`xie 1110 MORE THAN OUR PROTOTYPE

Transcription

Third decade
Second thousand
30å
`xie
1110
e"dl
d"ryz'd
oeygxn e"h
Nov 7-8 '14
OU Israel Center • 22 Keren HaYesod • POB 37015 • Jerusalem • (02) 560-9100
MORE THAN OUR PROTOTYPE
We have ample examples of MAASEI AVOT SIMAN LABANIM, the deeds of
our ancestors are indicators for the children. Anyone who has come on Aliya
to live in Israel from his place of birth, from his country of origin, from among
his family and friends has lived the maxim. Avraham came to Eretz Yisrael
with wife, family, possessions. So have many of us.
To be sure, Avraham's being the first made his Aliya very different from ours.
But, as we've said before, he had a Shali'ach Aliya and help from a NBN
forerunner - HaKadosh Baruch Hu, Himself. But if you came on Aliya (or will
come on Aliya) because you sense that it is G-d's Will, then your Aliya is only
different from Avraham's by degree.
cont. page 4
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He overturned these cities
along with the entire plain,
[destroying] ... [all] that was
growing from the ground.
JERUSALEM in/out times for Shabbat Parshat VAYEIRA
Candles 4:10PM • Havdala 5:22PM • Rabbeinu Tam 5:56pm
Pi x
ParshaP
Explanations on p.52
The molad of Marcheshvan was Thursday
night, October 23rd, 21h 2m 16p. That translated to 9:42pm Israel Summer
time by adding 39 minutes. During winter (standard) time, we subtract 21
minutes to get an approximate clock time from the announced molad. The
announcement should be the same all over the world, but the adjustment to
local time (which isn't usually announced but is needed for Kiddush L'vana
timing) varies from locale to locale. This impacts in at least two ways: In some
places for some months, the molad might be WAS as opposed to WILL BE.
And the first and last op for KL may be on a different night or different time of
night, from place to place. Israel: Last op for KL this month is Th Nov 6 all nite
nge
Candles
Parshat VAYEIRA
Yerushalayim / Maale Adumim
The Aza area (Netivot, etc.)
Gush Etzion
Raanana / Tel Mond / Herzliya
Beit Shemesh / RBS
Netanya
Modi'in / Chashmona'im
Rehovot
Be'er Sheva / Otniel
Petach Tikva
Ginot Shomron
Gush Shiloh
Haifa / Zichron
Chevron / Kiryat Arba
Giv'at Ze'ev
Ashkelon
Tzfat
Yad Binyamin
Havdala Chayei Sara
4:10
5:22 4:06 5:18
4:28
5:25 4:23 5:21
4:25
5:23 4:20 5:19
4:25
5:23 4:21 5:19
4:31
5:23 4:21 5:19
4:25
5:23 4:20 5:19
4:25
5:23 4:20 5:19
4:26
5:24 4:21 5:20
4:25
5:25 4:21 5:21
4:10
5:23 4:06 5:19
4:24
5:22 4:20 5:18
4:24
5:22 4:10 5:18
4:14
5:22 4:09 5:18
4:25
5:23 4:21 5:19
4:25
5:23 4:20 5:19
4:27
5:25 4:23 5:21
4:12
5:20 4:07 5:16
4:26
5:24 4:22 5:20
R' Tam (Jerusalem) - 5:56pm • next week: 5:52pm
cont. from the Front Page
So it goes with many of the things
that our Avot and Imahot did. Many,
but not all.
Before we get to the main point of
this Lead Tidbit, let's also mention
that lessons from our ancestors go in
two ways: Positive lessons we try to
emulate, and negative lessons we try
to avoid.
And maybe the AKEIDA gives us one
of each - at least.
The AKEIDA was a test of Avraham's
faith (and Yitzchak's, although it isn't
often thought of in those terms).
The AKEIDA per se was a one-of-akind test. Avraham had no prior
experiences of his predecessors to
learn from. His discovery of belief in
one G-d was new and fresh. It was not
really established that child sacrifice
is forbidden. An abomination. It was
practiced at the time. Perhaps it might
appear to be an ultimate kind of
gesture towards the deity one
believes in.
Sure, we know now that it is one of
the biggest prohibitions there is. We
also know that a prophet cannot
change that. Neither can a heavenly
voice. Neither will G-d ever command
a person to do that.
But it was new and novel to Avraham.
G-d had promised him a son. Then
G-d had promised him a son from
Sara. Then G-d told him to take that
son and offer him as an Olah.
So we have a unique example of a
supreme test which can inspire us,
but it cannot be for us.
OU Israel Center TT 1110
On the other hand, there have been
tests and trials and tribulations
challenging Jews throughout our
history. In each generation and for
each Jew, the challenges and tests
are often monumental in their extent.
But as hard as they may be, we have
what Avraham didn't have. We have
the story of Akeidat Yitzchak to
inspire us. He didn't. And he is the
only one who didn't.
ON ANOTHER NOTE... Let's revisit
the Rashbam's understanding of the
Akeida. The Rashbam writes that the
specific event that led to the Akeida
was the deal that Avraham made
between himself and Avimelech.
Rashbam says that G-d said to
Avraham:
The land of P'lishtim was part of the
land that I gave to you and to your
descendants. And you dealt it away
to Avimelech, a deal that was for you
and your son and grandson. Now
take your son, Yitzchak, offer him as
a sacrifice, and we'll see what
happens to the deal you made with
Avimelech.
Rashbam continues to describe tragedies that befell the Jewish People
because of the oath Avraham Avinu
made to Avimelech.
In this understanding of the events,
we have a powerful and straightforward lesson to learn.
G-d gave Eretz Yisrael to the Jewish
People. Not to Yishmael, but to
Avraham through Yitzchak and
through Yaakov. This land is ours.
Our leaders must be strong and resist
pressure to give any part away.
f page 4  Vayeira 5775
Vayeira
4th of the 54 sedras;
4th of 12 sedras in B'reishit
Written on 252 lines in a Torah, ranks 5th
6 Parshiyot; 4 open, 2 closed
147 p'sukim - ranks 7th (4th in B'reishit)
2085 words - ranks 2nd (first in B'reishit)
7862 letters - ranks 3rd (2nd in B'reishit)
P'sukim above average in length (i.e.
number of words and number of letters
per pasuk) explain its rise in rankings
from p'sukim to words (and letters).
Vayeira is actually 2nd largest sedra in
the Torah. (Naso, is #1 with no rival Bamidbar, Pinchas, and R'ei all take up
more lines than Vayeira, but those
sedras each have many parshiyot, which
means a lot of blank space between
parshiyot, which adds to the line-count.)
None of Taryag (the 613) are found in
Vayeira (one of 17 sedras without entries
on the list of 613) - however, there are
Midot and values and other lessons.
[P> X:Y (Z)] and [S> X:Y (Z)] indicate start
of a parsha p'tucha or s'tuma. X:Y is
Perek:Pasuk of the beginning of the
parsha; (Z) is the number of p'sukim in it.
Condolences to
Tzvi Mitzman and family
on the passing of his wife
MIRIAM d"r
milyexie oeiv ila` x`y jeza mkz` mgpi mewnd
Kohen - First Aliya
14 p'sukim - 18:1-14
[P> 18:1 (71)] And G-d appeared
to him (Avraham)...
The use of the pronoun "him"
rather than using the name
Avraham is significant. EILAV (to
him) refers us back to the previous
parsha - Avraham's circumcision at
the end of Lech L'cha, indicating
that the purpose of G-d's visit with
Avraham was Bikur Cholim, visiting
the sick. Furthermore, the fact that
the Torah does not indicate that G-d
said anything to Avraham at this
"appearance", tells us that He had
another purpose, viz. Bikur Cholim.
Commentaries teach us that G-d
was visiting the sick, even though
the Written Word does not say that
specifically. And this is one of the
attributes of G-d which we are to
emulate.
He is sitting at the entrance of his
tent (watching for travelers to
welcome) in the heat of the day.
It was unnaturally hot; that
was G-d's doing, to spare Avraham
the bother of visitors, He removed
the sun from its casing... However,
Avraham is distressed by the
absence of visitors, so G-d sends
three angels to him in the guise of
wayfarers. We have a lesson-withina-lesson to learn here. To be careful
to do for others - especially the ill
and elderly (but for anyone, really) what THEY (need, of course) and
want, not what WE want, and not
what we THINK they want. Also, to
realize that there are exceptions to
rules. Some people like being
fussed about; others don't. For
some, taking things easy is therapeutic. For others, action is their
medicine. Avraham did not want to
take things easy, even though he
was ailing. So G-d, so-to-speak,
accommodated him by sending the
angels as people. This last point is
that G-d could have sent angels as
angels, but that would not have
helped Avraham's need to welcome
and feed guests.
Avraham sees the three "men" and
runs to greet them, after asking
G-d to wait for him (so to speak).
(From here we are taught the
greatness of the mitzva of Hachnasat Orchim.)
This is one of the ways to interpret
the pasuk - that ADO-NAI means
G-d, and that Avraham was
addressing Him. ADONAI can also
mean "my sirs", in which case
Avraham could have been speaking
to the men/angels. Each possibility
causes minor awkwardness in the
flow of the p'sukim. The word is
In loving memory of our beloved
father, uncle, brother-in-law,
grandfather and great-grandfather
considered holy (meaning the first
opinion prevails), and Sofrim write it
with the Kavana for G-d's name, but
some say that one should use a
conditional "sanctification" for writing this word. This is a touchy
subject for Sofrim, since G-d's
names are written with a special
declaration of sanctity, and words
that are not His names are not
supposed to be sanctified. In the
few cases where there is a dispute,
the T'NAI, conditional statement of
kedusha come in handy. However,
some authorities rule that it is better
to sancify a Name (unconditionally)
even if it might not be sacred, rather
than not sanctifying it, if it is holy.
"Speak little, but do much."
This maxim from Pirkei Avot is
manifest in Avraham Avinu's behavior. He offers the angels a bit of
water and some bread, but in fact
prepares for them (with the help of
Sara and Yishmael) a sumptuous
meal. The Mishna states that
Avraham's meal for the strangers
was proportionally greater than even
the feast of Shlomo HaMelech in
celebration of the building of the
Beit HaMikdash. Avraham and Sara
are the ultimate models for hospi-
znyp ielirl
Arnold Becker l"f
l"f dyn oa oxd`
on his 8th yahrzeit, oeygxna e"h
We still miss you so much and
continue to be inspired by your Chessed
tality, one of the hallmarks of the
Jewish People. We must learn from
them and emulate them.
One of the angels informs
Avraham of the pending birth of
Yitzchak. Sara's reaction is to laugh
(expressing a slight doubt in the
ability of a 100 year old man to
father a child and of a 90 year old
woman to give birth). G-d asks
Avraham why Sara would doubt
His ability to permit an old woman
to conceive.
Rabbi Yehuda says in the
name of Rav (in Bava M'tzi'a): What
Avraham did for his guests by himself, G-d did for the People of Israel
(Avraham's descendants) by Himself; what Avraham did via another,
G-d did likewise. Avraham said:
YUKACH NA M'AT MAYIM. Rashi
explains the strange grammatical
form by saying that Avraham did not
provided the water to the strangers
himself (it does not say K'CHU...) So
too, when G-d was to provide water
to Avraham's descendants, He commanded Moshe Rabeinu to throw
the stick into the water, to strike the
rock, to speak to the rock. But
Avraham fed the angels himself "and I will get the bread, etc." When
G-d needed to feed the People, He
provided us with Manna. Moshe did
not bring it about. G-d gave it
straight to the People.
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Condolences to the family of
Mordechai Rybak d"r
on his passing
milyexie oeiv ila` x`y jeza mkz` mgpi mewnd
Levi - Second Aliya
19 p'sukim - 18:15-33
Sara would like to deny that she
laughed (and doubted), but she
cannot.
The three angels each had a single
task: One to heal Avraham, one to
announce the birth of Yitzchak
(both missions accomplished), the
third to destroy S'dom. That angel
is now accompanied by Refa'el,
whose new task is to save Lot and
family. Avraham escorts the angels
on their way to S'dom.
