Yud Tet Kislev

On Yat Kislev, The Admour HAzaken got freed from a Soviet Jail. Its considered the new year of Chassidut. It is also on that year that Rav Neriyah ZTSAL passed away.When Rav Neriyah ZATSAL was very sick, Harav Motty Elon SHLITA went to visit him. What he didn't know was that the doctors had just announced to Rav Neriyah that he would die soon. Rav Neriyah then decided to leave the hospital to go back to his house, his yeshiva, to die surrounded by his books of torah. When Rav Elon saw the commotion at the hospital, he asked a doctor what was going on. The doctor told him of Rav Neriyah's decision and Rav Elon decided it was not a good time to visit the Rav. He would come back another day.

Rav Neriyah's wife then saw Rav Elon and told her Rav Neriyah would be extremely happy to see him! Rav Elon did not know exactly how to say no so he went to see Rav Neriyah.

As he entered the room, he had a very awkward feeling. What can you say to someone who is about to pass away? So he stayed silent. Then, Rav Neriyah started singing: "Oz Vehadar Levusha, Vatishak Leyom Acharon" - a passage from Eshet Chayil which means "With Strength and Splendor, She laughs at the final days (the days of the mashiach, through prophecy)". He sang and sang and Rav Elon felt more and more awkward. Then Rav Neriyah ZATSAL asked Rav Elon why he wasn't singing and Rav Elon didn't know what to answer! Then Rav Neriyah told him, Oh! If you don't sing, it is because you don't understand what I am singing. He then explained himself: "Keshe Adam Chai Im Oz Vehadar kol Chayav, Az Yithak Bayom Haazcharon" - When a person lives his whole life with Strength and Splendor, then he will laugh on his final days. And so, since Rav Neriyah lived his whole life with Strength of the Torah and the Splendor of the Mitsvot, he was laughing, and singing in his final days!May we all merit to accomplish amazing things in our lives which will enable us to laugh and sing in our final days. May our lives be lives which help developp am Israel into Mamlechet Kohanim Vegoy Kadosh - a kingdom of priest, a holy nation. May great men such as the Admour Hazaken, Rav Neriyah ZATSAL and Harav Motty Elon SHLITA keep on inspiring us... Amen! more...

How Shtarkness destroyed the beit hamikdash

This is the continuation of the topic from a previous post: http://www.tsmicha.com/2007/11/to-be-shtark-or-to-be-emet-true.htm I got some positive response so I thought of going a bit deeper the subject.

Why was the first Sanctuary destroyed? Because of three [evil] things which prevailed there: idolatry, immorality, bloodshed. […]

But why was the second Sanctuary destroyed, seeing that in its time they were occupying themselves with Torah, [observance of] precepts, and the practice of charity? Because therein prevailed hatred without cause. That teaches you that groundless hatred is considered as of even gravity with the three sins of idolatry, immorality, and bloodshed together.

We have all heard this explanation before. The second temple, for which we are still trying to do the tikkun, was destroyed because of baseless hatred. However, it is hard for us to really internalize the fact that people were EXTREMELY religious at the time. There was absolutely nothing to criticize about their religious practice. They were SUPER SHTARK?

