Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer הרב יוסף גבריאל בקהופר
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Toras Purim 5768: Chur, Karpas u'Techeles, part 3
Chur is from the Aramaic Chivra, i.e., white.
Karpas, as we know from the Seder, is green.
Techeles is blue.
The Ramchal (Sha'arei Ramchal p. 414) says that the four main colors are:
White = Chesed
Red = Gevura
Green = Tiferes
Blue = Malchus.
Obviously, in terms of Megillas Esther, red = Haman (Edom). The tikkun comes from the other three primary colors: CKuT.
shuv ra'isi, from the Maggid Meisharim to Vayakheil, u'Baruch she'kivanti:
Karpas, as we know from the Seder, is green.
Techeles is blue.
The Ramchal (Sha'arei Ramchal p. 414) says that the four main colors are:
White = Chesed
Red = Gevura
Green = Tiferes
Blue = Malchus.
Obviously, in terms of Megillas Esther, red = Haman (Edom). The tikkun comes from the other three primary colors: CKuT.
shuv ra'isi, from the Maggid Meisharim to Vayakheil, u'Baruch she'kivanti:
והלא רזא דאחשורוש בשנת שלש למלכו עשה משתה וכו' היינו דבעא למינקט שפעא דנחית מלעילא דלא ישפע במטרוניתא אלא בסיטרא דיליה ומתמן ינגיד למטרוניתא כמא דאמרית לך בפסוק לחצוב להם בורות בורות נשברים וכו' וז"ס הטלת זוהמא. ולקבל עדרי צאן רובצים עליה דמנייהו אתי לך שפעא, עבד ההוא משתייא בשנת שלש למלכו, והיינו דכתיב חור כרפס ותכלת, דחור רמיז לחסד, וכרפס לת"ת, ותכלת רמיז לכנסת ישראל, בחבלי בוץ היינו תפארת, על גלילי כסף חסד, מטות זהב וכסף, מטה רמיז לכנסת ישראל, זהב וכסף, רמיז לחסד וגבורה. על רצפת בהט ושש ודר וסוחרת רמיז לארבע רגלי המרכבה. דהיינו מאי דאמור רבנן ישראל שבאותו דור נתחייבו כלייה מפני שנהנו מסעודתו של אותו רשע. דליכא למימר דמשום דאכלו מאכלות אסורות איחייבו דהא כתיב והשתייה כדת וכו'. כלומר דעל פי דת כל אחד ואחד היתה השתייה דישראל דאסור להם יין נסך ויין של גוים לא הוו משקיין להו אלא מיין של ישראל ושמשין ישראל הוו מזגין להון. וכן מיכלי דיהבי להו לישראל הוו בשילי ליה ע"י ישראל דלא הוו אנסי להו למיכל ולמשתי מאי דאסר להו. וז"ש אין אונס והיינו דכתיב לעשות כרצון איש ואיש. אבל חובא דילהון אע"ג דאוכלין ומשקין הוו דהתירה מ"מ כיון דמסעודתו של אותו רשע נהנו הוי כאלו כנסת ישראל ינקא מההוא סטרא. ובהכי גרמו לאטלא זוהמא בכנסת ישראל.
Toras Purim 5768: Chur, Karpas u'Techeles, part 2
The Seforim tell us of parallel dimensions called Olam, Shanah, Nefesh: Space, Time, Souls.
CKuT correspond to these three:
Chur represents the nefesh's tikkun, defeating Amalek.
Karpas represents the shanah's tikkun, as Pesach was the time of Haman's downfall.
Techeles represents the olam's tikkun, as techeles came from the border region of Zevulun, and when the nations of the world came to trade with Zevulun, they would eventually come to convert (see Rashi in V'Zos HaBerachah). This Kiddush Hashem is the tikkun for the Chillul Hashem of the border region of Dan (in which Pesel Micha ended up later) which was the me'asef l'kol ha'machanos in the Midbar - over which Amalek achieved some supremacy.