Once again, we learn the
correct behavior of a proper host
from Avraham: part of hospitality is
to escort your guests as they leave
your home. It is even said that
escorting out is greater than ushering in.
HaShem next tells Avraham of his
intention to destroy S'dom.
Avraham pleads and bargains on
their behalf, but there aren't
enough righteous people to save
the cities.
The dialog between Avraham and
HaShem is an astounding (and
unique) example of the close
relationship between them.
Mazal Tov to Rabbi Nathan &
Leah Weiss and family on the
marriage of a grandson
Avraham's expression of
humility before G-d is "and I am dust
and ash." Says the Gemara, because
of Avraham's humility, his children
merited two mitzvot - the ash of the
Para Aduma and the dust of the
Sota. Torah T'mima explains that the
Para Aduma ash is the symbol of
spiritual purity (which can be
thought of as the realm of "between
the Jew and G-d" mitzvot). The
hopeful outcome of the Sota
procedure is Shalom Bayit, being a
major example of interpersonal
relationships. Thus the reward for
Avraham covers the whole range of
Jewish life.
Shlishi - Third Aliya
20 p'sukim - 19:1-20
The two angels arrive in S'dom and
are taken in by Lot. [The nephew of
Avraham Avinu has learned something from his uncle.] The people
of S'dom demonstrate their evil
nature. It is clear from the p'sukim
as well as Midrashim and
commentaries, that Lot was not
sufficiently pious or believing in
his own right, but he compared
favorably with the people among
whom he lived, and he had merit
as the nephew of Avraham. (And as
the progenitor of Ruth!)
Mazal Tov to Charlie &
Lisa Harvith and family on
the birth of a granddaughter
The word "and he lingered" is
read with the rare trop-mark, the
shalshelet, which musically emphasizes the reluctance of Lot to believe
what he was told by the angels and
leave. In contrast to this behavior of
Lot, the same word is used in describing the haste with which the
Children of Israel left Egypt at G-d's
command, symbolized by the matza
which they hastily baked rather than
linger for the dough to rise and
produce a "proper" bread - demonstrating their faith and confidence in
G-d. Interesting, is it not, that Lot is
described as baking matzot for the
visitors. Rashi's comment: It was
Pesach. Which gives us a double
association for the contrast between
Lot and the people of Israel
(Pesach/matza and the unusual
word L'HIT-MAH-MEI'AH).
Lot is led out of the city by the
angels, his wife and two daughters
with him. They are told to flee for
their lives, without looking back at
the destruction of the cities. Lot
pleads for permission to seek
refuge closer by.
R'vi'i - Fourth Aliya
40 p'sukim - 19:21-21:4
2nd longest R'vi'i in the Torah
Once Lot and family are safely
away, S'dom is destroyed. Lot's wife
looks back - against orders - and
turns into a pillar of salt. (Her
punishment is specifically with salt
as a measure-for-measure for her
stinginess with guests.)
From the episode of Lot's wife, we
can draw the following point. Lot
and family were worthy of being
spared the destruction of S'dom, but
they were not worthy enough to be
able to witness the destruction. This,
in contrast to Avraham, who views
the destruction.
"And Avraham gets up early in the
morning to the place where he
STOOD before G-d."
Avraham returns to the same
spot to speak to G-d. From here is
derived the concept of having a
MAKOM KAVU'A, a fixed place for
prayer. The Talmud says: "he who
fixes himself a place for davening,
the G-d of Avraham will help him".
(However, a fixed place in shul
should NEVER be the cause of
argument or discord. E.g. when a
person comes late - or even on time to shul and someone is sitting in "his
seat", how to handle such a situation
requires sensitivity - and often, the
quality of a VATRAN, one willing to
yield for the sake of accord.)
Of course, more fundamentally, it is
this pasuk and another that com-
I would like to express my appreciation and
gratitude to my many friends for all of the
visits and phone calls to me while in the
hospital. I am now recuperating at home from
my surgery. Phone calls and continued visits
are most welcome.
Miriam Esris (02) 532-8598
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lgx za dpipt
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mixn dpic za `nixt `cleb àil dqcd
dig za decg
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dxy za dkln
Henne Rasha bat Yitta Ratza
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Chaya Yocheved bat Karpel Shira
Alter Baruch ben Sarah
Shmuel ben Sarah Pasha
dig oa sqei iav
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bine to "support" the Gemara's
statement that Avraham instituted
T'filat Shacharit. That AMIDA, to
stand before G-d, means prayer is
learned from T'hilim 106:30 VAYA'AMOD PINCHAS VAIPALEIL.
And Pinchas stood in prayer. The
pasuk here in Vayeira links AMIDA
with Avraham Avinu and with early
in the morning, hence Shacharit.
The Torah reiterates the point that
Lot was saved in the merit of his
uncle Avraham Avinu (and Ruth,
the "mother of royalty" who was to
come from Lot - G-d can work
merit either from the past or the
future).
Lot's two daughters, having witnessed the total destruction of
S'dom and its vacinity, assume that
they are the sole survivors of
mankind. They plot to get Lot
drunk and sleep with him in order
to continue humanity. Moav and
Amon are the results.
Note that everything that has happened so far in Parshat Vayeira,
make up a single long, 71-pasuk
parsha. From the arrival of the
Internet Addiction Therapy
angels through the completion of
the final task of those angels namely, the destruction of S'dom.
Apparently, the different episodes
all belong together more than one
would initially think. The common
thread, of course, is/are the angels.
Their tasks are now complete.
[S> 20:1 (18)] Avraham and Sara
now travel to G'rar where they
again present themselves as
brother and sister. Sara is taken to
Avimelech, but G-d appears to him
and warns him not to touch her.
Avimelech confronts Avraham who
explains that his fears were based
on the lack of "Fear of G-d" in the
place.
Avraham then prays on behalf of
Avimelech and his people who
were stricken with a disease which
rendered them temporarily sterile.
From this point (21:1) to the end of
Vayeira, is the Torah reading of
Rosh HaShana (part on the first day,
part on the second.)
[S> 21:1 (21)] G-d fulfills His
promise and Sara becomes preg-
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nant. She bears a son to Avraham
in his advanced age, and the son is
called Yitzchak. Avraham circumcises Yitzchak at eight days of age,
as G-d has commanded.
Avraham's having prayed on behalf
of Avimelech for children is juxtaposed to Sara Imeinu conceiving.
Our Sage teach us that selflessly
praying for others can sometimes
result in the same prayers being
answered for yourself.
Chamishi 5th Aliya
17 p'sukim - 21:5-21
Avraham is 100 years old when
Yitzchak is born. Avraham makes a
great party upon the occasion of
Yitzchak's being weaned.
Although the plain understanding of
B'YOM HIGAMEIL ET YITZCHAK is
"when Yitzchak was weaned" which Rashi says is at 24 months of
age, there is a REMEZ (hint/clue) in
the word HIGAMEIL to a possible
other explanation of the word. HEI+
GIMMEL = 8 (days), MEM-LAMED,
MAL, was circumcised. It can mean
that the party in question was to
celebrate Yitzchak's BRIT.
As Yitzchak is growing up, Sara
notices the potential negative
influence
of
Yishmael
and
demands of Avraham that he send
Yishmael and his mother Hagar,
away. Blinded by his great "kind
heart", Avraham has to be told by
To whom, besides Avraham
G-d to listen to Sara. Hagar and
Yishmael once again are on the
verge of death in the wilderness,
but
Yishmael's
prayers
are
answered and they are saved.
Hagar is assured by an angel that
they will survive.
And indeed they do, and Hagar
subsequently marries Yishmael off
to a woman from the land of Egypt.
Both Hagar and Yishmael prayed to
G-d when Yishmael was dying. G-d
heard "the lad's voice". Rashi says,
from here we learn that the strongest prayer offered on behalf of
someone who is ill are those of the
sick person himself (if he is able to
pray on his own behalf). And, of
course, others should pray on his
behalf as well, regardless of whether
the person himself is able to daven.
In fact, there are opinions that Bikur
Cholim MUST include a prayer for
the recovery of the patient in
addition to anything else one does,
for the mitzva to be considered
properly performed. [This can be
touchy if the patient is upset by
people's praying for him/her.
Perhaps in that case, the prayers
can be silent and inconspicuous, or
not in the sick person's presence.]
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Shishi - Sixth Aliya 13 p'sukim - 21:22-34
Sh'VII Seventh Aliya
24 p'sukim - 22:1-24
[P> 21:22 (13)] Avimelech and his
[P> 22:1 (19)] This is the portion of
commander Pichol enter into a
pact with Avraham. The pact has to
do with wells that Avraham dug,
that the servants of Avimelech
stole, the return of those wells and
the acknowledgement by Avimelech that the wells do actually
belong to Avraham. The city of
Be'er Sheva receives its name from
the double meaning of the 7 sheep
used as tokens of the covenant and
the oath sworn between them.
Avraham plants an "Eshel" in Be'er
Sheva. In addition to being a type
of tree, the word ESHEL is
considered an acronym of the
Hebrew words for Food, Drink, and
Lodgings (or Food, Sleeping,
Escort). ESHEL AVRAHAM is the
symbol of hospitality for all times.
Mazal Tov to
Bob & Mindy Zeiger and family
on the birth of a grandson
the Binding of Isaac - Akeidat
Yitzchak. The Akeida is one of the
few passages from the Torah to be
incorporated into our daily davening
(there are those who did not include
it in their davening, and there are
siddurim that don't have it, but most
siddurim put the Akeida with an
intro and closing prayer, after the
morning
brachot
and
before
korbanot). It represents the ultimate
manifestation of commitment to
and love of G-d. It also belong is the
portion of the davening called
KORBANOT for obvious reasons.
And then there is the idea of a
tribute to the originator of Shacharit.
Although none of Avraham's
descendants (we, the Jewish People)
can ever be tested in so drastic a
way (because we have the experiences of our predecessors to give
Mazal Tov to
Tamar & Ira Cohen and family
on the marriage of their daughter
us support), we do derive tremendous inspiration from this portion of
the Torah. It is part of our Heritage
and, even more, part of our Essence.
Tests of Faith are relative to the
individual. Each of us is challenged
in different ways throughout our
lives. So too, for us as a Nation. May
we be always guided by deep
commitment to Torah and Jewish
values.
MORE. Akeidat Yitzchak is our
identity card. It defines who we are...
even when our own behavior is
contradictory to our Torah standards. We stand before G-d on
Judgment Day - Rosh HaShana, and
we blow the Shofar made from a
ram's horn. We ask G-d to remember
Akeidat Yitzchak and have mercy
on His (sometimes undeserving)
children. We read the Akeida in the
Torah and we refer to it repeatedly in
our Rosh HaShana davening and
Slichot, to inspire us and to identify
us.
After these events, G-d tested
Avraham - He told Avraham to
take Yitzchak to Har HaMoriya and
offer him as an Olah - an all-burnt
sacrifice... Avraham enthusiastically set out to do G-d's bidding...
On the third day, Avraham saw the
intended place from afar and told
the two lads (Eliezer and Yishmael,
according to our Tradition) to wait
with the donkey... On the way, just
Avraham and Yitzchak, hand in
iwqpnxet de`pe xi`nl aeh lfn
mpa ly dpezgd lr
hand, Yitzchak asks where the
animal for sacrifice is and Yitzchak
understood what was to happen
from Avraham's answer. Avraham
built an altar, bound Yitzchak to it
and was about to sacrifice him,
when a heavenly angel told him to
stop and not harm the "boy".
Avraham spotted a ram (which our
Tradition tells us might have been
created specifically for this
purpose in the instant before the
first Shabbat of B'reishit, as one of
the final acts of Creation) caught
by its horns in a thicket. G-d
acknowledges Avraham's dedication and blesses him again with
countless descendants... Avraham
and company return to B'er Sheva.
[P> 22:20 (5)] The parsha ends
with mention of the birth of Rivka,
to link to the next phase of the
development of Judaism - viz., the
means of its transmission and
continuity.
Maftir is the final five p'sukim.