What happened then? How did things go so wrong?
Well, in an environment where religious practice is simply superficial, the deepest principles of Jewish thought are often ignored. When we concentrate so much on personal growth and “shtarkness”, we forget the bigger picture of Judaism.The gemara in Yoma gives us a tragic account of this idea: “Each morning at dawn, a shovel of burning ashes was taken from the Temple altar and deposited on the floor (Leviticus 6:3). This act, known as terumat hadeshen, was initially done by whichever priest rose sufficiently early. Later, many priests wished to perform this service and a daily footrace up the ramp of the altar was conducted. The winner of this race was accorded the honor of terumat hadeshen. This practice, however, was terminated following a wretched episode. One morning, two kohanim sped up the altar ramp, each vying for the honor of terumat hadeshen. Neck-and-neck they raced until one kohen, desperate for the privilege to remove the smoldering ashes, pushed his fellow, who fell and broke his leg. When the court saw the danger involved in the race they canceled the competition and instead enacted a lottery - as was the custom for other Temple tasks - for the right to perform the terumat hadeshen (M. Yoma 2:1-2). A more tragic calamity that occurred during one of these races is also related: Two kohanim - in one version of the account they were actually brothers - were racing up the ramp. At the finish line, one kohen pipped his colleague, winning the contest and the right to do the terumat hadeshen. At this point, the loser took a knife and drove it into his peer's heart. This base display of zeal was matched by the father of the dying boy, who, running to the scene, found his child writhing with his last breaths on the floor of the Temple. Indifferently, the father declared: "My son is still writhing and therefore the knife has not become impure!" implying that the knife should quickly be removed before the young kohen dies and renders it impure (T. Yoma 1:12; T. Shavuot 1:4).” (Paraphrased by http://pardes.org.il/online_learning/weekly-talmud/2006-01-11.php)

Yes, you read right! The dad was so shtark that the first thing that mattered when his son fell down dying was whether the knife was kosher or not!

Thank God, we have improved a lot since those tragic days. However, how many of us are going to run in a crowd, pushing and shoving everyone, in order to be on time for minyan (instead of saying “excuse me”). Its good to be that passionate about minyan right? Wrong! If your religiousness leads you to push and shove everyone around you, you are the reason the beit hamikdash was destroyed!
This is just one example. We can all list many more examples.

The Beit Hamikdash was not destroyed because women were wearing skirts which didn’t go down to the floor. The Beit Hamikdash was not destroyed because you were not eating only the most machmir hechsher kashrut. The Beit Hamikdash was not destroyed because people were not . Hey! It was not even destroyed because the government decided to give back some land!
The beit hamikdash was destroyed because individual zealousness created a situation where the very basic principles of Judaism became ignored!The Eim Habanim Semecha writes: If the beit hamikdash was destroyed because of baseless hatred, how can we even have the svara (the thought) that it will be rebuilt in a time where there is still hatred around.

Only through honest, authentic practice of torah through the most basic principle of loving your jewish brother can we build the beit hamikdash.As Rav Kook said in Orot Hakodesh: If the beit hamikdash was destroyed through baseless hatred, it will be rebuilt through baseless love.This is our generation’s challenge. Not our kippah colour, not our tsitsit length, not our skirt’s length, not even Shabbat, not even kashrut, not even keeping every inch of erets Israel. Ahavat Chinam is our challenge!NOTE : I got 2 comments on my first post basically that someone who starts practicing Judaism for shtarkness can evolve to practice it for the right reasons. “Ma Shelo Lishma Ba Lishma”. I want to make it clear. I am not telling people: “Stop being Shtark, be secular”. I would much rather you be Shtark than secular. Keep being shtark if the only other option is secularism. What I am doing is encouraging you to take the next step. To live Judaism not just to practice its religious rituals which make you look shtark, but to internalize the deep principles of Judaism in a way which will let your Jewish practice be an expression of these principles and every mitzvah you do be a an step towards a deep relationship with God. Hope I made it more clear this time. more...

Chodesh Tov!

Chodesh Tov! I know I am a bit late but Chodesh Tov.

The Month of Kislev is the month of Hannukah.

Hannukah (or channukah or Hanukah or hannuka or channuka or chanuka etc… lol) is an incredibly important holiday for our generation.It is the holiday in which we celebrate the true example of a Jewish Nationalist Movement based on Jewish Values which God Miraculously helped. In Meged Yerachim (the monthly calendar of Rav Kook which we always mention), Rav Kook writes for the month of Kislev: “True Heroism can only be found where you see Godliness”. A real Jewish Nationalistic movement needs to be connected to God. True Zionism only works in the framework of Godliness.On the other hand, the Rambam teaches that on Channukah, we celebrate the 400 years of Jewish Independence which followed the miracle. All 400 years, yes. These 400 years include some of the worse kings the Jewish People have ever had! One of those kings passed a law demanding the execution of every single rabbi of the time! If we thought we had bad leadership today, we forgot how bad it was back then. Yet, we still celebrate the sovereignty of the Jewish People even if it is sovereignty with horrible leaders, because Jewish Sovereignty is a value in and of itself.

