Laz - A - Fare

Do Your Civic Duty

2009-08-05T13:42:00.003-05:00

I often hear people scheming and sharing ways to get out of jury duty. Heck, I even did it myself a few months back (in my defense, though, it was during school). Certainly, jury duty in Baltimore City is hardly oodles of fun: city employees are largely rude and often incompetent. So, I can totally understand not wanting to miss a day of work to deal with such annoyance and incompetence for a meager $15 or $20. However, after gaining a better understanding of the criminal justice system, I now implore those seeking to get out of jury duty to fulfill their civic duty.

Baltimore City (and likely other large urban areas) is filled with people who feel they, themselves, or someone close to them, have been wronged by the criminal justice system. Whether it be getting roughed up by a city cop, a family member getting a harsh sentence from a judge, or otherwise, city cops, State's Attorneys, and judges are not looked upon with favor by the city-folk. So, what happens when all of us law-abiding citizens without chips on our shoulders weasel our way out of jury duty? A: juries filled with people just looking to acquit, to "get back" at the "system." City juries regularly acquit open-and-shut cases...not necessarily because the State did not meet its burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but because the jurors are getting their retribution against the criminal justice system (termed "jury nullification").

The brother of a good friend of mine from high school was murdered in Patterson Park two years ago after laying in a coma for nine months. The prosecution supposedly had a strong case against the thugs who committed the murder. However, fearing a jury seeking retribution against the system (which would acquit), the prosecutors were forced to offer the thugs a plea deal. Perhaps if less people tried to get out of jury duty, juries would be more heavily infused with people willing to look a a case with an open mind, as opposed to folks eager to acquit. I know it is less than convenient, and likely a miserable experience. However, by fulfilling our civic jury duty, we have the chance to remedy the joke that our city's criminal justice system has become.

Time for a Culture Change

2008-11-16T08:54:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I attended the sentencing hearing of a local, well-known, politically connected, business man from Baltimore County that defrauded individuals and banks over a number of years to the tune of $32 million dollars. What made his story bizarre was that, while he lived lavishly off of the fruits of his crime, he also established a number of charitable organizations that were doing a lot of good for the community. A modern day Robin Hood of sorts. Anyway, the scene was quite tragic. As to be expected, a number of people spoke on his behalf: various people he had helped out along the way, his daughter, and his wife. When these people spoke, they spoke as if they realized that their friend, father, and husband, was going to be heading to jail for a long period of time. Most of them sobbed the way through their speeches, speaking about what a great person the defendant was. The courtroom was packed with friends and family, many who could be seen sobbing during most of the sentencing hearing. The mood of the courtroom was quite sad; again, while he clearly was a horrible man for defrauding innocent people and institutions of millions of dollars, it did seem as if this guy was a good man, a good father, and a good husband, and the actions of those in the courtroom reflected this.

Contrast this with another sentencing hearing that I attended this week. This was a 24-year old guy from the streets of Baltimore being sentenced for a distribution of cocaine charge. Because he was considered a "career offender" (two prior drug offense charges), the sentencing guidelines were between 22 and 27 years for this charge. The only people there to support him were his girlfriend, his mother, his aunt, and his children. The mood in the courtroom was noticeably different from the prior proceeding that I had attended. Whereas the prior defendant had a serious look on his face, and broke down during allocution, this thug sat slouched in his chair, leaning back, often smiling and laughing. And while it have been that his children did not fully understand what was going on, I found it telling that they were essentially running around the back of the courtroom as if it were a playground. His mother, aunt, and girlfriend, while not joking around, sat there with an expression not very different from someone sitting in church or synagogue - just there because we have to be, and not because we want to be.

The problem, as I see it, is one of culture. For people that live on the streets of Baltimore, going to jail, even for long periods of time, is simply part of life. Mothers are accustomed to seeing their babies serve time, girlfriends accustomed to having their children see their baby-daddy through the visitation glass at prison. Those associated with the first defendant were not accustomed to seeing a beloved friend, father, and spouse, go to jail. This was evident by the demeanor of all in attendance at that sentencing. Their culture is not one of crime, violence, and incarceration. Until the culture of the streets - one in which it is "OKAY" to shirk all civic and familial responsibilities while rotting in jail - changes, this city, and others similarly situated where remain breeding grounds for criminals; one in which the children have little chance of contributing anything to society.

Parshas Metzora 5768

2008-04-11T15:21:00.000-05:00

וְהֶעֱמִיד הַכֹּהֵן הַמְטַהֵר, אֵת הָאִישׁ הַמִּטַּהֵר--וְאֹתָם: לִפְנֵי יְהוָה, פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד.
” The kohein doing the purification, shall place the man undergoing the purification and the [aforementioned] items, before Ad-noy, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.”

" At the Nicanor Gate, and not in the [outer] court itself". - Rashi

The Torah tells us while the Kohein is performing the sacrifices associated with the purification process of the Metzora, he may not enter the court itself, but must wait at this "Nicanor Gate." The Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov in his Shemen haMor explains why the Metzora must wait specifically at the gate named after Nicanor.

He brings down the story involving Nicacor from the Gemara in Yoma (38a). The story goes that Nicanor traveled to Egypt to buy a pair of doors for the Beis haMikdash. On the boat ride back to Israel there was a horrible storm on the boat, and it was in desperate danger of sinking unless those aboard the boat dumped some weight into the ocean. Initially, they took one of the doors made in Egypt, without protest from Nicanor, and pitched it into the ocean. However, after getting ready to throw the 2nd door overboard, Nicacor grabbed a hold of the door and said, "if you're going to throw the door in, then you may as well throw me in." Upon displaying this Mesiras Nefesh, the wicked storm calmed and the boat made it back to Israel. As they were unloading the one door that had managed made it, the workers noticed something on the underside of the boat - the 2nd door had miraculously traveled with the boat's current all the way back to the holy land.

This story provides a tremendous amount of Chizuk, as there are certainly plenty of times in one's life, that, for whatever reason, it just doesn't seem like anything good is forthcoming. Whether it be because something bad happened to us and we think that we'll never recover from it; or whether something good happened to us and we lament not being able to attain that again - we should look at the story of Nicanor and realize that just when it seems like something negative is sure to come our way, Hashem comes through for us.

This is what the Metzora is likely thinking after his ordeal - after having a skin disease and going through the arduous atonement process; he is likely to think that he'll never be able to attain his original place with the Jewish people. However, the Kohein makes him wait by Nicanor gate to remind him, that just as Hashem came through for Nicanor when it seemed as if his mission had failed, Hashem can come through for the Metzora, and for all of us.

Bris Speech

2008-03-22T23:14:00.003-05:00

The following was the speech I gave at the Seudas Bris following the birth of our son.

וְהָאֵשׁ עַל-הַמִּזְבֵּחַ תּוּקַד-בּוֹ לֹא תִכְבֶּה, וּבִעֵר עָלֶיהָ הַכֹּהֵן עֵצִים בַּבֹּקֶר בַּבֹּקֶר; וְעָרַךְ עָלֶיהָ הָעֹלָה, וְהִקְטִיר עָלֶיהָ חֶלְבֵי הַשְּׁלָמִים. ו אֵשׁ, תָּמִיד תּוּקַד עַל-הַמִּזְבֵּחַ--לֹא תִכְבֶּה.

“The fire on the altar shall be kindled with it it shall not be extinguished. The kohein shall burn logs upon it each and every morning and arrange the burnt-offering on it and burn upon it the fats of the peace-offering. A continual fire shall be lit on the altar; it shall not be extinguished.”

The verses in this coming week’s parsha that speak about the fire which was lit on the Mizbeach cite the words “Lo Sichveh”/ do not extinguish twice. There is the idea that Hashem did not waste words when he gave over the Torah to Moshe, and in this vein, Rashi explains that one who extinguishes the fire that is lit on the Mizbeach had violated TWO negative prohibitions; one for each of the instances that the Torah says “Lo Sichveh”. We must examine this idea a bit deeper to understand why the Torah was so strict that it mandated two prohibitions for extinguishing the light that remained lit on the Mizbeach.

The Talmud Yerushalmi in Yoma quotes an opinion that says that this fire on the Mizbeach remained lit “af b’maasaos”, that is, it remained lit even when the Jewish people were traveling throughout the desert. However, another question lingers – since the Jews were not using the Mizbeach while they were traveling, why did they need this Aish, this fire, to remain lit, even when not in use?

Rabbi Yosef Greenwald says that here, there is a profound lesson that each of us should apply to our own lives, but first mentions that the word “TORAH” in the Tanach is frequently called “AISH”, so in our analysis we can substitute these words interchangeably. Rav Greenwald says that the Aish haTorah/ FIRE OF TORAH is something that is undoubtedly with us when we are learning and when we are davening. However, it is not enough that the Aish haTorah be lit in our lives only when we are engaged in spiritual pursuits; it must also be with us when we are engaged in the mundane. That is, we must take the Aish haTorah that is burning when we are engaged in the spiritual realm, and somehow infuse that in the rest of our lives, whether that be in school or in the workplace – somehow continually maintaining our connection to Yiddishkeit in any way possible, at all time. This is why the Torah was so strict in mandating TWO prohibitions for extinguishing the flame on the Mizbeach – that which the Mizbeach stood for, regardless of whether it was actually being used at a specific time, needed to permeate the lives of the Jewish people.

In fact, we see this idea in the timely story of Purim. The rabbis tell us that Esther, who was in Achashverosh’s harem for a number of years, was sure to maintain her connection to Judaism while in her stay at the palace. The rabbis comment that Esther appointed 7 servants, one for each day of the week, so she would know which day she was to observe Shabbos. However, the commentaries ask – did Esther not know how to count? She simply could’ve counted the days and known when Shabbos was that way. One beautiful answer that I saw was that if Esther would’ve only had 1 servant, and that one servant would’ve seen her acting differently on 1 day of the week (on SHABBOS), they would’ve become suspicious of her actions, and possibly reported them to the king of her being Jewish. However, in appointing seven DIFFERENT servants, for the servant who worked every Shabbos, Esther was acting no differently, and therefore, would arouse no suspicion. Thus, we see that, even while in the royal harem of Achachverosh, Esther was very calculated in making sure that she maintained a connection to Judaism.

Rabbi Kosman, the Rabbi in Frederick, often says that there is no such thing as a coincidence. It’s no coincidence then that man after whom we named our child, Yaakov Yerachmiel Hammermesh, my wife’s grandfather, fully embodied this approach to Judaism. Yaakov Yerachmiel lived in one of the most horrible times in Jewish history. The eyes and ears of anyone subjected to the Holocaust sensed things that you wouldn’t wish on your worst of enemies. One would think that even if the body would be able to recover from such experiences, certainly the mind would not – that is, it would be expected that such a person would lack Derech Eretz let alone even act humanly. However, as evidenced by his children and his grandchildren, it cannot simply be by accident that they inherited his gentle Kavod haBriyos and his Derech Eretz. Yaakov Yerachmiel raised a family that, even though rooted in the most troubling of times in Jewish history, had strong Jewish values. His experiences tested his faith in ways that none of us, God forbid, should ever know from, yet his resolve to pass Yiddishkeit onto his family is apparent to anyone that knows them. Just as it was the Jews’ responsibility to keep the Aish of the Mizbeach lit at all times, it is now our job as parents to kindle the Aish haTorah at all times for our son. Peggy and I thank all of your for coming out tonight and we know that if our son is surrounded by the same friends, parents, and grandparents that we are so lucky to have in our lives, then Yaakov Yerachmiel Laz will become a Jew that Yaakov Yerachmiel Hammermesh would’ve been proud of.

Losing YOUR Religion

2008-02-18T07:30:00.003-05:00

Reading Jewboy's post about something in the orthodox world that saddened him reminded me of a New York Times article that a friend forwarded me a few days ago.

The article speaks about an Orthodox rabbi serving a 27-year sentence in an Otisville, NY federal penitentiary (where, I'm told there is at least 1 Daf Yomi Shiur) for fraudulently obtaining more than $4 million. Oh, and we're not talking about not-paying-your-taxes $4 million, we're talking collecting-money-for-a-fake-lottery $4 million. He is suing the Bureau of Prisons for the right to be able to pray outside of his cell. He claims that he cannot pray inside of his cell because of the presence of a toilet, and in doing so, he would be violating Halacha.

Thank G-d, we live in a country where we can pray where we want, when we want. We live in time period that is arguably the best for Jews in recent history. But, how do we obtain these liberty and freedoms? It doesn't come for free; it comes with the price of obeying the rules of this country. You steal money from innocent people who think that they can win money in a lottery - a clear violation of the laws of our land, yet you claim that you're owed protection from those same laws? Sounds like some real chutzpah to me.

I'm sure Rabbi Samet would scold me for speaking Lashon Hara. I'm sure Rabbi Samet could run circles around me in learning. But, I have to imagine that I have one up on him in the eyes of Hashem; after all, I didn't swindle $4 million out of anyone. I fail to understand how these people can be so Machmir in all aspects of life, but when it comes to money, they feel that they can do whatever they please. TAXES?! Who pays taxes? To a Goyishe government!? The hypocrisy in which these people live their lives is astonishing.

I would like to believe that Hashem doesn't as readily accept the prayers of people who live their lives seeped in such hypocrisy as he does mine and yours. Rabbi Samet - you know how you go about being able to daven whereever you want? A: Don't steal $4 million from innocent people and it wouldn't even be a problem in the first place. Deal with it.

Parshas Terumah 5768

2008-02-08T01:03:00.000-05:00

דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְיִקְחוּ-לִי תְּרוּמָה: מֵאֵת כָּל-אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יִדְּבֶנּוּ לִבּוֹ, תִּקְחוּ אֶת-תְּרוּמָתִי.
“Speak to the B'nei Yisrael and have them give Me a terumah-offering. From every man whose heart impels him to generosity shall you take My terumah-offering.”

This week’s parsha starts off by talking about the different donations given to the Mishkan. The Torah starts off by talking about a person who gives Terumah, but uses the phrase “VAYIKCHU li terumah”, literally, when you TAKE for me Terumah. If the Torah is talking about one who is GIVING terumah, why does it use the seemingly opposite word “TAKE”? The famous answer from the Beis haLevi goes something like this…

The only things that we really “own” in life are those that are eternal. Sure, we have cars, homes, fancy things – but none of these items are eternal, so our ownership of these things is limited. However, when one takes something like money, which is not eternal, and gives it to Tzedaka, the money has transformed from something fleeting into a Mitzvah – something eternal. Thus, we see that “Vayikchu li Terumah” teaches us that when we give Terumah to the Mishkan, we have transformed this money into something eternal, and therefore, while we are technically giving to the Beis haMikdash – in reality, we’re really TAKING something for ourselves…we take that transformation of the fleeting money into an eternal merit.

Chazal in the Medrash to Parshas Bo tell us that, “More than the money that the Ba’al haBayis gives to the poor person, the poor person gives to the Ba’al haBayis.” How is this so? Typically, in a Tzedaka situation, we view the Ba’al haBayis as the giver and the poor person as the receiver. However, in light of what we read above, we see that really these distinctions aren’t so clear; the poor person, while receiving the money, is really a “giver” in the sense that he enables the Ba’al haBayis to do a Mitzvah – and the Ba’al haBayis, while giving the money, is really a receiver in the sense that he reaps the reward and merit for his gift.

One final example where the distinctions between giver and receiver are not so clear: the Gemara in Kiddush tells us that for a marriage to be valid, the man must give the ring to a woman. However, there is one exception where the marriage can be valid if the woman gives the ring to a man: if the man is an “Adam Chashuv/important person.” The gemara explains that while it seems like the man, in this case, is receiving something and the woman giving it, that isn’t the case. If I bring a gift to the President, and he accepts it, I will get great joy out of this. So too in our case above; the woman, by giving the ring to a very important man, while technically a “giver” in that she gives the ring to the man, is, in reality, a receiver, because she gets the joy out of knowing that the very important man retains her present.

I think the lesson to be learned is an obvious, yet profound one. We see it in marriage and in friendships alike – the only time we get anything from a relationship, or from life in general, is when we give, or put work into that venture. The more work we put in to maintain these relationships and to achieve things in life, the more benefit we will receive from them. Again, while it seems that we are the “giver” in the sense that we are putting all of this work in, we learn from the second Pasuk in this week’s parsha and throughout Chazal, that the one who wants to receive anything must be a giver.

Parshas Va'era 5768

2007-12-31T21:27:00.000-05:00

וְשָׁרַץ הַיְאֹר, צְפַרְדְּעִים, וְעָלוּ וּבָאוּ בְּבֵיתֶךָ, וּבַחֲדַר מִשְׁכָּבְךָ וְעַל-מִטָּתֶךָ; וּבְבֵית עֲבָדֶיךָ וּבְעַמֶּךָ, וּבְתַנּוּרֶיךָ וּבְמִשְׁאֲרוֹתֶיךָ.

"The river will swarm with frogs. They will emerge and come into your house, into your bedroom, and on your bed, into the houses of your servants and your people, into your ovens and into your kneading bowls."

The Gemara in Pesachim (53b) says that the frogs jumped into the ovens when they were hot (presumably killing them), as this is the only time that the kneading bowls were by the ovens. Further, the Gemara there tells us us that Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah, in their act of Mesiras Nefesh in jumping into the fiery furnace learned out a Kal v'Chomer from the frogs in the above verse. Namely, that just has the frogs, which were not commanded in the Mitzvah of Kiddush Hashem jumped into the ovens and gave up their lives, all the more so, they reasoned, that they were obligated to jump in the furnace.

The Shagas Aryeh fails to understand the Kal v'Chomer, being that the basis of it is that the frogs were not commanded to jump into the ovens; however, the verse, by saying that "They will emerge and come into your house...", is specifically commanding them to do so - as such, the premise of the Kal v'Chomer is destroyed. However, the Gra (who was reported to be about 7 years old at the time), explained to the Shagas Aryeh that while there was a command to the frogs to jump into the ovens, the verse also lists other places that the frogs could've jumped (i.e. the house, bedroom, bed, etc.). Therefore, each individual frog had the choice where to go. As such, it would've been very easy for every frog to think to himself, "Yeah, I'll go into the bed...I'll let the next sucker be the one who gives up his life." Nevertheless, we see that, at least among a good number of the frogs, they rejected this mindset and opted to give up their lives. Thus, we see that while they were commanded to go into the ovens, they were also given the option of entering other places; and it was this choice that Chananya, Mishael, and Azaryah learned their Kal v'Chomer from.

The lesson to be learned here is that we shouldn't habituate ourselves to constantly choose the easy path. Of course, that doesn't mean we should spend this New Years Eve jumping in the closest furnance we can find. However, constantly taking the easy-path is a cop out and we often reap less reward later in life than we would if we would've put more effort in initially (הזורעים בדמעה ברנה יקצרו). Further, it's easy, like the frogs could've done, to rely on others to do our work for us. We should learn from the plague of the frogs that we shouldn't leave our responsibilites to others and that putting in more work initially will pay off in the long run.

The Not-So-Important Law School Review Session

2007-11-21T09:07:00.000-05:00

In most of my classes we’re having some sort of “review session”, whether it is taught by the professor or by the teaching assistant. Now, how they fit a semester’s worth of material into 2 hours is beyond me, and I’m of the firm belief that if a person really NEEDS to attend the review session, they probably aren’t going to do very well in the course. But, alas, I will probably attend my review sessions, even though whatever grade I get in each course will likely have nothing to do with whether I attend one of them.

Now, scheduling a review session is very difficult. While we’re divided up into sections, there are a good number of people, including myself, that are in different sections for different courses. So, whatever time is made for the review is likely to be changed three times due to another review session at the same time, or something of the likes. So, to alleviate this problem, my contracts teaching assistant scheduled the review session for that course for next Saturday.

“OH MY GOSH HOW AM I GOING TO MISS THE REVIEW SESSION,” I heard another Shomer Shabbos person say. Well, first of all, I really hope that person wasn’t depending on a review session that attempts the impossible task of going through hundreds of hours of materials in 2. That said, ideally, it would be nice to go to such a review session, just to firm things up. So, why don’t I e-mail him and make him switch it, after all, Saturday is the Sabbath and I can’t drive on the Sabbath?!

Why? I’m a firm believer that we, as Jews, should try to call as little attention to ourselves as possible. Would I likely be able to get him to switch the review session? Sure. Am I likely to piss him, the professor, and the rest of the students in my section off that would need to change their plans for me, all because of a largely inconsequential review section? Guaranteed.

Obviously, if you need to miss class for holidays - and for certain grave injustices, there’s nothing you can do – you gotta speak up. But, I also believe that sometimes you gotta “take one for the team.” Listen, not to sound like the little oppressed Jew that’s looking to everyone for sympathy, but historically, things haven’t been so great for the Jews. We are arguably living at one of the most auspicious times for Jewry in history. We are thriving in America with little-to-no outward persecution, and we have the State of Israel. If I were the one making decisions for the Jewish people, I’d want this “State of the Union” to last as long as possible. Calling attention to ourselves for a largely inconsequential review session would piss many people off, and we don’t want to be known as the type of people that piss people off.

Bathroom Exit Doors

2007-10-18T09:58:00.000-05:00

I fail to understand why there are any exit doors to bathrooms that are "pull-doors". You would think that in a school of higher education, where people have been through 16+ years of school, they would understand the health consequences of a failure to wash hands. But, even in law school, I'd say that 20% of the people (well, men) that use the bathroom don't wash their hands. Thus, when they leave the bathroom, their urine and bacteria get all over the handle to the exit door. And I, who just finished washing my hands, must subject myself to this. All exit doors should be "push-doors", that way I can use my elbow or backside...parts of the body that are less likely to transmit the bacteria to myself or others.

Usually, I wash my hands, dry them, and use another paper-towel to open the door. But, where this isn't possible, I usually either go for the top or the bottom of the handle...places less likely to have been touched as frequently by those nasty people. Can anyone tell me the logic behind having pull-doors for bathroom exits?

Succos Torah

2007-09-25T07:17:00.000-05:00

Law school is kicking my ass. I was hoping to put something new together for this year, but it just doesn't look like it's going to happen. Luckily, I really like last year's D'var Torah. CLICK HERE TO READ.

Rosh Hashana Thoughts

2007-09-17T06:23:00.000-05:00

I found myself sitting in shul on Rosh Hashana, wishing I was a Reform Jew. Not because I wanted to drive to shul, and not because I wanted to sit next to my wife. The reason is because, comparitavely speaking, they care more about Rosh Hashana than I do. To the Reform Jew that may go to shul only a few times a year, taking off work and school for Rosh Hashana is a big deal. In a sense, their experience of Rosh Hashana is probably more like what it is supposed to be than mine: Rosh Hashana, to them, is the pinnacle of the Jewish year. Unfortunately, for me, in the routine of living every day as an Orthodox Jew, it is and was not.

Now, I think the problem lies in me more than it lies in the "system". That said, as I see it, when you live life 365 days a year as an Orthodox Jew, constantly trying to remember to daven 3 times a day; checking that bag of chips to make sure it has a Hechsher (but not Triangle-K, of course!); patting my head on the way to school to make sure my head is covered, it's only a bit natural that Rosh Hashana can get caught up in the mix of things. After all, the day before Rosh Hashana I was a frum Jew, and the day after Rosh Hashana I was still a frum Jew, so what's the big deal if I slack a little on Rosh Hashana? I found myself with these exact thoughts in shul on the first day of Rosh Hashana.

I suppose this is my test, as I sure it is many others' test in Judaism: to find meaning in the often mundane routine that is Orthodox Judaism. This test will be even harder for me over the next 3 years, as I give my best shot at law school. With more time, the test to find meaning in things is aided by daily shiurim, chavrusas, and other time for individual learning or reading. For me, the week leading up to Rosh Hashana consisted of spending most of my waking time in the library and with the only free time I had trying to catch up with my wife on how her days had been going. Erev Rosh Hashana consisted of school from 9:15-6:10pm. After rushing home to shave and shower, I found myself in shul on Rosh Hashana. The Sifrei Chaim and Meisim (Books of Life and Death) were open in front of me, and I couldn't help but think that the "Two-Times-a-Year" Jews all over the world were more properly prepared to file in from of Hashem like "Kivnei Maron" than I was.

