Tzohar LaTeiva

Hadran Masechet Bikkurim an Seder Zera'im of the Talmud Yerushalmi

2011-12-08T19:59:00.000+02:00

Dedicated to Bat-Sheva bat Chana Bluma and Rephael ben Miryam may Hashem grant them perfect health

With the help of Hashem Yishtabach Shemo, I have finished learning masechet (tractate) Bikkurim, the last tractate in Seder (order) Zera'im of the Jerusalem Talmud. From the beginning of the first tractate, Brachot till the end of Bikkurim there are 11 tractates, almost 400 folio pages which took me almost two years to learn. At first I learned a page a day. When that proved to be impossible, I set aside an hour and a half each day for learning the Yerushalmi. I owe a great debt to Rav Chaim Shpitz, my Rosh Kollel and chevruta for much of this learning, for helping me with his great erudition and especially for his moral support. I also wish to thank Rav Yechiel Halevi Barlev for his commentary "yedid Nefesh" without which I would have been lost in the forest of differing and often contradictory girsaot(textual versions).Also to the Schottenstein team for their exhaustive commentary on several of the tractates.

Seder Zra'im begins with the tractate Berachot-blessings. This seems to have nothing to do with the general subject of the seder-zera'im(seeds) which has to do with the laws pertaining to agriculture and the use of the land in the Land of Israel. Rabbi Yehudah Ha-Nassi began Seder Zra'im with Berachot to emphasize that we can only partake of the produce of the land after we say the approppriate blessing to acknowledge Hashem as the source of all sustenance He began with the blessings of kriat shema, proclaiming the One-ness of Hashem before we even consider partaking of his bounty. And also to say that it is not "kochi ve'otzem yadi" (human strength and striving) which brought us this great bounty.

Berachot begins with the Kohanim- "When do we recite kriat shema? From the time the kohanim enter(the Temple) to eat the teruma" And the seder ends with the laws of how bikkurim (first fruits) were allocated to the Kohanim. Says the Yerushalmi-" Chachamim say that they (the bikkurim) are given to the leading members of the Watch and are then distributed among them as are all kodeshim (Holy offerings)

The Gemarra ends with a discussion of the usage of bikkurim and compares it with the usages that can be made of a Torah Scroll. "We have learned- it is said in the name of RaSHBaG " One can sell a Torah scroll in order to marry a woman, and to learn Torah, how much more so to sustain ones life!" Here he disputes the Bavli where RaSHBag says the opposite-that one cannot sell a Torah scroll for living expenses, It seems that the Yerushalmi is saying if you don't have enough to live how can you marry or learn Torah ?? (my peirush)

"We also learned-One who sells a sefer torah that belonged to his father will never see a blessing from the transaction, but of one who keeps a sefer Torah in his home it is said (Tehillim 112) " Treasure and wealth is his home and his righteousness will last forever."

הדרן עליך מסכת ביקורים וסדרא דזרעים ברחמיו מרובא וסייעתא דשמיא טובא אמן

Postscript to R"M Eilon

2011-11-11T14:44:00.000+02:00

I was wrong. In the end the public prosecutor handed down an indictment against RMEilon. He refused to consider a plea bargain which would have resulted in a sentence with no jail time. He refused because he would not plead guilty to a crime he did not commit.

Last week R' Motti came out with his version of the events. (Can be seen on YouTube) He admits that he hugged those two young men, but not for any sexual satisfaction. Having been on the(receiving end of R'Motti's embrace while it was very emotional, had absolutely no sexual overtones. Rav Motti's style is very physical, something like R'Shlomo CarlebachZL(from whom I also got a hug) .who also would embrace women, again without sexual intent. Rav Motti ;accuses forum Takkana of using half truths and outright lies, and of inciting the accusors to submit a complaint to the authorities 5 years(!) after the events took place. He also related that R'Mordechai Eliyahu ZYA when he read the report of Forum Takkanah he tore it into shreds and told R'Motti that he should ignore it and continue teaching. Rav Eilyahu asked to address the forum but they refused (!!!) By the end of RMottis speech the tears were rolling down my cheeks.

What was the role of R' Aharon Lichtenstein in this travesty? It is reported that he is sorry that he ever got invoved.But it is too late. When R' Mottis innocence is clear to all R'Lichtenstein should be the first come forward in sackcloth and ashes and get down on his knees to beg forgiveness from Rav Mordechai Eilon

The Tzohar Of Rav Mordechai Eilon

2011-10-28T13:07:00.000+02:00

"עת צרה היא ליעקב וממנה יושע"

איכה באה הישוע מתוך הצרה? אותיות צרה הם גם אותיות רצה ו צהר הצדיק מתוך רצון טהור לעשות רצון השם יכול להפוך חשכת צרה לאור הצהר

נועם אלימלך

"It is a time of trouble for Ya'akov and from (within) it he will be saved"

How does salvation come from within the trouble? The letters of the word for trouble צרה are also the letters for the words for will-רצה and tzohar (the light in Noah's ark) צהר

From the pure will to do the will of Hashem a righteous person can transform the darkness of misfortune to the light of the tzohar.

Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhansk-Noam Elimelech

This Shabbat is parashat Noach which is the parasha in which the word "tzohar" appears. I am always on the lookout for a new interpretation of tzohar (I already know of at least ten). My daughter was at the sheva brachot celebration of the marriage of the son of Rav Mordechai Eilon last year on shabbat parashat Noach. She brought home a pamphlet with the dvar torah that the Rav gave which included a new (for me) interpretation of tzohar based on the Noam Elimelech quoted above.

