Judaism-Unfiled

I’ve become friendly over the past few months with a black convert from South Africa who lives here.  Really nice guy.  My age.  Fellow computer nerd.  Ben Torah.  His downside? He married a woman from France.  Sigh, we all have to have something negative about ourselves.

Anyhow, after mincha on Shabbos, we were walking home together and I told him that I’ve been waiting all week to talk to him.  And of course, he started to laugh, knowing exactly why I wanted to talk to him.

I threw him off a little though.  I told him that I didn’t want to know his opinion concerning America right now (which turned out to be in line with my views).  Rather, I wanted to know how did he, who lived through apartheid-South Africa as a black, get through it all and become a success.  With the fall of apartheid, like any other societal fall, like communism or dictatorships, many in the black community either turned to crime or simply could not pull themselves out of their positions that they were originally put into.  Yet, somehow, he really pulled himself out of it.

While there seem to be people (I’m speaking of the far-left, not the “black community,” since that’s what this is all really about) in America that are hurt by terrible and evil things like Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben’s Rice or a statue of Abraham Lincoln freeing a black slave (ironically, the statue was paid for by former slaves), this man really DID suffer.  He suffered from real live and provable racism, not only on an individual level, but on a government imposed level as well.  And I wanted to know what his secret to success was.  His answer?

“I refuse to be a victim.”

For an hour, he told me of stories living there, England, France, and Israel.  He told me stories where there was clear cut racism, where it wasn’t so clear cut, and where it wasn’t racism at all, but rather people being jerks.  But his message was clear, no matter what or who he’s dealing with: “I refuse to be a victim.”

He explained that racism has always existed and will continue to exist because people are people.  On some levels you can do something about it, but on others, there’s very little.  You have to learn to know when to roll with the punches and when to take a stand.  But, he said, you also have to know when something is really racist, or when it’s not and you’re using "racism" to cover your victimhood.

Over the past week, a few people sent me links to several black speakers, who started off in low-income, high-crime areas. (Thank you, by the way, it helped keep me awake during work.)  The one thing that every single speaker had in common was the “I refuse to be a victim” mentality.

They realized that what they were told as they were growing up was not necessarily in line with reality. They started to think and break away from that mindset and began to apply themselves.  They became businessmen, police officers, radioshow hosts, political activists, and my favourite, one of the spokesmen for the NRA.  It seems that two things always stood in their way: 1) Their original mindset, and 2) Many members of their community who felt that they had become traitors.  But each and every one of them took their lives into their own hands and built themselves up from nothing.

Rav Shlomo Brevda once told over a story that happened to him.  (I wish I remembered which mp3 it was in so I could write his exact words.)  

He was once asked to come to speak to a certain individual who left Judaism and was about to leave America for some foreign country.  So, he came and met the person at the airport just to speak for 10 minutes before they left.  He didn’t have some prepared speech, but he did say to them (this is not a direct quote, but from what I remember), “You should know that only an animal cannot change its inner self.  A human being can always do so. So, if anybody tells you that you cannot change, then they are literally abusing you by calling you an animal.”  

The person went on their way, and he went on his.  A few months later, that person called their parents and told them that they were ready to come home.  They couldn’t shake Rav Brevda’s words (and I assumed something happened to trigger that).  At the time of his telling of this story, many years ago, he said that just recently he was at their “very normal, Jewish wedding.”

What is going on in America is not so much about racism, but rather deeper issues that are tied with politics, power, while using people’s emotions, lack of self-education, and social blackmail to drag people along. Right now, one can make broad statements about a group of people based on their skin-colour (as long as it’s the right one), and it’s considered true.  Yet, if you dare utter the words “all lives matter”, you’re considered a racist. It’s very ugly and mixed up right now, and I for one, am happy that I’m not there.

However, there are lessons to be learned from this.

There is no real “everybody is equal.”  We are all born in certain circumstances, in a certain wealth bracket, in certain neighborhoods, with certain parents, with certain talents and “non-talents.”  Hashem put each and every one of us in our personal situation in order to grow.  Of course, there are some limits.  We might be limited physically, emotionally, mentally, and financially.  Of course there will always be people who will try to stop us for whatever reason.  But, we all have the ability to take what we have and make the most of it.  Hashem did not put us on Earth to be victims to society or to ourselves, but to rather make the best of our lives with what we are given and achieve as much as we can with what we have.

Have a great Shabbos!

With Corona still on everybody’s mind, for obvious reasons, tons of talks have been given about it.  Everybody with their take on it.  Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, some take inspirational stories and produce them as “emunah-building,” which is unfortunate.  Emunah, faith in Hashem, is not some emotional feeling.  It’s something that takes a lifetime of constant working on, and many, after hearing some talk on “emunah” suddenly feel as if they are on a high level, and then go out and foolishly act upon their new level of existance.

There has been one essay that my wife and I have seen, which after reading it (needed to read it three times, due to its depth) sort of knocked out anything else we have heard.  Mainly because it’s solely based on Torah and not a personal perspective nor nice stories to listen to.  It was written by Rav Reuven Leuchter (the original talks can be found here: https://meihadaas.com/eng/shiurim/recently-added), and below is only a recap (and an incomplete one) in my words of what he said.

