Succot 2015

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Category: Torah Portion

Published on Thursday, 24 September 2015 11:44

Written by The Hebron Fund

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Succot
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Connecting to the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

כל האזרח בישראל ישבו בסכות

"May it be Your Will our Father, our King... remember our love and endearment, return the Holy Presence to our Holy Temple and return to have delight in us as in yore, for Your separation from us is difficult to us like the separation of our souls from our bodies; our innards long, and our souls yearn for the redemption of Your Holy Presence, for Your Holy Abode, and for Your Will HaShem we long..." (Prayer of the Holy Or HaHaim)

These days are days of extenuated closeness to the Holy Presence. The sukkot in which we dwell must be higher than 10 hand-breaths in order that the Holy Presence, which does not go beneath this measure, may dwell in our Sukka.

During these days we are commanded to make pilgrimage to the Holy Temple when it is standing. Especially this Sukkot, at the end of the Shmita year, the entire people are called up to the City of the Holy Presence to hear the Torah and awaken their awe of God, in the mitzvah of Hakhel. We may link the mitzvah of Hakhel, literally meaning 'the ingathering', to the nature of Sukkot in general, which carries much emphasis on the ingathering and the unity of the People.

From our title quote that 'all Israel shall dwell in Sukkot' our Sages learn that it is possible for all Israel to dwell in one Sukka. From this learning our Sages extrapolate the law that there is no limit to the length or width of a sukka. This learning also sheds light on the nature of Sukkot as being an all-inclusive holiday, in contrast to Pesach, for example, when families may not be intermingled for the eating of separate Paschal lambs. Also the mitzvah of the four species highlights the unity of different species, indicative of different types of Jews, together as one whole.

In the mitzvah of Hakhel this unity reaches even greater dimensions, when so many masses of People are united together with the Holiest Land, Jerusalem. We are taught in the Mishna Brachot (ch. 7) and more that the Holy Presence rests with masses of Jews. In addition we are taught that the Holy Presence rests in the Holy Land and in Jerusalem in specific. Thus, when masses of Jews come unified to this Holy City, we can understand how the spiritual energy is multiplied. Thus, we can understand the Torah's command to accentuate one's awe at such a ceremony, and how hearing the Torah from the king is similar to receiving the Torah again from Sinai.

In absence of the Temple we do not have Hakhel today, yet still we can hold on to Hebron - the Holy City of Unity - as being a key towards the ultimate fulfillment of this mitzvah in Jerusalem

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #139

"I wanted to honor my son's teacher with a gift of 200 NIS in honor of Purim. When I told this to my husband, he agreed to 100 NIS but said that 200 was too much in our financial state. A bit later I turned to HaShem in prayer saying 'just as I honored my husband's wishes, so too please honor my wishes to honor this teacher'. As I walked praying, suddenly I saw a red piece of paper at the side of the bus-stop, and I picked it up. It was no other than 200 NIS with no sign of an owner..." A.M  

Sources: Rambam Hagiga ch.3

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Parshat Vayelech 2015

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Category: Torah Portion

Published on Wednesday, 16 September 2015 19:51

Written by The Hebron Fund

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

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Uniting With the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

מקץ שבע שנים במעד שנת השמיטה

“Master of the Universe! Have compassion on us and awaken our hearts and the hearts of our offspring and the hearts of all Israel that we have great yearning, longing, and exceeding will for the Land of Israel, and may we yearn and long always truly to come to the Land of Israel, till You merit us with Your compassion to come to the Land of Israel speedily...” (Likutei Tfilot I 20)

From the instance of 'Shmitas Kesafim' - the absolvement of debts, which applies even in the Diaspora at the end of Shmita year, we receive a small glimpse into the far-reaching spiritual power of the Land of Israel to even 'awaken' certain laws in the Diaspora. So our Sages taught us: 'when you are liable for Shemita in regard to the Land so too do you commit 'Shmitas Ksafim', but when you are not liable for Shmita of the Land so too are you not liable for Shmitas Ksafim.' Thus, as we have explained before, today when Shmita is Rabbinic, because the lack of the majority of world-wide Jewry in the Land and/or because the lack of tribal allocation in the Land, therefore Shmitas Ksafim is also Rabbinic, both in the Land of Israel and in the Diaspora.

This fact has important practical implications in regard to Shmitas Ksafim. The famous Prozbul agreement and document, which allows a Jew to hand over the loans owed to him to Bais Din in order to avoid the obligation to absolve debts at the end of Shmita year, only applies when Shmita is of Rabbinic level, but cannot be used to exempt one from absolvement of debts in a Biblically mandated Shmita even in the Diaspora. The reason for this is that when Shmita of the Land is Biblically mandated, so too is Shmitas Ksafim Biblically mandated even in the Diaspora.