Last year we were ma'arich me'od on the significance of 95. and the connection of Amalek to Kayin. (see http://rygb.blogspot.com/2007/03/toras-purim-5767.html). This year we need to add the Medrash Bereishis Rabbah22:12 (courtesy of my BIL, R' Chaim Brown shlita):
וישם ה' לקין אות רבי יהודה ורבי נחמיה רבי יהודה אמר הזריח לו גלגל חמה א"ר נחמיה לאותו רשע היה מזריח לו הקב"ה גלגל חמה אלא מלמד שהזריח לו הצרעת היך מה דאת אמר (שמות ד) והיה אם לא יאמינו לך ולא ישמעו לקול האות וגו' רב אמר כלב מסר לו אבא יוסי בן קסרי אמר קרן הצמיח לו רב אמר עשאו אות לרוצחנים רבי חנין אמר עשאו אות לבעלי תשובה רבי לוי בשם רבי שמעון בן לקיש אמר תלאו ברפיון ובא מבול ושטפו שנאמר (בראשית ח) וימח את כל היקום אשר על פני האדמה כד"א ויקם קין וגו':
Two parallels: First, the kelipah of Amalek is a kelev (pri Tzaddik, Beshalach);
[יד] ענני באמת ישעך. הוא על פי מה שאמרו (ויקרא רבה פר' כא) ישעי ביום הכיפורים שאז הישועה מבחינת יובלא עלמא דאתי עלמא דחירו מחילת עונות והוא הישועה. ושבת קדשתו מכל הזמנים. שכלול בשבת קדושת כל המועדים שהם ו' ימי החג ב' ימי פסח ושבועות וראש השנה סוכות ושמיני עצרת (וכמו שנתבאר ויצא מא' ג וש"מ) ויום הכיפורים שבת שבתון. שבת שיכולים ישראל לעשות מקרא קודש ולקבוע בו קדושת שבת והוא ישעי מחילת עונות. ושבת יש בו גם כן מחילת עונות כמו שאמרו (שבת קיח ע"ב) דאפילו עובד עבודה זרה כאנוש מוחלין לו. אך ביום הכיפורים איתא (יומא כ.) השט"ן גימטריא שס"ד וכו', ביומא דכיפורי לית ליה רשותא לאסטוני. ובכלל שס"ד הימים יש השבתות גם כן. והרי שבשבת יש לו רשות לאסטוני. אבל בסעודה זו שאומרים לבר נטלין ולא עאלין הני כלבין דחציפין, והיינו עמלק שהוא קליפת כלב כמו שאמרו בזוהר הקדוש (ח"ב סה א) שהוא כלב נובח ומקטרג על ישראל. ובגמרא (מגילה יג ע"ב) ליכא דידע לישנא בישא כהמן וכו', שכל הקטרוגים שאמר נתכוין לקטרג מלמעלה עליהם ישנו מן המצות ורבנן עם א' הם. שזה קליפת עמלק לקטרג על ישראל. ובסעודה זו אין רשות להם לקטרג כמו ביום הכיפורים ועל כן אומרים לבר נטלין וכו'. ולכן בתפלה שכנגד סעודה זו אומרים ענני באמת ישעך שהוא כמו ישעי ביום הכיפורים שמתבטלין כל הקטרוגים. וזוכין לישועה באמת:
Secondly, the "rifayon" - corresponding to Refidim.
But there's more:
95 is 5 short of 100 - perfection (the gematria of HaMalcah - the Hashro'as HaShechinah). The five is the two parallel systems of the five olomos (including Adam Kadmon) and the five parts of the neshomo - the HaMelech/Haman 95 issue is resolved by our Avodah - the Heh Basro'oh of the Shem Havayah - l'saken olam b'Malchus Sha-dai.
CKuT = 1430.
95x15(the hashpo'oh of the Yud and the Heh Kadmo'oh in the Shem Havayah) = 1425.
Through the tikkun of the Heh Basro'oh kana"l we accomplish the all-encompassing tikkun of CKuT. (1425 is also the numerical value of the pesukim Yeshayahu 66:7 and Zechariah 2:11; ayain sham heitev.]
[Purim Torah - not Toras Purim! - Alert: 1430 also =
יחי אדוננו מורנו ורבינו מלך המשיח לעולם ועד
but it also =
אני ואתה נשנה את העולם (courtesy of http://www.c2kb.com/gematria/).]
There is much to be added, but not right now. May we be zocheh to the tikkun of CKuT!
CKuT correspond to these three:
Chur represents the nefesh's tikkun, defeating Amalek.
Karpas represents the shanah's tikkun, as Pesach was the time of Haman's downfall.
Techeles represents the olam's tikkun, as techeles came from the border region of Zevulun, and when the nations of the world came to trade with Zevulun, they would eventually come to convert (see Rashi in V'Zos HaBerachah). This Kiddush Hashem is the tikkun for the Chillul Hashem of the border region of Dan (in which Pesel Micha ended up later) which was the me'asef l'kol ha'machanos in the Midbar - over which Amalek achieved some supremacy.
Last year we were ma'arich me'od on the significance of 95. and the connection of Amalek to Kayin. (see http://rygb.blogspot.com/2007/03/toras-purim-5767.html). This year we need to add the Medrash Bereishis Rabbah22:12 (courtesy of my BIL, R' Chaim Brown shlita):
וישם ה' לקין אות רבי יהודה ורבי נחמיה רבי יהודה אמר הזריח לו גלגל חמה א"ר נחמיה לאותו רשע היה מזריח לו הקב"ה גלגל חמה אלא מלמד שהזריח לו הצרעת היך מה דאת אמר (שמות ד) והיה אם לא יאמינו לך ולא ישמעו לקול האות וגו' רב אמר כלב מסר לו אבא יוסי בן קסרי אמר קרן הצמיח לו רב אמר עשאו אות לרוצחנים רבי חנין אמר עשאו אות לבעלי תשובה רבי לוי בשם רבי שמעון בן לקיש אמר תלאו ברפיון ובא מבול ושטפו שנאמר (בראשית ח) וימח את כל היקום אשר על פני האדמה כד"א ויקם קין וגו':
Two parallels: First, the kelipah of Amalek is a kelev (pri Tzaddik, Beshalach);
[יד] ענני באמת ישעך. הוא על פי מה שאמרו (ויקרא רבה פר' כא) ישעי ביום הכיפורים שאז הישועה מבחינת יובלא עלמא דאתי עלמא דחירו מחילת עונות והוא הישועה. ושבת קדשתו מכל הזמנים. שכלול בשבת קדושת כל המועדים שהם ו' ימי החג ב' ימי פסח ושבועות וראש השנה סוכות ושמיני עצרת (וכמו שנתבאר ויצא מא' ג וש"מ) ויום הכיפורים שבת שבתון. שבת שיכולים ישראל לעשות מקרא קודש ולקבוע בו קדושת שבת והוא ישעי מחילת עונות. ושבת יש בו גם כן מחילת עונות כמו שאמרו (שבת קיח ע"ב) דאפילו עובד עבודה זרה כאנוש מוחלין לו. אך ביום הכיפורים איתא (יומא כ.) השט"ן גימטריא שס"ד וכו', ביומא דכיפורי לית ליה רשותא לאסטוני. ובכלל שס"ד הימים יש השבתות גם כן. והרי שבשבת יש לו רשות לאסטוני. אבל בסעודה זו שאומרים לבר נטלין ולא עאלין הני כלבין דחציפין, והיינו עמלק שהוא קליפת כלב כמו שאמרו בזוהר הקדוש (ח"ב סה א) שהוא כלב נובח ומקטרג על ישראל. ובגמרא (מגילה יג ע"ב) ליכא דידע לישנא בישא כהמן וכו', שכל הקטרוגים שאמר נתכוין לקטרג מלמעלה עליהם ישנו מן המצות ורבנן עם א' הם. שזה קליפת עמלק לקטרג על ישראל. ובסעודה זו אין רשות להם לקטרג כמו ביום הכיפורים ועל כן אומרים לבר נטלין וכו'. ולכן בתפלה שכנגד סעודה זו אומרים ענני באמת ישעך שהוא כמו ישעי ביום הכיפורים שמתבטלין כל הקטרוגים. וזוכין לישועה באמת:
Secondly, the "rifayon" - corresponding to Refidim.