I hope it could shed a better light on what we are currently going through.

A plague is defined by the fact that it increases amongst the population quickly and indiscriminately.  When a plague hit the Jewish people in the desert, Aharon HaCohen “ran among the congregation” (Bamidbar 17:12).  If there is no cure for a plague, one must separate the living from the dead as Aharon did, in order to stop its spread.  A plague moves quickly from one person to another,  as we are currently seeing, and the only way to stop it is via separation.

The spiritual side to a plague acts in a similar way.  The Gemara (Berachos 4b) explains that the Angel of Death, when taking a human life, takes eight steps, however during a time of plague, he takes only one.  His mission is accomplished quickly and speedily.  Usually, (personal note: this is something deep which I do not fully comprehend) there are many calculations done before a person’s life is taken.  However, during a plague, such calculations are not necessarily made and a person’s life can be taken before “going through the bureaucracy.” (Again, how this works in terms of Hashem’s calculations, Rosh HaShanah, etc., I do not know and is beyond the scope of this work.)  And like the physical plague, the Angel of Death does not discriminate between the righteous and evil (Bava Kama 60b), as we are seeing with so many righteous people dying today.  This is similar to what we saw in the last plague of Egypt.  If you were home, you were safe.  If you were outside, you were not.  Righteous or not.

During this period, the regular "courts of justice," where merit and demerits are weighed, are suspended.  A new "order of law" is now in place, something far higher. As an illustration: Usually, one would go through a local court system, where the judges don’t know you, but look carefully through your actions, for good or bad.  You have the ability to defend yourself, and the judges will listen to you.  Now, your judgement comes directly from Hashem.  There is no weighing of this or that, there is no defense.  He knows everything and any objection you can raise.  He is the Ultimate Supreme Court.  Now, we are being judged and dealt with on an entirely different level than before.  This is a completely different framework, which has no connection to human deeds.  The local court system deals with whether we do mitzvos, whether we don’t do mitzvos, how we do them, etc. But now, this is well beyond that.  And that is why we cannot subscribe a reason for the plague, such as loshon horah, lack of modesty, lack of simplicity in expenditures, Shabbos desecration, etc., because this system is beyond even mitzvos.

While we give lip service to the concept that “It’s all in Hashem’s hands,” we truly don’t believe it.  How many people say that refrain when they hear somebody else is sick or somebody else does not have a job, yet can say that exact same mantra with the exact same belief, when they become sick or lose their income? 

How many times do we think: I keep Shabbos, I learn Torah, I dress modesty, etc., thinking that those mitzvos will protect us.  If we think that, then we really do believe that there ARE some things that are in OUR hands.

Yet this plague is teaching us otherwise. 

“No merit,” says Rav Leuchter (and I saw this same concept from Rav Yerucham Levovitz when speaking on this subject one hundred years ago), “even that of Torah and mitzvah performance, can save us; those who believe otherwise share the same arrogance as the Western disposition to control the world by means of scientific advancement.  Neither they, nor we, wield the reins of absolute power.”

Our response to a plague is different than any other phenomenon.    While it is always good to increase merit, we need to have a higher connection “with a place beyond even the Divine attribute of reward and punishment.”

Aharon HaCohen’s response to the plague was to take the Ketores (incense) and bring it among the people.  Again, he did not heal anybody, he simply stopped the plague.  The Ketores, unlike any other sacrifice, did not remain in this world at all.  It completely ascended to Heaven, leaving no physical remains in this world. 

Ketores, the power to stop plagues, is something which goes straight to The Source, with no physical connection.  While we do not possess the Ketores today, we have something else in its place.

“May my prayer be set before you like incense” (Tehillim 141:2).

When we make a bracha on food, we are bringing holiness from Above to the food below.  Similarly with tzitzis: the holiness goes into our clothes. Tefillin: our body.

In general, when we daven, we speak to Hashem, tell Him what we are missing and ask him to fill in those "missing pieces" in life.  We are bringing holiness down from Above into our physical world.

However, there is a higher form of davening, which is similar to the Ketores.  It is when a person annuls himself before Hashem as Rabbeinu Yona writes, “He should think in his heart as though he stands in the heavens.”  The Nefesh HaChaim writes on this, “This means that a person should feel in himself that all sensation of the body, which is dust from the earth, is annulled, and all his feelings must relate to the spirit alone, which is tied to its heavenly source with great love” (Gate 2, Chapter 14).


Regarding this mode of prayer, if you are asking, "so...what does this mean in reality?", I would venture to guess that one aspect is to daven for Hashem's sake rather than our own.  That His Name should be revealed in this world.

With constantly thinking of Hashem and His control in the world, concerning the Jewish nation as a whole, and concerning our individual lives, our emunah will grow (see lessons on “The Six Constant Mitzvos” to help in this area).

While mitzvos, brachos, and certain types of prayer draw the higher worlds to the lower worlds, proper prayer and proper emunah (recognition and faith in Hashem) bring a person, who is in the lower world, to the upper world.

This needs to be the goal during this plague.  Higher-level prayer and higher-level emunah elevates us from this mundane world to higher worlds.  Just as a plague works on a higher spiritual level in how it brings death, so too must we operate in a higher level to bring life.

