Maccabees

                                                                                                             B-H

After the division of the empire of Alexander the Great, not so long ago, the influence of Hellenic culture didn't cease among conquered nations. In fact it increased. The Greek rulers used Hellenism as a bond between the people, thus connecting them and assuring Greek control. Most of the pagan world was very open to this new trend.

At first the Greeks didn’t push their philosophy or wage religious wars in order to spread their culture. They considered it attractive enough for all nations to accept without the use of force. The nations of the world saw this Hellenization process as a positive step toward becoming part of the leading civilization of the world. This was true for all nations except for one – the Jewish nation. But there were other exceptions…

Initially the Seleucid Greeks, under the rule of Antiochus Epiphanes, didn’t see the Jewish religion as a threat to their goals. Interestingly, it was some of the Jews under the leadership of the Greek-appointed high priest Menelaus who recognized that Judaism and its Torah was the stumbling block on the road to “civilization.” The modern among the Jews knew that as long as there would exist even the smallest group of devoted Jews who would stick to their principles, i.e., observe the commandments in the Torah, it would be impossible to “civilize” the rest of them. They went to Antiochus to present the issue and to ask for appropriate laws to resolve the problem. That’s how the road to Maccabean wars was paved.

The Hellenizers’ goal was not to erase the memory of the Jewish nation. They considered themselves to be the proud leaders of an ancient people with a great history! But that’s what it was! History! Now, however is the time for change, for forward progress, toward ... what?

The Greek world contained many philosophic streams of thought. From the followers of Diogenes — refusing the good of the modern world — to the followers of Epicurus — seeking any possible pleasure by any means. Between these streams of thought there were a variety of others. Most of the elements of the Hellenistic culture were concentrated, however, on the human as the object of adoration — almost religiously worshiped. Religion was in servitude to the center of existence and the most perfect of this existence was – the human body.

Greek temples were not as important to the Greeks as the stadiums and gyms. At the arenas and sport halls, the human body was celebrated. Sport competition satiated the natural desire for pride and haughtiness. Sport was the leading element of the Greek popular culture. Competition between athletes and sports teams bonded the various populations and cultures under Greek rule when fans of different heroes and teams united under the colors representing them. It was not the Greeks who invented theaters and competition, but they were certainly the first who used them in such a grand scale.

The Olympics started in Olympia on the Peloponnesian peninsula. From that time on, other than with wars and religion, there was no better technique for politicians to distract the minds of their subjects. But this is not the topic of this essay.

So … Jewish Hellenizers convinced Antiochus to issue laws prohibiting the performance of the essential commandments of the Torah, being aware that as long as the Jews would keep to the core of their religion there could not be complete assimilation. However, this strategy was really one of the last steps on the road toward Hellenization. The first steps were established well before that. Building the stadiums and the gyms, organizing sport teams, accustoming the Jewish population to viewing the uncovered body, and other strange and non-Jewish behavioral patterns were implemented with the help of so-called “Jewish leaders.”

Some of the Yidden at that time — many called them “Chassidim — escaped with their families to the desert. They escaped from what was the first religious persecution in history. “Jewish” and Greek officers traveled from town to town to make sure that Jews would no longer be attached to their faith. That was, in fact, how they came to Modiin.

There, Mattisyahu and his sons organized what is referred to in the history books as the “Maccabee revolt.” We know the rest of the story. The Maccabee’s fought for independence in order to strengthen and continue Jewish loyalty to the Torah of Moshe — and restored the Temple service.

Since that time, even in later periods when the Romans wanted to build a stadium in the Holy City, the attempt to secularize the Jews caused tension, turmoil, and opposition from the devoted Jews. The Romans finally succeeded, but with the trowel in one hand and a sword in the other, and only with the support, again, of Romanized Jews.

At the end of the 19th century, “Hellenizers and Romanizers” of that century created the first in the so-called modern era “Jewish” sport clubs. It is obvious where the influence and inspiration came from, but yes, it was the modern Olympic Games. They called the clubs with some of the historic Jewish names and Hebrew words: Gibbor, Hakoach, Bar Kochba, and … Maccabi.

It is hard to imagine the irony in giving the name “Maccabi” to a competitive sport club. It is as if the Indians would call the American army “liberators.” Like an early colonist calling the Britons “the defenders of freedom.” Like calling a concentration camp a summer colony!

Like calling … I can go on and on!

For more on this subject, please see my essay on sport and exercise posted last week.

Matys Weiser

My take on sport

                                                                                                             B-H

How many times have you noticed this phenomenon? A big coed swimming pool with a gym right next to it!  Oh, and upon closer scrutiny we notice a synagogue or even some sort of school with religious programs attached to it. And the name in big bill board letters along the wall of the building!  “Mamonides Center” or ‘Rambam Institute”.

How many times have I read the following terms: orthodox sport team, orthodox player or frum wrestler? I ask myself, what is the basis for such names and descriptions?

Is competitive sports part of the Jewish heritage? Or perhaps it is thoughtless imitation of the ways of the nations as it has been so many times in the history of the Jewish people knows as the “people of the Book”?

Don’t forget, I’m a stranger!  Doing my research! I am trying to understand this new (for me) reality!

There seems to be two opposing points of view. On one side of the spectrum we have those where sport is a big part of their lives and on the other side there are those that prohibit sports totally! I live in a neighborhood where the School/Yeshivos don’t have a competitive sports program other then during recess when each “team” wants to be the winner. My son attends a yeshiva where ball playing is not allowed at all!  Now both sides feel that they are the ones following tradition & mesora! Where does the truth lie?

The proponents of physical activity appear to base their hashkafa on the words of the Rambam, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch and various other sources. A perfunctory reading of these sources yields the following. (I didn’t have the privilege to learn it in the yeshiva but B-H,  I was able to read here and there and this is what I found)

“Keep your body in perfect condition” Mishney Torah 3:3 of Rambam.

“Toil in moderate degree is good for the physical health” Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 32:21

“Take up everything into your way of life which brings it health and strength” Horeb 430

So there we have it. Clearly Chazal’s statements encourage physical activity! All of the

three authors quoted above wrote those lines in their major volumes in the chapter dedicated to the health of man. It is required to take care of the health of the individual. Proper diet and exercise are the primary tools to achieve this goal.

Ok. I see the reasoning for physical activity, but something is telling me that the sources quoted above can’t serve as support for the participation or careers in competitive sports!