Parshas Ki Seitzei

2007-08-24T15:10:00.000-05:00

Sorry, no time for anything this week. CLICK HERE to read last year's Dvar Torah.

Parshas Shoftim 5767

2007-08-15T21:56:00.000-05:00

To see last year's Dvar Torah, CLICK HERE.

Adapted from a shiur given by R' Baruch Simon.

לא תַסִּיג גְּבוּל רֵעֲךָ, אֲשֶׁר גָּבְלוּ רִאשׁנִים--בְּנַחֲלָתְךָ, אֲשֶׁר תִּנְחַל, בָּאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלהֶיךָ נתֵן לְךָ לְרִשְׁתָּהּ.

“Do not move back the boundary of your neighbor that the first [settlers] determine in your territory that you will inherit in the land that Ad-noy, your G-d, is giving you to inherit.” (Sefer Devarim, 19:14)

Literally speaking (at least according to Rashi), this verse teaches us that we shouldn’t move boundaries dividing our land form our neighbor’s. The Ramban says that this verse is specifically referring to the tribal borders of Eretz Yisrael. He continues to explain that by moving these borders of Israel one is, in a sense, undermining the Hashgacha of Hashem in the Gorel/lottery system used to divide the land.

The Sifri, who the Ramban actually quotes in his notes on this idea, adds further. He says, lets assume there is a machlokes on a certain matter between R’ Elazar and R’ Yehoshua, and one holds that the certain item is Tahor, and the other says Tamei. You, however, forget the exact ruling and switch up the opinions of who says which. In this case, says the Sifri, you have violated this prohibition, as you have moved the “boundary” of their rulings. The Arizal explains here that within every Halacha that Moshe gave to the Jews, he gave 49 reasons that it should be permissible and 49 reasons that it should be forbidden. Every person, when ruling on this matter, will have a natural inclination one way or another. Thus, to switch up the rulings of R’ Elazar and R’ Yehoshua is more than just a brief mental lapse; according to the Arizal, you’re switching up their entire “Shoresh haNeshama” that lead them to rule in the way that each did.

Similarly, it says in the Avos d’Rav Nosson that if someone learns for 6 months without reviewing and a person comes to ask them whether something is permissible or prohibited, the person making the ruling will switch up the ruling. That is, if the Halacha really is that the thing is permissible, the person who doesn’t review will say it is prohibited; and vice versa. It goes on to say that one who learns for 12 months without review will come to switch up which opinion says what. That is, if R’ Elazar is the one who the Halacha goes in accordance with, the person making the ruling will say it in the name of R’ Yehoshua. The question here is obvious: when thinking about Halacha, we obviously forget the source for the Halachos (who it is quoted in the name of) that we learn before we forget the Halacha itself. So, why, according to this, do we forget the Halacha first?

The answer given is that after 6 months, you’ll forget the Halacha, as this is a mere detail. It happens to be that nowadays who said what a detail to us is also. However, if you really understand the person that is saying something, you’d realize that what they say isn’t a detail; rather, it’s helping to get a better understanding of the essence of that person. For example, regarding my friends, I am likely to forget specific details about things that happened between us, but am I less likely to forget the type of person, in general, that he is.

The lesson here is that when we get to understand people, we realize that everyone’s essence is different. There’s no mitzvah to try to make everyone the same in our minds. Regarding ourselves, we shouldn’t be upset by the fact that we don’t fit into a cookie-cutter mold that it often seems that the community is trying to fit us into. Or, regarding others (and our children), we shouldn’t expect everyone to be like we are or to try to mold our children into some mold that we have envisioned for them. To say otherwise would be like saying the opinion of R’ Elazar in the name of R’ Yehoshua.

Parshas Re'eh 5767

2007-08-09T10:01:00.000-05:00

To see last year's Dvar Torah, CLICK HERE.

Adapted from a shiur given by R' Baruch Simon

כָּל-הַבְּכוֹר אֲשֶׁר יִוָּלֵד בִּבְקָרְךָ וּבְצֹאנְךָ, הַזָּכָר--תַּקְדִּישׁ, לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ: לֹא תַעֲבֹד בִּבְכֹר שׁוֹרֶךָ, וְלֹא
תָגֹז בְּכוֹר צֹאנֶךָ.

“Every firstborn that is born in your cattle, and in your flocks---a male--- you must consecrate to Ad-noy, your G-d; you may not work with your first-born ox, or shear the first-born of your flocks.” (Sefer Devarim, 15:19)

The Bechor (firstborn) sacrifice is unique by virtue of the fact that it attains its status of “Hekedesh”/consecrated by simply being born. When the animal passes through the mother’s womb, it is automatically consecreated; Chazal refer to this type of sacrifice as “Kadosh M’eilav”, loosely translated as “inherently holy”. This differs from all other Karbanos which become consecrated only after verbally declaring that animal should be Hekdesh.

Rashi, quoting the Mishna in Arachin, wonders why, if the Bechor is consecrated automatically, does the Pasuk tell us that “you must consecrate”. Why do we need to do anything if it is inherently holy? Furthermore, there is an explicit Pasuk in Parshas Bechokosai (Vayikra 27:26) that tells us that a person SHOULDN’T consecrate the first-born…what gives?

Rashi, quoting the Mishna in Arachin, answers according to the Rabbanan, who say that the Pasuk in Bechukosai which says that a person shouldn’t consecrate the animal means to tell us that we cannot consecrate it for something else. We are therefore prohibited to bring this animal as a sin-offering because it already has the status of a Bechor. However, our Pasuk which tells us to consecrate the animal is telling us that even though there is inherently holiness by virtue of the fact that the animal was born, nevertheless, we still have a Mitzvah to verbally consecrate the sacrifice like any other.

This is actually an entire Halachic sugya in Nedarim. The Gemara there discusses which types of utterances make a Neder into a valid one. The rule is that if someone says that they want to “make this apple assur to me like a Karbon Chatas”, that works, as one can use an utterance of something that needs a verbal declaration to make it assur. However, regarding something that doesn’t need a verbal declaration to make it assur, one couldn’t use that in an Neder utterance. Thus, if one says that they want to “make this apple assur to me like pig”, it is no good, as pig is assur to us even without verbal declaration. The question arises, what about Karbon Bechor? On one hand, we could say that it is like making a Neder with a Karbon Chatas, because, as our Pasuk tells us, even a Karbon Bechor needs verbal consecration. Or, on the other hand, perhaps it is like making a Neder with a pig, as the Karbon is assur to us as soon as it is born, even without verbal consecration, like a pig.

When we look at this idea, it is a bit bizarre. Why do we have do verbally consecrate the animal if it is inherently holy? Furthremore, by other Karbonos, if we don’t verbally consecrate them they are 100% permissible for us to eat; this is not the case by Bechor – even without our verbal declaration they are already Kadosh. The Sefer Yeraim and the Smag suggest that while it has inherent holiness, we still are obligated to show some sort of Chavivus/endearment to the Mitzvah.

The underlying message here is that anything that has Kedushah or is meaningful in life requires effort. Things that happen by themselves often have little value. This is evidenced by the fact that the Torah can’t handle us, in the case of Bechor, to be inactive participants. Rav Schachter points out a Meshech Chochmah which examines why, when the Shofar blew at the end of Matan Torah, could anyone ascend the mountain. He answers there that while Matan Torah was surely an awesome event, what made it awesome was our active partnership in accepting the Torah. It wasn’t simply the Hashem was giving us the Torah, but rather, we were receiving it. Once we had received it and were ready to be on our way, the mountain lost its awesomeness and anyone could ascend. Whether it’s the beginning of a new school year or just the beginning of a Yom Tov season, we should realize this lesson that whatever we wish to accomplish can only be attained through our active partnership in whatever it is that we’re doing.

Israel Day 15

2007-07-31T16:21:00.001-05:00

With Chevron tomorrow, we needed to wrap up a few things here in town, getting last minute gifts for people and getting a few more odds and ends. After a late start we hit Meah Shearim hard for some last minute seforim and other goodies. The urge to load up on random Seforim was great, but I was able to resist knowing that we may already be overweight on the way back. Of note were the particularly funny hats we saw in one store there...

After quite a few hours of bumping around here and there we made our way back for a few hours of relaxing around the apartment. We were invited for dinner to a friend from back home (and wife) who grew up with me in Frederick and is now learning in the Mir. I particularly appreciate the fact that, regardless of how frum he is or how much he learns, he will not turn his back on where he came from or the people that helped him get to where he is today. He always wants to know what is going on in Frederick and always inquires about the Rabbi. He's a good man. There was an amazing amount of food at dinner and some great company; this dinner was sort of last minute and was definitely one of the pleasant surprises on the trip. Afterwards we met up a couple and their children from Baltimore who we are friendly with and shmoozed with them before heading home. Flying solo to Chevron tomorrow as the wife has already been and wants to spend some time around here tomorrow, and then we're heading out early Thursday morning. Time flies... :(

Israel Day 14

2007-07-31T03:17:00.000-05:00

We wanted to get an early start to maximize the pool/beach time, so we arose pretty early and did what we needed to do to get to the pool at an early hour. Thankfully, the water was a bit cooler than the day before and offered relief from the 100-degree heat. We were able to get a good 4 hours in the office (I mean pool/beach) before needed to get ready to check out of our room.

PegLaz had smooth-talked the people at reception to push back our check-out time from 11am to 2pm, so we were able to maximize our UV intake. But, the bus wasn't coming until 3pm so we watched an amateurish fashion show taking place in the lobby. We finally got on the bus at 3 with perhaps the craziest bus driver in the world. I wouldn't drive a car like this man drove a bus...I swear he was SPEEDING UP around curves which were marked with signs saying "Dangerous Curve Ahead." But, he did save us 25 minutes, so who cares if he almost killed us all, right?

We caught a cab home with some filthy Arab cab driver who was listening to some Persian radio station. The song playing was perhaps the worst song I've ever heard; he told me she was wailing about the loss of her beloved. Oh yeah, and when I asked how long the song lasted, as it seemed to never end, he told me it was 1-our. If I didn't want to throw up after the bus ride, I surely did at this point.

After laying low for a few hours, PegLaz went out shopping with her sister, while I got together with a friend (yes, same friend) for a few beers at an Irish Pub in town. This bar was definitely the nicest I've seen in Israel and offered quite a nice selection of beers and the best selection of scotch I've seen in the Holy Land. I opted for 1/2 liters of Leffe Blonde and Guiness. We met up with PegLaz and sister for some Moshiko falael afterwards and caught a ride home. More Yerushalayim stuff tomorrow, then Chevron on Wednesday!

Parshas Eikev

2007-07-30T16:27:00.000-05:00

וְהָיָה עֵקֶב תִּשְׁמְעוּן, אֵת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים הָאֵלֶּה, וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם וַעֲשִׂיתֶם, אתָם--וְשָׁמַר יְהוָה אֱלהֶיךָ לְךָ, אֶת-הַבְּרִית וְאֶת-הַחֶסֶד, אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע, לַאֲבתֶיךָ.

"In the future, as a consequence of your heeding these laws, and your guarding and fulfilling them; Ad-noy, your G-d, will guard for you the covenant and the kindliness that He swore to your forefathers." (Sefer Devarim, 7:12)

Rashi: "If, even the lesser commandments which a person treads on with his heels, you will heed, [then He will keep his promise to you."

I was perusing Manny's Seforim shop in Meah Shearim and I stumbled across this 2-volume set on Chumash called the "Areshes Sifaseinu" by R' Eliyahu Schlesinger, the Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Gilo. In it he has "mussary" vorts on the Parsha, similar to the Imrei Barch that I laud and quote so frequently. R' Schlesinger offers the following insight on these verses:

Rashi's comment explaining the word "Eikev" referring to the Hebrew word, "heel", is puzzling as it seems that Rash is admitting that there are certain Mitzvos that are "lesser" than others. Can someone of Rashi's stature really claim that this is the case? Certainly, this statement begs further explanation.

The Hebrew in the text of Rashi translates "lesser commandments" as "Mitzvos haKallos". However, there is another version of Rashi that leaves out only one letter of this phrase and reads "Mitzvos Kallos". As it fits in with the rest of the (similar) Hebrew text of Rashi, removing the "Hey" changes the word "Kallos" from modifying "Mitzvos" to modifying "Adam/person." (yes, you must forgive that Kallos is feminine and plural, while Adam is singular and masculine) Thus, according to this version of Rashi, it isn't the commandments that are "Kallos", but rather, certain people; and with this, we answer our original question about Rashi's statement about "lesser commandments." However, what is this version of Rashi referring to when it discusses a people who are "Kallos"?

R' Schlesinger gives a mashul which explains this mindset nicely: regarding driving a vehicle on Shabbos, everyone knows that it is forbidden, as it is an outright violation of the Sabbath. These people know that if they were to drive on Shabbos their actions wouldn't be in accordance with Torah Judaism and they could no longer consider themselves "frum". However, there are many people that, while they would never consider driving on Shabbos, aren't so careful about the subtleties of Hilchos Borer, regardless of the fact that each act is a violation of one of the 39 prohibited activities on Shabbos. But, despite this fact, many people fail to hold these two prohibitions at an equal level. For some it may be a lack of knowledge, but there is at least a subset of people who have the knowledge, but, for whatever reason, view these Halachos as "Mitvos Kallos."

This is exactly what Rashi is explaining when he refers to people who are Kallos - they have the aforementioned mindset. And, while that mindset is horrible, it only festers and worses over the generations. Children who grow up seeing their parents violate Halachos that they are learning in school are witnessing a type of Yiddishkeit where corners can be cut. Sure, this Jew would never drive on Shabbos, but as more and more generations grow up with this attitude, what was once black and white may (chas v'shalom) become gray. This reminds me of an argument I was in recently with a friend. He lives in a town where many people get together for a "Shabbos softball game." The Rabbi of the town, upon hearing about this, sent out an e-mail to the congregations informing them of all of the potential Shabbos prohibitions that one can violate by participating in such a game and urged that the game be cut from the Shabbos agendas of many. Many people viewed the Rabbis actions as silly; after all, who was going to listen to him? I asked my friend if the Rabbi would be right to send out the e-mail if he knew that his Shomer Shabbos congregants were driving on Shabbos, to which he answered in the affirmative. The point I tried to make to him was that just because in the eyes of some certain prohibitions are on a lower level than others doesn't mean that this was the case in the eyes of the Rabbis who codified Halacha as we know it.

Israel Day 13

2007-07-30T15:21:00.000-05:00

While I'm not always one that needs to experience new things, especially in Israel, to have a good time, most of what we've done so far are things that we did on our trip to Israel last time. However, we wanted to change things up a bit and go somewhere that neither of us had been in a while...the Dead Sea.

We got a late start to the day (a lot of late starts, huh?) since check-in wasn't until 3pm, and we caught a 1pm bus to Ein Bokek. With some of my boxing-out skills at their finest, I was able to secure us a couple of seats on the ride that would take over 2 hours, despite the fact that we were at the end of the line. I kind of felt bad for the people that had to stand the whole ride, but not bad enough to give up my seat. Anyway, the ride took entirely too long due to a lot of annoying stops along the way and people who take 30 years to get their luggage off from underneath the bus. Finally, a little after 3pm, we arrived. Now, we didn't have too much planned for this little overnight aside from relaxing at the pool and at the Dead Sea beach, so we got right to it.

Unfortunately, the pool water was very warm; a little too warm to find enjoyable, so we quickly made our way over the beach. I was expecting the water to be warm, but not the (literally) 95 degrees that the water was. It literally felt like getting into a hot tub...but there was something about the whole setting that made the beach much more bearable than the pool. The water, albeit hot, was very calm and I just laid on my back, at the mercy of the salty water, for a good while. We were able to catch a good 3-4 hours of sun before we had to call it a night. Too lazy to make the 3km trip to the mall, we opted to eat in at the hotel; one of these all-you-can-eat buffet things. Being that we hadn't really eaten lunch that day and, well, the fact that it was all-you-can-eat led to a large quantity of great food consumed by the both of us and neither of us being able to move from our chairs for about 30 minutes after finishing. After finally prying ourselves from the dinner table, we retreated to our room where we watched most of the IBL all-star game.

To end off the night we took a little walk on the beach before being overcome by the 90 degree weather, despite the fact that it was after 11pm. More on day 2 of our outing in the next post....

Israel Day 11/12

2007-07-29T03:53:00.000-05:00

Friday was a pretty busy day...after getting a late start, PegLaz decided to stay in to help her sister cook for Shabbos. I ventured out to do some shopping for some friends that were coming in to Israel too late to do any pre-Shabbos shopping. Nothing too out of the ordinary except for the funny "artwork" I saw on an electrical box in Emek Refaim. I shlepped the stuff over to their apartment in Maalot Dafna and spent some time in their well-air-conditioned apartment.

Upon coming home, I got a call from my friend who asked if I wanted to go to "Lifta", some sort of mineral spring just outside of Yerushalayim. Apparently many people go their for a pre-Shabbos dip. After a 10 minute hike down to the spring (don't ever let anyone tell you that Crocs are acceptable hiking shoes), we jumped in the spring, which was FREEZING, yet refreshing. All was well there except for the plethora of Yeshiva boys in their tighty-whiteys (sorry for the visual). From there, I got home just in time to shave and shower for the onset of Shabbos.

It's interesting how they work the beginning of Shabbos in shuls here. Light Bentching is 40 minutes before Shkiya (7:05 this past week), and this is when the women lit candles. Somehow, however, in Shul they still davened Mincha at 7:35. Maybe the men specifically aren't Mekabel Shabbos with their wives' lighting, or maybe it's not Tarte D'Sasrei as it appears to me. Interesting. Anyway, dinner was at our friends down the road (you probably think that since I keep referring to everyone as "friends", I have a lot of them - it's really the same 4 people ever time) and very nice. Again, the Jerusalem evening weather made for some nice walking on the way back. Shul the next morning was nice, followed by lunch here at my sister-in-law's. Some interesting discussion about the state of Israel and those who make Aliyah, etc. Again, our friends' daughter was the star of the show.

Learned, read, and slept in the afternoon. Mincha and Maariv; nothing too out of the ordinary there. After Shabbos we got a call to see if we wanted to go to the Old City, and considering we didn't have any other plans (and it's the Old City) we went. We met some friends there and took some nice pictures by the Kotel, but a minor misplacement of the camera left us taking pictures with someone else's camera (thus, no pictures yet). We hung around by the Kotel and in the Old City before opting to walk the 35-minute distance from the Old City to Maalot Dafna for some Melava Malka. Ate some (cheeseless) pizza, shmoozed, and finally called it a night around 1:30. Dead Sea today and tomorrow....will post about it when we get back.

Israel Day 10

2007-07-28T18:28:00.000-05:00

Day 10 wasn't too terribly exciting as we were pretty beat from the previous day in Tel Aviv. We got a late start to the day and decided to do some shopping in town for some gifts. Of note, we're super excited to give our nephew his Elmo kippa. Supposedly he's been wearing his father's kippa...if you know his father, you'd know that it's too big for the little guy. Anyway, aside from that, we were fairly unsuccessful in the gift-buying department.

From there, dinner was at Burgers Bar, something we had been craving since our arrival, but had to be delayed due to the 9 days. Anyway, Burgers Bar came through in the clutch for us once again, although the amount of oil on the "chips" was a bit nauseating. Ahh, it's vacation, who cares...

In the evening we went out with a good friend to shoot some pool. The mall in Talpiyot that we went to was pretty nasty, but surprisingly the pool was quite nice. After playing for about an hour or so, we went back to his placeand hung around with him and their adorable little daughter. Things were pretty calm until we busted out the bottle of scotch that I brought along with me. I managed to hold my own pretty well, but my buddy hadn't eaten anything since lunch, so he was our comedy for the evening. I have an incriminating video of him that I will keep as blackmail, being that I'm not quite mean enough to post it here on the blog...

All in all, we are having a fabulous time. The weather is a bit hot during the day, but the evenings make for absolutely gorgeous strolls. I'll report about Shabbos tomorrow...thanks for reading.

Parshas Vaeschanan

2007-07-27T04:16:00.000-05:00

אֶעְבְּרָה-נָּא, וְאֶרְאֶה אֶת-הָאָרֶץ הַטּוֹבָה, אֲשֶׁר, בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן: הָהָר הַטּוֹב הַזֶּה, וְהַלְּבָנן.

"Please, allow me to cross over and see the good land that is across the Yardein, this good mountain and the Lebanon." (Sefer Devarim, 3:25)

Rabbi Simla’i expounded: Why did Moshe our teacher wish to enter Eretz Yisrael? Did he need to eat of its fruit or fill himself of its goodness? Rather, Moshe said: “Many mitzvot have been commanded to Israel which cannot be fulfilled but in Eretz Yisrael; I will enter in order to fulfill them all.” (Sotah 14a)

It is understood from R' Simla'i's statement that Moshe Rabbeinu didn't want to go into Eretz Yisrael to eat the fruit. This, however, is difficult to understand by virtue of the fact that in the Bracha Achrona that we eat after certain foods we praise Hashem for giving our forefathers the land so that we can "eat of its fruit and be filled of its goodness." How can we say that Moshe Rabbeinu didn't want to enter to eat the fruit, yet it something that we explicity praise Hashem for? Furthermore, the Bach comments that fruits from Israel have a certain level of Kedusha because they get nourishment from the holy land of Israel. Surely this is something that Moshe would've wanted to merit.

R' Menachem Ziemba answers in a fascinating way, by explaining that Moshe Rabbeinu was on such a level that he didn't need to eat. Of course, he did eat, but only so that he shouldn't appear too different from everyone else and the way they are by nature. Therefore, since he didn't need to eat he didn't have the urge to go in to taste the fruit. However, R' Ziemba concludes by saying that by everyone else who, of course, needed to eat, they did go in order to "eat of its fruit and be filled of its goodness." Thus, it makes sense that we, beings that need and enjoy food, praise Hashem for giving the land to our forefathers for the aforementioned reasons.

It's not hard to find things to complain about when talking about Israel. Yes, the government sucks. Yes, the people aren't always the friendliest. Yes, many people replace Yahadut with Zionism. I could go on and on. But, as everyone will probably agree, there's something about this place that there is to love and that brings me back, even when spending thousands of dollars isn't in our best financial interest. One can't help feeling something different when in Israel. For some, it's the Kotel. For some, it's Masada. However, we learn from this that it doesn't have to be a religious landmark or a beautiful view; it can be something as simple as eating the fruit of the land.

Israel Day 9

2007-07-26T03:37:00.000-05:00

Above is a video that I took at yesterday's baseball game in Tel Aviv.

Israel Day 9

Today was by far the busiest of our trip so far. One of my good friends plays in the Israeli Baseball League and we really wanted to come show him support and watch some good baseball, so the trip was originally cenetered around that. Being as the game we were to see was in Tel Aviv, we planned on doing a couple other things that we wanted to do in the area anyway.

We took a Sheirut to Tel Aviv in the morning, and since the game didn't start until 5pm, we had some time to kill in the morning/early afternoon. What better way to spend the time then going to the beach? Aside from the annoying Israeli teengaers, the beach was pretty nice and the water was warm. We thought we were going to last hours at the beach, but being 95 with not a cloud in the sky, we wilted a lot quicker than we expected. We walked around a little before heading over to the game, and we saw one of those games that you see in the arcade where you need to position the little claw in order to get a prize. Now, in most arcades the prize is usually some sort of stuffed animals - leave it to Israel to have packs of cigarettes in there with the toys (see picture)!