With that, I wish you all a wonderful Shabbos!

“War is a test of character, it makes bad men worse and good men better.”

-Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Commander, 20^th Maine Regiment (US Civil War)

“The Coronavirus is a test of character, it makes stupid men stupider and wise men wiser.”

-Michael Winner, Executive Officer, 1^st Winner Family

Last week, all mikvos for men were closed because of the virus.  Late last night my wife and I took the neighbor's car to do some Pesach shopping (the whole city has only one store with Pesach items and there’s a long line to get in during the day…100 people at a time…).  After that, we went to the cemetery to drop off a bag of papers that had all sorts of pages with Torah written on them, and cannot be thrown away.  While we were there, we had an argument over who was going to step out of the car to put the bag in the bin and risk getting attacked by zombies. I lost, and thank G-d the zombies were sleeping.  After that (at 12 a.m.), we reached the mikvah to take some new plates and cooking utensils.  When we got there, I saw a pretty frum-looking man walking away without anything in his hands, and it made me wonder why he was up and about. Okay, whatever.

We took care of everything and returned home.

This morning, an announcement went out in the community hotline, that all mikvos for dishes are hereby closed.  Later, the vice-mayor, who is frum, left a message explaining that MEN HAVE BEEN USING THOSE MIKVOS (which are really small) TO DIP THEMSELVES IN!  And now, they are working on cleaning the water and will be hiring guards to reopen them (needless to say, he wasn’t happy). 

Now, while this is COMPLETELY STUPID, it gets worse.

As we know, there are certain communities and/or individuals, that for whatever reason like to ignore both secular and Jewish laws, because they think that they are above it all.  And unfortunately, those communities (surprise, surprise) have gotten hit pretty hard.  Even today, when all the top rabbis around the world have completely and utterly forbidden any minyanim, I’ve heard (not in our community, thankfully) that some are still holding them.  These same people, under normal circumstances “follow” and quote these same rabbeim all the time, but, when it comes down to it, it’s just lip service.

As I was discussing this with my children, I quoted Rav Chaim Kanievsky, who said that a person who willfully ignores the rules set out by the government has the status of a “rodef," somebody who is trying to kill others, and one will be held accountable for the results.

Can you imagine?  A person who thinks he’s all nice and frum and goes out of his way to daven in a minyan three times a day, is going up, after 120 years, and at his judgement , he’s charged with 40 counts of murder.

On a lesser scale, an idiot who goes to the mikvah, will be charged for stealing money (amongst other things) from an entire community who now has to pay for a guard.

And when you think about it, let’s look at this virus.  Here, we have a tiny cell, spreading throughout the world, killing tens of thousands of people, and destroying the global economy.  A TINY CELL WREAKING HAVOC ON A GLOBAL SCALE!

Is this not an amazing lesson to learn?  Every little action we take, no matter how small, can make a world of a difference!  You can simply go to a minyan, thinking of yourself as such a frum person, and be directly responsible and held accountable for hundreds of deaths and sicknesses.  You can, with your own stupidity, cause financial loss to an entire community.

And on the other hand, your extra davening can have just the same powerful effect.  Your extra learning can possibly negate the dangerous stupidity of other people.  The smallest things we do, for good or bad, can have a global impact as well.

It’s important to learn from these incidents.  People have the power to make a huge impact in the smallest ways.  There are plenty of people doing it for the negative, but there could be far more doing it for the positive and we should each try to be one of those.

P.S.  A special thank you to George Murray for your story.  I hope to actually use it soon. I didn’t have your address to reply personally, so I’m doing it here.

Zombies.

That’s the only thing we’re missing right now to make this reality into a real good movie: Corona victims coming back from the dead and eating the living.

Sigh.

I’ve found that there are currently four groups of thought within the frum world right now. 

The first believes that Moshiach is simply around the corner.  All we have to do is sit and wait and he will save us from all our troubles.

The second believes that the non-Jewish world and their lack of values/non-religious are somehow responsible for this.  And “isn’t it ironic/beautiful, that so many non-religious Jews are being forced to ‘keep Shabbos,' when so many of them (in Israel) have been pushing to open more bus lines on Shabbos?" With that mentality as well... you can sit and wait this out.

The third believe that they are above all this and have "emunah" that because they are good, frum people, they will not be affected.  And besides…what do the government and doctors know?

The fourth believe that something big is going on.  We don’t know what.  But we have what to fear, whether it be the virus or the fallout afterwards.  Is it Moshiach?  Hopefully, but…we’ve been hopeful for centuries now, and we simply have no idea what’s going on.  Hence, each individual should work on some aspect of themselves and do whatever hishtadlus they need to do to stay healthy.

I said this over to a certain talmid chacham the other day and he quipped, “I’m just worried that the first three groups, will end up killing the fourth!”

I received a copy of a very well-written answer from Rav Aron Moss in Australia.  Here’s the first line that he wrote, that sums it up:

“It is not that we have lost our sense of certainty. We have lost our illusion of certainty. We never had it to begin with. This could be majorly unsettling, or amazingly liberating.”