Is this feeling too extreme? Well, you know those Gerim and Baaley Tshuva they tend to be extreme…

Let us take a closer look at the sources we quoted above. A more complete reading shows a different picture.

“It is wrong to watch your health only to be in the good shape (…) Keep your body in perfect condition so that your soul can know G-d.” Mishney Torah 3:3

“Before a meal, one should take a walk, do some work or exercise until you body warms up. Do physical labor in the morning, working up to sweat, then take a break cooling off, and eat after that.” Mishney Torah 4:2

“Toil in moderate degree is good for the physical health, but excessive toil, as well as idleness, are injurious to the body. In the hot season, a little exercise will suffice, but in the cold season, more is required. A fat person requires more exercise than a lean person.” Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 32:21

“Take up everything into your way of life which brings it health and strength. Horeb 429

The body belongs to the soul – and both belong exclusively to G-d! Do not put your body to the service of the any other task.” Horeb 430

A Jew has one and only purpose in life - to serve Hashem his Creator! Our  special task is to fix our warped and  broken reality, and to bring us back to level of Adam Harishon before his sin. To achieve this goal a Jew is equipped with special set of tools! This is the Torah ! Physical activity and conditioning of the body can only be a means to an end! A way for us to keep our bodies strong so that we can use the tools that Hashem has given us to accomplish our goal and task in life!

I personally enjoy swimming, hiking, mountain climbing, kayaking (I have my own kayaks), and generally being pretty active. We play sports with my family, sometimes getting really tired out. And yes, I would like to my sons yeshiva to include some of this activities during yeshiva time. However, I had a decision to make and a path to choose. I chose for my children schools where they may grow to be Erleche Yiden – good  Jews rather than good sportsmen knowing more names of sport players than the names and the teachings of our sages.

Matys Weiser 

Ha Kol, Kol Yaakov

                                                                                                             B-H

This will be continuation of the essay from the last week, however I think it will explain some thoughts which may be not so clear at first glance. We will return to this topic IYH in the future.

“Hakol, kol Yakov; veyadaim, yadey Eisav.” Voice is for Yaacov; hands will be used by Eisav.

In nearly every generation since the destruction of the Bays Hamikdash (The Holy Temple), we understood these words as Chazal received it from Har Sinay: the realm in which Jews exist and operate is voice, teaching, thought. We quarrel, but with ideas, logic, analysis. We win with faith and proof. Even when we win, boasting is prohibited to us. Don’t boast over your fellow when you prove you are right, says the Pirkey Avos (Wisdom of Sages).

It doesn't even say when you prove him wrong—but rather when you are right. In our Jewish battles, we have to take under consideration the honor, the feeling of our fellow Jew, not to belittle him in any way. And this rule for our conduct operates only in the realm of kol: voice.

Most frum (devoted) Jews know of the Herem (ban) of Rabayni Gershom. Usually we think of the one which prohibits polygamy (otherwise permitted by Scriptures). None of us would even think about taking second wife, even if rabbi’s Gershom prohibition for thousand years, ended. Such is the power of his word.

Many of us know the prohibition of peaking at someone else’s correspondence is also issued by the same Rabaini Gershom. Not many of us know however that Rabaini Gershom issued other prohibitions, as well. One of them is that if a Jew hits another Jew, the attacker cannot be counted in a Minian (quorum of ten).

It was wrong to hit the Jew before his Herem too, but Rabaini Gershom, in his power of issuing law—a power given to him by Torah—denies the aggressor the elementary right of Jewishness: to be counted as a Jew.

In many places, Chazal teaches us that we should grasp the hints in the Torah, that it is not for the Jew to use physical force.

We know and we pray that our final triumph over the nations should and will happen when the teaching of our Torah will be understood by all and recognized as the truth. The whole Jewish history is an extreme demonstration of such a path: we survived not because of our number or military power, but because of our submission to the Book. This will be our ultimate Victory.

But Eisav? He chose different path. He learns how to use his hands. He arms them with ever more sophisticated weapons. He has no patience for discussions and all this Jewish hair-splitting. If Eisav wants something, he takes it.

His grandson Amulek went even farther. He loves the taste of blood, and kills for pleasure of killing. It is shameful, however, to show himself in this manner among his less blood thirsty cousins, so he will always try to find some lofty justification for his killings: e.g. freedom, justice, equality, egalitarianism, human rights, democracy and so on.

My birth country experienced this equality and justice, as delivered by Soviet tanks, but Soviets are not the only who represent this Amuleki trait. Our Sages teach us that the Angel representing and protecting the nations of Esav and Amulek is Satan himself.

The Sitra Ahra (the other side), the Yeitzer Haro (the Evil Inclination) is what those militarist nations represent in our earthly realm. And as we know, Haluha is that “Eisav soine Yisruel”—Eisav hates Yisruel.

Rav Hirsch in his comment on Amulek’s attack on Jewish children as they fled from Egypt gives this as the reason for the attack: Amulek felt threatened by very fact that the Nation using its Voice as a weapon exists; it is a living rebuttal to the Ameluki way. Only if the Jews are annihilated, H-SH, can Amulek justify his Darwinian philosophy (the physically stronger prevails). This Darwinian spirit triumphed already over the descendents of Adam in a span of two thousand years of nothingness (as the Talmud calls the years from Creation until the time of Avraham.)

With Avraham, the age of Torah began. It will end with the coming of Moshiach, which it is our task to prepare humanity for. It will happen only when we will be ready for both our leadership and the final Geula (Salvation).

Eisav is coming to meet his brother Yaakov. But he does not arrive alone. He has with him over four hundred mercenaries to put Yaakov’s camp in order—or rather flatten it to the ground.

Yaakov undertakes preemptive steps. He sends for his brother goods of great value; he divides the camp for eventual survival of at least half of his children; and he prepares for war. Chazal explain that it was rather preparation to flee in case Eisav attacked. Then Yaakov starts his prayer, a spiritual struggle which will result in changing his name to Yisrael: fighting for G-d, struggling with G-d.

The night before he is going to meet his brother is the crucial night in the history of humankind. Yaakov crosses the brook and he meets on the other side the Saar Eisav (the Angel of Eisav). They struggle whole night until the morning.

What is the fight about? What is Yaakov defending himself from?

This special night was described and explained by Chazal in various ways and with a deep meaning. After studying some of those commentaries major question arise. Our father Yaakov was a man of great wealth; we see that from the amount of gifts which he tries to appease his brother Eisav. Why didn’t he do what his brother did—hire mercenaries? Why not fight for his life and family with his own army of four hundred man? He had enough resources to do it, to pay even eight hundred thugs for that one decisive battle.

