Hamaayan / The Torah Spring Edited by Shlomo Katz Va'etchanan Volume XII, Number 41 16 Av 5758 August 8, 1998 Today's Learning Mikvaot 1:1-2 Kitzur 184:6-10 Eruvin 96 Yerushalmi Eruvin 25 The haftarah, which gives this Shabbat the name "Shabbat Nachamu," opens: "Nachamu, nachamu"/"Comfort, comfort My people - says your G-d. Speak to the heart of Yerushalayim and proclaim to her that her time [of exile] has been fulfilled, that her iniquity has been conciliated, for she has received from the hand of Hashem double for all her sins." R' Yitzchak Isaac Halevi Herzog z"l (first Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel) commented on these verses as follows in a 1948 address: How are these verses different when we read them today from when they were read in the past? In the past, the fulfillment of these verses was in the distant future. Today, these verses relate all at once to the present, the near term, and the distant future. How so? Chazal comment on these verses, "She [i.e., Yerushalayim] sinned doubly, she was doubly punished, and she was doubly consoled." Yisrael/the People of Israel has a double nature. On the one hand, it is a nation; anyone who says that Judaism is only a religion is mistaken. On the other hand, anyone who thinks that Yisrael is a nation like any other nation is mistaken and is misleading others. Yisrael is a holy nation, with the loftiest mission, given from G-d, of any nation. Therefore, when Yisrael sins, its sin is a double sin. Yisrael is not the only nation that has been exiled from its land; many nations, large and small, have experienced this fate. However, those nations, once they are destroyed, disappear. They assimilate and no memory remains of them, and, at the same time, their suffering ends. Such is not the lot of Yisrael. An invisible "hand" forced Yisrael not to assimilate, but rather to remain apart and dispersed, and to suffer without end. Why? Because Yisrael is a nation destined for greatness, specifically, for moral greatness - for that greatness which in the awesome future will be the lot of all of mankind. Therefore, they were doubly consoled: In the future, there will be open miracles. For now, the time for open miracles has not yet come, but certainly miracles have taken place and will continue to take place . . . (Ha'techukah Le'Yisrael Al Pi Ha'torah III p.258) *********** "You shall be greatly beware for your lives." (4:15) R' Moshe Chaim Luzzato z"l ("Ramchal") writes: Among the deterrents to serving Hashem with zeal is excessive trepidation and fear of what time may bring, of heat and cold, of accidents, of illness, of winds, etc. As King Shlomo wrote (Mishlei 26:13), "The lazy person says, 'There is a lion on the road'." Chazal condemned this trait, attributing it to sinners. Rather, the proper rule of conduct is (in the words of Tehilim 37:3), "Trust in Hashem and do good, dwell in the land and cultivate faith." One might ask: Chazal have instructed that a person be especially attentive to his well-being and not place himself in danger, even if he is righteous. In line with this, the gemara (Ketubot 30a) says, "Everything is in the hands of Heaven except chills and fevers." The Torah [in the verse quoted above] commands the same thing, all of which indicates that a person should not place his trust in G-d in this area! Does this teaching not contradict what was stated in the first paragraph? Ramchal answers: Know that there is fear and there is fear. There is appropriate fear and there is foolish fear. On the other hand, there is confidence and there is recklessness. Hashem has invested man with intelligence and judgment so that he may follow the right path and protect himself from the instruments of injury that have been created to punish evildoers. One who chooses not to be guided by wisdom and exposes himself to dangers is displaying not trust, but recklessness. The type of fear and self-protection which is appropriate is that which grows out of wisdom and intelligence. It is the type about which it is said (Mishlei 22:3), "The wise man sees evil and hides, but the fools pass on and are punished." "Foolish fear" is a person's desire to have multiple levels of protection, such that he devotes himself to building up these layers of protection and neglects Torah and Divine service. The criterion by which to distinguish between the two types of fear is implied in Chazal's statement (Pesachim 8b), "Where there is a likelihood of danger, it is different." Where there is an identifiable risk of injury, one must be careful, but where there is no apparent danger, one should not be afraid. (Mesilat Yesharim, ch. 9) On a related theme, R' Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz z"l (the "Chazon Ish") writes: There is a deep-rooted misconception in people's minds regarding bitachon/trust in Hashem. To many people, bitachon implies an obligation to believe that, when a person stands at a crossroads where there are two roads before him with an uncertain future ahead and with a possibility of a good outcome or an outcome which is not good, the good outcome is inevitable. These people think that if they doubt this at all, they are lacking bitachon. That is not a correct understanding of bitachon at all. Unless it has been prophetically