Noach

After two long years, the last of the surviving hostages have been returned to their families, much to everybody's surprise and relief.  Not only is it a relief to their families, but it's a relief to the entire nation.  For two years, everywhere you went, you saw the faces of those who were kidnapped and killed.  Only in Israel were such posters not torn down.

However, as we all know, this will come with a large price, and despite what the Trump and the world says, the war is certainly far from over.  Hamas is getting what it wants, control of (their half) of Gaza, and those who have openly supported them, like Qatar and Turkey, are the ones who we are been forced to trust.

Add to that, we have internal issues that need to be solved, and will not be, because why compromise?

Add to that, we have our current government, whose ministers have no clue on how to "be smart, not right".

Add to that, continuously growing, global anti-semitism from both the left and the right, which does not seem to be going down.

Well… I think we still have what to daven for, no?

However, there are some bright lights.  The other day, I received a clip from a television program, some talk show, where several secular Israelis were discussing the newest teenage 'fad', even in places like Tel Aviv.  It's called "Keeping Shabbos".  No joke!  I have no idea how big this 'fad' is, but it's enough that the news is reporting on it.  And teenagers, nonetheless.

What was most touching were the interviews with the returning hostages and their personal growth while they were being held hostage.  Some came from religious homes and left, some were secular their whole life.  One said that while he was being held hostage, he learned FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE, the story of Yosef and his brothers… FROM HAMAS!

We are certainly not living in normal times.

For this week's dvar Torah, I will simply forward on what I received that recapped some of the stories that came out over Sukkos, shortly after they were released.

*It’s Not Only the Hostages — It’s Us Too*

by Sivan Rahav-Meir

A few days have gone by since the return of the last living hostages from Gaza. How many of the following stories have you heard about them? And how many others did I miss, stories that didn’t make it onto this list?

• *Eitan Horn* of Kibbutz Nir Oz, who returned from captivity, shared that it was specifically in Gaza that he fasted on Yom Kippur. He is 37 years old, and there — for the first time in his life — he observed the holy day properly.

• *Segev Kalfon* recounted that when he saw all the Hamas men on stage in Gaza, all he wanted was to climb onto the stage and shout: “Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad.” Now he is home, able to say Shema Yisrael freely, with everyone around him.

• *Bar Kuperstein* said that the song that strengthened him most, and that he sang to himself over and over again, were: “Ve’afilu behastara shebetoch hahastara, bevadai gam sham nimtza Hashem Yitbarach,” Even in the darkest places, when you don’t feel God, when it seems He is hiding, He is still there, present with you. Rebbe Nachman of Breslov wrote those words 200 years ago. They took on new meaning in the Hamas tunnels.

• *Rom Braslavsky* shared that the terrorists offered to convert him to Islam, promising him more food and better conditions if he agreed. But he kept telling them, over and over: “I am a strong Jew!” Now, facing the cameras, he said: “I want people to understand that they are Jews, that they should do more mitzvot. Hamas did this to me only because I am a Jew. A Jew must know that he comes from greatness, that he’s not like everyone else.”

• *Eliya Cohen*, who returned from captivity several months ago, told how much he missed his tefillin. While held hostage by Hamas, he invented something both creative and moving: “Every morning I would go to one side of the room and imagine putting on my tefillin. I would go through the whole process, step by step, in my imagination. Sometimes, I could actually feel the tefillin on me.”

• *Omer Shem Tov* said this week how much he misses the connection he felt with God while he was in captivity, the closeness, the sense that he was speaking and that God was with him, listening. He described trying to rediscover that elevated feeling.

All of these remarkable stories are, of course, about them — but in truth, *they are about us as well.* They reveal the depth of the Jewish soul, the power of faith, and the holiness of Jewish identity.

The entire Jewish world has just begun reading the Torah again from Bereishit— back to the very beginning. We are all part of this story, and each of us can reflect, reach their own conclusions, and choose a small step forward.

*Because it’s not only them. It’s us. They remind us who we really are.*

Very interesting times.  Very interesting things happening.

It's great to be here.

As an immature boy, I'm enjoying the excitement.  We had our first air raid siren last week that sent us to the shelters, which turned out to be a false alarm (officially).  We had our first Iron Dome intercept.  One of the new F-35s practically buzzed my home (in honour of Shabbos).  We have, from what I understand, an army field hospital set up in our town.  The entrance of our town is full of APCs.  And they've evacuated all civilians within 5 km of the northern border, since every day is bringing more exchange of fire.