We made it to the field at Park haYarkon (Sportek; click here to see all of the pictures I took at the games) well before the 5pm first pitch was called for. It just so happened that they were playing a double header that day and we were able to catch the last couple innings of that game, with Netanya winning 7-3 and my friend getting intentionally walked. It was definitely an interesting atmosphere there; hearing Hebrew-speaking children running around; seeing the heart of downtown Tel Aviv in the surrounding area...all while watching the American pastime: baseball. Overall, the talent was very good: the defense was stellar, the hitting average, and the pitching very competitive. This was by far the highlight of the trip so far for me; watching the game that I grew up loving and continue to do so in the land that I have come to love over the years.

The second game was close most of the way, with the Tigers unable to capitalize on many scoring opportunities. However, Tel Aviv took advantage of some suspect defense, wild pitching, and a few big swings to bust the game open in the 6th to go on to win 12-1. I was able to see my friend play in both games, and he made a great catch in the 2nd game that the umpire called a non-catch (BOO!) and almost made an amazing diving grab in the 6th inning diving into the outfield fence. The ball was in his glove but the impact with the fence jarred it loose. To add injury to insult (pun intended), he had a gash on his cheek and required a few stitches on his lip due to the force of the impact. But, I spoke to him tonight and he's all taken care of and in good spirits. I was looking forward to him eating dinner with us at some friends of ours in Givat Shmuel, but being he had to go to the hospital, he was unable to join us.

Our friend met us at the game and drove us back to his place, which took forever due to crazy amounts of traffic which were exacerbated by the current strike going on in Israel. We finally arrived at their place and sat down to an amazing MEAT dinner, the first non-Shabbos meat meal since the start of the 9 days. It was great to see them and spend time with them and it seems like only yesterday that we spent Shabbos with them, even though it was a full year ago. After schmoozing for a while, it was time to wind this day down with a bus-ride back to Yerushalayim.

We finally got on a bus after waiting for about 30 minutes and PegLaz took a seat while I paid the driver. Of course, in the meantime, all of the seats filled up so I spent the bus ride sitting on the floor (see picture for my view of the bus). That wouldn't have been SO bad had it not been for the many-mile backup approaching Yerushalayim due to some construction work....Tel Aviv to Yerushalayim in about 90 minutes...yikes. After taking a cab home and settling in, we both realized that we were zonked and that we both got some serious sun burn. Tomorrow will be a much lighter day with some laundry and other errands to take care of...what a day.

Israel Day 7 / 8

2007-07-24T16:06:00.000-05:00

I'm sure many of you would spend your Tisha B'av differently if you were here in Israel, but, considering I generally fast horribly, mine was thoroughly uneventful. Overall, it wasn't too horrible, and I like to attribute this to the advice I was given last year to eat grapes before a fast. I've done this a couple of times and so far, so good. But, I still would've liked to have enough Koach to have been able to walk around the walls of the Old City, as I heard many do.

Went to a shul here in Katemone before coming back, doing a little reading, then learning Hilchos Tisha B'av with my brother-in-law for a couple of hours. Shul again this morning followed by a nice 4 hour nap that took me right until Chatzos. From then until the end of the fast was sleep, reading, sleep, reading...you get the idea. Again, I wish I had the power to do more with the day but if this is what the Rabbis want, this is what I'm gonna have to do. Oh well.

Break fast and the evening was uneventful...we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Tel Aviv beach in the morning/afternoon, followed by an IBL game in Tel Aviv in the evening, followed by dinner with a couple of friends in Givat Shmuel.

No pictures today...didn't think you'd want to see any pics of need-to-be-shaven, lethargic looking people. Should have some good ones tomorrow night.

Israel Day 6 / 7

2007-07-23T09:29:00.001-05:00

I was hesitant to give this poor person money, knowing that it may very well go towards more pool toys...

We were lucky enough to get a ride back from the Shomron, which sure beats taking the bus. The gentleman who drove us back made Aliyah some 15 years ago and was involved with MDA and Hatzoloh in addition to being involved with a political party...oh yeah, and 7 kids. Interesting guy...and a scotch drinker, too!

After unpacking our stuff and some R&R (hey, we're on vacation) we headed to Beitar for the afternoon to visit one of PegLaz's friends from high school who subsequently moved to Israel. Her husband is a Bostoner Chassid and wears the whole garb, yet is a very, very normal guy and we've always gotten along very well, despite obvious differences. They have 3 kids (pictured) who are very cute and who, to their parents dismay, speak English like a bunch of Israelis. We spent a couple of hours there catching up with all that had been going on since our previous visit last summer then headed back to Yerushalayim.

It just happened that the Beitar bus dropped us off at Malcha mall, so we walked around there for a while. They had a couple of small artist booths there which had some neat stuff....aside from that (and the half-naked women), it's a regular mall. I'm always amazed at the amount of Arabs that I see at the mall and on Ben Yehuda. Funny how they can come into our hood no problem, but if we were to try to go into a mall in Nablus I have a feeling we wouldn't be as successful. Dinner was at Tal Bagel and while it was good, we're anxiously awaiting the end of the 9 Days so we can at the many meat restaurants around. I hear that there's Burgers Bar at the IBL games, so maybe we'll hit that up Wednesday night.

Just ran some errands up and down Yaffo St. today, picking up presents, food for the fast, a Talis bag, etc. 90 degrees and not a cloud in the sky pretty much every day here, so my tan is in full-effect. Tisha B'av tonight, and I hear many people walk around the entire Old City, which, in theory, sounds like a great idea, yet in practice probably isn't so smart, considering I don't fast too well. Looking forward to shaving, that's for sure.

Israel Day 3

2007-07-19T14:32:00.000-05:00

Nothing too wild to report today. Finally woke up at a normal hour today, so at least that was good. PegLaz wanted to get the true Erev Shabbos shopping experience, so she went out with her sister, while I headed to the Kotel to learn a little and write a D'var Torah. Of course, just as I get to the Kotel they wouldn't let anyone in because of a Chafetz Chashud/suspicious object. Couldn't have been too suspicious, considering they let the hundreds of people by the Kotel continue on with their business...whatever...

After relaxing a bit in the apartment we went out to properly scan all of the fun stores in Emek Refaim, of which there are many. Of course, as pictured, my favorite store was the wine and liquor store. I hocked scotch and wine with the nice gentleman there...liquor is at least 4x more expensive in Israel than it is in America...yes...my entrepreneurial gears are winding in my head...Anyway, there are so many fun little shops here with cool and not-so-expensive stuff; we didn't get to see all of it last year as we were staying on the other side of the city.

Dinner tonight was at the apartment with the sister- and brother-in-law and it was good to sit around and shmooze with them. Afterwards, we took a nice, long, stroll around the neighborhood and as much as we tried to get lost, we always seemed to end up in the same place. That's all for today. Shabbos in Karnei Shomron (Nivei Aliza) with the Feiglin's....more on Motzei Shabbos.

Can someone please explain the humor in this please? Something got lost in translation....

Parshas Devarim

2007-07-19T13:03:00.000-05:00

יְהוָה אֱלהֵינוּ דִּבֶּר אֵלֵינוּ, בְּחרֵב לֵאמר: רַב-לָכֶם שֶׁבֶת, בָּהָר הַזֶּה. פְּנוּ וּסְעוּ לָכֶם, וּבאוּ הַר הָאֱמרִי וְאֶל-כָּל-שְׁכֵנָיו, בָּעֲרָבָה בָהָר וּבַשְּׁפֵלָה וּבַנֶּגֶב, וּבְחוֹף הַיָּם--אֶרֶץ הַכְּנַעֲנִי וְהַלְּבָנוֹן, עַד-הַנָּהָר הַגָּדֹל נְהַר-פְּרָת.

"Ad-noy, our G-d, addressed us at Choreiv, saying, "Enough of your living at this mountain! Turn and travel for yourselves and arrive at the Emorite hill [region] and at all its neighbors---on the plain, on the mountain, and in the lowland, and in the Negev, and on the seacoast; the land of the Canaanites and the Lebanon, up to the great river, the Euphrates River." (Devarim, 1:6-7)

Rashi (s.v. "Rav"): "According to its plain meaning [it refers to the extended length of time]; but there is an Aggadic interpretation: You have received much fame and reward as a result of your having dwelt on this mountain--- you constructed the Mishkan, the Menorah and [various other sacred] articles, you received the Torah, you appointed a Sanhedrin for yourselves, officers in charge of hundreds and officers of thousands."

Rashi, quoting the Medrash, tells us that Hashem was praising the Jewish people for all that they had accomplished at Har Sinai and its surroundings. They received the Torah, served in the Mishkan, etc, and they had, therefore, been at this place long enough. One would think that after Hashem explains all of the noteworthy, holy, things that the Jews accomplished during their tenure at Har Sinai, he would continue with Inyanim that would be befitting of such a holy nation. However, the following Pasuk explains that the Jews are to travel to Har haEmori, hardly a place befitting of such a holy nation.

Rav Aharon Baksht (1869-1941) explains, to answer this question, that one may have thought that it wasn't proper for such a holy nation to dwell amongst the other nations of the world. However, we see from the fact that this pasuk follows the one explaining the merits of Israel that this isn't the case; the Torah and the Jewish people are for every single person in every single place. The Jews weren't meant to live in solitude in the desert forever; rather, they were meant to share that which they had gained in their experiences at Har Sinai with the world around them.

Each of us excel at different things. We shouldn't think that because there are no or few others that excel at whatever it is that we should be reserved and hold back these attributes. Of course, one shouldn't be haughty either, but we learn from these verses that we are obligated to take those things that which we excel at and take them out into the world and use them to influence others.

Israel Day 2

2007-07-18T16:23:00.000-05:00

I'll start off this post by stating that the whole "not sleeping the night before your flight so that you'll sleep on the plane" idea is a dumb one. Now, combine that with the facts that we slept with the Trissim down and we didn't set an alarm, and you'll sleep until 1:15pm, like we did. I don't think I've slept that late in probably 10 years. Anyway, we weren't too pleased when we saw what time it was, and needless to say the Trissim are going to be up tonight.

Anyway, after getting a late start we headed to Meah Shearim and Geulah for a few hours to shop around and admire the scenery. The place never seems to change...I guess they like it like that. There is a Kiddush cup that I've wanted; one that the Rizhiner Rebbe uses; the top is shaped like an apple and has the little leaf on top, and the stem looks like an windy vine with leaves...damn near the coolest thing ever. I had once seen it during my time in Yeshiva, but hadn't seen it since. To my delight, I found it today at a random store in Meah Shearim, and it took some serious threats from PegLaz to dissuade me from buying it...oh well...it wasn't exactly 50 shekel...

We came back to the pad here in Katemone for a little R&R before heading out to dinner with some friends at Tal Bagel in Emek Refaim. It was an excellent meal, and we visited with them at their apartment afterwards, with the highlight of the visit being constant requests from their daughter for "more beer." Oh, and she was going crazy about her new pink Crocs. Gotta get em' young.

Going to learn tomorrow at the Kotel, followed by some sort of touristy (but not too expensive) in the afternoon, and we may catch an IBL game in the evening. If not...perhaps the mall? Who knows. We're going to hit Chevron for a day (I've never been) and perhaps go to the Dead Sea for a couple of days. Any other ideas? We're open to suggestions...

Oh yeah, how hard is it to find someone that knows how to spell "sweet". Maybe with the Yiddishe teitsch it should be spelled like that...

Israel Day 1

2007-07-17T14:28:00.000-05:00

Let me start out by saying that the whole "let's not get a good night sleep the night before the flight so that we're able to sleep during the flight" idea isn't as smart as it sounds. Inevitably, like us, you won't sleep on the flight and you'll find yourself out two nights of sleep. To make things worse our names were left off of the Glatt Kosher list, so we were worried we wouldn't get food. However, I was surprised when the gentleman sitting in front and in back of us offered up their dinners. I figured they would offer up their breakfasts as well and my curisoity peaked when they didn't. And then, it hit me....they gave up their dinners because it was the 1st of Av and obviously, we shouldn't have been eating meat. They probably thought I was such a Kofer....great start to the 9 days.

Anyway, we were disastrously tired when we arrived, and we immediately went to sleep for a while when we arrive to my sister-in-law's place in Katemone. After ripping ourselves out of bed we did the mandatory Ben Yehuda/Old City/Kotel stops with (obviously) an ice coffee at each. We ran into some people along the way that we knew so that was nice; this aspect of the trips to Israel never ceases to amaze me. Ate bagels back at the pad in Katemone for dinner, and just bummed around after that, waiting for the time that it would be "acceptable" to go to sleep. We don't have a set itinerary for our time here, which is how we like it, but we'd like to check out my friend play in an IBL game and perhaps the Dead Sea for a couple of days. Who knows....

As a last little tidbit, we started seeing stickers for Moshe Feiglin around town, who's running against Netanyahu in the upcoming elections for head of the Likud. I've been a fan of his for sometime, and spent many Shabbosim with his family when I was in yeshiva. We will be spending Shabbos by him this week and I figure there will be plenty to talk about...

And lastly...how did "Stop Snitching" make its way to Israel?

Off to Israel...

2007-07-15T16:20:00.000-05:00

We're heading off to Israel tomorrow. Many people seem to think it's a bummer going during the 9 days. However, for me, who has trouble connecting to this period of time, it is the most apropos way to spend this period of the 9 Days. I hope to blog somewhat regularly (like last year), but that depends on computer access.

Parshas Matos / Masei 5767

2007-07-13T07:42:00.000-05:00

נְקם, נִקְמַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, מֵאֵת, הַמִּדְיָנִים; אַחַר, תֵּאָסֵף אֶל-עַמֶּיךָ.

"Take revenge for Bnei Yisroel against the Midianites, afterward, you shall be gathered to your people" (Sefer Bamidbar, 31:2)

Chazal tell us that the phrase, "gathered to your people" refers to the death of Moshe. Thus, Hashem commands Moshe to fight Midian and is instructed that after this war he will die. Many Meforshim/commentators wonder why, of all things, Moshe's death was talui/dependent and/or related to the battle against Midian. Why, only following this war, will it be the proper time for Moshe's death?

R' Yaakov Yitzchak Ruderman, founder of Ner Israel, answered with that which the Vilna Gaon says regarding a Gemara in Yoma. The Gemara there (69b) basically says that when the Yetzer Hara no longer yearns for Avodah Zarah, prophecy will cease within the Jewish people. Obviously, this statement is astonishing. You would think the Jewish people would be rewarded when their Yetzer Haras were free of the longing for idol warship. If that's the case, why does it seem that we are punished for this by taking away prophecy from us? The Vilna Goan answers that as long as this longing for non-Jewish idol warship is in the world, we need a combating force to produce a state of equilibrium (in this case, Nevuah/prophecy). However, at a time when the negative force goes away there is no need for the combating positive force.

R' Yaakov Yitzchak says the same applies in our Parsha as well. As long as the impurity that stemmed from Billam (which includes Midian) remains in the world there is the need for the combating force, which, in this case, was Moshe Rabbeinu. However, when the Midianites were smitten, we no longer needed our opposing force that was Moshe Rabbeinu, and this is why the death of Moshe was specifically dependent on the battle with Midian.

Parshas Pinchas 5767

2007-07-06T09:17:00.001-05:00

To read last year's Dvar Torah, CLICK HERE.

וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, עֲלֵה אֶל-הַר הָעֲבָרִים הַזֶּה; וּרְאֵה, אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי, לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל. וְרָאִיתָה אֹתָהּ, וְנֶאֱסַפְתָּ אֶל-עַמֶּיךָ גַּם-אָתָּה, כַּאֲשֶׁר נֶאֱסַף, אַהֲרֹן אָחִיךָ.

"Ad-noy said to Moshe: "Go up this Avarim Mountain and look at the land that I have given to Bnei Yisroel. You shall see it and you shall be gathered unto your people, you, too, as Aaron your brother was gathered in.” (Sefer Bamidbar, 27: 12-13)

Rashi (s.v. Ka’asher): From here we derive that Moshe yearned for a death such as Aharon's.

It is unclear what exactly it was about Aharon’s death that Moshe Rebbeinu wanted for himself. We know that both of them died with Hashem’s “kiss”, so what else could it have been that he wanted? Further, the words “gam atah/you too” in verse 13 appear superfluous; if the beginning of the verse tell us that he would be “gathered unto [his] people, why add, “you too”, again?

The Kesav Sofer answers these questions in light of that which his father, the Chasam Sofer, says about a verse in Malachim Aleph. There (2, 2-3), King David is talking to his son, Solomon, right before his death, saying, “I am going the way of all the earth (Anochi holeich baderech); be strong and become a man. Safeguard the charge of Hashem…” The Chasam Sofer questions why David started his instructions to his son with the, seemingly unrelated, fact that he’s “going the way of all the earth.” Seemingly, he should’ve started with, “be strong…”(?)

He answers that in life, one is considered a “holeich/one that is going”, because the purpose of life is to constantly ascend from one madreiga to another. However, once a person dies, he/she can obviously no longer attain higher spiritual heights, so that person is no longer considered a “holeich”. Chazal, however, teach us that this isn’t totally true; when one has a child like him/herself, the parent is still able to be considered a “holeich”, even posthumously. Since the parent had an integral part of raising the child and molding the child into the person that they now are, they continue to get some of the credit for the positive actions of the child. This is precisely why David started out his request to Solomon by pointing out that he is a “holeich”; he was, in a way, instructing him that he should continue to act righteously after his father dies, so David could continue to be considered a “holeich” well after he dies.

With this, the Kesav Sofer says, we can understand the aforementioned questions we have in our Parsha. Aharon had merited a son that was of a similar stature to himself – Eliezer. However, Moshe did not. This is what Rashi means to tell us when he says that Moshe wanted a death similar to Aharons; just as Aharon, through his righteous son, could continue to be a “holeich”, Moshe wanted a son through which he could continue to be considered a “holeich” after his death. To this, Hashem adds in the seemingly superfluous words of “Gam atah”, to console Moshe by telling him that “also [he]” would be like his brother Aharon in this regard. How would this be so….through his star pupil Yehoshua. Moshe was to mold and raise Yehoshua into a great leader in the same way that a parent raises a child.

The responsibility of raising children and molding them into good people is of utmost importance. Not only is this the case because we want them to succeed, but it is through their merits that we will continue to attain spiritual heights even after we move on. A parent should always be questioning whether or not the things and/or behaviors that they are exposing their children to are ones that are productive or, G-d forbid, destructive.

Best Video EVER

2007-07-04T22:49:00.001-05:00

Enough said.

All Kollel People Are Nice....Apparently

2007-06-29T11:45:00.000-05:00

A few weeks back our next door neighbors moved out. I received a call this morning from the mother of someone who was on the waitlist for our apartment complex and is interested in moving in next door. So, she had some questions for me about the building. She wanted to know who lived there, so I told her. She then asked everyone in the apartment did for a living. I paused, and she then interjected, "We want to know if there are any other Kollel couples in the building; they want to feel comfortable."

Ahh, where to begin. Wouldn't whether or not the people are friendly individuals be a better criterion to judge whether or not to move to a building? What if everyone in the building was in Kollel, and they moved in, only to find out that they are nasty individuals? But apparently that doesn't matter. Besides, what does it matter if people in your building, specifically, are in Kollel? Does it add Kedusha to the air of your apartment? Maybe it's just me, but I'd feel more "comfortable" in a building full of nice non-Jews than frum people who are nasty. But, maybe that's why I'm not in Kollel.

Parshas Balak 5767

2007-06-29T07:25:00.000-05:00

וַיִּפְתַּח יְהוָה, אֶת-פִּי הָאָתוֹן; וַתּאמֶר לְבִלְעָם, מֶה-עָשִׂיתִי לְךָ, כִּי הִכִּיתַנִי, זֶה שָׁלֹשׁ רְגָלִים.

" Ad-noy opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Bil'am: 'What have I done to you, that you have hit me these three times'?"

Rashi to verse 33 tells us that in the end, the donkey was killed. He reasons that Hashem killed the donkey lest the common observer say, "this is the one that drove away Bil'am with her admonishment, and he was unable to reply." This, says Rashi, would violate Billam's Kavod haBriyos/human dignity. However, R' Avraham Grodzinsky in his "Toras Avraham" asks why should we be so concerned with the Kavod haBriyos of Billam, this non-Jewish man that was on his way to curse the Jewish people? In fact, we see that not only did Kavod haBriyos trump "Tzaar Baalei Chaim"/not harming animals, but it even went as far as to trump the killing of the animal.

He answers that nevertheless, Billam, as wicked as he was, was created in the Image of G-d, just like every other creation. It isn't within our human grasp to know the amount of Kavod that should be given to each person. Rather, all we know is that everything that is here on earth is here because Hashem wants it to be here, and that in and of itself is reason enough to give every person a certain amount of Kavod. Thus, Jew or non-Jew, good or evil, every person deserves a proper amount of Kavod.

It happens too often where a good, G-d fearing Jew will act one way around Jews and in Jewish settings, but act so differently in public; almost as if one doesn't need to act with the same Middos and afford proper Kavod to non-Jews as well. At least as I see it, one needs to remember that "bein adam l'chaveiro" includes non-Jews as well. And if this isn't the case, not affording proper Kavod to non-Jews will inevitably lead to a Chillul Hashem; something that if people thought about their actions before doing them, would be minimized.

We see a similar idea in this weeks Parsha in the Medrash (to 22:9) that tells us that the difference between Jewish and non-Jewish prophets is that Jewish profits have mercy on both Jews and non-Jews alike; however, we see that Billam, the non-Jewish prophet, seeked to destroy an entire nation from the map. R' Yechezkel Levinstein in his "Ohr Yechezkel" notes that we see from this that Hashem wants Jews to be compassionate, even for non-Jews. He says that we, as Jews, are obligated to be connected to the terrible tragedies and problems of the world; not just to view them as "their" problems. He says that if the concept of "Tzaar Baalei Chaim" is D'oraisa, then all the more so should one be obligated to afford respect to all people, Jews and non-Jews alike.

Parshas Chukas 5767

2007-06-22T06:03:00.001-05:00

Nothing new for this year. To read last year's Dvar, CLICK HERE.

Parshas Korach 5767

2007-06-14T07:18:00.000-05:00

Korach's punishment was something that the world had not previously seen. Essentially, Hashem created a punishment for him, the likes of which hadn't been put upon anyone else. The sin of Korach, thus, needs explanation as to what made it so serious to arouse Hashem's anger to the point that he created a new phenomenon in the world. Not only were Korach and his followers swallowed up, but the Torah tells us that this punishment was exacted "K'rega/immediately." Furthermore, the Torah warns us about even touching or coming close to these evil people; a warning yet to be seen in the Torah. Finally, we learn in the Parsha that not only were Korach and his followers swallowed up, but even their little children were, as well. All of these anomalies surrounding Korach's sin are no coincidence, and deserve further explanation (with the help of the Nesivos Shalom).

We all know that the basic sin of Korach and his followers was their opposition to Moshe and Aharon's being heralded as the leaders of the Jewish people. The Medrash on this Parsha and the Gemara in Sanhedrin (110a) tells us that, "Anyone that argues on his Rabbi is like he is arguing on the Presence of Hashem (Shechinah); whoever expresses resentment against his teacher, it is as if he expressed it against the Shechinah; whoever imputes evil to his teacher, it is as though he imputed it to the Shechinah." Seemingly, this is an astonishing concept; can it really be than anyone who argues with his teacher is likened to one who argues with the Shechinah?

We are told in Devarim (10:20), that we are supposed to cleave to Hashem ("U'vo Tidbak). This is a tough concept to understand, however, being that the Shechinah is likened to an all-consuming fire that would do just that, if we were to get too close. Rather, Chazal tell us that the way that we cleave to Hashem is through cleaving and coming close to Talmidei Chachamim or our Rabbis. Thus, the advice given by Chazal to one who wants to become closer to Hashem is to become closer to his Chachamim. We can now understand the aforementioned Gemara likening arguing with your Rabbi to the Shechina: it isn't that they are equal, rather, by arguing with your Rabbi, you are damaging one of the key tools to "cleaving" to Hashem.