To illustrate his answer, I would compare it to a person who’s been driving for 20 years.  Yes, here and there, he is fearful of this driver or that driver, or perhaps he’s a little too tired.  But overall, he’s not afraid when he enters his car.  Finally, he learns that for the past 20 years, somebody thousands of miles away has been controlling his car the entire time!  Every time he turned the wheel, it wasn’t HE who was turning it, rather, it was somebody else.  Suddenly, he doesn’t want to enter the car!  He’s afraid!  He certainly can’t trust the person controlling the car from such a long distance!

Hashem has been controlling things for thousands of years. He was also controlling things five months ago. He’s also controlling things now.  What’s the difference?  For the past several decades, each of us thought that WE were controlling things. 

A few weeks ago, my wife was told an inspirational story that she read in one of those “emunah” books.  Something didn’t sit right with my wife, and within two seconds of research, she found the story was completely fabricated.  This is not the first time she’s caught this.

She was speaking of this to a friend of hers from the States (without mentioning the title of the book) and her friend said that one of the leading rabbeim in the States said that regarding those emunah  books (he named this one by name), one should assume that many, if not all, are false stories.

Now, she, nor I, never liked these “emunah” books, because they are all stories about people who did this or that mitzvah and BAM!  Hashem changed things around for them, and they got what they wanted.  This is not emunah.  Having emunah means, “Everything that Hashem does for me is for my best, whether I see it or not."  It does not mean, “I just need to do this or that and it will act as a secret code, which will control Hashem to do my will."  Yes, mitzvos serve as merit and can help change one’s predicament, but, they are not a guarantee that you will get something, simply because YOU think it’s for your best.

My wife, who’s in the writing world, wrote to the author of this book.  She pointed out the fallacy of the story and the danger of writing false stories and quite frankly, many of these stories, giving false hope to people who are desperate to see hope in their lives.  It was a nice, professional letter.  He wrote back (something to the point of): “I do try to insure that stories I hear about are true. When I see them written up in periodicals or other books I usually trust them. Will try harder to verify when possible."

Translation…he’s not planning on changing his tune.

When speaking to my rav about this, he told me the following story that he heard directly from the person.  He’s close with a talmid chacham who used to be the driver for Rav Eliashuv.  At one point, a book came out about Rav Eliashuv and he was speaking to Rav Eliashuv about it.  “It should be burned," Rav Eliashuv said, “Most of the stories aren’t even true." "What if those stories still give inspiration to those who need it?  Isn’t that worth it?”

Rav Eliashuv answered, “Inspiration based on falsehood, is not inspiration." 

These are trying times, which, according to the professionals, are not going to be over any time soon.  This is a time where one’s emunah can rise high or fall low.  The first three groups that I mention fall under the category of “Stupid Emunah” or “Emunah based on falsehood."

Sitting around convinced that THIS IS IT, means that you think that you or your source is a prophet and knows exactly what Hashem is doing.  That is false.  Our job is not to bring Moshiach.  It’s to improve our relationship with Hashem.  Let Him worry about Moshiach.  Is this a "stepping-stone" to Moshiach?  I believe so.  Is this IT?  I hope so.  But maybe not?  We’ve been hoping for a long, long time, and have gone through quite a bit before.  And what will happen to those people who believe THIS IS IT, and in another year, he's still not here?  What a terrible thing!  They put all their 'emunah' in one basket....

Sitting around convinced that this is all because of the non-Jewish world or the non-religious is just as stupid.  Again, you’re making yourself a prophet.  And like the above group, you think that you don’t have to do anything since it’s not your fault.

Sitting around believing that you are above all this.  Well, I really don’t know what to say about that.  All the major, leading rabbanim have been coming out and saying to follow the guidelines laid out by the government.  Even at one point, in the beginning, one of the leading rabbanim was telling people to keep the boys schools/yeshivos open, so Torah can be learned.  Yet, at the same time he was still telling people that outside of that, the rules of the government should be followed.  (Shortly after, after speaking directly to government health officials and learning the statistics of the virus, did he agree to shut down the yeshivos.) 

The only proper thing to do is to take this seriously, and instead of looking for "quick fixes" or "quick answers," to sit and focus on yourself and your family and what YOU can do to improve yourself for real.

Throw away the silly "emunah" books and pick up a real one that will help you internalize that whatever Hashem is doing, it’s for our best.

On behalf of the entire Winner family, I would like to wish a hearty mazal tov to the Winner family on the birth of a baby boy last night.

Thankfully, mother & son are healthy and well, and the father is slowly getting back to normal.

Being so, life will be quite hectic over the next few weeks and the weekly dvrei torah will be sporatic. Hopefully, we'll have everything up and running smoothly by Sukkos.

I hope to continue to share good news with everybody, and hopefully we'll have another dvar torah shortly.

I just reread the dvar torah and found some major grammatical mistakes.

Sorry about that!

I know they keep popping up every once in a while, but usually by the end of the week, I'm falling asleep every where, making it harder to catch these things.

Have a great Shabbos!