As a father of a family, however, you are forced to think: what do we need, how much do we need, what happens if this happens, what happens if that happens.  And while we are relatively quiet compared to the south, we know if things open up, it could be really, really bad.

However, on the brighter side of things, the country is full of chesed right now.  Somebody put a call out four hours before Shabbos, that he needs help making chullent for 200 soldiers, and within 3 minutes, he thanked everybody for volunteering.  Another call went out to help with several hundred meals.  Two minutes later, a call went out thanking one of the kosher restaurants.  These are only small examples, coming from only our area.

What's really interesting is that for whatever reason, many in the frum community have been helping make tzitzis for soldiers, as mentioned last week.  And I've noticed from the photos/videos coming from the front, there are many non-religious soldiers actually wearing them.

The air is … thick.  Everybody is waiting for the ground offensive to begin.  Not only worrying about those who are actually going in, but also how Hezbollah and the world will react.

The only way to lower the flames of such a fear is to remind ourselves, that EVERYTHING is from Hashem.  Our politicians, our generals, and our enemies are mere pawns in some larger scheme.  We can talk and talk about who will do what, but it's all a waste of time and nothing but hot air.  In the end, only what HE wants will occur.

Yet, there is some hope.  While Netanyahu, Biden, Hamas, or Hezbollah cannot tell Hashem what to do, WE have some power, to … perhaps … make Hashem reconsider some plans.  Whatever merits we create, can arouse mercy for the nation.

I received a copy of a small talk that Rav Barcley from Neve Yaakov gave last week.

The Oruch L'Ner writes [a now famous saying] that any year which Rosh Hashana falls out on Shabbos, will be a very bad year or a very good year.

Why is that?  As we know, we have two days of Rosh Hashanah.  The first day is Rosh Hashanah according to the Torah.  The second day was rabbinically instituted for reasons beyond the scope of this dvar Torah.

According to the Torah, we have a mitzvah to blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah.  However, the Sanhedrin made an enactment that if Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos, we do NOT blow. Why? Because we fear that people might come to carry the shofar on Shabbos in places that they are not allowed to carry.  So, because of Shabbos, we don’t have shofar (on the Torah's Rosh Hashanah).

So, how does that affect the year? When we blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, we arouse ourselves to teshuvah and we arouse Hashem's mercy.  He moves from His "throne of judgement" to His "throne of Mercy," if you will.  And when we lack the shofar, we lack the mercy.

However, writes the Oruch L'Ner, on such years, we have another possible layer of protection.  Just as Shabbos canceled the shofar, Shabbos can protect us in its place; as the Ibn Ezra writes "when I keep the Shabbos, Hashem watches over me."  Incidentally, there were one or two kibbutzim that were fully-religious kibbutzim that the terrorists tried to break into, but were unsuccessful.  There are security videos that were released showing them attempting and eventually giving up.

This is why Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein in Bnei Brak suggested that everybody learn two laws of Shabbos every day, to serve as a special protection, which we are lacking this year.

He also noted that the Chasam Sofer writes that every year Hashem decrees a certain amount of war in the world.  There's a quota that needs to be filled.  The Chasam Sofer explains that there are two types of war: the war of Torah and physical war.  The more "war of Torah" that is fought, the more the quota is being filled, and the less amount of physical war is needed.

Of course, we are not prophets and we have no idea what exactly we can do or what exactly we are supposed to do.  However, we do know that we need to do something to serve as a protection to the Jewish nation.  And every little thing helps.  Perhaps those who do not keep Shabbos, could at least light Shabbos candles and keep Shabbos for 15 minutes.  Perhaps those who do keep Shabbos, can take Rav Zilberstein's advice, and learn a little more about Shabbos every day.  Perhaps we can increase our "war of Torah" a little bit, either in quantity or quality.  Each person knows where they can improve.  And hopefully, with these merits, we can turn this very bad year into a very good one.

May we all have a wonderful and quiet Shabbos.  

I feel bad for my oldest son.

For the last half of sixth grade and the beginning/most of seventh grade, he barely had learning in school due to Corona.  In eighth grade, the afternoon teacher was horrific and he missed out a lot of learning in the afternoon.  Now we received an email from the yeshiva that the new semester, which began yesterday, will not begin on time, due to heavy debts.  The head of the yeshiva is running around like crazy trying to collect the money to reopen, and many of the parents are doing their best to collect additional funds as well.  It's nice to see so many letters that parents are writing praising the yeshiva and the Rosh Yeshiva, trying to do their best to secure the needed money.  It shows that the parents recognize the greatness that this particular yeshiva has.

