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Parshat Va'eira
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
וידבר ה' אל משה לאמר
‘Master of the Universe, have compassion upon me and allow me to achieve the perfection of the Holy Tongue...’ (Likutei Tfilot 19)
The Holy Tongue, the Hebrew language, according to our Sages was the language God used to create the world. Indeed, so great is the merit of speaking in this language that the tannaic master R. Meir taught that all who speak this language, live in the Land of Israel,eat their produce in purity, and recite Shema twice a day, are considered ‘sons of the world to come’ (Yerushalmi Shkalim 3, 3). This said, there are sources which describe all speech used for the service of HaShem in Torah, prayer, etc. to be rendered like ‘the Holy Tongue’. The beginning of this weeks parsha elaborates much on the speech of Moshe, and how the right of speech was given to Aharon as Moshe’s speaker to the people. This week’s parsha also contains the first usage of the famous phrase ‘HaShem spoke to Moshe to say’, used close to eighty times in the Torah. All these matters highlight the choosing of Moshe as the ‘speaker of HaShem’ in this parsha.
Isaiah (62) proclaims: “For the sake of Zion, I will not be silent, and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest, until her righteousness comes out like brilliance, and her salvation burns like a torch.” Indeed, speaking for Zion and Jerusalem is tantamount to speaking for the Holy Presence of HaShem which rests in these holy places. Interestingly, some of the primary ‘speakers for Zion’ in history were named Moshe. Rabbi Moshe ben Nahman, Nahmanides, was one of the great masters of the Rishonim period who emphasized time and time again the great importance of the Holy Land in Torah. Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, Maimonides, wrote the great halachic work the Mishneh Torah, which also codifies the many laws uniquely pertaining to the Land of Israel and to the Temple in Jerusalem, a matter that was very novel for a halachic work of his time (this is in great contrast to the unlearned misconception that Maimonides ‘disregards’ the Land of Israel to some degree, God forbid).
Both Nahmanides and Maimonides actually came to the Land of Israel, Maimonides in his earlier life and Nahmanides in his last years. Maimonides made pilgrimage to Hebron and made commemoration of this pilgrimage from year to year. Similarly, Nahmanides requested to be buried in Hebron and his tomb lies today at the Seventh Step of Maaras HaMachpela. Indeed, the Arizal says that these two masters are not just intertwined in many Torah discussions as is well known, but also that Nahmanides and Maimonides are closely and uniquely linked on a soul-level. In regard to these masters’ connection to Hebron, we should also note that according to the Midrash (Sifri Vezot HaBracha; see also Rokeach there) Moshe Rabeinu was taken from Mount Nevo in tunnels to be buried at Maaras HaMachpela, where he rests today.
Interestingly, in our age the leader of Israel’s return to Hebron was Rabbi Moshe Levinger. Indeed, the connection of the name Moshe to Hebron is highlighted when we notice that the initials of Maaras Sdeh HaMachpela spell ‘Moshe’.
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #205
‘One Shabbos morning, I suddenly started to ponder the connection between Kiryat Arba and Netanya. It ‘turns out’ that the chief Rabbi of Netanya ‘happened’ to reside in Kiryat Arba that Shabbos, a matter that I had not known at all when I had these thoughts.’
Sources: Shaar HaGilgulim
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Parshat Shemot
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
וישמע א-הים את נאקתם... ויזכור א-הים את בריתו את אברהם את יצחק ואת יעקב... וידע א-הים
“Have compassion upon Israel Your People...and upon Zion Sanctuary of Your Honor.”
The plead for compassion before HaShem, especially in regard to redemption, is in many ways tied to the merit of our Patriarchs, as we see in our title quote. Indeed, it was when HaShem remembered His covenant with the Patriarchs that He ‘decided’ to redeem them. Similarly, we evoke this merit in all our prayers, in the first blessing of the Amida, in order to merit our future redemption.
Another important component of redemption as seen in our title quote is the crying out to God from the troubles of Exile. The importance of this component is found not only in the story of the Exodus but continues with us every year in the form of the marror on Seder night. The marror comes to symbolize the bitterness and the suffering the People experienced which brought about their crying out to God, which in turn brought about God’s compassion upon them through redemption. In this way, bitterness and suffering at all times can be seen as important steps towards redemption.
One of the painful and bitter episodes of our People in the past century in the Land of Israel was the Massacre of Tarpat (1929). This Massacre, which spread across the Land of Israel, was most devastating to the Jewish community of Hebron, essentially causing the cease (save for a few individuals) of the continuous presence of Jews in Hebron, a beacon of the Holy Land, till the Six-day War. This episode, strikingly occurring just before to the Holocaust in Europe, perhaps may be seen as God’s warning from the Holy Land, the Land of Divine Communication (as we explained in the past), as to what was about to transpire in Europe. It should also be noted that at the head of this massacre stood Amin Al Huseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem and founder of the Palestinian National Movement, who later met with Hitler in Germany, forming there a Muslim division of the Nazi S.S meant to destroy the Jewry of the Land of Israel.
