OU Israel has posted Rabbi Schachter's shiur in full on its YouTube channel. So, if you didn't get the chance to hear it in person, or if you were there but want to do some chazarah and revise it before tomorrow's tzom, you can enjoy it by clicking here.
For the record, tomorrow's fast begins at 4.55 am and it goes out at 5.17 pm. If you are fasting, we wish you a צום קל (tzom kal), an easy fast -- and also a meaningful one.
If you were in shul on Monday afternoon, you would have heard a thought-provoking devar Torah by our member Rabbi Paul Bloom, putting to good use those few but precious minutes that separate minchah from maariv. An expanded version of Paul’s devar Torah was published the same day on Arutz Sheva’s Israel International News website, here, under the title “Is Galut so bad? Bittersweet Exile - A reflection on Galut and the call of Eretz Yisrael”. This is how it reads:
This question is not new. Jewish communities have faced this
dilemma since the very first exile: the Galut of Egypt. This Galut lead to Bnei
Yisrael coming home and eventually building the first Beit HaMikdash , but
tragically, 80 percent of the Jews in Egypt were unwilling to leave and
perished during the Plague of Darkness.
History has repeated this pattern. For example, during the
Babylonian exile, when Cyrus allowed the Jews to rebuild the Temple, only a
small percentage returned to Israel.
Hindsight reveals the profound dangers of inertia and
complacency, yet radical change remains challenging in every era.
The Comfort of Exile
In Parashat Vayigash, we read how the children of Israel
grew comfortable in their new, albeit foreign, surroundings. The Torah states:
וישב
יִשְׁרָאֵל בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרִים בְּאָרֶץ גּשֶׁן וַיַחֲזוּ בָּה וַיִפְרוּ
וַיֹרְבּוּ מְאָד
"Thus, Israel settled in the
land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen; they acquired property there and were
fruitful and multiplied greatly" (Bereishit 47:27).
Ya’akov Avinu foresaw the dangers of this complacency and
took proactive steps to ensure his descendants would not lose sight of their
ultimate mission.
Ya'akov’s Final Request
In this week's parsha, Vayechi, as Ya’akov’s life drew to a
close, he summoned Yosef and made an unusual request:
אםּ־נָא
מָצָאתִּי חֵן בְּעֵינֵיךּ שִׁים נָא יִדְךּ תַּחֲת יָרַכִי וְעָשִׁיתָּ עָמָדִי
חֶסֶד וֶאֵמֶת אַלּ־נָא תְקַבְּרִנִי בֶּמַצָרִים
"If I have found favor in
your eyes, please place your hand under my thigh and do kindness and truth with
me: do not bury me in Egypt" (Bereishit 47:29).
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explains the deeper meaning
behind this request. While Ya’akov trusted Yosef to fulfill his wishes, he
insisted on an oath to emphasize the importance of not being buried in Egypt.
This was more than a personal preference; it was a national message.
By expressing this wish as Yisrael, the bearer of the
national mission, Ya’akov left a lasting message: Galut is unnatural, a
punishment, and must never become permanent. His descendants were to strive for
their return to Eretz Yisrael—not just after death, but ideally during their
lifetimes.
Living, Not Just Dying, in Eretz Yisrael
The Chatam Sofer sharply criticized those who choose to live
in exile but arrange to be buried in Eretz Yisrael. He interpreted the verse
"komemiyut l’artzeinu" (“standing upright to our land”) as a
call to return to Israel alive, not posthumously. Chazal also condemned this
practice, applying harsh words from Yirmiyahu:
וֶנַחֲלָתִּי
שָׁמֶתֶּם לָתֹעֵבָה וַתָּבֹאוּ וַתָּמֹאוּ אֶתּ־אֶרצִי
"You turned My inheritance
into an abomination during your lifetimes, and defiled My land after your
deaths" (Yerushalmi Kilayim 9:4, Bereishit Rabbah 96).
Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi explained that this critique applies to
those who could have lived in Eretz Yisrael but chose not to. The Talmud
Yerushalmi teaches that there is no comparison between one who returns their
soul in the bosom of their homeland and one who does so in foreign lands.
A Legacy of Longing
Before his death, Ya’akov blessed his grandsons, Ephraim and
Menashe:
הַמַלְאָךּ
הַגֵּאל אֶתִּי מִכָּל־רָע יְבָרֶךּ אֶתּ־הַנְעָרִים וֶיַקָרֵא בָּהֶם שְׁמִי
וֶשָׁםִי אַבֹתָי אַבְרָהַם וֶיִצְחַק וִיֳדְגוּ לָרֶב בְּקֵרֶב הָאֶרֶץ
"May the angel who redeemed
me from all evil bless the lads, and may my name be called upon them, and the
names of my fathers, Avraham and Yitzchak; and may they multiply greatly in
the midst of the Land" (Bereishit 48:16).
Ya’akov’s blessing subtly reinforced the importance of
longing for Eretz Yisrael. By connecting their blessing to the land, he
reminded them of their true homeland and their duty to return.
Eretz Yisrael: The Source of All Blessings
Chazal teach that all blessings flow from Zion:
Today, the opportunity to live in Eretz Yisrael is within
reach for almost every Jew. Yet many remain in the comfort of exile, ignoring
the profound call of our forefather Ya’akov.
The Time to Act
Will we heed Ya’akov’s warning and take steps to leave the
Galut? The land of Israel awaits—a land of unparalleled blessings and divine
connection. Let us rise to the challenge, fulfill our destiny, and begin
planning our future in the land of our forefathers.
Tomorrow the Jewish world commemorates the tenth day of Tevet, one of the many sad dates that form the Jewish calendar. The date commemorates the beginning of the siege and eventual destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. It is one of the four biblical fast days that were ordered by the rabbis and prophets of Israel, and is accepted by all of the Jewish people, having been observed for many centuries.
After the terrible tragedy of the Holocaust the Jewish
people and the State of Israel searched for a proper date and method to give
expression to their grief in remembering the innocent victims of that terrible
unprecedented slaughter. The State of Israel set a date at the end of the month
of Nisan as Yom HaShoah. This observance includes the sounding of a siren, a minute’s
silence, special memorial programs, together with somber music and serious
programming on the radio and television.
The Holocaust has also been memorialized in films, museums,
books, lectures and almost every other means. However, the rabbinate of Israel
sought to commemorate the tragedy in a different, more traditional manner. They
set aside the tenth day of Tevet as the day of memorial and of universal
recitation of Kaddish in memory of the six million victims of the Holocaust.
Whenever possible, the commemorations such as that for the
expulsion of the Jews from Spain were attached to the ninth of Av or other fast
days. That was always the pattern in Jewish life. But one of the great
difficulties of modern Jewry is how to commemorate the enormous events that
have occurred to us in the last century. How is the establishment of the State
of Israel to be commemorated? How is the memory of the victims of the Holocaust
to be sanctified?
In Jewish tradition all great events have been commemorated
within a religious context. However, in our time, when a great section of the
Jewish people and its substantial leadership no longer saw themselves bound by
traditional religious norms, the questions of commemoration mentioned above
have produced very controversial results. Religious Jewry attempted to install
a religious tone into these otherwise secular commemorations. The success of
doing so has been only partial and therefore a great deal of ambivalence
regarding these commemorations remains.
The universal Kaddish recital on the tenth of Tevet is the
religious attempt to have a unified memorial service in a manner that is
dignified, traditional and acceptable to all Jews. My personal impression is
that this commemoration has gained some momentum over the past few years.
Whether it will ever be able to gain the universal acceptance that the
rabbinate hoped that it would achieve remains yet to be seen.
