Haazinu

Well… THAT was a scary Shabbos.

After we ate, we went to our balcony and watched a missile attack just east of us.  We gave it a good rating, since it was at night, the coolness factor went up.  Then our sirens went off.  Okay, we haven't had a lot, but we've had a couple.  Not a big deal.  Since we don't have a saferoom and we can't make the bomb-shelter within 30 seconds, we went to a hallway, which we believe is the safest.  And then the missiles came in.

We're used to "booms."  We get them all day.  Heck!  I'm listening to them as I type.  These were not "booms." These were real explosions.  Like you can hear things breaking up midair.  And more importantly, they felt like they were right over our heads at a low altitude.  And there was a good reason for this feeling: because they were.  Ten missiles, all intercepted, one after another, right over us.  During the attack, the entire building was shaking, and we were all expecting something to break through the roof or the windows.  My nine-year-old son fell to the ground crying, I was standing there holding my breath, and my daughters, who are much holier, started saying Tehillim.  I have no problem admitting that it was, objectively speaking, extremely scary (for non-manly people, of course, I was only holding my breath for the fun of it).

My oldest son was on a walk with some friends at the time when it happened and was caught in the open.  They lay down during the attack and then ran for the nearest bomb shelter.  He came straight home and he said, "I'll admit, I nearly started to cry."  I don't blame him, some wreckage from one of the intercepts landed across the street from where they were standing.

Afterwards, we went back upstairs to let the kids talk it out.  My 12-year-old was confused on why he felt okay, yet at the same time, his body was shaking, my three-year-old fell asleep, and my wife and I were left wondering: will we have another such attack tonight.

We had a few more the next morning, but nothing on such a scale.

And it made us feel better to hear that everybody else and their children had the same reaction.  The next day, the streets and parks were empty.  Everybody just stayed home, not knowing what was to be.

However, while what we went through could be called "traumatic," still having the kids home from school for who-knows-how-long is far more traumatic. It's giving us a very tiny taste on what our more-northern neighbors have been going through for the past year.

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"But Yeshurun grew fat and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he forsook God who made him and belittled the Rock of his salvation" (Devarim 32:15).

In this prophecy of the future, Moshe refers to the Jewish nation as Yeshurun.  The Ibn Ezra says that this name stems from the world "Yashar," which is "straight" or "righteous," which could allude to the fact that the behavior that will be shown by the Jewish nation is below the standards they should be living at.

"Yashar" also denotes honesty.

Just the other night, somebody who lives close to me, started attacking me out of nowhere, about how I leech off of society and don't do anything for the State like serve in the army.  I still have no idea what triggered him.  All the more so, since he knows that we work and don't "leech" off of anything.  So, I asked him if he has the same feelings for the secular who don't serve either.  He waved off my question, demanding an answer to his.  I replied, "Let's be honest.  I understand fully why a person would have issues with the religious not serving in the army.  I understand where he is coming from and what his arguments are.  However, if you do not have the same feelings about a larger group of people who are just as guilty, then you're not being honest." Thankfully, it closed down the argument.

(Ironically, my wife is part of several religious women helping prepare some meals for soldiers for Rosh Hashana.  I wonder if he's doing something similar...)

Now, what I said is true.  I DO understand his point of view.  I can not only attack his position, I can also defend his position.  I can do the same from the religious point of view as well.  Because I try to be honest with myself when I contemplate such issues.  However, I have one thing over him … a Torah perspective.  And even that is not so simple.  But, at least with that, I know which direction I and my family must take.  And those who do join the army, with a Torah perspective?  They too know which direction they must take.  Why? Because in the end, it's rooted in Torah.

And that's the difference between the two of us, and this neighbor.  Whether or not a person goes to the army, if it's a decision based on Torah, it's based on truth.  It's Yashar.  However, his "argument" is based on emotion, personal bias, and way too much television and radio.

It's important throughout the year to have this "yashrus," to be open and honest.  It does not mean you have to agree to everything, but it means to admit to the truth no matter which side it comes from.  A person can never grow if he cannot bear the truth.

