BLESSINGS!!

A delicious sweet new year to all my beloved friends!!!!

All of the brachos to all!!!!😊😊

The Impact Of The Shofar

Teshuva Shleima!!

The Counter Intuitive Order Of The Geulah

Hope For The Future

תוקעים אנו תקיעה פשוטה להורות על השורש של ההוי"ה שנוצרה בחסד פשוט. אולם אחרי נפילת העולמות נכנסה הבריאה למצב של שברים-תרועה גנוחי גניח או ילולי יליל או שניהם יחד. וכדי לבטא את תקוותנו לעתיד חגדול שבו יגיע העולם לכל תיקונו אנו תוקעים תקיעה לאחריה.

[הגרי"מ חרל"פ זצ"ל] 

We're Holy!!

"תקעו בחודש שופר בכסה ליום חגנו תהלים" [פא ח]. בהתחדשות השנה כח החידוש מוסיף קדושה בנבראים, כעין התחלת היצירה, וגם הכח הפנימי והמכוסה שבנפשנו מתגלה ומשלים את הנפש בדעות ובמעשים.
"כי חק לישראל הוא משפט לאלקי יעקב" - אעפ"י שאין אנו מכירים את עומק הטוב המכוסה שבנפשות ישראל והדבר הוא בשבילנו כחוק שאין אנו יודעים את טעמו אבל לאלקי יעקב להשם יתברך אלוקה כל הנפשות הוא משפט מוטעם ומבואר כי הוא יודע עד כמה ראוי להכריע לצד זכותנו מצד כח הקדושה הפנימי הצפון והמכוסה.

[מדבר שור ח] 

Tshuvas Elul And Tshuvas Rosh Hashana

מן המיצר קראתי יה ענני במרחב יה [תהלים קיח ד]. השופר פיו צר והוא הולך ומתרחב. דרך תשובה - שהשופר רומז עליה לפי דברי הרמב"ם ז"ל - היא תשובת הפרט ואחר כך תשובת הכלל. הראשונה הקדמה לשנייה. התשובה של חודש אלול היא הקדמה לתשובה של ראש השנה. באלול אנו עוסקים בתשובה הפרטית אולם אנו מתרוממים למדרגת חפץ התשובה לא רק של העם כולו "אמרו לפני מלכויות כדי שתמליכוני עליכם" [ר"ה טז א] אלא של העולם כולו "מלוך על כל העולם כולו בכבודך".

[מרן הרב זצ"ל] 

Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor: Why Machines Will Never Think

Selichos, Trump's Advisors And Carlebach - INSPIRING!!! Thanks To Jonathan Paley And Hillel Scheinfeld For The Chazanus!

The Root Of "Teva" And Much More

What is the connection between the following words - מטבע - טבע - לטבוע [בים] - טבעת. Coin-nature-drown-ring? Same root but what is the common theme? 

What is פשוטו של מקרא of לה' הארץ ומלואה תבל ויושבי בה כי הוא על ימים יסדה  - The earth and all that is in it belongs to Hashem etc. BECAUSE He established it upon water. How does that follow?? The earth is Hashem's b/c he established it on the water?? אתמהה! 

We say ומלכותו ראו בניך בוקע ים - Why is Malchus Hashem established specifically at sea and wasn't Malchus Hashem already established in Egypt?? 

.... and much more - here. 

Not Just A Gaon

HaGaon Rav Ariav Ozer Shlita is one of the most prominent Roshei Yeshiva in the world. He is a young man in his fifties whose mastery of Torah and originality are astounding. He can talk for hours without notes [even in Kodshim which is generally not learned in Yeshivos] and say deep chidush after deep chidush. [He does the same for divrei agada]. Every Shabbos he speaks in Har Nof for a few hours and holds the crowd spellbound with his remarkable presentations. [I have given many chazara shiurim of his on-line BS"D - for those who couldn't make the original....]

But that is not my point. 

Despite his Gadlus, he makes nothing of himself. Absolutely nothing. One expression of this is when he is asked to contribute a Torah article of his to a sefer being published, he politely refuses because, he explains, he really doesn't have very much to say. And he means it. That would explain why he has yet to publish a sefer [although Rav Yosef Ben Arza transcribes his weekly shiur and it is available to the public. No small feat - memorizing hours worth of countless sources, questions, answers etc. etc. and writing everything down clearly after Shabbos]. He doesn't feel worthy.  

The fact that he knows Shas Bi-iyun, that people who have been learning their whole lives attend his weekly shiurim religiously and that he leads a big yeshiva have not gone to his head. 

[Contrast his humility with that of politicians, performers, athletes and the like...]. 

Do you also want to raise such a child? Here is how. 

Does Hashem Automatically Forgive??

The Alter Rebbe writes in his Iggeres Hateshuva [פרק י"א]:

"ואמנם להיות בלבו ההכנעה וכו' וגם השמחה בה' שתיהן ביחד וכו' ובצירוף עוד האמונה והבטחון להיות נכון לבו בטוח בה' כי חפץ חסד הוא וחנון ורחום ורב לסלוח תיכף ומיד שמבקש מחילה וסליתה מאתו ית' בלי שום ספק וס"ס בעולם וכמו שאנו מברכין בכל תפלת י"ח תיכף שמבקשים סלח לנו כו' ברוך אתה ה' חנון המרבה לסלוח והרי ספק ברכות להקל משום חשש ברכה לבטלה אלא אין כאן שום ספק כלל מאחר שבקשנו סלח לנו מחל לנו ואילו לא היינו חוזרים וחוטאים היינו נגאלין מיד כמו שאנו מברכין בא"י גואל ישראל".

Says the Heilige Rebbe: The moment we say the Bracha of חנון המרבה לסלוח Hashem immediately forgives our sins. [הלואי!!!] Otherwise, it would be a ברכה לבטלה and we wouldn't be allowed to say it. 

Question: מהיכי תיתי??!! If the person did a real intense, sincere Teshuva, the I get it. But just to say the Bracha is enough?? אתמהה!! [See the Ohr Avraham on the Siddur].

And what about all of those sins which require more than just Teshuva [see Yoma 86 that other sins require Yisurim, Yom Kippur or even death]? Only Mitzvos Aseh are forgiven immediately but not others.

And as far as the ברכה לבטלה problem goes - it is not a ברכה לבטלה because we are PRAISING Hashem that He forgives. That doesn't mean that He forgives EVERY TIME we ask. 

וצ"ע!!

Who Gets To The World To Come?

The Rambam makes it clear in NUMEROUS places that ALL Jews [even evil doers - with a few notable exceptions] and ALL righteous Gentiles receive a portion in the world to come. [See, for example, Hilchos Teshuva 3-5 until the end of the Perek]. 

On the other hand, the Rambam is quite clear that Olam Haba only goes to Jews who are TZADIKIM!!! [See Issurei Biah 14/1 and Teshuva 8/1-2 where he says that one must KNOW Hashem to merit Olam Haba and in the last perek he identifies knowledge with love. Implying that only those who are overcome with intense love of Hashem merit the world to come]. 