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Haftara 37 p'sukim
Melachim Bet - 4:1-37
The sedra shows us the sharp
contrast between the kindness and
hospitality of Avraham & Sara on
the one hand, and the cruel
"business is business" and "what's in
it for me" nature of S'dom. The
haftara is about the widow of a
prophet who was facing losing her
two children because of her
poverty and the twisted state of
Israel's society that HAD lost sight
of the legacy of Avraham and Sara.
The prophet Elisha performs a
miracle (of olive oil miraculously
filling many vessels that the
woman had and borrowed and
anointed with a few drops of oil
she possessed) and the family is
spared that plight.
The haftara also tells of the
Shunamite woman who prayed so
fervently for a son. She had a son
but he died. He is miraculously
Mazal Tov to
Nat & Rachel (Heller) Bernstein
on the Bar Mitzva
of their granson
Eitan Bernstein
son of Meir & Michal
resuscitated by Elisha. This forms a
counterpart to the birth of
Yitzchak and the subsequent
almost-losing him at the Akeida.
(And fits well with Midrashim that
say that Yitzchak was actually
sacrificed on the Altar and restored
to life - we have references to
AFARO SHEL YITZCHAK, the ashes
of Yitzchak.)
Several are called this in NACH,
including who in the haftara?
Only one in the Torah - who?
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Ed. note: The term Torah Tidbits was coined (by
me) over 40 years ago, back then referring to
short Divrei Torah and short explanations of
halachic details - that were delivered orally to
participants at NCSY conventions and Shabbatonim. The current incarnation of Torah Tidbits is
almost 22 and a half years old, and counting.
(What was originally referred to as Torah Tidbits
are now called SDTs, Short Divrei Torah - in OU
Israel's weekly publication, Torah Tidbits, the
1110th issue of which you are reading at this
moment.) Anyway, back in 1990-1991, there was
a short-lived version of Torah Tidbits that was not
distributed in shuls or elsewhere. It was a
one-page D'var Torah that was available to be
picked up along with flyers of Israel Center
programs at 10 Straus. The following D'var
Torah was the first of that pre-TT, Torah Tidbits.
I originally heard it from Dr. Paul Slater at a
Melave Malka in his home. It is found in
Maayana Shel Torah... Here it is Three angels were sent to Avraham.
They had four tasks among them:
Heal Avraham from his recent Mila,
announce the birth of Yitzchak, save
Lot, and destroy S'dom. Why didn't
G-d send four angels to do his
bidding?
Chidushei HaRim suggests that
Lot's being saved was not originally
a done-deal. He was lacking in merit
and his being Avraham's nephew
might not have been sufficient to
save him.
But he was also to be the ancestor
of Ruth the Moabite. That would
give him the merit to be saved, but
only if she would be allowed to
marry into the Jewish People.
The Torah bans a Moabite from
entering into K'hal HaShem. Is the
ban on males only or does it include
females?
A future Sanhedrin ruled that female
Moabites could marry into the
Jewish People and the ban was only
on the males who confronted Israel
with hostility and refused us food
and water. Women generally are
modest and remain in the in the
background when the males
aggressively confront outsiders.
To whom do we attribute this
modest behavior of the women of
the nations of the world? To the
mother of a multitude of nations,
SARA IMEINU. When the angels
asked Avraham where she was, he
answered, She is in the tent. This
symbolizes a feminine trait of
modesty and non-confrontation that
allowed that future Sanhedrin to rule
that Ruth the Moabite could indeed
marry Boaz and become the Mother
of Royalty. This got Lot his merit to
be saved, and one of the angels that
had just fulfilled his task was then
sent on to S'dom with the Destroying Angel, to save Avraham's
nephew and the great-great-great...
grandfather of David HaMelech and
the entire Malchut Beit David, until
Melech HaMashiach.
Lot did not merit an angel being
sent to save him initially, but he
picked up the merit (and the angel)
en route (so to speak), thanks to
Sara Imeinu and the future Mother
of Royalty, Ruth HaMoaviya.
mgpn ixac
Divrei Menachem
mpersoff@ouisrael.org
When approaching our parsha, there is a
tendency to look first at the opening lines.
At first glance the text draws us into the
plot, as it were, and as we turn the pages,
we find ourselves wondering how it will all
end. And then, there we are, we have
reached the climax of the saga, we have
arrived at the very last page. And we
expect the closing lines to leave us with
food for thought, perhaps with a timeless
lesson.
So this week we have Avraham sitting in
the heat of the sun, caring for three
persona who alert him to the upcoming
destruction of S'dom and Amora. We see
Avraham pleading the cause of justice. We
witness the tale of Lot who, having been
saved from oblivion, sires two sons - the
ancestors of Moab and Ammon - one from
each of his two daughters.
Then Avraham protects his wife from
Avimelech, declaring her to be his sister…
And, finally, Sarah bears a son Yitzchak and in the aftermath she drives out
Avraham's handmaid, Hagar, and her son
Yishmael. Then Avraham makes a pact
with Avimelech… And some years later
Avraham is finally tested through the
episode of the Akeida, the Binding of Isaac.
What pathos! What tension!
The final passage recalls that an angel
reiterates to Avraham that his loyalty and
faith in Hashem earn him and his offspring
multiple blessings. It is as if Avraham had
won the ancient Nobel Prize for Righteousness. Yet the concluding narrative tells us
that, "Avraham returned to his attendants
… and went with them." Yes - having
reached awesome spiritual heights,
Avraham was nevertheless unaffected by
pride; he remained one of the people. That
sounds like a timeless lesson, indeed.
Qf
page 17
 Vayeira 5775
from the virtual desk of the
OU VEBBE REBBE
The Orthodox Union - via its website - fields questions of all types in the areas of Kashrut, Jewish Law and
Values. Some of them are answered by Eretz Hemda, the Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies, Jerusalem,
headed by Rav Yosef Carmel and Rav Moshe Ehrenreich, founded by HaRav Shaul Yisraeli zt"l, to prepare
rabbanim and dayanim to serve the National Religious community in Israel and abroad. Ask the Rabbi is a
joint venture of the OU, Yerushalayim Network, Eretz Hemda... and OU Israel's Torah Tidbits.
Undoing Mistaken Early
Acceptance of Shabbat
Question: After davening at an early
Shabbat minyan, I realized that I forgot to
deliver a gift to my host (we have no eiruv).
Can I undo my acceptance of Shabbat and
daven Maariv again after delivering the
gift?
Answer: The gemara (B'rachot 27b)
discusses the concept of an acceptance
of Shabbat on false pretenses (b'ta'ut),
specifically when people davened
Maariv of Shabbat before the normal
time due to darkness caused by heavy
clouds. An Amora allowed doing
melacha when they discovered the
mistake because acceptance of
Shabbat b'ta'ut is invalid. Regarding a
shul that similarly davened Maariv of
Motzaei Shabbat early, it says that
while we would have expected the
tefilla to be invalid, there is a special
leniency for a community to not have
to repeat Maariv under these
circumstances. Most Rishonim rule
that melacha is permitted after an
acceptance b'ta'ut (see Beit Yosef ad
loc.). The Shulchan Aruch (Orach
Chayim 263:14) cites this opinion,
followed by (his understanding of) the
Mordechai's opinion that ta'ut does
not erase acceptance done by the
action of lighting Shabbat candles,
which is stronger. Therefore, we
might think that that if you did not
light candles (and the acceptance of
early Shabbat was not communitywide - see Shulchan Aruch, OC
263:12), you could have done
melacha after realizing your mistake.
However, this premise is flawed.
First, several Acharonim rule that
after one has accepted Shabbat with
tefilla, one can no longer do melacha
even if it was accepted b'ta'ut (Magen
Avraham 263:26; Mishna Berura
263:56). Furthermore, your case is
very different from the gemara's case
of ta'ut. In the latter, the entire basis
for going through the motions of
accepting Shabbat was misguided.
You, though, did want to accept
Shabbat early, just that an unknown
factor was a counterbalance to that
decision. In the former case, the
acceptance was null even if people
desired to leave things as is (e.g., an
individual who davened Maariv early
under those circumstances must repeat
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it). That is appropriate only in cases
where the mistake is objective and
clear cut.
The Taz (600:2) seems to counter our
argument. Concerning a community
that accepted Shabbat early on Friday
that was the second day of Rosh
Hashana, after which a shofar became
available, he rules that they should
blow shofar even though this is
usually inappropriate on Shabbat. He
compares their acceptance of Shabbat
to a ta'ut, even though it was
fundamentally done for a real reason,
just that it was counteracted by a
desire to blow shofar. However, study
of the Taz shows that other factors are
involved in his ruling, and, more
fundamentally, the lack of fulfillment
of shofar is an objective factor that
applies to all communities in that
situation. (The Taz goes as far as to
argue that even if people want to
accept Shabbat fully, they have no
power to undo their mitzva obligation.) Your case, though, is qualitatively incomparable to the sources on
ta'ut.
What can be considered is being
sho'el (a process of releasing oneself,
done before three people) on the
acceptance. Some, including the
Levush (OC 263:17), compare early
acceptance of Shabbat to a neder
(acceptance of extra halachic obligations) and say that one can be sho'el.
However, the majority opinion is that
one cannot be sho'el on acceptance of
Shabbat (see Mishna Berura 263:65
and presentation in B'tzel Hachochma
IV:96). The strongest explanation is
that while a neder is a halachic reality
that is totally created by a person, the
Torah mandates accepting Shabbat
early, with each person just deciding
when that is for him. In your case,
undoing Shabbat causes an extra
problem in that it would invalidate
your Ma'ariv.
In short, nullifying acceptance of
Shabbat due to a need that arises
should be contemplated only if the
need is unusually pressing or
objective, such as an unfulfilled
mitzva, which seems to be missing in
your case. (We will not get into other
solutions, which ostensibly exist, to
have dealt with your situation.)
Rav Daniel Mann, Eretz Hemdah Institute
Questions? email info@eretzhemdah.org
Having a dispute?
For a Din Torah in English or Hebrew
contact 'Eretz Hemdah - Gazit' Rabbinical
Court: 077-215-8-215 • fax: (02) 537-9626
beitdin@eretzhemdah.org
Rabbi Weinreb's Weekly Column:
Parshat Vayeira
"Optimism Pays"
It may not have been the first day I
reported to my new job, but it was
not many days later that I first met
Richard Hood. I had joined a team
of new PhDs, some trained as
psychologists and some as educators, whose assignment it was to
breathe new life into a very oldfashioned, one might even say
backward, school system in suburban Washington, D.C.
It was a rapidly changing community that had been semi-rural up
until the late 1960s. At the time I
joined the school system advisory
staff as senior school psychologist,
the area was becoming much more
diverse. On the one hand, highlevel government employees were
beginning to move there, finding the
real estate prices more attractive
than the neighboring counties. But
at the same time, there were a
number of areas that were
depressed socio-economically and
were spillovers from the teeming
African-American ghettoes of our
nation's capital. It was not long
before
that
Washington
had
experienced the riots of 1968.
years I served in that environment.
But I want to focus this week's
discussion upon the personality of
this one colleague, Richard Hood, a
tall, burly man in his early thirties
with a Southern drawl that originated in small-town Mississippi. His
politics were liberal; he was openminded, tolerant, and most empathic. But he was a cynic. His
favorite word was "irredeemable".
"This school system is 'irredeemable'", he would say. "The government is irredeemable." "Mankind is
irredeemable." "The world is irredeemable." His attitude to life was
best expressed in the sign that
hung above his desk: "Pessimism Pays".
He felt that people were essentially
evil, that a life of pain and
frustration awaited us all, that man
was fated to suffer. His spiritual
mentor was the philosopher, Arthur
Schopenhauer,
whose
writings
have been described as the "Bible
of pessimism".
Richard had a bone to pick with
Western culture, child-rearing, and
public education. He felt that we
deceive our children into believing
that the world is basically a benign
and safe environment, that success
could be achieved by hard work,
I have many stories to tell about the
and good health guaranteed by
clean living. He maintained that "we
indoctrinate our youth into the belief
that the world is a rose-garden,
whereas in reality it is a snake pit."
I had long one-on-one discussions
with him, because he was
fascinated by Jews and Judaism. In
those discussions, he came to
believe that "you Jews are the worst
of all. You just emerged from the
hell of the Holocaust, and you still
tell your children that all we be well
if they just cling to your tradition."