The whole history of the mankind would have been different. Esav would have been destroyed. No Empires, no conquerors or battles; no bloody wars; no subjecting nations from all ends of the planet and subjugating them; no soldiers humiliating fathers in the front of their children’s eyes; no senseless bloodshed to appease the gava (pride) of kings and politicians.

And finally for us, the nation of Yaakov, everything would be different if our father had gone to battle his evil brother. No expulsion from our land, no persecutions or pogroms, no inquisition, and no Holocaust. If only Yaakov had fought!

There is no question Yaakov was able to do it; he possessed all the physical means to fight. He was a Gibor (extremely strong man). Don’t we remember when he removed the stone covering the well, a stone which only group of people was able to move otherwise? Why didn’t he smash Eisav there, at the beginning of the history? So much pain could have been averted from his own children.

Eisav would be gone... but would be his spirit? It would be Yaakov whom history would describe as victor of the battle on the Yabbok Brook. Or maybe history would describe him as chieftain of the band of thugs who exterminated his brother with his army? We don’t know how Yaakov would be seen in such a turn of hypothetical events, but one thing we know: Yaakov would become Eisav.

His alternative was to give up the way of his father Avraham and his father Yitzchok, the way of peaceful conqueror of the hearts to G-d of morality and Shuloim, to Hashem Yisburaich. Or perhaps he might have chosen to combine those two modes of bringing people to ethical monotheism, like his uncle Yishmuel did in the far future? While there was less of Bechira (freedom of choice) for the nations that the descendents of Yishmuel conquered, Yishmael was more or less successful uprooting paganism from those lands.

We have no idea what nesion (challenge) our father Yaakov underwent that night, but we know if he had failed, there wouldn’t be Yisrael. This is perhaps what Angel of destruction was trying to convince our Father on the other side…

Matys Weiser

Why do we like to imitate the nations?

                                                                                                              B-H

One of the principals of our faith in Torah is that whatever happened to the Avois – our fathers, happened later to Klal Yisroel. In other words, the events and experiences of the Patriarch’s lives have prophetic meaning in understanding the history of the Jewish people, past, present and future. The traits of character of the Fathers can be recognized in their descendents. The traits of other prominent figures described in the parshios of Sefer Bereishis – the book of Origins, can also be recognized in their descendents and in the history of mankind in general.

Examples of these connections between events described in the stories of Avraham, Yitschok and Yaakov describing their encounters with their contemporaries and the events of later Jewish history are countless. Some of them are described already by early Chazal and others are deciphered as history goes on.

I will write about some of these connections which are more popular and known to the general public but I will also try to bring some chidushim – new nuances discovered while studying this subject at length B-H. These thoughts are based on Chazal and are expressed with great clarity in the commentaries by Rav S. R. Hirsch. Some of them were posted previously on my blog.

“Man recognized that he is naked” “ Hashem Elokim made them clothes out of “Ohr” skin.  As result of his sin Adam HaRishon – the first man, recognized his nakedness, the animalistic nature that prevailed in him and it became imperative for him and his wife to cover themselves with fig leaves. He felt separated from his Creator and soon the Creator himself manufactured for them new clothes to cover their bodies. This remnant of the sinful nature of man is called by Chazal as “begged haohr” - the clothes of light and “begged cohanim” – priestly clothes. The fact that we need the cohannim as intermediaries to help us to establish a better connection with HY is a stark reminder of the separation between us and G-d.

The Torah is using the two names of G-d in this verse; the first is - Hashem – the name of Creator which expresses his love and compassion. HBH did not sever the relationship with his fallen creations permanently. However the use of his other name – Elokim, suggests that din – judgment, must be carried out. Clothes seem to symbolize this ‘separating connection’ but they will stay in our consciousness forever as sign of sin.

Nimrod was the first man to establish an oppressive government. He built his capital and said to the people – You don’t have to worry anymore about nations or people stronger than you! I’m the strongest of all and I will protect you! What I want from you in return is that you become my subjects; you will pay me taxes and give me honor. The heaven is far away, now I will be your king, and we will build a tower to make a name for ourselves.

They say “name for ourselves” as they are still dreaming that they are a community of free people under the G-d and not subjects of King Nimrod. Or perhaps he is saying this to them to give them an impression of still being free, to deceive them and make them became even more dependent on his military force and power which  he just introduced to history of mankind.

Nimrod built not only a city but an entire kingdom! He conquered land after land, tribe after tribe, family after family and individual after individual.  As a proof of his superiority he used the clothes of the “first man” which he had in his possession. Nimrod owned the very clothes which Hashem Elokim gave to the first man.

One man and his family discovered the deception of false religions and the suppression of the freedom of individuals. For approximately four hundred years humanity had a opportunity to build a new civilization based on the service of the Creator by the mutual collaboration of free people, the opportunity to see in other individuals the creation of G-d and His image. Collaboration based not on power, force and subjugation but on love, understanding of their differences and respecting others.. The man who understood the fallacy of Nimrod’s mode of civilization was Avraham our father.

The Talmud in mesechtas Avoida Zurah divides history of the mankind in to three periods. “Two thousand years of nothingness, two thousand years of Torah and two thousand years of Mashiach, but Mashiach didn’t come because of our sins” – states the Gemurah.  The tefillah of Musaf of Shelosh Regulim says that not only did we delay the coming of Mashiach but we were expelled from our land because of our sins. We didn’t do our mission in our land now we must to do it in Golus – exile! We didn’t learn humility in an environment created for this task, now we have to learn it in harsher environment.

Avraham was born 1948 years from the creation of the world. When he was three years old he recognized the Creator and it took him several decades to develop his discovery to become a prophet of G-d and later father of G-d’s chosen nation, The Gemura states that with Avraham began the age of Torah. The glimmer of hope shined for humanity, that the day will come, when people will learn again the truth of God’s requirements for humanity – they should live separately but be united at the same time, united in their recognition and service of the Creator. They will learn this from Avraham as well as from his descendents.

However, one of Avraham’s descendents had something else on his mind from the very beginning of his life. Avraham’s grandson Esaw. Esaw to a certain extent recognized the righteous ways of his grandfather and father but he was influenced by something else in his life which was more important than the humble training in the self-control of his thoughts, words and acts. He was impressed by Nimrods power! He liked the idea of a kingdom and saw himself perhaps as the ruler, as the lord over other people regardless if they liked it or not. He couldn’t understand his grandfather serving unknown wayfarers and giving, giving and giving. Esaw desired to conquer! But one thing was blocking his desires, Nimrod himself. Esaw was a “hunter by his words” deceiving his father with his words and causing him to believe that he Esaw is the man worthy of continuing the legacy of Avraham. What he really was, was a hunter –a strong man taking by force what he wanted.