In the meantime, he's spending the mornings with me in the kollel, learning the laws of Chanukah in depth, and will be helping in the newest round national elections in the afternoons (for the next few days at least).  At first, I was a bit hesitant about learning with him, to be honest.  I'm used to learning on my own.  But he told me that he did not want to learn with his friends from the yeshiva, since he was worried that they would not be able to actually sit and learn together.  So, how can I turn that down?  Thankfully, in the end, he's a pretty good learning partner.

If anybody has any extra tzedakah money that they would like to give to a very worthy cause (like putting 70 teenage boys back into learning full-time in a place that is geared for them), I'll be more than happy to accept it via PayPal and I will immediately forward it to the yeshiva.

The pasuk states, "And Noach found grace in the eyes of Hashem" (Bereishis 6:8).

The Ohr HaChaim explains that Noach was also condemned to die in the flood, however, he found grace in Hashem's eyes, explaining "there are certain mitzvos that can produce this grace."  While the Ohr HaChaim does not specify which mitzvos these are, Rav Yaakov Meir Shechter writes that one can see a hint by the Ohr HaChaim's concluding words: "Even Noach's name reflects this grace, for the letters Noach (nun-chet) are the same letters (but reversed) for the word "chen," grace.  And the Zohar Chadash says that Noach was gentle (chen) in his mannerisms, his thoughts and his speech.

From here, says Rav Shechter we see that proper mannerisms, in thought, speech, and action, can reverse harsh decrees, and save a person's life and those of his family.

With that, I wish you all a wonderful Shabbos!

Next week I will not be around.  Thankfully, we're making our first bar mitzvah, which is taking some energy to plan.

Being one of the few families in the community without any family in the country, we're trying to plan things out so my kids shouldn't feel any different.  So, two families that we're close with and have the honorary title of "cousins" will be coming up north for Shabbos.  I think we'll have 22 people or so.  It should be exciting.  I plan to be slightly drunk the whole time to survive.

What's nice is that on Shabbos morning, my son will be finishing one Gemara (Beitzah) which he has been doing with a friend of his with Daf Yomi, and then after Shabbos, he'll make another siyum on Taanis, which he has been doing with another friend.  By the time he's bar mitzvahed, he will have learned an entire section of mishnayos and three tractates in Gemara.  Not bad.  That certainly wasn't the focus in my life when I was his age :)  Different worlds, different lives....

"I will not continue to curse again the ground because of man, since the imagery of man's heart is evil from his youth" (Bereishis 8:21).

From the very beginning, the Torah testifies that Noach was a tzaddik.  In fact, it's clear from the narrative that in his merit, did Hashem make this promise that he will never destroy the world again.  So, the obvious question is: what was different about Noach that before the flood he did not have the merit to save the world, yet only after the flood did he have enough merit that Hashem should make an eternal promise?

Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein explains that the growth Noach experienced while he was in the ark enabled him to grow into a bigger tzaddik than he was before.

Rav Yaakov Meir Schecter, one of the leaders of the Breslov community in Yerushalyim delves much deeper into the issues based on the teachings of Rebbe Nachman.  In short...

Rebbe Akiva commented on the verse "In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening, stay not your hand" (Koheles 11:6), "If you raised up students in your youth, raise up more in your old age".

This is the same Rebbe Akiva, who, after losing 24,000 students, started all over again, in his old age, and raised only five more students, who are responsible for all of the Torah we have today.  Can you imagine starting from scratch after such a devastating loss, and thinking, "Well, at least I have these five students"?  Most people would end their lives in depression.

However, despite the destruction of the world around him Rebbe Akiva continued to do his job, despite the hardships and the bleary outlook.  Because in the end, he knew that his job was to do what he needed to do.  The outcome was not in his hands and never was.  That "G-d's business".

Noach too saw his entire world, literally destroyed in front of his eyes.  In the end, he was stuck in a boat with a few family members, and was responsible for taking care of all of the survivors.  In the end, he did not look around and succumb to depression.  Rather, he built an altar and gave thanks to Hashem for saving him.  He did not worry about how the world was going to grow and survive.  That wasn't his job.  He focused on the task at hand and gave thanks for all the good that was done for him.  With that attitude, he grew in stature, just by simply doing what was expected of him at that time.