First a few words about R'Mordechai Eilon. I consider him to be one of my Rebbes, one of the three or four Rabbis who most influenced me spiritually. When I was learning in Yeshiva in Yerushalayim I would go every week to hear the shiur he gave in the Yeshurun synagogue.Hundreds would come to this shiur. People would be standing in the aisles and three deep in the back. I would go a half an hour early to get a seat in the front.When Rav Motti (as he liked to be called) came in and took his place at the lectern you could feel the electricity in the air. Then Rav Motti would begin speaking in his deep mellifluous baritone and continue for an hour and a half without notes. His shiurim were a tapestry of pshat plus insights from baalai mussar and chassidut.I have never in my life seen or heard anyone with anywhere near the charsma of Rav Mordechai Eilon. In the quote from Noam Elimelech Rav Motti asks how can one be saved in a time of trouble. He knows whereof he speaks. Several years ago he was accused of "inappropriate behavior" involving two of his students. A self appointed "forum" of rabbanim and other leading personalities of the National Religious sector led by R' Aharon Lichtenstein summoned him for a hearing. Although he denied the charges he agreed to go into "galut" to the settlement of Migdal near the Kinneret. He agreed to this to protect his accusers so their names would not be made public. His talmidim refused to accept this gezeira and flocked to Migdal to hear their Rebbe's Torah. Last year the Forum made the case public and Rav Motti came back to giving shiurim in Jerusalem and elsewhere. His shiurim now lean more toward pnimiut haTorah with Kabbalistic overtones and references to the Chassidic masters formost the Tanya of Admor Schneur Zalman of Lyadi founder of the Chabad movement. In the meantime he has had a hearing by the public prosecutor who has decided there is no case for an indictment.

This background explains why R' Eilon brought the peirush of the Noam Elimelech. From within his own troubles he found the strength to focus his will on disseminating Torah and through the confluence of his will with the will of Hashem he became the tzohar la teivah, to bring the inner light of the Torah to Am Yisrael

Siyyum Masaechet Challah Talmud Yerushalmi

2011-10-26T16:07:00.000+02:00

This siyyum is dedicated to my dear sister Batsheva bat Chana Bluma

and her husband Raphael ben Miryam may Hashem grant them perfect health

With the help of Hashem yitbarach I recently finished the study of another masechet of the Talmud Yerushalmi, masechet Challah. The general subject of the masechet is the mitzvah of hafrashat challah, taking a certain amount of the dough that is made from the five grains (wheat, oats barley spelt and rye) as an offering it to the Cohanim. According to the law of the Torah this is a mitzvah only in Eretz Yisrael but Chazal extended it to chutz laaretz with some differences in the observance of the mitzvah

The last Mishnsh in the masechet deals with the laws of taking challah in chutz laaretz and goes on to compare it to the mitzvah of bikkurim (first fruits) and asks if there is a case where bikkurim can be brought from chutz laaretz.. The gemarra learns the halacha from a case that came before the sages. A certain Jew named Ariston brought bikkurim from Apamia ( a region of Syria) and the sages accepted it. This requires an explanation since the basic law of the Torah is that bikkurim are only brought from Eretz Yisrael. We learned in the Mishna (48A) He who buys land in Syria is as if he bought land close to Jerusalem.That is to say that Syria which was conquered by King David even though it is not part of the inheritance of the tribes promised by Hashem in the Torah, has some of the holiness of Eretz Yisrael and Chazal decided that it is permissable (although not obligatory) to bring bikkurim from those regions of Syria which were conquered by King David. The Bavli (Gittin 8A) says that it is permissable even to ask a non Jew to write a deed on Shabbat for the purchase of land in Syria. The Yerushalmi extends this to the bringing of bikkurim from Syria. The question remains why bikkurim is different than Truma which definitely cannot be brought from chutz laaretz including Syria. This is difficult since in most respects bikkurim is similar to truma. The Yerushalmi explains that the difference is that bikkurim is the sole responsibility of he who brings it. He has the responsibility of bringing the bikkurim to the Kohen in the Temple, whereas truma is left on the threshing floor and the Kohen is himself responsible for taking it. If it were permissible to bring truma from Syria than the kohanim would be tempted to leave Eretz Yisrael and go to Syria to take the truma, and Syria even though it has some of the holiness of Eretz Yisrael it also has tumat eretz ha amim. There is no such problem with bikkurim since it must be brought to the Temple and the Kohen does not go out to get it.

There is another difference between truma and bikkurim. Truma is an obligation that must be given to the Kohen. Bikkurim on the other hand is more an expression of thanksgiving to Hashem for giving us the blessing of sustenence. I would learn a kal vachomer from bikkurim to limud Torah. If we express thanksgiving to Hashem tor granting us earthly blessings how much more so must we thank Hashem for giving us the opportunity of learning his holy Torah, every masechet, perek and pasuk.

Hadran alach masechet Challah

Duchenen- The Priestly Blessing

2011-06-02T19:12:00.000+03:00

And Hashem spoke unto Moshe saying:"Speak unto Aharon and his sons saying:

Thus shall you bless the children of Israel , say unto them

May Hashem bless you and keep you

May Hashem make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you

May Hashem lift up his countenance unto you and grant you peace

So shall they put My name upon the children of Israel and I will bless them"

Num6:22-27

In Parashat Naso, after the laws of the Nazir, the Torah brings the commandment of Birkat Cohanim-the priestly blessing. This is called "duchanen" in Yiddish after the word duchan (originally a hebrew word) which means the platform from which the Cohanim blessed the people in the temple.

I havealways felt that the duchenen holds a special place in the synagogue service. It is said that the Shechina (the appearence of G-d in this world) emanates from the hands of the Cohanim when they bless the people. This is the only ceremony from the Temple that we continue to perform in the synagogue. Just as the Cohanim in the Temple ascended the duchan to bless the people, today they get up in front of the congregation, remove their shoes ( as was required in the Temple), put their talitot over their heads and raise their hands in a special configuration. I always get a spiritual high when they intone the same tripartite blessing that was said in the Temple 2,000 years ago.

One of the privilages of living in Eretz Yisrael is that we have birkat Cohanim every day. In the galut birkat Cohanim is done only during musaf of the holidays. Why is this so? According to the RAMBAM and Sefer Ha-Chinuch, birkat Cohanim is one of the 613 laws of the Torah, and must be said every day.
Rav Tzvi Yehudah Kook ZTZL said that the essence of the blessing is "simcha"(joy or gladness). The Jews in galut lack simcha because of all the troubles and tribulations of living among the Goyim. Only on the holidays is there an atmosphere of joy and gladness as we are commanded "vesamachta bechagecha" (be joyful on your festival) Only then can the Cohanim bless the people. The REMA and the Mishna Brura paskened that in the galut ducchanen is done only on the festivals and yom Kippur.