But there's more:
95 is 5 short of 100 - perfection (the gematria of HaMalcah - the Hashro'as HaShechinah). The five is the two parallel systems of the five olomos (including Adam Kadmon) and the five parts of the neshomo - the HaMelech/Haman 95 issue is resolved by our Avodah - the Heh Basro'oh of the Shem Havayah - l'saken olam b'Malchus Sha-dai.
CKuT = 1430.
95x15(the hashpo'oh of the Yud and the Heh Kadmo'oh in the Shem Havayah) = 1425.
Through the tikkun of the Heh Basro'oh kana"l we accomplish the all-encompassing tikkun of CKuT. (1425 is also the numerical value of the pesukim Yeshayahu 66:7 and Zechariah 2:11; ayain sham heitev.]
[Purim Torah - not Toras Purim! - Alert: 1430 also =
יחי אדוננו מורנו ורבינו מלך המשיח לעולם ועד
but it also =
אני ואתה נשנה את העולם (courtesy of http://www.c2kb.com/gematria/).]
There is much to be added, but not right now. May we be zocheh to the tikkun of CKuT!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Toras Purim 5768: Chur, Karpas u'Techeles, part 1
Chur, Karpas u'Techeles (CKuT), just may well be the three most important words in Megillas Esther. They represent the three major aveiros in the Torah.
Chur (Miriam's son) - was killed in the course of the Chet Ha'Egel.
Karpas - according to Reb Tzadok, the Karpas and saltwater at the Seder represent, respectively, the "kotz v'dardar tatzmiach lach" and "b'zeias apecha tochal lachem - i.e., the Chet of Adam HaRishon.
Techeles - was given in Parashas Shlach as part of the tikkun of Chet HaMeraglim.
All three are Amalek related:
Chur - together with Aharon held up Moshe's hands in the war against Amalek.
Karpas - as the Gemara says in Chullin, "Haman min ha'Torah minayin? Ha'min ha'eitz."
Techeles - the Ma'apilim in Parashas Shlach were smitten by Amalek.
They represent the "Big Three" - HaKinah, ha'Ta'avah v'ha'Kavod.
Chur - (Egel) kavyachol, a chet of Kinah, as Hashem says after the chet (and as He said in the Aseres Hadibros):
כִּי לֹא תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה לְאֵל אַחֵר כִּי יְדֹוָד קַנָּא שְׁמוֹ אֵל קַנָּא הוּא
Karpas - (Eitz HaDa'as) a chet of Ta'avah, as is stated (=Arayos):
וַתֵּרֶא הָאִשָּׁה כִּי טוֹב הָעֵץ לְמַאֲכָל וְכִי תַאֲוָה הוּא לָעֵינַיִם וְנֶחְמָד הָעֵץ לְהַשְׂכִּיל
Techeles - (Mergalim) kavyachol, a chet of Kavod, as Hashem says after the chet:
וְאוּלָם חַי אָנִי וְיִמָּלֵא כְבוֹד יְדֹוָד אֶת כָּל הָאָרֶץ
Of course, we're just getting warmed up here, but for tonight lets end with a gimatria:
CKuT = 1430 =
(Melachim I 8:60):
לְמַעַן דַּעַת כָּל עַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ כִּי יְדֹוָד הוּא הָאֱלֹהִים אֵין עוֹד
and
(Mishlei 3;16):
אֹרֶךְ יָמִים בִּימִינָהּ בִּשְׂמֹאולָהּ עֹשֶׁר וְכָבוֹד
(to be continued, IY"H)
Chur (Miriam's son) - was killed in the course of the Chet Ha'Egel.
Karpas - according to Reb Tzadok, the Karpas and saltwater at the Seder represent, respectively, the "kotz v'dardar tatzmiach lach" and "b'zeias apecha tochal lachem - i.e., the Chet of Adam HaRishon.
Techeles - was given in Parashas Shlach as part of the tikkun of Chet HaMeraglim.
All three are Amalek related:
Chur - together with Aharon held up Moshe's hands in the war against Amalek.
Karpas - as the Gemara says in Chullin, "Haman min ha'Torah minayin? Ha'min ha'eitz."
Techeles - the Ma'apilim in Parashas Shlach were smitten by Amalek.
They represent the "Big Three" - HaKinah, ha'Ta'avah v'ha'Kavod.