There are times in life when people ask themselves, "What am I doing? Where am I going? What will be?"  And all of these questions are legitimate.  However, sometimes, when things are seemingly low, one simply needs to focus on the moment and the job at hand.  It might seem very little with very little payoff, but it's during these "low" times a person can grow to greater heights than he could during the "high times".

Have a wonderful Shabbos!

I recently heard a talk given by the Moshgiach of the yeshiva I went to many moons ago. He noted an interesting phenomenon recorded which occurred in the times of Adam to Noach. We have several cases of “worlds” being destroyed. When Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge, Hashem confronted him. And what was Adam’s response? “She did it!” And when Chava was confronted, she responded with, “The Snake did it!”

When the Kayin killed Hevel and Hashem confronted him he replied, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” denying that he did anything wrong. And then when we was forced to confess, he worried about his punishment.

When Lemech killed two people (Kayin and his son) by accident, and his wives wanted to leave him, what did he do, “Well, if somebody who kills Kayin gets Punishment X, whoever kills me will get punished more!"

What’s going on here? Adam and Chava destroyed an entire world. Kayin killed a person. Lemech killed two. Yet, we don’t see anybody sitting on the floor lamenting their actions. They put the blame on others, they worried about their punishments, but that’s it! Nobody cried over the fact they had failed.

Comes along Noach. The Torah describes Noach as a tzaddik in his generation. Rashi explains that this is a negative description and a positive. Negative being, had he been in the generation of Avraham, he would not have been so great. However, compared to HIS generation, he WAS great. On the positive side, being righteous in his generation was so difficult, had he lived in the generation of Avraham, he would have been even greater.

So, what’s going on here, asks the Moshgiach. Why do we need to know these two ways of understanding Noach’s greatness.

He explained that Noach DID live in difficult times. He was surrounded by decadence and deceit. The world went completely immoral. Was he as great as Avraham? No. The world around him still had an effect on him, but he STILL pushed himself. He gave his 100 percent. Perhaps that wasn’t as much “power” as Avraham’s 75 percent, but still, he did his best. He did not let his circumstances take hold of him. So, while he was not as great as Avraham, he is rewarded as being even greater than Avraham.

From Adam to Noach, nobody wanted to take responsibility for their lives. They were looking at secondary issues (punishment, blame, etc.), but they never focused on themselves failing…themselves!

When a person gives his 100 percent, Hashem credits him accordingly. For example. A person grows up in a completely secular home. Later in life, he becomes religious. He does not become some great tzaddik or talmid chacham. But, every day, he pushes himself to follow Jewish law as much as he can and according to as much as he knows. So, after 120 years, Hashem takes this person and says, “If this person grew up in the most super-duper religious home, with all the backing he needed, and he used the same amount of power…what would he have become? A big tzaddik! A big talmid chacham! So, therefore, I’m going to reward him like THAT!"

Each generation is put in their specific generation for a purpose. Each individual is put into their specific circumstance for their purpose. No matter what each of us has in our way, as an individual, community, or generation, if we put in our 100 percent best, we are not only rewarded for all the trials and tribulations we endured, but we are also rewarded as if we had become something much, much bigger, but we could not only due to things we had no control over.

From here we learn never to despair at our lot in life. Each of us was given our burden. Perhaps we won’t turn out to be huge tzaddikim in this world. But, if we take responsibility over ourselves, we will
be rewarded in the next world as if we were.

Ahh… finally.

One of my favourite Shabbosim of the year.  The first one after we switch the clocks back.  That means I come home earlier from shul, finish the meal earlier, take the family for a Shabbos night walk, and come back and enjoy our collection of “pitshuchim” (sunflower seeds, pistachios, almonds, etc…)

Unfortunately, I need to have a coffee in the middle of the meal to stay awake, but there’s something very relaxing about long Shabbos nights, which I appreciate greatly.

Rashi writes, in this week’s parsha, that Noach was considered to be one of those of ‘lesser faith’, because he believed, yet he did not believe that the flood was going to destroy the world.  Hence, he only went into the Ark at the last minute.

I heard Rav Brevda speak once on Noach quoting a similar Rashi comparing Noach to Avraham.  He said that many like to speak of Noach … not in a disrespectful way… but also not in the most respectful way.  He reminded his audience, that had we lived in his generation, we would be lucky to be considered cockroaches compared to him.

Just something to remember when discussing Noach.

This Rashi, on the surface, can be hard to understand.  After all, Noach spent 120 years building this boat, despite the taunts and abuse of those around him.  Obviously, he believed the when Hashem said He’s going to send a flood, that means He’s going to actually send it.