All the more so now, with Rosh Hashana around the corner.  We need to be honest and think, "Have I been doing my part in the world?  Have I given Hashem reason to include me in part of His plan for the upcoming year?"  If so, then great!  But, if you're like most of us mortals who have what to improve on, then you need to figure out how best to correct the situation.  And in order to do that requires personal honesty and a Torah perspective.  When you hit the problem with these two "truths," you will be successful in your endeavors.

Have a wonderful, meaningful, and quiet Rosh Hashanah and Shabbos.

Recently, a friend of my wife moved to another city, and unfortunately, she's been having difficulties getting her kids in the (publicly funded) school-system.   For those who are not familiar with the school systems here...many of them are run in a mafia-style way... sorry, I didn't mean to insult the mafia.  They at least they have a code of honour.  My wife remembered that somebody in our town once had some major issues with this particular system and sent him an email asking for a number of somebody who can help.  He asked for more details on what's going on, and then replied, "What they are doing is completely illegal".  He then took this entire project on his own shoulders, calling up my wife's friend, telling her who to contact and how to write the emails.  For the past 36 hours, he's been on top of things, using whatever connections he has.  My wife wrote a letter to him thanking him for all his help, he replied sayin, "Don't thank me.  Thank So and So...(another person in the community)... I spoke to him a few hours ago and he's calling up his brother-in-law to make sure this is fixed up".

Who's his brother-in-law?  The Israeli Minister of Education, of course.

It's all about who you know in this country.  And when the power is in the hands of the common people, well... that's where the most good could be done.

There are times that people gravitate toward certain gemaras or traditions, and you get a feeling that "it's not so simple."  So, I have two simple rules in such cases: 1) Many times, for every gemara you find, you can probably find one that says the opposite, and 2) We don't follow gemaras, we follow halacha which is based on those gemaras.

That being said, a few days ago my wife asked the following question. Around every Yom Tov, she sees wives spending tons of money on new dresses for themselves and new matching clothes for ALL their children (including the babies).  In case you haven't heard the latest economic reports, Israel has a very high cost of living compared to most countries.  Yes, Americans come here and get things cheaper, but when you're earning the shekel, the costs are very high.  And these same families are not earning a lot, and of course, the women all complain how poor they are.  So, my wife knows the famous gemara on this issue, but is there a limit?

So, I took off a morning from my regularly-scheduled learning, and dove into the issue, which is best summed up by Rav Nissim Karelitz (the nephew of the Chazon Ish) in his sefer "Chut Shani" (Kavod Shabbos, 1st chapter, worth reading the whole thing).  Here, he goes into the sources, the halachos, and Jewish outlook on money and emunah.  I'm going to simply condense it and put it in my own words.

First the three famous Gemaras:

" A person’s entire livelihood is allocated to him during the period from Rosh HaShana to Yom Kippur. During that time, as each individual is judged, it is decreed exactly how much money he will earn for all his expenditures of the coming year, except for expenditures for Shabbasos, and expenditures for Festivals, and expenditures for his Torah study. In these areas, no exact amount is determined at the beginning of the year; rather, if he reduced the amount he spends for these purposes, his income is reduced and he earns that much less money in that year, and if he increased his expenditures in these areas, his income is increased to ensure that he can cover the expense" (Beitza 15b).

"Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Eliezer, son of Rabbi Shimon: The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to the Jewish people: My children, borrow on My account, and sanctify the sanctity of the day of Shabbos and the Festivals with wine, and trust in Me, and I will repay this debt" (Beitza 15b).

And finally, the Gemara in Pesachim (109) says, in short, that a man is obligated to bring simcha to his wife on Yom Tov, by buying her new clothes.  (He gets meat and wine, and children. Nuts.)

So, so far, it looks like we have an obligation to spend oodles of money on Shabbos and Yom Tov, even to the point of borrowing money that we don't have, and Hashem will pay us back.  And that is the prevalent attitude.