Resolution - here. 

It Is OK To Have Questions

"He went off the derech for intellectual reasons. He had questions". 

Here is MY question. Now that he is no longer religious and goes clubbing on Friday nights - is he going to find an answer to all of his questions? I mean, the questions are there whether he keeps mitzvos or not so how does not keeping mitzvos answer the questions?? 

The universe is shrouded in mystery. No scientist has offered a plausible explanation how the whole thing started. How nothing created everything. How chaos formed such incredible order. There are countless mysteries. Not keeping mizvos solves none of them. 

Only religion presents questions? Atheism has no questions? Agnosticism has no questions? 

Is there ANY philosophy or religion that clearly, logically and rationally answers ALL of the questions and upon which there are no questions? Not even close.

The Torah asks questions on G-d. Look at Avraham and Moshe and other prophets arguing with Him. Look at the entire Sefer Iyov. Look at Yoma 69b. Look at Brachos 7a. Is everything smooth and easy? Never. Only non-thinking people have it easy. [Empty, dry, pathetic and meaningless - but easy.] We ENCOURAGE questions. 

Maybe that is one of the attractions of dropping Torah - one doesn't have to think anymore. Being a true, Torah Jew forces one to think CONSTANTLY about EVERYTHING. And we don't always have ready pat answers. The Holocaust is a rough one. So is the Spanish Inquisition. So are birth defects. So is the oncology ward in every hospital. 

But the benefits of living as a Torah Jew far outweigh the difficulties. For one - life has meaning and as such does not just necessitate a futile exercise in contriving artificial purpose. For another - there is a concrete moral code. People without Torah have to invent one [which works really badly, to date].  

One day all of the questions will be answered. We can have questions in the meantime and still keep kosher and Shabbos. When people go off, one of the first things that goes are the boundaries between the genders. Sleeping around answers no questions but somehow people "with questions" often find themselves doing just that. Shouldn't a library [or a yeshiva] be a better place to find answers than a bedroom?? 

"When man abandons G-d, G-d is not alone. Man is." 

Avodas Elul

Looking for the "unsubscribe" option to click on for my yetzer hara....

Smoking

There is a certain chashuv Rosh Yeshiva Shlita in Eretz Yisrael who is very strict in the running of his Yeshiva.

Cell phones are totally prohibited,

Even “kosher phones” are not allowed.

Students may not have a drivers license.

All Talmidim must daven in the Yeshiva.

All Talmidim are prohibited from leaving Eretz Yisroel, period.

This week, the Rosh Yeshiva wrote a handwritten letter to the entire student body.

He has been battling cancer these last few months.

In the emotional letter, he describes how the doctors wanted to treat him with biological therapy for cancer.

Biological therapy for cancer is used in the treatment of many types of cancer to prevent or slow tumor growth and to prevent the spread of cancer. Biological therapy for cancer often causes fewer toxic side effects than do other cancer treatments.

As you can imagine, he was overjoyed over this new advance in treating cancer and was looking forward to benefiting from it.

However, when the doctors ran tests to determine his eligibility for the treatment they found that cigarette smoke had damaged his internal systems and he was deemed ineligible for receiving biological treatment.

The Rosh Yeshiva was stunned as neither his parents nor he had ever smoked a cigarette.

He asked, “how could cigarette smoke wreak havoc within his body?”

The doctor asked if he was ever exposed to secondhand smoke?

The RY recalled his many years in yeshiva when cigarette smoking was commonplace in every Beis Medrash, dormitory room and yeshiva dining room.

The doctor regretfully informed him that because of his exposure to cigarette smoke years ago, even though he himself did not smoke, nevertheless, the damage done to him was irreversible, thereby disqualifying him from receiving biological treatment for his cancer.

He concludes his heart wrenching letter with a personal and emotional appeal to all of his students.

"חוסו עליכם ועל בני ביתכם. לא סיגריות ולא אלקטרוניות"

“Have pity on yourselves and on your entire household. Don’t smoke cigarettes nor e-cigarettes.”

!קחו אחריות על עצמכם, החליטו ותבצעו – מהיום הפסקנו לעשן!"

“Take responsibility for yourself! Make a decision and declare: “From today onward we will no longer smoke!”

He ends his letter with the hope that “Words which emanate from the heart will penetrate the heart….”

Please daven for a Refuah Sheleima for Rav Baruch ben Tzivya among all of the sick of Israel.

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

My question is - did we just discover the dangers of cigarette smoking? In September of 2019 [i.e. Elul 5779]? The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing more than 8 million people a year around the world. EIGHT MILLION!!! Count it one by one. And every one of those people left behind mourners. More than 7 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use, while around 1.2 million are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke. This is OLLLLLD news. It has been decades since the dangers were revealed. On every package of cigarettes there is a message to the effect of "this will kill you" or "this may cause impotency" or other inspiring messages. There are approximately 250 harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke, 69 of which can cause cancer. 

There are many poskim who hold that it is absolutely אסור to smoke. All poskim hold that it is not recommended. If a Rosh Yeshiva can forbid permitted actions such as driving and owning a kosher phone, he can also forbid smoking which may well be אסור מדאורייתא. The yeshiva would never serve boys a piece of chicken if many of the poskim held that it was treif. Smoking is treif. The Gemara says חמירא סכנתא מאיסורא - Danger is MORE severe than איסור. Here it is both likely אסור and definitely dangerous. 

Not to mention the איסור of causing others discomfort when one smokes in their presence [see Bava Basra 23]. 

So to be מלמד זכות - Smoking is so strongly entrenched in the Yeshivos and it is hard to stop. Two weeks ago on Thursday night, I was standing on Amsterdam and 93rd street and I saw a group of Yeshiva Bochrim walking by. It looked like every one of them was smoking. It is a hard battle to wage and one must carefully choose one's battles. 

But bottom line - May all Jewish men avoid this horrible habit and live in health and prosperity for many wonderful years.  

Shvus Ba-Mikdash

Rashi says [Rosh Hashana 29b] that one may blow the Shofar in the Beis Hamikdash on Shabbos because of the rule "אין שבות במקדש" - There are no איסורי דרבנן in the Mikdash. 

FREGT the Turei Even: The rule אין שבות במקדש applies only to those איסורים that relate to the Beis Hamikdash such as קרבנות. But blowing the Shofar has nothing to do with the Beis Hamikdash so how can we waive the din not to blow on Shabbos??  

One answer is ..... 

Accountability

From the blog of a popular [and rightfully so!] rabbi. 

When I receive a call from a congregate to officiate at the funeral of a somewhat estranged relative I know what to expect.

Since the congregant (or the funeral home) is reaching out to me, it’s a clear sign that the deceased had no rabbi and probably no affiliation with Judaism.