Rav Pincus explained that, yes, Noach believed Hashem that He was going to flood the world.  Yet, on the other hand, he believed that since Hashem was full of mercy, there would be a last minute reprieve.

Compare this to Mordecai.  He was in a situation where the Jewish people were threatened by complete annihilation.  Yet, Mordecai took this very seriously and pushed the nation to do tshuvah.  And in THAT merit, Hashem’s mercy was aroused.

I’ll add a personal point here.  Noah was one of those of the ‘lesser faith’, and we see that he did not do anything to stop the impending flood, such as davening or encouraging others to do tshuvah.  He believed that in the end things will be okay, because Hashem is full of mercy.  However, because there was a lack of spiritual ‘awakening’ on his part, Hashem did not ‘send’ His mercy.  Mordecai, on the other hand, completely believed that the destruction of the nation was right around the corner, and therefore did everything possible to ‘correct the wrongs’, and in turn, Hashem ‘sent’ His mercy into the world.

This is very applicable to ourselves in many aspects of our lives.  However, as noted, we’re not on the level of Noach.  While Noach truly believed that Hashem will have mercy on the world, we tend to cloak ourselves in ‘faith’, in order to cover our laziness, saying “Everything will be all right”.

When parents, for example, see that their children are suffering from some ailment, whether physical, mental, or spiritual, and shrug it off with “Everything will be fine” or they do a little bit of effort and say, “Okay, I did all that I can!”… Well, that’s certainly not being on the level of Noach, nor even of the cockroach in his generation.  It’s pure laziness.

I’ll be honest; I’m guilty of the same thing.  When I hear things like Iran is building the bomb, etc… I tend to shrug it off and think “Hashem is not going to allow Iran to nuke Israel….”  But, who said?

Perhaps by listening into these messages, and actually doing something about it, we will draw down mercy into this world to stop it.  And perhaps by taking the attitude of “Hashem in not going to allow it…”…

So, we have discussed three levels of faith today.  The first is the lowest.  Those that have replaced faith with laziness.  The second, is that of Noach, who believe “Yes, Hashem can do it, but He won’t”.  And the third is that of Mordecai who believe “Yes, Hashem can do it, and He WILL do it, unless WE do something about it”

So, let’s try to figure out where we are and see if we can upgrade ourselves a bit.

Have a great Shabbos!

Ah . . . life of a three year-old!

The other day, the little terrorist was walking around carrying a two-liter water bottle, calling it his "teel" (missile).   Wherever he went, he demanded that it come with him.  Even when we put him to bed, he went, lovingly caressing his "teel."  Is this how North Korean dictators start out in life?

“But the dove could not find a resting place for the sole of its foot, and it returned to him to the Ark (in Hebrew: El HaTeivah)” (Bereishis 8:9).

I saw from Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein a wonder piece of insight on this pasuk.

“But the dove could not find a resting place for the sole of its foot” – In the period shortly before the arrival of Moshiach, the Jewish people, who are compared to a dove, will not find a resting place.

“And it returned to him to the Ark” – The Gemara (Sanhedrin 97b) writes, “All the time limits have been reached; the matter depends on nothing but repentance.”  The words “[a]nd it returned to him” hint that the Jewish people will do teshuva.  How?  “El HaTeiva,” which not only means “to the ark,” but also means “to the word,” referring to prayer.  The Jewish people will pray properly and be careful to pronounce each word (“teiva”) correctly.

“For water was upon the surface of all the earth” – This is a reference to the “mayim hazeidonim,” or the harsh decrees imposed on Israel.  “Upon the surface of all the earth,” that is, in all the four corners of the globe.

“So he put forth his hand, and took it (the dove)” – Hashem extends His hand to accept the teshuva of the Jewish people.

“And brought it to him” – Hashem shelters us beneath His wings and brings salvation.

“To the Ark” – This will come about through His receiving our prayers and our teshuva before the Throne of Glory.

With the increase of anti-Semitism throughout the "modern" world, such as in the United States on college campuses, or in the United Kingdom where a known anti-Semite/terror supporter stands a good chance of becoming the Prime Minister, things like this are appropriate to remember.  Our salvation will not come through the acts of our hands, but only through sincere prayer and teshuva.

Have a great Shabbos!

Michael Winner

I  hope everybody enjoyed the “Holiday Season."

Ours went very well.  It was topped off by a visit from a good friend of mine and his family for two days of Succos.  Given that he doesn’t live in Israel, we see each other very rarely, and when we do, well, we’re both somewhat . . . immature, to say the least.  The important part was, there was a lot of laughing, and we did not do anything to deserve “The Look” from one of our wives.

