Hamaayan / The Torah Spring Edited by Shlomo Katz Re'eh Volume 21, No. 42 27 Av 5767 August 11, 2007 Sponsored by Nat and Rikki Lewin on the yahrzeit of his father, Dr. Isaac Lewin (Harav Yitzchok ben Harav Aharon z"l) Today's Learning: Bava Metzia 9:2-3 Daf Yomi (Bavli): Yevamot 100 Daf Yomi (Yerushalmi): Yoma 2 Begin a new cycle of Mishnah Berurah on Tuesday, 30 Av / August 14 Learn three paragraphs every day. Our parashah opens, "See, I put before you today a blessing and a curse. The blessing: when you hearken to the commandments of Hashem, your G-d, that I command you today. And the curse: if you do not hearken to the commandments of Hashem, your G-d . . ." We read similarly in Parashat Nitzavim (30:15), "See, I have placed before you today the life and the good, and the death and the evil." The midrash Yalkut Shimoni comments: "Lest a Jew say, `Since Hashem has placed two paths before me, a way of life and a way of death, I may choose whichever I wish,' therefore the Torah says (30:19), `You shall choose life'." R' Yitzchak Eliyahu Landau z"l (1781-1876; Vilna) explains: In man's mundane affairs, if one person (call him "Reuven") instructs another person ("Shimon") to do something for Shimon's own benefit, Reuven will not punish Shimon for failing to do that thing. The only loss that Shimon will suffer because of his failure is that he will not obtain the promised benefit. One might think, therefore, that when Hashem gives us a choice between good and bad and between life and death, He does not care which we choose. If we perform the mitzvot we will be rewarded, but if we don't perform the mitzvot, we will not be punished. Or, so one might think. Says the Torah: "You shall choose life." The reason Hashem created the world was to share His Goodness, and if we do not choose life, we frustrate His very goal in creating us. Therefore, we are commanded to choose life, and we will be held accountable if we do not. (Patsheggen Ha'ketav: Divrei Chachamim) ******** "If there shall be a destitute person among you, any of your brethren in any of your cities, in the Land that Hashem, your G-d, gives you, you shall not harden your heart or close your hand against your destitute brother. . . You shall surely give him, and let your heart not feel bad when you give him. . ." (15:7, 10) R' Aharon Lewin (rabbi of Rzeszow, Poland; killed in the Holocaust) writes the following regarding this mitzvah: The Gemara (Berachot 10b) teaches: "If one has a Torah scholar as a guest in his house and allows the scholar to benefit from his (the host's) property, it is as if he (the host) offered a Tamid offering in the Bet Hamikdash." What, asks R' Lewin, is the purpose of the words, "in his house"? He explains: We learn in Pirkei Avot (Ch.1): "Let your home be wide open and let the poor be members of your household." This is a message to the many people who give charity generously but who never allow the poor into their homes. Rather, all collectors and beggars are required to stand in the front hall and receive their donations there. Even if they are given food, they are made to eat it standing at the door or even outside of the house. This is not proper; rather, says the Mishnah, let your home be wide open and let the poor be members of your household. But what about the carpet and the couch? What if the poor track mud or snow into the house? R' Lewin writes that King Shlomo already answered these questions. We read (Mishlei 31:20-21-in the description of the Eishet Chayil / "Woman of Valor"), "She spreads out her palm to the poor and extends her hand to the destitute. She fears not snow for her household, [though] her entire house is clothed [i.e., upholstered] in scarlet wool." If this is how one must treat an ordinary charity collector, how much more so a Torah scholar! This is what the Gemara means when it says, "If one has a Torah scholar as a guest in his house . . . ," not merely at the door. The importance of the attitude with which one gives charity is taught in our verses. One must not only give, one must not feel bad when he gives. To the contrary, one must speak gently to the beggar and console him over his troubles and embarrassment. (Ha'drash Ve'ha'iyun) From the same work . . . There are two attitudes that can lead one to give tzedakah / charity. One can feel sorry for the downtrodden pauper and give him charity as an expression of mercy. Such charity certainly is a worthy deed, but it is not the highest form of tzedakah. The highest form of charity is to give because it is a good deed; it is G-d's Will and His commandment to us. R' Lewin notes that R' Yosef Albo z"l (author of Sefer Ha'ikkarim; 1380- 1444) uses the above idea to explain the verse (Yeshayah 32:17): "The product [literally, `deed'] of charity shall be peace; and the effect [literally, `service'] of charity -- quiet and security forever." The deed of giving charity, no matter why it is done, brings peace to the one who does it. However, the service of tzedakah, giving charity because it is a form of service to G-d, is far greater. Such tzedakah brings the doer quiet and security forever. R' Lewin continues (citing his grandfather, R' Yitzchak Shmelkes z"l): One advantage of giving tzedakah because it is a mitzvah rather than because one feels pity is that the feeling of pity wears off eventually. Moreover, when we see that poverty is widespread, we become insensitive to it. Not so if one gives charity to fulfill the Will of G-d. That Will is unchanging, and so one's charity will be unending. This is the teaching of our verse: "Give him, you shall give him." Say Chazal: You shall give to a pauper repeatedly, even a hundred times. How can you train yourself to do this? "Let your heart not feel bad when you give him" - don't