After all, why would someone ask me to officiate at the funeral of their relative who lived in a place which is almost 50 miles away from where I live?

Therefore when Phill Gotlieb (name changed) asked me to officiate at his younger brother’s levaya, I realized that his brother was almost certainly another victim of the assimilating effects of American life on the Jewish people.

Phil said, “My brother, Nat, being only 12 years old when our dad died was quite traumatized. It was 1965 and the counterculture movement was going strong. Nat was very disturbed by Dad’s passing. He dropped out of yeshiva and when he was only fourteen moved to San Fransisco. He became a child of the 60s, a hippie. When he finally returned to the east coast, he was thirty, jobless, and with no marketable skills. He had abandoned Torah and he and his wife were never privileged to have children.”

The funeral would be at the graveside the next morning.

I arrived early at the cemetery office to obtain the grave location.

As I turned to leave, the cemetery clerk handed me an envelope and said matter of factly, “Rabbi, take this envelope. The deceased requested it should be buried with him.”

“Did you look to see what’s in the envelope?”

“No of course, not, who cares anyway?” He said with a shrug.

“As long as they pay the bill, what do I care?”

I looked at the pages and screamed, “Wait, hold on a minute!”

I raced outside to Phill’s car and dragged him to the cemetery office.

Phill protested, “Rabbi, what are you doing?!”

I sat him down at a desk, poured out the contents of the envelope out and simply said, “Read!.”

“Rabbi, I don’t understand…”

Suddenly wailing was heard throughout the cemetery office, the likes of which caused the dozen or so attendees of the funeral to race into the office.

“What’s going on?” They asked.

Emotionally Phill spoke, “All my life I looked at my brother as a failure. As a man who abandoned the Torah. A man who floated from place to place. A man who only took and never gave. However, I was wrong. Very wrong. Most of you don’t know this, however, when our father died in 1965 he left us with tens of thousands of dollars in debt. For years, we constantly received eviction notices and we were told by our mother never to answer the phone or door, lest a debt collector is on the other side. This went on for ten years straight. Suddenly in 1975, the notices, the phone calls, mysteriously all ceased. We never knew why and never asked.

But, today the mystery is solved.

I now see that from the age of 12 in 1965 until the age of 22, my brother Nat, slowly but surely repaid every penny our father ever owed.

The last page in the envelope contains a document which states, “All loans and penalties have been paid in full. Gotlieb file is closed”.

All these years, I thought that my brother was nothing. That he lived a wasted and unfulfilled life. Now I realize that he was greater than all of us in so many ways.

Who could have thought that for ten long years, he somehow scrimped and saved and without telling a soul he paid back our father’s debts?”

A few minutes later as we stood by the open grave, Phill lovingly fulfilled his younger brother’s last request and placed the papers on top of the casket.

As I looked on I said, “Nat, when you get to Shomayim, make sure you show them the envelope and what’s inside. All doors will automatically open.”

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

A beautiful act of chesed. No denying that.

I just question the last two sentences. 

There are 31,536,000 seconds in a year.  Those are a LOT of seconds. And we are held accountable for EACH ONE!! 

S-C-A-R-Y!! The responsibility is ENORMOUS. Every word that came out of our mouths. Every thought that went through our minds. Everything. Every bracha we did or didn't make. Every word of Torah we did or didn't learn. Every dollar of tzdaka we did or didn't give. 

The Gemara [BK 50] is very clear that Hashem is not a וותרן. He doesn't overlook ANYTHING. If someone messed up and does Teshuva then he is welcomed back with open arms. But in the absence of Teshuva there is no amnesty. 

So the notion that a person can live a life completely devoid of spirituality and go straight to Gan Eden because of one huge mitzva without having to account for everything else is dangerous. Chilul Shabbos is כרת. There are 36 כריתות. Every time a person eats an unchecked piece of lettuce, he is probably transgressing dozens of איסורים. Everything is erased because of one mitzva? Not even close. 

One might argue that only Hashem can judge, so how do I know?? 

The answer is that our tradition teaches how we are judged and nowhere does it say that one mitzva can erase a lifetime of עבירות [unless that mitzva happens to be Teshuva...].     

Take Advantage Of Your Time

Why did Rebbi CRY [Avoda Zara 17] when he exclaimed that one can acquire Olam Haba in one moment - יש קונה עולמו בשעה אחת. He should have been THRILLED??! 

He cried because he realized the power of ONE MINUTE!! If one can acquire Olam Haba in one minute then think about all the minutes that go to waste. Time has such incredible potential and we waste so much of it!! OY VEY VEY VEY!!😓

Also from the aforementioned Gemara  - one of my favorite lines in Shas: "אין הדבר תלוי אלא בי" - It is completely up to me. THAT is maybe rule numero uno of change - don't blame others and don't shirk responsibility. Take ONE HUNDRED PERCENT responsibility for your present state. There were definitely circumstances which impacted you [cold father, nervous mother, teachers who didn't always address your personal needs etc. etc.] but ultimately you have free choice and are the one who will determine your spiritual level. הכל בידי שמים חוץ מיראת שמים.  I often read that "I am not religious because of him/her" or "because of people like him/her." Baloney squared. You are not religious because you chose not to be religious. You had negative experiences? Who didn't? We honor your suffering and are ready to provide love and emotional support but your decisions about how to live your life are yours and yours alone. [If a person is really אנוס and lacks free choice then Hashem will not hold him accountable but only He can know that].  

אין הדבר תלוי אלא בי!

Distance The Temptation

Another takeaway from the Gemara in this recent post: If there is something you are doing and you want to stop - keep it far away!! 

Don't have that junk food always available in the house, put your phone away when you need to focus on something [like davening or your spouse], keep your credit cards in a hard to get to place so that you are less likely to use it unless you really need to etc. etc. 

NO SADNESS!

Here.

The Zonah Who Repented

The Gemara talks STRAIGHT. No fudging. Zugt the Gemara [Avoda Zara 17 - I saw this Gemara quoted on various websites and they sort of changed the story to make it less graphic. I understand why but I don't feel comfortable censoring the Gemara...]:

אמרו עליו על ר"א בן דורדיא שלא הניח זונה אחת בעולם שלא בא עליה פעם אחת שמע שיש זונה אחת בכרכי הים והיתה נוטלת כיס דינרין בשכרה נטל כיס דינרין והלך ועבר עליה שבעה נהרות בשעת הרגל דבר הפיחה אמרה כשם שהפיחה זו אינה חוזרת למקומה כך אלעזר בן דורדיא אין מקבלין אותו בתשובה

 They said about Rabbi Elazar ben Durdayya that he was so promiscuous that he did not leave one prostitute in the world with whom he did not engage in sexual intercourse. Once, he heard that there was one prostitute in one of the cities overseas who would take a purse full of dinars as her payment. He took a purse full of dinars and went and crossed seven rivers to reach her. When they were engaged in the matters to which they were accustomed, a euphemism for intercourse, she passed wind and said: Just as this passed wind will not return to its place, so too Elazar ben Durdayya will not be accepted in repentance, even if he were to try to repent.