Chur - (Egel) kavyachol, a chet of Kinah, as Hashem says after the chet (and as He said in the Aseres Hadibros):
כִּי לֹא תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה לְאֵל אַחֵר כִּי יְדֹוָד קַנָּא שְׁמוֹ אֵל קַנָּא הוּא
Karpas - (Eitz HaDa'as) a chet of Ta'avah, as is stated (=Arayos):
וַתֵּרֶא הָאִשָּׁה כִּי טוֹב הָעֵץ לְמַאֲכָל וְכִי תַאֲוָה הוּא לָעֵינַיִם וְנֶחְמָד הָעֵץ לְהַשְׂכִּיל
Techeles - (Mergalim) kavyachol, a chet of Kavod, as Hashem says after the chet:
וְאוּלָם חַי אָנִי וְיִמָּלֵא כְבוֹד יְדֹוָד אֶת כָּל הָאָרֶץ
Of course, we're just getting warmed up here, but for tonight lets end with a gimatria:
CKuT = 1430 =
(Melachim I 8:60):
לְמַעַן דַּעַת כָּל עַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ כִּי יְדֹוָד הוּא הָאֱלֹהִים אֵין עוֹד
and
(Mishlei 3;16):
אֹרֶךְ יָמִים בִּימִינָהּ בִּשְׂמֹאולָהּ עֹשֶׁר וְכָבוֹד
(to be continued, IY"H)
Monday, March 17, 2008
A nice piece on Makom Kavu'a based on our Shiur from one of our outstanding talmidim
מקום קבוע
מאת משה אריה אפפעל
תלמיד במתיבתא שעי ישיבת רבנו יצחק אלחנן
במסכת ברכות, דף ו עמוד ב כת': "אמר רבי חלבו אמר רב הונא, כל הקובע מקום לתפלתו אלקי אברהם בעזרו וכשמת אומרים לו אי עניו אי חסיד מתלמידיו של אברהם אבינו". והגמרא מבארת שלומדים מ"עמד שם" שאברהם קבע לעצמו מקום קבוע לתפלה.
לכאורה יש להתקשות למה אומרים על הקובע מקום לתפלתו שהוא "חסיד"? המהרש"א מסביר, "וראוי לומר עליו אי חסיד כו' שזו ממדת חסידות הוא שמבקש צרכיו ממדת הרחמים ואין פונה פניו לבקש גדולות בדרך אחר". הרי שלפי המהרש"א החסידות הינה במה שמבקש ממדת הרחמים ונשאר במקום אחד, כי איש זה שקובע מקום לתפלה בוטח שיקבל כח מהקב"ה באשר הוא שם, ולא חושב להרבות את "ההשפעה" ע"י שיתפלל. דאדרבה, שמא ע"י שינוי מקומו יאבד את הכח הזה מאת ה'.
רבינו יונה מסביר שקביעת מקום לתפלה זאת מדת ענוה. ולפי רבינו יונה אומרים עליו שהוא חסיד כי הוא כל כך מדקדק בתפלתו שאפילו יש לו מקום קבוע לכך. ואהבת תפלה כזאת, שהיא ממדת ענוה, הינה חסידות. ומוסיף רבינו יונה שלהשיג מעלה זאת צריך רק לקבוע תפלתו בית כנסת מיוחדת, ואין צריך מקום מיוחד בבית כנסת. רק כשמתפלל ביחידות בבית צריך מקום מיוחד. אכן הרא"ש מחולק עם רבינו יונה, כי הרא"ש סובר שצריך גם לקבוע מקום מיוחד בתוך בית הכנסת.
והנה באנציקלופדיה תלמודית ערך "בית כנסת" כת' שהמאירי סובר שאינו יכול לאסור את המקום קבוע שלו על חברו. וכת' שגם בזה הרא"ש מחולק, כי הרא"ש סובר שיכול כל אחד לאסור את מקומו הקובע על חברו. ויש עוד מחלוקת, בין הספר החסידים ובין הרא"ש, על ירושת המקום קבוע. ובאנציקלופדיה תלמודית כת' שהרא"ש סובר "שכל אחד מוריש את מקומו בבית הכנסת לבנו". אכן בספר החסידים סי' תתיא להפך, שאב לא יוכל להוריש את המקום שלו לבנו. וצ"ע ביסודות מחלוקות אלו.
נראה דנקודת כל המחלוקות האלו היא המחלוקת בין הרא"ש ובין רבינו יונה על העיקר של מקום קבוע. רבנו יונה סובר שקביעת המקום הזאת באה להרבות את הכוונה. ולפי זה רק צריך בית כנסת קבוע. וכאשר מבואר בדברי רבינו יונה: "בית כנסת...כולה מקום תפלה היא", דיש יותר כוונה בתוך כל הבית הכנסת. אכן הרי הרא"ש סובר כמו שכתוב בנו ר' יעקב בטור בהלכות תפלה סימן צח: "וקביעות מקום כמו קרבנות שכל אחד קבוע מקומו לשחיטתו ומתן דמיו". הרי שלשיטת הרא"ש והטור צריך מקום מיוחד בבית כנסת כי בקרבנות כל אחד ואחד קבוע מקום מיוחד לעצמו. ולכן לשיטת הרא"ש, כשם שכל משמרה בביהמ"ק היה לה טבעת וחלון מסוים משל עצמו, כך כל מתפלל צריך שיהיה לו מקומו הקבוע משלו. ולכן יכול לאסור אותו על חברו. וכשם שכל משמרה הורישה את טבעתה ואת חלונה לדור הבא, כך אדם מוריש את מקומו לבנו. ונראה לעומת כך דהמאירי סובר כרבנו יונה, שאין צריך מקום מיוחד בבית כנסת (דא"צ לזה כדי להרבות בכוונה),ולכן אין לו מקום שיכול לאסור. גם נראה שהספר החסידים סובר כרבנו יונה, דעיין בספר אשי ישראל פרק ט הלכה טו שהביא הלכה למעשה: "גם אם הוא אנוס ומתפלל בביתו יקבע לו מקום תפלתו כדי שלא יפריעו לו בני הבית". וגם כת' שם בהלכה יח: "שלא יקבע את מקומו בח' טפחים הסמוכים לפתח כניסת בית הכנסת אם פתח זה פונה ישירות לרשות הרבים כיון שיש לחוש שיסתכל החוצה ולא יכוון היטב בתפלה". לפי זה מובן היטב למה הספר החסידים (אשר פסק האשי ישראל כוותיה ג"כ) פסק שאב לא יכול להוריש את מקומו קבוע לבנו, כי המקום הזה רק הביא לריבוי כוונת האב עצמו ולא כוונת הבן, והבן צריך לקבוע מקום לעצמו כדי להרבות את כוונתו, דלא שייך לירש כוונה – ומקום כוונה – מאביו, ודוק.
