Parshat Mishpatim 2017

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Category: Torah Portion

Published on Wednesday, 22 February 2017 19:51

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Parshat Mishpatim
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

ואלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם

"Return our judges as of old and our advisors as of yore... Blessed are You HaShem King Who loves righteousness and justice."

The return of justice according to Torah, the Teaching of God, is a constant goal in our prayers. The dominance of justice in Torah law shows that God's Will is that His teaching must not only permeate through the world on mental, devotional, ethical, and spiritual levels, but also on a level that governs everyday earthly life, even stooping down to correct criminal behavior. This matter explains why we use the term 'King' in the fore-mentioned blessing. Justice entails an involvement and presence similar to that of a king. On the one hand, a king is aloof of the people in his grandeur and majesty. On the other hand, the king's responsibility is to bring about the welfare of all the citizens of his country, caring for even the 'lowliest' residents of his country. Similarly, our wish is that the King of Kings, HaShem, rule over the entire earth through the Divine justice exacted by his messengers on earth, the Torah's judges and judicial system.

Our title quote is interpreted by our Sages to mean, 'put the laws before the people so clearly that they are accessible like (food on) a set table'. Indeed, this teaching is the inspiration for such codes of law such as the Shulhan Aruch, which means 'a set table'. One of the famous figures who codified Jewish law in a novel encyclopedic way was Rabbi Haim Hizkiyahu Medini of Hebron. His monumental work, the 'Sdei Hemed' of eighteen volumes, was the first halachic-encyclopedia to include both Ashkenazic and Sephardic responsa in alphabetical order. This work focuses on the halacha pertaining to every-day life, and at the same time analyzes these topics in considerable depth and lucidity.

Rabbi Hizkiyahu once told a friend that in his youth he was not among the most brilliant minds in the kollel where he studied, however he learned with great diligence and steadily progressed in his studies. One of the students of this group became jealous and set a trap for him. He bribed the cleaning lady of the kollel to publicly accuse him of trying to seduce her. After she did so, he was accused of hypocrisy and insulted over and over again. It was a tremendous desecration of G-d's Name. Unable to tolerate such shame, he was forced to flee. The Rosh Kollel did not believe the cleaning lady, and he fired her.

After a certain time, when the cleaning lady had exhausted all the money of the bribe, she promised R. Medini that she would publicly recount the truth and state that it was all a plot, that one of the students had given her money to accuse him. She implored him to do all that he could, once she had cleared his name, to help her get her job back. On the one hand, Rabbi Medini was happy that everything could be put back in order. However, on the other hand, he thought, a terrible desecration of G-d's Name had already occurred, and if the actual story were to become known, there would be yet another desecration due to the shameful conduct of the student. Not only that, but this student who had given the bribe would himself suffer a terrible fate. Consequently, he decided, it was preferable that he continue to bear shame in silence than to provoke a new scandal. Finally, he decided to tell the cleaning lady that he would push himself to speak in her favor, but that he absolutely forbade her to tell anybody about the bribe.

"At the time that I took this difficult decision, one that risked endangering my entire future in the world of Torah," concluded the Sdei Hemed, "I felt the sources of wisdom opening before me. Instead of the damage that my choice should have caused me, I had merited great Heavenly assistance, one that has led me until my present situation."

This story illustrates how great ethical courage and greatness of spirit in times of challenge were ultimately the catalysts for Divinely inspired wisdom and the brilliance inherent in a monumental work, the 'Sdei Hemed'. This story also shows the Divine intervention/inspiration inherent in Torah law not only in yore, but also in the modern day, as the Sdei Hemed lived just about a century before us.

This message is so natural to Hebron, where the Sdei Hemed lived in the Romano complex, and was buried in the Ancient Cemetery in Hebron. This is Hebron, the City of Unity, which unites heavenly Divine inspiration with earthly law and justice, so that all shall see that 'HaShem is King upon the entire earth.'