הלך וישב בין שני הרים וגבעות אמר הרים וגבעות בקשו עלי רחמים אמרו לו עד שאנו מבקשים עליך נבקש על עצמנו שנאמר (ישעיהו נד, י) כי ההרים ימושו והגבעות תמוטינה אמר שמים וארץ בקשו עלי רחמים אמרו עד שאנו מבקשים עליך נבקש על עצמנו שנאמר (ישעיהו נא, ו) כי שמים כעשן נמלחו והארץ כבגד תבלה

This statement deeply shocked Elazar ben Durdayya, and he went and sat between two mountains and hills and said: Mountains and hills, pray for mercy on my behalf, so that my repentance will be accepted. They said to him: Before we pray for mercy on your behalf, we must pray for mercy on our own behalf, as it is stated: “For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed” (Isaiah 54:10). He said: Heaven and earth, pray for mercy on my behalf. They said to him: Before we pray for mercy on your behalf, we must pray for mercy on our own behalf, as it is stated: “For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment” (Isaiah 51:6).

אמר חמה ולבנה בקשו עלי רחמים אמרו לו עד שאנו מבקשים עליך נבקש על עצמנו שנאמר (ישעיהו כד, כג) וחפרה הלבנה ובושה החמה אמר כוכבים ומזלות בקשו עלי רחמים אמרו לו עד שאנו מבקשים עליך נבקש על עצמנו שנאמר (ישעיהו לד, ד) ונמקו כל צבא השמים

He said: Sun and moon, pray for mercy on my behalf. They said to him: Before we pray for mercy on your behalf, we must pray for mercy on our own behalf, as it is stated: “Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed” (Isaiah 24:23). He said: Stars and constellations, pray for mercy on my behalf. They said to him: Before we pray for mercy on your behalf, we must pray for mercy on our own behalf, as it is stated: “And all the hosts of heaven shall molder away” (Isaiah 34:4).

אמר אין הדבר תלוי אלא בי הניח ראשו בין ברכיו וגעה בבכיה עד שיצתה נשמתו יצתה בת קול ואמרה ר"א בן דורדיא מזומן לחיי העולם הבא [והא הכא בעבירה הוה ומית] התם נמי כיון דאביק בה טובא כמינות דמיא

Elazar ben Durdayya said: Clearly the matter depends on nothing other than myself. He placed his head between his knees and cried loudly until his soul left his body. A Divine Voice emerged and said: Rabbi Elazar ben Durdayya is destined for life in the World-to-Come. The Gemara explains the difficulty presented by this story: And here Elazar ben Durdayya was guilty of the sin of forbidden sexual intercourse, and yet he died once he repented. The Gemara answers: There too, since he was attached so strongly to the sin, to an extent that transcended the physical temptation he felt, it is similar to heresy, as it had become like a form of idol worship for him.

בכה רבי ואמר יש קונה עולמו בכמה שנים ויש קונה עולמו בשעה אחת ואמר רבי לא דיין לבעלי תשובה שמקבלין אותן אלא שקורין אותן רבי

When Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi heard this story of Elazar ben Durdayya, he wept and said: There is one who acquires his share in the World-to-Come only after many years of toil, and there is one who acquires his share in the World-to-Come in one moment. And Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi further says: Not only are penitents accepted, but they are even called: Rabbi, as the Divine Voice referred to Elazar ben Durdayya as Rabbi Elazar ben Durdayya.

Everybody talks about R' Elazar. WHATTA DUDE!! After a lifetime of what we would call today "addiction" to the lowest levels of depravity, he lifted himself up and out of it. [If Jeffrey Epstein had learned this Gemara, maybe they would not have found him hanging dead in his jail cell.] But I want to understand the Zonah! She was on such a madreiga that she inspired him to teshuva??! Was she, like, a former Beis Yaakov girl who strayed?? 

Rav Charlap ztz"l first suggested that she was not such a tzadekes. She was just trying to get him to enjoy himself [he was paying a lot and went through much trouble to enjoy the "complete experience" so at least she had an ethic to give him his moneys worth...]. She was saying "Don't feel guilty. It won't help anymore. You are a goner. There is no hope for your soul. So relax and enjoy. Drop the Jewish guilt". 

But then he suggests another, original possibility. This woman was trying to break HER habit of decadence. That is why she moved overseas and to a remote venue where you had to pass 7 rivers to get to her and charged so much. This would be a deterrent for the men to come and she would get out of the mud she was in [to stop cold turkey was too much, so she devised this plan]. When he arrived, she was still in her "teshuva" mode. So she passed gas and told him that there is no hope for him to return just as the gas will never return [and, maybe she also alluded to how very odious his behavior was...]. 

Her message penetrated his soul and he found his way back!!! His name means G-d helps [אלעזר] the son of the dregs [דורדיא]. [Maharal]

#neverdespair

It Is Good To Be A Jew

IN 1958 A CHASSIDIC RABBI moved to Kew Garden Hills in New York. The appearance of the bearded rabbi in his strange dress—fur hat, dark frock coat—struck an exotic note. The fifties were a time of suburbanization and acculturation. For Jews in particular, America was the New World, an escape from the dark shadows of Europe. The world of Chassidism was foreign to these Americanized Jews, and the rabbi seemed as if he belonged to a different place and time. To their surprise, he had arrived to open a shteibl. A young man in his teens, not very religious, came to shul Pesach night. The Rabbi asked him if he would be willing to join his seder and ask the four questions as all the rabbi had was a baby daughter. He agreed.

Half an hour into the seder, the baby woke and started to cry. The rabbi asked permission of his wife and guest to leave the table for a while. He took the baby in his arms and went into the bedroom. The young man could hear the rabbi soothing her, dancing gently around the room, and singing a song over and over again. The song was in Yiddish and the young man did not understand its words. But soon the baby stopped crying and went to sleep. The rabbi returned and the seder continued. There the story might have ended, but it didn’t. Intrigued by the rabbi and his tenderness for the baby, the young man began to find out where he came from, what his story was. The rabbi, it transpired, came from Warsaw. He had  been studying there when the Second World War broke out and had just married. Like all the other Jews, he and his wife found themselves prisoners in the ghetto. Conditions were terrible and worsened week by week. There was starvation, disease; people lay dead and unburied in the streets. 