Unfortunately, the same claims made by Korach are hinted at by many today. There are blogs that exist to defame the the rabbinate is a whole, and certain rabbanim, specifically. But even more widespread than that is the belief that one can lead a good, frum lifestyle without any rabbinic direction. IMHO, living a life without any rabbinic direction is like living on a deserted island; you may last for a while, but you're bound to run out of resources eventually. And even worse yet is the fact that this attitude is being passed on to future generations. This is why we find the anomalies in this parsha of being punished "K'rega", and the warning against touching or coming near Korach and his followers: this mindset of contempt for rabbanus is a highly contagious one. When a child grows up in a household with this mindset, he/she will inevitably foster the same mindset. And this is precisely why the children of Korach and his followers were swallowed up as well; they were doomed by fact that their parents had the mindset.

We should realize, as Chazal advise, that Rabbis and Talmidei Chachamim are a vehicle to our cleaving to Hashem. While they may not all be perfect (as some would like to claim), they are a tool that should be utilized, not a group that we should be quick to disparage.

Kosher Whisky: Overly Machmir Caterers

2007-06-12T23:13:00.000-05:00

Read my other posts on the production (link) and sherry-related issues (link) of Kashrus and whisky. You can also listen to an interview I did on Arutz 7 on the topic by CLICKING HERE.

Due to my access and knowledge of whisky, I've been asked to buy whisky for a few weddings for friends. Thus, I have dealt with many caterers and have learned about their knowledge of whisky. Since all of the Hashgachos locally have a machmir stance on the whole sherry cask issue, so do the caterers who are certified by them. Knowing this, I wouldn't buy a sherry aged/matured for a wedding, knowing that the caterer would scream chai v'kayam.

However, I've gotten a couple arguments with caterers regarding bottles that were neither aged nor finished exclusively in sherry casks, for the following reason. Most people assume that whisky is aged in a wooden cask, and when it's ready to be bottled they put a tap in the cask and begin the bottling process. This simply isn't the case; let's take for example, a bottle of Balvenie 10 year old. Whiskies of various ages and various types of casks, after maturing, are put into and mixed in a large vat (in a process called "vatting). The whisky is usually then diluted down to a normal ABV of 40-46%. The "10" in Balvenie 10 means that the youngest cask of whisky used in the vatting process is 10 years old. Thus, in your bottle of Balvenie 10 there is certainly whisky that is older than 10 years old. More importantly, though, is the fact that different types of CASKS are thrown into the vat. With only a few rare exceptions (Glenlivet 12, Ardbeg 10 to name a few), there is no whisky that does not have any sherry-aged liquid in it, due to the fact that distilleries use a mix of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks to store their goods. To clarify, however: the hashgachos are only machmir on those that contain liquid that was 100% aged/matured in a sherry cask.

If you've ever read the back of a whisky bottle/tin, you'll know that the distilleries love to tell you all about their whisky. Often mentioned is the different smells, tastes, and aftertastes of the whiskies. It is not uncommon for the back to note either a taste/aftertaste of sherry, even if the whisky wasn't EXCLUSIVELY aged/matured in sherry casks. However, due to the caterers’ lack of knowledge about the product, they read sherry, and they say no. Again, the point is that whisky can have somewhat of a sherry taste (or so the distillery wants to claim) without being exclusively aged/matured in a sherry cask. Thus, whisky which, if the hashgachos had a full list of what whiskies were allowed/not allowed, would be permissible, has been nixed due to some overzealous explanation on the behalf of the distillery.

Perhaps it's asking too much of the caterers to have this kind of product knowledge about whisky. I think, though, that it's their job to put on a Simcha and make the guests as happy as possible; so it doesn't seem too far-fetched to me that they know this simple piece of information. I would suggest putting together a list of whiskies, by distillery, that are permitted/prohibited - that way, when someone brings a bottle to a wedding that the caterer has never heard of (most of these guys haven't heard of anything past Glenlivet), they won't nix it immediately. I'd volunteer my services to do it, but I don't think the idea would be received well.

Parshas Shelach 5767

2007-06-07T09:41:00.000-05:00

To see last year's Dvar Torah, CLICK HERE.

אֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת הָאֲנָשִׁים, אֲשֶׁר-שָׁלַח משֶׁה לָתוּר אֶת-הָאָרֶץ; וַיִּקְרָא משֶׁה לְהוֹשֵׁעַ בִּן-נוּן, יְהוֹשֻׁעַ.

"These are the names of the men that Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua." (Sefer Bamidbar, 13:16)

Rashi: "He prayed for him, 'may G-d save you from [joining] the counsel of the spies."

The Dubno Maggid questions why Moshe only prayed for Yehoshua; as the leader of the Jewish people, he should've worried about and prayed on behalf of all of the spies. What was it about Yehoshua that caused Moshe to worry about him, as opposed to the others?

To answer the queston, the Maggid distinguishes between two types of Aveiros/sins: 1) those that the person committing the sin knows that what he/she is doing is a sin, and 2) those that the person committing misconstrues and justifies as being a Mitzvah. One, obviously, needs to be more careful about the latter category, because when one has this mindset, we cannot expect that person's actions to change since they, themselves, view it as a Mitzvah.

This is what the Mishna in Avos refers to when it (ch. 3) says, "Reflect upon three things and you will not come to the hands of transgression. Know from where you came, where you are going, and before whom you are destined to give a judgement and accounting." What does it mean "to the hands of transgression"? The Maggid suggests that those sins of which the transgressor is aware of are sins that "man grasps", while those sins that are rationalized as being Mitzvos are sins that "grasp man." The wording is similar, but their meanings are quite different. When one commits a sin, yet rationalizes it to be a Mitzvah, the person is completely "grasped" by sin.

With this, we can understand why Moshe saw it fit only to pray for Yehoshua. The fact that these spies were leaders of the people and Tzaddikim is well known. Because of this, Moshe didn't think that the fact that they believed that upon entering Eretz Yisrael that they would be replaced as leaders (Zohar) would stop them from completely a righteous mission. However, Yehoshua, who was to succeed Moshe, could've thought that if he brought back an evil report, this would delay their entrance to the land, which would therefore keep Moshe alive (as due to Moshe's sin, he was not to enter to land). This potential rationalization for sin by Yehoshua had the potential to be worse than the sin of any of the other spies, as it is classified in the latter category of sin discussed above. It was because of this that Moshe felt the need to pray for Yehoshua alone.

None of us are perfect; we all make mistakes. We should be careful that we're owning up to the mistakes that we make. We're playing with fire when we start rationalizing our improper behavior.

Swear Jar

2007-06-06T10:53:00.001-05:00

Warning: May be offensive to some...but so worth it.

Parshas Behaaloscha 5767

2007-06-01T04:23:00.001-05:00

To see last year's Dvar Torah, CLICK HERE.

By: JZ Spier

This week's parsha begins with Hashem commanding Moshe to instruct Aaron about lighting the Menorah. Right after these instructions the Torah informs us about the construction of the Menorah, and Chazal teach us how Moshe found it difficult to understand the building and the construction of the Menorah. We are all familiar with the question of Rashi in the beginning of the Parsha; Rashi asks what is the reason for the juxtaposition of the Menorah and the contributions of the Nissiim from last weeks Parsha? Rashi answers that when Aaron saw the dedications of the Nisiim, he felt bad because he and his tribe weren't involved in those contributions. To make Aaron feel better, Hashem told him that he would be the one to light the Menorah. This explains the juxtaposition between the topics of the Nisiim and the Menorah.

Rabbi Rudinsky in his Sefer Mishkan Bitzalel is bothered by the following three questions.
A) What was Aaron so upset about? He was the top leader of the top tribe, he was involved in Avodas HaKodesh on the highest of levels. How is it conceivable that Aaron was unhappy and not satisfied with his great role?
B) Why did Hashem make Aaron feel better by giving him Hadlakas HaMenorah? What is so special about lighting those candles?
C) After the instructions on how to light, why does the Torah repeat how to build it and the fact that Moshe had trouble understanding its structure? We were told this already back in the Parshiyos in Shemos that described the building of the Mishkan? Why repeat it here?

Rabbi Rudinsky answers beautifully based on a Gemara in Brachos (63:) that says "if one humiliates himself over the Torah, in the end he will rise to great heights". He explains that one should constanly be humiliating and humbling him/herself by the fact that no matter where one is holding, there's always a LONG way to go. The Gemara is teaching us that the most important part in Kinyan HaTorah is to be a Mivakeish; to constantly search for more, for greater understandings, for more knowledge, and for more ways to serve Hashem. The pasuk tells us "If you search for Hashem like you search for silver coins, then you will have found Yiras Hashem". The only way to make a kinyan on the Torah is to run after it, to never be satisfied with what you have already, but to constantly want more and to jump at those chances. He gives a Mashal that when you drop a piece of food into a fish tank, the fish swim up to the top instantly, in such a rush to get that food. The same should be of our desire for Torah, being a Mivakeish, always searching for more venues of Torah and Avodas Hashem. When a person truly desires something and does all he can to achieve it, there is no limit to what a person can accomplish. It all begins with that desire to strive for more.

With this in mind, we can now answer those three questions. As the dedication of the Mishkan came to a close with the donations of the Nisiim, Aaron realized that there was an opportunity of Avodas Hashem that he wasn't taking part in. Its not that Aaron wasn't satisfied with his role; rather he was the ultimate Mivakeish. He saw an opportunity to do something to get closer to Hashem, realized he was missing out, and jumped on the opportunity to get more involved. Aaron had the greatest job in all of Klal Yisrael, but he wanted to grow even more.

The lighting of the candles represents consistency in Avodas Hashem. The whole Avoda in the Beis haMikdash was done during the day except for two things that were done during the night; the burning of the fats and Hadlakas HeMenorah. The lighting of the Menorah represents that fact that the Kohanim spent all day working the Avoda, but because of the Menorah, their service of Hashem existed every second of the day, without even a small hefsek. Since Aaron showed Hashem that he was the ultimate Mivakeish, that he couldn't even miss one opportunity to serve Hashem and that he would do anything to jump on those chances, Hashem gave him an incredibly appropriate job in lighting the Menorah, because the Menorah also represents that constant desire and will to continuous service of Hashem and the determination to not let any of those chances pass.

Finally, this answers the third question as well. The Menorah also symbolizes the Torah; "Ki Ner Mitzvah ViTorah Ohr". Moshe understood the physical structure of the Menorah; but when the Torah tells us he couldn't understand the Menorah it means that his understanding of the Torah wasn't complete. As we've said, it is not enough to just have a basic understanding. There is no end to what a person can accomplish. We always have to strive for more, and this is exactly what Moshe was doing. He wasn't satisfied with his understanding, but rather was Mivakeish for more and for more. It now makes perfect sense why the Torah repeats this here, because right after we learn how Aaron was a great Mivakeish, the Torah reminds us that Moshe was on this high level as well.

Hilchos Muktzeh Mussar

2007-05-30T12:27:00.000-05:00

I'm not frequently able to glean much mussar from halachic works, but something I learned on Shavuos has managed to keep me thinking for the last week or so. While the Halacha itself isn't that profound, the real-life application, in my opinion, definitely is. The Shulchan Aruch (OC 308:4), discussing Muktzeh, rules that even a "Kli She'Melachto L'Hetter" cannot be used, except when there is a need. Explained: even those things that are inherently permissible to be handled on Shabbos cannot be used unless one absolutely needs that thing. I can imagine a situation where one questions someone else as to whether the object that he/she is handling is permissible on Shabbos, to which the person could reply, "But what about it makes it forbidden?" However, the question the person should be asking him/herself is, "What about it makes it permissible?" Thus, we see that regarding Muktzeh on Shabbos, one must be able to find a good reason to use that thing, as opposed to not being able to find any reason not to.

I believe that there is a key piece of Mussar to be learned from this Halacha. Often times, when we're questioning whether or not something we did/will do is acceptable, we all too often look for any negative consequences of that action. If there are none, we are more than likely to judge that act as acceptable. However, just because that act may not have negative consequences, it may not have positive ones either. We don't just do things to do them; our actions are a means to and end. That end, in my opinion, should be for positive consequences. While the difference may be slight, if our litmus test for behavior is whether or not something has positive consequences as opposed to whether or not it has negative ones, we may have much less to regret in the future.

Parshas Naso 5767

2007-05-24T22:34:00.000-05:00

I have re-posted last year’s Dvar Torah with an extra, similar, thought new for this year.

In this week's Parsha, Parshas Naso, we learn about a couple of the most fascinating topics in the Torah; Sotah and Nazir. Essentially, a Sotah is a women that is accused of being a wayward wife and she goes through a process at the Beis haMikdash where she drinks a mixture of water and earth from the floor of the Mishkan. If she is innocent, the waters do not effect her, but if she is guilty of cheating on her husband, the waters make her stomach swell to the point of death.

A Nazir is someone who takes an oath to abstain from drinking wine or any grape products, as well as refraining from shaving or taking a haircut. The common explanation for Nazirus is that it is recommended for someone that is having trouble attaining the "middle path" in life. This person, for example, could be someone that is completely caught up in the material aspects of life, with no sense of spirituality. A period of nazirus would forbid him to drink wine or take a haircut - things that the person was probably too caught up with beforehand. By previously being on one end of the continuum, but now moving to the complete opposite end of the continuum, the Torah hopes that this person will, from then on, lead a life in the "middle path".

Interestingly, these two concepts are juxtaposed in the Torah. Quoting the famous Rashi:
"למה נסמכה פרשת נזיר לפרשת סוטה, לומר לך שכל הרואה סוטה בקלקולה יזיר עצמו מן היין "
Asks and answers Rashi, "Why are the ideas of nazir and sotah juxtaposed? To say that anyone that sees a sotah at the time of her decadence should go ahead and become a Nazir and abstain from wine."

Think about it: you see one of your fellow Jews going through the terrible punishment of playing Russian roulette with the Sotah waters - why then does this person need to go ahead and become a Nazir? You would think that this person, who sees this women at the time of her demise, would be the last person that would need to go ahead and become a Nazir! The fright of seeing the Sotah process should be enough to prevent this person from doing anything wrong (ie, drinking too much wine, obsessing over material things, etc.). Seeing this profound "religious" event should make a mark on this person. Or, think about it another way: you and your buddy are criminals - you sell drugs, kill the occasional person, etc. During one of your slayings, your buddy gets caught but you're let off the hook. Your buddy gets the electric chair and you watch him die. Wouldn't this experience be enough to prevent you from murdering further?

R' Yecheskel Weinfeld, son of the Lev Avraham asks this question, and offers the following answer (with my adaptation). We often, in different situations, get rushes of spirituality, much like a person watching a Sotah does. We've all had these intense moments where we feel so strongly about our Judaism. But what does the Torah recommend we do when we get one of these rushes? Does it recommend we let that feeling rest and sit idle? No, the Torah tells us to put it into motion immediately. Sure, the person seeing the Sotah gets a wave of spirituality, something that tells him that doing sins is wrong, but it isn't that feeling alone that is good enough - it's putting that feeling into action and becoming a Nazir. It's only when we take those feelings of fear and/or elation about our Yiddishkeit and put them into action that we truly maximize our potential.
We see this idea also regarding the timely holiday of Shavuos. The Kedushas Levi wonders why one of the names of Shavuos is “Chag haAtzeres.” Atzeres comes from the same root as the word “stop”; so what are we stopping from doing on Shavuos? R’ Levi Yitzchak answers that the Jews at Har Sinai stopped from touching the mountain. But, who cares if they refrained from touching the mountain? He answers that the Jewish people were extremely inspired knowing that they were mere days away from receiving the Torah. They wanted to put this inspiration into action, but not having the Torah left them with no tangible Mitzvos to perform. Thus, the first action that they took with this new-found inspiration was refraining from touching the holy Har Sinai. Thus, the same lesson we see above, that a person needs to act immediately on their inspiration, was fulfilled by the Jews at Har Sinai by Kabbalas haTorah.

Tikkun Leil Shavuot

2007-05-17T06:12:00.000-05:00

For those of you who are looking for some interesting reading come Shavuos night, YU has put out another one of their "Shavuot-to-go" packets. The topics haven't interested me in years past, but the material this year is a bit more promising. Topics discussed include: intellectual property, conditions, terms, and licenses, piggybacking on a Wi-Fi connection, and a teen program entitled "Facebook and Friendship."

VIEW THE PACKET HERE

Parshas Bamidbar 5767

2007-05-16T21:16:00.000-05:00

For last year's Dvar, CLICK HERE.

וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל-משֶׁה בְּמִדְבַּר סִינַי, בְּאהֶל מוֹעֵד: בְּאֶחָד לַחדֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי בַּשָּׁנָה הַשֵּׁנִית, לְצֵאתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם--לֵאמר.

"And Ad-noy spoke to Moshe in the Sinai desert, in the Tent of Meeting, on the first [day] of the second month, in the second year of their exodus from the land of Egypt, saying:" (Bamidbar, 1:1)

Chazal in the Medrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 1) ask why the Torah was specifically given in the desert, to which they answer that with this we learn that in the presence of three things was the Torah given: fire (Shemos 19), water (Shoftim 5), and desert. The Nesivos Shalom wonders what the common thread is between these three things.

Regarding this, the Nesivos Shalom comments that even though we now associate these three things with holiness and the giving of the Torah, all of these things have the possibility to be associated with Tumah/impurity, as well. Fire, although present at the giving of the Torah, can also refer to the burning Yetzer Hara that flames like a fire which tries to entice us to do negative things. Or, if channeled properly, this same fire can be the fire that fuels our Yetzer Tov to act properly. Water symbolizes yearning (he doesn't explain how, although I'd posit that water is something that people are constantly yearning for); obviously, one can yearn for either proper or improper things. Finally, the Midbar/desert is an ownerless land that symbolizes this idea of being "ownerless." One that channels their energy in an improper manner in this regard is likely to run around wild, almost in an animalistic way (think of a high schooler whose parents go out of town). However, when using this attribute of being "ownerless" in a proper way, one will view not himself as the focus but will shift the focus to holier pursuits.

Thus, we see that the Torah was given with things that have the power to be used both in a proper and improper way. Obviously, this is our challenge; to try to act properly with this fire, water, and desert. I think every person has different personality traits by which one may define themselves. Perhaps, one may think that as they are trying to better themselves, some of these traits may be incongruent with a proper lifestyle. However, I think the message of these three things is that we have the ability to take those things that may be inherently negative and use them for positive. These traits are much of what makes us all different from each other and one shouldn't think that they need to (necessarily) change themselves - just find a way to use them for positive.

Classic BT Move

2007-05-14T07:40:00.000-05:00

I met a guy recently and upon speaking with him for a few minutes, I realized that I knew somebody that was in his year of graduate schooling. The conversation went something like this:

Him: I'm just finishing my 1st year at such and such a grad school.
Me: Oh, I know a frum girl in your class; she grew up with me in Frederick.
Him: Well....kind of...
Me: What do you mean, "Well, kind of"?
Him: Well, she doesn't cover her hair.

Lets forget the fact, for a second, that this guy grew up in a town where a tiny fraction of women cover their hair. To me, to consider someone "kind of frum" because she doesn't cover her hair is simply ridiculous. If one were to make a list of requisite things one must do in order to fall under the umbrella of "Orthodoxy" in America today, I'd have Kashrus, Shabbos, and Taharas haMishpacha. Having sex with men excludes men from being heterosexual, but not covering of hair doesn't exclude women from being Orthodox.

That said, the whole idea of where people fall on the Jewish spectrum isn't the issue. The bigger problem, I believe, is for Baalei Teshuva to totally turn their backs on their (GASP!) Reform or Conservative upbringing. For me, growing up in a house that would at most be considered Conservative has only made me more sympathetic to the religious struggles of the non-Orthodox who are on their own, personal, path of relgiious growth. It would make sense that someone who is a Ba'al Teshuva and understands how hard it is to "make it" would want to laud someone for their path to Orthodoxy; and not to want to throw someone out of being called "Orthodoxy" for something which doesn't define someone as being Orthodox in today's society to begin with. Unfortunately, many Baalei Teshuva turn off part of their memory when they become frum.

Parshas Behar / Bechukosai

2007-05-10T07:00:00.000-05:00

וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל-משֶׁה, בְּהַר סִינַי לֵאמר. דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם, כִּי תָבאוּ אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נתֵן לָכֶם--וְשָׁבְתָה הָאָרֶץ, שַׁבָּת לַיהוָה.

"Ad-noy spoke to Moshe on Mount Sinai, saying; Speak to Bnei Yisroel and say to them, when you come to the land which I give to you the land shall be at rest---a Shabbos for Ad-noy." (Sefer Vayikra, 25:1-2)

Rashi (c.v. Shabbos Lashem) tells us that this rest of the land (Shmittah) has to be "L'Sheim Hashem"; namely, that even though the land benefits and becomes strengthened from resting one out of seven years, one should only do the Mitzvah because it is a command from Hashem and not because of this benefit to the land. However, the Ibn Ezra here tells us that the "Shabbos Lashem" should be "K'yom HaShabbos/like the day of Shabbos." He goes on to explain that it should be like Shabbos in that it should be set aside for learning Torah (see Talmud Yerushalmi, Shabbos, 16); just as Shabbos is set aside for learning, so too, Shmittah should be a year set aside for learning.

The Chida wonders why Shmittah is in the 7th year; ostensibly the year of resting the land could be on any year of a 7 year cycle. He quotes the Gemara (Shabbos 35b) that tells us that people would work every Nissan and Tishrei so that the rest of their year would be set aside from learning Torah. Thus, after 6 years there would be a total of 12 months which they had been working; thus, the 7th year would make up for those 12 months which had been lost from the previous 6.

However, the Divrei Yoel says that there were only a small, fortunate, few that would actually only work 2 months out of the year. In reality, the majority of people were forced to work all year round to make enough money for survival. Nevertheless, when the 7th year would come, everyone would go and spend the year learning. Thus, the only time that all of Klal Yisrael was learning was in the Shmittah year. He explains that it was only through the added Koach of those who hadn't had time to learn the previous 6 years but are now doing so that those who learned 10 months out of the year could properly make up for their 2 months a year that were lost. Seemingly, without the added merits of those who worked full time, the two months a year in which the full-timers were working would not properly be rectified.

The message from all of this, I believe, is that it's never too late for Torah. Many people are too busy, for whatever reason, to learn much during the week. This, as we saw from the Ibn Ezra, is the purpose of Shabbos. But, there are those that for whatever reason may not learn for years on end. We see, though, from Shmittah that it doesn't matter if you haven't learned for the past 6 years; it's not too late to set aside time for Torah.

Beer Man!

2007-05-05T20:56:00.000-05:00

Anyone that frequents Oriole games (and sits in the lower section) should appreciate this. This guy is THE MAN - he even had a spread about him in ESPN Magazine last year.

Parshas Emor 5767

2007-05-04T12:38:00.000-05:00

For last year's Dvar, CLICK HERE.

וּסְפַרְתֶּם לָכֶם, מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת, מִיּוֹם הֲבִיאֲכֶם, אֶת-עמֶר הַתְּנוּפָה: שֶׁבַע שַׁבָּתוֹת, תְּמִימת תִּהְיֶינָה

"And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the day of rest, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the waving; seven weeks shall there be complete." (Sefer Vayikra 23:15)

The Nesivos Shalom wonders why, when referring to Sefiras haOmer, the verse says that we should count "seven complete Shabbasos". The verse, rather, should say that we are counting 7 complete weeks, not Shabbasos. The Nesivos Shalom says while we are counting 7 weeks, at the very least, the Shabbasos should be "Temimos". He goes on to explain what he means by bringing a thought from Mesilas Yesharim.