However, this is where things get fun…

Tosfos asks a question: On one hand we have a gemara saying that we should go so far as to borrow money for Shabbos/Yom Tov, and Hashem will pay us back.  However, there is another gemara in Pesachim that says that one should make his Shabbos like the weekday (i.e. don't spend extra money) so he doesn't end up taking tzedakkah.  So what do we do with this seeming contradication?  He answers his own question: If he has what to pay back the loan with, he should take out a loan, and Hashem will pay back.  However, if he does not, he should cut down on his Shabbos expenses, so he doesn't come to take charity.

So, we see, there is a small catch to this promise.  IF you have the money to repay the loan, you should take it, if not you are not allowed to take out a loan.  So, it seems from here, that one must work within the limits of what he has and not rely on any miracles.  And to add a little cement to that thought, both the Rambam and the Shulchan Oruch say straight out that the HALACHA is such, that each person must spend according to his income level.  It's considered a sin for spending more than what you have or taking out a loan which you have no idea on how you will pay back.

In fact, the Tur (the predecessor to the Shulchan Oruch), asked his father, the Rosh, what he should do.  He does not have any money, yet he has an obligation to spend extra on Shabbos.  The Rosh answered: take a little away from your weekday spending and use it on Shabbos, so then your Shabbos spending will be more than your weekday.  You'll notice, these two giants of Jewish law did not rely on their faith that some miracle will happen.  Rather, they chose to take logical, financially secure steps, to honor Shabbos.

Finally, and here comes the real fun part, Rav Karelitz, quotes the Chazon Ish himself in his book on Emunah & Bitchon (faith).  The Chazon Ish decries a belief that people have regarding faith, which is really baseless.  Many erroneously believe that if they have enough faith, then Hashem will grant them their desires.  So, if I have enough faith that Hashem will get me a car, He will.  And if He doesn't, it's because I don't have enough faith.

That is blatantly wrong, says the Chazon Ish.  Rather, faith is believing that no matter what happens, whether your prayers were answered in the positive or not, that ultimately, Hashem knows what is best for you, even though you cannot see it clearly.  Your level of "faith" has no ability to "tell" Hashem what to do.

However, says Rav Karelitz, there are three exceptions to this rule: Shabbos, Yom Tov, and learning Torah.  The more you put in, the more He pays back.

Sounds a bit contradictory?  Not really.

When it comes to spending money on Shabbos, Yom Tov, and learning Torah, one must first make a general financial assessment, and work within those bounds.  Anything that we put in extra for these three things will be dependent on our (true) level of faith that Hashem will pay back.  So, if I usually spend 100 shekels a day for food and drink and I spend 200 shekels for Shabbos (and I can afford it), with complete faith that Hashem will pay me back the extra 100 shekels that I spent, He will.  However, if I spend an extra 500 shekels, and I cannot afford it and/or I do not have true faith, then Hashem will not pay back.

And that's where things get tricky for people.

In our house for example, every Shabbos we buy pitzuchim (nuts, sesame seeds, and what not … welcome to Israel), and other snacks.  We're not as stingy as we are during the week.  On Yom Tov, we might get gefilte fish and a "special" drink.  For some Yomim Tovim, my girls get new outfits from England that will cost between 70-100 shekels (compared to 500 shekels or more here).  My sons get some new clothes and kippas as well (likewise for cheaper prices).  This year, my eight-year-old got cool boxers for which he yelled "I'm an 'achla gever' (a real man) now!"  All in all, we get extra things that will make Shabbos and Yom Tov more enjoyable.  On one  hand, we buy them without financial thought and worry, yet on the other hand, the expenditures will not "break the bank."  In the end, I buy extra things for my wife and kids that I usually might not during the week,but are still within my financial means.  AND I KNOW that Hashem will pay me back for them.

But, if I were to spend 500 shekels per child for every Yom Tov, I will honestly start to think and worry about my situation.  That itself is a sign that I'm not on some high level of faith, and therefore, I'm limited to what I can afford.  Any extra spending is considered foolish and, if I end up taking charity because of my spending, it's considered a sin.

So, like everything, one needs to not only know a couple of lines of gemara, but they need to dive into the actual relevant halachos.