One day, Esaw went to kill the king of Buvel. He defeated Nimrod and as his trophy he took from him the very clothes given to the “first man”. The clothes of separation, the clothes which he believed would give him even more power, clothes which will assure his domination forever.

He didn’t care anymore about being firstborn to Yitschok, he found an alternative. He did desire however his father’s blessing, a blessing giving him spiritual power as well. He saw himself and his descendents and followers as eternal rulers of the nations and the world, including the nation descending from his brother Yaakov.

Their mother Rivka was better able to recognize the true colors of her older son. She convinced Yakkov to go and receive his father’s blessing instead of Esaw. Perhaps she recognized the danger of the powers connected in Esaw where spirituality would be subjugated to physicality.

Bookshelves are filled with commentaries about what happened that day when Yaakov came to his father dressed in the clothes of Esaw. The very same clothes which were worn previously by Adam after his sin and then worn by Nimrod as the sign of his military power and subsequently taken from Nimrod by his brother Esaw so as to get these powers of conquest and domination.

Yitschok not only recognized the deceit of Yaakov but also the truth about the future of his sons and their descendents.

Kol – kol Yaakov Vyadaim yadei Esaw says Yitschok at probably the most important moment in the history of mankind. The domain of my son Yaakov is his voice! – he will build civilization of thought, ideas and ideals. It will be nation of learning, teaching and discussion. A nation divided within themselves but united in their service of G-d. A nation restraining themselves from power by force preferring rather the power of their conviction and knowledge.

Yaakov’s descendents by their own example will bring humanity back to peace with the Creator and will foster Shuloim - peace among the descendents of Adam. Jewish success will be the cause of the lamb and lion lying together as Yeshayahu Hanuvi predicts it. Jews will teach other nations by their example, to build a reality where nations “will beat their swords in to plowshares”. In the future, killing other human being will be so ridiculous in their eyes, as ridiculous as feelings of subservience to pieces of wood or metal considering them as expression of divine powers, as Rav Nachman from Bratslav puts it in Likutey Moharan.

We are still waiting for this time, we still have much work to do. Meanwhile something else is happening.

Esaw got his power of dominance “He will live by sword” states the Torah.

Cherev - Sword which was prohibited even to carve the stones of the Jewish Altar, a tool which can not be used to take the life of animals to serve us as food. It is our tradition to remove the knife from the Shabbos table when we say kidush or the blessings after the meal. We are prohibited with certain exceptions to trade weapons, or even to sell it to people of other nations. The only exceptions for us to use it is in self-defense and in the times of existence of Jewish government in Eretz Yisruel we were allowed to go to the war after permission from prophet as given to the king.

Through the ages the civilization of Esaw- Edom was always busy with domination, conquering and bloodshed. Many times it was blood of his brother Yaakov but it was always Yaakow who was the winner in the end. One dominating nation of Edom civilization was falling after another, kingdoms known to us only from the history books. The nation of “voice” however, not only survived but after many years of education conquered some of the great minds to this progressive mode of civilization.

For one day, maybe for less than hour, Yaakow was playing Esaw. He dressed himself in the clothes of his brother Esaw.

This one event was fatal not only for his relationship with his brother but also left a deep imprint in the soul of his descendents. Since then we are always looking what they eat in Tokyo, how they dress in Paris, what they are performing in Vienna, what they drive in Los Angeles, how do they live in New York …!

The Bnai Yaakov inherited this hidden desire to be like Esaw. Just like Nimrod impressed Esaw, in a similar way the children of Yisrael are attracted to the ways of goim. Already in Egypt they filled up theaters and circuses as they were looking in those places for entertainment. That is what Chazal is telling us. Even if Mitzraim is the descendent of Cham, the Jews followed the ways of the goim because of the susceptibility of Klal Yisroel to want to follow the goim!

Later in the time of Judges they came to the prophet Shmuel and asked him – give us a king like all other nations. All other nations have kings to represent them in their affairs. They forgot that the task of a Jewish king was not to represent them to other nations. The task of a Jewish king was to make it possible for the Jewish nation to keep the Torah and perform the mitzvois. It was not the task of the Jewish kings to be like “other nations” and it ended with catastrophe with the first Exile.

After coming back from exile it was only a short time when misyavnim – Jewish Hellenists desired to become Greeks. Not only for themselves, they convinced Antioch to transform all Jews to become goim. After a short time of the dominance of the Torah spirit under the rule of the Chashmonuim, we were attracted once again to the Roman-Edom ways of building a civilization. Once more we wanted to be like them, like the goim.

It was again necessary to destroy our Temple, to expel us from our land to enable us to head back on the track of learning of who we are supposed to be. After the devastation of the Beitar and the Bar Kochba uprising, our true leaders told us for then and for all time. 

Never again! See Talmud Kesuvos 111a.

If only Yaakov wouldn’t have worn the clothe… If only …

Matys Weiser


P.S. Thanks to my new editor but old friend and havruso - Menachem.

Lech Lecha by Rav Hirsch

                                                                                                             B-H
Some difficulties in regular posting but i promise improvement B-H.
Meanwhile one of he greatest pieces from Rav Hirsch's comments on Chumash.

Lech Lecha

12;2 Veescha legoy gadol – And I will make you a great nation.

Even looked at quite superficially, it is already evident that Abraham was to receive back from God everything that he had given up, and indeed in a considerably enhanced measure. By renouncing meartzo – from his land, he gave up his nationality. But instead of having to attach himself to another one, God says that he himself is to be the founder of a new one. By giving up his birthplace – moladeto he is not to miss the civic rights which are the natural source of prosperity for v’averachecha, in God will he gain the right to prosper on earth. And inasmuch as he forsakes his family, and thereby gives up the respect and honor given to well-known old families egadlo shemecho – I will make great your name, a new name is to grow to great renown.

Our sages in Midrash Rabbah Berieshis 30:9, reminds us that it does not say that God will be the protector of and look after the national development of his descendants similarly to the way He directs and guides the growth of nations in general, but “I will make you, create you to a great nation”. All external natural conditions shall speak against it, and here it shall be strikingly apparent that God is the creator of this nation as such. Already the age and the barrenness of the pair who were chosen to be the roots of the future nation denied the presumption of the promised future, according to all natural assumption. God alone could make Abraham to a great nation. So already beforehand, the very existence of this people was to be a revelation of God.