Okay, on to Torah!

“Noah was a righteous man, faultless in his generation.  Noah walked with G-d” (Bereishis 6:9-10).

There’s a famous Rashi which says that some take this statement as praise, since he is called “righteous."  And some that take this as “not-so praiseful," since it says that he was “faultless in HIS generation," being that had he been alive during the time of Avraham, he wouldn’t be considered righteous.

Rav Shlomo Brevda like to remind those who so easily take the “not-so praiseful” stance, that had WE lived in HIS generation, we would be lucky to be considered cockroaches.

The Sifsei Chachamim points out that the pasuk says that Noah walked WITH G-d, while regarding Avraham, the Torah says that he walked BEFORE G-d.  What was the difference between the two and why was Avraham on a higher level?

The Sifsei Chachamim continues to explain that Noah lived in an evil generation, and was able to cut himself off from that generation to live ONLY with Hashem, hence “Noach walked with G-d.”  Only with G-d, did he walk.  Avraham, on the other hand, was not only able to separate himself from society, he was also able to live within that society and to challenge their beliefs, bringing others closer to Hashem.

Many people look at this and think, “Look how great Avraham was!  I’ll strive to be like him!”  Yet, before one becomes an Avraham, one must first become a Noah.

Some people get inspired with their Judaism, and before they are ready, go into Jewish outreach, and the next thing you know, it is THEY who need the “outreach."  They wanted to skip the level of Noah and move straight to the level of Avraham.

Noah separated himself from society completely, since he did not want it to affect him at all.  And he was right in what he did.  The entire world, including nature, was tainted with sin, but Noah and his family were not.  Avraham too, was able to separate himself from society.  He could not care less who won the Superbowl or the latest political scandal.  However, he was able to maintain that level even while dealing with society on a day-to-day basis.

It’s an interesting mental exercise to see how much we are affected by our society, not necessarily for the negative--even for the positive.  With honest thought, we can see that it affects us a lot.  So, before we can attain the level of Avraham (if it’s possible in some of our lifetimes), we need to work on our ability to walk WITH G-d, with keeping the Torah to the best of our abilities without letting the outside world affect our behavior or thought.

Have a wonderful Shabbos!

Michael Winner

Wow… the Cubs did it.

I haven’t followed sports in who knows how long. Honestly, I could care less about it. I heard last week that they made it to the World Series, which surprised me, but as a long-ago Cubs fan, I knew what was going to happen and they would lose. Then, I was informed that they actually won! I spoke to a few former-Chicagoans here, and even though none of us could name a single player or stat or ANYTHING about baseball in the past 15-20 years, there was this weird…. Something.

My wife couldn’t understand it. She found it funny how we were happy about such a thing even though we didn’t even know they were doing well in the first place. I guess I can’t blame her, but any Cubs fan… heck… any fan of baseball knows that the Cubs winning the World Series must be a sign of something good coming up.

Okay, on to Torah!

“For this is to Me like the waters of Noach” (Haftorah, Yeshayahu 54:9)

Many wonder why the religious world is concerned about the lack of education, mitzvos observance, etc… of the non-religious world. While the religious world does not go out and burn people at the stake for not being religious, a lot of time and money is spent on people to dedicate themselves to help give the non-religious some form of Torah education. Why put in all that efforect? After all, let bygones be bygones!

Yeshayahu describes the flood as “the waters of Noach”, as if it were HIS flood and HE was responsible. The Sages explain that the flood was named after Noach because Noach failed to pray on behalf of the generation to save him.

While the Torah testifies that Noach was a “righteous and flawless man”, and worked for 120 years, building the ark, he STILL was held accountable for not helping his generation repent in any way. Each person has some ability to help for others… just by davening for them! And those who happen to be more inclined to be actively educating others? They might have even a bigger obligation!

I once heard Rav Dovid Orlofsky talk about how he started off his “speaking career”. He explained that when he was in kollel, he was receiving pressure to take over a directorship of a region in NCSY. He wanted to stay in learning, but he already had a proven success record in working in outreach. He did not want the position, but was pressured to go and see Rav Scheinberg; who sat there and lifted one hand and said, “One on hand, you have Torah learning!”, then would raise the second hand and said, “On the other hand, you have a mitzvah that only you alone can do…”. After repeating this for several minutes, Rav Scheinberg told him to take the position. Not being happy with this answer, he went to Rav Eliashuv, who told him the same thing.