Regarding spending extra for Shabbos, Yom Tov, and learning Torah, one must do their best to spend extra, to bring extra simcha to those mitzvos.  Yet, at the same time, one must work within their general budget, and any extra spending will be paid back, according to one's true faith in Hashem.

With that, I wish you all a wonderful Shabbos! 

I had an eye-opening experience this Yom Kippur.  No, nothing to do with the busload of children I saved from terrorists during the Chazzon’s repetition of Shachris, and no, nothing to do with the battle against the Romulans during Mussaf (perhaps I need to work on my concentration skills).  My soon-to-be 11-year-old stayed the entire davening, and then, during the break, we sat and learned together for an hour in Gemara.  THAT was strange.  I’m thankful that my wife had all the meals scientifically planned out for the day before Yom Kippur, so the fast itself went well.  With a lack of headache or serious weakness, I used my entire break properly, most of it with him. And, even though it’s his second year learning Gemara, he’s able to learn pretty well, so he was not dependent on me; if anything, I was dependent on him.  May it only continue…

Some people have written in asking for a return “to the good old days” of regular Dvrei Torah.  If you agree or disagree, please email me, so I have an idea of which direction to go.  I was thinking, if that’s what people want, to change it slightly, so that I will send out dvrei Torah based on things that I saw or learned over the week, not necessarily connected to the parsha.  Too many times, I had something good, and “saved” it for six months later, only to forget what I wanted to write.  I think this week, I’ll give an example, and you tell me what you think.

So, here we go:

On Rosh Hashanah, I was able to finish the Gemara Sukkah, which, by the way, I highly recommend.  It’s not too difficult, full of interesting halachos and pieces of history.  The one small problem was, I wanted to drop everything, and learn it again, but all the way through to modern-day halacha. So tempting….

Anyhow, the last piece of Gemara talks about one of the families of Cohanim (they were split into 24 groups, each one serving one week in the Beis HaMikdash), named “Bilga.”  This particular family was punished and had three "penalties" against them which set them apart from the other families.  The Gemara gives two possible reasons for this punishment.  The first is that one of the daughters of this family married a Greek officer during the time of Chanukah.  And when the Greeks entered the Beis HaMikdash, she marched in, took off her sandal, and started hitting the Altar, yelling at Hashem for “stealing money from His people.”  Another reason given is that this particular family always showed up late for their turn, forcing the previous family to stay later.

The Gemara asks, in the second option, we understand why the entire family got punished, since the entire family behaved this way, but why should the entire family be punished for the actions of one woman?  The Gemara then answers that generally, a child repeats in public what he hears in private.  This girl was merely continuing on the ways of her family, but this time, doing it in public.

To me, I see no contradiction between the two opinions.

When one is lax in his own mitzvos, it will most certainly have an effect on the children, who will continue to take it a step further.  Nearly every father who regularly comes in late to davening in the morning has teenaged or married sons who come in later than they.  Conversely, nearly every father who regularly comes on time has sons who come on time, too.  What is important to the parents, generally, is important to the children.  What is not so important to the parents, is even less important to the children.

Sometimes it is difficult to come to shul on time, but during those times, we should forget about ourselves and think, “Do I really want this to be an issue for my children as well?”  And not just regarding coming to davening on time should we think about this, but rather with all our mitzvos.  The more importance we put on them, the more importance our children will put on them as well.

Have a wonderful Shabbos and Sukkos and we’ll speak again after Simchas Torah.

Israeli society has been up in arms concerning the management of the recent war in Lebanon. More so, they have rightfully been disgusted on how the government has let three of it’s soldiers down. The reason we went in to Lebanon was to get them back. Now, they are all but forgotten.

Let us try not to repeat such horrid behaviour and continue to daven, at least once a day, that Hashem should return those soldiers to their families safe and unharmed.

Their names are:
Gilad Ben Avivah (captured by Hamas on the border of Gaza)
Eldad Ben Tova (captured by Hizbollah on the border of Lebanon)
Ehud Ben Malka (captured by Hizbollah on the border of Lebanon)

If we can also daven for Refael Zev ben Miriam, a father of two, who will soon be undergoing surgery for lung cancer.