But numerous descendants do not yet constitute a nation. That any mass of people should become a goy, a nation, there must be some uniting bond. Everywhere else this is a common land, living together under the same influences and conditions. But the descendants of Abraham are also to become a nation, but not through a common land, but again only through God.

Abraham's spirit is to repeat itself in his descendants: what their country is to other nations, that, you yourself are to be to your descendants. With their descent from you they are also to inherit the uniting element that forms a nation. By the fact that, still today, we call our God Elokey Avraham. God as Abraham knew him, as He revealed Himself to him, showed Himself in the guidance of his life — and we need this designation, not as a God Who shows us any particular favor, but, on the contrary, just to keep the Abrahamitic and most comprehensive conception of God as Koineh shomaim v’aretz, clear from any tendency of particularization — by this common heritage that we have received from Abraham we are a people still to-day long after we have lost the bond of a common country. And in the fact that not only Abraham, but that also his son and his grandson became such personalities in whose lives God's direction was so manifest that they too remained models for the whole Jewish nation and we speak not only of Elokey Avraham but also of Elokey Yitzchok and Elokey Yaakov, in that our sages see primarily the blessing and the greatness that Abraham attained. And just in Elokey Yaakov the V’egadla shemecha becomes realized. In Jacob's fate and position in the world above all is the example given that the Jewish calling is independent of outward greatness and outward show. The less a man has the greater does his personality appear. The greatness, the blessing that a person without means spreads can only be attributed to his personality. If a Yaakov is great, if a nation becomes outstanding, which for centuries has won no fame by battles etc. then this prominence can only be due to their spiritual personality, just Yaakov is megadol shemecha.

Considered more closely, the whole sum of Jewish history is given to Abraham in a nutshell in these three sentences. In Lech lecha meieretz, Abraham appears merely as an individual "dare to be alone, to stand by yourself". In v’escha l’goy, the nation already appears, but still by itself and without external contact or relation to the rest of the world. In v’avrechehu, the Jewish nation is shown in connection with other nations, the blessing of Abraham Is already dependent on others blessing him, yea others can already venture to curse him. Abraham's task was to isolate himself, to live alone with God. Then a second stage, to create a people out of this Abraham. If it is to come to pass that the existence of this people is to be a second creation of God's in history then this people can only come to be a nation by Way of homelessness, of golus and geirus.(…).

God can bless people and nations, but that they shall attain such spiritual greatness to become called a model man, a model nation, that God can only I wish, that depends on the faithful loyalty which is given to the laws of God. In the same way it does not say veheyisa brocha or vetihye brocha but vehiye brocha -  "become a blessing".

In these two words the whole moral task is summarized the accomplishment of which is the condition for the fulfillment of God's wish. "O that your name should become great, that you become a blessing". I would make you into a nation to which other nations have only to look to become conscious of what their task is, and this task, which you are to accomplish, in contrast to the efforts of all other nations, is "to become a blessing"!

All others strive, not lihyos brocha, to be a blessing, but lihyos berochim to be blessed. And this is especially the case with nations. The honesty, humanity and love which one still demands from individuals is regarded as folly in the relation of nation to nation, have no meaning in diplomacy and politics. Deception and murder which in individuals lead to prison and gallows, if exercised on a grand, scale in the "interests of the state " are crowned with laurel and medals. The Abrahamitic nation is to know nothing of a these national institutions, is to have no national politics and, no political economy. The One Who would be the bearer of their national prosperity need give no subsidies, has not to reckon on any coalitions or treaties. At His command rain and sunshine, strength and life, power and victory stand. Im bechukoysay saylayhu, is the one condition, then everything else goes by I itself. In the midst of a world of men who stamp naaseh lanu shem as the motto I on all their endeavors, and self-aggrandizement and ruthless extension of their own well-being the deciding goal for all their efforts, the People of Abraham, are, in private and public life to follow the one calling: hoya brocha - to become a blessing. To dedicate themselves with all devotion to the Divine purpose of bringing happiness to the world and mankind, thereby as models, to re-establish Man to its original pure calling of adam - man, then God will grant His blessing to fresh activity of life and to the awakening and education of the nations to similar efforts and make the name of the People of Abraham shine forth far afield : v’avrechecha v’egadlah shemecho. This second stage was to have become a reality in Eretz Yisrael, there Israel was to have become in its isolation not only the blessed nation, but in the first place, the spreader of blessing, a source of blessing, a well from which the world would draw its blessing — vayishkon Yisroel betach budod ayin Yaakov, Had we lived up to our mission, then all that, which only beckons to us b’acharis hayomim, in the distant future, would have been realized thousands of years ago, and the history of the world would have worn a very different aspect.

But this first promise to Abraham seems to point to a third stage. We have already remarked that the optional v’agadloh makes the realization of the second stage, not a definite promise, but only a conditional wish that the promise could be fulfilled.

Now the third clause seems to indicate a stage in which the blessing or the reverse of the Abrahamic people would be dependent on men, where men would have the power to bless them, men the power to curse them. This would be the stage of golus which would await this people if they would forget their mission, and instead of striving lehiyos brocha would give themselves up, like the other nations lehiyos berochim. And here for this Golus, where it is scattered amongst the nations and dependent on them and apparently abandoned to them for their blessings and curses, God pronounces this weighty Word : v’avarcha mevarachecha "those that bless thee, will I bless", those that bless you, help you, who recognize and appreciate your principles, and submit to your moral sensibility and your honoring God, those will I bless. Here too the optional is again used, may Israel behave in the dispersion in such a manner that furthering their well-being may mean furthering the well-being and happiness of the nations in general.

Avraham – father of many.

                                                                                                             B-H

We have been reading in the recent Torah portions the story of  our father Avraham, life. It is significant that born Jews as well as geirim can equally call him their father. How many of us, however, think about Avraham not as an iconic figure from the Bible, as this gigantic spiritual personality whose name itself sounds thrilling, but as a father, grandfather, and family man who, besides living a very active public life thought also about the future of his children.

Every father does this, every father thinks, worries, and spends sleepless nights trying to figure out how to give his children a good life.

