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Parshat Bha'alotcha
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
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Seeking the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
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"Master of the Universe! Fulfill the requests of my heart for good... and give us our portion in Your Torah, and grant us that Your Holy Presence rest upon us... and may we manifest the Scripture as it says, 'and a Spirit of HaShem shall rest upon him...' (Isaiah 11, 2)"
'The Spirit of HaShem' is translated by the Targum in Isaiah as 'the spirit of prophecy'. This prayer, said on the three festivals at the opening of the ark, is one of the only public prayers that quite explicitly asks for the advent of prophecy upon our People at large. Indeed, the Midrash interprets the episode of Yakov watering the three flocks of sheep when meeting Rachel as indicative of the unique spiritual 'watering' of the People with 'the holy spirit' (ruah hakodesh related to prophecy) at the three festivals.
One of these three festivals when this aspiration for prophecy is especially poignant is Shavuos, 'the Time of the Giving of the Torah', when the entire People were raised to a level of full prophecy at least for the first two commandments of the Ten Commandments. Not only on a historical level is this true, but also every year throughout Counting the Omer we rise spiritual heights culminating with Shavuos, when we can attain one of the highest spiritual levels of the year, according to the Arizal.
It is therefore not surprising that Shavuos is always close to or adjacent to this week's parsha Bha'alotcha, which describes Moshe's wish that all Israel be prophets. This is the time to remind ourselves, and not forget throughout the rest of the year, the tremendous spiritual potential of each and every one of us, capable of receiving prophecy. Our Sages in the Sifri teach us that this potential can only reach fruition in or in relation to the Land of Israel, stating that after the prophecy of Moshe Rabeinu prophecy is exclusive to the Land of Israel, either to be received within it or in relation to it. Commentators on Rambam's laws of prophecy also interpret the necessity that prophecy be 'according to the Godly Will', as Rambam calls it, that it be in the Land of Israel (in addition to worthiness of the generation).
Interesingly, it is Hebron, our People's roots to the Land of Israel, that strikes out as also being the root of 'proper' prophecy to our People, as it says in regard to Avraham: "And HaShem appeared unto him in Elonei Mamre (Hebron)". The Zohar says that only after Avraham was circumcised in Hebron did he receive prophecy in a level called 'appearance', beforehand receiving prophecy in significantly lower levels. The fact that the Torah links this 'appearance' and heightened level of prophecy to Hebron follows very well with Yitzhak's recognition of the Holy Presence resting at this location on a regular basis.
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #73:
"For quite a while, my wife had been working on about minimum wage, making a meager salary. One time, we decided to financially support a divorced woman in distress for some time. Just then, my wife's salary tripled..."
Sources: Psikta Zutrta Vayetze 29, 3, Makot 24a, Shaar Hakavanot Shavuot, Mechilta Bo, p. 1, Seder Mishna on Rambam, Zohar I 97b, Zohar II 39b
Parshat Naso
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Seeking the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
"יברכך ה' וישמרך"
"...My eyes are fixed on You until You favor me, and hear my prayer, and provide me with sons and daughters who will also be fruitful and multiply, they and their descendents unto all generations, in order that they and we might all engage in the study of Your holy Torah... Therefore answer me, O Eternal, answer me in the merit of our holy Forefathers Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya'akov. For the sake of the fathers save the children, so the branches will be like the roots..." (Shelah's prayer)
This famous prayer said by parents on their children, is said by many especially on Erev Rosh Hodesh Sivan, the month the Torah was given, which occurs this week. Interestingly, this very same day is also "Hebron Day", the day when Hebron, "City of the Fathers and Children", was liberated in the Six-Day-W ar. In addition, Hebron is also the "City of Torah", as the Zohar points out "Hebron - this is Torah, for one who occupies oneself with it is a 'haber' (member of the class of Torah scholars)".
Another prayer said by parents on their children is the Priestly Blessing read in this week's parsha. In a similar way, "Our Father in Heaven" blesses His "children Israel" through the Cohanim who serve as a conduit for this blessing on a daily basis in many communities of Israel. However, yet still there are many communities, especially the Ashkenazic communities of the Diaspora, who conduct Birkas Cohanim (by the cohanim) on festivals only. The reason given by the poskim for this custom is that Birkas Cohanim must be said with joy, and since most days, except for festivals, the Cohanim are not in joy because of the labors of the week (this emotional burden continuing on Shabbat) therefore they are not to bless the People. Nevertheless, we find that the widespread custom in the Land of Israel that the Cohanim bless the People every day of the week, even among Ashkenazic communities, and even by heavy laborers.
According to the fore-mentioned reason for not conducting Birkas Cohanim in the Diaspora it would follow that even in the Land of Israel Birkas Cohanim should not be conducted.