The rabbi was soon transported to Treblinka, and from there he was taken to other concentration camps. He still had his number tattooed on his arm. His wife, too, was taken to a concentration camp, where Nazi doctors used her for their medical experiments. Somehow they both survived. After the war, emaciated, half alive, they were taken to DP camps, where they stayed until they were able to come to America. Because of what had been done to her, his wife was told by American doctors that she had been made infertile. They visited specialists, went through years of exploring all medical avenues. More than ten years later, at last it happened. By a miracle—so it seemed to them—she conceived. They had a child. This was the child the rabbi had taken in his arms. But it wasn’t this that changed the young man’s life. What did change it, leading the young man to become religious— and eventually a rabbi, which he is today—was the slow, dawning understanding of the words the rabbi had sung to the baby as he danced with her in his arms, what they meant and what they signified. What were they, the words sung over and over again to a baby by a rabbi who had lived through the Warsaw ghetto and Treblinka and passed through the gates of hell? Siz'gut zu zein a Yid, Siz'gut zu zein a Yid. “It’s good to be a Jew. It’s good to be a Jew.”

PLEASE DAVEN!

שמעון שמחה בן פנינה יהודית

Not Tahor

Spiderman tried to do Teshuva but clearly wasn't sincere about it and he was, as the Rambam calls it - טובל ושרץ בידו. 

Paper Bags

Ladies, please help Charedi newspapers cut costs on graphic designers by placing paper bags over your heads when entering any Jewish event.

Weight Gain

Next time a women tries to defend her insane weight gain with, "well, I've had 2 children", reply with, "for what? Breakfast?"

Free Trial

Guy told the Kupat Ha'ir fundraiser that he just had a נס without donating money. 

He replied: "Yeah, this is our free trial policy".

Disappointed

I am a tad bit disappointed that the shofar wasn't blown after people davened Shachris on my midnight flight. 

It would have been a REAL wake up call. 

#teshuva

#gezelsheina

Knowing Your Psychology

Who are smarter - Jews or Blacks? 

Such a question when asked today, immediately triggers people. "How can you say that?" "That is racist!!" "That is a dangerous question. It endangers Blacks. It will cause discrimination!!" [Somehow people immediately intuit who would come out ahead]. 

There is a simple way to determine the answer to this question - Perform IQ or another intelligence test for Jews and Blacks and see who scores higher!! Whatever the results - it doesn't mean that EVERY person in the more intelligent group is more intelligent than every person in the less intelligent group. It also doesn't mean that one shouldn't be kind to members of either group. It also doesn't mean that intelligence is everything. There are many other qualities that are as or more important than intellectual acuity.  

But people don't like such questions despite the fact that it is merely investigating the truth. People are uncomfortable with the truth. 

Someone actually wrote a book about 25 years ago claiming Jews were smarter and he was all but lynched... 

Who are better athletes - Jews or Blacks? 

We also can guess who would come out ahead. How many Jews are there in the NBA vs. the number of Blacks. Who wins the world sprint competitions - Jews or Blacks? Deal with it guys - we are inferior athletes. A Bar Mitzva is the age when a Jewish kid realizes that the odds of him OWNING the team are far greater than the odds of him playing for the team. Period. 

If there is a Ponzi scheme - Is it more likely that a Jew is behind it or a Black person? I would guess the former. Maybe because it seems that EVERY Ponzi scheme [or most other multi multi million dollar acts of thievery] seems to involve a Jew and not a Black. 

Am I an Anti Semite? I hope not!! Some of my BEST FRIENDS are Jewish. My CHILDREN are Jewish!! I am no Anti Semite. [Although I AM Anti Termite].  

If there is a terrorist attack carried out for religious reasons and you had to guess the religion of the perpetrator, what religion would it be? 

What is my point? 

A person has to know his strong points and weak points. "KNOW THYSELF" said Rebbe Socrates!! One must know himself individually and also the general qualities of his group.  

Males have certain qualities unique to males [we like power, feeling important, are instantaneously attracted to women without having ever met them - one look is enough, are more inclined to violence etc. etc.] and females also have certain qualities unique to females [they are better with little children, are more inclined to cooking and housework, are more giving and nurturing, are more sensitive, more concerned with their physical appearance etc. etc. - these are all generalities and of course there are exceptions]. We have to know who we are in order to grow.

Jews have certain characteristics that apply to most Jews, as do Blacks, Italians, Hispanics etc. etc. To deny this and claim that all humans are essentially the same is to live in darkness.

Also, genetics isn't necessarily destiny. We can always improve on what we have. No, we MUST improve on what we have...   

Forming A Coalition

The very first Mishna in Shas tells us from when we must read Krias Shma - assuming that we are obligated to read Krias Shma. Imagine someone would be sitting on the Beis Medrash and say "I don't read Shma and I don't believe that one is obligated to do so". He would be thrown out of the Beis Medrash on his head!! [Unless he was a sincere person genuinely searching for the truth - or if he didn't have a head]. 

There are 2 choices for Prime Minister. Neither of them reads Shma at night nor do they hold that we are required to do so. So, either one who forms the coalition is no reason for celebration. After 2,000 years we have our own government dominated by people who don't accept Malchus Shomayim. 

#PoliticsShmolitics   

The Test Of All Else

Outside its own boundaries, ancient Israel encounters a world of sexual anomie in which anything goes. It associates this with other moral failings: murder, abduction, and in the case of Joseph—accused of an act he did not commit— injustice. Two propositions are taking shape. The first is that sexual relationships are the test of all else. Do I respect other people as persons in their own right, or do I see them as means to my ends, instruments of my pleasure? Do I relate to you in freedom and dignity, or do I simply use you? The nature of the sexual encounter will—not immediately, but eventually — affect all other social relationships. Marriage is the moralization of sex, and the breakdown of marriage is the beginning of the disintegration of society, a fact that virtually every civilization has learned too late. The second is that the sign of the covenant will be circumcision, because man needs to be reminded in one place more than others of the binding force of moral obligation.

Facebook And Divorce

A recent study has found a correlation between relationship health and Facebook use that may cause more people to want to switch off the computer and smartphone in favor of spending more time paying attention to their spouses.

The Study

The study, published in the Journal of Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, found that people who use Facebook more than once an hour are more likely to "experience Facebook–related conflict with their romantic partners.” That conflict could then lead to a breakup or divorce. The study, conducted by Russell Clayton, a doctoral student in the University of Missouri School of Journalism, and his colleagues at the University of Hawaii at Hilo and St. Mary's University in San Antonio, surveyed 205 Facebook users aged 18 to 82. Of those surveyed, 79 percent reported being in a romantic relationship. While previous studies had shown that the more a person uses social media sites like Facebook the more like they were to monitor their partners, Clayton's study was the first to look at actual break up rates.

Clayton hypothesized that more frequent social media use and monitoring of one's partner could lead to misunderstandings and feelings of jealousy. The study appears to have proved that hypothesis by noting a strong correlation between Facebook use and relationship stability. Clayton posited that, for most, the correlation probably stems from jealousy and arguments about past partners related to social media snooping. Of course, the study also found that social media makes it possible for users to reconnect with others, including past lovers, which could lead to emotional and physical cheating.