Today, Tarpat Rd.and Junction connect between the Beit Hadassa and Admot Yishai neighborhoods of Hebron. The name of this road, commemorating the Tarpat Massacre, essentially acts like the bitter herbs of the Seder Night. We should remember and not forget the suffering of those before us. By remembering their suffering we remember to be ever wiser, ever-more connected to God through prayer, ever-more appreciative of what we have, ever-more appreciative of the sacrifice taken bringing us to where we are today, and it is through this memory that we bring ourselves ever-closer to the redemptive future...
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #204
‘On the Tenth of Tevet I was pondering what could be the origins of the Tenth of Tevet in the chumash, as the Talmud states that everything has an origin in the chumash. Just about three minutes later I was given a ride where the driver just ‘happened’ to talk with his friend how the Tenth of Tevet was the day of the Sale of Joseph by his brothers...’ Y.G
Sources: ‘Hebron - 4000 years’ Noam Arnon
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Parshat Vayigash
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
כי עבדך ערב את הנער
"On the contrary, instill in our hearts that we shall notice the virtues of our fellowman and not their faults... that all shall be pleasurable before You..." ("Adraba" - Prayer of R. Elimelech of Lizansk)
The poignant climax of the story of Joseph and his brothers in this week's parsha - the tremendous brotherly love apparent in Judah's speech and the re-union of the brothers around Joseph's revelation to them - touch the soul of all, igniting within us all the deep brotherly love each one of us has towards his fellow Jew.
In the past we have shown how the mutual responsibility to our fellow Jew, as in the saying 'all Israel are cohorts ('areivim') to each other', is essentially tied to Israel's connection to the Zion. The Talmud Sanhedrin 43b interprets the verse in Dvarim (29, 28), 'the hidden is to HaShem our God,' said just before Israel's entrance into the Land. The Torah marks numbers of letters in this verse with dots. According to all opinions in the Talmud the dots are interpreted to narrow the mutual responsibility for the sins of our fellow Jew to begin only at the entrance to the Land of Israel in the era of Joshua, while opinions differ in regard to the difference between 'hidden' sins versus 'revealed' sins in regard to this mutual responsibility. The concept of 'mutual responsibility' between Jews is halachically grounded not just in regard to sins but also positively in regard to the ability to benefit another Jew by reciting a blessing for them, after which the fellow Jew answers Amen and is thereby exempted from pronouncing this blessing himself, for example. Just as mutual responsibility begins with the Land of Israel, so too mutual responsibility and unity of Israel is enhanced continuously in this Land as the Zohar (3, 93b) teaches us that Israel are considered 'one People' only in the Land of Israel, as the verse says, 'one Nation in the Land'.
Interestingly, as we mentioned two weeks ago, Zion has the same numerical value as Yoseph, and also the Midrash says that 'all that occurred upon Joseph occurred upon Zion'. This matter shows that just as the brothers re-united around Joseph, so too our People reaches its true unity around Zion. In the past we have also shown how Zion, according to the Arizal, is synonymous with Hebron. Indeed, Hebron means 'unity', its very name - is 'hibur - unity'. Also, our common roots, the holy Patriarchs of Hebron, constantly tie our people together. In this way we understand why Joseph asks at his revelation to the brothers, seemingly repetitiously after already asking the same question at the end of last week's parsha, 'is my father still alive?' In essence, Joseph wants to bind the brothers together even more by poignantly touching their common roots, their mutual father.
One of the sites of Hebron today whose name expresses the unity and peace of Israel, aside of Ma'arat HaMachpela of course, is Beit HaShalom, 'the House of Peace'. Indeed, this building lies on the main road that connects all Israel, when traveling, to its common roots, Ma'arat HaMachpela, where our Patriarchs and Matriarchs are buried. Yes, this is Hebron, City of the Patriarchs, City of Unity, also called by the book Shaar Hahatzer 'the Crown of Peace'.
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #202
"During the month of Shevat 5774 many booklets about the laws of peace and inter-personal conduct were handed out in the Hebron area in order to enhance the innate leadership of Hebron as 'the Crown of Peace' as posed by the book Shaar Hahatzer. Shortly after, in the month of Adar of that year, Beit HaShalom, 'the House of Peace', was settled by Jews, after being detained from such numbers of years..."
Sources: Midrash Tanhuma Vayigash 10, Shaar Hahatzer 380, Rosh and Rabeinu Yona ch. 3 Brachot, Samuel II 7, 23
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Parshat Vayechei
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
ויקברו אותו במערת שדה המכפלה
“Blessed are You HaShem our God... Who created you with judgment... and will revive you with judgment... Blessed are You HaShem Who revives the dead” (Prayer upon visiting a cemetery).
In this weeks Torah portion, our forefather Yaakov dies, and to fulfill his final wish, his sons bury him in Ma'arat HaMachpela in Hebron. In the past we have noted that Hebron is one of the choicest places of burial upon earth, championing even with Jerusalem in this regard. The reason for this is due to Hebron being the Threshold of the Garden of Eden where souls ascend to the afterlife. This matter also explains why Adam and all the Patriarchs and Matriarchs wished to be buried here.