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #209

This week we will suffice with the Sdei Hemed's story above

Sources: www.hevratpinto.com, Mechilta Nezikin 1

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Parshat Beshalach 2017

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Category: Torah Portion

Published on Wednesday, 08 February 2017 11:31

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Parshat Beshalach
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

כי אני ה' רופאיך

“Cure us HaShem and we will be cured, save us and we will be saved, for You are our praise... Blessed are You HaShem Who cures the sick."

This blessing of the Amida prayer emphasizes the dual aspect of health, describing the cure coming from HaShem, 'cure us HaShem', and then describing the human reaction 'and we will be cured'. Indeed, Torah sees health and the cure from maladies to be a sign of the connection/'communication' between the Divine spirit and the earthly body. Also, just as peace and proper communication is needed between people, so to, an individual needs peace and proper 'communication' between the different facets of their body in order to retain wholesome health. This ‘communication’ means that there needs to be a proper balance between one’s different facets.

This concept can be found in the Rambam’s introduction to Pirkei Avot known as ‘The Eight Chapters’. Furthermore, this concept of balance and internal peace for health can also be found in the Zohar on the portion of leprosy. According to the Zohar, leprosy is a sign of an unbalanced level of judgment in one’s character, causing one, for example, to be overly-judgmental of others and slander them. (Nevertheless, it should be noted that leprosy of the Torah is a more spiritually initiated disease different than leprosy today).

One of the famous medical health organizations in Israel today is Hadassa, located in Jerusalem. Jerusalem’s name contains the word Salem or Shalem, meaning peace or wholesomeness. This matter sheds light on the great potential of Jerusalem in leading revolutionary internal peace and (medical) health we discussed above. However, fewer people know, that Hadassa operated one of its branches in Hebron, before the Tarpat (1929) Massacre. Therefore, the location of this branch is known as ‘Beit Hadassa’ to this day, even though a medical clinic no longer exists there.

We should note that Hebron carries a similar message to Jerusalem. Hebron means ‘connection’- ‘hibur’, and therefore the concepts of inter-connectedness, balance, internal peace and health are so natural here. This is Hebron, City of Unity, Internal Harmony, and Health.

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #207

‘I once had an ear operation and paid a private doctor to conduct this operation. Instead of improving my situation, the doctor made a ‘mistake’ in surgery, causing me to be fully deaf. Instead of being angry at this doctor, suing him, etc. I decided to thank God for this situation, with full faith that it is God’s Will, and the doctor is only His messenger... After doing so for some time, I suddenly started to hear! The doctor who had operated on my ear before was totally stunned, saying that the ear had totally cured miraculously as if baby-skin, and then he asked ‘who operated on you?! Who?!’

Sources: Shemonah Prakin LaRambam, Zohar Tazria-Metzora, Likutei Moharan I 14

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Parshat Yitro 2017

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Published on Monday, 13 February 2017 21:43

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Parshat Yitro
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

והודעתי את חקי הא-הים ואת תורתיו

‘And may You, HaShem our God, make pleasurable the words of Your Torah in our mouths and the mouths of Your people Israel... Blessed are You HaShem Who teaches Torah to His People Israel.’

Teaching Torah is a dominant part of the commandment to study Torah. To begin with, the source of the obligation to study Torah is taken by the Rambam from the words ‘you shall teach’ (veshinantem) in the first portion of Shema. In addition, many Rishonim place ‘teaching Torah’ as part of the core principle of this commandment and not as a detail or extension of this commandment. Thirdly, the poskim rule that one does not say the blessing on Torah study on thought alone. Rather, speaking Torah, and, according to some, even writing Torah, requires that a blessing on Torah be said beforehand. This matter shows that expressing Torah outwardly, as one would do through teaching, is an integral part of Torah study and its prerequisite blessing.

This emphasis on teaching Torah is explained by R. Tzi Yehuda Kook zt”l as being indicative of the nature of Torah as HaShem’s Word directed to the public, the People of Israel. In addition, our Rabbis teach us that there is a spiritual chemistry between those who study Torah together and that the spiritual power of their learning is multiplied manifold with the increase of the number of those who study together.