The Mesilas Yesharim discusses the difference between Tahara/Purity and Kedusha/holiness. He explains that purity is simply the state that exists when there is a lack of impurity. This, however, doesn't make something Kadosh/holy. Rather, Kedusha is the higher level, more of an active state, that can be attained only after reaching the lower level of purity first. To connect this to Sefirah: we know that the Sefirah period which connects Pesach and Shavuos is to be used to prepare ourselves for Matan Torah/receiving the Torah. This is a two step process: first, ridding ourselves of the impurity in order to reach a state of purity, and second, actively attaining a certain level of Kedusha.

With this in mind, he gives an answer to our original question as to why the verse tells us to count 7 Shabbasos, and not 7 weeks. The weekdays of Sefirah, he recommends, should be used to attain the first step in the process, purity. However, there's only so much of the process that we can attain on a weekday. However, on Shabbos we are able to use the extra Kochos of the day to help us reach the final level of Kedusha. This is why the verse tells us we should count 7 Shabbasos, because it is only through these Shabbasos that we can attain the highest level of that which we hope to attain in our quest for proper preparation for Matan Torah.

YOU'RE learning THAT?

2007-04-30T08:59:00.000-05:00

One day a couple of weeks ago I had some spare time in the evening, so I took one of my newer Seforim, the Yismach Moshe, over to shul and perused through it for a little while. Some shmendrick saw me and what I was learning and promptly said, "YOU'RE learning the YISMACH MOSHE?!" I'm sure he was saying that the fact that I'm not anti-Israel, anti-Medina, and certainly not ultra right wing, that it didn't make sense that I was learning a Sefer from the person thought of as the first Satmar Rebbe.

I'd imagine that you may not find a Yismach Moshe in many ultra-Zionist houses, but to me, I don't understand why not. Just because I may not agree with everything or lead my life in a way that a certain Rebbe did, does that mean that there isn't what to gain from his Seforim? I'm sure the Chofetz Chaim, the Chazon Ish, and Rav Moshe would have all disapproved of my having a TV in my living room and watching secular DVD's and listening to secular music. Does that mean that I shouldn't get their Seforim?

I can mentally aside the fact that Satmars are virulently anti-Zionist when I read the Yismach Moshe's insights into the Torah. If he has a beautiful insight, does that mean that I have to discount it because of his personal Hashkafos? Perhaps some cannot fathom learning something from someone who disagrees with his/her lifestyle so much; but to me, that's silly. Oh, and I'm pretty sure the Yismach Moshe wouldn't have approved of ths shmendrick's profession as a lawyer.

Parshas Acharei Mos / Kedoshim 5767

2007-04-27T07:35:00.000-05:00

For last year's Dvar, click here.

וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה, אֶל-משֶׁה, אַחֲרֵי מוֹת, שְׁנֵי בְּנֵי אַהֲרן--בְּקָרְבָתָם לִפְנֵי-יְהוָה, וַיָּמֻתוּ. וַיּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-משֶׁה, דַּבֵּר אֶל-אַהֲרן אָחִיךָ, וְאַל-יָבא בְכָל-עֵת אֶל-הַקּדֶשׁ, מִבֵּית לַפָּרֹכֶת--אֶל-פְּנֵי הַכַּפּרֶת אֲשֶׁר עַל-הָאָרן, וְלא יָמוּת, כִּי בֶּעָנָן, אֵרָאֶה עַל-הַכַּפּרֶת.

"And Ad-noy spoke to Moshe after the death of two sons of Aharon, who brought an [unauthorized] offering before Ad-noy and they died. Ad-noy spoke to Moshe: Speak to your brother Aharon that he not come at all times into the Holy [Sanctuary] that is inside of the Curtain, before the Ark-cover that is on the Ark so that he not die, for in a cloud I shall appear on the Ark-cover." (Sefer Vayikra, 16:1-2)

The Nesivos Shalom says that it seems, according to the pesukim, that the death of Aaron's sons (Nadav and Avihu) is connected in some way to the warning to Aaron that he shouldn't come whenever he pleases to the Kadosh haKedoshim/Holy of Holies. However, this connection is unclear and needs further explanation.

The Kli Yakar states on the verse, "that he not come at all times..." (ibid, 2), that the Kohen Gadol is only able to go to the Kadosh haKedoshim with the Koach of Klal Yisrael, and when the people of Israel are sinning acting improperly, it prevents the Kohen Gadol from going in, as he needs to rely on the merits of the rest of the nation for the strength to go to such a holy place. Thus, the Kohen Gadol would only go in once a year (Yom Kippur), because this was the one time a year that all of the Jews weren't sinning and they were acting properly. Again, there is a connection between the Kohen Gadol, one of the most important people in the Jewish community, and the rest of the Jewish people.

There are various sources speaking to the fact that Nadav and Avihu were on an exceedingly high level, and it is unclear why people on such a level would sin so grievously. There are many midrashim that offer explanations as to exactly what their sin was. Some say that they tought a halacha in front of their Rebbe; some say it was because they didn't have wives, etc. However, why do we need these reasons when we know that it explicitly states in the Torah that they brought a foreign fire? We know what their sin was! The Nesivos Shalom explains that the common thread between all of these aforementioned theories as to their deaths is that Nadav and Avihu refused to establish a connection with others around them. By saying a halacha in front of their Rebbe, they were showing that they didn't need that connection due to their stature. By not marrying wives they were showing that they didn't need the certain connection that a marriage offers. And only when they had this mindset of refusing a connection with others could they come to sin so grivously by bringing a foreign fire; they were saying that because of their stature, they should be able to act as they please.

Thus, it is now clear that there is a connection between the death of Nadav and Avihu and the warning to Aharon against coming to the Holy of Holies whenever he pleases. A Kohen who has the mindset of Nadav and Avihu, that they don't need to rely on others, will seemingly also fail to understand the importance of the Jewish people and their connection to the Kohen Gadol in his coming to the Holy of Holies. He'll think that he can rest on his laurels alone and come whenever he pleases, but we know from the Kli Yakar that he can only come when he has the full support of the merits of the Jewish people behind him.

There may be certain people who think that they don't need to rely on others for anything. This can lead to a very lonely life. We should realize that our friends, parents, and others are there for us to rely on for advice and other assistance. This, precisely, was the sin of Nadav and Avihu; that they refused to establish a connection with anyone around them.

Shauli Mordechai

2007-04-26T13:15:00.000-05:00

Just over 10 years ago, a child named Shauli Mordechai of Silver Spring, Md., accidentally fell into the swimming pool in his backyard. The injuries left him permanently attached to machines and put his life immediately at risk. Over the next years, volunteers - mostly teenagers - in the community rallied around Shauli, helping by performing physical therapy exercises with him and bathing Shauli. Shauli became a community project. On Wednesday, Shauli was niftar. Here is a report from someone who attended Shauli's funeral this morning :

There were enough people there to fill pretty much all of the seats in the social hall at Shomrei Emunah [in Silver Spring]. I'm sure that had the funeral been Friday instead, many more people would have chosen to attend from out of town. But the interest was clearly in getting the body to Israel before Shabbat set in, and that forced the funeral to be early today. The Yeshiva sent all of its students, and I saw a large population from the Hebrew Academy as well. Also, pretty much every Rabbi I've seen in either Kemp Mill or White Oak was in attendance.

Rabbi Rosenbaum, Assistant to the Rabbi, led the services. He called on Morah Diasra Rabbi Anemer to say a few words. Of course, because R' Anemer is a kohen, he spoke from outside via microphone. Rabbi Anemer's message was very similar to the one he gave last summer about Dov Klugerman, the high schooler who was hit by a car on his way home from the Yeshiva. We are not to judge the role and importance of a life cut short, but to try our best to accept that it was within the divine plan set forth for this neshoma, R' Anemer said. In this case, though, R' Anemer talked a lot about how much Shauli's life impacted the Mordechais, the community and klal yisroel as a whole. R' Anemer pointed to all the tehillim and prayers that have been said and the chesed that Shauli's life caused. He finished off by thanking Shauli and Hashem for allowing our community to benefit from Shauli's life, teaching us valuable lessons about charity, compassion, resilience and unity.

Then they called up Rabbi Zev Katz, head of the girls Yeshiva. He spoke as a representative of all the parents who have had kids who volunteered to work with Shauli over the years. R' Katz's message was that Shauli helped raise so many children, teaching them the same lessons that R' Anemer alluded to. He wondered where parents and teachers would turn to convey these important lessons now that Shauli has been niftar. He ended off by saying that yesterday at the hospital Aviva, Shauli's mother, asked him if he thought that Shauli would go straight to Gan Eden. R' Katz replied, "No, straight to the kisei hakavod."

Then Jud Lifschitz, a neighbor of the Mordechais, spoke about his experience eight years ago in the hospital while talking to Aviva when the nurses told her that Shauli might not make it through the night. Jud read from his book, Stories for Shauli, and talked about how until then he never truly understood the message behind Shauli's trauma. In fact, Jud said, it was about his strength to fight the odds and to stay alive one more day, and another day, so that people could continue to benefit from being with him just a little bit longer. Jud then asked the audience how many of us are worthy to have helped and enriched so many other people's lives. How many of us live a life free of sin? He concluded by saying that each of us has the ability to think, to speak, and to walk. Shauli didn't. But he still inspired so many people to think, to speak and to walk to perform mitzvot.

Lastly, pediatrician and close family friend, Jeff Bernstein, spoke about how when you're young, you turn to your parents and teachers to learn from them. But as you grow older, you start learning from other people, pretty much everybody. He said that as a pediatrician, he's learned a tremendous amount from his patients. As a father, he's learned from his children. But Shauli allowed him to learn a great deal about both his children and himself.

The overall message here was that even though Shauli's accident left him in this state for the last decade or so, it was part of Hashem's plan to make his neshoma matter. The accident was never mentioned directly, as people cobbled together all the 14+ years as part of the same plan. His life was intended to be what it was, from the start. You could tell from the turnout and the emotional response that existed this morning that people were touched by Shauli's life and they understood that his life - and in turn his death - was full of purpose, dignity and peacefulness.

Anti-Semitism in Germany - Ya Think?

2007-04-23T04:40:00.000-05:00

To steal Soccerdad's wording again: If you haven't read William Grim's article at FRONTPAGEMAG.COM, you must. The most striking line, IMO, is when he states, "Young Fritz doesn't have to be overtly anti-Semitic today because his grandfather's generation did such a bang-up job of the Holocaust."

I see this as no different than a yeshiva guy who becomes ultra right-wing, only to come back to the normal, middle-path upon returning and spending time in Anerica. The Nazi's felt as if the Jews were a problem, and in order to ensure anti-semitism would continue for generations, they needed to go the "Katzeh haAcharon/the other extreme" (ie, the Holocaust), to steal the words of the Rambam.

JIB Awards

2007-04-22T20:26:00.000-05:00

Someone must've been nice enough to nominate me for the Jewish Israel Blog Awards (JIBAwards). I'm being nominated for "Best Jewish Torah Blog", and the voting for the first round seems to have commenced. I'm up against some pretty stiff competition in the first round with Hirhurim and Nefesh haChaim in my bracket, but you gotta take the punches as their thrown.

Anyway, if you enjoy the Divrei Torah on this blog then please VOTE FOR ME! I don't have super-high expectations, but I'd like to have a nice showing. Thanks to whomever nominated me, and thanks for reading, and hopefully using, the Divrei Torah.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

5th Lubavitcher Rebbe and Sigmund Freud?

2007-04-20T08:38:00.000-05:00

I was listening the first to a shiur on the YUTorah.org website given by Dr. David Pelcovitz titled, "The State of Depression and the Jewish Community: Its Prevalence and Profound Impact on the Individual, Family and Community." Dr. Pelcovitz starts out with a story, relating that the Tzemach Tzedek, the 3rd Lubavitcher Rebbe, suffered from some sort of depression and traveled to Vienna to meet with the famous Sigmund Freud. However, after looking up their bios, this seems unlikely being that the Tzemach Tzedek died in 1866, with Freud being born in 1856. Thus, the oldest Freud could've been at such a meeting was 10 years old. While he was undoubtedly a genius in his field, I find this unlikely.

After doing some research online (OK, only a Google search), it seems that it wasn't the 3rd Lubavitcher Rebbe, but the 5th that did, in fact, meet with Freud. Rabbi Shalom Dov Ber Schneersohn (known as the Rashab) was, apprently, having trouble living in the shadows of his father and grandfather, when he made the trip to Vienna to meet with Freud. A scholarly article published in the "Psychoanalytic Review" opines that the writings of the Rashab changed after meeting with Freud, and suggests that Freud may have been influenced by the Rashab, as well.

An interesting read, even if it is overly psychoanalytic/Freudian (v'ha'mayvin yavin). (Article here)

Parshas Tazria / Metzora 5767 II

2007-04-19T13:18:00.000-05:00

וְצִוָּה, הַכּהֵן, וְלָקַח לַמִּטַּהֵר שְׁתֵּי-צִפֳּרִים חַיּוֹת, טְהרוֹת; וְעֵץ אֶרֶז, וּשְׁנִי תוֹלַעַת וְאֵזב.

"The kohein shall command to take for the person undergoing purification two live, pure [kosher] birds, cedar wood, crimson thread and hyssop." (Sefer Vayirka, 14:4)

The Torah tells us here that the first stage in the purification process of the Metzora is for him to bring 2 birds. As the verses continue, we learn that one of the birds to be ritually slaughtered, while the other one is kept alive and dipped into the blood of the slaughtered bird. Rashi tells us that the reason that the Metzora specifically brings birds is because his affliction came in punishment for slander and/or gossip, his purification is brought through chirping animals. Basically, just as the person "chirped"; so too, the birds do so.

R' Shlomo Ganzfried (also the Ba'al Kitzur Shulchan Aruch) in his Sefer Eparyon questons why we need two birds to learn Rashi's lesson. Seeing the slaughter of the chirping bird sends a message to the person that he needs to stop chirping, lest the same happen to him. Why, however, do we need the 2nd bird - the one that stays alive? Rabbi Ganzfried explains that if he were only required to bring 1 bird, we may infer from this that one needs to limit all types of speech. Just as a dead bird totally loses the ability to chirp or make noise, it could be inferred that the remedy for one who speaks Lashon Hara is a limitation of speech. This, however, is why we bring 2 - to teach us that Hashem doesn't want us to limit our speech; our speech needs to be just as "alive" as the second bird. Rather, he just wants us to use our speech for the appropriate things. Without speech, one cannot influence another positively, comfort mourners and do a plethora of other commandments.

Speaking Lashon Hara is bad, but the remedy isn't to lead a live of silence. With anything that is bad in excess, the key isn't to totally avoid that thing. As is a famous theme in the Nesivos Shalom, the preferred path is to be able to take that we we do use and elevate it to a higher level. For example, being an alcoholic is bad. One possible path is to never drink alcohol; the preferred path, however, is to consume in moderation and use it as a vehicle to something higher. L'Chaim!

Parshas Tazria - Metzora 5767

2007-04-19T09:20:00.000-05:00

To see last year's Divrei Torah on Tazria - Metzora click here and here.

נֶגַע צָרַעַת, כִּי תִהְיֶה בְּאָדָם; וְהוּבָא, אֶל-הַכּהֵן. וְרָאָה הַכּהֵן, וְהִנֵּה שְׂאֵת-לְבָנָה בָּעוֹר, וְהִיא, הָפְכָה שֵׂעָר לָבָן; וּמִחְיַת בָּשָׂר חַי, בַּשְׂאֵת. צָרַעַת נוֹשֶׁנֶת הִוא בְּעוֹר בְּשָׂרוֹ, וְטִמְּאוֹ הַכּהֵן: לא יַסְגִּרֶנּוּ, כִּי טָמֵא הוּא. וְאִם-פָּרוֹחַ תִּפְרַח הַצָּרַעַת, בָּעוֹר, וְכִסְּתָה הַצָּרַעַת אֵת כָּל-עוֹר הַנֶּגַע, מֵראשׁוֹ וְעַד-רַגְלָיו--לְכָל-מַרְאֵה, עֵינֵי הַכּהֵן. וְרָאָה הַכּהֵן, וְהִנֵּה כִסְּתָה הַצָּרַעַת אֶת-כָּל-בְּשָׂרוֹ--וְטִהַר, אֶת-הַנָּגַע: כֻּלּוֹ הָפַךְ לָבָן, טָהוֹר הוּא.

"When there is a skin-eruption of tzora'as on a person he shall be brought to the kohein. The kohein shall see and behold! there is an intensely white spot on the skin and it has turned the hair white or there is healthy flesh in the spot of intense whiteness,it is an old tzora'as in the skin of his body and the kohein shall declare him unclean he shall not confine him, since he is [obviously] unclean. And if the tzora'as sprouts on the skin and if the tzora'as covered the entire skin of the [one affected by] the eruption from his head until his feet to the extent that the kohein can see. The kohein shall see and behold! the tzora'as has covered all of his body, he shall declare the skin-eruption to be cleansed, it has turned completely white, he is clean." Sefer Vayikra, 13:9-13

The Torah here starts off by telling us that if a person sees what appears to be a Tzaraas affliction on his skin, he should go see the Kohein to be deemed Tameh/impure. Paradoxically, however, the Torah goes on to explain that in a case where the affliction covers the entire body, the Kohein shall render the person Tahor/pure. One would think that if in a case where only a portion of the body is afflicted the body is rendered impure, certainly, if the entire body is covered the body the person should be rendered impure as well. However, this isn't the case.

The Ibn Ezra offers pashut p'shat/a simple understanding by saying that when the affliction is on the entire body it is only on the surface. However, when it is isolated to one spot it goes much deeper and will actually take much longer to heal than in a case where it covered the whole body. R' Baruch Simon wants to learn out a Mussar Haskeil from this and he says that often times people spread themselves too thin. When you do this, as the term suggests, it's impossible to examine all of those matters at a proper depth. However, when one focuses his strengths on one, isolated, thing at a time (like the Tzaraas affliction only affecting one piece of the skin), one can give proper depth and attention to that matter, leading to that thing have a longer lasting impact. For instance, it is said that the Brisker Rav would say that he was only able to be holding in 1 Sugya at a time. In everything we do in Yiddishkeit, whether it be learning, becoming more religious, etc, one must be sure not to do too many things at once, for the greatest chance that that thing will stick.

Furthermore, the Gemara in Sanhedrin (97a) states that Moshiach will not come until the whole world is converted to the beliefs of the heretics, and it quotes our pasuk of "...it has turned completely white; he is clean" (ibid 13:13), as the source. Rashi there explains that just as the affliction spread across the entire body and the person is rendered pure, so too when all of the world is converted to heretic beliefs, the world is ready for a Geulah/redemption. It, however, is still unclear why only at this point, when the world has reached such a low level, will it be ready for redemption; and it remains unclear what the connection is to our case of Tzaraas.

Rav Shimon Schwab in his "Meayin Beis haShoeva" explains that Tumah cannot sustain itself; rather, it gets its nourishment from Taharah/purity. Only when there is Taharah in the world is it possible for Tumah to exist - without it, it ceases to exist. Thus, in our case of Tzaraas, when the affliction spreads over the entire body, the Tumah cannot sustain itself, as it has no purity to get nourishment from; but when it is only on a portion of the body, Tumah can exist. He gives another example of this found in the Chumash, when the Miraglim/spies preface their slanderous comments about Eretz Yisrael with the true statement that it is a "Eretz Chalav u'dvash." He explains that the fact that their slanderous comments were made together with true ones allowed the slanderous ones to have such a deep impact. With this we can also understand the statement regarding the Geulah: when the world steeps to such a low level where no Taharah remains, the Tumah will have no nourishmeant, leaving the world ready for the Geulah.

In life, when we make decisions, we should be careful that we are doing things for purely the right reasons. One may do something that, on the surface, may be the right decision; however, he may be doing for some political, social, or other reason. When one justifies his/her actions when there may be some ulterior motives, they are giving the Tumah/impurity nourishment to feed off of. One shouldn't make a decision because it is a popular one in the community, or what looks good, or what people will say. Rather, in order for a decision to be lasting, one should be careful that the decision has a Yanika shel Emes/nourishment of truth.

Jason Whitlock on Imus

2007-04-17T21:45:00.000-05:00

To steal a line from Soccerdad: If you haven't read Jason Whitlock's article on the Don Imus fiasco, you must.

See some of Whitlock's comments on a news program below.

Holocaust Survivor Saved Lives

2007-04-17T11:40:00.000-05:00

Like every other person who has a heart, I cannot help but feel for all of those effected in yesterday's massacre at Virginia Tech. And those effected go well beyond those killed/injured and their families; it includes their friends, classmates, floormates, etc. This massacre very well may have effected tens of thousands of lives. No doubt, this will be something that we will remember forever - truly another Columbine.

But what breaks my heart even more was reading that a holocaust survivor was killed in the bloodshed. A man that not even the Nazi regime could murder was shot dead yesterday. And he wasn't shot dead because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time; he was shot dead because he, as the professor, was more interested in saving his students' lives than he was his own. As written in the Baltimore Sun article this morning, Liviu Librescu held the door shut, trying to fend off the shooter, while his students knocked out the windows and jumped to their safety.

May the shooter's soul be dealt with as harshly as the Nazi's who were unable to kill Librescu, and may this holocaust survivor's neshama be an aliyah for all of us.

Yeshivish Gettysburg Address and Pledge of Allegiance

2007-04-16T13:26:00.000-05:00

Gettysburg Address

English Version

Forescore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the propisition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this...The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here for the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of their devotion-- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Yeshivish Translation

Be'erech a yoivel and a half ago, the meyasdim shtelled avek on this makom a naiya malchus with the kavana that no one should have bailus over their chaver, and on this yesoid that everyone has the zelba zchusim. We're holding by a geferliche machloikes being machria if this medina, or an andere medina made in the same oifen and with the same machshovos, can have a kiyum. We are all mitztaref on the daled amos where a chalois of that machloikes happened in order to be mechabed the soldiers who dinged zich with each other. We are here to be koiveia chotsh a chelek of that karka as a kever for the bekavodike soldiers who were moiser nefesh and were niftar to give a chiyus to our nation. Yashrus is mechayev us to do this...Lemaise, hagam the velt won't be goires or machshiv what we speak out here, it's zicher not shayach for them to forget what they tued uf here. We are mechuyav to be meshabed ourselves to the melocha in which these soldiers made a haschala--that vibalt they were moiser nefesh for this eisek, we must be mamash torud in it--that we are all mekabel on ourselves to be moisif on their peula so that their maisim should not be a bracha levatulla-- that Hashem should give the gantze oilam a naiya bren for cheirus-- that a nation that shtams by the oilam, by the oilam, by the oilam, will blaib fest ahd oilam.

Pledge of Allegiance

English Version

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Yeshivish Translation

"I am meshabed myself, b'li neder, to hold shtark to the
siman of the United States of America and to the medina which is gufa
its tachlis; one festa chevra, b'ezras Hashem, echad ve'yuchid, with
simcha and erlichkeit for the gantza oilam."

Parshas Shemini

2007-04-12T06:20:00.000-05:00

וְאֵת שְׂעִיר הַחַטָּאת, דָּרשׁ דָּרַשׁ משֶׁה--וְהִנֵּה שׂרָף; וַיִּקְצף עַל-אֶלְעָזָר וְעַל-אִיתָמָר, בְּנֵי אַהֲרן, הַנּוֹתָרִם, לֵאמר.

"Regarding the goat of the sin-offering; Moshe made a detailed inquiry and behold! It was burned. He was angry with Elozor and Isomor, the remaining sons of Aharon, saying..." (Sefer Vayikra, 10:16)

Rashi (c.v. Darash): Two inquiries:Why was this one burnt? And why were these eaten?

