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Parshat Beshalach
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Inviting the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
‘And They Traveled’
‘May it be Your Will HaShem our God and God of our fathers that you let us travel safely in peace, and may walk us walk in peace, and may You show us the way in peace...’ (Wayfarer’s Prayer)
This week’s parsha describes the first journey of the People of Israel as they make voyage towards the Holy Land. This journey is met with many obstacles, which were ways HaShem tested our People, thereby also ‘exercising’ and strengthening our People’s faith.
Our Rabbis teach us that all that we experience in regard to our own personal ‘exodus’ to freedom is hinted to in the original Exodus from Egypt, from which we may gain wisdom and inspiration to deal with our own personal ‘exodus’. Indeed, in one’s own life, and especially if one strives to come to the Holy Land, which echoes the goal of the original Exodus, there may be many obstacles that test one’s faith, just as our ancestors were tested in their Exodus. Some obstacles that can be hinted to in this parsha pertain to natural obstacles such as crossing the Red Sea, some are obstacles of consciousness such as fear of an enemy, the chasing Egyptians, or a problem, and some obstacles are bitterness and sadness, as can be hinted to in the ‘Bitter Waters’ of Mara in this parsha. Another obstacle pertains to sustenance, as hinted to in the Mana episode in this parsha, and yet another obstacle pertains to battling the evil inclination or matters pertaining to safety concerns, as hinted to in the battle with Amalek at the end of this parsha.
The key to overcoming all these obstacles is strengthening our faith in HaShem. One of the ways to strengthen our faith is connecting to the goal of this exodus itself, the Holy Land, the Land of Faith in HaShem’s Providence. When we stand and face the Land of Israel in our Amida, let us imagine ourselves in the Land of Israel and before the Holy of Holies in the Beit HaMikdash, magnifying our feeling of closeness to HaShem and greatening our faith in HaShem’s salvation for everything.
One of the great travelers and emissaries of Hebron was Rabbi Yitzhak Karigal, who was born in Hebron in 5489 (1729). It is said that he was also the grandson of Rabbi David Karigal who was also an emissary of Jewry of the Land of Israel on behalf of Jerusalem. Rabbi Yitzhak Karigal studied Torah in Jerusalem and Hebron, and in Hebron he received his rabbinic ordination. At the age of 25 he was taken as an emissary for the Jewish community of Hebron. Rabbi Karigal travelled to Egypt, Turkey, Salonika, Syria, Europe, Baghdad, Persia, and then returned to Haleb (North Iraq) in order to return to the Land of Israel.
On a second voyage, Rabbi Karigal travelled to Western Europe, but he stayed several years in Italy. Most emissaries travelled to Western Europe and then went directly back to the Land of Israel. However, quite fascinatingly, Rabbi Karigal travelled instead in 1762 to the Americas. Apparently, this move was triggered by the Jewish community of Amsterdam who had a community in America under their auspices. The leaders of the Amsterdam Jewish community offered Rabbi Karigal a rabbinical position in the Caribbean island Curação, to which he agreed. There, Rabbi Karigal founded a Beit Midrash and taught Torah to his students. Nevertheless, in 1764 Rabbi Karigal returned to the Land of Israel and settled in Jerusalem.
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #252
‘We once ran out of Materna milk for our baby. What we really needed was a small packet of milk that can be taken on a trip. I knocked on my neighbor’s door. Even though my neighbor was not supposed to be home then, ‘it turned out’ that just then she went back to her home to take something, when I knocked. And it also ‘turned out’ that she just happened to have the very packets we were looking for...’ D.K
Sources: Sefer Hebron pp. 143-4
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Parshat Bo
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Inviting the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
'Also the Man Moshe was Considered Very Great in the Eyes of Pharaoh and his Servants'
'And so give honor to Your People, praise to those that fear You, good hope to those that seek You...' (Amida of Rosh Hashanna and Yom Kippur)
Our prophets teach us that the People of Israel are meant to be a light unto the nations. This means that the Jewish People are designated as the People of God through which the Light of God is channeled to all humanity. Therefore, the honor given to the Jewish People is an Honor to God, and the honor given to the God-fearing pious individuals of Israel is an even greater praise to HaShem. In this parsha, after numerous Divinely inflicted plagues befall upon the Egyptians, Moshe Rabeinu is revered and admired by Pharaoh and his servants.
One of the revered figures of Hebron, not only by Jews, but also by non-Jews alike, was Rabbi Haim Hizkiyahu Medini zt"l, the Sdei Hemed. When Rabbi Medini would pass through the streets of Hebron all would be silent, and Arabs would whisper to each other, 'here comes the Hacham [Rabbi/'wiseman'] of the Jews.'