At this turning point in Jewish History in which the Jewish People have regained Sovereignty after 2000 years of exile through the creation of the state of Israel, we often complain about the lack of proper, God Fearing, leadership. Others celebrate the State of Israel so much that they forget we are just in the middle of the process. The creation of the state of Israel is only the start of our redemption, there is still a way to go towards a God Fearing king known as Mashiach which will rebuild our temple.

Hannukah teaches us to recognize the value of our new-found sovereignty. IT teaches us to celebrate this sovereignty and be greatful for it. It teaches us to sing Hallel on Yom Haatsmaout even when or leadership is not the most fit.On the other hand, it also teaches us to keep yearning for the ultimate dream where our temple will be rebuilt on har habayit, where it will be used as a house of prayer for all nations, with the King Mashiach as our national leader. more...

To be Shtark, or to be Emet (True)

It happens all the time. You know you do it yourself sometimes. We all sometimes do something which looks religious in order to look “Shtark”. “Shtark” is the yeshivish word used to describe what someone does when he does something which looks religious.
I have a big problem with this reality we live in. I have a big problem with the fact that many religious people today worry more about looking “Shtark” then about their personal relationship to God. They worry more about being the “Shtark” kid then being the kid who does most for Am Israel. They worry more about being “Shtark” then connecting to the land of Israel.

Why does being Shtark even matter?
Since when is the Jewish religion limited at what looks religious?

This has become ridiculous. I know many people who wear a black hat and go clubbing at nights. Why not? A Black Hat is shtark. True, its not halacha. True, there is probably no requirement to wear one. But its still Shtark! (Don’t get me wrong, I never criticize the fact of wearing a hat… to each its own. I am criticizing the reason for which SOME wear it). Clubbing is a sin on so many levels – girls dancing, girls touching, girls not dressed tsniout. But you can still look shtark with your nice black hat, so who cares?

A beard makes you look shtark – the longer the better! (Note: I do let my beard grow, so again, not criticizing that fact, just criticizing the mentality behind some people who do it). Yes, learning torah is much more important. But its so hard to learn a daf of gemara. I can always let my beard grow and look shtark and my learning… well…. No one really knows how much I learn anyways.You know what? Even the learning people do is defined by that. How many people will refuse to learn any Machshava (Jewish Thought) because if someone sees them learning this, its almost “bitoul toyreh”! True, the GRA wrote some books in Machshava, and he probably wanted some read it. But no, I’ll what the GRA wrote in the gemara because its shtark. Learning his machshava books is not shtark! The rambam did write moreh nevuchim, shmona prakim… But no, I’ll just learn Mishnei Torah in my Iyun seder because that is what is Shtark!
Last but definitely not least. How many Shtark people who are careful to follow all the houmrot of halacha live in Chuts Laaretz? They ignore the fact that according to many, they are going against a Mitzvah Mideoraita. Even according to one of the most lenient opinion who says the mitvah of Yishuv Haaretz is a mitzvah Kiyumit (only a mitzvah when you do it, but its not a requirement), this is also true of Tsitsit! Do you know any of these shtark guys not wearing tsitsit? No, but that’s different! Wearing Tsitsit (and preferably long ones) is shtark. Living in Israel, being Zionist, not so shtark. You know what? Rav Kook has said, about 100 years ago, that the reason why people are leaving the religion is because they were looking for truth, and all they found in the jewish community was a superficial practice of this truth. 100 years later, in chutz laaretz and in some places even in erets Israel, the problem is still the same! How can you expect someone looking for truth to join a community where one needs to change his kippah in order to get a better shidduch? How can you expect someone who looks for truth to be a part of Todays “Shtark” community? How can you expect someone who walks half naked (untsniout) to impress her friends to change her ways and start walking with the “shtark clothing” not because it is right and emet (true), but because it is “Shtark”?