I think of Richard often, and was
sad to learn that he passed away
several years ago after having
returned to his Mississippi origins
upon his retirement from a university teaching post. I especially
remember him whenever this
week's Torah portion, Vayeira
(B'reishit 18:1-22:24), rolls around.
Why Vayeira? Because it is this
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week that we read the story of the
Akeida, of Avraham's obedience to
God's command that he bind his
son, Yitzchak, upon a mountain-top
altar and offer him as a human
sacrifice to the Lord. This is surely
one of the most troubling passages
in the entire Bible, and traditional
Jewish commentaries as well as
great secular philosophers have
struggled to understand it. How
could Avraham, who so valued
human life that he stood up to God
Himself pleading the case of wicked
S'dom and Amora, unhesitatingly
obey God's command that he slay
his own son?
That is not a question I will even
attempt to address within the limits
of this column. But another aspect
of the story has always troubled
me. At the beginning of the story,
Avraham was unaware of its happy
ending. He did not know that at the
last moment, an angel would order
him to desist from sacrificing his
son. As far as he knew, a terrible,
unspeakable tragedy was about to
unfold. But in his words to the
servants who accompanied him, he
was completely reassuring and
gave them no inkling of the
catastrophe that was about to
occur: "You stay here with the
donkey. The boy and I will go up
there; we will worship and we will
return to you."
And he gave Yitzchak no hint about
the fate that awaited him. Did he
not owe the lad a glimpse of his
imminent death, a chance to
prepare himself to meet his Maker?
Was it not the height of duplicity for
Avraham to reassure his son that all
would be well? I could just hear
Richard ask these piercing questions. Although, to my recollection,
he and I never discussed the Bible,
he was raised as a Southern Baptist
and surely knew the story of the
binding of Isaac.
To me, the answer to these questions lies in this phrase, repeated
twice in the narrative, for emphasis:
"And the two of them walked on
together". Avraham conveyed to
Yitzchak this message: "I am with
you. I will hold your hand. I will be
there for you despite the horror that
awaits us both." This is the attitude
that Jewish parents have conveyed
to the children throughout all of the
tragedies of Jewish history. Yes,
there are persecutions and pogroms and torture and worse. But I
will be there with you. I will be close
to you.
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This is one of the themes of so
many of the Psalms. Rarely is the
Psalmist assured that "everything
will be alright". More often, he is
told, "I, God, am with you." I am
with you in your exile, in your
wanderings, in your suffering. I am
with you in the hell of Auschwitz
and Treblinka. The Psalmist
asserts, "Though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I fear
no evil, for You are with me."
The Talmud teaches us that the
Sh'china, the Divine Presence, is in
exile along with us. Most eloquently,
Asaf in Psalm 73 expresses the
consoling power of the awareness
of God's closeness in the most dire
of circumstances: "I have been
constantly afflicted, each morning
brings new punishments… Yet I
was always with You, You held my
right hand… As for me, nearness to
God is good…"
Avraham felt that his duty to obey
God took priority over the love for
his beloved son. That is one central
lesson of the story, although it

As old and as experienced as
we become, we never quite
learn not to look forward to
more than reality is in the habit
of giving us.
We do not run OUT of ideas,
but AWAY from them.
We
must learn to distinguish
between our ideals and our
daydreams.
from "A Candle by Day" by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein z"l
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remains a disconcerting lesson for
us. But this much we can
comprehend: his behavior reflected
reassurance and trust, optimism
and hope. At the end of the story,
that hope proved justified.
Richard
could
never
fathom
Avraham's lesson. To remain hopeful in the face of threatening doom,
to be able to see beyond the dark
clouds of fate, to continue to pray
even when "the sharp sword
dangles over one's neck" - that is
Avraham's lesson and that is the
Jewish way.
More than just the "Jewish way",
this capability is the secret of
Jewish survival. It is a secret that
we all must learn, especially in our
times, when many challenges sadly
still beset us. We can be confident
that the Sh'china is there for us, but
we must be sure that we are there
for each other. 
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The Land shall keep a Shabbat
unto G-d (Vayikra 25:2) [3]
by Dr. Meir Tamari
In Parashat R'ei the concept of
abrogation of rights is extended from
the fruits of our labor to negating
ownership of capital in the form of
loans at the end of the shmita year. It
is instructive of the Torah's whole
conception of all the aspects of human
success - economic, political, social
and even intellectual - that this
institution of Shmitat K'safim should
follow the law of Ma'aser Ani. This
Ma'aser tithed in the 3rd and 6th year
of the Shmita cycle followed the years
when the Jew ate ma'aser sheini in
Yerushalayim. "This set the care for
the wellbeing of the poor as a
consequence of one's own happiness
and wellbeing; 'I have been happy and
given happiness', is the concluding
vidui of Ma'aser Sheini. However, the
duty of caring for the poor and needy
is by no means discharged by this
ma'aser or by the other matnot aniyim.
The deep seriousness of the social
responsibilities of the propertied
classes is brought home in a wider
form by the laws of Shmitat K'safim
and Tzedaka which follow the verses
of Ma'aser Ani" (S. R. Hirsch).
While shmita of the soil is restricted
to Eretz Yisrael and this shmitat
k'safim was only applicable when
Yovel was observed, nevertheless
rabbinical law enforced it even in the
galut and even in our day. It should be
borne in mind that the creditor is
commanded to waive his rights while
the debtor does not accumulate claims
of non-repayment. The prosbul
introduced by Hillel whereby the
debts are transferred to beit din and
thereby become collectible, is only a
heter, not an obligation. In many
different Israeli circles there is at
present discussions as to how this
waiving of debts can be implemented
for certain groups or up to certain
sums or of certain types in a modern
society. Actually, as Rabbi Hirsch
points out, it is really a continuation
of the Torah's concept of tzedaka. In
all cases care should be taken not to
suggest solutions which may be more
immoral than insisting on repayment
in whatever form. For example, in
favor of annulling the loans and debts
of the poorer emerging economies in
Africa, the concept of Shmitat K'safim
was quoted. However, one reason for
their poverty was either theft of aid by
their leaders or needless expenditure
on weapons or wasteful investments
in exhibits of grandiose buildings or
all of these. Here it would seem that
shmitat k'safim would be teaching an
immoral lesson and it would be
preferable to reschedule and delay
repayment together with obligatory
guidelines for the use of these loans.
This would be in accordance with
halakhic thinking which guarded the
rights of the creditor in cases of
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insolvency of the debtor by selling his
assets [even his luxurious private
possessions and his wife's jewelry] to
pay back the loans. The language of
all the Codes, "even where the debtor
is poor and the creditor is rich" is a
major lesson in morality as it
separates the interest-free loan from
charity.
Shmita, from everything that our
sages and commentators learnt from
it, would seem to militate against the
concept at the root of free markets that
Man is solely an economic being for
whom more is always more desirable
and better than less. It would seem to
be teaching the importance of living
with the guidance of having enough.
Without accepting and applying this
teaching there can be no morality,
neither economic nor sexual nor
social, neither personal nor national.
"The purpose of their entry into Eretz
Yisrael was that their commerce and
agriculture should according to
Hashem's Will. Therefore they had to
learn to work just to provide their
needs [rather than try to satisfy their
wants which are unlimited and
insatiable] as we learn from the parsha
of the Manna. Observing isur avoda
during Shmita forced Bnei Yisrael to
live frugally and carefully [anticonsumerism] not only in the seventh
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year but equally in the 8th year.
Furthermore, since part of the produce
in normal years was sold to the
neighboring nations, the shmita
reduced this source of income as well,
making frugality and satisfaction
merely of needs even more imperative. The Torah educates us to
modesty in consumption and simplicity in lifestyles " (Akeidat Yitzchak). 
The following is from
Sapphire from the Land of Israel
A New Light on the Weekly Portion
from the Writings of
Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook
by Rabbi Chanan Morrison
website: ravkooktorah.org
Preparing for
the Akeida
Adapted from Olat Re’iyah vol. I, p. 85
The Torah records a peculiar exchange that took place immediately
prior to the Akeida, the Binding of
Isaac. Before commanding Avraham
to offer up his beloved son Yitzchak,
God called out to Avraham,
“Avraham!”
And Avraham responded, “Here I
am” (B'reishit 22:1).
Why did God call out to Avraham by
name? And what was Avraham’s
response, “Here I am”? Did Avraham
think that God did not know where
he was? What was the purpose of
this brief exchange?
Personal Aspirations
Truly great individuals, who devote
their lives working for the benefit
the community - or the nation, or all
of humanity - may identify with the
needs of the community to such an
extent that they neglect their own
private lives and aspirations. For
example, after the Sin of the Golden
Calf, God made Moshe a remarkable
offer. God suggested that the Jewish
people be replaced by Moshe's
descendants.
Moshe,
however,
immediately rejected this opportunity for self-advancement at the
expense of the people. “Please
forgive their sin”, Moshe responded.
“And if not, then erase me from Your
book which You have written”
(Sh'mot 32:32).
Avraham and Sarah concentrated all
of their energies in promoting belief
in one God. They “made souls in
Haran”, converting people to monotheism. They set up an eshel, a rest
station in Beersheba, to spread their
message to travelers. They ran a
seminary with hundreds of students,
and they opened up their home to
all. Avraham pleaded for the sake of
the wicked people of S'dom, even at
the risk of displeasing God. With all
of this communal activity, how much
time and energy did Avraham and
Sarah have left to attend to their
own personal needs?
A name is a reflection of one’s
individual nature and personality.
When God calls a person by name,
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this Divine summons highlights
one’s individual essence. In order for
the trial of the Akeida to be a true
test of Avraham’s free choice, it was
necessary for Avraham to be fully
cognizant of his own private needs
and aspirations. God called out
“Avraham!” - and Avraham immediately became profoundly aware of
his innermost desires and goals.
“Hineini”
Avraham responded to God’s call,
saying, “Hineini” - “I am here.” I am
here, inside myself. I have concentrated myself inwards, to fully
experience all of my private needs,
wants, and aspirations - including
the deep-felt desire, answered
miraculously in old age, of fathering
a son. A son worthy of continuing
the unique spiritual path his father
had forged.
Fully aware of his own personal
aspirations, Avraham was ready for
the test of the Akeida. 
Parsha Points to Ponder
by MK Rabbi Dov Lipman
Vayeira
1) Why doesn't Avimelech stop
speaking after he answered I
DON'T KNOW WHO DID THIS
when he was confronted by
Avraham regarding the wells
which his servants stole (21:26)?
Why does he continue and say
YOU DIDN'T TELL ME and I
DIDN'T HEAR ABOUT IT UNTIL
TODAY?
2) Why does the Torah repeat the
fact that Avraham and Yitzchak
WALKED TOGETHER to the
Akeida (22:6 and 8)?
3) G-D responds to Avraham's
dedication at the Akeida with a
promise that of large numbers of
descendants (22:17). Why is this a
special reward for the Akeida
considering the fact that He
already promised this before the
Akeida?
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The suggested answers are elsewhere
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A look at VAYEIRA from
what will come of Your oath, ‘Thus
shall your seed be’ (B'reishit 15:5)?"
The Merit of Avraham
How the Midrash sees it
The eyes of Avraham looked into
the eyes of Yitzchak and the eyes of
Yitzchak looked up to Heaven. The
tears ran down Avraham’s cheeks
until his whole body was bent over
in weeping.
He raised the knife to slay Yitzchak,
but Satan came and pushed his arm
so that the knife dropped from his
hand. When he put out his hand to
pick it up, he wept bitterly and
sighed deeply. He looked up and
raised his voice and said, "I lift up
my eyes to the hills: from whence
shall my help come?" (T'hilim 121:1).
At that moment the Holy One,
blessed be He, revealed Himself
above the angels and opened up the
firmament. Yitzchak raised his eyes
and saw the heavenly chambers and
he trembled and gasped. In the
firmament rows upon rows of
ministering angels stood lamenting
and weeping, and they said to one
another: "See, an only son
slaughters and an only son is
slaughtered. Lord of the universe,
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At once the Holy One, blessed be
He, said to the angel Michael, "Why
are you standing there? Do not let
him do it!" "And the angel of the
Lord called to him out of heaven and
said, ‘Avraham, Avraham’" (22:11),
twice, like one who cries out in pain.