As the generation of the Holocaust falls to the attrition of
time, the difficulty of commemorating the Holocaust in a meaningful fashion to
new generations of Jews increases. The efficacy of a universal Kaddish day,
such as on the tenth day of Tevet, depends on some sort of Jewish feeling and
emotion. To create such a feeling or emotion without recourse to Jewish
tradition, faith and ritual becomes a very difficult task. Thus the tenth of
Tevet and its universal Kaddish day message reveals the deep problem of Jewish
identity and the place of tradition and some sort of religious ritual in our
society and lives.
The Jewish world, in its historical memory, forgets little
if anything. That is why the commemoration of events in Jewish history, both
tragic and triumphant, remains embedded in Jewish life. Though the form that
remembrance of the events of Jewish history takes may vary from time to time
and generation to generation, we can be certain that Jewish memory and eternity
will prevail. Therefore the universal Kaddish day on the tenth of Tevet takes
on greater importance than just being a day of fasting and commemoration. It is
a day of national rededication to the values, history and mission of the Jewish
people.
Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein
“The Impending Disaster” was the title of the eighth and final lecture in Rabbi Berel Wein’s series, “The Jewish World 1880-1914”. The disaster in question was the First World War which, with perfect hindsight, could have been predicted and prevented. However, the overwhelming force of inertia made it impossible for the major European powers to change their collision course. In addition, the fact that the monarchs of so many of Europe’s nations were related, and indeed were on good terms with one another, was regarded as a sort of insurance policy.
Even within the orthodox community there were rifts and
disputes: should they secede from the majority or not, and should they preach
that poverty and hardship are conditions that had to be accepted?
The opening verses of this week's Torah reading are among the most dramatic and challenging in the entire Torah. Two great, powerful personalities in the house of the children of Yaakov—Yehudah and Yosef—engage in a clash and debate of epic proportions over the release of their brother Binyamin.
At first glance it seems obvious that Yosef has the
upper hand in his struggle. After all, he is the viceroy of Egypt, the
commander of the palace guards who are armed and ready to do his bidding. In
contrast Yehudah has very limited options as to what to say and what to do in
order to obtain the release of Binyamin. Yosef’s position of power appears unassailable
but the impassioned plea of Yehudah cannot easily be ignored.
Jewish rabbinic thought over the ages has always sought to
make the story of Yosef and Yehudah relevant to each generation of Jews. I
think that the most relevant message for us from this great narrative is that
it is the image of our ancient father Yaakov that truly hovers over all of our
current struggles. It is our tasknot merely to win the debate with our
other brothers or even with outside powers that are seemingly stronger and
greater than we are, but rather to remain faithful to the old man that we can
no longer see but who is always with us.
What gives both Yehudah and Yosef troubling pause in the
midst of their impassioned debate is their uncertainty as to what their father would
think of their words and their actions. It is this unseen presence of
Yaakov that drives the brothers to reconciliation and to restoring a common
purpose in their lives and those of their families. Father Yaakov has looked
down at every generation of the Jewish people and—one way or another—every generation
has been forced to ask itself “What would Yaakov think of us, our words and our
behavior?”
It is this ever-present idea in Jewish life that has been an
aid and a boon to our seemingly miraculous survival as a people and as a faith.
We may not see Yaakov but we can be certain that he is there with us today as
well.
Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein
Not everyone in Rechavia is familiar with Shlomi. Though the modern town of Shlomi was founded in 1950, it has ancient antecedents: on the road between Shlomi and Kibbutz Hanita, Israeli archaeologists found the remains of Pi Metzuba, This prosperous town got name-checks both in the Talmud Yerushalmi and in the Tosefta (Shevi'it 4:8). Pi Metzuba was destroyed in the early seventh century when Persia (yes, it was those Iranians again) invaded the region as part of its broader conflict with the Byzantine part of the Roman Empire.
The families of the young ladies who were bat mitzvah said that, with all the upheavals they have experienced and dislocation in their regular lives, they were truly pleased just to be able to do something absolutely normal for a change -- to celebrate a family simcha in a real shul hall and with all the fun and fanfare that goes with an absolutely normal celebration. We may not have been there last night but we can still share their sense of simcha by enjoying the photos which they have shared with us.