Harav A.I. Kook ZTZL said:" From the source of exalted unity the divine sovereignty of the commandment (of birkat Cohanim) is revealed in His world as a blessing of love, chesed and rachamim" Only in Eretz Yisrael in the time of the ingathering of the exiles, can that exalted unity be found. This is part of the beginning of our redemption, may Hashem fulfill it speedily and in our days.

Bar Yochai

2011-05-21T21:27:00.001+03:00

Thirty nine years ago like this year Lag B'omer was motzai shabbat.Where was I on that shabbat? Thats right I was in Meron for the Hilulla of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
I wasn't yet 21 years old and just married a couple of months. Risa and I decided along with two other couples to make the trip from Yerushalayim to Meron for Lag B'Omer. No one had a car. We packed everything we needed for 3 days and got on an Egged bus for the North. We arrived at Meron on Friday, set up our tents and got ready for Shabbat together with the hundeds already on Mt Meron near the Holy site where Rashbi is buried.

I will never forget that Shabbat. I dovened with the Sfinka Chassidim. At the end of Kabbalat Shabbat everyone got up to dance. About fifty men, hands linked at the waist and the small of the back formed a circle. Slowly at first we began the dance, a shuffle really. We were singing "pizmon Bar Yochai" Invoking the name of the Holy Tanna "Bar Yochai, nimshachta oshrecha, shemen sasson mechaveirecha" "Bar Yochai you are annointed in gladness" Singing the refrain over and over, stamping one step back and two steps forward. This continued for more than half an hour, but I lost track of time and place. The strangest thing was here I was dressed in a short sleeved white shirt and kippa seruga in the middle of a throng of black coated chassidim wearing fur shtrrimels, but no one looked at me as if I didn't belong. It was as if we weren't in Israel 1972 but were connected to something above and beyond the present. It wasn't hard to imagine that there were Jews who almost 2,000 years before had come to this mountain in the Gallil to bury their Rebbe, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.

Hadran Ma'asrot Yerushalmi

2011-05-19T22:52:00.000+03:00

I once heard from my teacher and rabbi Rav Shlomo Aviner shlita, that a ben-torah must learn all of the written Torah and all of the oral Torah of the Tanna'im at least once in his lifetime. This would include Tanach,mishna, tosefta , midrash halacha and aggada and of course Gemarra Bavli and Yerushalmi.

I had the great zechut of finishing all of the Gemarra Bavli with my rav muvhak Rav Yechezkel Daum ztzl, twice in two cycles of seven years each. Two years ago I started learning Gemarra Yerushalmi with the intention of learning one daf every day. I soon discovered that I would have to devote an entire seder (4hrs) in order to finish a daf every day.There is no Rashi on the Yerushalmi and there are many girsaot often contradictory.Instead of the shakla vetaria (give and take discussion) of the Bavli, the Yerushalmi learns by tradition of rav letalmid with many maaseh rav as examples.In the end I did hattarat nedarim on my intention of doing .daf yomi, but I continue learning Yerushalmi one or two hours a day. So far I have finished Berachot,Peah, Demai, Kilayim,Trumot and most recently Ma'asrot.

I made the siyyum of masechet Ma'asrot in honor of the Yohrtzeit of my father in law, Abe Rich Alav Hashalom. who passed away 11 years ago erev Pesach. Another word for a siyyum is hadran, from the Aramaic meaning to repeat. We give thanks that Hashem has helped us to learn this masechet, may he help us to repeat and learn other masechtot in the future. The subject of Ma'asrot is the mitzvah of tithes, taking 10% of all agricultural produce for the Cohanim and Leviim. The last Mishna in Ma'asrot deals with the obligation of taking ma'aserot from grains and seeds. There are three dinnim:
1-The five grains;wheat oats spelt rye and barley must be tithed d'oreita and even grain that sprouted from what was tithed must again be tithed.
2-Kitniot (legumes) must be tithed derabbanan, and what sprouts from it is exempt.
3- Zir'onei gina (garden seeds) which are not ordinarily for human consumption are exempt from tithes.
The Gemarra brings a maaseh that came before R' Yochanan. A woman was carrying a basket of asparagus, some seeds dropped on the ground which sprouted. The question was asked whether or not maaser must be taken from the sprouts. Rav Yochanan ruled that the sprouts are exempt from all tithes.
One of the the talmidim who was present, Rabi Hiyya Bar Vah said to Rabi Yochanan that it is clear from the Mishnah that asparagus seeds are considered zironei gina and of course the sprouts are exempt even though the vegetable itself must be tithed.Rabi Yochanan replied disparagingly, "You Babylonian! I gave you the oyster and you show me the pearl? Had I not made the ruling you would not have been able to answer! Here we see the Yerushalmi typically learning the din from tradition and case law. We also see some of the tension between the Tannaim of Eretz Yisrael and those of Bavel.

Hadran alach masechet Ma'asrot

Avraham Avinu, Ha-Yehudi Ha-Rishon

2010-10-16T21:33:00.000+02:00

When I was nine years old, in the third grade, we were presented with our first book in Hebrew. It was called Hayehudi harishon The first Jew). It had a drawing on the cover of a family dressed like Arabs, with the children sitting on camels. This was the story of Avraham avinu, the patriarch Abraham.

This was in a Conservative after-school Hebrew school where we learned twice a week after going to public school from 8:00 till 3:00 PM. For almost all the kids this was a real burden and they did it because their parents forced them. From the beginning I was fascinated by learning another language, an ancient tradition that I was connected to. We were chosen, we were special, and I was part of it. Of course I was well aware that we were Jewish. My granpdparents spoke Yiddish, we celebrated the major holidays and the Christians (who my parents called "the Goyim") had their own holidays. But what did it mean? Until then I had no idea. It was just a fact of life.

After learning the aleph-bet and the basic grammar we got our first book and we started learning, in our own special language, about Avraham who at the age of five, wondered who put out the light in the sky in the evening and lit it again in the morning. When one night he saw a lamp burning in a window and he thought that just as the master of the house lit the lamp,the Master of the World must light up the sun. He didn't accept the explanation that the sun itself was a god, and even less that the clay idols that his father produced had anything to do with it. He knew, there must be a God. This simple faith struck a chord in me. At the time I was much too young to put such a thought into words, but looking back, I think that it was really there.