Avraham turned his face to him, and
the angel said to him, "What are you
doing? ‘Lay not your hand upon the
lad’ (22:12)". Abraham said to him,
"Who are you?" "I am an angel!”.
"When the Holy One, Blessed be He,
told me to offer my son, He spoke to
me Himself: therefore now, if he
wants, He Himself will speak to me!"
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Suddenly the Holy One, blessed be
He, broke open the firmament and
the thick darkness and said, "By
Myself have I sworn…" (22:16).
Avraham said to Him, "You have
sworn, and I too have sworn that I
will not descend from this altar until
I have said all that I must." He said
to him, "Speak!" Avraham said to
Him, "Did you not say to me, ‘Count
the stars… Thus shall your seed be’
(15:5)?" "Yes." "From whom?" "From
Yitzchak." "Did You not say to me, ‘I
will make your seed as the dust of
the earth’ (13:16)?" "Yes." "From
whom?" "From Yitzchak."
"I could have answered You and
said, Yesterday You said to me, ‘For
in Yitzchak shall your seed be
called’ (21:12). Now You say to me,
‘Offer him up there for a burntoffering’ (22:2). I overcame my evil
impulse and did not answer You. So,
when the children of Yitzchak shall
sin and be led astray, let the Akeida
be remembered for them, and
consider it as if his dust were
gathered on this altar, and be filled
with mercy for them and forgive
them and redeem them from their
sorrows."
And the Holy One, blessed be He,
said to him: "You have spoken yours
and I shall speak Mine. The children
of Yitzchak are destined to sin
before Me, and I shall judge them;
but if they seek that I forgive them, I
shall remember for their sake the
binding of Isaac."
Rabbi Apple served for 32 years as the chief minister of
the Great Synagogue, Sydney, and was Australia's
highest profile rabbi and leading spokesman for Jews and
Judaism on the Australian continent. He is now retired
and lives in Jerusalem. He blogs at www.oztorah.com
HOW SERIOUS
IS TAL UMATAR?
Mincha is gone. The halacha calls for a
second Amida of NOW as a make up
for the missed one.
The following is going to be a long(ish)
halachic presentation which will hopefully culminate in a serious point of
HASHKAFA. But it will take time to get
to that point, with a lot of details on the
way. If you haven't given up yet, please
bear with me.
On the other hand, goes the argument,
MA YARVI'ACH BAZEH? What do you
gain by this? What do you gain by
making the person repeat all 19 brachot
of the Amida when he cannot say the
one thing that he omitted the first
time? He did say the 19 brachot; he just
omitted YvY. Now he'd have to say the
19 brachot again without YvY, so what
does he gain? According to this
opinion, there is no TASHLUMIN
required.
Let's start with YAALEH V'YAVO (YvY)
on Rosh Chodesh (R"Ch). If one davens
Mincha on R"Ch and forgets to say
YvY, and finishes the Amida, he must
repeat the entire Amida. The omission
of YvY renders the Amida invalid.
Let's say that the person did not realize
his omission until nighttime. There are
two possible situations. Either that
night is also R"Ch or R"Ch is over.
In the first case, the person must daven
the Amida of Maariv twice - the first
time for Maariv and the second time is
a TASHLUMIN for the Mincha that was
invalid because of the omission of YvY.
Of course, in this case, both times, he
says YvY, because it is NOW R"Ch.
In the second case, there is a halachic
dispute as to what he should do.
One the one hand, it can be argued
that the omission of YvY at Mincha of
R"Ch is considered the same as if he
had missed Mincha altogether. Just like
there would be TASHLUMIN at Maariv
following a missed Mincha, so too here,
when the omission of YvY is tantamount to not having davened the
Amida at all. According to this opinion,
neither Amida at Maariv would get YvY,
because it is not R"Ch anymore. Even
though the second Amida, the
TASHLUMIN Amida, is for the missed
Mincha (or the defective Mincha)
Amida, the rule for TASHLUMIN is that
the second Amida is a Maariv Amida
too, not a Mincha Amida. Time for
The conclusion in halacha is sort of a
compromise between the two opinions.
A second Amida is to be said at Maariv,
but with a T'NAI, a condition. Before
the person starts the second Amida at
Maariv, he has in mind the following:
If this TASHLUMIN is required, then
here it is. But if it is not required, then
let this Amida I am about to say be a
T'FILAT N'DAVA, a voluntary optional
prayer. (We will definitely not lengthen
this piece even more by explaining fully
the concept and practice - or lack
thereof - of T'filat N'dava. Suffice it to
say that such a thing exists, as a prayer
counterpart to voluntary korbanot in
the Beit HaMikdash).
One last paragraph before we examine
the TAL UMATAR issue.
This halachic solution to the problem
works well when the night following
Rosh Chodesh is a weekday. But it
won't work on Friday night.
Since voluntary korbanot
were not allowed in the
Beit HaMikdash on Shabbat, we cannot daven a
voluntary Amida on Shabbat. So if a person forgets
YvY on a Friday R"Ch at
Mincha, and realizes his
omission only at night, he does NOT
say a second Amida. The T'NAI
solution isn't available on Friday night.
Now we get to the actual question that
came up this past Leil Shabbat in shul.
A fellow realized after Kabalat Shabbat
that he had forgotten to say TAL
UMATAR at Mincha.
Had he not davened Mincha at all, he'd
be required to say the Amida of Friday
night Maariv twice - the second one
being the TASHLUMIN for the Mincha
he missed. The make up Amida is a
7-bracha Shabbat Amida, because
TASHLUMIN is always the NOW
davening, even though he is making up
a 19-bracha weekday Amida.
But he did daven Mincha. He just
forgot TAL UMATAR. And that
omission cannot be corrected on
Shabbat - TAL UMATAR is a weekday
Amida only issue.
Applying the same arguments as
above, we might say that OTOH, his
omission of TAL UMATAR rendering
the Mincha Amida invalid (had he
realized his omission right after
finishing the Amida he would have had
to repeat the Amida). The omission of
TAL UMATAR makes it as if he didn't
daven Mincha.
Or, do we say MA YARVI'ACH BAZEH?
What does he gain? He did actually
daven the Amida at Mincha. And the
only thing he left out was TAL
UMATAR which he cannot say on
Friday night anyway. So why require
another Amida at Maariv?
And a T'NAI of T'filat N'dava won't
work on Shabbat. So what is the
halacha in this case?
The answer is that unlike the YvY
situation, where we accept (partially)
into the halachic equation the fact that
he did daven something at Mincha,
albeit defective, in the case of TAL
UMATAR it is as if he didn't daven
Mincha at all.
There is a technical discussion about
what status YvY has in the Amida in
contrast to TAL UMATAR. At issue is
the level of defect of the omission and
what is part of the b'racha and what is
an insert. Let's leave that out for now.
Instead, let's draw a message and
lesson from the halachic conclusion of
the Tal uMatar omission on Friday
afternoon and the required make up for
it on Friday night. By totally erasing the
Friday Mincha Amida, we can say that
our Sages felt and feel that the
requirement for us to ask G-d for rain
during the rainy season (be it from 7
Marcheshvan in Israel or December 4th
in Chutz LaAretz) is to be taken very
seriously. How seriously? Apparently,
very. When the omission is caught
during the Amida, there are procedures
to get it said. When the Amida is done
without TAL UMATAR, it must be
repeated. When the omission is only
realized at the next davening timeslot,
TASHLUMIN must be said. EVEN ON
FRIDAY NIGHT when we don't ask G-d
for rain (or the other things in the
middle brachot of the Amida).
We need rain. We are supposed to ask
for RAIN. We are supposed to ask G-d
for rain. So we do. And if we don't, 19
brachot become not only defective and
invalid, but automatically deleted and
erased.
If you are still reading, let us finish with
a prayer to the MORID HAGESHEM
that we be blessed with good quality
and quantity of rainfall this year... and
all years to come.
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MONDAYS at 3:00PM
MONDAYS at 4:00PM
Maharal on the Sedra
The Orchard and the Inn
B'reishit 21:33 - And he planted an
eshel [terebinth] in Be’er Sheva.
Rashi - Rav and Shmuel disputed
the meaning of this. One said it was
an orchard to provide wayfarers
with fruit. One said it was an inn, in
which were all kinds of foods. We
find the verb “to plant” applies to
tents, as in [Daniel 11:45]: “And he
will plant the tents of his palace.”
Gur Arye - What difference does it
make [whether it was an] orchard or
an inn? Two theories are hinted at. An
orchard - planted trees - befits
Avraham in that he was the first netia
[sapling, planting], the source of
divine inspiration for the world. On his
account the world was created, as it
is written [2:4], “This is the story of
heaven and earth when they were
created [b’hibar'am],” which the
midrash [B'reishit Rabba 12:9] transposes to “b’Avraham”, which is
interpreted to mean “on account of
Avraham”. There had been 2000
years of tohu [confusion] and the
world as we know it came into
existence when Hashem planted His
first netia [seedling] Avraham. That is
why the orchard befits him, a blessed
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in the world from which all benefit.
According to the view that eshel is an
inn, it relates to Avraham’s inn,
where wayfarers gathered, thus he
was called “the father of many
nations” [17:5]. He and his inn
allowed for a continuation of the
sustenance of his guests.
The foundation or planting of wisdom
is called “orchard” [Chagiga 14b], a
planting that gives forth fruit.
Avraham’s planting was the orderly
setting forth of wisdom - strong roots
of truth which all could agree to. If
someone wished to grasp a concept,
Avraham would bring it to him out of
his orchard.
The “inn” view differs from the
“orchard” view in the nature of the
information he imparted to people.
Instead of wisdom, the “inn” view has
it that he taught them how to behave,
that is, which deeds are acceptable to
Hashem. This is how he brought all
the wayfarers, great and small,
intelligent and dull, under the wings
of the Divine Presence [Rashi 12:5].
The midrash has it that Avraham
says, “take what you want - bread,
meat, wine eggs” for good deeds are
the life force and the ongoing survival
for the soul, the same way that food
sustains the body. Processed foods
are specified rather than fruit, to
show that effort is required. Bread
and meat are specified for they
sustain the body, unlike fruit, which
pleases without sustaining. The Torah
says with respect to deeds, “and live
by them” [Vayikra 18:5], for the
deeds are the most important, more
important than learning. If man would
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be completely spiritual, his Torah
would be most important, as learning
is done by the sechel [intelligence,
spirituality]. But since he is partially
physical, deeds take precedence, and
deeds are functions of the body.
MDK
-
Both
explanations
of
Avraham’s contribution to mankind,
the orchard and the inn, are true. He
brought wisdom to the world, but
more importantly, he brought ethics
to the world.
On a trip to Glen Canyon, Arizona, I
asked the National Park ranger what
the green tree growing along the
banks of the Colorado River was. It
grew to be 6-8 feet tall and had
delicate
fiamentous
leaves
and
seemed out of place in the desolate
desert. That, he said, is the terebinth.
A wealthy resident of Yuma imported
it from the Middle East for his garden
in the 1880s and it flourished along
the banks of the Colorado. Avraham’s
terebinth had taken root in the
American West.
To summarize:
Orchard
Inn
planted
Origin:
erected
information
the wise
Content:
ethics
Target:
everyone
Menu:
figs, pomegranates bread, eggs, meat
delicacies
basic nutrition
natural
processed
satisfies
sustains
wisdom
Goal:
good deeds
Column prepared by Dr. Moshe Kuhr
Dr Kuhr is the author of two volumes
(so far) of Lion Cub of Prague
Reprinted (with permission) from
Shabbat Shalom
Parsha Booklet (4) by
Rabbi Berel Wein
Most commentators dwell upon the
compassion for sinners demonstrated by our father Avraham in
this week's parsha. Though this
message is undoubtedly the important one, as relating to the tragedy
of S'dom, there is an important
peripheral lesson, of perhaps equal
importance, involved there as well.
And that lesson is that a few good
people make all the difference in
human society and in the fate of
mankind.