The source for this topic is found in the Gemara in Zevachim (101a) where it mentions that on the day of the erecting of the Mishkan, 3 Karbanos/sacrifices were brought: one for the inauguration of the Mishkan, one for Rosh Chodesh, and one brought by Nachshon (prince of the tribe of Judah, and was the first to offer his installation donations and offerings; see Badmidbar 7, 12-17). Also, on this day, Nadav and Avihu were killed by the hand of G-d for bringing a "foreign fire." The halacha is that for one who has a close relative die, the period of time between their death and their burial is called a state of "Aninus", and one is exempt from all positive commandments (davening, tefillin, tzitzis, etc.). Thus, Aharon and his sons, on this day, were not allowed to eat from the Karbanos. Nevertheless, the Gemara records that Moshe came to these Kohanim and told them that even though this was the Halacha, that special day warranted and permitted their eating of the Karbanos. Thus, we now understand the Rashi above: if they were permitted to eat from the Karbanos today, why was this one burnt (instead of eating it)? Aharon responded to him that that which Hashem had permitted them to eat were only Karbanos that had to do with the random nature of the day. However, the Karbanos that are always brought (ie, the Rosh Chodesh sacrifice), they weren't permitted to eat.

Later on in the Parsha, the story picks up (10:20), where it says, "And Moshe heard and it was good in his eyes", with Rashi saying that "He admitted [the justice of Aharon's argument], and was not ashamed to say: it wasn't the case that I hadn't learned this, but rather, I learned this, and forgot this." Furthermore, the Medrash states that Moshe went out to the entire camp and admitted that he was mistaken on this matter.

R' Avraham Bokrat in his Sefer haZikaron (perush on Rashi) gives an insight into the different ways humans work when one has an argument with his friend, and then subsequently realizes that he is wrong (similar to Moshe and Aharon's case). The first, and worst reaction is when one refuses to admit to the truth at all. How often do we know that we're wrong, yet still argue our point anyway? How often does someone ask us a good question that we are unclear of an answer to, yet we try to make something up on the spot? The next reaction is to admit to the truth, but while being saddened and/or embarassed to be wrong. How often do we get in an argument and get upset when we realize that we have "lost"? Finally, the best approach, which was Moshe's approach, is to not only admit to the truth, but to be happy by the fact that the truth has been revealed.

There is a famous story with R' Chaim Brisker when he was named a Maggid Shiur in Yeshivas Volozhin. There was a contigency that was opposed to the way he gave a shiur and thought he was only appointed because he married the granddaughter of the Netziv, the Rosh Yeshiva. So, one day, this contingency came to listen to a shiur of his and rule whether or not he was, in fact, worthy of this position in the Yeshiva. He was giving an interesting shiur on a certain position on the Rambam, and in the middle of the shiur, he suddenly went silent. He realized that there was a Mishna that completely contradicted everything that he was saying. However, even though nobody in the crowd understood how this Mishna went against his shiur, he retracted all of his words - this was R' Chaim's love of the truth. He was able to see the truth at a time in which he was being judged on his teaching worth. The contigency who had been opposed to him said that a man who had such a desire for the truth was worthy to be a Maggid Shiur in their Yeshiva.

Duke Rape Scandal

2007-04-12T05:53:00.000-05:00

The story we got: three white, rich, good-looking college athletes from a holier-than-thou university kidnap and then savagely rape a helpless, African-American mother.

The story we should've got (AKA the truth): slutty, mentally unstable drunkard with a history of fabrication and criminal offenses wrongfully accuses three innocent college students who are only prosecuted because of a state's attorney looking to help his cause for re-election.

Shevii Shel Pesach 5767

2007-04-08T12:35:00.000-05:00

Nothing new this year, but see this post for some of my own personal thoughts on Shevii Shel Pesach. (link)

Which Haggadah Did You Use?

2007-04-04T20:02:00.000-05:00

I'm amazed at the plethora of new Haggadahs that seem to be published every year. I'm curious what Haggadahs other people used.

As for me, here's what I used:

Night #1 - Haggadah Berurah, with halachic rulings of the Mishna Berura
Night #2 - Haggadah of the Jewish Idea, by R' Binyamin Zev Kahane (son of R' Meir), with appropriate (inappropriate to some) insights based on his father's works.

I've never been into the "tagging" thing, but I am interested to see what other people used, so I'll tag SephardiLady, Greg, and Jewboy.

Neturei Karta Victims of Arson

2007-04-02T06:21:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning to see the headline, "Arson Eyed at Blaze at Synagogue", and I find myself no less enraged after reading that the target was a shul of a known Neturei Karta member and holocaust-denier. First of all, as far as I know, they read the same Torah that the rest of us do, learn the same Shulchan Aruch as the rest of us do, and shtaig at the same Bava Basra that we do. All burnt to a crisp.

I pray that we find out that this was an accident, but it's only natural to jump to such conclusions as the target was a much-vilified group. Yes, they went to holocaust denial conference; yes, they are pictured embracing Ahmadinejad; and yes, they met with Yasser Arafat. And while these despicable actions are a blemish for Jews worldwide, they don't make the Sifrei Kodesh in that shul and less holy. It is a sad day when Sifrei Torah and Sifrei Kodesh are burnt, no matter what type of shul they were housed in.

Finally - why do you think they attend pro-Palestinian rallies, are seen davening for Yasser Arafat, and joining in at a holocaust denial conference? It can't be because their views dictate that they do so - there are many others with their views on Zionism and Israel, yet choose not to publicize them in such a public forum. It is clear that all they want is attention. A group so small that has gained the amount of press that they have must feel a sense of accomplishment. The best way to combat their impurity is to deal with them, but on a less public stage. While they probably aren't pleased that they have to build a new shul, as sick as they are, it wouldn't surprise me if they are happy about the front-page Foxnews.com publicity that they're getting now.

Haggadah Insights 2007 II

2007-03-30T12:06:00.000-05:00

Adapted from this shiur given by R' Shalom Rosner at YU (Maareh Makomos here).

To read more of R' Rosner's insights into the Haggadah, click here.

V’hee She’amdah

It tells us in this verse that there hasn’t been just one person in history that has wanted to destroy us; rather, in each generation there are individual/s that want to see our destruction. However, on Pesach night, our emphasis is on our slavery in Egypt and subsequent redemption. Doesn’t it cheapen things to talk about how this wasn’t a one time occurrence and how others wanted us dead as well? The sefer “Kimotzei Shalal Rav” quotes a Teshuvos Ginas Bisan, who explains in the following manner: G-d promised us in Vayikra that the Jewish people would never be destroyed, and this was also something that Avraham was promised. Thus, whenever those individuals in every generation attempt to destroy us we are saved by the aforementioned promises that we will be saved. However, Pesach was different; Pharaoh didn’t want to destroy ALL of us – only the males. Thus, we were not in a situation where we could rely on the promise of Hashem. Nevertheless, Hashem saved us, even though it was a situation in which he wasn’t bound to. Thus, we see that the mention of others that want to destroy us comes not to cheapen what happened in Mitzrayim, but rather to strengthen our call for praise to Hashem.

Amaleinu – Eilu haBanim

Rashi tells us that because they saved the Jewish male babies, Shifra and Puah were rewarded with having Kohanim, Leviim, and kingship as descendents. We know we have the concept of people being rewarded “Middah K’neged Middah”/measure for measure, so how was this reward commensurate with their actions? The Brisker Rav explains in the following manner: whether or not a child is Jewish is dependent on the mother. Thus, Pharoah wasn’t trying to eliminate the Jews entirely, as he would need to kill off the women for that. However, a person gets his yichus/lineage (Kohen, Levi, etc) from their father. We therefore see that Pharoah was trying to eliminate the concept of yichus within the Jewish people. It now makes sense that Shifra and Puah were rewarded with Kohanim and Leviim, because without them, they wouldn’t exist.

Datzah, Adash, V’achav

If we already said what the 10 plagues were, why do we need to abbreviate them? The Minchas Chein answers by bringing the answer to a question originally asked by the Keren Li’David. He asks why Purim was set on the 14th and 15th if really we had won the war before then. Shouldn’t we observe Purim on the day that we were saved from the evil Haman? The Minchas Chein answers by saying that as Jews, we don’t consider ourselves murderers or warriors – we only fight when we have to. We would lead very happy lives if we knew that nobody would ever bother us and we could lead our lives as frum Jews in peace and harmony. Thus, it’s not the military victory that we celebrate but the ensuing menucha/rest. The same applies here in the Haggadah with the abbreviation; we are saying that it isn’t the individual plagues and hurt upon the Egyptians that we’re focused on, but rather the ensuing period where G-d’s glory was revealed to the world.

Haggadah Insights 2007

2007-03-29T12:50:00.000-05:00

To view last year's Pesach Torah, click here.

More to follow...

These were adapted from this shiur given by R' Shalom Rosner from YU.

Ha Lachma Anya

At the end of the "Ha Lachma Anya" paragraph we conclude with the phrase "Next year in the land of Israel." This is also something we say at the end of the seder, when we say "Lishana Haba'ah B'Yirushalayim." When one thinks about it, it makes more sense that we say it at the end; we're done our seder, and we're saying that next year's seder should be in Yerushalayim. Why the need to mention it earlier as well? R' Menachem Genack in his Gan Shoshanim answers this question by answering another question: how can we really pretend to act like "Bnei Chorin/free people" (as it says at the end of Ha Lachma Anya)? Sure, we have many freedoms, but at the end of the day, we're still in Galus. Furthermore, we're not too far removed from a period of time in which being Jewish in a large part of the world was as good as a death sentence - with all of this, how can we act like "free" people? He answers this question with a beautiful mashul. Let's say you have a guy who's sitting in jail for 20 years, and then one day the warden comes up to him and tells him that he is being released the next day. Even though he isn't technically getting out of jail until the next day, mentally, he's already free. However, if you have a guy that's currently living in society but is to be sent off to jail the next day; while, he's technically free to do whatever he wants until the following day, he's mentally incarcerated. We see from this that what defines "freedom" and "incarceration" isn't the necessarily the physical space that one occupies; rather, it is the vision and direction that defines these terms. This is precisely the reason that we mention Eretz Yisrael here - to tell us that if we know that our goal and our vision is to end up in Israel, then mentally we're already free, even if we're technically living in a time where we aren't "Bnei Chorin."

4 sons – Rasha

We all know that the punishment handed down to the Rasha, the wicked son, is to knock out his teeth. As mentioned last year, this is an interesting punishment. Of all of the things that we can do, we knock out his teeth? Furthermore, I assume that punishment should he doled out for a rehabilitative purpose; how is knocking out his teeth going to teach the Rasha to do right? The Koshnitzer Rebbe says that the Rasha spoken about in the Haggadah isn't totally wicked. He believes that through Talmud Torah and Tefillah, one can get closer to Hashem. However, what he doesn't grasp is how one can serve Hashem through the mundane parts of his life, like eating and drinking. We respond to him, bascially, that G-d wouldn’t have created teeth unless he wanted that we should serve him through them; so that we can use food and drink as we do at the Seder to become closer to G-d. To make the Rasha appreciate this idea we knock out his teeth, like we are saying to him, "See how well you can serve G-d now."

4 Sons – Tam
When taking a look at the four sons, if we were to rank them in order from "best" to "worst", the Tam, the simpleton, obviously wouldn't be at the top of the list. However, we know that Yaakov Avinu was known as an "Ish Tam"/simple man. Is this to say that Yaakov Avinu's service to Hashem was lacking something? Rav Moshe Feinstein explains the difference between our Tam and Yaakov Avinu as a Tam (Rav Moshe's words are: "Yeish Tam, v'Yeish Tam".) He explains that the simpleton of which the Haggadah speaks is a person who is simple by virtue of the fact that he lacks knowledge - he just doesn't know anything. However, this was not the case with Yaakov; he was known as a Chacham/wise person, certainly someone who's service of Hashem was not lacking. So what made Yaakov simple? It was the child-like manner in which he served Hashem. If you look at a child at, let's say, age 4, he/she is very obedient. Sure, the child may put up hissy-fits, but at the end of the day, what the parent says goes. This was the way Yaakov approached service to Hashem; Hashem said something, Yaakov did it. Very simple. Had this been the simpleton that our Haggadah refers to, perhaps he would be at the top. However, one that is simple merely by virtue of the fact that he lacks knowledge is not looked upon as favorably.

Avadim Hayinu

It says in "Avadim Hayinu", that even if we were all wise, all understanding, and all knowing of the Torah, we would still be obligated to discuss the exodus from Egypt. The implication from this is that there may be a time when those who are wise, knowing of the Torah, and understanding are actually exempt from certain commandments. The Minchas Asher wonders when we find such a case, where the Torah leaders are exempt. Why does that thought even enter our minds? He says that we all have the obligation of Zechiras Yetzias Mitzrayim (REMEMBERING the exodus) every day in Shema, and we may think that Sippur Yitzias Mitzrayim (TELLING OVER the story of the exodus) is the same. What's Zechirah/remembering? All it entails is the knowledge that this event occured in history. We may think that Sippur is the same idea of just basic historical knowledge and since those who are wise, knowing of the Torah, and understanding of it are on such a high level and have vast amounts of this knowledge, they are exempt from the Sippur. That is why we may have thought that these Torah leaders would be exempt, and that's why the Haggadah has to tell us that even they are obligated, as Sippur isn't only about historical knowledge. Rather, it's more about a deeper feeling and emotion to the exodus, and this is something that not even all of the Torah in the world can teach.

Parshas Tzav / Shabbos HaGadol

2007-03-28T09:48:00.000-05:00

The beginning of Parshas Tzav deals with the laws regarding a Korbon Olah/elevation offering. There are two seemingly contrasting opinions in Chazal as to when the proper time to bring such an offering is. These criteria are much vaguer than, say, the criteria for a Korban Chatas/sin offering. We know that when one is oveir on a sin unintentionally that if done intentionally would require Kares, one brings a Chatas. Anyway, the Gemara in Yoma (36a), tells us that an Olah is brought when one fails to do a positive commandment (wearing tefillin, shaking lulav), or when one is oveir on a negative commandment that requires a positive commandment to rectify that, and one doesn’t do the positive commandment (oveir the negative commandment of not having chametz in your house, which would require the positive commandment of removing that chametz from your house). However, the Medrash Rabbah suggests that an Olah is brought for Hirhur haLev, or when one has improper thoughts.

While these two themes appear to be totally different, R’ Yisroel of Modzitz in his sefer Divrei Yisroel has a beautiful idea as to how these ideas are part of one theme. He says that we had an incorrect assumption that bringing the Olah for Hirhum haLev meant when we were thinking improper thoughts. He says just the opposite; we bring a Korban Olah when we had PROPER thoughts to do something, but, for whatever reason, we just didn’t get around to doing it. With this understanding, the two ideas above really aren’t any different; rather, the proper machshava without the ma’aseh/action, leads to the bittul aseih (not putting on Tefillin, etc.). One can think they want to do such and such as much they want; but if they don’t do it, what good was the intention? He relates this idea to the Rashi on the word “Tzav” in our Parsha, which says that whenever the Torah uses the word “Tzav” it is referring to zrizus/eagerness. In this case, it is telling the Kohanim that they have to do the service of the Korbon Olah with the same eagerness as the other Karbanos even though they don’t get to partake of this type of Karbon’s meat. Anyway, the idea is clear: when we have an idea that we want to do something, we must step into action immediately, with zrizus.

We see this idea by Avraham Avinu, as the pasuk tells us that before he went out to take Yitzchak to be sacrificed he chopped wood and shlepped it with him. The Divrei Yisroel wonders why Avraham had to chop wood before he left; he could’ve found wood when he got to his destination. Avraham, however, knew that intentions could be fleeting. As soon as he got word that he was to offer his son as a sacrifice, he wanted to put the plan into action, so he chopped the wood.

It’s apropos that this idea falls out in the month of Nissan, known to some as the “month of action.” There is a famous debate in the Gemara about when exactly the world was created. One opinion is that the world was created in Tishrei, and the other is that the world was created in Nissan. Rabbeinu Tam answers that really both are true; in Tishrei G-d started thinking about creating the world, but it wasn’t actually created until Nissan. Starting from Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur we have strived to find that spark to inspire us. However, for many, that inspiration has either left us or lay dormant with us. It is at this time of year, Chodesh Nissan, when it is time to make good on our proper intentions and act on them.

Kol haMarbeh...

2007-03-26T08:54:00.000-05:00

מִצְוָה עָלֵינוּ לְסַפֵּר בִּיצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם. וְכָל הַמַרְבֶּה לְסַפֵּר בִּיצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם הֲרֵי זֶה מְשֻׁבָּח

“There is a mitzvah upon us to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt; and all that increase in the telling of the Exodus from Egypt is praiseworthy.”

It is customary at the Seder to tell as many Divrei Torah as possible to fulfill that which is stated above. However, one can find many Talmudic sources that speak to the fact that in general, one should not be verbose. Rather, the preferred path is a “Derech Ketzara/a short path”, meaning that, when speaking, one should try to get his/her point across in as few words as possible. So, how do we reconcile the fact that we are supposed to elongate our speaking of Yetzias Mitzrayim while believing the preferred path in speech is one of brevity? Here are a few answers which I have heard:

• Rav Yitzchak Elchanon of Kovneh (as in RIETS) gives a moshel involving a large ship at sea that has come under duress, but was then subsequently saved. The rich people on the boat are likely to be more thankful than the poor people on board, as they ostensibly enjoy their comfortable lives more than the poor enjoy their lives living in destitute. Therefore, we try to show praise by elongating our story of Yetzias Mitzyim to show Hashem that we, like the rich folk on the boat, are “Sameach b’Chelko/happy with our lot” that Hashem has given us.
• Rav Shlomo Kluger says that one can tell how close someone telling a story is to that story by the amount of detail told over. When one has first-hand experience of a situation, when telling that situation over to others, he/she is much more likely to be more familiar with intricate details of the story than someone that only heard the story 2nd- or 3rd-hand. Therefore, we go into as much detail as possible to show that we believe that these events actually occurred to our ancestors and that they aren’t mere bubbamaises/tales that we are telling over.

One Talmudic source that speaks to brevity is that which is found on the Gemara in Brachos (33b) where R’ Chanina, instead of saying the normal praises in Shemonah Esrai of “hakeil, hagadol, hagibor, v’hanorah”, he continued to add his own praises of, “v’ha’adir, va’ha’izuz…etc.”. Those in his presence waited for him to complete his praises, and then said to him mockingly, “Are you done with all of this? Why do you say all of this? If the Men of the Great Assembly hadn’t decreed that one should say ‘hakeil, hagadol, hagibor, v’hanorah’, we wouldn’t even be allowed to say that!” Again, how can we reconcile this with our general rule of brevity? The Maharal says that when praising Hashem in the above manner, saying more is actually saying less. How so? When one goes through a detailed list of one’s praises, it makes it seem as though it is within that person’s abilities to quantify the praises of that person. Thus, by R’ Chanina adding his own praises, it was if he was claiming to have the ability to quantify the praises of Hashem, and it is for this reason that the onlookers spoke to him in a mocking fashion. However, when we just want to show Hakaras haTov/thanks (loose translation) to Hashem, we are allowed to go on for as long as we want.

Regarding Hakaras haTov, the famous question is asked as to why rain wasn’t created until man was created, and the simple answer given is that without man, nobody could’ve shown Hakaras haTov to Hashem for the gift of rain. When bestowing goodness upon us, Hashem enjoys the Hakaras haTov that we give him, and thus will continue to bestow goodness upon us. Therefore, while it may seem as though we are remembering and giving Hakaras haTov for that which happened in the past, it is only through this Hakaras haTov that we will merit goodness in the future.

Parshas Vayikra

2007-03-23T16:29:00.000-05:00

I didn't have time to type anything up this week - sorry! But, see my d'var torah I posted last year for Parshas Vayikra 5766. Good Shabbos!

More Child Exploitation

2007-03-22T07:26:00.000-05:00

...at its finest...

What Are you Gonna Do To The Monster - Click Here for more great videos and pictures!

White Duke

2007-03-21T12:03:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to write a post detailing the correlation between Duke's pathetic year and the fact that all but four players on their roster are white. I wasn't quite sure how to approach it, but I just read an article by Steve Czaban, a local sports guru.

You couldn't have said it any better, Czabe.

Anti-Change

2007-03-20T08:45:00.000-05:00

Coming from a non-orthodox background, I do have a certain sense of pride in the religious strides many of my family members and I have taken. The most important thing going forward is for me to ensure that my children maintain the level of religiosity that I have worked to establish. I realize that many of my hashkafos come from this desire to pass on this level of religiosity to my children and that I think negatively upon any hashkafos that would, chas v'shalom, increase the chances of my children becoming non-frum. It would be irresponsible of me to say, "I turned out fine religiously with a public school edutcation, so that's what'll be for my children. While I imagine that there's only so much a parent can control and that external factors will also play a part, a parent still has to control what is in their power to control.

It is for this reason that I am generally opposed to movements within orthodoxy that look to change the status quo. For instance, the feminist movement within orthodoxy. I generally think that these people aren't interested in equality as a means to an end (wearing Tefillin in order to attain more spirituality), but rather as and ends in and of itself (to wear Tefillin in order to be equal). That being said, it is possible that there is a minority of feminists that do have pure intentions. Still, I am opposed to what they do, as it is a change from status quo. They, alone, may be innocuous; but the mindset isn't. The mindset that we can just change whatever we want about orthodoxy is dangerous. Sure, the lines may not shift that much in one generation, but if this mindset is passed on for generations the lines will shift to something that probably wreaks of the Reform and/or Conservative movement. This mindset, over generations, can lead to a generation of shtark non-frum Jews.

That being said, we've obviously changed as a people from that which was in pre-war Europe. There are modern issues that must be dealt with; things that couldn't have been fathomed in the yesteryear. But who decides what changes are appropriate? I don't think this responsibility, or priviledge, lies with the individual; rather, it should be upon the rabbinate. I imagine that far less of the orthodox world as a strong kesher/bond with an established member of the local rabbinate as was the case in the past. Rabbis are tools there for our using, and less reliance on them can lead to individuals making decisions which may seem innocuous on the surface, but may be infected with a dangerous mindset.

I think many people believe that all they need to do to ensure future generations of frum children is to give them a Jewish education. While this is certainly part of the picture, there are proper hashkafos and mindsets that must be passed from parent to child in order to maximize the chance of this happening.

Parshas Vayakhel / Pekudei

2007-03-15T23:14:00.000-05:00

וְהַנְּשִׂאִם הֵבִיאוּ--אֵת אַבְנֵי הַשּׁהַם, וְאֵת אַבְנֵי הַמִּלֻּאִים: לָאֵפוֹד, וְלַחשֶׁן.

“And the leaders [of the tribes] brought onyx stones, and stones for setting into the ephod and breastplate.” (Sefer Shemos, 35:27)

Rashi comments on this Pasuk that the Nesiim/leaders had agreed to donate to the Mishkan all that was lacking from the donations of the rest of Klal Yisroel. However, the donations of the rest of the people were so plentiful that there was nothing left for the Nesiim to give, so they brought the items listed in this verse. While the general attitude of filling in wherever needed may be construed as noble, Rashi notes that because they were lax in offering something upfront, their title of “Nesiim” are lacking the Yuds that normally are included in the spelling of this word.

This approach to mitzvos is in stark contrast to the actions of Avraham Avinu, who we are told ran to welcome guests to his tent. The Sforno there says that the zrizus that one shows for a mitzvah is shows how important that mitzvah is to him/her. In the case above, the delay in donating to the Mishkan shows that the Nesiim viewed these donations as less important than they really were; or else, they would’ve donated initially.

There is a verse in Mishlei which basically states that “…a lazy person has a fence of thorns, but those who aren’t lazy have a clear path.” The Metzudas Dovid there says that the fence of thorns is all of the excuses that lazy people use to explain why they don’t take the initiative. However, those who aren’t lazy don’t use these excuses, thus, their path to action is clear. One can easily say, “I’ll pick up the slack from what everyone else doesn’t do”, but that isn’t near as noble as one who doesn’t use any excuses and takes the initiative from the get-go.