Later I identified with the idea of "Lech lecha" Hashem commanded Avraham to "go forth", to leave behind his homeland and his father's house and go to the "land which I will will show you". In my early teens I decided that the lifestyle of my fathers house would not be mine. The commandments of the Torah meant something real to me, without defining for myself the theological basis. When I was sixteen I read an excerpt, translated into English from Orot by Rav Kook. It changed my life. Here was a coherent, all encompassing view of what it meant to be a son of the Jewish people.It said that Torah was part of peoplehood and it all flowed from Hashem.There was an absolute unity of the universe with the Jewish people and the Land of Israel in the center and Hashem above it all.

Another interpretation says that "Lech lecha" means not to go forth, but to go into yourself, to find your inner self. That is what it meant for me as it had meant for Avraham Avinu, Hayehudi Harishon.

The struggle of Gush Katif: an exercise in futility

2010-07-22T19:48:00.000+03:00

This week is the anniversary of the hitnatkut, "disengagement" from Gush Katif. Thousands of idealistic hardworking Jews including some who had already been expelled from settlements in Sinai, were forcibly thrown out of their homes. Then their once thriving settlements were razed to the ground. The Batei Knesset and Yeshivot were left standing. According to Halacha it is forbidden for Jews to destroy a synagogue. So as soon as we left the Palestinians looted them and set them aflame.May we see Hashem avenge his houses of worship that the sons of Yishmael so wantonly destroyed.

None of the purported goals of the hitnatkut were achieved ; certainly not peace. Instead we got a strengthening of Hamas, a major military campaign (Cast Lead) which destroyed much of what was left of Gaza worsening the suffering of its inhabitants. Then there is the endless suffering of the displaced settlers which continues to this day. The government continually reneged on the promises made to them. Many are still unemployed and live in temporary housing.

With passing years, admittedly with the help of Professor Hindsight, it becomes more and more clear that the struggle to resist the hitnatkut was an exercise in futility. Tens of thousands participated in demonstrations against the government culminating in the march of over 50,000 from Netivot to Kfar Maimon on the way to Gush Katif. There they confronted the police and the army but after a few tense hours the leaders decided not to escalate the violence and the demonstration fizzled out. Meanwhile hundreds infiltrated across the border to strengthen the resistance of the settlers.They were all removed by the army in the next few days. Naively they believed that these actions would have an influence on the outcome of events. It was not to be.

The fact is the fate of Gush Katif was sealed the moment Arik Sharon succeeded in pushing his plan through the government and the Knessest. That is how democracy works if you don't have or don't know how to use political power don't expect to twist the arm of the government to do your will.

We lived in the Golan Heights for 20 years. In the late '80s Yitzhak Rabin proposed a peace plan which included offering to give back the Golan to Syria. A grass roots movement sprang up called H'am im Hagolan (the people are with nthe Golan) A well organized media blitz brought the message to th nation. At the same time political pressure was brought to bear on political elements who had connections to or were sympathetic to the Golan settlements. Within a year Rabin decided that it was politically expedient to shelve his proposals indefinitely.

Why didn't this happen in Gush Katif? The main reason is that while the people were with the Golan, the people were NOT with Gush Katif. It was a struggle waged almost solely by the Zionist-Religious sector. With their moral, political and religious certitude they were convinced that the whole country was behind them but when they looked back they only saw their own soldiers coming to take them away.

Rav Tzvi Tau founder and spiritual leader of Yeshivat Har Ha-mor and the "mamlachti" (statism) trend, said that we must strengthen the state not weaken it. As Rav Kook said "the state of Israel is the basis for the Sechina (presence of G-d) in this world. We can take part in the political process, but once a legitimate government is elected it stands in the place of the Jewish Kings as sovereign rulers of Israel/

I only hope that in the coming struggles in Eretz Israel we will have learn our lesson.

Davening

2010-07-13T02:18:00.002+03:00

I have always had trouble with davening. I never felt that I was talking with our father in heaven or that my prayers were answered. I never felt that I was standing before the king of the universe because really, who am I that the king should summon me to stand before him. So why, you may ask do I daven three times a day? It is because I believe that there is a supreme intelligence, a force in the universe that chose the progeny of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as his emissaries in this world to proclaim his presence and do his will.I have no choice, my soul was at the foot of Sinai and the mountain was suspended above us. There we pledged to obey his commandments and that oath obligates us for all time. I daven because I am commanded to daven, not only because I fear punishment but because I am in awe of something that I can never hope to understand.

The Rambam explains that love of G-d can be compared to the love of a man who is obsessed with a women. She is constantly in his thoughts, he will do anything she asks, he would gladly sacrifice all his worldly goods and even his life for her. But how can a human being express love for that which is not human? Our consciousness fills our being, how can we relate to something that is beyond that consciousness?

The only answer is that we must evacuate that consciousness and seek within that spark of the divine that was part of our souls at Sinai.However if the answer is within us perhaps we are not worshiping Hashem but worshiping ourselves? But then again Hashem created Man in his image and .breathed in him the breath of life. He is part of us. If we remember that then davening can become more than a ritual. It can be an attempt at connecting to that which is within us and thereby begin to approach the One who was is and forever will be the master of the universe.

The Destiny of the Firstborn

2010-06-03T20:34:00.000+03:00

For all the firstborn of the children of Israel

are mine, both man and beast,on the day I

smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I

sanctified them unto me.

And I have taken the Levites in the place of

all the firstborn of the children of Israel.

Bamidbar 8:20

The Torah calls the firstborn (bechor) "petter rechem"- he who opens the womb. He is the first expression of life of the new generation. The next link in the chain of generations of the Jewish People and as such is sanctified to the service of Hashem.. This primogeniture has its expression in all of the living world. The first fruits of the new season, the bikkurim , were brought to the temple on the festival of Shavuot. The firstborn calves and lambs were sanctified and offered to the cohanim.

It is very interesting that the Torah has a very ambivalent attitude towards the firstborn. Cain is the firstborn but Abel is preferred by Hashem. Yaakov has to buy the bechora from Esau. Yaakov's firstborn was Reuven, but Yehudah becomes the leader of the tribes. Ephraim recieves Yaakov's blessing instead of his firstborn brother Menashe in spite of the protests of Yosef..David was chosen as the annointed king even though he was the youngest of his brothers.It seems as if the Torah is telling us that biological primacy is not enough. Leadership must be earned and if the firstborn is not worthy he will not be chosen.