Clayton's study is not the first of its kind. In 2012 Divorce-Online UK surveyed British divorce lawyers to determine if there was an anecdotal connection between social media use and divorce. According to that survey, approximately one in three divorces resulted from social media-related disagreements. Similarly, a 2010 survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) found that four out of five lawyers used evidence derived from social networking sites in divorce cases, with Facebook leading the pack.

What Can You Do To Protect Yourself

The first thing to do is discuss the dangers of social media in a relationship setting with your partner. Try to agree to appropriate limits on use, avoid snooping on one another, and make sure that you spend more time interacting in person than monitoring what the rest of the world is doing on social media.

Of course, if it is already too late to prevent the inevitable, you can at least minimize some of the damage. Frequently, divorce and family law attorneys use postings on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the many other social networking sites as evidence. For example, posts and photos depicting one partner's social life could come across to a judge as showing a disregard for responsibility, excessive drug or alcohol use, or other behavior that might impair that person's interests when it comes to negotiating alimony, child custody, or divisions of assets.

It should become a policy to censor yourself on social media. Think about your potential audience before posting anything, even in the happiest of times. If there are already things online that you would prefer not coming up in a court proceeding or job interview, you should take them down immediately. If someone else posts embarrassing photos or comments, simply delete, untag, or ask the acquaintance to kindly remove the offending post. Social sites have also created more tools to report content that you do not control, but which is about you or depicts you, and which you find unflattering or offensive.

---------

[From another website]

33% of divorced couples cite Facebook as a reason for their split.

Ah, Facebook. The social networking site that's fast becoming not just a thorn in our backsides, but the bane of our existence.

If Facebook isn't selling your private information to companies these days, then it's breaking up happy marriages. What was once a tool for sharing party pics and finding long-lost friends is now the reason behind many divorces — and we're not even going to mention its part in the online stalking of ex-boyfriends, or even current ones for that matter. 

A U.K. divorce site found that 20 percent of "behavior petitions" (which is British lingo for "reasons to file for divorce") contained the word "Facebook" in them, meaning that the site was in some way to blame for the marriage's dissolution. Just a couple of years later, that percentage jumped to 33 percent.

Well, not surprisingly, learning the number-one reason why Facebook was at fault in these cases was due to "inappropriate messages to members of the opposite sex." It seems that people have yet to learn to make sexual and flirty comments through personal email as opposed to a Facebook wall for all the world (and significant others) to see.

In cases where the couples had separated but had yet to divorce, the once happily married folks were turning to Facebook to post nasty comments about each other. Well, if you can't shout how much you hate somebody from the rooftops, you might as well post it on their wall.

Another reason for how Facebook causes divorce is due to Facebook friends, or rather "friends," who took it upon themselves to rat out spouses who may have been getting a little too friendly on the social media site. You know, because if you're married to Bobby and he's friends with Sally, but you're not friends with Sally, but you're all friends with Lily, then Lily is going to be privy to posts and statuses that you are not — that's why Lily is going to fill you in. Lily is a nice friend.

Assume It's A Zachar?!

A question on Bava Kamma 11b תוספות ד"ה דקא - Why don't we be מיקל on the 15th day assuming that the שליא was a זכר and then be מחמיר on the 41st day making the same assumption?? Why do we have to be מחמיר on both ends? 

The Stories Pictures Tell

I was recently looking through old simcha photo albums from the 1980's. A picture says MORE than a thousand words.  

The photographer went from table to table taking pictures. At one of the tables a man posed for the picture by putting one arm around his wife - and his other arm around someone else's wife [whose husband was sitting on her other side]. I look at this picture and think to myself - What is this mechutzaf doing?? What right does he have to put his arm around the shoulders of another man's wife? What was he thinking? Did he ask her? If he did - why did she agree?? What does her husband עליו השלום [a kind doctor who smiled at the camera, seemingly oblivious to the drama going on next to him] think about this? 

Anyway, a number of years after this picture was taken this man found himself sentenced to sit in jail for over 4 billion dollars worth of fraud [he pleaded guilty to the charges]. A man who can't keep his hands to himself will pose for a picture by putting his arm around his friend's wife and will also steal..... 

Another picture featured a man whose arm was only around his own wife. Little did they know it at the time - she would be the first of his six [and counting!] wives. So this lovey dovey stuff he was displaying to the camera was in a sense genuine. He is a VERY loving guy....   

2 Words

A father told his teenage daughter that there are 2 words she may not use and they are gross and awesome. She said "OK, which two words?"

The Takeaway

There are two ways of dealing with the bad news we hear about wrongdoing and crime. One is to hear what happened, express our disgust/rage/righteous indignation etc. etc. and then move on with our day. We are right, the perpetrators of evil are wrong. End of story. What is the weather forecast and have the Mets been eliminated from the playoff race? 

Another way is to learn necessary lessons and apply them to our lives. 

The second way is preferable by a long shot. 

So a middle school principal in a Modern Orthodox day school has been caught by the FBI doing terrible stuff. [He actually went to the Yeshiva in the Old City where I once learned and like most perpetrators of such sickness - one would never have guessed.] Assuming the charges are true - what is the lesson? 

To me it is simple - How on earth are kids allowed on social media where they can meet predators who will convince them to send nude photos of themselves?? Why doesn't this school [and those of its ilk] get together and say to the parents and kids - NO MORE. You don't need Facebook and all that other garbage. When you are a mature responsible adult you may reconsider but not as a child. But they won't say that - even though this is not the first story, there are countless others going on as we speak and there will be countless more in the future. 

To my readers I say - If you love your children, consider very carefully what the BEST approach is for them regarding social media, given the dangers and numerous other problems. 

On that note - I found out at the end of my return flight to Israel that I was flying together with hundreds of people attending an SAA ["smartphone addicts anonymous"] convention. How did I know? Because the minute we landed, hundreds of smartphones appeared [besides those that were already out because they were used for playing games in order to kill tie on the flight] and people started frantically calling and texting....   

The Media

Since the first story was carved on a rock, media pundits have explained that they have simply given people what they want, reporting the best they can on what’s happening.

Cause (the culture, human activity, people’s desires) leads to effect (front page news).

In fact, it’s becoming ever more clear that the attention-seeking, profit-driven media industrial complex drives our culture even more than it reports on it.

Thoughtful people regularly bemoan our loss of civility, the rise of trolling and bullying and most of all, divisive behavior designed to rip people apart instead of moving us productively forward.

And at the very same time, reality TV gets ever better ratings. So much so that the news has become the longest-running, cheapest to produce and most corrosive TV show in history. Increase that exponentially by adding in the peer-to-peer reality show that is social media, and you can see what’s happening.

Imagine two classrooms, each filled with second graders.

In the first classroom, the teacher shines a spotlight on the bullies, the troublemakers and the fighters, going so far as to arrange all the chairs so that the students are watching them and cheering them on all day.

In the second classroom, the teacher establishes standards, acts as a damper on selfish outliers and celebrates the generous and productive kids in the classroom…

How will the classrooms diverge? Which one would you rather have your child enrolled in?