Once, the Arabs of Hebron founded a committee designated to deal with individuals of the city who did not pay their taxes. The way this committee made such individuals pay these taxes was by whipping, or by even more severe punishment. Such individuals would be taken to the center of the city, shackled as sheep, and were sentenced publicly for forty lashes or for worse. Those who paid their debts were released, but those who did not, could lie in prison for the rest of their lives.
One time, Hebron's Jewish Community received a warning to pay their taxes that had accumulated over the years. Therefore, the heads of the Jewish community were called for sentencing, including the Chief Rabbi of Hebron, Rabbi Medini. This summoning was a serious matter of concern, since Rabbi Medini's arrival to the sentencing may be considered a desecration of HaShem's Name. Nevertheless, Rabbi Medini rose, wore his cloak, announced, 'the judgment of the government is considered judgment' ('dina demalchuta dina'), and then he left for the sentencing. When Rabbi Medini arrived, all were startled and struck with awe. Who had the gall to summon the Chief Rabbi of Hebron himself, when this matter could be settled by a mere representative or messenger of the community? Everyone stood and did not sit till Rabbi Medini sat in an honorable place. Refreshments were immediately ordered for the rabbi. As they put their hands on their heads, the Arab officials inquired thrice about Rabbi Medini's well being and apologized for having summoned the Chief Rabbi to come himself. Rabbi Medini answered: 'I am servant to the government and a servant to my community. The taxes that I am ordered to pay are not business taxes nor taxes on private property, but rather these taxes are on sacred property, that, as far as I know, are exempt for taxes according to the law. Nevertheless, whatever you order, I will do.' When these words were said calmly and in perfect Turkish, it made a tremendous impression on everyone, till the head of the committee rose and said: 'You are a prince of God among us, in your honor and in honor of your Torah we hereby erase all of these taxes from the records, and we ask your forgiveness and blessing.' The crowd around Rabbi Medini, Jews and non-Jews alike, burst in rejoicing, and even one of the head officials, known for his cruelty to Jews, softened and honored Rabbi Medini. The Sdei Hemed then said: 'If I have found favor in your eyes, please act compassionately with those imprisoned by you, waiting for their judgment. Soften their sentences, and they will bless the Sultan and the honorary officials gathered here.' 'So it shall be!' said the head of the committee, 'release their chains, and they shall kiss the feet of the Chief Rabbi.' Everyone exclaimed: 'Long live the Chief Rabbi!'
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #251
'I was once discussing a kabbalistic passage with my hevruta which discusses the significance of the number 413. About three hours later I went shopping in the supermarket and the groceries added up to exactly 413 NIS.' Y.G
Sources: Sefer Hebron pp. 116-7
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Parshat Shemot
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Inviting the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
‘Let My People Go’
‘And may our eyes see Your return to Zion with compassion...’
The return to Zion today is ultimately the continuation of the Exodus from Egypt thousands of years ago. The goal of the Exodus was the People of Israel’s return to the Holy Land, and the return to this Land today does just that, returns our People to the Land after our latest exile. One of the important undertakings of our era is not just returning to the Land, but also developing the Jewish settlement in the entirety of this Land through full devotion and through the belief that this Land is a Godly given gift to the Jewish People.
This spirit of devotion toward the Holy Land so naturally permeates through the atmosphere of Hebron, as the Tikunei Zohar describes the calls of redemption, calling Israel back to the Holy Land, as blowing from Hebron. In this sense, Rabbi Moshe Levinger of Hebron can be seen as continuing the message of the Exodus, which began with Moshe Rabeinu, into our era, realizing the goal of this Exodus by returning to and re-settling the Holy Land. Indeed, it is also Pesah, the Day of the Exodus, of 1968, just after the Six Day War, that Rabbi Moshe Levinger is most famed for in his Seder Night at the Park Hotel in Hebron, which was the trailblazing event that brought forth the settlement of Judea and Samaria today.
Rabbi Levinger was born in Jerusalem in 1935, and studied at the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva in Jerusalem under the guidance of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook. In his own words, he learned "that the Land of Israel must be in the hands of the Jewish people - not just by making settlements, but also that this Land must be under Jewish sovereignty." Under the guidance of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, Rabbi Levinger was a leading figure of Gush Emunim, a movement dedicated to settling Jews in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. Although Rabbi Levinger founded and lived in Kiryat Arba, he is famous for his work in Samaria as well, as representing the settlers of Sebastia, who later founded Elon Moreh and other settlements in Samaria.
