends. I hope that I can be מבטל myself to my wife, my parents, my children, society and the world at large [including you when we meet]. I hope, this Elul, that I can shed those odious qualities of self-aggrandizement, self-service, narcissism, and excessive self-love.

Maran HaRav Kook would sign his letters עבד לעם קודש על אדמת קודש - A servant to a holy nation in the holy land.

הלוואי עלינו!!:-)

Bi-ahava,
Me

לזכות אהובי ר' הערש יונתן בן ר' מרדכי אפרים לברכה והצלחה וכל טוב סלה ועמו רעייתו היקרה ציפורה ליבא בריינדל בת ר' דוד עקיבא

New Shiur

Part 3 in the "Listening to the chachomim" series. Deep-deep analysis. Due to time constraints I have not been able to record the other thousands of shiurim I would like to....

May Hashem help:-).

Link

The Sefer Hachinuch on Shmiras Einayim. He writes that in HIS DAY [about 700 plus years ago] the pritzus got really bad. I can only imagine what he would say today. This is an answer to all those who actively promote the notion of focusing on women in the public sphere.

But then again - such people are usually not moved by passages from the Sefer Hachinuch. Their world view stems from very different places.... ודי למבין.

And see here too.

Yehi ratzon that we should become holier and more pure for the benefit of women, men and society at large.

Boys Clubs

Excerpted from an article by an Orthodox Jewish woman who is "concerned with the empowerment" of Jewish women.

.......

Consider why Joanne Rowling penned her Harry Potter books under the name J.K. Rowling to attract more boy readers. Or why Pinterest has had to pull out the stops to overcome its scrapbooking persona to attract more male users. Or why Conservative and Reform rabbinic schools, so I’ve been told, have to do special outreach to attract and recruit qualified male candidates, while being inundated with stellar female applicants.

For better or for worse, men like their boy’s clubs. They’re attracted to environments and experiences that are inherently male. Put a woman at the helm of a synagogue and you’ll probably see what I’ve witnessed after teaching at Conservative Sunday schools and at the occasional Hillel I’ve passed through—a few good, sensitive men coupled with lots of spiritual-seeking women. Whether it’s from mere discomfort around women or buried chauvinism, the reality is that most men relate best to male leaders. It takes a rare man who can sit at the feet of a woman scholar to drink in her wisdom.

While you can legitimately argue that women shouldn’t be limited in their leadership potential simply because men like to hang out together, I don’t think that men should be written out of the religious sphere either, which is likely to happen once women enter the rabbinate. Judaism can’t afford the disengagement of Orthodox Jewish men as has been seen in the decreasing involvement of Conservative and Reform men. This same phenomenon has been echoed in professions, such as teaching and even psychology, where women are more likely to predominate. But the world is not going to suffer from a plethora of qualified female psychologists or teachers, or doctors or lawyers. And men can always be encouraged back to careers with financial incentives and good job opportunities, if needed. But religion doesn’t have the same financial incentive that careers do, making it a more vulnerable system. And it’s also more vital and central to our lives. So if men need this to be a boy’s club to participate, then I say go ahead and claim it.

But there’s another, more obvious reason why I don’t think women should be rabbis. It became clear to me one night as my husband and I watched a YouTube clip of a female Reform rabbi delivering a speech. I found the story she told both poignant and uplifting. But when I turned to my husband to discuss it, he said, “You know, just the fact that she’s a woman made it really distracting for me.” This female rabbi wasn’t a stunner, but neither was she ugly. She was modestly dressed, had a cheerful voice and upbeat speaking style, and guess what? She distracted my sweet, sincere husband. He’s not the type to objectify women. His primary mentor is a highly accomplished and successful aunt, and I’ve seen him deeply respect the opinions, insights and ideas of many different women over the years. But like it or not, men are often attracted to women, especially when those women are wearing stylish wigs and Shabbat clothes and make-up. For many Orthodox men, the synagogue service is a break from the constant stress of interacting with often-attractive women in the workplace and the street, and a chance to focus their minds on G-d and prayer. To interrupt that spiritual oasis for the purpose of giving women the position of rabbi or Rabba isn’t an equation that evens out in my mind. It’s an “It’s not you, it’s me,” situation. “Dear women who want to be rabbis: I barely know what I’m saying when I pray. Please don’t make me even more distracted.”

It’s no secret that men are more sexually attracted to women then vice versa. I’ve never heard of a woman who was distracted by a male rabbi’s sermon due to his being good-looking. And any man who says that he wouldn’t be distracted by a female rabbi is probably in denial, or has become overwhelmingly desensitized to female sexuality, probably due to overexposure. That desensitization is precisely what Orthodox Judaism tries to avoid: we want husbands and wives to have passionate, romantic relationships with each other instead of lukewarm marriages in which the power of physicality has been diluted. Having more female rabbis might accustom men to being less distracted, but that’s an inherent negative because Judaism sees desensitization as a lose-lose.