I hope everybody enjoyed their Pesach. As mentioned previously, my wife and I made our own Seder with only one guest. Both of us were quite worried about how it will turn out on many different levels. First off, we purchased a toaster oven to use in place of our regular oven, and my wife wanted to make a chicken called Chicken Gan Eden (Heaven). However, as time went by and she realized how it was going to turn out, she renamed it, Chicken Gehinnom (Hell). In the end, it turned out quite tasty.

On the spiritual side, the Seder was the best, in all our opinions. The nicest thing about having your own Seder is you can tailor it to where you and your family are holding in life. Plus, you are actively participating in it. We even had to speed up in order to eat the Afikomen in time and finally finished at 1:45 am. Not bad.

Number one rule for Pesach: Make your own Seder.

Okay, on to Torah!
Due to the fact Pesach just ended and I have a flight to the US tomorrow afternoon, we have a very special dvar torah with a very special offer for Frum.org members.

One of the nicest things about being married to an editor is that you get to see all the nice books before everybody else. Last year, my wife worked quite some time on a new book that Feldheim is publishing, called Relevance: Pirkei Avos for the Twenty-First Century by Rabbi Daniel Roth.

When seeing the transcript in pre-production, I thought that this sefer was going to be a tad different from the rest. Rabbi Roth takes several key mishnayos (not all of them), and gives present day examples and stories on how to ingrain them into one’s life, instead of one line commentaries.

Rabbi Roth agreed to allow me to send out an example and has additionally offered any Frum.org member 20% off of the sefer if they wish to buy it. So, we hope you enjoy!


Understanding Current Events
Chapter 1, Mishnah 2: Shimon Hatzaddik was one of the last survivors of the Great Assembly. He used to say: The world stands on three things — on Torah, on tefilla, and on kind deeds.

Imagine archeologists finding the following fragment of an ancient newspaper:
Sodom — Shortly after sunrise yesterday, four cities in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean were destroyed by fire. The cities, known as the most fertile and productive in the Jordan Valley, now lie blackened in cinders and ash.
Emergency forces arrived on the scene immediately but have not yet found any survivors.
Government officials have declared a state of emergency and have issued a statement announcing the formation of a special committee to investigate the cause of the tragedy. The committee intends to report its findings within seven days. It also hopes to include plans to ensure that such a disaster will not be repeated.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, several investigators say that three possible causes of the disaster are being considered: a volcanic eruption from one of the many mountains in the area; an explosion caused by the buildup of hot air; or an act of terrorism.
This last theory is thought to be the most likely, given eyewitness reports that claim a man and three women fled the area just minutes before the explosion. The four escapees are thought to have some connection to the terrorists and were apparently warned to leave in time.
Army personnel and volunteers are searching for the fugitives, who may be able to provide the police with significant leads.

Anyone reading this article would be exasperated by the investigators’ audacity in suggesting that the calamity came about through natural causes, when the Torah clearly tells us that Sodom was destroyed because of its sins.
But the reality is that had Sodom been destroyed today, the experts and investigators would propose the same types of explanations. Newspapers would sensationalize the gruesome details of the disaster, and government officials would look into methods of ensuring that it not reoccur.

Why is it, then, that we laugh at the article and marvel at the foolishness of the investigators when we read similar reports all the time and take them seriously? It is because the real reason for Sodom’s destruction — the intense cruelty of its inhabitants — has been drilled into us from our earliest years and has become so deeply ingrained in our psyches that any purely physical description of the event leaves us incredulous. We know beyond any doubt that it was Sodom’s spiritual failings that caused its downfall, and the physical particulars that led up to the event — the rain, the fire, the exact time of the calamity — are just the methods that G-d used to mete out Sodom’s punishment.

This strong, practically innate feeling we have about the reason for Sodom’s destruction can be used to teach us the proper perspective on world events today. We live in a physical world, in which one can find physical explanations for nearly everything that happens. The more our knowledge of the world increases, the greater our ability to explain in scientific terms why things happen, and why certain actions cause certain reactions. Our understanding of cause and effect has become so sophisticated that many people erroneously believe the world is governed by physical factors alone.
Rising Above the Physical
In our Mishnah, Shimon Hatzaddik tells us that the health of the world and its continued existence rests on these three pillars — Torah, tefilla, and gemilus chasadim. The breakdown of any pillar, such as happened in Sodom, results in destruction. Just as a building that has faulty foundations cannot stand, so, too, a physical world devoid of its spiritual base cannot exist.

This concept is illuminated by our Sages. Chazal comment that when Nevuchadnetzar destroyed the Beis Hamikdash he was merely “grinding already-ground flour.” In other words, he only had the power to destroy the Beis Hamikdash physically because its spiritual counterpart had already been destroyed in Heaven by our sins.

Mordechai and Esther grasped this idea on a fundamental level. When they went about fighting the decree to annihilate the Jews, the first thing Mordechai and Esther did was assemble the entire nation for a day of fasting and prayer, actions that transcend the physical. They understood that until the decree had been eradicated at its root, which was in the spiritual realm, any effort to go to Achashveirosh and beg for mercy in the physical world would be in vain.

These sources demonstrate that the physical world is only a reflection of the spiritual world, and what unfolds down here on earth is just an enactment, a playing out, of what has already been decreed in Heaven.

