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Parshat Toldot
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
עקב אשר שמע אברהם בקולי
'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)
The merit of our forefathers is not only crucial to us but also to the Patriarchs Yitzhak and Yakov, to whom the merit of the first patriarch, Avraham, was also significant. It is because of 'Avraham's listening to the call of HaShem' that Yitzhak is blessed, as we see in our title quote from this parsha, to inherit the Holy Land. We may also interpret this quote to refer to the merit of Avraham's 'heel' - 'ekev' in listening to HaShem to come to the Holy Land, by which, measure for measure, Yitzhak is promised the Holy Land in this week's parsha.
One of the saintly Kabbalists of Hebron who was both named Avraham, and went in Avraham Avinu's footsteps in how he cherished the Holy Land generally and Hebron specifically, was Rabbi Avraham Azulai, also known after his famous Kabbalistic work, the 'Hesed LeAvraham'.
The 'Hesed LeAvraham' was born in 5330 (1560 CE) in Morocco. At about the age of 30 he set out to settle in the Land of Israel. On the way, he was miraculously saved in a ship-wreck. As a sign of gratitude to HaShem for this miracle the 'Hesed LeAvraham' changed his signature to liken a ship. In 5360 the 'Hesed LeAvraham' arrived in the Holy Land and settled in Hebron. Because of the plagues, then rampant in Hebron, he was forced to move to Jerusalem, and when the plagues began in Jerusalem, he moved to Gaza.
Rabbi Avraham Azulai then made a vow that if he should merit to return to Hebron he would publicize his Torah teachings that he had written throughout the years. Soon after, the 'Hesed LeAvraham' was able to return to Hebron where he lived the rest of his life till he passed away on the 21st (or 24th) of Marheshvan 5404 (1643 CE). This pivotal move of publicizing Torah on the 'Hesed LeAvraham's part, may be given added meaning in light of the attribute of 'Torah of Kindness', i.e publicizing Torah/the Name of God to the masses, which was the attribute of the first 'Avraham', our Patriarch.
The 'Hesed LeAvraham' studied Kabbalah together with the great Kabbalist Rabbi Shmuel Vital, the son of Rabbi Haim Vital, the Arizal's pupil. Together with the Kabbalist Rabbi Yakov Tzemach the 'Hesed LeAvraham' traveled to R. Haim Vital's tomb in Syria to receive special permission from R. Haim Vital's soul in heaven to dig into his grave and take the Kabbalistic manuscripts he hid with him in his grave. Some of these manuscripts that were unearthed are considered some of the most authentic and accurate teachings of the Arizal.
In his works the 'Hesed LeAvraham' discusses at length the great spiritual value of the Holy Land and its settlement by the Jewish People. These works and also his righteous descendants, one of them being the famous 'Hida', Rabbi Hayim Yosef David Azulai, who also worked from Hebron, leave us with his timeless legacy of kindness and spiritual influence and illumination - the 'Kindness of Avraham.'
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #243
'For numbers of months I have been learning with a hevrusa once a week on the telephone for about 20 minutes with someone from a secular background who would like to come closer to Judaism. I was 'matched' with this man by a specific 'kiruv' organization in Israel, which also checks out from time to time how our 'hevrusa' is going. The last time I heard from this organization was about two months ago. One evening, I finished the call to this hevrusa, and that exact second the organization who matched us just 'happened' to call to 'check up'... (they had no idea when I conduct this hevrusa...) I.G
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Parshat Chayei Sarah
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
חיי שרה
'And Your Holy Presence which You have imbibed within the innards of our hearts, She shall bear witness, this very day faithfully before You, if we have loved Her, if Your Unity we have acknowledged by our mouths, if we have lauded the praise of Your Truth...' (Taktu Tfilot of Ramhal, Prayer 68)
Our souls are as sparks, so-to speak, of the great Fire of the Holy Presence, and in this way the Holy Presence is 'imbibed within the innards of our hearts.' So our Sages teach us, that even a sinner who has been hanged by the Sanhedrin in capital punishment is bemoaned by the Holy Presence which says, 'woe to my head (so-to-speak the head of this man hanged whose soul is associated with the Holy Presence), woe to my arm.' This concept makes us realize how profoundly deep is our soul connection to the Holy Presence of our Holy Land, just as a husband and wife are connected as one soul. Let us internalize this concept, especially when we direct our prayers towards the Holy Presence of our Holy Land. Let us internalize this connection and indeed be able to truthfully say before HaShem, 'we have loved Her, Your Unity we have acknowledged by our mouths, and we have lauded the praise of Your Truth...'
One of the ways we can connect to the Light of the Holy Presence in our Holy land as it is internalized and 'invited within' the souls of Israel, is by learning about the righteous of the Holy Land generally and of Hebron - Beacon of the Holy Land, specifically. Indeed, our Sages teach - 'how can one cleave to the Holy Presence? By cleaving to the Godly righteous.' This teaching also means that by studying the righteous ways of these righteous one cleaves to them, and thus 'cleaves', so-to-speak, to the Holy Presence. Therefore, the theme of this sixth year of 'Leshichno Tidreshu' will be to concentrate on the righteous who lived, worked and/or are buried in Hebron, aside of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs upon whom we already concentrated upon during our first three years.