In 1987, Hadashot asked a panel of twenty-two leading Israelis, from all parts of the political spectrum, to name the "person of the generation, the man or woman who has had the greatest effect on Israeli society in the last twenty years". First place in this poll was shared by Rabbi Levinger and Menachem Begin.
Rabbi Levinger was a symbol of simplicity, always traveled by hitchhiking or by bus, as he despised materialism. He was always on a mission, always active for the People of Israel and the Land of Israel. He did not engage in small talk, everything always revolved around the great goal - the Land of Israel.
Rabbi Levinger passed away in 5775, and was buried in Hebron’s Ancient Cemetery on Jerusalem Day, the famous liberation day of the Six Day War which liberated Judea and Samaria, to which Rabbi Levinger was so famous for settling.
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #249
‘During one great blizzard in Israel, a few children played underneath a pergola. Suddenly, a great crack was heard - the pergola collapsed in the snow... but no children were there. Just two minutes before, the children changed their place of play elsewhere.’
Sources: Wikipedia on Rabbi Levinger
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Parshat Va'eira
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Inviting the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
‘Speak unto Pharaoh King of Egypt’
‘God, Master of the world and all worlds, You are King over all kings’ (Yah Ribon). The acknowledgment of HaShem, our God, as the King over all other kings gives us the courage to speak for the honor of HaShem’s Torah, His People, and His Holy Land. It is Hebron, the cradle of Israel’s monarchy as the kingdom of David, that stands out as the City of Courage - where Kaleb drew his courage to talk in praise of the Holy Land despite the other leaders of the People who had spied the Land. In this parsha, we see the courage of Moshe Rabeinu and his brother Aaron, as they speak time and again before one of the most powerful figures of the ancient world, Pharaoh of Egypt. One of the important figures of Hebron, the Cradle of Royalty - who also had close ties with the ruling powers of his time and was also named Moshe - was Rabbi Moshe Meizelish zt”l.
The Meizelish family was one of the affluent and honored families in Vilna. A number of the members of this family at different periods were heads of their communities. Rabbi Moshe Meizelish stood out as he served as the head of his community for 22 years. Rabbi Moshe Meizelish was close to the Vilna Gaon. He learned from him and even went to jail with the Vilna Gaon along with the other leaders of the Vilna Jewish community. Nevertheless, Rabbi Moshe Meizelish decided to join Chabad Hasidism publicly after the passing of the Vilna Gaon, and by so doing he was rejected by those who opposed Hasidism to such an extent that he was forced to leave his home for Germany. There, under the guidance of his master, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (The Baal HaTanya), Rabbi Moshe Meizelish ‘befriended’ Napoleon in order to work as a spy for the Tsar of Russia. This motion was supported by the Baal HaTanya who believed that although Napoleon will provide greater material prosperity for the Jews, he will ultimately bring about the spiritual demise of Judaism in Europe. Therefore, he sent Rabbi Moshe Meizelish to work as a spy to bring about the demise of Napoleon.
After Napoleon was defeated, Rabbi Moshe Meizelish could have benefited from an honorary position in the court of the Russion Tsar in appreciation for his highly valued espionage. However, instead Rabbi Moshe Meizelish preferred to ascend to the Land of Israel. He writes, “When the war was over… and I was asked to be paid my salary/reward, I remembered the mishna ‘do not be known by the government’... and I made a vow to leave all matters of the world and go to the holy service, to the Holy Land”. First, Rabbi Meizelish settled in Jerusalem or Tzfat and then, when the Chabad Hasidim settled in Hebron, he was asked by the Middler Rebbe of Chabad to settle in Hebron. Rabbi Meizelish moved to Hebron and there he served as one of the leaders of Hasidic settlement in the Land of Israel. Because of his ties with Lithuania, Rabbi Meizelish was also influential in mustering financial aid from Lithuanian Jews for the settlement of the Land of Israel. In Montefiori’s visit to the Land of Israel in 1838, he met Rabbi Meizelish, was impressed by him, and wrote the following: “a noble and trustworthy man… who could have achieved famed success, but behold his spirit led him to go to the Land of Israel.” Montefiori was especially amazed that although Rabbi Meizelish had become poverty stricken especially after his home was robbed, and despite his previous prospects of great wealth, Rabbi Meizelish did not ask for any personal support. Rather, Rabbi Meizelish only asked Montefiori for help in publishing his book on the 613 Mitzot.