ולפי"ז הרא"ש יכול לתרץ גמ' קשה בירושלמי. דבברכות ירושלמי דף לה עמוד א כת': " א"ר תנחום בר חנינא צריך אדם לייחד לו מקום בבית הכנסת להתפלל". וכת' שם בדף לז עמוד א: "א"ר יוחנן המתפלל בתוך ביתו כאילו מקיפו חומה של ברזל מחלפה שיטתיה וכו'". הרי שבירושלמי יש הו"א שיש סתירה בין המאמרים. אכן מסקנת ירושלמי שאין כאן סתירה כי "כאן ביחיד וכאן בציבור". ואנחנו לא נדע מה הסתירה בהו"א ומה התירוץ במסקנא. אכן לפי שיטת הרא"ש יש לבאר את הסתירה, שבדף לה אומרים שתפלה בבית שפיר דמי, ואילך בדף לז אומרים שתפלה בבית לאו שפיר דמי. ולפי הרא"ש מיישב הירושלמי שאין כאן סתירה, שאין צריך מקום קבוע בבית כי בית אינו מקדש מעט כבית כנסת.
[יש עוד כמה ביאורים בירושלמי. הפני משה סובר שבדף לה אומרים שתפלה בבית כנסת שפיר דמי, ובדף לז אומרים שתפלה בבית שפיר דמי. וביאר הפני משה את יישוב הירושלמי: "כשמתפלל ביחיד...טוב לו להתפלל בביתו...כאן בציבור ... יתפלל בבהכ"נ עמהם". הרי שלפי הפני משה אין כאן סתירה כי בדף לה מדברים על תפלה בציבור ואילו בדף לז מדברים על תפלה ביחידות. ובספר שערי תורת ארץ ישראל ביאר את הסתירה שבדף לה אומרים שתפלה בבית שפיר דמי, ובדף לז אומרים שתפלה בבית אינו שפיר דמי. ולפי השערי תורת ארץ ישראל מיישב הירושלמי את הסתירה שבבית ש"ד רק אם יש לו מנין. והר"ש סיריליאו ביאר את יישוב הירושלמי: "דאפי' דאורחיה להתפלל בתוך ביתו ידקדק שיהא בשעה שהציבור מתפללין". והיינו דלפי הר"ש סיריליאו אין כאן סתירה, שבבית ש"ד רק כשהיחיד המתפלל בבית מתפלל בשעה שהציבור מתפללין.]
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
FW: Shiur by Rav Avraham Schorr on Merkaz Attacks - Must Hear
From: Dixie Yid [mailto:dixieyid@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 1:40 PM
To: dixieyid@gmail.com
Subject: Shiur by Rav Avraham Schorr on Merkaz Attacks - Must Hear
I
have posted an embeded player and a link to downloading this brief
shiur by Rav Avraham Schorr, son of Rav Gedalia Schorr and compiler of
Ohr Gedaliyahu, which he gave right after the Merkaz Harav attack. It
puts everything in perspective for us and to me and shows, by
example, how a real Jew with a heart feels when something happens to
the Jewish people.
-Dixie Yid (http://dixieyid.blogspot.com)
Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox: http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Sub=225916.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
More Belz
By Rabbi Ron Yitzchok Eisenman
Why I am a Chasid of the Belzer Rebbe Shlita.
As many of you remember, I have spent many a happy moment in the court of the Rebbe of Belz Shlita. Indeed, I once waited till 2:30 a.m. to be received by him. I still remember the incident vividly. I was told I had a 9:30 p.m. appointment. At 9:30 the Gabbai contacted me that the Rebbe was running late and I should arrive at about 11 p.m. When I arrived, the waiting was packed full of people and the Gabbai informed me that the Rebbe was still quite back-logged. I went back to where I was staying and at 1:30 a.m. I called the Rebbe’s Gabbai to inform him of my inability to remain awake any longer as I had a 7 a.m. flight back to the States the next morning with my children and mother. The Gabbai said, “I’ll call you when you are next, if you are still awake come, you won’t regret it”. At 2:20 a.m. the phone rang, it was the Gabbai. “Come right now, the Rebbe is waiting”. I threw my clothes on, grabbed a cab and off I sped, half asleep to the Rebbe of Belz.
The Rebbe received me warmly and calmly. I felt as if it was two o’clock in the afternoon as the Rebbe was cheery and vivacious and showed no signs of the fact that he had been seeing people for hours and hours already. The Rebbe inquired as to the size of my kehilla and family and gave me a Brocha that I should be zoche (privileged) to spend more time in Eretz Yisrael. I left feeling uplifted and inspired.