The largest Torah institution of Hebron today is ‘Yeshivat Shavei Hebron,’ containing approximately 300 students. The name of this Yeshiva means ‘the Returners to Hebron’. Indeed, Hebron has been for many generations a center of Torah study, and this yeshiva continues this great legacy. Some examples of the famous yeshivot of Hebron that existed before the Tarpat Massacre are ‘Toras Emes’ of Habad and ‘Yeshivas Hebron’ also known as the ‘Slobodka Yeshiva’, both of which are located today in Jerusalem. It should also be noted that Habad even considered Hebron to be the ‘capital of Habad in the Holy Land’, for one of Habad’s earliest settlements in the Land of Israel was in Hebron.

In any case, it is clear from the Zohar that Hebron’s very name indicates Torah - ‘Hebron - this Torah for one who occupies oneself with Torah is called a haber - Torah scholar’.

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #208

‘Last Shabbos a man named Elisha visited me. We decided to study Torah together, so we randomly chose to open a section in the Zohar on the parsha. ‘It turns out’ that the section chosen dealt entirely with the miracle conducted through Elisha the Prophet regarding the Shunamite woman.’ 

Sources: Rambam Sefer HaMitzvot, Zohar III Shlah, Avot ch. 3

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Parshat Bo 2017

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Published on Wednesday, 01 February 2017 09:10

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Parshat Bo
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land 

והיה לאות על ידכה ולזיכרון בין עיניך

“Blessed are You HaShem our God King of the Universe Who has sanctified us with his commandments and has commanded us to put on tfilin.”

Tefilin are meant to remind us of the Exodus, as our parsha tells us that by wearing tefilin one is reminded how ‘HaShem took you out of Egypt with a strong hand.” It is also important to remember the purpose of the Exodus, as described in last week’s parsha, ‘to take you to the Land promised to Avraham, Yitzhak and Yakov.’ This dominant theme in the commandment of tefilin emphasizing the Land of Israel as being the goal of the Exodus can be also seen in our Sages’ interpretation of the second portion of Shema.

Our Sages explain the juxtaposition of the commandment to wear tefilin and the Exile from the Land in the second portion of Shema to essentially depict the tefilin as ‘marks of memory’ even in Exile, i.e reminders even within Exile that the main observance of mitzvot is in the Land of Israel. Based on what we just mentioned, we can also say that the way tefilin remind us of the observance of the mitzvoth in the Land is through reminding us of the First Exodus meant to bring us to the Holy Land. In this way, every Jewish man today who wears tefilin is not only remembering the First Exodus but is also taking part in the future Exodus from Exile, when facing and directing his thoughts towards the Land of Israel and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in his prayers before the Holy Presence.

Our Sages explain about the mitzvah of tefilin that ‘one should do this/(these) mitzvo(t), for because of it you will (merit) to enter the Land’. Interestingly, these ‘marks of memory’, the tefilin, are called ‘zionim’ by our Sages, which highlights even more how these ‘marks’ are connected to Zion.

One of the sites of Hebron today whose name seems to allude to the message of tefilin is ‘Beit HaMachpela’, literally meaning the ‘the Double House’. A box of tefilin is called a ‘house’ in Hebrew; hence, ‘the Double House’ connotes a ‘pair/double of tefilin boxes/houses’. Indeed, this is Hebron, synonymous with the term Zion according to the Arizal. This is Zion, ‘tziun’, ‘Mark of the Holy Presence’, to which our ‘marks of memory’, the tefilin on our arms and upon our heads, lead us in our current and future Exodus to our Holy Land.

 
Beit HaShalom

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #206

‘I sent out about 30-40 text messages to friends and family seeking someone to work for a specific job opportunity. There were only two answers: one was a person who was interested in working in this job opportunity and the second answer essentially recommended finding someone who fit exactly the credentials of the first person who had answered (there was no connection between these responses)...’ 

Sources: Sifri Ekev 43, Psikta Zutrta Bo 13, 9, Shaar HaPsukim Shmuel

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