I believe that the remedy for such an attitude can also be found in this week’s reading. In the 2nd half of our reading, Parshas Pekudei, the verse tells us that, “Moshe erected the Mishkan”, and then explains that he first put up the base, then the poles, etc etc. The Sforno comments that the ceiling to the Mishkan was also called the Mishkan, so the verse is telling us that Moshe first put up the ceiling, and only then made the base, poles, etc. How could it be possible to make the ceiling to a structure before the foundation? He answers that either people held up the ceiling, or it was a miracle, and R’ Reuvein Feinstein notes that this teaches us that when one is about to undertake a task, it is important that he/she has the goal in mind from the outset. Moshe needed a reminder of what the point of this construction was.

Many of us go through the motions in life, Yiddishkeit, etc, not really knowing where we’re going. We graduate high school, learn in Israel, go to college, and so forth, but where are we headed? What do we want to be? How do we want to act? If we are able to have goals in mind from the outset, we will be less likely to act like the Nesiim, and more likely to act like Avraham Avinu.

Awkward Time

2007-03-14T13:29:00.000-05:00

Whether I am the guest at someone's house, or having guests myself, I always find the amount of time after Kiddush and before washing as an awkward one. This is even more so when I am eating by someone with whom I am not closely acquainted, or having guests with whom I am not closely acquainted. I'm never sure what the protocol is for situations like this.

Do I invite everyone to washing immediately? Doing this might seem rude to some people…

Do I start a conversation, which could eventually turn into 10-15 minutes? If so, why can't this wait until the meal starts?

So really, the only conversations that start now are awkward, superficial ones, so it's no surprise things get weird during this time. Often times, there may even be an awkward silence, which is worse than all of the above. For these reasons, I'm all for washing before Kiddush and then jumping right into HaMotzi, something the Shulchan Aruch poskins and something many from German descent follow. If only I could bring myself to actually do it..

Parshas Ki Sisa

2007-03-09T07:11:00.000-05:00

וְאַתָּה דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, לֵאמר, אַךְ אֶת-שַׁבְּתתַי, תִּשְׁמרוּ: כִּי אוֹת הִוא בֵּינִי וּבֵינֵיכֶם, לְדרתֵיכֶם--לָדַעַת, כִּי אֲנִי יְהוָה מְקַדִּשְׁכֶם.

“And you speak to the B'nei Yisrael, saying, BUT You must still preserve My Shabbos, for it is a sign between Me and yourselves for your generations to know that I Ad-noy am making you holy.” (Sefer Shemos, 31:13)

Chazal teach us that any time the Torah uses the word “Ach/but” it is coming to exclude something from the statement in which it occurs. Rashi, on this Pasuk, comments that it is excluding work for the Mishkan on Shabbos; meaning, you might think that the work of the Mishkan can be done on Shabbos, but since we have the word “Ach”, it is excluded. The Ramban, however, disagrees. He doesn’t understand how the word “Ach” in a verse which is talking about Shabbos can possibly seem to exclude work from the Mishkan – a separate topic altogether. It can only make sense that the word “Ach” in a verse discussing Shabbos can come to limit or exclude certain restrictions on Shabbos. As such, the Ramban says that the word “Ach” in our verse teaches us that melacha/work for a Bris Milah and Pikuach Nefesh (to save someones life) can be done on the Sabbath, even though we may think that Shabbos trumps both of these.

The Chasam Sofer points out that really Rashi agrees with what the Ramban says (that we do a Bris and Pikuach Nefesh on Shabbos) and that the Ramban agrees with what Rashi says (that there was no work of the Mishkan done on Shabbos). Where they differ, however, is where each of these ideas is learned out from. What follows, says the Chasam Sofer, is a very important hierarchy. The Mishkan, which we view as one of the holiest things to the Jews, is on a lower level of Kedusha than is Shabbos. Sometimes we may take this for granted, being that we have Shabbos 1 out of every 7 days. Nevertheless, we see that it is holier than the Mishkan, for even the work on the Mishkan ceased on Shabbos. And then, trumping both the Mishkan and Shabbos is the value of a human life, for we do whatever possible to save a human life, even if it means violating Shabbos. Kedushas Yisroel on both an individual and communal level is something that cannot be overrated.

We also learn the importance of Kedushas Yisrael elsewhere in the Parsha; specifically, regarding the Ketores/spices. The Gemara in Krisus notes that any Taanis Tzibbur/public fast day in which the “sinners of Israel” don’t join in is not considered a true Taanis Tzibbur. Interestingly, the proof brought by the Gemara is from the Ketores in our Parsha. The explanation is as follows: not every spice included in the “cocktail” of spices burnt in the Mishkan smelled good by itself – it was only when they all came together did they produce the fragrant aroma. So too is the case with the Jewish people. True, certain individuals may not be acting in the proper way; true, an individual may not be living up to his/her expectations. Nevertheless, it’s the sum of its parts that makes the Jewish people who they are. If one lives life with the constant recognition that they are holier than two central items in Judaism (the Mishkan and Shabbos) and that they are part of something larger than themselves, it becomes much harder to become depressed when one’s situation isn’t as they want it.

Asher Karcha...

2007-03-05T07:38:00.000-05:00

Not that we need any more evidence that Duke is today's Amalek, but nevertheless we now have some more after Gerald Henderson's brutal elbow/forearm to Tyler Hansbrough in yesterday's Duke/UNC game. Dickie (read: Dookie) V is quick to label Duke as the classiest college basketball program in the country. That's easy to do, however, when you're winning. Interesting how things change when you're having a down year. Have a look for yourself and you be the judge:

Check out Pat Forde's take on the incident.

Forgive Me Father For I Have Sinned

2007-03-05T06:44:00.000-05:00

Me as the Pope

Me with the feigel UPS driver

Rabbi Lerner

Mink

Me with Jewbaby

The boys

Jewboy, the Feigel UPS Driver, and a Geisha

To mimic Jewboy: Purim was great success!

Purim Torah 5767

2007-03-04T11:24:00.000-05:00

To see the Divrei Torah from last year, click here.

Purim 2007

The Nesivos Shalom questions why on such a holy holiday like Purim we sit around drinking and joking around. After all, it is said say that “Yom haKipuurim K’Purim”. How can we celebrate a holiday that it just as holy as Yom Kippur in the fashion that we do? He explains that being “Mevusam” until we reach the point where we can no longer tell the difference between “Baruch Mordechai” and “Arur Haman” can have an added meaning aside from the simple understanding.

He quotes the Maharal who says that Purim is a time to be “Shalem Im Bor’o, Shalem Im Chaveiro, v’Shalem Im Atzmo; that it’s a time to be “complete with his creator, complete with his friend, and complete with himself. He explains that one’s interactions with each of those 3 can have attributes, both of Baruch Mordechai and Arur Haman.

First, Shalem Im Bor’o – being complete with his creator (G-d). There are times when a person has total faith in G-d and one is striving in Torah and Mitzvos in order to make Hashem happy. This is serving Hashem with the attribute of Baruch Mordechai. However, there are bound to be times that for whatever reason, our faith in Hashem may be lacking, and we may not be doing everything we can to make our relationship with him the best – this is serving Hashem with the attribute of Arur Haman. We try to reach the point on Purim where we can’t tell the difference between these two ways of relating to Hashem; that our Arur Haman way that we sometimes serve Hashem should be uplifted and indistinguishable from the Baruch Mordechai style of serving Hashem.

Next, Shalem Im Chaveiro – being complete with his friends. We all have friends that we feel are very close to us; they’re there for us all the time, and we rely on them heavily at times. These friends are our Baruch Mordechai friends. However, we also all have friends that at one point may have been Baruch Mordechai friends, but, for whatever reason have fallen out of our good graces. Perhaps we’ve just lost touch, or perhaps one party did something to offend the other – these are our Arur Haman friends. Again, we try to reach the point on Purim where these 2 types of friends are indistinguishable; that our Arur Haman friends are uplifted to be viewed in the same light as our Baruch Mordechai friends.

Finally, Shalem Im Atzmo – being complete with oneself. There are times when we are content with who we are as people, whether that be as a Jew, a husband/wife, a son/daughter, a brother/sister, etc. At times like these, we are Baruch Mordechai people. However, it’s inevitable that there are times when we may be disappointed with our actions or with ourselves as individuals – this is being “Arur Haman” with oneself. Again, we try to reach the point on Purim where these lines become blurry; where being “Arur Haman” with ourselves is lifted up to be on the level of being “Baruch Mordechai” with ourselves.

All of this being said, we cannot ignore the simple understanding of the saying that we are obligated to be mevusam (translate that as you please) on Purim. The Nesivos Shalom points out that it says that we need to be Mevusam B’Purya, and it doesn’t say that we need to be Mevusam B’Yayin B’Purya. The Slonimer says that we see from this that, while we drink in excess today, it shouldn’t be the wine that is intoxicating – rather, it should be the holiness inherent within Purim that is intoxicating.

Parshas Tetzaveh / Purim

2007-03-02T11:27:00.000-05:00

“וְאַתָּה תְּצַוֶּה אֶת-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְיִקְחוּ אֵלֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן זַיִת זָךְ כָּתִית--לַמָּאוֹר: לְהַעֲלת נֵר, תָּמִיד.”

“You shall command the B'nei Yisrael and have them bring you clear olive oil, [made from olives that were] crushed for lighting, to keep the lamp burning constantly.” (Sefer Shemos, 27:20)

The commentaries question the first words of the Parsha, “V’atah Titzaveh/and YOU shall command…” It almost seems as if G-d wants the message to be sent through Moshe in a way that the Jews will believe that the command came from Moshe himself, and not Hashem. We can contrast this with so many other instances where Hashem wants a message relayed to the Jewish people, where it will simply say “Speak to the Jewish people, saying…”; clearly our verse is different.

Rav Yekusiel Yehuda Teitelbaum, from the Satmar dynasty, answers our question in light of that which the verse (Bamidbar 12:3) calls Moshe, “Anav m’od mikol adam/the most humblest of all people.” One may think that 100% avnivus/humility is the way to approach life, but R’ Teitelbaum says that we can see from this that it isn’t the case. How so? The verse immediately preceding that which we read on Purim morning says:

“וַיִּקְרָא שֵׁם הַמָּקוֹם, מַסָּה וּמְרִיבָה: עַל-רִיב בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְעַל נַסּתָם אֶת-יְהוָה לֵאמר, הֲיֵשׁ יְהוָה בְּקִרְבֵּנוּ, אִם-אָיִן.”
“And the name of the place was called Massah, and Meribah, because of the striving of the children of Israel, and because they tried the LORD, saying: 'Is the LORD among us, or not?”

R’ Teitelbaum says that it certainly wasn’t the case that the Jews were really questioning whether or not Hashem was in their midst. Rather, they wanted to know if they needed to serve Hashem with the attribute of “Yeish” (a feeling of importance/slight Gaivah); or rather, with the attribute of “ein” (nothingness, anivus). It seems from the verses that they choose to serve Hashem while viewing themselves as “nothingness”, which, as the Pesukim continue, lead to Amalek’s attack upon us. It says by the attack of Amalek happened in “Refidim”, which can be explained that they were “Rifu Yidaheim m’haTorah/their hands forgot the Torah. Because they had viewed themselves as total “nothingness”, they subsequently were unable to see the importance in anything that they did – including Torah.

It follows from this that total humility, it seems, is what lead to Amalek’s attack on us. And this is why the Pasuk at the beginning of our Parsha emphasizes that the order is to seem as if it came from Moshe, saying that even though he is the most humble of people, he shouldn’t just view himself as a puppet; rather as an individual that has something to offer; a person that should serve Hashem with the attribute of “Yeish” and not with the attribute of “Ein”.

Finally, the Ozhrover Rebbe says that the word “Tishkach” should be split into two words, “Tash Koach”/I have no power.” The idea of Purim and Amalek is “Lo Tishkach”; don’t think that you have no power or that you are a nothing. If, however, we are Tash Koach, we are living our lives in a way that Amalek wants us to; not in a way that Hashem wants us to.

Leaving Early

2007-03-01T07:43:00.000-05:00

Watching a basketball game, whether it be college or NBA, one is likely to hear the commentators giving their two-cents as to whether or not players should leave college early or skip college entirely in order to play in the NBA. The reason you'll most commonly hear given is that players need to gain maturity in college. Presumably, those coming right from high school are less capable of jumping into a multi-million dollar lifestyle; after all, they've probably lived with their parents through their high school years. The NBA thought so much of this that starting this year, they instituted a rule, essentially requiring players to go to college for at least one year. If this rule weren't in place, it is clear that both Greg Oden and Kevin Durant would be in the NBA.

However, if that's the case, why don't you hear about high school baseball players making the immediate jump to the professional ranks. In last year's draft, 14 of the 30 players selected in the first round came straight from high school, compared with only 3 of 30 selected in the 2005 NBA draft draft (the last draft where players could come directly from high school). If students coming out of high school need to gain maturity before playing professional sports, why no huge uproar about high school baseball players?

Therefore, I think there's another reason why people are so concerned specifically with basketball (although I do think that one gains maturity in college). I think the cause for concern regards what happens to a basketball player vs. a baseball player when their talent doesn't translate to success at the next level.

First, in baseball, even after you get drafted you have the opportunity to assess if your draft position, potential signing bonus, etc., are worth making the jump to the game. If one feels these factors are not in his favor and thinks that a/another year of college ball would improve his game, he can choose not to sign and return to college. However, in the NBA game, once one makes the final decision to go through and test the draft waters, he loses all NCAA eligibility. Thus, if he received bad information about his draft status from outside sources (which apparently happens frequently) and didn't get drafted, he can no longer go back to college to play ball.

Lets, for comparison's sake, say that a baseball player did actually sign out of high school, and his talent didn't pan out. When you compare this type of person with someone whose basketball talent didn't pan out, I think the baseball player has a better chance of "making it" in life. It's no secret that basketball is largely an urban game and a good percentage of players come from inner-city neighbors. These are the same inner-city neighborhoods that are more likely to have sub-par schooling districts. These are the same inner-city neighborhoods that likely have drug and gang sub-cultures. A combination of all of these factors, as a general rule, probably leaves the bust-for-an-NBA-player less than qualified for admission into a college, sans basketball talent. Since his eligibility is gone due to going through with the NBA draft, he can no longer use his basketball talent to help him gain admission to a college or university. This person, IMHO, has a decent chance of ending up in the drug or street sub-culture.

Contrast this with the bust-for-a-professional baseball player. Baseball, while also played in urban settings, is definitely more of a suburban sport. Besides the fact that suburbia is better equipped real estate-wise to have baseball fields, baseball is a more expensive sport to play. Cleats, bats, balls and gloves all cost a pretty penny. Those living in an inner-city environment may have less resources to put their child out the diamond. Contrast this with basketball which can be played at a high level in street clothes and a basketball. Overall, I believe that the average baseball player's family has a higher income than that of an inner-city basketball player. Additionally, the places where these people live probably has more funding for better schooling and is less likely to have drug or gang sub-cultures. So, when the baseball player's talent doesn't pan out, he's more likely to be qualified for admission into a college or university.

This, I believe, is the reason that you don't hear about any problem with high schoolers jumping right into the MLB draft; If the sole reason were maturity, you would.

How Cute....

2007-02-25T18:40:00.001-05:00

Parshas Terumah II

2007-02-22T10:04:00.000-05:00

וְעָשׂוּ אֲרוֹן, עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים: אַמָּתַיִם וָחֵצִי אָרְכּוֹ, וְאַמָּה וָחֵצִי רָחְבּוֹ, וְאַמָּה וָחֵצִי, קמָתוֹ.

“And they shall make an ark of acacia-wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.” (Sefer Shemos, 25:10)

The Baal haTurim comments that when you look at the dimensions of the Aron/Ark, none of them are whole numbers; they all have ½ attached to the end of them. With the Aron symbolizing the Torah (as it was used to store the Torah), the Baal haTurim says that we see from the dimensions that anyone that is interested in learning must have humility. Just as the number ½ isn’t a whole number, one who learns must realize that they, themselves, are not whole and that they should be constantly striving towards the goal of being complete.

The Gemara in Megillah (26a) discusses the different territories that each of the 12 tribes inherited. The Gemara says that among the land that was inherited by Binyamin was the area where the Mizbeach/altar stood. However, there was a small strip of land on which a small part of the Mizbeach stood that was actually in the land of Yehuda – so it wasn’t ALL in Binyamin’s territory. Apparently, Binyamin, through Ruach haKodesh, saw that this was to be the case (that he wasn’t going to have 100% of the Mizbeach), and that caused him pain; everyday of his life. This pain was caused by a healthy yearning for shlaimos/wholeness; Binyamin always strived for more spirituality. To make up for this pain, the Gemara notes that Hashem subsequently placed in his territory the “Ushpizchei L’Shchina”, which Rashi says is the Aron.

It makes perfect sense why Hashem gave Binyamin the Aron in light of what we said before. Again, the Baal haTurim teaches us that one should realize that they aren’t yet complete and that they should constantly be striving for more spirituality and this was exactly what was happening with the daily pain of Binyamin by the fact that he didn’t have 100% of the Mizbeach. Again, since Binyamin imbued this attribute of yearning, he received the inheritance of that (the Aron) which symbolizes yearning.

The Vilna Gaon, in a different understanding of the words “Ushpizchan L’Shechina”, leads us to another lesson from this Gemara in Megillah. He says that the term doesn’t refer to the Aron, as Rashi posits, but that Ushpizchan is from the same Lashon as Ushpizin/guests. So what is the reference to guests that the Gaon is referring to? This refers to all of the alternate places where the Mizbeach was held. While the Mizbeach was usually situated in Yerushalayim, there were other times throughout history where the Mizbeach was a “guest” in other parts of Israel (ie, Nov, Givon, Shiloh). Hashem’s gift to Binyamin for his yearning for all of the Mizbeach was the gift of all of the lands where the Mizbeach would be a “guest”, as hinted to in the words “Ushpizchan L’Shechina.”

The lesson to glean from this is that Yiddishkeit isn’t who were just when we’re playing on our “home court.” There are situations in life that may come about that may be less than ideal for our Yiddishkeit. Work, school, etc, all pose challenges for our Yiddishkeit. Anyone can be Jewish when they’re in Shul on Shabbos morning. The greater challenge is to be a Yid when you’re playing an away game – whether that be at work, school, or whatever - when our Yiddishkeit may seem like a "guest."

Parshas Terumah / Adar

2007-02-21T14:04:00.000-05:00

וְעָשׂוּ אֲרוֹן, עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים: אַמָּתַיִם וָחֵצִי אָרְכּוֹ, וְאַמָּה וָחֵצִי רָחְבּוֹ, וְאַמָּה וָחֵצִי, קמָתוֹ.

"And they shall make an ark of acacia-wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof." (Sefer Shemos, 25:10)

We know that the aron/ark was made of a combination of gold and wood. However, when the Torah refers to the ark, it simply calls it the “Aron atzei shitim/acacia wood ark”. Not calling it the “gold and acacia wood ark” implies that there is some special importance to the wood, more so than that of the gold.

When discussing the concept of joy as it relates to Mishenichnas Adar Marbim B’Simcha/increasing joy in the month of Adar, R’ Shimshon Pinkus notes that the basis of most simcha is the concept of “Hischadshus/renewal.” We, as humans, like things that are new. If one was to ask me for a D’var Torah and I responded to him, “B’reishis bara Elokim…”, the person probably would be flabbergasted that I gave him such a simple vort. What did that person want? He probably wanted something new; a piece of Torah that he had never heard before. This, explains R’ Pinkus, is why little children enjoy seeing a fire truck so much; it’s something they don’t get to see everyday.

One need not look any further than the story of Purim to realize that this concept of Hischadshus/renewal is tied in to this holiday. The Jews during this time weren’t exactly the best-behaved. R’ Pinkus says that the decree of death upon the Jews by Haman was imposed by G-d in response to the Jews getting pleasure from the feast thrown by Achashveirosh. Being that they got joy from a party that was thrown by such an evil person, Hashem decreed that the Jews no longer had any merit to live. However, since they changed their ways, the decree was annulled. R’ Pinkus explains that this “new” nation of Israel was a completely new and separate entity than was the nation that had sinned so grievously. This is why the verse says “Kaimu v’Kiblu”, in a similar way to that which the Jews said “Naaseh v’Nishma” at Har Sinai – this “new” Jewish people had to reaccept the Torah.

A bracha that many people give a new bride and groom is that everyday of their marriage should be as happy as their wedding day. Marriages are most passionate at the beginning. Learning is most fervent at the beginning of a z’man. However, it’s only natural that over time things, relationships, etc, lose their passion. In order to achieve that which was once there, we must search for a way to bring about Hischadshus/a renewal. When we achieve this renewal, we achieve the joy that is spoken of when we refer to “Mishenichnas Adar Marbim B’Simcha.”

With this, we can understand why the ark was referred to as simply the “acacia wood ark”, as opposed to including gold in its title. If I strip a tree of its bark or of its fruit, as long as its roots are in the ground, the tree will rejuvenate; the tree will renew; the tree will undergo a process of Hischadshus. Thus, while gold may be valuable and beautiful, it is only the wood that symbolizes Hischadshus – that which we should be searching for in Adar.

No Sparkling Wiggles at this Party!

2007-02-19T20:02:00.000-05:00

A Few Whisky Related Things

2007-02-16T10:40:00.000-05:00

1. I have become somewhat friendly with the Nigerian security officer that scans my badge each morning, granting me access to the facilities here at work; we shmooz for a minute or so each day. I asked this morning how he was dealing with the cold weather, to which he told me that he wished he had some “hot wine.” I didn’t really understand what he was talking about, but he repeated his yearning for some more of the “hot wine that [I] gave [him]. It took me a couple of minutes to realize that he was talking about the Speyburn 10 that I got him for the holidays, and that the “hot wine” he was referring to was this scotch whisky. Interestingly, in halacha, liquor is referred to as “Yayin Saraf/burning wine.” Baruch she’Kivanto.

2. Someone had told me that their friend related to them that when they went to a local liquor store to buy a Glenlivet 15 – French Oak, they were told by the Indian owner that they shouldn’t buy it as per his discussions with a rabbi who told him that it wasn’t kosher. Presumably, the Rabbi was under the assumption that the “French Oak” casks that the Glenlivet is finished in previously held French wine. However, upon looking at the label one realizes that the French Limousin casks used to finish the whisky are “new”, meaning they have previously never held any liquid, thus alleviating any issue with non-Kosher wine. L’chaim!

Parshas Mishpatim 5767

2007-02-13T18:57:00.000-05:00

For last year's Dvar, see here: Parshas Mishpatim, 5766.

לא תִהְיֶה מְשַׁכֵּלָה וַעֲקָרָה, בְּאַרְצֶךָ; אֶת-מִסְפַּר יָמֶיךָ, אֲמַלֵּא.

“No woman will suffer miscarriage or remain childless in your land. I will cause the number of your days to be full.” (Sefer Shemos, 23:26)

The simple understanding of the last part of this Pasuk is that G-d will lengthen our lives. However, the Yismach Moshe has a beautiful insight into this Pasuk as well, by way of understanding the last Mishna in all of Shas. This Mishna in Uktzin says: “Says Rebbe Yehoshua ben Levi: in the future, G-d will give every single Tzadik 310 olamos/worlds, as the verse (Mishlei, 8) says: I will give to those that I love [yeish], and I will fill up their storehouses.” The Rabbis learn out that the Tzaddikim will receive 310 specifically, as this is the numerical value of the Hebrew word “Yeish.”