Rabbi Aharon Ben Tzvi Ziegler A”H
was small in build but very large in stature. He influenced many people through
his teachings, lectures, articles and personal interactions. He will surely be
missed by family, friends and Klal Yisroel. May his memory be a blessing for
all.
*****
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
In the narrative, Yosef takes Shimon as hostage and demands that the brothers bring Binyamin to Mitzrayim (Egypt), as a precondition for both Shimon’s release and then he will provide more food for Ya’akov’s family. Ya’akov Avinu is understandably hesitant. Having already lost Yosef, his favorite, he fears losing Binyamin his only remaining son from his beloved wife Rachel. It is here that Yehudah bravely rises to the occasion to declare that he would act as an orev, a surety, a guarantor for Binyamin. “If I don’t return him”, he says to his father Ya’akov, “I will bear the sin forever” (Bereishit 43:9).
Yehuda’s pledge is highly unusual. Normally when a debtor guarantees collateral, the collateral comes from a third party, other than the debtor himself. Here, Yehudah takes his obligation to a higher level. Yehudah himself is both the one who makes the commitment as well as is the guarantor. This indicates how seriously Yehudah takes the pledge or the areivut he is offering.According to Rav Soloveitchik, areivut
means more than just another concern for a fellow Jew. It means that I am a
surety—each and every Jew is a surety for every other Jew. Just as a surety is
held responsible as if he had been the debtor, so also, every Jew is a surety
for all the spiritual obligations of every other Jew.
The Mishnah in Shabbat (54b)
states that a Jew in not permitted to have his animal work or carry things on
Shabbat. However, the cow of Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya did go out in public
carrying a ribbon on its horns, ( a practice of which the other Rabbis disapproved).
Then the Gemara asks, “what do you mean by the cow of Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya.
Did he have only one cow, that you identify it with him”? He had over 120,000 animals!”.
So the Gemara responds, “No! We are not referring to an animal of his. We refer
to an animal in his community—but since
Rabbi Elazar did not object, we hold him responsible!”
Our obligation to our fellow Jew
is unique. As we are more connected to our inner family with whom we share a
common tradition, history and destiny, so too concerning our larger family—the people of Israel. Hence we are called Yehudim,
as we are named after the person who so intensely exemplified Ahavat Yisrael.
Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi (1075-1141)
noted that all Israel can be compared to a human body. When one limb hurts, the
entire body is affected. All Jews are one body. When one Jew is in pain, Jews
everywhere feel that pain. And when a Jew dances and experiences joy, we all
dance and feel the joy. We pray that our community will be full of joy and Semachot.
The family add that, if anyone wishes to send a donation in
his memory, can they please donate to the Almanot of Chayalim fund (English
version here, Hebrew version here).
Rabbi Isaac Breuer (1883-1946) was a major figure in twentieth century Neo-Orthodoxy, following
Rabbi Breuer was also a noted thinker and author, whose deep
thought is well reflected in Concepts of Judaism, a selection of his
writings selected and compiled by Jacob S; Levinger. Although the Neo-Orthodoxy
movement had defined itself from the start largely as an opposition to the
German Reform movement, Rabbi Breuer already regarded the Reform movement of
his day as essentially the impotent and dying remnant of the Haskalah. For him,
the real enemy of Orthodoxy was both political Zionism and Religious Zionism,
which he considered especially dangerous because they possessed an authentic
Jewish instinct and impulse. The goals of the Zionists paralleled the goals of
his own Agudah organization in many areas ("reunification of land and
nation"), but without the stress which Agudah laid on adherence to halachah
and tradition. Indeed, he envisioned a Messianic Torah state in the land of
Israel, and could not abide the idea of "reunification of land and
nation" coming to pass through the agency of secular Zionist forces in the
form of a secular state.
This work is part of the Marvin N. Hirschhorn library, which
is housed in Beit Knesset Hanassi.