If someone wears a black hat, let him do so but not because it’s Shtark, because he believes its Emet! If someone lets his beard grow let him do so but not because its shtark, because its Emet! If someone starts dressing tsniout, let her do so, but not because its shtark, but because its Emet! Instead of caring about being shtark, lets start caring about our relationship to God!

The assimilation in today’s world is our problem: Not just because we care of other jews, but because we, the religious community, are responsible for it! The world is asking for authentic Judaism, they are asking for Emet, and all we provide them with is “Being Shtark”

Stop caring about accepted norms. Start looking for the real truth! Hopefully, our brothers and sisters who are not religious can see past this “Shtarkness” and understand the truth is really found deep into our torah, even if we, as religious jews, are not good ambassadors for this truth.

To be Shtark, or to be emet… Its your choice!

NOTE : I got 2 comments on my this post basically saying that someone who starts practicing Judaism for shtarkness can evolve to practice it for the right reasons. “Ma Shelo Lishma Ba Lishma”. I want to make it clear. I am not telling people: “Stop being Shtark, be secular”. I would much rather you be Shtark than secular. Keep being shtark if the only other option is secularism. What I am doing is encouraging you to take the next step. To live Judaism not just to practice its religious rituals which make you look shtark, but to internalize the deep principles of Judaism in a way which will let your Jewish practice be an expression of these principles and every mitzvah you do be a an step towards a deep relationship with God. Hope I made it more clear this time. more...

Jewish Student Activism - Part 1

This is the first of a 5 part series I am starting on Jewish Student Activism. Feel free to share it on facebook, on your blogs, or by email. Send all comments to dillouz@gmail.com (or if you are on tsmicha.com, comment on the posts). I will be publishing some comments which are relevant to the discussion.

Originally Posted on http://www.tsmicha.com

It's in Our Hands

For thousands of years, Jews have positively influenced the world in all areas of life: sciences, philosophy, art, morality etc… It is well known that the mission of the Jewish People is to be “a light unto the nations”. However, what is our way to shine our light? What is the Jewish Way to influence the world?

There has been much discussion in the world as to what constitutes the base of Jewish Thought. Some people consider Judaism to be a religion. Others consider Judaism to be a Nationalistic Message of belonging to the Jewish Nation. Finally, others also considered Judaism to be a Universal Message of Morality. In the eyes of Rav Kook, all of these 3 values are included in the Jewish Message. We have a message of Godliness, which is to be brought out by our nation, and this message is for the universal good.

If this is so, how exactly should these seemingly contradicting messages interact? The Religious aspect seems to concentrate on the individual, the nationalist aspect concentrates on the nation while the universal message is to the whole world! The answer lies in the blessings God gave to Abraham in Parashat Lech Lecha. After telling Abraham to go to the land of Israel, God tells him: “I will make you into a great nation”. Clearly, from this we see that Judaism is first and foremost a Nation, not a religion. Rav Kook teaches that the particularity of the Jewish Nation is that we look at the world with Godly Lenses (Introduction to Shabbat Haaretz). In other words, we are first and foremost a nation. Every Nation has something special: Americans are particularly found of Freedom, Arabs are particularly passionate, the Jewish Nation’s particularity is its message of Godliness which it brings to the world.

We now understand the place of the Nationalist and Religious messages of torah, but what about our universal messages?

In the next passouk, God continues blessing Avraham and says: “all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you.” The Goal of our Jewish Nationalism is to bring our a light which all the nations will be able to gain from.

In order to simplify these complicated concepts, let us define 3 words: Prat, Tsibbour and Klal.

The Prat can be translated as the Individual.

The Tsibbour can be translated as a group of individuals. When many individuals come together, they create a Tsibbour.