  The most telling example is the displacement of the firstborn of the Exodus by the levites. When Hashem smote the firstborn of Egypt and passed over the firstborn of Israel they were sanctified to the service of Hashem. However when the firstborn of Israel worshipped the golden calf they forfeited their exalted status. In their place the Levites, the tribe of Moshe and Aharon who did not sin at the golden calf were chosen. In spite of this some primal holiness was retained by the firstborn of future generations.That is why we perform the ceremony of pidyon ha-ben ( redeeming of the firstborn) when a firstborn baby is one month old.

  My grandfather and father were the firstborn in their families. I am a firstborn myself, I have a firstborn son and he also has a firstborn son. We are five generations of bechorim. Each of us in his time has expressed the special character of the bechor "he who opens the womb" by breaking out of the mold, not being satisfied with living within the circumstances into which he was born. My grandfather David Fenster was born in Eastern Europe where very likely our ancestors had lived for the past thousand years.He was the first in his family who realized that there was no future for the Jews in Europe. He emigrated to America at the beginning of the last century. My father, Henry Fenster grew up the son of immigrants in Philadelphia. He was the first in his family to join the U.S Army to fight the Nazis and was probably the first Jewish soldier in our family since the Exile. He was seriously wounded in France but baruch Hashem survived the war and came home married and started a family. I grew up in a typical suburban, middle class Jewish home, but for some reason at a very early age the fact of being Jewish became the most important, driving force in my life. I heard the same call as the patriarch Abraham "Go out of your land, the place of your birth, out of your fathers house to the land which I will show you" As soon as I finished high school and turned eighteen I emigrated to Israel.My son Efi was the first in our family to go to Yeshiva and dedicate himself to the study of Torah.

  I don't know yet what challenges my first grandson, Oz, will face. I pray that he will be the first to greet the Mashiach, may Hashem send him speedily and in our days.

Shabbos Gedempte Hin (boiled shabbat meal)

2010-04-27T21:35:00.002+03:00

Here is a recipe for the shabbat brunch meal (seudah shniya)

Ingredients
One whole plump chicken
3 Tblsp olive oil
3 tblsp canola oil
5 medium onions
5 medium potatoes
1 cup kasha
1cup hummus beans (soaked overnight)
4 cloves garlic
black pepper , paprika, cumin

photo by Isramom

Preparation
1-heat oil in a large pot

2-cut up 2 onions and fry them until golden, add the garlic chopped

3- brown the chicken in the same pot on all sides- remove the chicken

4-stir in and lightly fry the the kasha

5- stuff the kasha and onion mixture in the cavity of the chicken and sew it closed

6-place excess kasha in the pot and put the chicken in

7-place the hummus beans, potatoes and onions around the chicken

8- add water to cover 2/3 of the chicken

9- bring to a boil then place on a shabbat hotplate to cook slowly overnight

Feeds six ( or four kineinhurra good eaters!)

Post-Pesach HH

2010-04-14T22:47:00.000+03:00

Go visit Frume Sarah's World where she posted the Haveil Havalim Blog Carnival and see what's going on in the Israeli/Jewish blogsphere.

Click here.

Remembering Chaim-Memorial Day 5770

2010-04-14T22:45:00.001+03:00

I wonder how he would have looked today. Would he be like me, hair grey and thinning, on the heavy side, looking all of his 59 years? Would he have turned out to be a Torah scholar? A professor? Maybe a doctor?

I'll never know, because 40 years ago Chaim Rosenblum HY"D was killed on the bank of the Suez Canal.

I wish I had a picture of him, but It doesn't matter. I remember him as if we had just seen each other this morning. He was a fresh faced kid just a year out of yeshiva high school. We had just finished basic training. Since we were in the N. A. CH. AL (Fighting Pioneering Youth) brigade, we were sent to a new settlement in the lower Jordan Valley. Our job was to patrol the border with Jordan and prevent Al Fatah terrorists from infiltrating. We did a pretty good job along with reserve forces in our sector killing 13 in the first two months, mostly in night ambushes. But this was spring '70 and the real action was in the "war of attrition" with the Egyptians. This was a static war, the two armies dug in on either side of the Suez Canal. Over 30 soldiers were killed there since the beginning of the year. From June our unit had to send a certain number of men to the Canal to reinforce the reservists who were stationed there. Who would go was determined by lot. When the name of one of the guys who wasn't in training with us came up, he said that he had a personal problem, that his only sister was getting married the next week and his leave had already been approved. Everyone knew that this didn't matter, all leaves were cancelled for those who were picked to go to the Canal. Then Chaim stood up and said that he would go in his place. Our commanding officer looked at him and asked if he was sure that he wanted to do this. Chaim said that sure, if he could help this guy, why not? Some of us tried to talk him out of it. Why should he put himself in such danger for someone he hardly knew? It wasn't as if we weren't doing our part where we were. I should explain that Chaim was no gung-ho macho type always looking for action, Just the opposite. He was quiet and spent most of his free time learning Torah. In the end his request was approved and Chaim left the settlement for the Canal.

Our guys were assigned to a lookout built on a bluff above the canal. Their job was to spot the muzzle flashes of the Egyptian artillery and report back so that air strikes could be called in. They were told that if the shells fell within the perimeter of their position they should get down into a fortified dugout called the "rabbit hole" One night soon after he arrived Chaim was in the lookout, manning the telescope when the barrage began. The shells started falling closer but Chaim couldn't see where they were coming from. When the the shells started coming closer the others in the position yelled at Chaim that he should get into the dugout but he said that now he could see the flashes, he had to call them in ! Two minutes later the ground shook as a shell exploded 20 meters from the lookout. When Chaim didn't come into the dugout the others went to the lookout to see what happened to him. They found him unconscious on the floor.a shard of shrapnel had hit him behind the ear and penetrated his brain. He died before he could be evacuated to a hospital.

I have asked myself many times, why him? Although it might sound like a cliché, he was the best of us. I can only say that his death in defense of Israel makes me look at myself and think: have I, in my life, lived for the things he and all the others died for? We all have a lot to live up to.

So along with the people of Israel who remember all the thousands who have fallen, I will remember Chaim.