One of the most strikng figures of Hebron aside of the Patriarchs is Jesse, father of David, who is buried in the Admot Yishai neighborhood of Hebron. About Jesse it is said that he is one of the only four righteous that died with no sin (Shabat 55b). It is therefore no surprise that Mashiah is often coined as 'the son of Jesse.' Jesse is also one of the 'eight princes of mankind', along with figures such as Samuel, Messiah and Elijah (Suka 52b).
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #242
'One Rabbi came to me asking why the book 'Hemdat Yamim' is in my yeshiva's library, considering the fact that there are claims that this sefer is attributed to the school of Shabatai Zvi. That very day my wife's aunt 'happened' to bring me a booklet from Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook's library, which its very purpose was to defend the book 'Hemdat Yamim' from these claims made upon it.
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Parshat Lech Lecha
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
ודור רביעי ישובו הנה
"Return us, HaShem, to You and we shall return, renew our days as of old."
Returning to God also means returning to His Holy Land where His Holy Presence rests. This concept is clear from the "Repentance Passage"/"Parshat HaTeshuva" found in the parsha of Nitzavim which describes the return to God in context of the return to the Holy Land. As Hebron plays the role of being Beacon of the Holy Land, we also find that the return to the Holy Land after years of exile is promised to Avraham in Hebron, as our title quote declares: 'the fourth generation will return here'. Interestingly, we find that the theme of the number four as representing return is repeated in this same vision of Avraham when he is told that his offspring will be '400 years in a land that is not theirs', which by inference means that after 400 years his offspring will return to the Land which is theirs.
The theme of the number four as representing return can be explained by the laws of Orlah in which fruit grown on a tree is forbidden for the first three years from the time this tree was planted. Only on the fourth year can this tree's fruit be eaten, on condition that this fruit is brought to Sanctified Jerusalem. On yet a deeper level we can say that the number three represents the extent of attachment to a previous situation, while four represents the ability to break forth from the previous situation and the ability to take on a new identity capable of change and return. This idea is exemplified by the concept of 'lavud'-'connectedness' as found in halacha, which teaches us that two pieces of solid material which are only three hand-breaths apart are considered to be as if 'connected', rendering the gap of air between these two solid pieces as if filled with solid material. However, when these three hand-breaths are passed, i.e beginning the 'fourth hand-breath', this gap is not considered 'connected'/'filled', but rather the new solid piece takes on a new identity.
The significance of the number four in context of return may also interestingly explain the return to Hebron after the Tarpat Massacre of 1929 in 1933, four years later. The Jews who returned to Hebron at this time built a second floor to the Hason Building, found next to the Beit Hadassa neighborhood. This floor was meant to house a yeshiva in name of the Hebron Kabbalist Rabbi Amram ben Duan. However, this return to Hebron did not last long, as riots began again and the British forced the Jewish community to leave Hebron once again. Then, four decades after the Tarpat Massacre Jews returned yet again to settle Hebron after the Six Day War. The Jewish Community of Hebron of today built yet a third floor to the Hason Building. Thus, the Hason Building of Hebron, by its three floors, represents the constant dedication of Jews to Hebron even at the most difficult times. Indeed, the name 'Hason' represents the 'Hosen', the 'strength and vigor', of our People's connection to Hebron despite all odds.
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #240
"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."
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Parshat Vayeira
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
"וירא אליו ה' באלוני ממרא"
‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, protect and save your beloved People of Israel from all evil for the sake of Your praise. When the holy beloved Shabbat ends, may this week, this month , and this year, come upon us with complete faith, faith in the Sages, love of our fellowman, devotion to the Creator Blessed be He...’ (Prayer of R. Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev for Motzei Shabbat)
As we culminate this ‘Hebronian Year’, which began last year with the week of parshat Chayei Sara, we bless all our readers that ‘this (coming) year, come upon us with complete faith, faith in the Sages, love of our fellowman, devotion to the Creator Blessed be He...’ through the merit and covenant with our Patriarchs of Hebron as we turn to HaShem as ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’.
Two years ago we went on a spiritual voyage through many cities and locations in the Land of Israel and showed Hebron’s spiritual influence on these locations. This past year we have gone through a journey among the various sites and locations within Hebron itself, homiletically interpreting the names of these places. Therefore, as we culminate these two years we would like to touch both on Hebron’s influence on locations, as we did two years ago, and at the same time stay relatively close to the vicinity of Hebron itself, as we did in the past year.