The Yismach Moshe asks a seemingly obvious question on this Mishna. Certainly, some Tzadikim are better than others. Moshe Rabbeinu is worthy of a greater reward than are the Tzadikim of our time. Why is it then that all of the Tzaddikim receive the same reward of the 310 olamos? Answers the Yismach Moshe: while a simple understanding of the verse is that the reward is the 310 olamos, really, that isn’t the reward. Rather, all of the Tzaddikim receive the 310 olamos, which serves only as receptacle for their individual zechuyos/merits (Torah, Maisim Tovim, Chesed, etc.), which will all differ in quality and quality of these/merits. Therefore, the greater Tzadik will, in fact, get a greater reward, as their receptacle (the 310 olamos) will contain a greater amount of reward, which is the quantity and quality of their individual merits. He concludes by saying the receptacle of one who uses every day to its fullest will be filled.

With this, he says we can understand the p’shat in our verse, that Hashem “will cause the number of your days to be full.” While we all wish to live to 120, that isn’t the reward. Rather, each day is only a receptacle for us to use as we see fit. The reward given is the s’char/merit we receive for fully maximizing each individual day. With this framework of maximizing each day to its fullest we can understand many other concepts in Chazal.

The Talmud Yerushalmi that says literally, “Anyone that doesn’t see the rebuilding of the Beis haMikdash in his days, it is like he, himself destroyed it.” Pashut p’shat is that one who dies having not seen the rebuilding of the BM is like he/she destroyed it. But, also, explains the Yismach Moshe, the Beis haMikdash should be built “B’Yamav”; not IN our days, but WITH our days. When we as individuals do everything that we can do to maximize each day, we are effectively building the BM. But, if we fail to do this, it is like we destroyed it ourselves.

Finally, we can understand the simple problem many people see in life – the fact that many wicked people outlive their righteous counterparts – Tzadik v’Ra Lo; Rasha v’Tov Lo”. How could it be that an evil person can live to be 100, yet we see so tragically young, righteous people die well before that? Simply put: while the wicked person may be breathing for 100 years, he doesn’t really LIVE for that long. Living is we maximize each day to the fullest – something the wicked doesn’t do. So, while at first glance it may seem as though certain wicked people outlive the righteous, really this isn’t true. Again, the Rasha, while breathing for 100 years, may only truly live for 5 years. When one is capable each receptacle of a day to the brim, that’s truly living.

Valentines Day

2007-02-13T07:55:00.000-05:00

I won't be celebrating Valentines Day tomorrow. Perhaps it's for the following reason; perhaps it's because I'm cheap.

The calendar has days built into it where we recognize those around us. Mothers Day. Fathers Day. Valentines Day. Heck, there's even National Secretary's Day. While I'm certainly not opposed to recognizing those who mean a lot to us, I think setting aside one day is a B'dieved situation. I think that when we put so much emphasis on one day, it is likely that we under-appreciate these individuals on the other 364 days a year. If we treated our parents like we should during the whole year, we would probably feel less compelled to buy them a nice present. But, heck, when you neglect those who are important to you, buying a nice present is almost mandatory to make up for the lack of attention in the past year.

I would like to think that a religion that values Shalom Bayis and Kibbud Av v'Eim so highly wouldn't need to single out Mothers/Fathers Day or Valentines Day. Interestingly, the secular world, which values these holidays so highly, is the same secular world in which there is an ever-growing divorce rate and a world which is no stranger to familial strife.

Tell your spouse that you love him/her tomorrow. Just do it the day after, and the day after that, and the day after that.

Reminder: Duke is Amalek

2007-02-11T09:48:00.000-05:00

In light of today's Maryland/Duke basketball game, I would remiss if I didn't urge to remember that I hate Duke because they are today's Amalek (see link).

Parshas Yisro II

2007-02-09T14:03:00.000-05:00

There is a concept in Judaism called the "Shaas haKosher." Translated as "an opportune time", it refers to the time that it is optimal for an individual to move on an opportunity in his/her life. In this week's Parsha, Parshas Yisro, there are a couple of examples that help explain this concept.

In the beginning of the Parsha we learn about Yisro's conversion. Rashi tells us that he heard about both the splitting of the sea and the war with Amalek. Inferred from Rashi is that if he would've only heard about the splitting of the sea alone, it wouldn't have been enough. Why specifically did he feel that only after both of these events did he find it to be the "Shaas haKosher" to go ahead and convert? Rav Moshe Wolfson asks the question, saying that he should've been "wowed" enough after the splitting of the sea to convert right then. He answers that had Yisro sent in his conversion application after Krias Yam Suf, it would've been denied. And why would it have been denied? They would've said no because of the Gemara in Yevamos which states that in the times of Moshiach, Dovid, and Shlomo, converts will not/were not accepted. The reason being: things in the time of moshiach, Dovid, and Shlomo were extremely good for the Jews. Therefore, we must suspect that the reason that people want to convert is to be a part of the success and not out of pure intentions. Therefore, Yisro would've been denied as a convert, because who wouldn't have wanted to be part of a group of people who are worthy enough for G-d to split a sea for? Thus, he waited until after the war with Amalek; but why specifically after the war with Amalek? Because, as we all know, Amalek cools off the steaming bath, thus allowing all of the rest of our enemies to be able to jump in to attack us. Only after Yisro saw through the war of Amalek that the Jews could be attacked did he go ahead and want to convert; he proved his intentions were pure. Had Yisro not contemplated his decision and rushed into converstion, he would've been denied. And had he waited and longer, there's a good chance his passion for Yiddishkeit could've worn off. Case in point #1.

We see the second example in the Parsha when the Jews reach Har Sinai and Moshe ascends to get preliminary instructions from Hashem. The Jews arrive, and he immediately goes up. The Ohr haChaim haKadosh comments that Moshe should have waited to have been instructed by Hashem to ascend...it seems a bit chutzpadik that he would go up without being told so. The Ohr haChaim answers that really, Moshe had already received instructions to ascend, albeit it at a much earlier time. He says that at the incident with the Sneh/burning bush, G-d told Moshe that he and the Jews, eventually, were going to serve Hashem on this mountain. So, we fast forward to our parsha when Moshe and the Jews arrive. They come, and having already been instructed to ascend, Moshe goes up. No playing around; he had all of the prerequisites to ascend, the proper place, and prior permission. Case in point #2 of someone acted at the optimal time. Had Moshe waited, he would've left Hashem waiting.

Of course, it's easy to say that we need to act at the proper time...but actually being able to figure out when the proper time is...that's the hard part. It should be in our prayers that we should be able to recognize when the proper time to act on certain opportunities in life are, and we should follow through and act on them.

Parshas Yisro

2007-02-07T14:45:00.000-05:00

אָנכִי יְהוָה אֱלהֶיךָ, אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים

" I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." (Sefer Shemos, 20:2)

There is an interesting discussion in the Gemara Shabbos (120a) about the first word of the 10 commandments, “Anochi.” The Gemara there discusses different possibilities for the proper way to render the Roshei Tavos (Alept Nun Chuf Yud) of Anochi. The first opinion states that it should be rendered, “Amira Neimah Kisvis Yehavis/A Beautiful Saying was Written and Given (the Torah)”. The final opinion, however is that the Roshei Tavos should be read in reverse, rendering them, “Yehavei, Ksivi, Neemarim Anochi/(it was) Given, Written, Trusted words.”

The Meshech Chochmah says that to understand this argument, one must understand a dispute in a Gemara in Gittin (60a). The gemara there, in the context of another dispute, brings different opinions about how the Torah was transmitted to Moshe. While we certainly believe that Moshe received the Torah at Har Sinai, we also believe that the transmission continued during the 40 years in the desert; exactly when the Torah was written down is the subject of the dispute. One opinion states that as Hashem gave a Parsha to Moshe, he immediately wrote it down and then told it to the people – and so it went with the entire Torah. According to this opinion, he had a stack of individual parshiyos which he then sewed together into a sefer Torah. The other opinion, however says that Moshe didn’t write anything down until after all 40 years.

The Meshech Chochmah fits these two disputes together, saying that how you hold in the first dispute (how to render the Roshei Tavos) is dependent upon how you hold on the second dispute. The opinion that says that Moshe wrote down the Torah as he went along fits in with the opinion of “Amirah Neimah Kisvis Yehavis, explaining that a “nice saying”/a parsha was given to Moshe which he then wrote, and it was given over to the Jewish people. But, the opinion which states that the Torah was written only at the end of 40 years fits in well with the opinion that we read Roshei Tavos “Anochi” backwards (Yehavei Ksiva Neemanim Amarei), saying that Yehavei, G-d gave the whole Torah first, Ksiva, it was then written, and lest we think that some of the Torah was forgotten in the 40 years until it was written it says Neemanim Amarei, they are trusted words.

Tosfos, however, asks a question on the opinion that Moshe didn’t write the Torah until the end of the 40 year desert-stint. He says that if you look in the Torah and Rashi, a “Sefer baBris” is referred to, with Rashi saying that it was a Torah consisting of the Torah from Bereishis until that point in time. So, we see, says Tosfos, that it must be that it was written down as each Parsha was taught. See Tosfos (Gittin, 60a) as to why it is stated that it wasn’t written down at the end of 40 years, and what the essence of the dispute really is.

Anyway, according to Tosfos, all sides agree that in the desert, G-d will tell Moshe a portion which he would then write, and only then transmit the message to the people. I think that this method of “little by little” is a valuable lesson not only in one’s approach to Torah/Mitzvos, but to life in general. When one wants to take more mitzvos upon him/herself, this approach is the best way for each mitzvah to stick with them forever. Similarly, it may be frustrating to some to wait X number of years until they can work their way up the food chain at work. Trying to bypass the natural course of nature, in this case, won’t lead to anything good. If a person takes whatever task they are working on day by day, they’ll see great rewards as time goes on.

Bush = Satan?

2007-02-05T08:27:00.000-05:00

Wow, people must really hate you if they think you're 25X worst than SATAN!

Parshas Beshalach II

2007-02-02T07:56:00.000-05:00

וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת-הַיָּד הַגְּדֹלָה, אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְהוָה בְּמִצְרַיִם, וַיִּירְאוּ הָעָם, אֶת-יְהוָה; וַיַּאֲמִינוּ, בַּיהוָה, וּבְמֹשֶׁה, עַבְדּוֹ.

"And Israel saw the great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the LORD; and they believed in the LORD, and in His servant Moses."

As discussed before, the verse tells us that the Jews were overcome with Emunah towards Hashem and his servant Moshe. But, think about it: the freaking sea was splitting - how could they NOT have believed in G-d? When we think of Emunah/faith, we think of believing in something that we can't see (ie Hashem); not believing in something that is smack in front of your face. So why tell us that they believed in Hashem?

Rashi, on the following verse, tells us that this is a Torah reference to Techias haMasim/resurrection of the dead. While that comment seemingly has no relevance to our ques ton above, the Meor v'shemesh pieces the two together. He says that the Emunah the Jews had at Krias Yam Suf was an Emunah of Techias haMasim; something which can't be seen. While it answers our question, the connection between Krias Yam Suf and Techias haMasim is one that must be explored further.

R' Yaakov Emden in his Siddur, Beis Yaakov, points out there are 6 references in the second bracha of Shemonah Esrai to Techias haMasim. He explains why each one is there and goes on to quote a Gemara in Nedarim which classifies 4 types of people as being "dead": a poor person, a Metzora, a blind person, and a person without children. 4/6 references in Shemonah Esrai refer to Hashem bringing these people back to life; the 5th is one who is sleeping, as we believe that a person's soul is taken from him/her each night (the Aishel Avraham replaces this with a Rasha/wicked person in his count); and the 6th is for the literal resurrection of the dead (Lishaynay Afar). Looking at these different types of people that are classified as dead, the general theme is that these are people whose Koach as a person isn't fully being realized. A blind person has eyes, but can't see; a poor person has a life, but is unable to support himself; a person without children may have a great life for himself, but isn't passing that on to the next generation. No doubt, a person who finds himself in any of these circumstances (except maybe sleep) could be overcome with depression. Nevertheless, we believe in Techias haMasim, not only for the literal dead, but also for those who are considered dead, as well.

The Jews, at this part of the Parsha, find themselves with a sea in front of them, and an approaching army from behind. We tend to overlook this, as just a few pesukim later we find the Jews walking through the sea on dry land. Nevertheless, there must've been a few tense moments where the Jews literally thought this was the end - who could've blamed them for such thoughts? THAT is that connection between Krias Yam Suf and Techias haMasim - that the Jews now had Emunah that G-d take take the most downtrodden of people and lift them up.

The Mishna in Sotah says that Techias haMasim is going to come about through Eliyahu haNavi. Why specifically Eliyahu haNavi? R' Yosef Engel says that it will be specifically through him because he is the first person who brings someone back from the dead (his student Elisha). Because he is the Shoresh of Techias haMasim, the final Techias haMasim will come through him. R' Baruch Simon concludes with a final, beautiful point. Frequently, when the Gemara can't come to a conclusion, it will state the famous word "Teiku", teling us that we don't know what the answer is. We have all been taught that Teiku is Roshei Taivos "Tishbi (referring to Eliyahu haNavi) Yitareitz Kushos u'Bayos/Tishbi will answer our questions." Why is Eliyahu going to be the one who answers these questions? Teiku, in the Gemara, arises when we are stuck, we don't know which way to turn. The same Eliyahu, who is going to be Mechayeh haMasim (which, remember, isn't only literal; it also means bringing us up when we are down), is the same person who is going to resolve our questions.

Often in life we may feel down, depressed, or stuck. We're not the learners we once were in Yeshiva. We've lost friends with people that mean a lot to us. We're caught up in the day to day rigors of life and may neglect other responsibilities. Life throws us many a'opportunity to make ourselves depressed. It is for this that we have 6 mentions of Techias haMasim in the 2nd bracha of Shemonah Esrai; not only should Hashem bring a Techias haMasim mamish, but he should also be Mechayeh Masim to each of us on an individual level.

Parshas Beshalach

2007-01-31T12:55:00.000-05:00

וַיּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-משֶׁה, מַה-תִּצְעַק אֵלָי; דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְיִסָּעוּ

"Ad-noy said to Moshe, "Why do you cry to Me? Speak to the B'nei Yisrael and let them move on." (Sefer Shemos, 14:15)

G-d questions as to why the Jewish people are praying. He tells them that now is not the time for prayer; now is the time for action. However, was it really so far-fetched that the Jews were praying to G-d in such a time of need? I mean, the sea was in front of them, and the Egyptians were approaching from behind. I think it would only be natural that the Jewish people would want to call out to their G-d for their help. But, G-d says no; now is not the time.

The Or haChaim haKadosh asks this fundamental question, and has a very beautiful answer. He says that yes, it’s true that Jews should call out to Hashem in time of need. That being said, Hashem is only able to help us out if we have merited to receive such help. Hashem, who we know is a true G-d, wants to avoid prosecution from the Satan. If Hashem were to just blindly help everyone that asked him for anything, the Satan would come and argue that a) the person isn’t deserving of such help and b)Hashem is not a true G-d. Therefore, through our actions, we must earn enough brownie points in order for our prayers to work. This is what G-d is telling Moshe when he says “Ma Tizak Alai?”; he is saying that the Jewish people, as they are now, have no merit to render Hashem’s help. He is therefore suggesting that the Jewish people go out and do actions that will give them enough merit for their prayers to be answered. Basically, if we want G-d to do his part, we have to do our part.

I find it interesting that the most irreligious, even atheist, come running to G-d when a loved one is sick. This is so even though they probably haven’t done the first thing to merit their prayers to be answered. Prayer is the building that must be supported by a foundation of zechuyos/merits. Without the foundation, our prayers that we want to reach the heavens, will more than likely come crashing to the ground.

Again, if we want G-d to do his part, we have to do ours. This, says the Kedushas Levi (in the name of the Besht) is p’shat with the verse that tells us that, “G-d is your shade. (Tehillim 121:5)” What does it mean that he is shade for us? Answers the KL; shade follows us wherever we go. We can’t expect our shade to go one way unless we are moving that way as well. If he want G-d to “move his hand” and help us out, we must move in the same direction.

The Kedushas Levi goes on to explain that which it says “Vayaaminu Bashem uv’Moshe Avdo/they believed in Hashem and Moses his Servent.” This verse which was said over at the splitting of the Red Sea; how could the Jews have NOT believed in Hashem and Moses? The KL goes on to explain that this wasn’t said after the splitting, this was said beforehand. This wasn’t their reaction to the splitting of the sea; rather, it was a prerequisite for the split. Emunah/faith and zechuyos aren’t something that we can promise to develop after G-d helps us out, but rather, they have to be in place beforehand, in order for our prayers to be heeded.

Artscroll Stone Chumash

2007-01-30T14:13:00.000-05:00

I used to go through the parsha using the Artscroll Rashi - an aliyah a day. After I get married and things got busy I stopped, but I recently have become much more interested in the Parsha than ever, so I told myself I have to start running through the Parsha again. Anyway, I started going through it with the Artscroll Stone Chumash, and I don't think it can be stated enough what an excellent publication it is. While you won't know every single Rashi, you'll know all of the famous ones; all of the famous machlokeses Rashi/Ramban. You'll get words of wisdom from everyone from the Chofetz Chaim to the Ohr haChaim haKadosh. Some of their stuff (bios) are silly; but they were right on with this one.

Oh, and no, I didn't get paid to write this.

But, see Mississippi Fred's commentary on the Stone.

Van Gogh Vodka's Getting Hashgacha

2007-01-26T11:08:00.000-05:00

Admittedly, I'm not that big of a vodka drinker, but I have tried a few of the Van Gogh Vodkas, and they are excellent. I've been drinking them for a while, after doing research and finding out that all of their flavorings are 100% natural. The Espresso flavored vodka really tastes like ice coffee.

Anyway, I purchased their Dutch Chocolate flavor recently, and it later dawned on me that I should check to see if any milk chocolate is used as flavoring, which would potentially make the drink milchig. I left a message on the president's voicemail, and he called and left a message on my voicemail telling me that not only are there no dairy products used as flavoring, but they are also in the process of getting hashgacha on all of their products from the Amsterdam Rabinnate. So, if you don't trust my research that all of the flavorings are 100% natural, then you'll be interested to know that they should be under hashgacha soon enough. It shouldn't be too long, as they said that the paperwork is almost complete...

I Hate Duke

2007-01-26T10:58:00.000-05:00

They are Amalek. I hate them.

Love,

AlanLaz

The referees decided that it only took .6 seconds for a Clemson player to catch, shoot, and make a 3-pointer. Thus, they had 4.4 seconds to work with. They should've had 2.8 - not enough time for them to make the game winning shot that they did.

Looking to get WASTED?

2007-01-24T05:24:00.000-05:00

No work tomorrow? Looking for a fun drinking game? Go watch the president's State of the Union address. Where does the drinking come in, you ask?

Looks like some funny guys put a game together where you'd have to take a shot everytime GWB says "nukular", two shots for every "evildoer" spewed, and one shot of scotch, aged 16 years for every "Mark Foley" reference.

Some of this stuff is incredibly funny. Check it out. I'd be surprised if anyone actually played this game and didn't have to get their stomach pumped.

Parshas Bo

2007-01-22T17:32:00.000-05:00

וּבְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל עָשׂוּ, כִּדְבַר מֹשֶׁה; וַיִּשְׁאֲלוּ, מִמִּצְרַיִם, כְּלֵי-כֶסֶף וּכְלֵי זָהָב, וּשְׂמָלֹת.

“The B'nei Yisrael did as Moshe said, and they requested of the Egyptians silver articles and gold articles and clothing.” (Shemos, 12:35)

Rashi: “For he had told them in Egypt, "Each man shall borrow from his neighbor."

The Gra in his “Kol Eliyahu” wants to understand what exactly Rashi is telling us here. According to the Gra, it is pashut that this is what “..as Moshe said” means; it could only be referring to that which the Torah says earlier (Shemos, 11:2), “Each man shall borrow from his friend.”

The Gemara in Bava Kama (36b) states that in a case where an ox owned by a Jew injures an ox owned by an Egyptian, the Jewish owner doesn’t have to pay the Egyptian anything. This is learned out from the verse later in Shemos (21:35) which states, “If a man's ox injures his neighbor's ox and it dies…”. The Gemara comes to exclude Mitzrim from this rule, being as the pasuk specifically says “neighbor” – seemingly, we don’t consider Egyptians our “neighbors”. This however is a huge contradiction to Rashi’s note, who says that when the Jews took the gold and silver from the Egyptians, they were doing as Moshe said; to “borrow from his neighbor.” Furthermore, asks the Gra: why did they need to ask for these gold and silver items from the Egyptians? You’d think that after all the Jews had been through at the hands of the Mitzrim, they wouldn’t have asked for their possessions.

The Gra answers that the Jews were only able to act in such a manner because they were accustomed to acting this way with one another. The Tana D’Bei Eliyahu notes that when the Jews were in Egypt they sat together and make a covenant that they should constantly do Gemilas Chasadim/acts of kindness with one another. Since they were used to acting this way with one another, it was only natural that they acted this way with the Mitzim upon their exit. True, they didn’t have to ask to take anything, but it was so engrained in their nature, that that’s what they did. Furthermore, while they technically weren’t considered our “neighbors”, as we saw from the Gemara in Bava Kama, the way the Jews acted towards the Mitzrim in this manner made it appear as if they were.

The lesson to take out from this is that when you become accustomed to acting in a certain manner, either bad or good, this behavior becomes engrained in who you are and will lead to similar actions in other situations. Even though the Jews suffered so much under the Egyptians, because they were accustomed to acting kindly with one another beforehand, it was inevitable that this was the way they would act upon their exit. I hear a lot from people, “I don’t know how you (non-specific) find time for learning; for minyan, etc. The answer is obvious to those who engaged in these activities– if that’s just what you do, then you continue to do it. Sure, you’re going to have trouble getting up for minyan, davening, whatever, if that’s not a regular action for you. But if you work hard to make that, or any other action/trait, engrained in you, it has to be a constant thing.

Need a Good Doctor?

2007-01-21T16:15:00.001-05:00

Parshas Vaera

2007-01-18T22:27:00.000-05:00

The end of the first perek (6) of this Parsha goes through and details the lineage of Reuvein, Shimon, Levi, etc. However, only regarding the tribe of Levi does the Torah give the introductory words, “And these are the names of…” – why the special introduction only for Levi?

The Shelah haKadosh offers up an explanation, saying that Shevet Levi was not enslaved like the rest of the Jewish people in Egypt. That being said, they didn’t want it to seem as if they were better than the rest of the Jews, so Levi gave his descendents names that had meanings having to do with the Galus (ie, Gershon – “Garim heim b’eretz..”; Marari – “Vayimraru es Chayeihem”). This is why the Torah specifies, “These are the names”, telling us that the specific names to follow are names that have to do with the Galus, showing us that Shevet Levi wanted to be mishtateif in Galus Mitzrayim.

It would’ve been very easy for Shevet Levi to see the cruel daily lives of those enslaved in Egypt, and have been thankful for not being a part of it at all. But they chose to share in the pain of their brothers and go so far as to name their children names which will serve as a constant reminder as to the plight of the Jews in Egypt. On a more individual level, it’s very easy for us to look at people we know who are not as fortunate as us and say, “nebuch”, but the better thing to do is to act like Levi and actively be a part of their trouble; to “feel their pain”, if you may.

We see this attribute of Levi again in our Parsha, where R’ Yonasan Eipshitz, in his Tiferes Yonasan, says that the reason that Pharaoh didn’t enslave the tribe of Levi was because he saw that the one who was going to redeem them from Egypt (Moshe) was to come from Levi, and he thought that only those who were enslaved could redeem the Jews. While this is true, the Tiferes Yonasan says that when one has the above attribute, and truly feels the pain of another person, it is like they are in that situation themselves. Because of this, even though Levi wasn’t enslaved themselves, because they “felt the pain” of their bretheren, Moshe was able to redeem the Jews despite his lineage.