We’re not in elementary school anymore, and the media isn’t our teacher or our nanny. But the attention we pay to the electronic channels we click on consumes more of our day than we ever spent with Miss Binder in second grade. And that attention is corrosive. To us and to those around us.

The producers of reality TV know this. And they seek out more of it. When they can’t find it easily, they search harder. Because that’s their job.

It’s their job to amp up the reality show that is our culture.

But it’s not our job to buy into it. More than anything, profit-driven media needs our active participation in order to pay their bills.

It’s an asymmetrical game, with tons of behavioral research working against each of us–the uncoordinated but disaffected masses. Perhaps we can find the resolve to seek out the others, to connect and to organize in a direction that actually works.

The first step is to stop taking the bait. The second step is to say, “follow me.”

Shortcuts

"This one simple trick makes everything faster and easier

Here it is, tested, effective and worthwhile:

Stop chasing shortcuts.

Personal finance, weight loss, marketing, careers, beating traffic, relationships, education–everything that matters to someone often comes with heavily promoted shortcuts as an alternative.

Fast, risk-free, effortless secrets that magically work, often at someone else’s expense.

But if the shortcuts worked as promised, they wouldn’t be shortcuts, would they? They’d be the standard.

A shortcut is not an innovation. It’s not a direct path, either. Those work, but they require effort, risk and insight.

If you can’t afford the time and effort to do it right, you probably can’t afford to do it over after you realize that the shortcut was merely a trap." 

Create Good Habits

"If you’re trying to help yourself (or those you serve), the most effective thing you can do is create long-term habits. They become unseen foundations of who we will become.

The goal of running a marathon in six weeks is audacious, but it’s not a habit. You might succeed, but with all that pressure, it’s more likely you’ll simply abandon the project.

On the other hand, the goal of running to the mailbox (at least) and back for 50 days in a row is the sort of habit that might stick.

The same goes for education (“we do flashcards every day” is very different from “I need to cram to learn quantum mechanics for the test.”)

And it goes double for our lifestyles. If you can replace a bad habit with a good one, you’ll live with the benefits for decades.

The challenge is to set up systems that are likely to create habits, not sprints that lead to failure."

Live In Surplus

"In our culture, it’s easy to choose to live in deficit.

To spend just a bit more than you make, so that you’re in debt.

To need to drive just a bit faster than the prevailing traffic, so you can push every interaction.

To measure yourself against someone (there’s always someone) who has more (there’s always more) than you do.

If this habit of becoming ‘behind’ is the fuel you need to do your best work, it’s difficult for an outsider to argue against.

But consider that it’s also possible to choose to live in surplus.

To spend a bit less than you make, so you’re never worried about paying the rent.

To drive with the flow of (metaphorical) traffic, because not only is it safer, it frees you up to dream.

And to measure yourself against no one but yourself. Raise your standards as often as you can, but not because someone else you chose out of the lineup of success is somehow ahead of you.

When you live in surplus, you can choose to produce because of generosity and wonder, not because you’re drowning."

1010 WINS NEWS

"You give us 22 minutes, we'll give you gilui arayos, shfichus domim and the whole gamut of human evil, misery and suffering." 

Teachers Want Out

From edsurge.com 

Some U.S. teachers have just about had enough.

No, really. A new report from Phi Delta Kappa International, a professional association for educators, finds that half of teachers have “seriously considered” leaving teaching in the last few years.

Their reasoning? Many say they’re working longer hours for less pay than ever before. They juggle high-stress classrooms and constant pressure from administrators and state officials to improve students’ standardized test scores. On top of that, they don’t feel they have earned the respect of students and their parents.

“I am a fool to do this job,” one teacher wrote in a response on the 51st annual PDK “Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.”

“I will never be able to own my own home at this rate,” said another, referring to the income she draws as a teacher. According to the National Education Association, nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of public school districts still offer their teachers a starting salary below $40,000.

“Tired of being treated like dirt,” a third said.

And a fourth wrote: “I am not just considering it. I am getting out. There is no support. We are asked to do too much for too little money.”

Joshua Starr, CEO of PDK International, says the survey results are clear: Teachers have reached a “crisis point.”

“I’m not surprised, but I’m shocked,” Starr tells EdSurge. “In the last 20 years, the agenda that has been pushed forward—it’s demonized teachers, dehumanized teachers and focused on standardized tests in math and literacy as the only measures of success. The underfunding of schools, lack of support for kids .... I don’t think anyone should be surprised that we are reaping what we’ve sown in the American public teaching profession.”

After 50 years of surveying parents and the general public about their opinions on education issues, PDK included an oversample of public school teachers in its poll this year for the first time since 2000. Out of 2,389 adults surveyed, teachers account for 556 of respondents.

The report finds that other adults tend to agree with teachers about the state of the profession. While 55 percent of teachers said they’d vote to go on strike for higher pay, 74 percent of parents of school-age children and 71 percent of all adults would support teachers taking this action. This is especially notable given the recent wave of teacher strikes in the United States, which has galvanized more than 500,000 educators from states including West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Colorado, Arizona and California.

Another eye-opening response from the poll: 55 percent of teachers say they would not want their own children to follow in their footsteps and become educators. They point to insufficient compensation and benefits, a lack of respect and appreciation, and stressful work as their explanation.

Last year, for the first time since PDK began polling the public about education in 1969, a majority of parents (54 percent) also said they hoped their children would not go into the teaching profession, citing low pay and benefits.

Beginnings

By Rabbi Joshua (variationally known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

This week's parsha begins with the mitzvoh of bringing one's bikkurim, or first fruits, to the Temple, and expressing thanks to God for achieving this milestone. Included in the expression of thanks is a recitation of the section of the Torah beginning with the words, "Arami oveid avi," variously translated as 'my father was a wandering Aramean,' or ' an Aramean tried to destroy my father.' In either case, this section relates, in short, the descent of Ya'akov's family to Egypt, and the emergence of the bnei Yisroel from that country as a people redeemed by God. This section, in fact, forms the basis of the Haggadah that is recited on the night of the Passover Seder. We have discussed, in the past, the relevance of this section in connection with the bringing of one's first fruits. However, based on a theme that we mentioned in last week's message, I would like to re- explore this issue, and present an expanded explanation.