He thinks about bringing up his children in ways where they will not have complexes about their family wealth, or lack of wealth; he plans his work or his business in a way that brings him enough resources to raise his children and provide for the family, that they should never feel lack of anything in their material well being.

But fathers who are themselves also the children of Avraham also think about the children's spiritual upbringing. These parents understand the temporal character of this life and they spend much of their resources in order to put their children in an environment where their children may be exposed to the spiritual path of their forefathers. In the case of Jewish parents, it is a yeshivah or Jewish girls' school.

We will not dwell at this moment how much of the above is result of their own upbringing or pressure from the broad religious society they are exposed to. There are people who make many of their life decisions because of this societal pressure. In fact, I dare to say that these people are not making any decisions at all. We assume that for most of Jewish parents, sending their kids to religious schools is a conscious decision based on information acquired in their own home and schools; not a blind decision, but a decision undertaken after analysis and thoughtful examination.

It is not always easy, the money is not even a consideration here, but all the hassle, all the dealing with the principals and administrators, sometimes involving self-humiliation beyond borders of human dignity.

And why do these parents do this? Is it for their self-fulfillment or even pride? It doesn’t make sense to spend resources like this for one's own fulfillment, when there is no direct self fulfillment. It doesn’t make sense to humiliate yourself either.

What is the mechanism of this self-sacrifice on the part of parents devoting their lives to the sole goal of bringing up their children with the awareness of G-d and His law?

Admittedly, there is a powerful desire within us to extend our lives through our descendents. After our departure from This World, we leave behind those who continue part of our legacy, part of our life. Then after another 20 or 30 years, our grandchildren carry on, extending it even more. If our legacy is strong enough, it can be carried for generations. It doesn’t have to be service of the Creator that parents try to impose on their children; people who are not too busy with their relationship with their Creator are very proud when their children can name every passing car or can distinguish between various entertainers. Parents impose on their children all kinds of lifestyles, hobbies, likes, and dislikes. They are leaving a part of themselves in their descendents, as we said.

In this light, this way of understanding, we are leaving a part of ourselves when we depart from this part of our existence. It is about us!

Does this mean that our legacy is not about our children? Is it only dictated by our egoistic feelings and perhaps even by instincts of self-preservation?

I think the answer is both yes and no. Ha, another dialectic divagation to go.

Please let me explain.

Yes — because we are indeed thinking about ourselves.

No — because we consider our children as ourselves.

By doing anything for them, we actually are doing it for ourselves, as they are blood of our blood and flesh of our flesh. They are us!

I know, if any teenager is reading this he will say, “Ach, another frum selfish parent trying to convince me about how important it is to follow in my fathers' footsteps.”

Well, I cannot write this any better. If you are not convinced, I can promise you that when you will have your own children you will understand.… 

The children of Avraham are aware of something else; they know that their existence will continue after they depart from this world. They are aware that their children have the same opportunity to continue their own existence in the higher reality, existence which in fact is the real life of our real selves.

To get to this level of existence, there are certain conditions that we have been given by the Creator of both our real-spiritual selves and our bodies, bodies that serve as a tool for achieving the goal of prolonging our existence to the dimension of eternity.

These conditions are described in length for the Creator’s chosen people in the Torah. The rest of humanity may think that they have these conditions in much lesser number and that they are less difficult, but this is not necessarily so. I will elaborate on this in the future, im yirtzeh Hashem. The bottom line is that there are conditions to fulfill in order to live happy life in this world and in the eternal world after that.

It is imperative to remember that we cannot offer anything to the Giver of Life; the fulfillment of His will is our natural duty regardless of the fact that He, in His love for us, is offering us eternity. Even if it we are given only 70–80 years on earth, we still owe it to Him. We owe it to Him for every minute, every second of our life. But He wants to give us more than this.

It is possible, however, that if we rebel against His will, if we decide not to follow the dictates of  the Torah, that we could be punished for our insubordination in the Next World.

This is really why - every parent who follows in Avraham's footsteps loses sleep over raising their children. This is the real reason for all of our effort in bringing up our children in the path of the Torah.

Our sages and leaders designed magnificent mechanisms to help us fulfill the wishes of our Creator in best possible way. The siugim and gedarim (fences and borders), the minhagbim and chumros (customs and additional restrictions), all are designated for different Jews in order to serve the sole purpose of distancing the person from aveiros (disobedience of the word of the Creator).

Fulfillment of  mitzvos itself is an extremely difficult task. The yetzer is an internal reality within ourselves; it exists within us in fact, in our bodily existence. Keeping additional restriction is not easier for us, but it makes it easier to achieve our task of submitting ourselves to our G-d.

How we dress, how we look, how we talk or even laugh, is the tool to keep us away from sin, from the possibility of slipping away from the path of truth.

We impose these mechanisms on ourselves and our children not to make our lives harder and our children unhappy. We choose to follow the path of our parents, and in the case of geirim and many baalei teshuvah,  chose the path that promises the best security and is most effective to help us achieve our life goals — to stay on the derech haEmes, close to the Source of life.

Young men and young ladies, if you chose to dispose some of these protecting mechanisms, you have the right to do so. Hashem gives us free choice to sin, if that's really the path we chose.

If you have chosen  to not keep one or more of the things your parents taught to you to ensure your success, please make sure that you have other tools, other protective mechanisms that will serve the same purpose, i.e., will keep you away from aveiros and help you to do the mitzvos.

If, however, your choice puts you in the vulnerable position of coming closer to the evil and away from the good, think twice before you change the way you dress or your hairstyle or any other  chumrah, minhag, or even element of the culture of the group in which you grew up. Those details can indeed be changed according to the situation in general society and the time. But these changes cannot be done unilaterally and without the guidance of those more experienced than we are.

Again, I think it is most important that these changes be replaced with other devices that will serve the same job — to protect us as individuals and protecting Jewish society.

I know you will say that these details do not guarantee success on the spiritual path, as there are many reshaim who are ostensibly dressed in a religious manner, yet they are still evildoers. Yes there are many of them. One answer is that if they would change their appearance they would, in most cases, be even bigger reshaim than now.

The other answer is that according to our sages the religious hypocrite is the worst of all evildoers.

You are not one of them, you are not even close, so preserve what was given to you and one more time, think, think what you are doing.

Every father, every parent, like Avraham our father, is trying to make sure that his children will follow in his footsteps for his own good, but, in fact, it is solely for their own good. 

Matys Weiser

To my daughter,

                                                                                                             B-H

And maybe more of bnos Yisroel.

You are getting married this week. It is big step in our life, as your parents, but for you it may be the most important one.