Then, there is another concept called Klal. The Klal is more then just a group of individuals. It has an overarching theme. It’s a concept which englobes all individuals into one unit giving out one message. Klal Israel’s message is Godliness.

The Goal of Am Israel is to take the Tsibbour of individual Jews and to turn it into a Klal.

One of my friends gave me an amazing metaphor once.

It is like a nice painting. When you look at a painting, there is an image which comes out. This image is the klal. Each brush stroke is a prat, an individual. All the brush strokes together on the canvas is called the tsibbour. If each brush stroke gives out the right color in the right place, then the right image will come out: The tsibbour will be a klal. If any individual does something wrong, it will hurt the representation given by tsibbour on the canvas but the image (conceptually) will still be pure, the image is always pure. It will just not be well represented on this canvas.

This image which needs to be brought out is a universal message of morality based on Godliness. This is how we improve the world. Each individual joining into the message of Godliness in the Klal in order to bring it out to the world.

This is an extremely meaningful teaching. There are a few conclusions which come out from this which I want to outline.

First of all, even when we do individual actions such as wearing tfillin or lighting candles for Shabbat, we do it for the whole nation. We do it for the painting to come out right! Not only do we do it for the whole nation, we do it for the whole world!

Second of all, we can see that the religious level of Judaism only makes sense when you look at it from a national point of view. Therefore, how can we close ourselves up and work on personal growth when other Jews need us?

Third of all, we need to realize the incredible level of responsibility this creates. If we do not shine our light the right way, the whole world looses. It’s all in our hands! We are the ones, each, individually, who decide if the picture will come out accurately or not! It is our responsibility to “save the world”! No one else can shine the color we need to shine. No one else can take the position on the canvas which we need to take. It is all up to us. Are we going to stand up and do our job, or will we just stay passive and stop the full picture from coming out?

As a law student in a few classes on international law, I learn a lot about all the different crises in the world. I also learn that the main reason why these are not resolved is because people do not care to do something about them: Why should America go into another country to stop a genocide? Why sacrifice our own for them? Why should I care?

Judaism gives you the answer: You have to do your role because no on else can, and because the whole world is dependant on you doing it. Now, I’m not at all saying that what we should do is encourage our government to do so and so. No, as we saw, even wearing Tfillin with the right intention or lighting candles with the right intention becomes a nationalist message.

Sepharadim and Hassidim have the tradition of saying Leshem Yichoud before each mitzvah. In that prayer, we remind ourselves of the kavanah we need: We say we come in order to unite the name of God in this world (universal message) in the name of all of Israel (national message). Each individual action contains all of these aspects.

May all our actions, the individual, national and universal ones, contribute to the shining of God’s light into this world.

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What Are We Afraid Of?

by Noah Sarna

A guest post from someone in law school with me which was first posted on aish.com . Enjoy! It has much to do with this week's parasha!

Why is my home so far from my homeland? Why don't I live in Israel where history and destiny weave the streets of our identity as a people?

To Jews who live in the Diaspora, the experience of walking through the streets of Jerusalem makes most of us question our country of residence. Watching bar mitzvah boys help Holocaust survivors onto buses that never run on Shabbat, paying for challah with currency that hold the faces of Jewish heroes -- the contradiction is so overwhelming it comes nearly as an afterthought.

Why is my home so far from my homeland? What am I afraid of? Why do I not live here, where history and destiny weave the streets of our identity as a people?

We live outside the Land of Israel with that twinge of confusion and guilt associated inevitably with our commitment to Israel and Jewish continuity on the one hand and life in the Diaspora on the other. Nothing can feel more unnatural than living in exile, so why do we choose to do it?

It's a difficult question to confront. It often looms large when terror shows Israel's pain in prime time sound bites, when Israeli relatives unintentionally demonstrate the life you could have lived had you made the same courageous decision they did. If we want to live honestly as Jews, the very least we can do is be honest about our reasons for staying in a place with hockey and bilingual cereal, far from the modern land of milk and honey. We have to ask: what keeps us away?