For example, names of neighborhoods in the vicinity of Hebron, such as Givat HaAvot - ‘Patriarchs’ Hill’, Ramat and Nofei Mamreh (also a girls’ school called ‘Elonai Mamreh’), are named after Hebron’s additional name Mamreh, all reflect Hebron’s expanding influence especially in these locations. These places are even within the limits of Hebron’s ‘eiruv’. Going several kilometers to the south we also find a whole regional county called ‘Har Hebron’, which includes about twenty(!) towns and settlements. The names of numbers of towns in this county reflect their connection to Hebron or to important people who lived in Hebron. For example, Maaleh Heber means the ‘Heights of Heber=Hebron’. Other towns in the Har Hebron County, such as Maon, Karmel, Abigail, Asahel are names (places/people) mentioned explicitly in context of King David’s reign in Hebron. Yet another town is called Otniel after the great judge of Israel, Otniel ben Kenaz, who is buried in Hebron. If we go numbers of kilometers north of Hebron we reach the town Karmei Tzur - ‘the Vineyards of Tzur’. This town’s name may allude to an additional name of Hebron according to the Midrash, Eshkol which means ‘grape-vine,’ after the grapes taken from this location by the spies sent from the Wilderness to show the giant fruit of the Land. This Land, ‘Haaretz’, has the identical numerical value of ‘Tzur’ (296), as in Karmei ‘Tzur’.
Just as Hebron can be compared to the heart of the cities of Israel, while Jerusalem can be compared to the brain of these cities (this conceptualization has been discussed in depth in parshat Bo of last year along with other parshiot), so too the locations in Hebron’s vicinity can be compared to its ‘cardiac veins and arteries’, playing an important role in Hebron’s spiritual grandeur and influence across the globe.
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #241
‘I invited a Rabbi to deliver a shiur in the Beit Midrash that I run. It ‘turns out’ that the very same day that this Rabbi gave this shiur in my Beit Midrash my wife just ‘happened’ to talk with this Rabbi’s wife for the first time to arrange an appointment with her for the next week. Needless to say, that my wife did not know that this woman’s husband was delivering a shiur by my Beit Midrash that very day.’ A.G
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Parshat Noach
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
וישלח את היונה
“Confident am I with these [thirteen attributes of mercy] and with the merit of the three Patriarchs...’ (Selichot)
As we return to our regular routine after the holidays, we continue and strengthen our confidence mustered through the prayers of the thirteen attributes of mercy of the holidays, and with the merit of the Patriarchs. Our Sages teach that confidence in HaShem is not only a mitzvah but it is also beneficial in achieving what one hopes for, working in a similar fashion as prayer. One of the verses that illustrates the trust in HaShem is ‘cast your bread upon the waters for after numbers of days you will find it’ (Eccl. 11). One of the interpretations of this verse by our Sages is that if one trusts God and gives his ‘bread’, i.e financial support, to Torah study, which is likened to ‘water’, then he will be rewarded in the end by Divine aid in his financial endeavors - ‘after numbers of days you will find it’.
The great Amoraic Master Rabbi Yohanan taught that even what is written in Scripture must be hinted as well in the Pentateuch. Therefore, we may say that this image of sustenance upon waters may be hinted to by Noah’s sending off the dove, by which Noah and all inhabitants of the Ark were dependent on for their sustenance, upon the waters of the Flood. If we imagine ourselves in Noah’s predicament we realize how great was Noah’s trust in God’s promise to end the Flood, using such a small and vulnerable creature to ‘check the waters’ in hope for salvation.
Just as we can find parallels between the verse in Ecclesiastes and Noah’s dove, so too we can find a parallel between the dove sent after the 40 days of Deluge and the messengers sent by Joshua, to conquer the Land of Israel generally and the city of Jericho specifically, after 40 years in the Wilderness, which corresponded to 40 days of the spies journey to the Land. We may say that what Noah’s spirit of trust did in regard to the dove he sent, Hebron did for Kaleb sent first by Moshe and then by Joshua.
Hebron reminded Kaleb and reminds us of our true home, Palace of the King of Kings, instilling us with the confidence and trust in God our King to move forward towards our redemption. Today we bear witness to the great trust in God of Hebron’s residents, who bravely paved our People’s way to Hebron even when matters seemed ‘flooded’ with difficulty. Indeed, as the years pass, just as Noah trusted God and thereby discovered dry land, so too as our people greaten their commitment, trust, and courage in regard to Hebron, Hebron’s spiritual and archaeological secrets are unraveled before our eyes. Soon may we all visit the newest archaeological excavations in Tel Hebron (The Hebron Mound) next to the Admot Yishai neighborhood in Hebron, along with discovering the spiritual secrets of this holy city along with our entire Holy Land - ‘Discover the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land!’
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #239
‘I finished my shopping at a supermarket, but when I got to the cashiers I realized that the lines were very long. Therefore, I decided to go to an empty cashier table where there was no one to check out my items and then pray to HaShem that someone would come to this cashier. So I did, and about five seconds after praying a worker came to open this cashier to operate...’ I.G
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