Today's Learning Avot 6:11-Horiot 1:1 Sponsored by O.C. 399:7-9 the Vogel family Chullin 66 in memory of Yerushalmi- father and grandfather Shevuot 41- Aharon Yehuda ben Yisrael Vogel a"h Hamaayan / The Torah Spring Edited by Shlomo Katz Lech - Lecha Vol. XI, No. 3 (486) 13 Marcheshvan 5757, October 26, 1996 In this parashah we read how the first of our Patriarchs was commanded to travel to, and settle in, Eretz Yisrael. We say in our daily prayers that Hashem made a covenant with the Patriarchs, "To you I shall give the Land of Canaan, the lot of your heritage; when you were but few in number, hardly dwelling there." Rav Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook z"l observes: "The holy tie that binds Yisrael to its Holy Land is not like the tie that each nation has to its land according to the laws of nature. The latter connection develops over time, the product of historical events and of a large population which gathers together to fill a land. After these events occur, a love and a longing develop between the land and its people. "Not so the Divine and holy tie which binds the congregation of Yisrael to the beloved Land. This holy tie began to express itself even when we were few in number; it happened very quickly after our appearance in the Land, not as a nation settling the land, but as visitors [as Avraham was] hardly dwelling there. Our tie to our Land was not a force of nature, but was itself a creation of G-d." (Olat Reiyah p.203) ****************** Parashat Lech-Lecha In Halachah - The second of the 613 commandments, i.e., the mitzvah of milah/circumcision, appears in this parashah. (Sefer Hachinuch) - The mitzvah of milah is the greatest of all positive commandments. (Shulchan Aruch, Y.D. 260:1) - If one wishes to settle in Eretz Yisrael and his parents object, he need not listen to them, just as he need not listen whenever his parents discourage him from performing a mitzvah. (Pe'at Hashulchan 2:28) Others disagree, based on the midrash at the beginning of this week's parashah. On the verse, "Lech Lecha"/"Go for yourself," the Midrash Rabbah comments: Hashem said, "I excuse you from honoring your parents, but I do not excuse others from honoring their parents." (Shaar Tziyon quoted in Bet Yisrael) ****************** From the humor of our sages . . . "And He reckoned it to him as tzedakah." (15:6) Rav Simcha Bunim of Pshischa z"l remarked: When Chazal say that it is irrelevant how much a person gives, provided that whatever he gives is for the sake of Heaven, they were not talking about a poor person. A poor person has to scrape together his pennies in order to give tzedakah, and whatever he gives is surely for the sake of Heaven. Therefore, Chazal were obviously referring to a wealthy person. They are teaching us that even a wealthy person who gives a great deal of tzedakah must do so for the sake of Heaven. (Words of Wisdom, Words of Wit p. 133) ****************** "Please say that you are my sister, that it may go well with me for your sake [i.e., they will give me presents]." (12:13 and Rashi) "If so much as a thread or a shoelace . . .; so you shall not say, 'It is I who made Avram rich'." (14:23) Were these two statements really uttered by the same Avraham? asks Rav Meir Arik z"l. He explains as follows: To Avraham, money was worth collecting, but only as a means for doing good. The reward offered Avraham by the king of Sdom would have been payment for killing (i.e., for winning the war against the four kings), and such money cannot be used for good. Therefore, Avraham rejected it (in the second verse quoted above). Pharaoh's money (in the first verse), however, had no such taint. Viewed in this light, Avraham's two statements are not inconsistent. In addition, they allow us to understand a difficult midrash, as follows: When Hashem spoke to Moshe before the Exodus, He said (Shmot 11:2), "Please, speak to the nation and let them ask [for gifts from the Egyptians]." Hashem said, "Please," Chazal explain, to ensure that Bnei Yisrael would ask for gifts, lest Avraham complain that Hashem kept the promise of enslavement but did not keep the promise of great riches. How are we to understand this? Did Hashem keep his promise only so that Avraham would not complain? The answer is that the great wealth promised by Hashem was the Torah. Nevertheless, Hashem did not want Avraham to complain that the promise of enslavement was kept literally and the promise of riches was kept only figuratively. Still, asks Rav Meir Arik, what of the riches which Bnei Yisrael recovered from the Yam Suf after the Egyptians drowned? Why did they not satisfy Avraham? The answer is as explained above; Avraham's interest in riches was to use the money for mitzvot. The money recovered at the cost of the Egyptians lives was not suitable for that purpose. (quoted in Marbitzei Torah Me'olam Hachassidut, III p.45) ****************** "A deep sleep fell over Avraham." (15:12) From this language, writes Rav Avraham, brother of the Vilna Gaon, z"l, we see that sleeping (although necessary) is a state of spiritual falling. The antidote to this is to lie in bed thinking Torah thoughts until one falls asleep. (Maalot Hatorah) ****************** Rav Eliyahu Ragoler z"l 5554 (1794) - 19 Cheshvan 5610 (1850) Reb Elinke, as our subject was known, was a self-taught child prodigy. Those who saw him speed-reading through the gemara assumed that he was absorbing little until the truth became known in the following manner: Rav Chaim Mordechai Margaliot (author of Shaarei Teshuvah) was a successful businessman who started off each day by learning in shul for several hours before sunrise. Young Elinke was always there first and, incredibly, seemed to be learning a different masechet of Talmud each day. Rav Margaliot tested the boy and found that he was expert in all parts of the Talmud together with its commentaries and the major halachic works. Rav Margaliot kept his discovery to himself until the following Pesach. At that time, when the entire community came to pay its respects to the sage, he stood up to his full height when the young prodigy entered. He also placed the boy next to him and conversed with him in Torah subjects, thus revealing the boy's greatness to the townsfolk Having mastered the Talmud, Reb Elinke turned to kabbalah. His teachers in this field were Rav Avraham (brother of the Vilna Gaon) and Rav Chaim of Volozhin. Reb Elinke studied with the latter for 18 weeks and left despite Rav Chaim's protests, a decision which Reb Elinke said later was a mistake. (A dvar Torah from Rav Avraham appears above.) In 1821, Reb Elinke became rabbi of Ragoli (hence his last name). From 1824 to 1840, he was rabbi of Slobodka. It was his custom at this time to spend the long winter nights -- up to 15 hours -- in the bet midrash (study hall). So great was his concentration that he was oblivious to those entering and leaving the room, and sometimes he had to be reminded that the time for prayer was passing. In 1840, Reb Elinke was appointed rabbi of Kalish, one of Poland's major cities. (His predecessor, Rav Shlomo Eiger, left to become rabbi of Posen upon the death of his father, Rabbi Akiva Eiger.) From Kalish, Reb Elinke fought fiercely against the Reform movement, especially after the Reformers' Braunschweig convention of 1844. He was unhappy in Kalish, however, because his duties prevented him from learning and because the students were not of the same caliber as those in Lithuania. In 1850, he was diagnosed with a terminal illness and he resigned his post. ****************** Donations to Hamaayan are tax-deductible