The next morning when I arrived at the airport with my wife, children, mother and twenty suit cases, a man came over to me and asked me if I would agree to be ‘bumped’. He offered all of us- my wife and I, our five children traveling with and us and my mother, a free El-Al round-trip voucher to be used any time in the year; a free hotel stay for the ‘extra’ night in Israel, a paid taxi to and from the hotel and one more night in Eretz Yisrael. The decision was not a hard one to make, and as I left with my family to our hotel, I kept thinking about the Rebbe’s Brocha the night before.
However, that is not why I am a Chassid of the Belzer Rebbe.
I had always been intrigued by the Rebbe of Belz. Not because I have any connection to Belz or Belzer Chassidus. My family originated in Lita (Lithuania) and arrived in Yerushalayim with the Talmidei HaGra over two hundred years ago. I have no Chassidic blood in me. As far as I know I am a Litvak (Lithuanian Jew) through and through. Why then do I have a fascination with Belz? It is historically inspired. When I was about 17 years old, I came across a small Hebrew book which gave a first hand account of how the previous Belzer Rebbe, Rav Aharon Zt”l, was secretly spirited out of the Ghetto in Europe in the midst of the inferno.
I remember how inspired I was by his love of all Jews. When I read that his oldest son, Moshe was thrown into the flaming Shul with other Jews of the Ghetto and he and the rest of the Jews in the Shul were sacrificed on the flaming altar in the Shul, I was moved to tears. However, when I read that the Rebbe never observed his son’s Yahrtzeit even though the date was known to him for he would often say, “how can I observe my one’s son’s Yahrtzeit when millions of my brothers have no Yahrtzeit to be remembered by”, I was moved towards awe and admiration.
However, that is not why I am a Chassid of the Rebbe of Belz.
Rav Yitzchak Halevi Herzog the Chief Rabbi of then Palestine, was personally and intimately involved in securing the Rebbe’s arrival in Eretz Yisrael as the British controlled the keys to the gates of Eretz Yisrael back then. Rav Herzog spared no effort to obtain the necessary documents to get the Rebbe to the land of Israel. When the Rebbe finally reached Damascus in 1944 and was about to complete the final leg of the journey, Rav Herzog was leaving the land to try to save the Jews in Europe. Rav Herzog detoured to Damascus to first greet the Rebbe. The Rebbe, who in order to insure his safety, was clean shaven and wearing non-Chassidic- Western type clothing, allowed, as a sign of gratitude, Rav Herzog’s son Chaim to be photographed with him. This was the only time the Rebbe allowed himself to be photographed with a clean shaven face.
A few years later, when the Rebbe, who had lost his first wife and all of his children in the inferno that engulfed Europe, remarried, he insisted that Chief Rabbi Herzog officiate at the wedding. Reb Aharele of Belz was not a Religious Zionist as Rav Herzog was and represented; however, he was a religious Yid, and he knew that Hakaras HaTov (gratitude) cuts across ideological boundaries and therefore Rav Herzog was the one the Belzer Rebbe charged with officiating at his wedding.
When this incident became known to me, I was moved to great wonder and esteem of this man and his Chassidus.
However, that is not why I am a Chassid of the Rebbe of Belz.
The Rebbe, Reb Aharele, had no more children. His younger brother, Reb Mordechai who also managed to escape with him, also remarried in Israel after the war. Although Reb Mordechai died young in 1949 at the age of 47, he did have one son with his second wife; that son, who was named Yissachar Dov and was born in 1948, would eventually succeed his uncle Reb Aharele, as the next Belzer Rebbe when his uncle died in the 1957.
Rav Yissachar Dov, the present Belzer Rebbe, was childless for quite a while. After almost ten years of marriage he was privileged to have his one and only child, a son named Mordechai.
This past week was the celebration of the Rebbe’s oldest grandson’s bar mitzvah. Thousands upon thousands of Chassidim attended. In many ways it was the culmination of the celebration of the victory of Belz over the Nazis. Belz: which had been destroyed during the war; Belz: whose Rebbe came to Eretz Yisrael as a broken and bereaving individual; Belz: whose Rebbe never had any more children; Belz: whose Rebbe’s brother dies when his only son in just one year old; Belz: who the present Rebbe was left an orphan at one year old, and whose uncle, the former Rebbe dies when he is nine years old and who he himself was only privileged to one son after many years of marriage; was now celebrating a simcha.
The Chassidus is no longer on the brink of decimation Chas V’Shalom; quite the opposite, the Chassidus is thriving with thousands and thousands of Chassidim vying for the Rebbe’s attention.
On Thursday the attack occurred. The Rebbe upon hearing the news stopped seeing anyone and secluded himself in his room to daven and say Tehillim. Even though thousands of Chassidim had arrived from all over the world to participate in his Simcha, the Rebbe stopped what he was doing and had to daven for those in need.
On Friday he attended the levaya of those who were killed.
On Sunday he personally went with his son to visit the wounded in the hospital.
The Belzer Rebbe is not a religious Zionist. He does not ascribe to the philosophical world view of Rav Kook. He does not agree with all of the hashkafos of Yeshiva Mercaz HaRav.
However, he is a caring and feeling Jew; and he knows that when one Jew is hurting, all Jews are hurting. He knows that when part of the body has been injured, the entire body must show its concern. He knows that ideological differences do not impact on concepts such as concern and compassion. He loves all Jews, irrespective of how they dress and if they are Belzer Chassidim or not.