Last night, our Beit Knesset Hanassi community gathered for a deeply moving and meaningful Melave Malka, featuring Rabbi Doron Perez, Executive Chairman of World Mizrachi. The evening was more than just an opportunity to come together for song, learning, and good food. It also provided a timely opportunity to hear an extraordinary message of faith, resilience, and strength in the face of unimaginable loss.
Rabbi Perez connected "Oz" to its myriad appearances in our tefillot, weaving together its deeper meanings with lessons of Jewish courage and faith. He spoke about the contrast between the opening of the Tur and Shulchan Aruch, where one begins with gevurah and the other with oz, emphasizing that oz represents the strength to stand up for what we believe in. At this pivotal time in Jewish history, when Jews around the world face attacks for defending Israel, Rabbi Perez reminded us of the critical need for oz – the inner fortitude to act with conviction and unwavering belief.
The evening was enriched by a warm and delicious milky meal, including latkes that truly captured the festive spirit of Chanukah. We owe special thanks to Shirley March and Judy Gilbert for their tireless efforts in organizing every detail of the event and creating such a welcoming atmosphere. Our heartfelt gratitude also goes to John Graham, whose musical accompaniment added a soulful dimension to the evening.
As we lit up the night with Torah, music, and camaraderie, we left inspired to carry the message of oz into our lives. May we continue to draw strength from one another and from the example of heroes like Daniel Perez Hy”d as we stand tall in defense of Am Yisrael, Torat Yisrael, and Eretz Yisrael.
Thank you, Rabbi Kenigsberg, for providing us with this summary.
There is also a seasonal flavour to Heshy's Old City Chanukah Tour, which you can access here. This video is shorter (11 minutes 45 seconds) and considerably lower in calorific content. Enjoy!
The Talmud teaches us that the meanings of dreams are all contingent upon the interpreter and interpretation of the dream. Yosef had told the butler and baker of Pharaoh’s court that “Dream interpretations are up to the Lord.” Yet he went ahead and interpreted those two dreams accurately and presciently. Apparently what he meant by “up to the Lord” was that the one who interprets dreams has to possess some sort of holy intuition, an inner sense of the person whose dream he is interpreting in order to be able to interpret the dream. This inner voice is a gift from the Lord.
This is true in medical matters where some physicians
are master diagnosticians and their inner voice leads them to the correct
conclusion regarding the nature of a person’s illness. It is also true for
psychologists and mental health therapists. An inner voice must guide them as
to how to help the troubled person that they see before them.
We read in Psalms that when the Lord returns the
captivity of Zion “we will be as dreamers.” The dream will require
interpretation and that interpretation can only come from the returnees to Zion
themselves. And in order for that dream to be interpreted correctly, the spirit
of Godly holiness and purpose must reside within the interpreters – in this
case the dreamers themselves.
God provides the dream but the interpretation is up to
us and our ability to fathom God’s wishes is the matter. Every dream – even the
dream of Zion restored and rebuilt – is subject to varying interpretations. We
who live in current day Israel are well aware that there are not only varying
but even conflicting interpretations of what the dream of Zion and Jerusalem
truly means.
Holy spirit is required to make sense of the dream and
to implement its promise. The Lord presents us with opportunities. What we do
with those opportunities is the ultimate measure of our interpretation of the
dream. Yosef not only interprets Pharaoh’s dream but he lays out a course of
action in order to actualize its promise and opportunity. The healthy intuition
born of Jewish experience and tradition can help us arrive at the correct and
most meaningful realization or our age old dream of Zion and Jerusalem, peace
and holiness.
Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein
Popularised by Chabad, parodied by South Park and promulgated by thousands of gananot from one end of this country to the other, it has drummed itself into the Chanukah-consciousness of our generation.
Not to be outdone, our musically-minded member Max Stern has provided his own arrangement of this seasonal earworm. For 77 seconds of undiluted fun, just click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The book of Bereishit reaches its climax this week with the deaths of our father Yaakov and of Yosef. The era of the founders of our people ...