S'dom is not destroyed because of
the thousands or even millions of
evildoers in its midst. It was
destroyed simply because it lacked
ten good people in its society. And
this is God's message to Avraham
as well. Avraham is a lonely person
- he is on one side and everyone
else in the world is seemingly on
the other side.
Lonely people oftentimes are beset
by doubts as to their course in life.
"Fifty million Frenchmen can't be
wrong!" But history has shown us
time and again that the lonely
individual is proven correct and the
behavior and opinions of the many
are proven to be wrong and even
dangerous. Avraham becomes the
paradigm for the lonely righteous in
a world that envies, imitates and
glorifies S'dom. He is the father of
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the Jewish people especially in this
regard.
The Jews are a small and lonely
group in our world. Their values and
way of life are in opposition to those
of the many. Yet even our enemies
admit - and in fact object to the
prevalence of our contributions,
influence and vitality as regards
human civilization and history.
The destruction of S'dom leaves a
deep imprint on Avraham. It helps
shape his attitude towards his son
Yitzchak. He eschews the choice of
the many - of Yishmael and the
children of Ketura - in favor of the
lonely good and pious son Yitzchak.
That is perhaps the message of
God to Avraham when He told him:
"For through Yitzchak [alone] will
you have true descendants."
One Yitzchak eventually is able to
counter - in God's inscrutable reckoning of merits and salvation
millions of evildoers - no matter how
well pedigreed those evildoers
claim to be. S'dom eventually is
destroyed by its own innate lack of
goodness and of a dearth of pious
citizens. But Avraham and Yitzchak,
small in numbers and opposed by
most of the world, will continue to
flourish and proclaim the values of
goodness and righteousness in the
general world.
Yeshayahu HaNavi characterizes
Avraham as "echad" - one, unique,
alone, singular. That description is
to be interpreted positively and not
as a complaint or source of weakness or pessimism. In a world of the
many it is the few that really matter.
G-d told us long ago in the book of
D'varim that we would be the fewest
of all people. Yet in our influence
and strength of spirit we are as
numerous as are the stars in
heaven.
This inner realization of ourselves
and our role in G-d's plan for human
existence and growth marks us as
the true children of Avraham and
gives us hope even in a world
where S'dom appears all powerful.
E¼aM¨ W§ i¦ m
» x¤h¤
Most often, a Torah-note is printed
above or below the letter that gets
accented in the particular word. For
example, let's look at the words
that follow the above two in
B'reishit 19:4, right after Lot offers
the visiting angels his hospitality.
EA´©q¨p ÆmŸcq§ i³¥
Wp§ `© xir¹¦ d¨ iW
¸¥ p§ `© e§
zi¦ A½© dÎl
© r©
v'an-SHEI ha-IR are both accented
on the last syllable (MILRA) and
that is where the KADMA and
AZLA are placed (on the SHIN and
the AYIN).
na-SA-bu and ha-BA-yit, on the
other hand are both pronounced
MIL'EIL, the accent on the next-tothe-last syllable, and that's where
we find the ZAKEIF and the
KATON - under the SAMACH and
over the BET.
Now, however, look at the first two
words in the pasuk. Both TE-rem
and yish-KA-vu are MIL'EIL, yet the
ZARKA and the SEGOL are printed
at the far end (left) of the words.
This is the way a few of the
Torah-notes (trop) are traditionally
printed. So how are we supposed
to know that these words are
MIL'EIL? We are just supposed to
know. Some more recent Chumashim put a second note over
the accented syllable, like this:
E¼aM¼¨ W§ i¦ m
» x¤h
»¤
TtRiDdLeS
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hand that is difficult to beat. An
example of four-of-a-kind is 4 kings.
The only hand that beats it is a
straight flush or its highest version,
a royal flush. (A straight flush is a
sequence of 5 consecutive cards of
the same suit. E.g. 3-4-5-6-7 of
hearts. The hightest straight flush is
9-10-J-Q-K of a single suit. This is
called a royal flush.) These hands
beat 4 kings, just as Avra(ha)m
Avinu beat K'DARLA'OMER king of
EILAM, TID-AL king of GOYIM,
AMRAFEL (a.k.a. Nimrod) king of
SHIN-AR, and ARYOCH king of
ELYASAR.
Previous (LECH L'CHA) TTriddles:
[4] Hagar's connection to Yitzchak
[1] The sedra has correct number of
p'sukim
Aside from the fact that Hagar was
the mother of Yishmael, Yitzchak's
half-brother, and aside from the fact
that Avraham sent Yitzchak to B'eir
Lachai Ro'i to bring K'tura (who was
Hagar, according to our Tradition)
back to Avraham after Sara's death HAGAR and YITZCHAK share a
gimatriya: HAGAR = 5+3+200 = 208.
YITZCHAK = 10+90+8+100 = 208.
correct = NACHON = 50+20+6+50 =
126, the number of p'sukim in
Parshat Lech L'cha.
[2] YIZKOR became THE PLACE OF
THE ALTAR
Another gimatriya TTriddle. YIZKOR
= 10+7+20+6+200 = 243.
THE PLACE OF THE ALTAR =
M'KOM HAMIZBEI'ACH = 40+100+
6+40 (186) + 5+40+7+2+8 (62) = 248.
In Lech L'cha, AVRAM (243) became
AVRAHAM (248).
[3] He was like a royal or straight
flush
In straight poker, four-of-a-kind is a
[5] Some fine guys defeated
knife-carrying rebels
Ed. note: Okay, here's the story. As
of press-time (Tuesday night) for TT
1109, the Giants were ahead in the
World Series over the Kansas City
Royals, 3 games to 2. As it turned
out, the Giants were creamed by the
Royals 10-0 on Tuesday night (KC
time), pushing the series to a 7th
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and final deciding game. Which the
Giants won 3-2. I could not put a
straightforward congratulations to
the Giants for winning the World
Series, which they had not done yet.
So I embedding that congrats in a
cryptic TTriddle-like sentence. Had
they lost, I would not have bothered
explaining the hidden message. But
they won! So on page 35 of TT 1109,
you will find a box written with black
on orange (the Giants' colors) the
above sentence. Taking the initials
of the first three words and
reassigning new words to them, and
doing the same to the last three
words, the sentence now reads: San
Francisco Giants defeated Kansas
City Royal - which is what happened.
There are many Torah publications
out there, but Torah Tidbits might be
the only one that also includes this
kind of material. That's either good
or bad, depending upon how you
look at things.
[6] Let's go, Michal, to wine
More gimatriya. Let's go = NEILEICH
= 50+30+20 = 100.
[7] Lot Avraham Yitzchak
Yaakov Eisav Yosef Bil'am
Here's how some TTriddles come
about. VAYISA LOT ET EINAV... and
Lot raised his eyes... First occurrence
of the word VAYISA, and he lifted (or
raised) is in Lech L'cha, with Lot
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looking out over the Jordan Plain
and choosing to settle in S'dom. The
word VAYISA occurs 25 times in the
Torah. Too many for a TTriddle. But
if we stick to eyes - rather than
Aharon raising his hands, Yaakov
raising his wives and children onto
camels, Yaakov raising his voice
(crying out) when he met Rachel,
and others - we have a manageable
TTriddle. The seven people listed in
the TTriddle all raised their eyes and
saw something. The three boxed
names have the same wording:
VAYISA blank ET EINAV. The others
have some variation in wording, but
all lifted their eyes.
[8] Front page upper-left
Forgot to mention this new TTriddle
of sorts last week. We had done it
occasionally in the past and
restarted it for TT 1108. Under the TT
logo and under the two lines that
proclaim that we are into our third
decade of publication and our
second thousand of issues, were the
words SHABBATOT limnucha. The
limnucha was added to complete
the phrase, but the focus was on the
word SHABBATOT, whose numeric
value is 300+2+400+6+400 = 1108,
the issue number that week.
We have no idea if we'll be able to
come up with something each week,
but for 1109 Lech L'cha we found the
partial pasuk quote from the sedra:
...L'CHA ET'NENA ULZAR-ACHA AD
OLAM. A very meaningful promise
of G-d's - one of many - that Eretz
Yisrael is ours. Gimatriya of the
phrase is 1109.
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CHIZUK ! IDUD
Divrei Torah from the weekly sedra
with a focus on living in Eretz Yisrael Chizuk for Olim & Idud for not-yet-Olim
A large number of different countries,
armies and individuals, united only by
their joint Islamic faith are infamous
for their lack of compassion towards
their many enemies. News broadcasts
world over are inundated with horrific
reports describing the latest atrocities
of the ISIS terrorist organization, or
the latest machinations of various
Arab regimes.
composition date is contemporaneous
with that of the early Amoraim
(thereby predating Mohammed),
mentions the same names, although
this may simply be a later addition
inserted into the original text).
All this leads us to closely investigate
that which the Torah chose to teach us
in regard to Yishmael’s origins. In last
week’s Parsha (16:11) we read that
the Angel of G-d notified Sarah’s
handmaiden, Hagar, that she will
conceive and bear a son. When he will
be born, she is told, “You shall call
him Yishmael because Hashem has
Amazingly, all of these blood chilling
murderous headlines can be traced
back to our very own forefather
Avraham. Avraham Avinu is not only
"our father" - the source of our holy
nation, but the beloved and deeply
revered ancestor of the modern-day
progeny of his 'other' son Yishmael as
well.
The historical connection between
Yishmael and Islam is found in
various sources, such as in Pirkei
d'Rabbi Eliezer (29) where the
Midrash states that Yishmael’s wives
were named Adisha and Fatima,
thereby stressing the linkage between
Yishmael and Mohammed’s two
wives who lived many, many years
later. (Interestingly, the Targum
Yerushalmi (B'reishit 21:21) whose
heard your affliction.” The Torah then
tells us that “He will be a Pere Adam,
his hand will be against every man
and every man’s hand will be against
him, and over all his brethren shall he
dwell.” The Ramban explains the
meaning of this verse writing that
Pere-Adam is a construct form
describing Yishmael as a “wild ass
man”, denoting a person fully
acclimatized to life in the harsh desert
environment. The rest of the pasuk,
writes the Ramban, describes how
Yishmael will constantly attempt to
devour all others, while they too will
try to devour him, for Yishmael's
descendants will "increase in number
and wage wars with all the other
nations”.
Surely this can be seen taking place
before our own eyes today - worldwide…
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This week’s Parsha provides us with
an additional insight into the mindset
of Yishmael of yesteryear. The Torah
tells us that Avraham made a party
celebrating Yitzchak's birth (the
Rabbis see this as the Biblical
precedent for celebrating a Brit Mila),
and then in the very next verse (21:9)
we are told that Sarah saw Hagar’s
son M'TZACHEIK. The Rabbis put
forth various explanations for this
rather ambiguous term, suggesting
that Sarah may have observed
idolatrous behavior, sexual immorality
on his part, or perhaps even actual
bloodshed (Tosefta Sota chapter 6,
Rashi ad loc.). Rashi tells us that
Yishmael quarreled with Yitzchak,
trying to clearly establish his status as
the firstborn who would be entitled to
a double portion of their father's future
inheritance. Yishmael understood that
his status as Avraham’s sole heir was
now being usurped by Yitzchak, and
so when the two brothers went into
the field to play, Yishmael, in jest
(M'TZACHEIK), would "playfully"
aim his arrows at Yitzchak as if he
meant to kill him. Following this
Midrash one can say that M'TZACHEIK means that he assumed the
role of Yitzchak, making believe that
he had taken over Yitzchak’s identity
and thereby his inheritance as well.
Witnessing this troubling behavior led
Sarah to the realization that Hagar and
her son must be sent away.
Three thousand years later, this deadly
game of charades is still being played
out today. Who is the true chosen son
of Avraham? Who will inherit
Abraham and merit to live and prosper
in the Promised Land? Who will pray
on the Temple Mount?
The answer is to be found in the
demographics of the Jewish People. If
we come on Aliyah and spread out
(UFARATZTA) West and East, North
and South, (YAMA VAKEIDMA
TZAFONA VANEGBA), thereby
laying claim to our forefather's
inheritance, it will be ours - otherwise
Yishmael will continue to be
M'TZACHEIK claiming he is the true
Yitzchak, the true heir to the land...