That is why I am a Chassid of the Rebbe of Belz.
"If not now, then when"- Hillel
Ron Yitzchok Eisenman
Rav, Kehillas Ahavas Yisrael
Congregation Ahavas Israel
181 Van Houten Avenue
Passaic, NJ 07055
973-777-5929
Why I am a Chasid of the Belzer Rebbe Shlita.
As many of you remember, I have spent many a happy moment in the court of the Rebbe of Belz Shlita. Indeed, I once waited till 2:30 a.m. to be received by him. I still remember the incident vividly. I was told I had a 9:30 p.m. appointment. At 9:30 the Gabbai contacted me that the Rebbe was running late and I should arrive at about 11 p.m. When I arrived, the waiting was packed full of people and the Gabbai informed me that the Rebbe was still quite back-logged. I went back to where I was staying and at 1:30 a.m. I called the Rebbe’s Gabbai to inform him of my inability to remain awake any longer as I had a 7 a.m. flight back to the States the next morning with my children and mother. The Gabbai said, “I’ll call you when you are next, if you are still awake come, you won’t regret it”. At 2:20 a.m. the phone rang, it was the Gabbai. “Come right now, the Rebbe is waiting”. I threw my clothes on, grabbed a cab and off I sped, half asleep to the Rebbe of Belz.
The Rebbe received me warmly and calmly. I felt as if it was two o’clock in the afternoon as the Rebbe was cheery and vivacious and showed no signs of the fact that he had been seeing people for hours and hours already. The Rebbe inquired as to the size of my kehilla and family and gave me a Brocha that I should be zoche (privileged) to spend more time in Eretz Yisrael. I left feeling uplifted and inspired.
The next morning when I arrived at the airport with my wife, children, mother and twenty suit cases, a man came over to me and asked me if I would agree to be ‘bumped’. He offered all of us- my wife and I, our five children traveling with and us and my mother, a free El-Al round-trip voucher to be used any time in the year; a free hotel stay for the ‘extra’ night in Israel, a paid taxi to and from the hotel and one more night in Eretz Yisrael. The decision was not a hard one to make, and as I left with my family to our hotel, I kept thinking about the Rebbe’s Brocha the night before.
However, that is not why I am a Chassid of the Belzer Rebbe.
I had always been intrigued by the Rebbe of Belz. Not because I have any connection to Belz or Belzer Chassidus. My family originated in Lita (Lithuania) and arrived in Yerushalayim with the Talmidei HaGra over two hundred years ago. I have no Chassidic blood in me. As far as I know I am a Litvak (Lithuanian Jew) through and through. Why then do I have a fascination with Belz? It is historically inspired. When I was about 17 years old, I came across a small Hebrew book which gave a first hand account of how the previous Belzer Rebbe, Rav Aharon Zt”l, was secretly spirited out of the Ghetto in Europe in the midst of the inferno.
I remember how inspired I was by his love of all Jews. When I read that his oldest son, Moshe was thrown into the flaming Shul with other Jews of the Ghetto and he and the rest of the Jews in the Shul were sacrificed on the flaming altar in the Shul, I was moved to tears. However, when I read that the Rebbe never observed his son’s Yahrtzeit even though the date was known to him for he would often say, “how can I observe my one’s son’s Yahrtzeit when millions of my brothers have no Yahrtzeit to be remembered by”, I was moved towards awe and admiration.
However, that is not why I am a Chassid of the Rebbe of Belz.
Rav Yitzchak Halevi Herzog the Chief Rabbi of then Palestine, was personally and intimately involved in securing the Rebbe’s arrival in Eretz Yisrael as the British controlled the keys to the gates of Eretz Yisrael back then. Rav Herzog spared no effort to obtain the necessary documents to get the Rebbe to the land of Israel. When the Rebbe finally reached Damascus in 1944 and was about to complete the final leg of the journey, Rav Herzog was leaving the land to try to save the Jews in Europe. Rav Herzog detoured to Damascus to first greet the Rebbe. The Rebbe, who in order to insure his safety, was clean shaven and wearing non-Chassidic- Western type clothing, allowed, as a sign of gratitude, Rav Herzog’s son Chaim to be photographed with him. This was the only time the Rebbe allowed himself to be photographed with a clean shaven face.
A few years later, when the Rebbe, who had lost his first wife and all of his children in the inferno that engulfed Europe, remarried, he insisted that Chief Rabbi Herzog officiate at the wedding. Reb Aharele of Belz was not a Religious Zionist as Rav Herzog was and represented; however, he was a religious Yid, and he knew that Hakaras HaTov (gratitude) cuts across ideological boundaries and therefore Rav Herzog was the one the Belzer Rebbe charged with officiating at his wedding.
When this incident became known to me, I was moved to great wonder and esteem of this man and his Chassidus.
However, that is not why I am a Chassid of the Rebbe of Belz.
The Rebbe, Reb Aharele, had no more children. His younger brother, Reb Mordechai who also managed to escape with him, also remarried in Israel after the war. Although Reb Mordechai died young in 1949 at the age of 47, he did have one son with his second wife; that son, who was named Yissachar Dov and was born in 1948, would eventually succeed his uncle Reb Aharele, as the next Belzer Rebbe when his uncle died in the 1957.
Rav Yissachar Dov, the present Belzer Rebbe, was childless for quite a while. After almost ten years of marriage he was privileged to have his one and only child, a son named Mordechai.