An answer may be hard to articulate. It could be we're afraid our Hebrew isn't strong enough, that the context of life anywhere is always language and that in Israel, despite our Jewishness, we would always be at a loss for words.

It could be we're worried about our jobs, concerned that, like many others, our immigration will fail and send us back to winter vacations, medi-care and bigger housing.

It could be we're afraid of our children having to graduate from childhood into the military, getting frisked before buying milk, treating terrorism like Canadians treat the weather, wondering if we'll be waiting at a bus stop marked for terror.

Maybe we've been given the impression that we're not wanted or, as historian Benny Morris said at a fundraiser near Montreal three years ago, "the country's full."

Maybe we're afraid the culture is too different, that Israeli Jewishness is too unlike North American Jewishness, that Israel is so connected culturally to the Middle East, or to Europe, that we could, as Herzl dreamed, find ourselves in a Jewish Switzerland, (and who wants to move to Zurich?).

It could be we're simply afraid of being immigrants in any country, especially our own, having to repeat many of the same difficulties endured this century by Jewish immigrants in North America, where English will be our Yiddish, making fun of Israeli politicians like our grandparents mocked French leaders.

Maybe it's a fear of uncertainty, afraid of jumping from a stable, superpower-protected neighborhood to one where Jews have to live behind F-16s; unsure whether participating hands-on in the Zionist enterprise is worth trading the peace-and-prosperity of a centuries-old country for the controversy-and-conscription of a state as old as your average baby boomer.

Perhaps we feel we can do more for Jews by living here, as if being involved in Jewish fundraising and writing impassioned letters to editors can match paying income tax to the Israeli government or taking Egged buses to work everyday.

Perhaps we feel we missed the last boat powered by sufficient idealism and prophetic certainty, which sailed into Haifa and Tel Aviv harbors in the mid-1950s, and again in 1967, when the winds of Jewish revolution would have been strong enough to send us to a land where none is too few, as opposed to one where none is to many.

Perhaps it's because the revolution has ended, and our life is here in Canada. This is where we are comfortably taking root. Our families are here. Perhaps, inevitably, we feel ourselves to be Canadian Jews, not simply Jews, like the late Mordecai Richler described in This Year In Jerusalem, that although a Canadian culture is intelligible, we are certain it exists in us nonetheless. Perhaps we are bi-nationalists in the sincerest sense, feeling that Trudeau and Ben Gurion both, in varying degrees, played a crucial role in molding what we're apart of. Perhaps both countries make us feel like we belong.

The answer may be one, all or none of these. Who knows? The important thing is that we ask the question and honestly search for our own answer. Only by confronting them we can overcome them.

Author Biography:
Noah Sarna is the former co-president of Hillel at Concordia University in Montreal and is currently in law school at MCgill University with me.

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The greatness of Avraham Avinu

I heard an amazing chiddush from Rav Noah Weinberg, the Rosh Yeshiva of Aish Hatorah. Before relating the chiddush, I must say that I am absolutely amazed at the life-story of this man who grew up in a very closed up society where the only emphasis is on personal growth and grew to become one of the leaders of Jewish Outreach. While I still have some disagreements with him, I think that his life achievements and his outlook on the Jewish World are based on some very fundamental, very essential principles in Jewish thought which are often overlooked in the yeshiva world.

In the fifth perek of Pirkei Avot, the second mishna states:

"There were ten generations from Adam to Noah, to show how great was His patience, for every one of those generations provoked Him continually until he brought upon them the waters of the Flood."

God waited 10 long generations before bringing the flood to the world. During these 10 generations, the world always deserved to get the flood but God showed great patience and waited until the 10th generation to bring destruction.

The Next Mishna says something similar:

There were ten generations from Noah to Abraham, to show how great was His patience, for every one of those generations provoked Him continually until Abraham, our father, came and received the reward of them all.