Not everybody is “cut out” for outreach… in fact, many people aren’t. But, a person should nonetheless, FEEL a sense of obligation for those who were not as fortunate to receive a proper Jewish education. So, even if he davens for others, he is fulfilling his obligation.

Have a great Shabbos!

I hope everybody had an enjoyable Sukkos. Thankfully, we have a nice-sized Sukkah, which we were able to live in and sleep in. In the summer, it gets very humid, even at night, and you need to use the air-conditioning. However, right now, even though it’s still hot during the day, it’s been nice and cool at night, so sleeping in there was a real pleasure. What was strange is that every single night I slept in the Sukkah I had dreams, which is very rare for me. My wife wasn’t surprised and summed it up with: “You’re getting a regular night’s sleep and you’re going to bed relaxed. Of course you’re going to have dreams.” Too bad I have to wait until Pesach for that to happen again.
Last week I discovered an mp3 on my computer that I never listened to. It was a two-hour lecture from Rav Shlomo Brevda on Parshas Noach. For those not familiar with Rav Brevda, they should become so as soon as possible. He was American born and raised, and “grew up” with some of the biggest rabbanim in Eretz Yisroel. He had an uncanny ability to rip a person’s heart out, slowly scrub it with metal scrubbers, and put whatever is left back into his chest cavity—all using his power of speech. Was that graphic enough? He came to our yeshivah a few times to speak and I never felt the time go by.

He started off with the famous Rashi in the beginning of the parsha. Rashi explains that when the Torah said that Noach was a tzaddik “in his generation,” it can be read for good or bad. Good, being that he was THE tzaddik of his generation, and he was on such a high level, that he was saved from the flood. On the other hand, it could be read for the negative, being “in HIS generation,” but if he were to live in the generation of Avraham, then compared to Avraham, he would not be a tzaddik. Why? Because Avraham was successful in having a positive effect on the world around him, while Noach was not successful.

Most of the time, we like to take the more negative view. But we really have to understand who Noach was and what he accomplished.

During the First World War, the Brisker Rav found himself in the city of Minsk. There, he found a situation in which there was a breakdown in modesty between men and women. He protested strongly against it, but nobody listened to him. So, he rented out a home for himself and his son, and locked himself in, without coming out once, and without allowing anybody in.

The rav of Minsk came to the house and demanded to see the Brisker Rav. Being that he was the rav of the city, the Brisker Rav let him in. The rav wanted to know why the Brisker Rav had locked himself in the house. The Brisker Rav responded that the spiritual level of the city was obviously compromised and he did his best to change it. Being that he failed, he followed the recommendation of the Rambam when in such a spiritual environment: He “ran away to the desert.”

The rav said that he understood the position of the Brisker Rav, but while the Brisker Rav was saving himself and his son, what about everybody else who could still gain from the Brisker Rav?

The Brisker Rav responded with a statement made by Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai, “The world possesses not less than thirty men as righteous as Abraham. If there are thirty, my son and I are two of them; if ten, my son and I are two of them; if five, my son and I are two of them; if two, they are my son and me; if there is but one, it is I, Rav Shimon – for it is written that one righteous person is an everlasting foundation.’ A voice resounded from heaven at that moment, saying, ‘Happy is your portion, Rav Shimon. The Holy One issues a decree, and yet you annul it down below.’”

Being that even if there is only one complete tzaddik in the world, it is THAT tzaddik that is holding up the world.

Noach lived in a time of rampant idol-worship. Every day, there were protests outside of his home when he was building the Ark. Every day, he was verbally attacked, and people tried to persuade him of how wrong he was. The entire world was against Noach, yet Noach tuned the world out and remained a tzaddik. Before the flood, Noach was in a spiritual “ark,” separated from the world around him, and that was his savior, when he was placed in the physical ark, separated from the world around him.

So too, today, says Rav Brevda, when we have every possibility of filth from the outside world at our fingertips; we must be like Noach. We need to try to cut ourselves off from as much impurity as possible and to create our own spiritual “ark.”

And, Rav Brevda says, you might ask, “Isn’t it better to be like Avraham and try to change the world for the better?” True . . . that’s a higher level. HOWEVER, he explains . . . There is a reason that Parshas Noach comes before Parshas Lech Lecha (where we meet Avraham). That reason is because in order to reach the level and obligation of Avraham, we need to first master the level of Noach, which in itself, is a lifetime of work. Before worrying about the world, we need to master ourselves. We need to be able to be strong enough that the outside world and way of thinking does not affect us. If you’re somehow able to reach that level, you can then contemplate the level of Avraham.