With this as a cardinal principle of their lives, the Tanna’im lived with a deep feeling that the factors that really affected and controlled their lives were not physical ones, but rather their spiritual counterparts.

For example, when the Tanna’im were asked how they lived such long lives, they didn’t respond with a list of natural explanations — a good diet, country air, and the like — but instead suggested praiseworthy behaviors, middos, that they had maintained throughout their lives.

When Rav Huna’s stock of wine went sour, his friends told him to take a spiritual accounting of his deeds to determine what had brought on the loss. They didn’t try to find a physical cause for the loss, such as the room temperature or the presence of bacteria, but went directly to the spiritual source of the problem.

To be sure, physical explanations must be dealt with. One must not ignore the natural world and neglect one’s body or business ventures, saying that everything is min haShamayim. To do so would be both foolish and sinful. But it is important to understand that one of the tenets of this Mishnah is that the root cause of everything that happens to us is determined by the strength of the three pillars — our Torah study, tefillos, and gemilus chasadim.

Looking back at our news fragment from Sodom, we see that the government’s report on explanations for Sodom’s destruction and possible preventative measures for the future would not have had any lasting effects unless it had investigated the problem at its roots and addressed the spiritual reasons for the tragedy. Similarly, it would be foolish for us to try to resolve the difficulties in our lives by dealing only with the visible causes while ignoring the underlying reasons.

Without prophets, it is impossible for us to know with certainty which spiritual faults are causing which particular troubles. Anyone who points to specific tragedies, claiming that he or she knows the reason G-d does what He does, is sadly misguided.
Nevertheless, by strengthening our Torah study, tefillos, and gemilus chasadim in general, we will alleviate much of the suffering in our lives. As the Mishnah teaches us, these are the three basic areas of life upon which everything stands.
Let us focus on the pillar of chesed, the pillar that crumbled in Sodom.
Understanding Chesed
A wealthy businessman, who was noted for his extraordinary generosity, once became completely overwhelmed by the countless requests for tzedaka he was receiving. He went to consult the Chofetz Chaim on the matter. As he entered the room, the Chofetz Chaim happened to be expounding the verse “Ach tov vachesed yirdefuni kol yemei chayai — May only good and kindness pursue me all the days of my life.” The Chofetz Chaim explained that no man can live out his life in total tranquility, without any headaches or worries. Everyone is chased by some bother, be it repaying creditors, raising children, or battling sickness. Fortunate is the man who discharges his “obligation” by being pursued by charitable causes, such as institutions that harass him for support. This is what the verse means when it says, “May only good and kindness pursue me all the days of my life.”

The businessman understood the message. He returned home reassured and doubled his charitable efforts.

A person often thinks that he will lose out by helping others, that it will drain even more of his already low energy. But the above story demonstrates that a person does not lose by helping others — he only gains by removing some of his own headaches. The hassles and the errands will always be there, but by making the hassles chesed-related, one relieves himself of additional personal problems.

One woman spent several hours a week shuttling her young daughter from one appointment to another, taking her from speech therapy one day to occupational and play therapy the next. The stress began taking its toll, leaving the mother nervous and fatigued. Inspired by this lesson from the Chofetz Chaim, she decided to increase her involvement with chesed and volunteered to drive people to and from hospitals as part of a chesed organization. Her chauffeuring headaches gradually dissipated as she became more involved with chesed, and her daughter’s appointments became unnecessary. Although she had virtually no free time on her hands to do more chesed, she realized that it was precisely then that she stood to gain the most.

We see that for every extra ounce of effort we invest in helping others, we are actually helping ourselves. On the surface, this may seem illogical. After all, if I am already overburdened with my own chores that need to be taken care of, taking time to help others will just consume more of my time and energy. But upon reflection, one realizes that this is logical. We are all G-d’s children and, as any parent will tell you, when one child looks after his sibling or a friend, the parent is filled with greater compassion for the child who extended himself. Thus, by looking after other children of G-d, He in turn looks after us. The midda kenegged midda is obvious: when we do chesed with others, G-d does chesed with us.
Putting Chesed Into Action
Chesed need not necessarily be done outside of the home. Sometimes we overlook those closest to us who may need our help the most — our own brother or sister, son or daughter, husband or wife. Before seeking to help people far away, we should look within our own families.

Furthermore, the chesed need not be enormous. Sometimes the large-scale chesed projects that we plan do not get off the ground, and as a result we miss the smaller, more manageable opportunities that are right under our noses, like smiling at people or giving them a word of encouragement. In a way, these small chasadim are really the most significant. When a person does public acts of chesed and he knows he will receive great honor, his motivation may not be so pure. Because small acts of kindness will not be known to anyone, they are often the truest tests of a person’s character.

One of the greatest forms of chesed is hachnasas orchim. Chazal say that performing hachnasas orchim is even greater than receiving the Shechina, and we are told that whoever fulfills this mitzvah carefully will be blessed with children. Indeed, when someone once asked the Chofetz Chaim for a bracha to have children, the Chofetz Chaim advised him to bring more guests into his home.

