Hamaayan / The Torah Spring Edited by Shlomo Katz Pekudei Volume 22, No. 23 1 Adar II 5768 March 8, 2008 Sponsored by Elaine and Jerry Taragin, in memory of Asriel Taragin a"h Howard Benn on the third yahrzeit of his mother Fay Fisher Benn (Fayga Bat Alter Yitzchok Dov a"h) Today's Learning: Avot 3:8-9 O.C. 96:1-3 Daf Yomi (Bavli): Nedarim 78 Daf Yomi (Yerushalmi): Yevamot 16 This week's parashah describes the final stages in the construction of the Mishkan, the place where the Shechinah was to reveal itself. R' Shneur Zalman of Liadi z"l (1745-1813; founder of Chabad chassidut; known as the "Ba'al Ha'Tanya) writes: Our Sages say that "Hashem desired a dwelling place in the lower realms." What does this mean? Is Hashem not everywhere? Rather, the concept of a "dwelling place" is a setting where the Divine can be revealed. However, the "lower realms" does not refer to a location, but rather to the qualities of a setting. In other words, Hashem desires that He be revealed not only amidst holiness and spiritual light (the "higher realms"), but even amidst spiritual darkness. How does He become revealed? Through our studying Torah and performing mitzvot. Through these activities, one can first subdue the yetzer hara and then turn the yetzer hara to do good. When a person refrains from using one of his five senses to sin [for example, one refrains from speaking lashon hara], one subdues the yetzer hara. When a person uses one of those same senses to perform a mitzvah [for example, one recites a dvar Torah or cheers someone up with spoken words], one turns the yetzer hara to good. [Ed. note: Perhaps the five senses are called the yetzer hara in this sense because the physical body is, by its nature, inimical to holiness.] (Likutei Torah) ******** "The stones were according to [literally, `were on'] the names of the sons of Yisrael . . ." (39:14) The names of the Twelve Tribes were engraved on the stones of the Kohen Gadol's breastplate, and the letters of those names were used by G-d to communicate with the Jewish people. The Gemara (Yoma 93b) therefore asks: "But there is no letter tzadi in the names of the tribes!" The Gemara answers: "The names of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov also were engraved on the stones." (The name Yitzchak contains a tzadi.) The Gemara then asks: "But still, there is no letter tet!" The Gemara answers: "The words `Shivtei Yeshurun' / `Tribes of Yeshurun' were also engraved on the stones." (Thus concludes the Gemara's discussion.) This Gemara presents several difficulties. First, why did the Gemara remark on the absence of the letter tzadi before it noted the absence of the letter tet? After all, tet precedes tzadi in the Aleph-Bet. Moreover, if the questioner in the Gemara did not know that the names of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov were engraved on the stones, as he apparently did not, why did he not remark first that the letter chet was missing? R' Yechiel Michel Stern shlita (rabbi of the Ezrat Torah neighborhood of Yerushalayim) quotes the work Pirchei Nissan, which explains as follows: The questioner read our verse, "The stones were on the names of the sons of Yisrael," and he thought that the names of the stones were engraved on the breastplate above the names of the tribes, like this: Odem Reuven Pitda Shimon Bareket Levi Nofach Yehuda etc. Had that been the case, then all the letters of the Aleph-Bet would have been present except for tzadi. What then is the meaning of the verse? It means that the names of the Patriarchs, Avraham Yitzchak and Yaakov, were on top of the names of the tribes. The patriarchs are called "stones," as in the following verses: "From there, he shepherded the stone of Yisrael" (Bereishit 49:24). "For from its origins, I see it rock-like" (Bemidbar 23:9). "Look to the rock from which you were hewn" (Yishayah 51:1). All of these are interpreted by the sages as references to the Patriarchs, for they were the foundation stone of the Jewish people. (Chumash Midrash Halachah) ******** "Moshe saw the entire work [of the Mishkan], and behold! They had done it as Hashem had commanded, so had they done. And Moshe blessed them." (Shmot 39:43) The Midrash adds, "What was his blessing? `May it be G-d's Will that the Shechinah will rest on your handiwork'." R' Mordechai Wulliger z"l (1895-1995; administrator at Yeshiva Torah Voda'ath in Brooklyn, N.Y.) explains the significance of Moshe's blessing as follows: The Gemara teaches that one may not praise G-d except using the formula that the Sages established. If