So it’s true, Noach did not reach the level of Avraham. However, the level he mastered was a very high level, which we would be lucky to even think about reaching in our lifetimes.

Have a wonderful Shabbos!

We rented a car and went to Jerusalem for Shabbos over Sukkos. We felt like country bumpkins coming to “the big city”. As we entered the city, Chaim saw an extended bus and yelled, “Autobus accordion!!!” (you need to add an Israeli accent to it). This was quickly followed with, “Look at all the sukkot! Wow, there’s one on a roof! There’s one in the parking lot!” The view of so many religious people, the sukkot, lulavim & esrogim. The entire air was filled with Sukkos (compared to here, where most people don’t know what Sukkos is).

On the way back, there was some… squabbling… in the back. So, to ward off an escalation of hostilities, my wife suggested that if everybody could go five minutes without talking, they would get a treat. Five minutes later, they got their treats. Twenty minutes after that, Rochel Leah started whispering something to Chaim, which my wife picked up: “If we start pretending to fight, maybe they’ll give us another treat to stop”.

Pretty sneaky.

Okay, on to Torah!

* Please learn and daven for Chaim Yosef ben Rus, who’s situation has taken a downturn. *
“Go forth from the Ark” (Bereishis 8:16)

The Medresh (Bereishis Rabbah 37:4) asks, “Why did Hashem have to tell him to leave the Ark? Wasn’t Noach capable of seeing that the Flood had subsided and that it was time to depart? But Noach said the following: ‘Just as I did not enter the Ark without permission, I will not leave unless I have permission’”

Rav Zilberstein points out that this Medresh gives us a glimpse into the greatness of Noach. Hashem commanded Noach to enter the Ark and to take care of all the living beings inside during the entire Flood. Now, if you have children, you can truly appreciate Noach’s position. In fact, Noach was a man, making things even MORE difficult.

I, for one, cannot stand ‘vacations’ from the kollel, since that means I have to spend “time with the children”. According to my belief system, 15 minutes per day is enough. To spend A WHOLE DAY with them? CRAZY!! My wife just smiles and says, “Welcome to my life EVERY SINGLE DAY”. To which I respond, “YOU wanted them! And besides, you’re a woman, and you deal better with them. Take Simcha, for example, who’s covered himself with yogurt. YOU will actually pick him up… I would leave him there and hope that Rochel Leah will clean him up”

So, everybody should picture themselves as a man in a boat full of screaming, crying, yogurt-covered children. For a whole year. Now that you finally see the opportunity to leave, what are you going to do? Wait for a sign from Above? Probably not. You’ll be opening that hatch and running as far away as possible. Am I right?

But not Noach. He went into the Ark by Hashem’s command, and he will only leave with Hashem’s command. When he saw that opportunity, he said, “I have been ordered to be in the Ark and care for the animals, and that is what I am going to do. Easy or not, THIS is my mission in life right now.”

Throughout our lives, we are on different missions for Hashem. Some are easy. Some are not. Some are fun. Some are not. But each one is tailored for us individually and we are never to look at them with the mentality, “Can I go now?” Hashem put you in this position at this time in your life to grow. Instead of looking into the far future, focus on the now, and use it properly.

Have a great Shabbos!

At the end of this week’s parsha, the local population begins to build the famous “Tower of Babel”. Before Hashem passes judgment on it, he “went down” to see the building (Bereishis 11:5-7).

The Ibn Ezra comments on this concept of Hashem “coming down”. As we know, for anything, good or bad, to happen in this world, it must be the ratzon, the will, of Hashem. Without His “backing” on some kind of level, no action can take place. Hence the answer to the famous “statement” on the Holocaust: If something so bad can happen, there most certainly cannot be a G-d. That’s not true at all. EVERYTHING that happens, happens with the consent of Hashem, even horrifically painful things.

The highest level of emunah, faith, is to recognize that Hashem runs everything in the world. He “comes down” into this world every day to run it.

Rav Chaim Friedlander writes that all of the morning brachos we say every day are written in the present tense – “He gives wisdom to the rooster”, “He prepares the footsteps of mankind”, etc… this is to teach us that Hashem is CONSTANTLY involved in our daily lives. When we wake up in the morning and have this in mind when we say these brachos, we will have a better chance of seeing Hashem’s hand in every aspect of our day.

Have a great Shabbos!