When Chazal spoke of hachnasas orchim, they were referring to inviting people from out of town who had nowhere else to eat or stay. Most of our guests today, however, are people who have their own homes, and our inviting them is more of a social affair. While this is certainly a chesed, it would be an even greater chesed to invite people who really need the company, like widows, orphans, those new to Judaism, or students who are far away from home.

What about the Sodom investigation committee? Undoubtedly, it would propose investing great sums of money in developing an early warning system which would prevent another tragedy. But according to what we have learned from our Mishnah, such a proposal would miss the main point. The real cause of the destruction was not a dormant volcano come alive, hot air buildup, or terrorist activity. A lack of chesed destroyed Sodom.

Imagine, however, that one of the members of the committee would have recommended
inviting downtrodden individuals for meals in order to ward off disaster. He would have been laughed out of the room! The other members would cry out, “What on earth will hospitality do? We are talking about implementing the best, most sophisticated, multimillion-dollar surveillance equipment, and you’re sitting here talking about having company?!”

But we know the truth. Had they been hospitable, their city would never have been destroyed. Similarly, by strengthening the chesed we do with one another in our lives, we reinforce one of the pillars of our existence, thereby meriting a greater level of chesed from G-d.

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For more information on Relevance, please visit his website at: http://relevance.co.il/

If you wish to purchase this sefer, please contact Rabbi Roth at info@relevance.co.il and tell him that you’re a Frum.org member, so you can get the discount!

Have a great Shabbos!

Last month, Frum.org received nearly 10,000 unique visitors. We also have 342 people every week receiving dvrei torah. Not bad considering we don't advertise. Being that I try to remain personal on the site, compared to other sites which simply send out a regular dvar torah without any 'personality'; people have the ability to email me whenever they want for whatever reason. Over the years, I have received several types of emails; most of them have put in a good mood for one reason or another.

The 'good mood' emails consist of:
1) Emails complimenting the dvar torah or the site in general
2) Emails with questions
3) Poor grammar. I know, I'm a university graduate, I should know better...
4) Constructive Criticism. I'm human. I don't have too much time on my hands. I make mistakes. Sometimes I say something stupid. Something I write something in a way which could be interpreted as something else. Who knows? When somebody politely corrects me on something, I appreciate it.
5) Emails asking where they can send large amounts of cash to (I'm still waiting for one of these)

The 'bad mood' emails consist of:
1) People whose knowledge of Judaism is severely limited or one-sided and condemn me for something or another, and they happen to be wrong on the issue
2) People who misinterpret or twist my words and become insulted by them

Now this past week, I received an interesting email which surpasses any past email. Are you folks ready? Here we go:

"I have a good mind to contact the authorities in Israel about your anti-Semitic, terrorist supporting website. I bet you and your Nazi pals think you're really clever but I know your game and don't think for a second I am fooled into thinking you are Jewish."

I know, you can go back and read it again, I'll wait...

When I wrote to this individual on what in the world he was talking about, he replied (Please note, there is a Michael Winner in England who's a movie director/producer):

"Your attitude is as fake as everything else about you. Clearly you have made up this character, this "Michael Winner" to create a blog that makes Zionists look like idiots. Pretty pathetic. Couldn't you have chosen a better name than the director of the Death Wish films. Of course I get the pun, calling the character 'Winner', again, trying to be ironic saying all Jews are losers.

It's clear that you are just using your blog to make people think that all Jews are imbeciles. and that there isn't one legitimate argument for the State of Israel. Well, let me tell you this, just because you can post a thousand stupid things to make Jews and Zionists look like they don't have a case for the state of Israel, but it doesn't do anything to the people who care about Israel as no are so shallow and facile as your so-called 'Michael Winner.'"

So here we have a "proud" Zionist and Jew attacking me for not doing anything to the people who care about Israel. It's cute to note that I, who am not a Zionist, live in Israel; and he, the "proud Zionist", lives comfortably in America. I digress...

I continue contact with this individual for some strange reason to figure out exactly what is wrong with him. After using disgusting language, which I haven't heard since high school, he informs me that it was the articles in my Middle East section, which has Rush Limbaugh pieces supporting Israel. He's one of those folks that simply can't believe conservatives support Israel, it seems.

Right after Shabbos, I checked my email to find another email from him explaining that after hearing from me; he was 'just kidding' and was 'playing around with me'. Basically, his first few emails were real, and then he 'played around with me'. He describes himself as somebody who "monitors websites for Nazi content and informing authorities".

I thank him, not only for the amusement that his immaturity has given me, but the idea to write an extra dvar torah, underlying something important:

What is "Jewish"?

There is a certain "Jewish paper", written by a "religious" person in Chicago. His paper, of course, has advertisements for non-kosher restaurants. Some of these restaurants are called "Jewish Style" or "Kosher Style", being bagels and lox, or something along those lines.

Jewish Styled?

So, let’s see... how do we define "Jewish Styled". Do we make it up ourselves? Do we ask look at the non-Jews and see what they think it means? Do we watch "Jewish" movies or read "Jewish" books? Or do we look in the Torah ?

Do you know what Jews have been doing since Sinai? We've been looking in the Torah! Is a restaurant that sells bagels and lox and meat that are not kosher, "Jewish styled"? Well, according to this paper, it is. According to the movies, it is. According to the Torah? Well, if you learn the Torah, or ask somebody who is learned, you will see that it is NOT. Makes you think, no?