If we contemplate the common factor of Shmita of the Land and Shmitas Ksafim and also Rosh HaShana we come to the conclusion that all put emphasis on God as overriding Master of the world instead of humans. The Torah explicitly tells us in the contexts of Shmita and Yovel, 'to Me the Land belongs', a matter that highlights how really God is Master over Earth and not humans, as it may seem from our usual subjugation of the Land for all our purposes. In the Land of Godly Mastery we are called on Shmita year to express God's Mastery in reality and stop behaving as if we are masters of the land in agricultural work. In regard to debts too the book of Mishlei teaches us that 'a debtor is a servant to the lender' (22, 7). Thus, in this sense the lender is considered to be a 'master' over the debtor. Therefore, when the Torah absolves this debt at the end of Shmita year, this means that the Torah once again reminds us that we are to turn over our human mastery to God and remember that really God is Master of the Universe.

Hebron highlights the principle of absolvement of debt as Maarat HaMachpela was bought for full price, despite many offers to give it for free. Thus this episode allowed our People ownership of Maaras HaMachpela without causing our People to feel indebted to the Hittites for their generosity. Thus, we remember that we  are servants of God and not servants of servants.

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #137

"One day I went to my relative and was alarmed how her house was in ruins. It turned out that the ceiling had collapsed, and she didn't have enough money for repairs. I then put my hand into my pocket and found 800 NIS, which I gave her for repairs. Two days later I went shopping with this relative, and we piled up groceries worth at least 1600 NIS. When we reached the counter, the owner of the supermarket suddenly told us to just pay 800 NIS and go. My relative tried to argue, saying that there's much more groceries and that she should pay more, but the owner insisted, saying, 'that's my offer - you can take it or leave it'. After taking the offer, I realized how I had just witnessed how 'one does not become poor from charity'." H.Tz

Sources: Rambam Shmita ch. 9

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Parshat Ha'azinu 2015

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Category: Torah Portion

Published on Thursday, 24 September 2015 11:14

Written by The Hebron Fund

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Parshat Ha'azinu
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Bonding with the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

יצב גבולות עמים למספר בני ישראל

בירור רוב יושביה עליה ושלטון העמים מסיבת ישראל בארצם

"One Who is pleased by prayer, One Who is appeased by penitence, aid me and save me so that I do not become silent... that I not stop from praying on this matter ever, only that I merit to supplicate and pray exceedinglyon this matter always till I merit to bring the manifestation of my request with compassion by You, so that I merit to come in my very life quickly to the Land of Israel...” (Likutei Tfilot I 20)

These days are days of prayer, days auspicious for the acceptance of prayers, as  our Sages taught on the verse 'seek HaShem when He is present, call out to Him when He is close' - these are the 10 days between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur.' One of the most basic and essential types of prayer is the prayer for prayer, that is to pray that one be able to utter prayer, that one be able to have intent in his/her prayer, and so on and so forth. Such is the very first prayer of the Amida - 'HaShem open my lips', which means that my first prayer to You is that You aid me to indeed utter prayer.

Another preliminary to prayer is the direction of one's body and mind towards the Land of Israel. This preparation fits perfectly with the prayer to pray, for connecting to the Holy Presence of the Land of Israel is essential in drawing on the aid of this Presence for one's prayer before the Holy Presence that resides before every Jew in prayer. Just as in this preliminary prayer there is a distinction between an individual and also by minyan, large community and the like, so too we can say that in regard to the spiritual aid from the Holy Presence of the Land of Israel there is a distinction between smaller numbers of people connected to this Presence and larger numbers of People connected to this Presence.

This can clearly be seen in our Sages assertion from the verse of Blessing: '5 of you shall chase 100 (enemies in battle), and 100 of you shall chase 10,000' (Behukotai). Our Sages learn from the change of ratios between 100 being 20 times 5 while 10,000 is 100 times 100, that 'the value of many doing a mitzva (of battle) is different than few doing a mitzva'. It is also clear from the verse 'for HaShem Your God 'walks' in the midst of your camp to save you from your enemies' that it is the Holy Presence that resides with the legions of Israel that aids Israel in accordance with their numbers. Indeed, the numbers of Israel are mentioned in our title quote of this week's parsha as being a causing factor in the borders of nations. So the Midrash interprets this verse to refer to the allocation of nations in specific countries, so that these nations do not all covet to settle in the Land of Israel, in order that the Land of Israel be secured for the Jewish People.

This Midrash is clear in regard to the beginning of this verse, but is unclear in regard to the latter part of the verse. What does the numbers of Israel have to do with security if the Land of Israel is in the hands of the Jewish People? In regard to the mitzva of halla, the Torah stipulates that its commitment is 'when you come to the Land'. Our Sages remark that this phrase is not only a stipulation but also can be interpreted as a result of taking on the mitva of halla. In other words, if you take on the mitzva of halla, 'I will bring you to the Land'. In the past we have noted that the Biblical commitment of halla, as is also true of many mitzvot of the Land, entails the majority of worldwide Jewry living in the Land of Israel. In this way, the numbers of Israel, i.e. the majority of Jewry in the Land, is a deciding factor not only on the observance of halla, but also on the ability and the Divine aid to indeed settle this Land properly in the first place.