Not long ago you were born; not long ago I sang to you when you woke up and opened your beautiful blue eyes. Not long ago I tried to answer all your questions — for some of them you got your nickname, the Pooh.

Our choices didn’t make your life easy. On the contrary, you were exposed to difficulties unknown to your peers, difficulties that only the life of a family like ours can bring. We did everything to protect you and your siblings, to make it easier, to make things as smooth as possible. If we failed at any point, I can offer nothing more than an apology. We tried our best, to give the best of our love, the best of our will — to give you more than we got, more than our upbringing provided.

Raising children is always an experiment, but not an experiment on some strange subject in a laboratory environment, detached from real life. The “experiment” of raising children is done on the dearest of dearest, blood of our blood, life of our life. We are never sure what the results will be of our work, and we always think that somewhere, sometime we could do better.

The goal was clear from the beginning: to bring up this girl to become a woman who will devote her existence to the Giver of life. Somewhere on the way we found the right path to do this for us, as well as hopefully for our descendants. We discovered the Torah and we joined the holy klal Yisroel.

You were raised without extended family, in a strange land, sometimes not having any possibility of sharing your feelings with your parents in a common language. There was more hardship than this …

We were successful to teach you about Hakadosh Baruch Hu, about His Torah and unity with his chosen people. You are one of them, in many aspects you are better than the average Jew, you are not only “one who believes,” you are a tzadeikes and as one of our principle beliefs teach us, the greater the tzaddik the greater the yeitzer hara.

We brought you to this point in your life; most of the time it was not your choice.

Here are two steps in which a Jew takes responsibility for his relationship with the Creator. For a girl it is at age 12. For you it was a greater responsibility and decision than it was for most of your peers. Now you are approaching the moment in your life when, together with your husband, you will be fully in charge of you relationship to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

For years I was trying to make you understand that there is nothing more important than this, than your connection to the One who offered us our existence. Our awareness, the fact that we think, we feel, we laugh and we cry, we love, and we loathe what is wrong, has only one purpose, and it is to connect to the One who caused these feelings and the awareness of them to be.

Life without this connection is not a life worth living; life without Him in the center of our mind and feelings should not happen. I’m sure that your mother and I were successful in our parental tasks and now it is for you to continue in this way.

But, “continue” is not enough. Our Torah teaches us that up to this point, most of our spiritual achievements are credited to our parents and teachers. We set your bechirah point high, and now when you take the whole responsibility into your hands it is not enough just to maintain what we gave you. It is imperative, it is up to you to raise your bechirah point to new levels. This is an opportunity for you to open new horizons of spirituality that are impossible for us, your parents, due to the baggage we carry, the tail schlepping behind. Only with this opportunity will you contribute to what you have already achieved and you will be able to start new generations and, after 120, come to our Father in Heaven with gift of YOUR life.

Do not look for frumkeit. Do not look to appease the idol of religiosity always lurking and trying to settle in our hearts. Look not for what the others will say, but be brave always to do what is right at the time when it is right in the place where it is right.

Remember that performance of every single mitzvah, the prohibiting ones as well as the commanding ones, is serving the one purpose, connecting us to our Creator. When you do a mitzvah do it right, as Chazal teach. This way we bring happiness to our Creator by performing the mitzvah with intention, taking us to higher levels. When we do the same mitzvah while understanding the mitzvah’s depth, it gives us unbelievable happiness. But He really treasures the mitzvos that we perform simply out of love to Him. Every time we do the will of G-d, we express our love to Him, and even though we shouldn’t count on any reward for what we do for Him, He did promise such a reward to us.

Don’t forget, that most of our minhagim serve us and do not make us serve others. The minhagim of Klal Yisroel protect us from sin, keep us away from the grave danger of falling from the path of righteousness. Minhagim are not enemies of our happiness and freedom, just the opposite. Cleverly chosen and kept, they are guardians of holiness and the freedom and unity of our people. Keep them wisely. 

Together with your husband, chose a mentor for yourself, a rav who will advise you in all halachic issues as well as the many other matters of life. Chose the right one and you will have no doubts about what you do. 

And last, but not least, honor you parents. Yes it is sweet for them to have nachas from their children, but this is not the reason why you should do it. This mitzvah belongs to the category of bein adam l’Makom and as such should be considered strongly by you. By performing his mitzvah your children (they should come soon, be healthy, and grow to be servants of Hakadosh Baruch Hu) will honor you the same way.

Everything else in life is just background; it’s not the ikar. However this background should serve you in better serving the Creator. You should have a healthy and wealthy life with mutual understanding, love ,and devotion to each other. Hashem should keep you on a straight path so that you will be able to share your prosperity with the needy and increase the value of Torah in Yisroel.

Matys Weiser

Special thanks to my editor, Mrs Yocheved, for editing this letter on the day before marring her own child.

MAZEL TOV, MAZEL TOV!!!

Succos

                                                                                                             B-H

Rav Hirsch is not easy to read. His language is beautiful but sophisticated and can be enjoyed by everyone who appreciates the brilliance of putting the human mind into words. Rav Hirsch mastered this art like no one else. Like only few of the Jewish writers and rabbis, he was able to express the transcendent in way that could be understood. His writing is hard to read not only because of the sophistication of his language, but, I believe, rather due to our natural opposition to be corrected, to challenge our beliefs and feelings.

Above that, we are not interested in the transcendent; we find millions of ways to defend our mind and our conscience from the awareness of the One Above and what He requires of us.

We can tolerate the thought of some god in relation to our needs, but our relation to G-d and what He requires of us, that is harder.

This is true of humanity in general, but what about G-d’s chosen children – the children of Israel? Sadly to say but when comes to this we are no different from the rest of humanity. We may be on a much different level, but still … Our prophets and rabbis have warned us about this for more than three thousand years.

The Holocaust caused a tremendous teshuvah movement – Jews have returned to their heritage of Torah like almost never before. Thousands of people recognize the greatness of Torah and the necessity of serving our Creator. This movement has been going on already for more than sixty years and people from all walks of life and backgrounds are participating in this progress. Thousands of Jews have found new areas of their lives that can be improved by applying the teachings of the Torah and its broad explanation by the true leaders of our nation.

One hundred and fifty years ago we had this great writer and leader — Rav Hirsch — whose words ring true today as much as they did then, maybe even more today.

As large a teshuvah movement as we have, there are record numbers of our brothers who are detached from the Source of life, like never before in history.