Passover of the generations

2010-04-06T17:43:00.001+03:00

There are two different Passovers. One is Pesach Mitzraim, the historical Pesach as described in the torah. The other is Pesach dorot, the Passover of the generations, as celebrated by the Jews to remember that first Passover in Egypt.Until the destruction of the temple the central feature of Passover was the sacrifice of the Paschal lamb and the family feast. Today we have the Seder where we fulfill the mitzvah "And you will tell (vehigaditta) your son on that day saying" and the sages of the Talmud explained, when should you tell him? When the matza and maror are before him.. It is at this time and with these symbols that one generation passes on to the next the story of the Exodus from Egypt.

. Some of the fondest memories of my childhood are of our family's sedarim. These were family gatherings where all the aunts and uncles and cousins got together for a big feast. The theme was - Pharaoh tried to destroy us, God saved us - LETS EAT! The kids would compete to see who could eat a spoonful of chrain without smoke coming out of his ears, there would be once a year foods like charoset, hard boiled eggs in salt water and knaidlach, and of course "hide the afikoman. Not an uplifting religious experience, more an ethnic festival. Actually one of the things that sticks in my mind is my uncle Max, a staunch Socialist (maybe even a COMMIE, although no one would say it out loud) .He explained to me how the Passover story was really a saga of the struggle of the workers who had been enslaved by the ruling classes. He might have said something about Moses and Lenin but I cant really remember, I was only 8 or 9 at the time.

This year my son Efi decided that it was about time for him to make a Seder of his own. My parents also made the trip from Philadelphia and we all made the trip south to Mitzpeh Ramon. Later as I looked around the table it struck me. Here we were four generations; my father myself, Efi and his son Oz. It also struck me that we were all bechorim, first born sons. Had we been in Egypt the angel of death would have passed over us as he struck down the first born of Egypt. I had the almost palpable feeling that besides the four generations at the table there were other former generations with us.My father in law Abe alav hashalom who passed away ten years ago on the eve of Pesach had the nachas of his namesake Oz-Avraham asking questions about the Haggadah. And maybe the spirit of David Fenster who I am named after. He was a frimmer Yid and I wonder if in his lifetime he dreamed that his progeny would be sitting around the seder table in the Negev mountains in the Yiddishe medinah singing the same "chad gadya" that he brought over from Europe to America. And over their shoulders all the genereations from a thousand years in Europe and before, back to the second temple and the first exile , and the first temple all the way back to that first Pesach in Egypt.

The cycle of exile and redemption has in this unbroken chain of generations come full circle.On the seventh day of Pesach we had seudat mashiach. He hasn't come yet, but I believe that at the seder we could hear him knocking at the door

Litvishe Purim, Chasidishe Purim

2010-03-08T22:16:00.004+02:00

I am of mixed Ashkenazi descent. My maternal grandparents hailed from Poland-Ukraine where the gefilte fish is sweet, a noodle pudding is called "kigel" and most of the people were followers of the chassidic Rebbes. My father's side were Litvaks, that is they came from the land of Lithuania-Latvia north of Poland on the Baltic sea.They like their fish spicy, they say "kugel" and they were Misnagdim (opponents of the chassidim). The Litvaks were known to be serious, studious and sceptical while the chassidim were pictured as being lighthearted and carefree and somewhat naive in their adoration of their Rebbes.

This year on Purim I was able to get in touch with both sides of my spiritual and cultural heritage.On the Fast of Esther we had a guest speaker at the kollel where I learn. He was the mashgiach ruchani (spiritual mentor) of one of the leading Litvishe yeshivas near us. He gave a mussar schmues (ethical discourse) whose central theme was that Purim is a special time for spiritual reflection and repentance. He used a play on words-Purim Kippurim. Just as the gates of repentance are open on Yom Kippur so they are open on Purim.

The salvation of the Jewish people in the time of Mordecai and Esther and the punishment of Haman and our enemies comes to emphasize how much we are dependent on the grace of God in order to survive in a hostile world. He said that we must reflect on the question of why the Jews of Persia were threatened by a holocaust. How did they incur the wrath of God?

The Megilla tells us that the Jews of Shushan despaired of salvation and did not believe that God would bring them out of the exile.This even though the return to Zion with Ezra had already begun with the proclamation of Cyrus.The Temple had yet to be rebuilt and the new king Achashverosh was hostile to the Jews. When the Jews were invited to the kings inaugural feast they did not even protest when the holy Temple vessels were displayed and desecrated. It was only because of the great sacrifice of Mordecai and Esther and the fact that they gathered the Jewish people together in a moment of unity to plead for Gods mercy, that the decree was annulled."And the Jews had light and joy and gladness and honor".

He continued by explaining the mitzva of drinking on Purim "until one can't tell the diffeerence between cursed is Haman and blessed is Mordecai." This is to be taken as an allegory. All year we must act with reason and control our feelings and imagination.On Purim with the help of wine we can let our imagination reign. Reason alone cannot explain the Purim story.We must use the power of imagination to see how God who is not mentioned explicitly in the Megillah worked behind the veil of seemingly natural events to save his people.

It was with this somewhat somber, Mussardik messaage that I started the Purim holiday. The next day I went to the tisch (holiday table) of Rav Avraham Rubin, a Slonim chassid and spiritual leader of our neighborhood shul. He sat at the head of a long table, decked out in a large fur shtreimel and a long brocaded caftan. People told stories of how the rebbe's blessing on Purim worked wonders. By virtue of being a neighbor I was honored with a seat at the table close to Rav Rubin. A large beaker of wine was poured for the Rav. He blessed it drank from it and passed it around the table. A giganic baked salmon was set before him he ate a piece and the rest was passed around. Fat baked chickens were brought to the table which the Rav tore apart and handed out to those sitting at the table.Others crowded around him trying to get a portion that he blessed. The atmosphere was joyful and even boisterus. Every few minutes someone raised a glass lechaim and the Rav said" a freilichen Purim". There was wine, brandy and 100 proof slivovitz..Here the drinking wasn't allegorical and sining took the place of spiritual reflection.

Which is the right path? Litvishe Mussar or Chassidishe celebration? Our great teacher Harav Kook ZTZL believed that there was a synthesis of the two paths. He said that now is the time for the disciples of the Vilna Gaon to join hands with the disciples of the Ba'al Shem Tov to bind the wounds of past struggles and come together to take part in the redemption of Israel.