give because you feel bad, but because G-d commanded it. ******** "Beware lest there be a lawless thought in your heart, saying, `The seventh year approaches, the sabbatical year,' and you will look malevolently upon your destitute brother and refuse to give him - then he may appeal against you to Hashem, and it will be a sin upon you." (Devarim 15:9) This verse warns us not to refuse to make loans although the shemittah / sabbatical year is approaching. (Because loans must be forgiven in the shemittah year, people may refuse to lend money close to the shemittah year.) R' Shaul Yisraeli z"l (1909-1995; Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Merkaz Harav) writes: "Imagine! The Torah warns elsewhere against trickery and deceit, on withholding wages from laborers and so on. The Torah commands us to conduct business faithfully, and to use honest measures and weights. In the face of all these laws, a man works and toils until he has saved a certain amount. "This money which a person has saved notwithstanding all these commandments is his money which he earned honestly and through hard work, and now the Torah comes along and obligates him to lend it, and without interest or benefit. The Jew does this willingly and does not demand any return on his money; only one thought beats in his heart, there is only one thing that he wishes to guarantee - that he will get his money back. And that single thought, the Torah refers to as `lawlessness.' The Torah demands that he make loans knowing that he may never be repaid. "One who goes in the Torah's way and observes this commandment will effect a revolution in his thinking about his membership in a community. Through the quiet observance of this mitzvah, one will solve many of the hardest social problems that have worried man from time immemorial." (Ma'amar "Ha'Shemittah Be'mahalach Ha'dorot") ******** Shemittah [This coming year - 5768 - will be a shemittah / sabbatical year, when certain agricultural activities are prohibited in Eretz Yisrael. Beginning this week, approximately 30 days before the shemittah begins, we will be devoting a portion of each issue to legal and philosophical aspects of the sabbatical year. The following laws are taken from Chapter 1 of Sefer Ha'shemittah, by R' Yechiel Michel Tikochinski z"l (1872-1956), a prominent halachic authority in Yerushalayim, probably best known outside of Israel for his work Gesher Ha'chaim on the laws of mourning.] 1. [Early halachic sources proposed a number of different methods for calculating when the shemittah year will occur.] The universally accepted method today is to divide the years since creation by seven (e.g., 5768 / 7 = 824). Poskim / halachic authorities now agree that we should not even consider this as a matter of doubt, but rather as a definite calculation. [Ed. note: In a future issue, we will discuss the implications of treating the calculation as a matter of doubt.] 2. In the time of the Bet Hamikdash, certain activities in the fields were prohibited by halachah le'Moshe mi'Sinai / oral tradition received by Moshe at Mount Sinai beginning thirty days before the shemittah [corresponding to this coming Tuesday]. In certain fields, work was prohibited from the preceding Shavuot or even the preceding Pesach. Today, when we have no Bet Hamikdash, working the fields is permitted until Rosh Hashanah, except that planting and grafting must be completed 44 days before the shemittah. This rule was instituted so that one who sees young plants will not suspect their owner of having planted them during the shemittah. ******** More "Ma'aseh Rav" from the Diaries In addition to the historical interest of Eleh Masei, subtitled "A Journal of the Journey of the Rabbis, Members of the Committee to Raise the Crown of Judaism in Our Holy Land, Who Toured All the Settlements of Shomron [Samaria] and Galil [Galilee] in the Winter of 5674 [1914]," the work from which we have been presenting excerpts this past year is significant as a source of reliable information about the halachic practices of some of the leading Torah figures of early 20th-century Eretz Yisrael, especially R' Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook z"l, later Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of the Holy Land, and R' Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, z"l, later Chief Rabbi of the Eidah Ha'chareidit in Yerushalayim. Such halachic rulings, derived not from the express rulings of Torah scholars, but rather from their actions, are referred to as Ma'aseh Rav / actions of the rabbi. We presented some examples two weeks ago, and below are some additional ones. In the town of Yavnael, they ate the melaveh malkah with great fanfare. R' Kook commented that it was worthwhile to have made the long journey just to see the care that R' Sonnenfeld took to have the melaveh malkah immediately after havdalah. [Ed. note: Poskim rule that at the very latest, the meal should be eaten before midnight.] In Poriah, the rabbis kashered pottery vessels that had been used only as a kli sheni (literally, "second vessel" - i.e., never directly on a heat source) by immersing them three times in boiling water. [Ed. note: Poskim rule that kashering such pottery vessels is permitted only in extenuating circumstances. Presumably, the rabbis understood that they would not persuade the villagers to keep kosher if they were told to throw away their pots.] In Magdiel, the rabbis insisted that the community change its name, which early commentaries say was connected with the Roman Empire. In Zichron Yaakov, they visited the rabbi in his home. [Ed. note: The Gemara teaches that one who enters a town should visit the local Torah scholar in his home, but the Shulchan Aruch does not cite this law.]