Now, there is a fundamental question which needs to be asked to understand the deep message of this mishna. From a first superficial reading, we might think that everyone in the world during these 10 generations was evil until Avraham finally came and gave everyone zchut. But wait a minute... Who was living in these 10 generations? Who was living during each of these 10 generations, starting from the first all the way to Avraham Avinu and even After...

There were two huge talmidei chachamim who lived then: Shem Ve-Ever. Now these were not small time talmidei chachamim, these were the people who later became the teachers of Yaakov Avinu when he went to learn in yeshiva. So how is it possible that they did not have enough zchut to save the world? What did Avraham have that they did not?

This is where the amazing chiddush comes:
Avraham Avinu was one who taught the world. He went out and did outreach. Shem and Ever are had a yeshiva where they would teach the people who came, but would not go to do any outreach.
This was Rav Weinberg's Chiddush and I think I can expand on it even more.

Avraham Avinu understood that the whole point of torah is Tikkun Olam, the fixing of the world by bringing Gods presence in this world. In our generation, Jewish Tradition tells us that God's presence in this world is achieved through the building of Am Israel as a holy nation on its land.

Shem and Ever learned a lot of torah, but they limited their growth to an individual growth. They forgot to care of the klal. They forgot the bigger reason of why we follow torah.

Rav Mordechai Elon Shli"ta came to yeshiva last week in order to announce that he will take at least another few months off until Yom Kippur. He also explained what he was trying to achieve during these few months. For someone like Rav Elon, a sabbatical year is not all about resting but more about deep research in order to come back even better then before.

Rav Elon quoted the gemara in Brachot:

R. Levi b. Hiyya said: One who on leaving the synagogue (Beit Knesset) goes into the House of Study and studies the Torah is deemed worthy to welcome the Divine Presence, as it says, They go from strength to strength, every one of them appeareth before God in Zion.¹⁹

R. Hiyya b. Ashi said in the name of Rab: The Talmidei Chachamim have no rest either in this world or in the world to come,²⁰ as it says, They go from strength to strength, every one of them appeareth before God in Zion'.

Both of the rabbis are expounding the same verse in a different way, or so it seems. Rav Elon brought us the commentary of Rav Saadia Gaon which connected both teachings together. The Beit Knesset is a places where we try to bring in people in. "Knesset" means to assemble. Beit Midrash, a house of study, is where we look deeper into the ideas of torah. The problem is that nowadays there are two types of Talmidei Chachamim. Some are in the Beit Knesset, going to the public and being a community Rabbi. Others are sitting in the Beit Midrash looking very deep into Torah but never teaching it. The Rabbis in the Beit Midrash will say they know more Torah while the Rabbis in the Beit Knesset will say they are able to communicate it while the others just sit and learn. What we need are Rabbis who are able to do both: Sit in the "beit midrash", and know the deepest torahs and also communicate them to the world. We need talmidei chachamim who go from the beit knesset to the beit midrash. We need more Avraham Avinus. Once this happens, then: "They go from strength to strength, every one of them appeareth before God in Zion'." And then the rest of the gemara makes sense:

R. Eleazar said in the name of R. Hanina: The Talmidei Chachamim [which connect the batei midrash with the batei knessets] increase peace in the world, as it says, And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. Read not banayik [thy children] but bonayik [thy builders]. Great peace have they that love Thy law, and there is no stumbling for them. Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sake I will now say, Peace be within thee. For the sake of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good. The Lord will give strength unto His people, the Lord will bless His people with peace

This special all-encompassing torah is what will get us to this goal

While Rav Elon tries to find the solution to link both torah worlds, we also need to remember what our goal is. When we learn torah, our goal is to take what we learned in the beit midrash to the beit knesset. Our goal is to bring out this torah to the world, not to just keep it for ourselves. Our goal is for klal israel to grow from our torah that we learn, not just ourselves.

Beezrat Hashem, we will all be talmidim of Avraham Avinu and connect each of our personal batei midrash to a big beit knesset in medinat israel which will assemble all of Am Israel together. This is what will bring our gueoula which we have been yearning for for so long. more...