Let us follow in the footsteps of Kaleb who prayed in Hebron to retain his devotion to this Land of Prayer. This is Hebron, the place to seek this Divine aid in pursuing the settlement of this Holy Land.

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #138

"One week I had to pay a sudden un-expected expense, which diminished my money to such an extent that I did not know how to pay for food for Shabbos. I turned to God for help in prayer. Soon after, after one of the classes that I teach, one of the participants handed me an envelope, saying that this is money for Hanuka. In it was a sizable sum enough to get me by my expenses. I did not understand - it was almost Purim, and now money for Hanuka?! This participant explained that his father had wanted to give me money at Hanuka time but had forgotten about it. Just recently he 'happened' to hear a Torah lecture about Hanuka, and this reminded him that best to bring Hanuka gelt now than never..."S.M 

Sources: Rosh HaShana 18a, Yalkut Shimoni 942

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Parshat Nitzavim 2015

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Category: Torah Portion

Published on Wednesday, 09 September 2015 18:26

Written by The Hebron Fund

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

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Connecting to the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

ואתה תשוב ושמעת בקול ה'... כי ישוב ה' לשוש עליך לטוב כאשר שש על אבותיך

"Have compassion upon me... and aid me and merit me to speedily go to and arrive in the Holy Land, which is the source of our holiness, as You know that all of our holiness and purity and all our Judaism is dependent on the Land of Israel...” (Likutei Tfilot I 20)

These days are days of returning, returning to our souls, returning to our Roots, returning to the light of Hebron, the light of our Holy Land and the Holy Presence. Our title quote teaches us that just as we return to HaShem, so too HaShem returns to us. This quote goes even further to say that HaShem will return to rejoice upon us just as He rejoiced upon our Forefathers, which yet again shows how returning to God ultimately brings one to the City of our Forefathers, Hebron.

The term used here for 'rejoice' - 'sas' is interpreted in the Megilas Ester by our Sages to homiletically refer to Bris Mila. They learn this concept from the verse in Tehilim “'sas'-happy am I upon Your words-'imratecha'”. They interpret that this rejoice was due specifically to 'imratecha' the more softly spoken words of HaShem used to command Avraham on Bris Mila than the more harsher sounding term - 'dibur' - later used in almost all the mitzvot at the era of Moshe Rabeinu. From this inference we can gain a deeper meaning into the nature of the source of our covenant with HaShem which began with our Father Avraham and continues in the present and future forever.

The concept of covenant implies an agreement agreed upon by both sides which entails that one side was not forced into the agreement. However, once this covenant is formed the ramifications are strongly binding and may be harshly re-enforced, as we see in the 'words of the covenant' in the Blessings and Curses of last week's parsha at length. Now we understand why the soft term 'imratecha' indeed reflects the nature of a covenant at its initiation when it is softly imposed so that the other side will not feel compelled to agree to this covenant. Indeed, our Sages teach us that there was a deliberation on Avraham's part if to commit the bris mila.

In the Midrash our Sages teach that two of three of Avraham's friends, Aner and Eshkol both advised Avraham to abstain from committing bris mila. However, Avraham's third friend, Mamreh, took the courage to disagree ('mamreh' - lehamrot - to disagree) and advised Avraham to indeed commit this mitrzva. Since then, and throughout history such as in the covenant formed with David in Hebron, till this day when many justly have the custom of performing Bris Mila at Maaras HaMachpela, Hebron is synonymous with the concept of covenant and faithfulness to our time-old dedication to HaShem and His Holy Land.

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #136

"The time had come to sell my old business in favor of a new business that seemed better than the first. After agreement by my wife and receiving blessing from a tzadik to sell quickly and for a good price, I decided that the best way to advertise the business was through business contacts and not through personal acquaintances, who can cause lots of time 'waisted' on petty interest and not on serious interest on buying the business. One day, I saw that my wife had just finished a conversation with her talkative friend about my intent on selling the business. I then explained to my wife that I do not want this info to be delivered to the private arena and the reason for this. The next day I got a call by a man who introduced himself as someone who would like to buy another business in the area and would like to talk with me before signing the contract. I explained that I was on the way to Oman St. (Jerusalem) to buy something, to which he answered that he happened to be on the same street repairing his car. We met. In the end, he decided to buy my business instead of the other business he told me about on the phone. Over just a few hours we signed on contract to the satisfaction of all parties. It 'turns out' that it was my wife's phone-call that I opposed that was the link that brought about the business transaction the next day." H.Y

Sources: Megila 16b, Rambam Tshuva 3, 6 - Tshuva and believing Mashiah and Thias Hamesim -the Land

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