Fringes Of Royal Blue

2010-02-24T22:52:00.000+02:00

In Parashat Teruma it is written" Make a sanctuary for me and I will swell within you" This is usually interpreted as meaning not that I will dwell within IT but I will dwell within you, in your hearts. Rashi however interprets more literally Make a sanctuary for me:Make me a holy house and I will dwell therein.

But we must ask the question:How can G-d's presence be limited to one place? Does not G-d's presence imbue the whole world? The tabernacle was a microcosm symbolizing the whole world of creation. It was constructed from all the basic components of creation:

Mineral-gold silver and copper

Vegetable-acacia wood and linen

Animal-wool and skins

Every component comes together in perfect harmony as in G-d's universe.

The great nineteenth century commentator MALBIM explained that every detail of the tabernacle reflects a detail of the six days of creation. But it seems we have left something out, the most important component: Man the pinnacle of creation. This is the inner meaning of “make me a sanctuary and I will dwell within you” make me a place for my presence to dwell and you will be able to get in touch with the divine spirit within you.

Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch explained that the colors of the tabernacle were also illustrative of the building blocks of creation

white linen-vegetable

scarlet thread- animal (a dye extracted from worms)

purple- human the color of flushed skin

and last techelet (sky blue) representing that which is above the comprehension of our senses - the Divine. The techelet dyed in the wool of the priestly garments and coverings represents the divine element which can be seen by our eyes. It is the divine which connects with the pure human spirit which looks upward to the blue of the heavens.

Techelet is also the royal blue as is described in Megillat Esther. “And Mordecai was led out in royal attire of techelet...”

Of course there is the techelet of Tzitzit. We say in the kriat shema and you shall make fringes on the corner of your garments and you shall put on the fringe of the corner a thread of techelet you will see it and remember my commandments.

About twenty years ago a group of researchers and rabbis announced that they had discovered the source of the biblical techelet extracted from the Murex snail found on the Mediterranean sea shore.

There is much dispute among halachic authorities on the matter of the newly discovered techelet. Some were against others said it is a mitzva to put a string of techelet in the tzitzit. There are two arguments against techelet one expressed by Rav J.B.Soloveitchik ZTZL who said it is impossible to renew a mitzvah which had been lost for over a thousand years since there is no chain of tradition. Rav Avraham Kahana Shapira ZTZL said that we can use science and technology to reconstruct the lost art of dying with techelet. Another argument against using techelet was expressed by Rav Shlomo Aviner who said it is arrogant to wear techelet when so many torah luminaries have not accepted it. Rav Dov Lior answered Rav Aviner saying that Arrogance (yuhara) is a subjective concept determined by the the mindset of the wearer and the beholder and therefore should not be taken into account. Today important Rabbis such as R' Lior, Drori, Simcha Hacohen Kook, Re'em Hacohen And Rabbi Herschel Shachter all wear techelet.

Rav Kook ZTZL said that techelet is the color which intensifies and focuses our sense of sight. A few years ago scientists did a study on the nature of colors. They measured the frequency of light waves that were refracted through different colors and put them on a scale from 1 to 1000. The number of the color techelet was...613 corresponding to the number of commandments in the torah.

The Rebbe of Ruzhin who thought that he had discovered techelet at the end of the nineteenth century said that when the mitzvah of techelet is renewed it is a sure sign that the mashiach is on his way. May Hasshem bring him speedily in our days!!!

Pharaoh's plea to the heavenly court: "G-d made me do it"

2010-01-27T21:27:00.001+02:00

And G-d strengthened Pharaohs heart and he pursued them

Parashat Beshalach Shemot 14:4

Every year at the Pesach seder, after reciting the plagues Hashem visited on Egypt the wise son says " Why should Pharaoh be punished ?.Hashem hardened his heart so he had no choice. Isn't free will one of the central ideas in Judaism?"

This is a very difficult question which has occupied Jewish thinkers from the time of the sages of the talmud to our times.
Rambam explains that since Pharaoh hardened his own heart in the first plagues Hashem punished him by revoking his ability to repent.The problem with this interperetation is that it negates the idea of freedom of choice without which reward and punishment are meaningless.

The chassidic view is that Hashem hardened Pharaoh's heart in order to bring more plagues upon him thereby weakening his evil inclination, and allowing his conscience which is part of his soul created in the divine image to assert itself. This is similar to how the halacha deals with a recalcitrant husband who refuses to grant his wife a divorce. The problem is that the halacha says that the husband must give the get (bill of divorce) of his own free will. What can the court do? They can flog him until he says " I will" (grant the divorce) How can this be considered acting of his own free will? We believe that deep down every Jew wants to do the right thing,that is commanded by Hashem in the torah and ruled by the court, but the layers of gashmiyut (corporeality) prevent his soul from expressing the divine spark inside him.The lashes break down his physical resistance so that his real spiritual self will break through.

The great nineteenth century commentator Malbim, does not accept the premise that Hashem revoked Pharaoh's free will.He said that on the contrary any normal person after suffering such terrible plagues would have broken down and done whatever Hashem ordered him. Hashem strengthed his heart so that in spite of the plagues he could search his conscience and repent, or decide to continue his evil rebellion against G-d and try to destroy the people of Israel as they were fleeing Egypt.This is expressed in the torahs use of the word chizakti-stregthened, to describe how Hashem inflenced Pharaoh's actions.

But is there such a thing as absolute free choice? The great scholar and thinker, HaRav A.I. Kook answered this question in two ways.First he said that it is a fundamental principle that the very essence of our nature is our total free choice. However he also said that the free choice of everyday life is never absolute, every free movement is comprised of a multitude of compulsions which hinder its freedom and force it in certain directions. He explains that the only entity in the universe with absolute unfettered free will is Hashem. Man, created in his spiritual image has free choice within the confines of the human condition to choose between good and evil. An example of this is that I did not choose to be born a Jew, but I chose to embrace my Jewishness, to choose a life of torah and mitzvot.

Another point that Harav Kook makes is that only the individual has free choice. On the other hand the collective, and espescially the Jewish people, is driven by the Divine choice of the people of Israel to recieve the torah and bring the word of Hashem into the world. As a people we cannot escape our destiny. In this sense Pharaoh really did not have any choice. In the end he could not stand in the way of the destiny of the Jewish people. He thought of himself as a god. He thought that he could impose his will on the world and on its Creator.