Parsha Points to Ponder
Suggested answers
1) The Alshich explains that those
first words were the end of
Avimelech's answer to Avraham.
Then he turned to his general,
Pichol, and said YOU DIDN'T TELL
ME about this and PICHOL replied
I DIDN'T HEAR ABOUT IT UNTIL
TODAY.
2) The Maharal answers that the
first time these words are used it
teaches that Avraham walked with
the same enthusiasm as Yitzchak
even though he knew that he was
intended to kill his son while
Yitzchak did not know this. The
second time, Yitzchak already has
an idea the he may be the sacrifice
and these words come to teach
that he continued with the same
enthusiasm as Avraham.
3) The Sfat Emet teaches that the
reward is that these promises
would be fulfilled in the merit of
Avraham's actions instead of an
act of charity as it was described in
15:6.
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"Status Quo"
In life we often experience antithetical outcomes. We can try hard at something certain
that our efforts will pan out yet the results can be quite discouraging. This is true no
matter how great our conviction and dedication to our endeavor may be.
Some of us may find that despite our devoutness and meticulousness, not only do we
not experience improvement in our daily lives, we do not even maintain the status quo,
and sometimes even experience a decline.
All too often this brings us to question our Sages and mentors and sometimes even God
and the path He prescribed for us.
Rabbi Ze’ora, one of the great Sages of the Land of Israel was faced one day with
exactly this situation!
The Sages teach us that one who recites the ‘Amida right after the blessing of ‘Geula’
(Redemption) without interruption is guaranteed that no ill will come to him during
that day.
Rabbi Ze’ora took this teaching quite seriously, as a guarantee that no harm will come
his way. Nevertheless, the day came when he was drafted to perform the public service
of perfuming the King’s Palace. In Rabbi Ze'ora's eyes this was clearly a punishment.
But His contemporaries pointed out to him that it was not every day that one could see
the King’s Palace. In fact, many people would actually pay good money to see its
interior.
What Rabbi Ze’ora perceived as a punishment was in fact a reward!
The lesson that the Sages of the Land of Israel teach us here is that reward and
punishment are sometimes nothing more than a matter of perception.
May God give us the keenness and perceptiveness to see the events in our lives in their
proper light!
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AFTER THESE EVENTS…
AFTER WHAT?
The story of the Akeda begins with
the words " After these events…
VAYHI ACHAR HADVARIM HAEILEH. Did you ever wonder "after
what events?"
Rashi tries to answer this question
with two different answers - the first
one is that it happened after the
words of Satan who said Avraham
never brought anything to Hashem
but rather everything he did was for
his son Yitchak. So God answered
the Satan by saying - look Avraham
will even be willing to sacrifice his
own son Yitchak to Me if I tell him to.
Rashi's second answer to this
question is that it happened after
Yishmael repeatedly bragged to
Yitchak that he was greater because
he did the brit mila at age 13. Yitchak
answered Yishmael saying - you
were willing to give only one of your
limbs to God - if God asked me to
give my whole body to him, I would.
I read another answer to this
question in Rabbi Shlomo Riskin's
book
'Torah
Lights
Bereshit:
Confronting Life, love and Family'. If
we look in this week's portion - the
episode that happens before the
Akeida is the story of Hagar and
Yishmael being sent to the desert.
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Sara was worried about Yishmael's
negative influence on her own son
Yitchak and tells Avraham that he
and his mother Hagar must be sent
away. God actually tells Avraham to
listen to his wife so he sends Hagar
and Yishmael off to the desert with
only 'bread and a skin-vessel of
water'. God told Avraham to listen to
Sarah, but He didn't tell him in what
way he must send her away. He
could have done it with more
compassion.
Rabbi Riskin notes parallels between
Hagar's journey with Yishmael and
Avraham's journey to the Akeida with
Yitchak. The same phrase is used,
'And Avraham rose up early in the
morning' - both when Avraham rises
early to give Hagar her supplies and
when he starts his journey with
Yitchak to the Akeida. Avraham
places the bread and jug of water on
Hagar's shoulder, as well as the
wood on Yitchak's back. Hagar
wanders in the desert with Yishmael
and Avraham goes to an uncertain
place for the Akeida. An angel saves
both Yishmael and Yitchak's life.
Because of these parallels and the
juxtaposition of the two stories, he
suggests that possibly the Akeida is
the way for Avraham to empathize
with the anguish that Hagar must
have experienced as a result of
Avraham's insensitivity.
He goes on to suggest that the Torah
hints that Yitchak was aware of the
injustice committed against Hagar
and Yishmael and eventually tried to
compensate for that pain. How? By
going to Be'er-lachai-roi, the location
in the desert where Yishmael's life
was saved, to bring back Hagar to
Avraham, after the death of his own
mother, Sarah (see Rashi 24:61).
So if we take Rabbi Riskin's
suggestion of "After these events"
did the Akeida happen - as referring
to the events of Avraham sending
away Hagar and Yishmael what do
we learn? I think we learn that there
are times when we must do difficult
things towards others (e.g. Avraham
having to send away his son and
wife) no matter what must be done we must act with compassion and
care and respect. We must try to
protect the personhood of those we
deal with. God wants us to do the
right thing but also in the right way.
SINCE AVRAHAM sent Hagar to the
desert with just bread and water
here's a recipe for bread.
BEER BREAD
3 cups flour
1 cup oat flour
1 to 3 Tbsp sugar or honey
2 Tbsp baking powder
450ml can of beer
(room temperature)
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.
(if using honey add immediately after
beer is added to the dry ingredients).
Make a hollow in the center and add
beer. Stir only until dry ingredients
are moistened. Batter should be
lumpy. Pour into a 9 x 5 loaf pan and
bake at 190°C for 50 to 60 minutes
or until toothpick inserted in center
comes out clean. Top will be lumpy.
Cool on wire rack.
Avraham's Eshel Tree
by
Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher
Dean of Students, Diaspora Yeshiva
The Torah informs us in B'reshit
21:33, "And he (Avraham) planted an
Eshel tree in Beer Sheva, and there he
proclaimed the Name of Hashem, G-d
of the Universe."
Why does the Torah have to tell us
about Avraham's planting of a tree?
The Torah is not ancient history, but
G-d's authorized manual for our daily
lives. Moreover, how is "proclaiming
the Name of Hashem, G-d of the
Universe" related to this activity?
Rashi there explains that this Eshel
was actually a PARDES, an orchard
and an inn for hospitality to wayfarers. When the guests finished
eating and drinking, they wanted to
bless and thank their host, Avraham.
Then Avraham said to them, "Do not
bless and thank me but bless and
thank your True Host, Hashem,
Master of the Universe." The word
ESHEL is also an acronym for
ACHILA, SH'TIYA, L'VIYA and
LINA." This means Food, Drink,
Escort and Lodging.
Rav Soloveitchik gives another
explanation for why the Torah tells us
that Avraham planted an Eshel. The
Torah relates this detail because
Avraham taught the world that
through this tree, one could perceive
the Master of the Universe. G-d
Himself controls the flowering and the
growth of the tree, the falling and
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withering of its leaves in autumn, and
the budding and growth of new leaves
and luscious fruit in the spring.
Organic life is revealed through the
tree, and thus through the tree G-d is
perceived as well. Therefore the
Torah tells us in Parshat Shoftim, KI
HAADAM EITZ HASADEH (A
human being is like a tree of the
field). Both the human being and the
tree need lots of TLC (tender loving
care) in order to grow and flourish.
Avraham planted the Eshel tree and
from under that tree, "…he called out
there in the Name of G-d of the
Universe." Avraham proclaimed that
G-d is not just the G-d of the tree or
only of man's immediate surroundings, but He is also the G-d of the
entire, vast and endless Universe.
Thermometer with kipa, glasses, and stethoscope, wishing someone who is sick a
REFU'A SH'LEIMA. This is one of the
lessons we learn from G-d. The graphic is
from the Davka Judaica clipart collection
(which we use often) • UGOT that Sarah
LUSHI-ed - they look like matza because the
angels' visit was on Pesach • And Lot made
matzot for his visitors too • One of the three
BEN BAKAR that Avraham ran to, in order to
prepare the most sumptuous dish for the
visitors, tongue in mustard sauce - so says
Rashi, quoting the gemara. The dish, by the
way, is known in Italian as "Lingua alla
Senape" • Braille writing, for the angels'
blinding the people of S'dom. The specific
message is something the blinded S'domites
might have graffitied on Lot's door (when
they finally found it). It says: GUEST LOVER
• The skull is the symbol of acid-rain, a good
description of that which destroyed S'dom... •
Wine that intoxicated Lot • The alarm clock
for Avraham getting up early... • Avimelech
too... • The baby in the cradle represents the
birth of Yitzchak • Metal shield used by many
mohalim in their set up for Mila • Father and
son walk hand in hand, VAYEILCHU
SH'NEIHEM YACHDAV • Davka Akeida
graphic is for the Akeida • a Shofar is
connected to the story of the Akeida, as in
the ram (see it in the Akeida graphic?) that
was caught up in the bramble and replaced
Yitzchak as a korban • Dorothy and Co. from
the Wizard of Oz, which in Hebrew is called
UTZ, Nachor's firstborn, from Milka • the chef
(TEVACH, TABACH), Nachor's son from his
pilegesh R'UMA • the bottle of liquor (BUZ,
BOOZE) for UTZ's brother, another son of
Nachor and Milka • the sea cow (general
term for the large marine mammals which
include the manatee and the dugong among the animals that are called
TACHASH), another son of Nachor and
R'uma • Donkey is mentioned in both the
sedra and the haftara • Olive oil is from the
haftara • And there is a column (or pillar) of
salt - NaCl one on top of another, for Mrs.
Lot (Idit or Irit, Edith or Iris) • Binoculars are
for VAYASHKIFU, and they looked out (over
S'dom)... • Terem logo lying on its side for
TEREM YISHKAVU... • Mortar and pestle is
for PILL-DASH - another son of Nachor and
a brother to, among others, B'TU'EL, he
being of special interest to us as the father of
the future RIVKA IMEINU • top-right is a
picture of US president Grover Cleveland,
the only person to have served two
non-consecutive terms as president and the
only president to have been married in the
White House (to a woman less than half his
age), and to be the father of baby Ruth, for
whom the candy bar was named (and not for
Babe Ruth, as some people think). He's also
pictured on the now-defunct $1000 bill,
representing the 1000 silver coins that
Avimelech gave for Sara • Below Grover
Cleveland are pictures of the well known
people in Israel today, who combine to give
us TAL and MATAR (as in Brodie and Nadia,
respectively) • tow truck with the crown refers
to Avimelech who was the King of GERAR
(the particular tow truck is a character from
the animated movie Cars and Cars 2. His
name is Mater and he is voiced by Larry the
Cable Guy. And now you know! • The sign
language hands in the lower right is for
closed doors. Interesting how many times it
shows up in the Torah reading and the
haftara. The two angels who visited Lot, went
outside to confront to S'dom mob that had
gathered - they closed the door behind them.
In the haftara, in both halves, in both stories
presented, we find a point made about
closing the door • and two Unexplaineds
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Restore your dented Kiddush Cups,
Candle Sticks, Shabbat Trays
100å for most cups
Call Mickey Altura
054-813-3118 • (02) 571-2115
David
050
30
88
355
EMUNAH - THE JOSSI BERGER
HOLOCAUST STUDY CENTER
You are cordially invited to participate
in the annual
Kristallnacht Commemoration
SUN Nov 9 • 16 Marcheshvan • 4:00pm
Beit Knesset Hazvi Yisrael “Hovevei Zion”
14 Hovevei Zion Street, Jerusalem
Program:
Speaker:
Dr. Moshe Avital, Holocaust Survivor
Kristallnacht – A Precursor and
Dress Rehearsal to the Holocaust
Musical Interlude: Bernie Marinbach
Maariv and Kaddish
Dr. Avital’s books will be on sale following
the program
Buses 13 (Rechov Jabotinsky)
7, 34, 77 & 78 (Keren Hayesod)
Admission Free
Creative Writing
Dr. June Leavitt is offering an 8-week
course on Wednesdays 6:30-8:00pm
at the Israel Center. For more information
see www.juneleavitt.com
or write june.leavitt@gmail.com
or call (02) 996-3048
Eiferman
Properties Ltd
Real Estate & Investment Agency
PRESALE: Exclusive to Eiferman clients
In Arnona - 20 apartments of 2, 3 & 4 bedrooms
PRICES start at 1,650,000NIS
VILLAS, BUILDINGS & LOTS
OLD KATAMON Free standing 200m villa on a 640m
lot with building rights to 600m. Currently 2 apts.