Tasting Eternity

I heard once a nice dvar torah which I thought I could share with you. It was from Rav Hadari Shli"ta. Its very simple, but very meaningful.

He explained that when a Jew goes into shabbat, he should never think about when shabbat ends. To him at that point, shabbat should never end. This is why we cannot plan from shabbat to after shabbat. Even if there is 5 minutes left in shabbat, a Jew should feel as if he will be living in the light of shabbat for eternity!

Rav Hadari told us the same is true about yeshiva. Some people go to yeshiva for one year, some for 2 years, some for a long time. But each bachur should feel as if his time in yeshiva is everlasting. While in yeshiva is not the time to plan for after. While in yeshiva, our mindset should be that eternity will be spent there. Of course, that doesn't mean we shouldn't be careful to find a job and all for after. We're more talking about a mental state.

I think what is true about yeshiva is true about everytime a jew learns some torah. At that time, even if its for 5 minutes, the Jew should take himself out of this world. Right now, to him, he will be basking in the light of torah for eternity. Its not just 5 minutes. When the 5 minutes are over, he'll take care of real life but while he's learning, nothing else should be on his mind.

Its mamash a taste of eternity. more...

Kabbalah Part 2

As promised, the second part of yesterday’s shiur on Kabbalah.

It will deal with simply one idea: the evolution of what we know as Kabbalah.

In order to understand this, let’s first understand that all the books that have every been written are not actual Kaballah but rather nice shiurim ABOUT Kaballah. Kaballah is something that one received on his own, not something he is taught.

That being said, in time period, what we know as Kaballah comes out in a different format, most of the time answering challenges which existed in this period.

The first period of Kabbalah was the nevua. In the gemara, all sources which come from Neviim are called “Kabbalah”. A navi was like the mekubal in that time. If we look at the style of the speeches of the Neviim, we see that they are very close to the style of ovdei avodah zara, idolatrers. They would often speak of God as a regular person. The reason is simple: in order to fight Avodah Zara, the Neviim used the language of Avodah Zara. The leader of the Mekubalim in that time was Moshe Rabennu.

Then, the Zohar came out. It came out in a time where the Goyim also started some more mystical tendencies. Therefore, the challenge had then changed. Now, the challenge was mysticism. Therefore, the Zohar was written using a mystical language. This was lead by Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.

Then, the time came when the world started speaking of philosophy, around the time of Descartes. At that time, the Ari Zal came out with a new style for Kabala which was in a philosophical format.

Then, the time came when the world started talking about the spirit again. This happened in the world with the coming of Romanticism and all the sciences like psychology. That is when Chassidut came out: Kaballah which was talking only about the individual spirit. It’s important to note this meant Kabbalah was limited to its application to the individual and lost all of its national nature.

Finally, the world started speaking about 2 things which both talk about the collective: Nationalism and Socialism. This is when Rav Kook’ Torah came out which brought back Kabbalah to its original, nationalistic nature.

Ashreinu Shezachinu Lihyot Bedorenu!

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Getting ready for shabbat

After my first full week of yeshiva, I am now getting ready for shabbat. I put on my shabbat clothes, took a coffee to stay up for an amazing tish we will have tonight and got ready to go to the kotel tonight. By the time you read this, my official first shabbat in the yeshiva will probably have past (last shabbat was just orientation). We will be dancing down from our yeshiva all the
way to the Kotel. We'll have a Carlebach prayer there with Rav Elon joining in on the dancing. Finally, after supper, we will have a crazy tish. Of course, the next day will be just as full and we will be ending shabbat with a seuda shlishit with Rav Elon before getting ready for a melave malka.

All this is great. It is really my dream coming true, the dream that I took so long fighting for. I am not going to be writing any inspiring story now. I will not be writing any cool dvar torah right now. To me, this is where the year in yeshiva starts, with our first shabbat as a full yeshiva. This is where our adventure starts; this is where you will start getting the authentic feelings of a person going through his year in yeshiva. I hope you will all enjoy the posts which will be coming up.

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