This past week was the celebration of the Rebbe’s oldest grandson’s bar mitzvah. Thousands upon thousands of Chassidim attended. In many ways it was the culmination of the celebration of the victory of Belz over the Nazis. Belz: which had been destroyed during the war; Belz: whose Rebbe came to Eretz Yisrael as a broken and bereaving individual; Belz: whose Rebbe never had any more children; Belz: whose Rebbe’s brother dies when his only son in just one year old; Belz: who the present Rebbe was left an orphan at one year old, and whose uncle, the former Rebbe dies when he is nine years old and who he himself was only privileged to one son after many years of marriage; was now celebrating a simcha.
The Chassidus is no longer on the brink of decimation Chas V’Shalom; quite the opposite, the Chassidus is thriving with thousands and thousands of Chassidim vying for the Rebbe’s attention.
On Thursday the attack occurred. The Rebbe upon hearing the news stopped seeing anyone and secluded himself in his room to daven and say Tehillim. Even though thousands of Chassidim had arrived from all over the world to participate in his Simcha, the Rebbe stopped what he was doing and had to daven for those in need.
On Friday he attended the levaya of those who were killed.
On Sunday he personally went with his son to visit the wounded in the hospital.
The Belzer Rebbe is not a religious Zionist. He does not ascribe to the philosophical world view of Rav Kook. He does not agree with all of the hashkafos of Yeshiva Mercaz HaRav.
However, he is a caring and feeling Jew; and he knows that when one Jew is hurting, all Jews are hurting. He knows that when part of the body has been injured, the entire body must show its concern. He knows that ideological differences do not impact on concepts such as concern and compassion. He loves all Jews, irrespective of how they dress and if they are Belzer Chassidim or not.
That is why I am a Chassid of the Rebbe of Belz.
"If not now, then when"- Hillel
Ron Yitzchok Eisenman
Rav, Kehillas Ahavas Yisrael
Congregation Ahavas Israel
181 Van Houten Avenue
Passaic, NJ 07055
973-777-5929
Monday, March 10, 2008
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Zehr Gut Gezohgt
Murdered in a house of God
Near Amman this weekend, the Jordanian authorities ordered relatives of the killer who on Thursday night gunned down eight students at Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav Yeshiva to dismantle the mourning tent they were setting up in his honor.
The murderer's uncle was both horrified and ostensibly baffled. "The Jordanian authorities' decision is unjustified and doesn't make sense," complained Muhammad Abu Dhiam. "My nephew carried out a heroic operation against an extremist Zionist college that calls for killing Palestinians… We were hoping that people would come to congratulate us on the martyrdom of my nephew. This is a heroic operation that must be celebrated by everyone here."
That the gunman's relative could consider it "heroic" of his nephew to have cold-bloodedly killed young men whose crime was to be studying in a Jerusalem religious educational facility, to have indifferently shot them dead at close range, is horrifying enough. That the vicious assault has been widely reported and understood this weekend as the purported latest round in a "cycle of violence" is evidence of a failure to recognize what is truly at stake here.
It has been suggested repeatedly in international coverage of the attack that Israel must have known something like this would happen in the wake of the IDF's operation in Gaza earlier in the week. Attack, it has been said, begets counter-attack, begets reprisal, begets revenge, and on it goes.
In truth, however, there is no cycle of violence. There is no spiral of attack and counter-attack relentlessly unfolding here.
What we have, rather, on the one hand, is a sovereign nation's desperate effort to live in its homeland, seek peace with those of its neighbors who will partner it, and defend itself against those who seek its destruction. And, on the other, we have the forces of militant Islam, firing rockets across Israel's sovereign borders, murdering Israelis wherever they can be found vulnerable, indoctrinating their people with a vicious intolerance of Jewish historical rights in this region, and simultaneously spreading a perverted interpretation of Islam that purports to require each and every believer to carry out personal jihad in the name of God against the infidels - be they Jews, Christians or unbelieving Muslims.
Jerusalem's Mayor Uri Lupolianski declared in a service eulogizing the victims of Thursday's murderous spree, "The murderer did not wish to target them alone, but rather each and every one of us, each and every resident of the holy city of Jerusalem." The remarkably reborn sovereign state of Israel, emblemized by its capital Jerusalem, is indeed anathema to this extremist mindset. And the leaders of Hamas, still firmly committed to their ruthless, Israel-disavowing charter, make no secret of this.
True to the commitment in its declaration of independence, Israel has been prepared to reach out its hand even to those, like Hamas, who have sought its destruction. Its only conditions for such dialogue, for the opening of a path to reconciliation, are that Hamas recognize Israel's right to exist, accept previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements, and abandon terrorism. A leadership more interested in the well-being of its own people than in cultivating hatred against ours would self-evidently accept those conditions and seek a path of progress that would benefit both. Hamas adamantly refuses to follow any such course. Instead, it dispatches killers into Israel, orchestrates suicide bombings, and places Palestinian civilians on the frontline by firing rockets at Israeli homes from residential areas.
Only the most superficial or deliberately skewed assessment of that reality would conclude that it constitutes some kind of violent cycle. For plainly, were Hamas and its chief state backers and facilitators, Iran and Syria, to cease their genocidal incitement against Israel and the relentless orchestration of violence against it, there would be no bloodshed.
Far from having any interest in perpetuating conflict, Israel has relentlessly sought reconciliation, eagerly pursuing even the more improbable avenues for progress. Those who share the goal of a tranquil region, a safer world and the defeat of Islamic extremism must see Thursday night's yeshiva assault for what it is: the deliberate, inevitable consequence of an Islamist machine producing murderers whose instinctive humanity has been so overwhelmed by the indoctrination of hatred as to enable them to gun down blameless youngsters in a house of God.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1204546432215&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
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Friday, March 07, 2008
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