In general, the accepted custom is to bury the dead with their feet in the direction of Jerusalem. However, the great Rabbi and Kabbalist R. Eliyahu Mani asked that he and his wife be buried in the direction of Ma'arat HaMachpela. Indeed, one can notice how Rabbi Mani, the chief Rabbi of Hebron, is buried with his feet in the direction of Ma'arat HaMachpela, when visiting the ancient cemetery of Hebron today.
Interestingly, the ancient cemetery of Hebron lies adjacent to the Admot Yishai neighborhood of Hebron today. Admot Yishai - ‘the Lands of Jesse’ - is named such after the tomb of Jesse at the outskirts of this neighborhood. Jesse is strongly connected to the Messiah as described by Isaiah: ‘a bud shall sprout from the trunk of Jesse.’ Our Sages in Talmud Sanhedrin describe the period of Messiah as a revival of the dead, as in the ‘dry-bone’s episode’ of Ezekiel. In other words, just as a severed trunk sprouts again with renewed life, and just as the ‘dry-bones’ are revived, so too the Exiled People of Israel are and will be revived in the Holy Land.
In this way Hebron highlights, on numbers of levels, both the afterlife/the revival of the dead, ‘the revival of the trunk of Jesse’, and the renewal of Jewish life in the Holy Land. We may say that it is this potent connection of Hebron, between the souls of Israel and the Holy Earth through burial, which ultimately sows the seeds of the Revival of the Dead, the seeds of Redemption. Yes, it is you, our dear reader, by your devotion to this holy city and the Holy Land at large, who are watering these seeds of Redemption.
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #203
“After shopping at the supermarket my wife told me to go back to get another item. However, I was already on the bus far away from the supermarket I had just shopped at. Nevertheless, I thought to myself that HaShem must be showing me something in this request, so I decided to go the supermarket close to my planned destination (not the previous supermarket). I looked for the item my wife asked me about and found it there for about half of the original price.”
Sources: Gesher Hahaim p. 299
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Parshat Miketz
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
והנה חלום
"Master of the Universe, I am Yours and my dreams are Yours. I have dreamt a dream and I do not know its solution... if it is good please strengthen it like the dreams of Joseph, and if it needs to be cured, please cure it like the Bitter Waters by Moshe Rabeinu..." (Prayer on Dreams)
Dreams in Judaism are given a certain level of importance, since they are considered to be '1/60th of prophecy'. Nevertheless, the power of dreams is limited in a halachic sense. For example, the Talmud tells of one who saw in a dream that his father had hid at a certain location money of Maaser Sheni status, which needs to be taken to Jerusalem in order to be used to buy produce there and be eaten there. The man who dreamt this dream indeed found money hidden in the exact location told to him in the dream. Nevertheless, the Sages ruled that this money need not be taken to Jerusalem as Maaser Sheni, since dreams do not determine any halachic status. On the other hand, halacha mandates that if one is banned by someone in a dream he is to conduct a 'removal of a ban' before ten men. Some explain the seeming contradiction between these halachic sources by differentiating between the levels of validity of different dreams, such as a dream dreamt from things a person thought about before versus a fully novel dream. There are many explanations and opinions on this topic which are outside of the scope of our discussion.
In any case, all agree that outside of halacha dreams may have importance, as we see in the story of Joseph in numbers of instances. Indeed, we should note that one of the landmark sites of Hebron today received its name on basis of a dream. The Avraham Avinu Synagogue received its name based on a dream dreamt by the Rabbi of this community's synagogue. According to the book 'Emek HaMeleh' the Jews of this Hebron community were missing a tenth man to complete a minyan for the prayers of Yom Kippur and were very vexed by such. Miraculously, a stranger appeared and completed the minyan, disappearing right after Yom Kippur. Soon after, the Rabbi of the community dreamt that it was Avraham our Patriarch - 'Avraham Avinu' - who had compassion on the community and thereby appeared as the man who had completed their minyan. This miracle is only one of many miracles that one can discern from the amazing history of Hebron. Indeed, the Tikunei Zohar (tikun 21) mentions that the miracles of Messiah will occur in the Land of Israel due to Hebron where the Patriarchs are buried.
Ultimately, we may say that, although dreams - 1/60th of prophecy - may have limited importance, prophecy itself is of much greater importance, as we say in the Haftorah blessing, 'for even one matter of Your words (through the prophets) will not return empty.' Indeed, the prophets foresaw the great return of Israel, a miracle unfolding before our very eyes. In this way we are continuing, in our generation, the Hanuka miracle of re-dedicating mini-sanctuaries in our Holy Land generally and in Hebron specifically, such as the Avraham Avinu Synagogue which, before our generation, had been turned into an Arab public restroom and pasture for goats. Thank God, our generation has merited to see this site 're-dedicated' and returned to its glory, as the synagogue honoring Avraham our Father.
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #201
‘Last week I dreamt that it poured in the summer months (I did not see or know of any forecast). The next day, on Hebron Day, it suddenly poured in Hebron, something very rare this time of year here.' I.G
Sources: Sanhedrin 30, Nedarim 8a, Rambam T' Torah 7, 12, Emek HaMelech, R. Naftali Bachrah, Sefer Hebron, Kloizenberg Rebbe based on Brachot 55b
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