Okay, on to Torah!

Here we have Moshe Rebbeinu overlooking the Jewish people for the last time. No other leader in Jewish history has ever had so much control of the nation in his hands.

For every nine Jews, there was a tenth serving as their "Rosh Yeshiva". For every forty-nine, there was another rav over looking them. For every ninety-nine people,another rav of even higher status was overlooking them.

Every tribe traveled and lived separately. Every family traveled and lived separately. Everything was done in a strict manner. Each person was judged for every little thing. They were at the highest point since Sinai. They were the elite.

Yet, here you have Moshe telling them to be careful! He warns them that their children will sacrifice to "... demons, no-gods, gods which they did not know, new ones, that came up later, those which your fathers did not dread" (Devarim 32:17) This is similar to telling a Navy SEAL team that soon they are going to be defeated by a group of eighth-graders in a game of paintball. It's practically unheard of!

Rav Avigdor Miller gives a small schmooze on this idea.

The Gemara (Succos 51b) says: "A man's yetzer strengthens itself against him every day"

Rav Miller explained, "One day it comes to him as a showgirl who is not so well dressed, but he passes the test. The next day it comes in the form of a letz (a person who mocks things of holiness), much better dressed, but still he passes that test. Then the Yetzer Horah comes to him in the guise of a "tzaddik" with a long beard and payos (like Korach). He follows this tzaddik who leads him into a group of people who start strife, loshon horah amongst other Jews, and finally Gehenom (Hell)"

Every generation, something or someone has arisen to steer the Jewish people away from Torah. In the previous century, socialism, communism, and “Americanism” took a huge toll on our nation. Other ideas and philosophies have taken Jews away without those individuals knowing it until it was too late. There are things that can sound so truthful, that it’s impossible to imagine them being false.

Shortly before Pesach, a 19-year old “ultra”-orthodox Jew was arrested for beating his baby son to death. According to police and hospital officials, bite marks were found on the boy’s body and the father even signed a confession while in police custody. The newspapers here were having a good time putting his picture in the headlines, listing the atrocities that this man committed against his son. This was, according to the facts presented, a closed case. People from all over were not only attacking the father, but cursing out the entire religious community. I have never seen such hatred for one’s fellow Jews on such a scale before.

Most of the religious community was saddened by such an incident, but was a little skeptical. True, abuse happens in the religious world as well, but the Israeli police, when it deals with the religious community, has a long history of injustice.

The newspapers for days were headlining the story. Then, they made one small slip up, which only the religious caught. Some of the leading rabbeim had signed their names to a letter encouraging anybody who can help this father prove his innocence, financially or else wise, to do so. The newspapers, somehow forgot how to read Hebrew and ran headlines saying that this rabbeim have declared the father to be innocent and demanded his release. Interesting piece of misreporting…

A few days after the confession was signed, the father retracted it saying that he was “coerced” by the police. If you live here and know them, you know it’s a good possibility.

Shortly after, when the trial began, the newspapers were suddenly quite and have remained quiet. This is rather surprising, considering the big story they have.

I found a small article last month written by a legal affairs columnist with an update on the court case. After they return from break, the Prosecution will most likely drop the case against the father. This, being BEFORE the Defense was able to start its case.

What happened? According to this paper and from court documents, it turned out that the baby was brought in because he fell and hit his head on the wall, as the parents originally stated. According to doctors’ testimony, due to the negligence of the hospital staff, the baby died due to a lack of oxygen. The police? They were simply lying. There were no bite marks or any other marks that they quoted to the press.

Did I mention that the papers are silent about this?

On Pesach, it was a clear-cut case that the father was a baby killer. Now, it seems to be a clear-cut case that the hospital staff was negligent, the police lied, a child is dead, a family has gone through heck and back, and an entire community has been smeared.

What was in April to be Truth, is now False.