Therefore, the poskim have noted that apparently there "is some secret in the spiritual channels of the blessing that descend with the blessing of the cohanim in the Diaspora, and we do not know how so" (quote from 'Piskei Tshuvos'). This differentiation between the Holy Land and the Diaspora fits very well with the unique attributes we have discussed in the past describing the Land as "the Land of Joy" and "Land of the Holy Presence".
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #72:
"It was erev Pesah, and we needed to take a bus to our relatives outside of Kiryat Arba. When we got to the bus-stop we realized that we had missed the bus. Instead of getting upset, we had faith in HaShem. Shortly after, a car passed by and gave me a gift of a few hundred shekels for Pesah. If we had taken the bus, we would have totally missed him."
Sources: Orah Haim 128, 44 and Rama. Piskei Tshuvos, ibid.
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Parshat Bechukotai
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Seeking the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
וכל מעשר הארץ מזרע הארץ מפרי העץ לה' הוא קודש לה
"Help us understand, HaShem our God, to know Your ways, circumcise our hearts to fear You... satisfy us with the pleasures of Your Land, and gather our dispersions from four (corners of the world)..." ('Havinenu' - the abridged Amida)
Kiryat Arba literally means 'the City of the Four', a fact that seems to evoke the concept of the in-gathering of exiles from the four corners of the earth, as a city is an 'in-gathering of people' in one location. Indeed, this name fits very closely with Kiryat Arba's other name, Hebron, which means 'to unite' (lehaber), as the in-gathering of exiles in our Land is a primary factor in unifying our People, as it says, 'who is like Your People Israel, one People in the Land'.
If we examine the word for 'city', 'kiryat', we find that it is very close to the verb root, 'kara', 'to call', used also in context of 'to call to assembly' or 'to call to come close'. Indeed, the book of Vayikra, which we culminate with this week's parsha, means 'to call' as it begins with 'a call' towards Moshe to come close to hear HaShem's teaching to him. Another name for this book coined by our Sages is 'Toras Cohanim', as much of this book is occupied with the commandments for the priests, 'those who are called close and holy to HaShem' in the Mishkan or Bais HaMikdash (see Num. 15, 5), and thus concentrates on the concept of holiness, 'coming close to God', in general.
Even portions of this book which seem to stray from this dominant theme on the priests still follow in accord with the concept of 'the call to come close or assemble'. Take for example parshas Kedoshim, which begins with a call 'to the entire assembly of Israel', as its laws are especially essential for the entire 'assembly' of Israel (see Rashi at the beginning of this parsha). Another example is the portion on the holidays, called 'Mikraei Kodesh', the word 'mikraei' again stemming from the same verb root, 'kara', summoning the People to observe the holidays together at one time, thereby coming close to HaShem. Shmita and Yovel too, appearing at the end of this book, also involve the ingathering and assembly of our People in the Land of Israel as a basic requirement, and the blessings and curses in this week's parsha describe states of 'in-gathering in the Land' versus Exile from the Land in accordance with the People's deeds.
One of the last commandments in this book, brought in our title quote, is the commandment to sanctify Maaser Sheni, which combines both the concept of holiness so dominant in this book and the emphasis on the assembly of Israel in the Land, a dominant theme at this book's end, for a basic requirement for Maaser Sheni, as other laws dependant on the Land, is the assembly of the majority of Israel in the Land (acc. to Rambam). Let us listen to the 'kriya'-call of Kiryat Arba - Hebron, to assemble together as one People in our one-indivisible Land, Land of the Holy Presence, under One God.
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #70:
"One day, I decided to approach soldiers in Hebron and offer them to put on tefilin, similar to Habad's 'tefilin-missions'. Just about 20 minutes later I heard people in Hebron who did not see me or hear me in my 'tefilin-mission' talking about the importance and the impact of these 'tefilin-missions' on Jews, a matter I haven't heard about in years."
Sources: Rambam Trumot, 1, 26
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Parshat Bamidbar
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Seeking the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
"ובני קהת למשפחותם עמרם ויצהר חברון ועוזיאל"
"Praise Hashem, call out in His Name... Remember His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations. The covenant which He had made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac. And He set it up for Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant. Saying: To you I shall give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance.".. (Chr. I, 16, Psukei Dezimra).
Every morning we begin our praises to HaShem, specifying our gratitude for the covenant with our Forefathers to give them the Holy Land. Why does this covenant on the Land of Israel take such a dominant place in our praises? If we look for a place where the concept of 'covenant with our Forefathers' and the Land of Israel join together so naturally, of course Hebron comes to mind.
Interestingly, we find the name Hebron in this week's parsha in a different context (see our title quote). The third son of Kehot, the son of Levi, is also called Hebron. Is this some accident?