We mentioned last week that even according to all opinions in the Talmud, it is legitimate, in regard to the book of Devorim, to expound halochos based on the juxtaposition of different laws to each other in the text of the Torah. Many commentators have gone the further step of deriving more homiletic - type messages from such juxtapositions. In this week's parsha, some commentators note the juxtaposition of the mitzvoh of bikkurim to the last mitzvos in parshas Ki Seitzei, those of remembering what Amaleik did to us when we came out of Egypt, in order to arouse us to action and wipe out that nation. Ibn Ezra writes that in connection with the mitzvos of remembering and wiping Amaleik in order to wipe it out, the Torah says, " And it shall be that when the Lord, your God, gives you rest from all your enemies all around, in the land that the Lord, your God, gives you as an inheritance to take possession of it, you shall wipe out the remembrance of Amaleik from under the heaven - you shall not forget" (Devorim 25: 19). In contrast to this requirement of resting from all our enemies, which is a prerequisite for waging battle against Amaleik, the Torah then tells us that the mitzvoh of bikkurim requires only that we enter the land, inherit it and take possession of it. In practical terms, this means that the mitzvoh was operative after the seven initial years of conquering the land and an additional seven years of dividing the captured sections among the various tribes. The Chizkuni takes a similar approach to the juxtaposition, but expands the contrast to include many of the mitzvos that follow in parshas KiSavo, as well. Rabbeinu Ya'akov ben Asher, in his commentary Ba'al HaTurim, reaches a somewhat different conclusion from the juxtaposition of these mitzvos. He says that the mitzvoh of bikkurim is dependent on the nation entering Eretz Yisroel, and Amaleik sought to prevent them from entering. For this reason, he adds, the farmer who brings his first fruits to the Temple recites the section of 'Arami oveid avi,' because it refers to Lavan, the Aramean who sought to destroy Ya'akov, our father, by trying to prevent him from returning to Eretz Yisroel with his family, just as Amaleik later tried to do to the entire nation.

While the approach of the Ba'al HaTurim is somewhat technical, focusing on the relation of the various mitzvos to the presence of the Jewish nation in Eretz Yisroel, other commentators make a more essential connection. They point out that just as Amaleik is referred to as 'reishis goyim' - the first among the nations' (Bamidbar 24:20) - so, too, bikkurim is referred to, in parshas Ki Savo, as 'reishis kol pri ha-adamah' - the first of every fruit of the ground (Devorim 26:2). Rav Moshe Shapiro, as presented in MiMa'amakim by his student, Rabbi Alexander Aryeh Mandelbaum, and somewhat differently in a taped address on this topic, notes this connection, and adds that the Jewish nation is also referred to as 'reishis,' in a verse in Yirmiyahu (2:3) - " Yisroel is holy to the Lord, the first fruits of His increase. The midrash, in fact, based on this verse, says that the world was created ' bereishis,' in the beginning, in the merit of Yisroel, which is called reishis, and in the merit of bikkurim, which are called reishis. The idea being expressed here, explains Rabbi Shapiro, is that God's presence in the world is hidden, and the Jewish people help make His presence discernable, by recognizing His hand at work behind the scenes. By expressing gratitude to God for the first fruits that they produce in Eretz Yisroel, they are acknowledging that it is God Who created the world and is behind the workings of nature. Amaleik, on the other hand, denies that God created the world and works within it. The Torah says of Amaleik, 'Amaleik is the first of nations, and its end is destruction." Rabbi Shapiro explains that Amaleik considers itself the beginning and end of history, and, therefore, will, ultimately, be destroyed. Yisroel, however, by proclaiming that the true 'reishis' is God, constitutes a beginning that has a story that follows, the entire history of the universe, as orchestrated by God. Although Rabbi Shapiro does not say this, perhaps we can add that for this reason, when the farmer brings his first fruits, his 'reishis,' to the Temple, he recapitulates the account of the exile and redemption of the Jewish nation, to emphasize that God is the true 'reishis,' the Creator and controller of the world.

Rav Ya'akov Moshe Charlop, in his Mei Marom to parshas Ki Savo (no. 47), also notes the connection between Amaleik as reishis, and bikkurim and Yisroel as reishis, but in a different way than does Rabbi Shapiro. Rabbi Chaim ben Attar points out in his commentary Ohr HaChaim that parshas Ki Savo begins with the words, "And it will be when you enter the land" (Devorim 26:1). The Hebrew word for the expression "and it will be" is 'vehaya,' and the Talmud teaches us that whenever the word 'vhaya' is used in Scripture, it implies a situation of simcha, of joy. What kind of joy is involved in this section of the Torah? Rav Charlop writes that true joy comes through a sense of renewal, of awareness that everything in the world is constantly being renewed by God, Who created it. Only the Jewish people, as God's nation, understands this, and only in Eretz Yisroel, which is under God's constant special providence, can it be truly recognized. The task of the Jewish nation is to teach this truth to all the nations of the world. Amaleik, on the other hand, denies God's creation of the world, and believes that everything is old, and run solely through the laws of nature. In order to promote its view of the world, Amaleik constantly tries to prevent Yisroel's from entering Eretz Yisroel. When the nation does enter, and merits the first fruits of their land, they bring them to the Temple in a joyous ceremony, as described at length in the third chapter of Mishneh Bikkurim. Because of the great joy involved in bringing the bikkurim, through the recognition of God's constant renewal of the universe, the Torah ends the section by saying, " And you shall rejoice with all the good that the Lord your God has given to you - you and the Levite and the convert who is in your midst" (Devorim 26:11). Rabbi Charlop's explanation of the connection between the end of Ki Seitzei and the beginning of Ki Savo thus incorporates both the approach of the Ba'al HaTurim, who points to the element of Eretz Yisroel, and the approach of Rabbi Shapiro, who points to the element of 'reishis.'

Based on Rabbi Charlop's approach to the juxtaposition of the end of Ki Seitzei to the beginning of Ki Savo, we can understand why the farmer recites the paragraph of 'Arami oveid avi' when he brings his first fruits to the Temple. Since this mitzvoh emphasizes God's constant renewal of the world, the farmer must recapitulate the historical experience of the nation, and thereby come to a renewed understanding of all the goodness that God has bestowed, and continues to bestow, on them. Just as God renews the universe on a constant basis, so, too, the Jewish people, as his nation, bears within itself the ability of self-renewal, and, as a result, carries the obligation to constantly renew its relationship with God. May we all, in this month of self-introspection, achieve a renewed relationship with God, and merit a wonderful new year.

Simcha

The whole תוכחה, all of the punishments in this weeks parsha are "תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' א-להיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב" - Because ["תחת"] we didn't serve Hashem bi-simcha. Why is that so terrible?

Chasidim say "תחת" - Under. What was BENEATH the fact that you didn't serve Hashem bi-simcha? What was the deeper psychological reason? We didn't believe in the importance of being Jewish and keeping mitzvos. We did it - but by rote and habit. Other things not related to Avodas Hashem made us really happy - not what mattered...

Good shabbos beloved friends!!😊😊  

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The last few decades there have been many women who chose to keep their last name so that the couple has different last names. A family but with different last names. There is no halachic issue but I wonder how that impacts the feeling of togetherness. As far as I am concerned it would be better for the man to take the woman's last name than each keeping their different last name. One of the primary goals of life should be to do everything to foster a feeling of togetherness between couples. Everything that might create a barrier should be removed. Couples have MORE THAN ENOUGH issues that come between them. We don't need any more.