Moshe warned the nation that there will be things in the future that will tear us way from Torah. These ideas and gods will seem to be complete truth. It will be hard, even for those loyal to Hashem to stand up against. Yet, in the end, the Truth will be known, and those who remained loyal to Hashem will have taken a beating, but will still stand tall.

Have a great Shabbos!

I hoped everybody had a meaningful Yom Kippur! Mine was quite nice, difficult, but nice.

What made it easier were to things: 1) It fell late in the year, where the sun sets earlier 2) We in Israel usual change our clock backs the Saturday night before Yom Kippur. So I got home to eat at 6:15ish. Not bad....

Okay, on to Torah!

"Like gentle raindrops upon the vegetation and like pelting raindrops upon the blades of grass" (32:2)
-Translation based on the Kli Yakar

Rav Avrohom Pam brings an interesting piece from the Ohr HaChaim.

He cites the Midrash Shochar Tov which describes the judgment a person will face after concluding his life on this earth. If he learned Chumash (Written Torah), he will be asked by the Heavenly Court to explain why he did not study Mishnah (which is more difficult). If he learned Mishnah, he will be asked why he did not learn Gemara (which is even more difficult). If he learned Gemara, he will be asked why he did not learn the more difficult parts of the Torah. Even if he learned the entire Oral Torah, they will ask why he did not learn Kabbalah....

The Midrash teaches us an important lesson: Hashem does not demand impossible things from people. A person who only learned Mishnayos will not be asked to explain why he did not learn Kabbalah, because that is obviously out of his range. He will have to explain though why he did not try to learn Gemara, which is the next step, which should be just within his reach.

The Ohr HaChaim connects this with the pasuk above.

The Gemara describes how different types of plants need different types of water. Vegetation requires a soft, gentle drizzle; which will do very little for grass. On the other hand, a heavy downpour can destroy vegetation, while providing nourishment for grass. So too is the "water of Torah". Each person was given a certain intellectual capacity in which he must use to acquire his "portion of the Torah". Each person is expected to live up to his specific level in learning and understanding. No more and no less.

From here we learn the importance of not falling into despair when we are not moving as fast as we want. Hashem does not want us to bang our heads performing things that are impossible for us to handle. If at this moment in life, we can only handle learning Chumash, so learn Chumash! And after you feel comfortable, push yourself a tad and dabble into Mishnayos! So too in every other mitzvah.

Outreach experts never tell people to start keeping the whole Shabbos with every single detail, if a person hasn't kept one Shabbos in life. They tell a person to keep a little at a time, and continue to add as things develop. This is all Hashem seeks from us during this time of tshuva.

With that, I wish you all a great Shabbos!

"Is He not your Father, your Master (kanecha)" (32:6)

Rav Chaim Berlin, translated the word "kanecha" as a derivative of the word "kein", nest. This would obviously mean that Hashem serves as our "nest" for protection and sustenance. He thought of this "play on words" after an incident occurred while he was the Rav of Moscow. Once a man came to him and asked the Rav to circumcise his child secretly. The Rav was confused on why he wanted it done secretly. The man responded that he was a completely secular Jew, and really did not want it to be known that he is really Jewish. "If you are so ashamed of your Jewishness, " asked the Rav, "why do you want to circumcise the baby altogether?" "You are right," answered the man, "but I do not want to close the door to Judaism for my son". After all is said and done, we see that EVERY Jew, no matter how far they feel they are from Judaism, still maintains that inner spark.

Rav Berlin further interprets the phrase in Shiur HaShirim (1:15) "your eyes are like doves", as: A dove will stray from its nest only as far as it can still keep its nest in sight. The nest is the base for the dove, and will always stay within its range.

From these two p'sukim we can deduce that the dove is the Jewish people, and the nest is Hashem. While we may give in to our Yetzer Horah, and distance ourselves from Hashem, no matter how far we think we are, we are never far away from the nest. The way of tshuva, repentance, is always open. And regardless on how far away you are, the nest, Hashem, is always awaiting your return. Just something to keep in mind this Yom Kippur. May we all have an easy and meaningful fast and of course, a great Shabbos!