Let's take a look at our new 'friend', who is spending time "monitoring websites for Nazi content". He's on a crusade. If you asked him if he thought what he was doing was a mitzvah, I would not be a bit surprised if he answered, "YES! Of course!". Do you want to know something? What he's doing isn't a mitzvah. It's an aveirah (sin). On top of that, what he's doing isn't helping Jews, it's harming them. How so?

I couldn't print out the rest of the emails due to the disgusting language he uses. But the jist seems to be this. He's proud of his Judaism and Zionism. Great...

Do his “Jewish” views enable him to use such language? Does it give him the ability to write such filth to frum people? Does it give him the right to decide to speak such loshon horah?

I've met plenty of folks like this in my life, whose mission in life consists of "fighting Nazis and anti-Semitism". It's all nonsense. If you look in the Torah or Talmud, you won't find anything that says: form vigilante groups and attack people randomly for things you might disagree with politically, and oh yeah, don't follow halacha.

You want to stop anti-Semitism? Fine, follow the Torah.

There are times in which we are commanded to take arms and take physical action, and there are times in which we are not. Those times are not decided by some individual with little Jewish education, but rather by people who have spent their lives in yeshivas perfecting themselves in learning and action.

The Torah commands us, that three times a year (when the Beis Hamikdash was standing) "every male among you must appear before the Presence of the Master, Hashem" (Shemos 23:17). Let's look what happened. Three times, every year, every male above the age of thirteen would leave their homes and go to Jerusalem, or wherever the Mishkan was. That left the ENTIRE country defenseless. All the borders would have been depleted of any Jewish defenders. Yet, we know that never did any other hostile nation around us attack during those times! We did the will of Hashem as He commanded in the Torah, and He fulfilled His promise to us, by keeping us safe.

There are times when Jews need to take political or military action. There are times when we need to operate on the physical level along with the spiritual level. There are religious political parties in Israel and religious Political Action Committees in the United States. What's the difference between them and our 'friend'? Simple. They are following the REAL Jewish way. They follow the Torah and are under the guidance of rabbeim. They work on themselves and their Judaism. They don't do anything contrary to Torah. THIS is the Jewish way of handling problems.

Going out and acting contrary to Torah is not only not Jewish, but also harms Jews. Our proof? Again, let's look in the Torah. In last weeks parsha, Kedoshim, the Torah states, "...I have separated you from all other nations to be for Me" (Vayikra 20:26). Rashi comments that Hashem is saying, "If you separate from them [their non-Jewish ways], you will be Mine. If not, you will belong to Nebuchadnezzar (bad guy) and his friends, and be kicked out of the Holy Land".

Pretty powerful, no?

Straight from the Torah and Rashi. I'm not making this stuff up! When we take on non-Jewish definitions and methods of mitzvos (along with other non-Jewish beliefs and customs), we are separating ourselves from Hashem, and as a result, are delivering ourselves to the Nebuchadnezzars of the generation and losing our grasp of Eretz Yisroel. Again, this is Rashi. Not Michael.

We are living in very interesting times. Our friends in Europe hate us. Our friends in the Middle East hate us. Our friends in many of the universities around the United States hate us. Our 'open minded, peace-loving friends' in Berkeley, California hate us. And we shouldn't be surprised that if one day, the United States turns to hate us. Israel is under pressure that hasn't been seen in a very long time. We are surrounded by a billion people who wish to push us into the sea on three of our borders; and a sea on the fourth border. I cannot tell you how many times I've stopped whatever I was doing to listen to see if that ambulance siren I'm hearing is singular, or plural (meaning another attack occurred). Simply put, we're in dangerous waters.

We can go down several different paths. We can look to America and George Bush. We can look to Congress or the Senate. We can look to the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Defense League, or the World Jewish Congress. We can look to capitalism, communism, zionism, etc... All of these can be looked on to help us define what is "Jewish". But if you want to know what IS Jewish (without the quotation marks) you go to the source of Jewishness: the Torah. Do you want to have proper Jewish behaviour? Do you want to know what is and what isn't a mitzvah? Do you want to know how to properly perform the mitzvah? Do you want to know what the Jewish stance on a social or political question is? Well, go to those who LIVE Torah. Even better, work on yourself to BECOME one of those who live Torah.

As outlined above, the behaviour that this individual displays in the name of Jews, is not only contrary to Torah and Judaism, but harms himself and the rest of Klal Yisroel.

Frum.org isn't about condemning others and praising ourselves. It's about personal growth, "Jewish Styled", if you will. Everybody, whether religious or not, needs it. The point of this dvar torah is not to insult this person for the fun of it, but rather to use his poor behaviour to learn from (which is NOT contrary to the halachos of Loshon Horah). This dvar torah mirrors most of the dvrei torah that have been given over the past six years. It's not about where one is holding in his or her religious commitment now, it's about looking towards the future and pushing ourselves to grow, each on their own level, with a TORAH, or dare I say, a proper JEWISH, mindset.

With that, I wish you all a healthy and enjoyable week!