Today's Learning Avot 5:20-21 Sponsored by O.C. 397:15-17 the Rozen and Donowitz families Chullin 59 in memory of grandfather and great-grandfather Yerushalmi-- Irving Peskowitz a"h Shevuot 34 Hamaayan / The Torah Spring Edited by Shlomo Katz Noach Vol. XI, No. 2 (485) 6 Marcheshvan 5757, October 19, 1996 The mishnah in Pirkei Avot teaches: "There were ten generations from Adam to Noach, to teach you how patient G-d is, for all of those generations angered Him and He eventually brought the flood." Rav Ben Zion Halevi Bamburger z"l (the Ponovezh mashgiach) explained in the midst of the Yom Kippur War: The mishnah was careful to use the words, "to teach you how patient G-d is," for the purpose of all of the Torah's stories is to help us understand how G-d runs the world. We are told of those ten generations only so that we will learn how patient G-d is. Similarly, the words of every prophet must be scrutinized for lessons about G-d's methods. Although prophets no longer speak to us directly, there are undoubtedly lessons for us hidden in their words in Tanach (the Bible). Understanding current events through the eyes of Torah is an integral part of Torah study, says Rav Bamberger. Are we not told that Hashem showed Moshe all of history until the final day? This is Torah, just like everything else that Hashem taught Moshe. Indeed, the Torah commands us (Devarim 32:7), "Remember the days of the world, study the years of every generation." (Sha'arei Zion) ************************************ Parashat Noach In Halachah - None of the 613 mitzvot is found in this Parashah. (Sefer Hachinuch) - Although there are several commandments in this parashah, e.g., not to eat part of a living animal and not to murder, these are not considered to be taught in this parashah because they were repeated later by Moshe. (Minchat Chinuch) - Before the flood, man was prohibited from eating meat. After the flood it was permitted, for G-d said (9:3), "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; like the green herbage I have given you everything." (Rashi) - May a golem be counted towards a minyan? No, writes Rav Zvi Ashkenazi (the "Chacham Zvi") z"l. The gemara relates that Rabbi Zera made a golem and destroyed it when it had completed its mission. If it could be counted towards a minyan, he would not have done so, since it would have been quite useful. Why was Rabbi Zera allowed to "kill" his golem? Because the Torah says (9:6), "Whoever sheds the blood of a man, in man, his blood shall be shed." The prohibition of murder applies only to a person who once was "in man," i.e., in the womb. (Sh'eilot Uteshuvot Chacham Zvi, No. 93) - "Whoever sheds the blood of a man, in man, his blood shall be shed" -- from here we learn that killing a fetus is prohibited. (Kessef Mishneh, Hil. Melachim 9:4; see also Tosfot, Sanhedrin 59a) - When one sees a rainbow, one recites the blessing, "Who remembers the covenant and is trustworthy to keep His covenant and by Whose word everything stands." However, one should not point out a rainbow to others because it is considered to be a form of lashon hara. (Mishnah Berurah 229:1) [Since the rainbow signifies that G-d, in His kindness, will not destroy the world, the implication of the rainbow's appearing is that the world deserves to be destroyed. If one is prohibited from speaking lashon hara about one individual, how much more so is one prohibited from speaking about the whole world!] ************************************ "Noach was a righteous man, perfect in his generations." (6:9) What is meant by "in his generations"? Some say: He was righteous in his generation, and certainly, had he been in a generation of righteous men such as Avraham, he would have been even more righteous. Others say: In his generation, he was righteous, but in Avraham's time, he would have been nothing. (Rashi) Rav Yosef Yoizel Horowitz (the "Alter" of Novardok) z"l writes: Our sages are not debating whether, objectively, Noach was righteous. That is beyond doubt. The question is: What motivated him? If he was motivated by true yearning for G-d, then certainly he would have been even greater in the company of a man such as Avraham. However, if Noach was righteous only because he was disgusted by the depravity of his surroundings, then being in the company of a tzaddik like Avraham would have removed Noach's incentive to excel. (Madregat Ha'adam) ************************************ From the humor of our sages... When Reb Mordechai of Lechovitz passed away, his son Reb Noach and his leading disciple Reb Michel debated (in their humility) who should become the next rebbe. Reb Noach said that it should be Reb Michel, for he had known the deceased rebbe at the beginning of the rebbe's career. "Bereishit comes first," said Reb Noach. "No," replied Reb Michel, "in most chumashim the first pages are worn out and tattered, and only Noach remains." ************************************ Rav Dov Berish Weidenfeld z"l (The "Tschebiner Rav") 5 Shevat 5641 (1881) - died 10 Marcheshvan 5726 (1965) Rav Dov Berish was part of one of Galicia's most distinguished Torah learning families. Both his father, Rav Yaakov Weidenfeld, rabbi of Harimlov, and his older brothers, Rav Yitzchak and Rav Nachum, were leading Torah scholars. Beginning when Rav Dov Berish was seven, his father trained him for public speaking by teaching him a brief sermon to deliver in shul on Shabbat. One week, a serious dispute erupted in Harimlov and so occupied Rav Yaakov's time that he did not teach his son. On Shabbat, young Dov Berish ascended to the bimah and said, "It is written, 'And Moshe spoke to the whole Congregation of Israel.' Why does it emphasize, "the whole"? To inform us that Moshe could teach only when the Congregation was whole. So, too, as long as there is dissension in Harimlov, I cannot teach." Two weeks after the boy's bar mitzvah, Rav Yaakov passed away suddenly. Young Dov Berish's education was taken over by his two brothers. In 1900, he married Yachet Kluger of Tschebin, the town where he would spend the next 40 years and after which he would be known for life. At first, Rav Dov Berish worked as a charcoal merchant (the Kluger family had exclusive rights to sell charcoal in Tschebin and the Silesia region), and only in 1923, became rabbi of his adoptive town. Even before he assumed a rabbinical post, Rav Dov Berish became recognized as a posek (halachic authority). The halachic responsa which he wrote throughout his life were published in stages under the title Doveiv Meisharim. His halachic decisions were known to consider not only the sources, but the practical implications, including those many decades in the future which the questioner had not even considered. For example, after the founding of the State of Israel, he was asked why non-religious Jews should be coerced to marry and divorce only according to halachah. He answered, "Because their grandchildren will yet learn in our yeshivot [and want to marry Orthodox Jews.]" Rav Dov Berish respected and was respected by all of his contemporaries. Rav Ben-Zion Halberstam (the "Bobover Rebbe") hy"d lived for a time in Tschebin; when Rav Dov Berish was asked how such a small town could live peacefully with two rabbis, he responded (making a play on the order of blessings in Shemoneh Esrei): "The only reason there is a split between the judges and the tzaddikim is that the talebearers come in-between." After becoming rabbi of Tschebin, Rav Dov Berish started a yeshiva as well. He named it "Kochav MiYaakov" after his father. After the Holocaust, he reopened his yeshiva in Yerushalayim. ************************************ Donations to Hamaayan are tax-deductible