Real Stories from the Holy Land: Real Stories from the Holy Land: ‘On my way to Hebron, I was waiting for the mini-van designated by the Jewish Community of Hebron to take me to my destination. However, meanwhile, one person stopped to take me although I made no sign to seek a ride. In appreciation of this kind overture I felt I should not refuse their offer even though I planned to take the designated ride straight to my destination. Afterwards I inquired why it seemed that the mini-van was late – it ‘turns out’ that the mini-van took an alternative route that day and couldn’t have taken me anyway…’ (M.A)
Sources: Sefer Hebron pp. 148-149
Parshat Vayechi
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Inviting the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
"And You Shall Bury Me in My Father's Grave"
“Blessed are You HaShem Who revives the dead.”
The belief in rectification of the dead in Judaism includes both the literal rectification of the dead and the figurative rectification of the dead, i.e the return of a historically ‘dead’ People, the People of Israel, exiled for thousands of years from their national homeland, to be revived and ‘rectified’, and return to their homeland, the Holy Land, in the age of Redemption. These two conceptualizations come together in the dependency of the Holy Land for the process of the literal rectification. According to our Sages, the righteous dead of the Diaspora will be ‘rolled’ in tunnels to The Land in order to be resurrected in The Land, while those who are not righteous will be ‘rolled’ to the Land without tunnels, in order to be resurrected. This is the reason, according to our Sages, that both Yakov and Yosef asked to be buried in the Land of Israel in this parsha.
Not only is the Land of Israel singled out for its high spiritual value in regard to burial and the resurrection, but also Hebron, Beacon of the Holy Land, is singled out for its high value in regard to burial and the afterlife. So writes Rabbi Tokachinsky zt’l, one of the foremost halachic authorities on modern burial and mourning in ‘Gesher Hahaim’ (p.299) ‘It is an ancient tradition that the dead (who died in Hebron) are not to be sent to be buried outside of Hebron, even to Jerusalem, and even if the deceased had bought a grave or had a family grave-site in Jerusalem.
Aside of the Patriarchs, Nahmanides is yet another example of one of our People’s spiritual giants who requested to be buried in Hebron. If Nahmanides is actually buried in Hebron is up to debate, but the fact that he writes in one of his last letters that he plans to dig himself a grave in Hebron is under no controversy. This last testament itself is enough to show the high regard Nahmanides held to burial in Hebron. In fact, his high regard of Hebron, Beacon of the Holy Land, specifically, may also be linked to Nahmanides’ high regard to the Land of Israel in general, as can be seen in many of his writings and in his actual move to the Land of Israel at the end of his days. In similarity with numbers of figures we mentioned before who held special endearment of the Holy Land, Nahmanides too was a master of Kabbalah, one of Torah’s doctrines that puts much emphasis on the Holy Presence in the Holy Land. Since there is so much material about Nahmanides, we will pare down our description of his life to his latter years in the Holy Land.
In 5027 (1267 CE) Nahmanides made Aliyah from Spain, where he had lived, to Jerusalem. There he established a synagogue that exists until the present day, known as the Ramban Synagogue. Nachmanides then settled in Acco, where he was very active in spreading Torah study, which was at that time very much neglected in the Land of Israel. He gathered a circle of students around him, and people came in crowds, even from the district of the Euphrates, to hear him. It is in the Land of Israel that the Ramban wrote much of his most famous work, his commentary on the Chumash. One of his comments on the words ‘kivrat eretz’, found also this week’s parsha, provides a unique glimpse into the life of the Ramban in the Holy Land. Originally, Nahmanides wrote that ‘kivrat eretz’ denotes a far distance, meaning that Rachel is buried far from the city of Beit Lehem. However, after making aliyah, he writes: ‘so I wrote before, but now that I have come to Jerusalem, praise to the Good and Benevolent God, I saw that there isn’t even a mile from the tomb of Rachel to Beit Lehem...’ Therefore, Nahmanides poses a different interpretation that ‘kivrat eretz’ is actually a very small distance. This visit of Nahmanides to Rachel’s Tomb most probably occurred on his chronicled journey from Jerusalem to Hebron, after which he returned to Acco. This journey may remind us of our Father Yakov who traveled through Bethlehem to Hebron, the home of Avraham and Yitzhak. Indeed this is Hebron, our People’s home city in life and death, and also in the afterlife.
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #248
"About two years ago a friend of mine asked me to pray that he be able to buy a more smoothly-driving car. Of all things to asked for I was humored by this request, but I agreed to pray for this. After two years my own car broke down, and I looked to buy a car for myself. Just then, my friend indeed found ‘the car of his dreams’. Therefore, he offered to me to borrow his old car for an extended period of time, free of charge."
Sources: Wikipedia on Ramban
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