foretold, the future is never certain, for who can know Hashem's judgment or how He repays men for their deeds. Rather, bitachon is the belief that nothing in the world is left to chance, that everything that happens under the sun has been ordered by Hashem. When a person encounters a situation in which, according to the laws of nature, he is in danger, and that person strengthens himself and remembers that nothing is left to chance and that nothing in the world can prevent Hashem from coming to the rescue, that person is practicing bitachon. (Emunah U'bitachon, ch.2) ************* "I am Hashem, your G-d . . . "You shall not recognize the gods of others in My presence. You shall not make for yourself a carved image of any likeness . . ." (5:6-8) Rambam/Maimonides writes: The first mitzvah [in Rambam's list of the 613 mitzvot] is to believe that there is a Cause and Mover who operates all creations, as it is written, "I am Hashem, your G-d." The gemara (Makkot 23b-24a) says, "Six-hundred-thirteen mitzvot were taught at Mount Sinai, as it is written, 'Moshe commanded us the Torah'. The gematria of 'Torah' is 611, and 'I am Hashem' and 'You shall not recognize' were said to all by Hashem." We see from this that Chazal counted "I am Hashem" as one of the mitzvot. (Sefer Hamitzvot) In defense of those who do _not_ consider 'I am Hashem' to be one of the 613 commandments, Ramban/Nachmanides writes: The midrash teaches, "Why was 'I am Hashem' stated? Imagine a king who enters a new land - before his decrees can be accepted, _he_ must be accepted. So, too, before Hashem could command, 'You shall not recognize the gods of others,' _He_ had to be recognized." Ramban continues: Those who do not consider 'I am Hashem' to contain a separate mitzvah would say, based on this midrash, that 'I am Hashem' is not one of the 613 mitzvot because it is the foundation of _all_ mitzvot. As for getting to a total of 613, "You shall not recognize" encompasses two mitzvot: not to acknowledge "other gods" and not to make images of G-d. (Hasagot HaRamban) *********** An Astonishing Midrash If Moshe had crossed the Jordan, Haman would have been correct. Since Moshe did not cross the Jordan, let Haman be hanged. Chazal say that if Moshe had entered Eretz Yisrael, he would have built the Bet Hamikdash and it would have stood forever. This means, however, that when the time came for Hashem to punish us for our sins, He would have destroyed us instead of destroying the Temple. In other words, had Moshe crossed the Jordan, Haman would have been allowed to succeed. Alternatively: The gemara says that Haman was pleased when his lottery fell on the month of Adar, for that was the month when Moshe died. Haman assumed that Moshe's death was bad. In reality, however, Moshe's death was not all bad, for one reason that Moshe was buried outside of Eretz Yisrael is so that he can lead the generation of the Exodus into Eretz Yisrael after techiyat ha'meitim/the resurrection of the dead. Had Adar been as bad a month as Haman thought, he might have succeeded in his plans. (Binat Nevonim) ********** R' Ben Zion Abba Shaul z"l born 29 Tamuz 5684/1924 - died 19 Tamuz 5758/1998 This week marks thirty days since the passing of R' Ben Zion Abba Shaul, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Porat Yosef in the Geulah section of Yerushalayim. R' Abba Shaul was one of the leading Sephardic scholars in Israel. An estimated 100,000 people attended his funeral. R' Abba Shaul was born in Yerushalayim, where his father was a noted kabbalist who earned his living as a shoemaker. Young Ben Zion sat on the floor of his father's shop and there learned chumash and mishnah from his father. After his bar mitzvah, he enrolled in Yeshivat Porat Yosef, where his teachers included R' Tzedakah Chutzin, R' Yaakov Adas and, especially, R' Ezra Attiah. Just before R' Attiah died, he named R' Abba Shaul as his successor. As rosh yeshiva, R' Abba Shaul maintained a busy schedule of lectures. For his students, the highlight of the week was a three-hour long discourse delivered every Shabbat. However, his teaching schedule did not prevent him from addressing the needs of individual students, and his attention to his hundreds of students did not prevent him from responding to halachic queries from the public at large. Some of his halachic responsa appear in She'eilot U'teshuvot Ohr Le'Zion, and he also is quoted a number of times, with great respect, in the responsa of R' Ovadiah Yosef. (These responsa cover a wide range of subjects, including: the correct berachah on certain fruits, the proper time to daven Minchah, the correct formation of the letter "yud" in a Torah scroll, the permissibility of cornea transplants, and whether an unmarried male over the age of 20 may live in Yerushalayim.) In addition to his other duties, R' Abba Shaul sometimes sat on the civil court affiliated with the Chief Rabbinate of Yerushalayim. R' Abba Shaul was instrumental in sparking a religious revival among Sephardim. He was a founder of Ma'ayan Chinuch Torani, a network of schools which presently provides Torah educations to 100,000 Sephardic children. (Sources: Yated Ne'eman, 23 Tamuz 5758; She'eilot Uteshuvot Yabia Omer, various volumes; Piskei Din -- Yerushalayim, Vols. III and IV)