Located close to the 'Sheiblich' and Yakar shuls
GERMAN COLONY Near Emek Refaim, a lot with an
existing building to build a total of 476m. $1,700,000
PROPERTIES
WOLFSON: Beautiful, spacious 4 bedrooms,
3 bathrooms. View, Shabbat Elevator
REHAVIA 86m, 2-bedroom Garden Apartment,
4 exposures,2,750,000NIS
OLD KATAMON Garden Apt, 90m, 2 Bedrooms,
private entrance, private 120m Garden. $850,000
MEKOR CHAIM Lovely, 2-bedroom apartment with
parking and storage room. Near Old Katamon, Baka,
and Emek Refaim. 1,595,000NIS
HAR NOF Penthouses and Beautiful 9-bedroom Villa
RENTALS:
RECHAVIA - 3 bedrooms, un/furnished, immediate
OLD KATAMON Duplex, 4 bedrooms, pvt. entrance
& parking, Succah
INVESTMENTS - COMMERCIAL/ RESIDENTIAL
In major coastal cities and new towns, opportunities to
invest in new high-tech and residential areas.
Prices start at NIS 320,000!
To see a much larger selections of properties, please
check out our website www.eifermanrealty.com
Still didn’t find what you want? Call or send an email
We are here to help you with your search
THINKING OF SELLING? FREE APPRAISAL
EIFERMAN PROPERTIES (02) 651-4030
Located Inbal Hotel Lobby with Boubli Agency
A Day about Making Marriage Better; ANY marriage!
Tuesday, November 11th • 9:30am-8:00pm • at the OU Israel Center
Keynote speaker: Rabbi Zev Leff
"Creating a Marriage of Shalom; Advice from our Sages"
Other speakers include: Rabbi Yishai Shalif, Rabbi Moshe Berliner, Rabbi Jonathon Glass,
Sarah Rigler, Chanarachel Frumin, Rachel Paran, Rabbi Cornfeld, Ellen Cornfeld, Batya Jacobs
Topics include: Creativity and Shalom Bayit • Kesher Wife Workshop
Who is the Baal Ha Bayit in Marriages that Work? • Breaking the Spell of Negativity
130å (early registration and payment thru paypal www.jnti.net) • 160å (at the door)
Call 0544-799-441 for further information
The Avrom Silver Jerusalem College for Adults, OU Israel's Project YEDID, L'Ayla
are the educational components of the
Seymour J. Abrams Orthodox Union Jerusalem World Center
and include the classes & lectures of the OU Israel Center
Rabbi Sholom Gold, Dean • Phil Chernofsky, Educational director
Mrs. Rivka Segal, Director of Yedid and L'Ayla
1110
WED
Nov 5
THU
Nov 6
"Regular" classes & lectures - 25å members, 30å non-mem, 5å maintenance fee for life members.
Special rates for mornings with two or more shiurim: 40å members, 50å non-mem. 10å life members.
No one will be turned away for inability to pay • Yearly membership 360å couple, 275å single.
Life membership, call us • Programs of the Center are partially funded by the Jewish Agency for Israel
and the Department of Tarbut Toranit, Misrad HaChinuch
9:00am
9:30am
9:45am
10:45am
11:00am
12:30pm
4:30pm
6:00pm
7:30pm
Rabbi Baruch Taub's Shiur
Drama for women - see page 55
Vayeira - Reuven Wolfeld no charge
Rabbi Yosef Wolicki on the Parsha
Tai-Chi-Kung exercise (054-547-1234)
VIDEO: "The Rabin Assassination" (45mins)
Positive Aging - Leah Abramowitz
The "Old-New Land" with Gabriella Licsko
Rabbi Chaim Eisen on Parsha
9:00am
9:45am
9:45am
10:15am
Rabbi Ari Kahn on Parshat HaShavua
Dr. Tova Goldfine - Fitting Fitness In • 052 420 1201
Dr. Haim Abramson
NEW shiur: Rabbi Poupko's Parsha Perspectives
“Choni HaM’ageil & Akeidat Yitzchak”
Shabbat Parshat Vayeira - shiur at 3:00pm
Yaacov Peterseil & Co.
Sun-Thu in the Ganchrow Beis Medrash (first floor)
10:00am Su/Tu/Th -
Rabbi Jeff Bienenfeld's shiur
in tribute to
Rabbi I. Fred Hollander l"f
RCA Daf Yomi by Rotation
in tribute to Rabbi Yitzchak Botwinick l"f
10:00am Sun-Thu
1:20pm Sun-Thu
Mincha in the Wolinetz Family Shul
4:30pm Su/M/W/Th
Rabbi Hillel Ruvel - Gemara
Maariv in the Beit Medrash one floor up
page 58  Vayeira 5775
5:30pm Sun-Thu
f
Yom Rishon • 16 Marcheshvan • SUN November 9th
L'Ayla programs: 10am - Mrs. Rivka Segal - Living T'hilim
11:10am - Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz
12:00pm
KUZARI with Rabbi Chaim Eisen
12:00pm
10å
Easy Hebrew vocabulary and speaking
with Haya Graus
2:00pm
Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher RabbiSprecher.com
The Akeida - Test or Punishment?
XXX
Rabbi Dr. Joseph C. Klausner/Yedidyahu moves to Tuesday - see there
8:00pm
no charge
Rabbi Mordechai Machlis
Thoughts of Optimism in the Book of Kohelet
Yom Sheini • 17 Marcheshvan • MON November 10th
N'shei Library 10:00am to noon
9:30am Mommy & Baby Music Classes with Jackie • 054-533-9305
9:15am
To commemorate Krystallnacht:
Reading of Holocaust Literature
with Simcha Angel
Rabbi Zev Leff's Shiur
10:30am
l"f odkd xcpqkl` oa xfer 'x p"rl
Dedicated in loving memory of Ozer (Emanuel) Berger z"l on his 8th yahrzeit
by the Berger Family
11:30am
Fit Forever: Look & Feel your Best!
12:30pm
no charge
VIDEO: Rabbi David Derovan - “The Life and Death of Sarah”
2-3:30pm
3 & 4pm
Exercise for women of all ages • Sura Faecher 050-415-3239
Mishna, Mitzvot, & more - Phil Chernofsky
Programs for children - see page 32
5:20pm
Pri Chadash Women's Writing Workshop
Contact: Ruth Fogelman (628-7359) and Judy Caspi (054-569-0410)
6:30pm
8:00pm
Emotions Anonymous
12-step program meeting weekly at the Israel Center • Call Faigy (02) 571-0632 for details
Rabbi Avrum Kowalsky on Sefer Melachim
Yom Sh'lishi • 18 Marcheshvan • TUE November 11th
Gemach - Free Loan Society providing interest-free loans for people in financial distress
(living in the J'lem area). Interviews at the Center • Bring ID Hours: 10-12 and 19-20:15
9:00am
Rabbi Aharon Adler
In the Beginning - The Rav on B'reishit
Mrs. Shira Smiles - Torah Tapestries - Insights into the weekly parsha
9:15am
sponsored in memory of:
l"f ikcxn oa mdxa` wgvi Û l"f dyn oa iav Û d"r dcedi za `liw
by Sara Berelowitz
9:30am to
8:00pm
Making Marriage Better - see page 57
10:15am
10:30am
Rabbi Sholom Gold on Parsha
L'Ayla program: Love Yourself; Heal Your Life - see page 9
11:30am
Women's T'hilim Group for Shiduchim and Sick people
VIDEO: Hanna's War on her 70th Yahrzeit - dramatization of the life of
Hannah Senesh HY"D. At 18, she left her native Hungary for Israel. At 22, she joined
12:30pm the British Army and volunteered to be parachuted behind Nazi lines. She was captured
no charge and endured months of merciless torture. She divulged no secrets and was executed.
2½hrs Her remains were brought for burial on Har Herzl. Her memory lives on as does her
poetry which continues to move people in word and song. She is a symbol of idealism
and self-sacrifice. A powerful film about a Jewish heroine.
1:45pm
3:00pm
7:00pm
7:00pm
Kibbutz Galuyot Energizes the Medina: Integrating the Mizrachim
Dr. Deborah Polster
Verna Black Gartner / D'vora Zippor / Knitting plus
Rabbi Yonatan Kolatch for Chayei Sara - The Life of Yishmael
Financial Seminar - see page 63 (inside back page)
7:00pm
NEW DAY
& TIME
Rabbi Dr. Joseph C. Klausner/Yedidyahu
ELIYAHU haNavi: Is the Prophet a "Rav" or a "Rebbe"?
From the days of the Bible to Our times
7:30/8:30pm
Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz • Contemporary Halachic Issues
Rabbi Shmuel Hershler • The Book of Shmuel Bet
Yom R'vi'i • 19 Marcheshvan • WED November 12th
9:00am
Wednesday the Rabbi gave his Drasha
Shiur by Rabbi Baruch Taub
9:30am
Drama for women - see page 55
9:45am
Chayei Sara with Reuven Wolfeld no charge
10:45am
Rabbi Yosef Wolicki on the Parsha
VIDEO: RESCUE IN SCANDINAVIA - After the Nazis
occupied their countries, thousands of Danes and Norwegians chose to save their Jews.
12:30pm They refused to stand idly by and let the Nazi take them, risking their lives to smuggle
no charge Jews across their borders to unoccupied Sweden. This moving documentary tells that
story and recounts the heroic actions of Count Folke Bernadotte and Raoul Wallenberg.
1 hour The film also describes how Finland protected its Jewish community despite the
country?s being allied with Germany during the war. Narrated by Liv Ullman, this film
distinguishes the moral courage of the rescuers from the inhumanity of the persecutors.
4:30pm
Rights and Services for the Older Population
Leah Abramowitz
Israel Ulpan: The "Old-New Land" and country from scratch
6:00pm
The most important facts about Israel that you must know. Before and after
the Independence War. Great historical milestones. Israel in the last 23 yrs.
Interactive lecture series with Gabriella Licsko
7:00pm
7:30pm
Rabbi Chaim Eisen
A Different Parsha Shiur
FAILED LEADERSHIP - Starting Wednesday, November 12th
with Barbara Barry • Call to register - 560-9100
Yom Chamishi • 20 Marcheshvan • WED November 13th
XXX
Rabbi Ari Kahn resumes IY"H Nov 27th
9:00am
Dr Tova Goldfine, Chiropractor and Rehabilitation Specialist
Fitting Fitness In ....Movement Throughout Your Day
www.chirodivine.com 052 420 1201
10:15am
Dr. Haim Abramson - Midrash on Parsha
10:15am
NEW shiur:
Rabbi Poupko's Parsha Perspectives
7:00pm
UPCOMINGS
TUE, Nov 18th - RCA - 2:15pm, we will honor the memory of Chaverim
who passed away during 2013 & 2014: Rabbi Mallen Galinsky,
Rabbi Abraham Halbfinger, Rabbi Elihu Marcus, Rabbi Norman Strizower,
Rabbi Stanley Wagner, Rabbi Abraham Zuroff
3:00pm - Guest Speaker: Dr. Ephraim Zuroff, Director of the Simon
Weisenthal Office in Israel. Speaking on "My life as a Nazi Hunter: Successes ,
Failures, & Obserevations" Mincha will follow
How to become The World’s Greatest Fundraiser!
The Ten Commandments of Fundraising
Fundraising Seminar
whether you are just getting started or want to raise more money
Wednesday night, Nov 26 7pm -10:30pm (refreshments will be served) Only 300NIS
Rabbi
The series will be given by fundraising coach/trainer
Josh Boretsky (25 years experience) Contact: 052-713-4499
Watch for details of the next In-House
Pre-Chanuka • Shabbat Parshat Vayeichev • December 12-13

`xie 1110 MORE THAN OUR PROTOTYPE

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