He found out that there is one Supreme Will which was, is, and forever will be the master of the universe.

Whats in a name ?

2010-01-16T22:48:00.000+02:00

And these are the names of the children of Israel
   Exodus 1:1

And I was seen by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (and known to them as) E-l Shadai but by my name
Y-H-W-H I was not known to them
   Exodus 6:2

   I have been following with some interest and not a little amusement the ongoing discussion in America on the following question: What do American Jews who are neither Charedi or Conservative or Reform or unaffiliated call themselves ?
   There is MO (Modern Orthodox),LWMO (left wing Modern Orthodox),RWMO(you guessed it) PO(post Orthodox, or maybe perhaps Orthodox) and finally OO ( open Orthodox).
   Confused? Me too. Although to be fair here in Israel we have or own names: Charedi, Dati leumi, Chardali(relatively new) and mesorati.

Are there any names that have a real meaning? Exodus is Shemot, the book of Names. It begins with the names of the tribes, the sons of Israel , each having a special meaning relating to a special destiny, and continues with the names of G-d who we can only know through His attributes as expressed in His names.

HaRav Kook ZTZL explains (in Midbar Shur derasha 32)That the different names of G-d express the interaction of G-d with the Jewish people, its land and its destiny. Abraham Isaac and Jacob were spiritual giants chosen by G-d to bring His word into the world.G-d promised each of them, in turn father son and grandson That He would give them the land of Israel as an eternal posession but instead we see that Jacobs sons were forced by famine to leave the land of Israel and go down to Egypt. Why was this so? G-d was revealed to the 3 forefathers from behind the veil of nature. This is the meaning of the name El Shadai. In Hebrew the word Dai means enough. It was enough for G-d to reveal Himself to them through his attribute as the master of nature "El" Only later after slavery, exodus and receiving the tora on Mt Sinai when Israel became a nation could G-d reveal Himself as the master of time Who was, is and and forever will be as expressed in the name Y-H-W-H. Only then would his promise to Abraham be fulfilled. The eternal G-d would give the eternal land to his eternal people, the People of Israel.

The Dati Dillema

2010-01-12T21:01:00.000+02:00

"We are commanded to inheret the land that Almighty G-d gave to our forefathers and not to leave it to other nations or desolate as it is written in the tora (Num 33:53) 'And you will conquer the Land and settle it for to you I have given you the Land to settle it' " (RAMBAN,lacunae to Sefer HaMitzvot,4)

"Do not hate your brother in your heart.Rebuke, rebuke your fellow and you will not bear his sin" (Leviticus 19,17)

On my recent trip to the visit family in the US during the Hanuka holiday I felt very alienated. Not so muich from Santa and Xmas trees but from the American Jewish community and specifically from the Modern Orthodox community. They seemingly have it all - affluence,successful torah institutions, good relations with their Gentile neighbors, great influence and impact on American society, economy and culture. But on closer inspection we see that Orthodox Judaism in America is in a great dillema and to put it bluntly is living an illusion.

How can a religious Jew in America say three times a day "and He shall gather us together from the four corners of the earth to our land" and each time we finish a meal say " the Merciful One will break the yoke (of foreign domination) from our neck and lead us upright (to independence) in our land"

What can this be compared to? A child asked his father to take him to the circus. After much pleading the father agrees. As they reach the bus, the child starts crying "But Daddy, you said you were taking me to the circus!" They finally arrive but the child is still screaming "Take me to the circus!!" This is when he receives a well deserved slap from his father. "Ungrateful son, I have brought you to the place you wanted, bought the ticket and made others give up their seat so you could have a place to sit." This is how Rav Teichtel in his book "Eim Habanim S'meicha" tried to explain the cause of the Shoah - the KBH arranged history so the return to Zion could take place in time to save the Jews of Europe but unfortunately the vast majority including all geddolei tora refused to acknowlege the clearly miraculous turns of history that eventually brought the State of Israel into being.

A notable exception was Harav Kook ZTZL, head and shoulders above the others of his generation who in 1923 implored the Jews of Europe to come to Israel to avoid destruction (see derasha b'Hurva, Yerach Eitanim, Mossad HaRav Kook) It is hard to see today a physical Shoah taking place in America, however a 'silent holocaust' is taking place. In fifty and certainly 100 years the 5 million plus Jewish community will most likely dwindle to a few hundred thousand Haredim and Modern Orthodox.

If a large number of American Orthodox Jews would make aliya it would have a unique and very positive effect on Israeli society.
The return of the Jewish People to the Land Of Israel is no longer a dream.Sixty years and more of struggle and sacrifice have made it a reality.Every Jew has a part to play in the saga of the return of our people by the grace of G-d to our land.

As Rav Kook ZTZL said over 80 years ago in his holy spirit. The shofar of redemption is sounding who can ingnore it??

My New Blog!

2010-01-11T16:17:00.002+02:00

"And G-d said to Noah ...make a tzohar for the ark" Gen6-16

Rashi explains-tzohar, some say it was a window others say it was a gem that gave them light.

By some strange coincidence, the same week that I decided to set up my own blog several leading rabbis of the charedi community declared a cherem (ban) on all use of the Internet. They think that they can build an ark, for their community, seal it hermetically and thus save themselves from the flood of the degenerate culture raging around them. But they forgot one important part of the ark-the tzohar, that miraculous portal, made of precious stone which filtered and amplified the meager light during the darkness of the flood so those inside would not be totally cut off from the world outside. The tzohar was not a one way mirror, it was also meant to take the light of the righteous inside and return it to the world outside. The tora by using the word teiva for the ark shows us how this can be done. The Hebrew word teiva also means the written word. The word of G-d given to us in the tora is our tzohar, the prism through which we see the world. The tora lets in and amplifies those sparks of holiness in the world and through it gives that light back to the world.

I hope that with G-ds help I will be able to share some of the insights that Ihave learned from my teachers. In the profile I stated my occupation as "talmud scholar" but I am only a scholar(talmid chacham) in the sense that I have had the privilege of learning from scholars much greater than I (talmid shel chachamim.)