According to our Sages, there are no 'accidents' even in worldly events, not to mention our holy Torah, where every word and letter is exact from the word of God. If so, why is the name Hebron given in the Torah both to the Levite Hebron and to the city Hebron? A possible explanation to this matter lies with an understanding of the nature of the Levites, of which Hebron is a member. The Torah tells us that Leah, the mother of Levi called him this name to express her wish that her husband, Yakov, unite ('yilaveh' = Levi) with her through this mutual son. Many years later, we find that this trait of 'unity', so central to Levi and his tribe after him, serves as a conduit in bringing the tribe of Levi to being a uniting force between 'husband in wife' in a more abstract sense, uniting HaShem, described in Shir HaShirim as 'husband', and Israel, described as His 'wife'. Thus, great spiritual leaders arose from the tribe of Levi, such as Moshe, Aharon, Miriam, Pinhas, just to mention a few, and the whole tribe is set apart, as seen in this week's parsha, to be a holy tribe designated to unite the People with God.
This said, it is no wonder why Kehot called his son 'Hebron' which means unity. It is also no wonder why the holy city of the Patriarchs, connecting Israel to HaShem, is called Hebron. In a halachic sense too Hebron (a refuge city) and the Levite cities have strong ties as both being holy cities capable of saving and giving refuge even to accidental murderers. Now we can answer our first question. Hebron is the root of Israel's connection to the Land of the Holy Presence. By acknowledging HaShem's covenant with our Fathers in regard to our Holy Land we are acknowledging the very essential unity between God and Israel which flows through Hebron so naturally.
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #71:
"A few years ago I accidentally brought my swiss-army-knife to the Kotel, and when I was detected by the police, I was taken for a few hours to be examined for suspected criminal behavior. Then, my knife was confiscated for many months. Recently, I forgot this knife in my knapsack when I went to Maaras HaMachpela. I was stopped by the police, who checked every compartment of my knapsack. This time however, I prayed that they not see my knife. Although they opened the compartment where the knife was, they only saw my wife's jewelry and let me go."
Sources: Rambam Rotzeah 8, 1-9
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Parshat Behar
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Seeking the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
וידבר ה' אל משה בהר סיני לאמר... כי תבאו אל הארץ...ושבתה הארץ שבת לה
"Remember the love of the Ancient Ones, and revive those in slumber, and hasten the days when the Son Of Jesse lives..."
This line, in the Shabbos song 'Tzama Nafshi', seems almost to evoke the different locations of Hebron. 'The Ancient Ones' refers to the Patriarchs in Maaras HaMachpela whose love is remembered by HaShem as mentioned in the first blessing of the Amida. 'Reviving those in slumber' refers to the revivified Jewish community in Hebron, and the 'Son of Jesse' refers to the tomb of Jesse in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron.
Similarly, in this week's parsha we can find hints to Hebron. According to 'Shaar HaHatzer' (by R. David ben Shimon zt'l), the term 'Sinai' hints to Hebron, for when spelled out (samech=120, yod=20, nun=106, yod=20) it has the same numerical value as 'Hebron' (this is a well-accepted method of gematriya among the Sages). 'Shaar Hahatzer' continues by saying that this indicates that just as Israel were entirely purified at Mount Sinai so too one who learns Torah for its sake in Hebron is purified, adding also that even one idle in Hebron is considered as if learning Torah (which was given from Sinai). Indeed, the Zohar too points at the high Torah level in Hebron when it states: "Hebron refers to Torah, for one who studies it is called a 'haber' (a member of the class of Torah-scholars)".
Our Sages ask on our title quote, 'why is Shemita mentioned in context of Mount Sinai, alast all the commandments were mentioned at Sinai? They answer that the Torah wants to teach us that just as Shemita's laws, both in general and in detail, were delivered at Sinai, so too all laws of the Torah were delivered at Sinai not only in general but also in detail. Rashi explains that we would expect the details of Shmita to be mentioned in the 'Plains of Moab' at the end of the 40 years in the Wilderness before entering the Land, but the fact that these details are not mentioned then in the book of Dvarim but rather here at Sinai highlights that in truth all the details of the Torah were already mentioned at Sinai.
We may ask the question: why is Shemita, of all the mitzot singled out to highlight this principle? Of all the places in the Diaspora, Mount Sinai strikes out as the holiest place ever. It seems that the Torah wants to teach us that even at this holiest site in the Diaspora, HaShem delivered to Moshe and Israel that the Torah's aspiration of holiness of location is ultimately in the Land of Israel, as is highlighted the most by the mitzvoth of Shmita and Yovel, giving the Land a status similar to that of the holy Shabbos.
In this way, we gain even more meaning in the fore-mentioned connection made between Sinai and Hebron. Hebron, as we have shown many times before, represents the age-old connection of our People to the Land of Israel. Even at Sinai, or especially at Sinai, the Torah wishes to teach us that our Holy Land is integrally connected (-mehubar-Hebron) to our People and to the Torah in general.
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #69:
"One day, we decided to give away a number of our clothes to the second-hand thrift shop in Kiryat Arba. Shortly after, we were suddenly offered clothes excellent for us."
Sources: Shaar Hahatzer 380, Zohar Shlah, Sifra Behar 1, 1
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