a person would begin to praise G-d on his own, he could never stop, for we would ask him, "Have you exhausted all of your Master's attributes?!" The Mishkan was intended as a place for man to come close to G-d through prayer and service, but how can man do that? He can never praise G-d enough! The answer is that it is proper etiquette to not praise someone excessively to his face. Thus, when the Shechinah is present in the Mishkan, one can begin to praise G-d and stop. In answer to the question, "Have you exhausted all of your Master's attributes?" he can respond that it is not proper to recite all of G-d's praises to His Face, so-to-speak. Moshe's blessing was that the Mishkan would indeed be a place where this would be possible. (Tefilat Mordechai p.139) ******** "He took and placed the Testimony [i.e., the Luchot] into the Aron / Ark . . ." (Shmot 40:20) R' Shlomo Kluger z"l (1785-1869; rabbi of Brody, Galicia) notes that our verse contains two verbs ("took" and "placed") whereas the verses relating to the other implements of the mishkan contain only one verb. (For example, verse 22 states: "He put the Table in the Tent of Meeting.") Why? R' Kluger explains: The Gemara (Kiddushin 7a) teaches that when A gives a gift to B, who is a distinguished person, and B accepts the gift, A is considered to be a recipient because he is receiving a favor from B. This is why the Torah says earlier (Shmot 25:2), "Take a donation for Me," rather than "Give a donation to Me," because a person who fortunate enough to give a gift to Hashem actually is receiving a favor from Hashem. In the same vein, it was an honor for Moshe to be able to put the Luchot into the Aron / Ark. Thus, when he "placed" them, he also "took" something for himself. (Imrei Shefer) ******** Shemittah and the Leap Year This year is a leap year on the Jewish calendar, meaning that the year has two months of Adar. Today is the first day of the month of Adar Sheni / the second Adar. Below, we present excerpts from Hilchot Kiddush Ha'chodesh (chapter 4) by R' Moshe ben Maimon z"l (Rambam; 1135-1204) discussing the leap year. 1. A "shanah me'uberet" (leap year, literally "pregnant year") is a year to which a month has been added. . . Why is the extra month added? So that Pesach will fall in the spring, as the verse states (Devarim 16:1), "You shall observe the month of springtime and perform the pesach-offering for Hashem" - guard that the pesach-offering always occurs in the springtime. If not for this additional month, Pesach would sometimes fall in the summer and sometimes in the winter. [Ed. note: This would happen because the seasons are determined by the 365-day long solar calendar, while the holidays are determined on the 354-day long lunar calendar. If not for periodic adjustments, the eleven day difference between the two cycles would cause the holidays to shift out of season.] 2. There are three [primary] bases for making a leap year: (a) if the equinox will not occur before the sixteenth of Nissan, (b) if the grain is not ripening, or (c) if the fruits of the trees are not ripening. [Ed. note: Rambam is explaining how the leap year was determined when the Great Sanhedrin still existed. Today we use a calendar that was established by the Sage R' Hillel II, who died in 365, approximately 800 years before Rambam's time. It would appear that only the first of the three factors mentioned by Rambam is relevant to our leap year, which was "scheduled" more than 1,600 years ago.] 5. There are other causes for which bet din / the court could have made a leap year as necessary. These are: if the roads have not been repaired [after the winter] so that the people can ascend to Yerushalayim for Pesach; if bridges have been washed out; if the ovens used for roasting the pesach-offering have been dissolved by rains; or if the distant Jewish communities have set out for Yerushalayim but have experienced delays on the road. 15. A leap year may not be declared in years of famine because that would delay the permissibility of eating chadash [the new crop of grain which is forbidden to be eaten before the sixteenth of Nissan]. Also, a leap year may not be declared during a shemittah year because all of the grain may be consumed and there will be nothing left from which to bring the Omer-offering [on Pesach] and the Shtei Ha'lechem-offering [on Shavuot]. 16. It appears to me [Rambam continues] that that which the Sages said about not making a leap year during a famine or shemittah is only if none of the three primary reasons [in paragraph 2 above] exists. . .