Infected by the strange ideas and philosophies of the secular world, most of us have little or no awareness of our Jewish mission in the world and what is supposed to make us different from the other nations. For hundred of years there has been tremendous pressure for us to become just like the other nations of the world. In all of galus (exile), when external enemies as well as foes from within, attempted to get us to be like the gentiles, one by one or even in larger numbers, they failed due to spiritual strength of the previous Jewish generations. Then servants of the sitra achra (the other, evil, side) began to fulfill their most treacherous mission to make all the Jewish people just like the other nations and Jewish peoplehood just like other nationalisms of the world.

They are succeeding.

How much are they succeeding you may learn by reading fragments of Rav’s Hirsch’s writing about two opposite modes of existence, ours and theirs — dwelling in the succah or within solid borders and under the roof and being aware of the temporariness of this reality, or investing our strength in building destructible things; fighting spiritual battles or wasting our time, talents, and potential to build something never intended by The One Who chose us.

I’m still trying to understand what helped me to understand the temporal character life. Is my being ger what is decisive in this matter? The very word “ger” expresses temporariness and detachment from the “solid” ground, but is it enough?

We read in selichos just few days ago that the first ger tzedek was no one other than Avraham Avinu. Is it only because he was first to convert from paganism to belief in One G-d, or maybe also because he was first to realize that this world is only a battlefield where morality must prevail over injustice and humility must overcome pride? But after the victory day of our departure from this world we are going to our true home.

A number of descendants of Yisro, Moshe Rabeini’s (Moses’s) father-in-law, refused to live in solid buildings and cities for over 500 years. Why did their ancestor Rechab ask them to sacrifice so much and why did they comply? Was it a matter of simple recognition of evil lurking on the streets and in the houses of the city, or, again, was living in tents as the nomads did an expression of the awareness of life being transitory by this group of devoted geirim?

What drove thousands, if not millions, of Yidden to give up their lives al kiddush Hashem without hesitation? Was it only a strong attachment to their heritage or did they know that with this expression of ultimate love for their Creator they would be transferred to a higher reality?

What was feeling Garff Valentyn Potocki when he was burned on the stalk for changing his faith? Was the hate directed to his body, which sinned for many years, or rather was his higher soul’s desire to be released from its body so it could ascend to a higher, better world?

All of the selichos that we have been reading every morning for the past days made us more aware about the fact of us being “dwellers of clay structures.” The conclusion of these days of return was Yom HaKadosh¸Yom Kippur. Now we are entering days where we are again in a different mode, we have to learn about how temporary our life is and how dependent on our Creator our existence is.

To appreciate and get more from the coming days of Succos, I decided one more time to share with you a small explanation of what we are fighting for, written by Rav Hirsch. After you read this, please do yourself a favor and go back to the months of counting the Omer, where I posted more of the Rav’s elucidations of how to return to the path of faith in G-d and loyalty to Him — how we should understand our assignment in the cosmic struggle to bring mankind back to peace with its Creator.  

I know Rav Hirsch’s writings are not easy to read, but even if you have to read it again and again in order to comprehend, it is worthy to learn more about our people — people of G-d — and our national mission as it was prescribed for us in the Torah and Prophets.

Last Shabbos, Shabbos Shuvah, in my hometown of Monsey, a story was told in the middle of the customary Shabbos drashah (Shabbos sermon). Rav Chaim Shea Halberstam of Satmar brought down a known chassidic tale about the Rebbe Reb Shmelke from Nikolsburg. The story goes as follow:

The Rebbe was going through a financially very difficult period in his life, but he was known to give tzedakah — his share of money given to the poor— even giving from his own household items when he didn’t have money. One time, when he had already run out of money for a while and there was almost nothing at home to give out, came to him a person asking for help and describing his severely dire situation. The Rebbe looked around and the only valuable item he could find was his wife’s shterntichel (head cover decorated with some precious stones, which his Rebbetzin wore only on Shabbos and Yamim Tovim). The Rebbetzin was not home at that moment and with feeling of great compassion for his fellow Jew the Rebbe took the shterntichel and gave it to the needy person. The Yid departed with amazement and joy, for he saw at least some of his problems being solved. In the courtyard the Rebbetzin passed him as she returned home. She noticed excitement on the stranger’s face and as she entered her home she had already had a feeling of what had just happened.

“You gave him my shterntichel, right?” asked the Rebbetzin.

“Yes,” answered Reb Shmelke.

“Well,” said the Rebbetzin, “he will probably sell it for 10 talars and it was worth at least three hundred talars …”

“What!?” gasped the Rebbe with astonishment. “I didn’t know it was so valuable.”

Then he ran out, looking for the stranger and caught up to him few streets away.

“Reb Yid! Reb Yid!” he screamed. “What I just gave you is worth at least three hundred talars. Please don’t sell it for less!”

The story itself is beautiful as it teaches us about the moral heights of our teachers and ancestors, but no less beautiful was Rav Halberstam’s explanation.

We are passing a special time of opportunity to come back and connect to Hashem that which we don’t have at other periods of the year. We must not sell it short. We must take most of what is given to us.

This is what I wish for myself, my family, my friends and readers, and the gantze Klal Yisrael, the whole community of the Children of Israel.

Matys Weiser

Gog and Magog

by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch from “Collected Writings” V3 p121

Our dwelling in the "hut" should deliver us from the "deification" of all those forces that tend to ensnare our hearts and to alienate us from our trust in God and in His guidance. We are referring to the forces of nature and of human ingenuity, both of which have been elevated to god-like stature by the Jewish world. Both these elements are symbolically negated by the roof of our succah, which must be neither mechuber nor kli, neither still a part of nature imprinted with the stamp of human intelligence. The mechitzos — walls — those units that separate his personal domain of independent existence and creativity, may be fashioned by us as we please from the products of nature and human industry, The degree of sophistication evident in the construction of our dwelling places on earth may reflect our social position in its many nuances — from marble palaces to tiny huts that have only two complete walls and the beginning of third.

However these differences can have effect and meaning only in relationships between men, in the various circumstances of social living, in the mechitza that “defines the succah (domain) of each individual. But with regard to that element which shelters us all, which can bestow protection, happiness, permanence, and prosperity upon both palace and hovel, all of us, prince or pauper, arc equal.

This is what separates Judaism from the non-Jewish world. The non-Jewish world labors under the illusion that, in order to ensure his survival and prosperity on earth, man must obtain the help of nature and use his own intelligence to obtain dominion over nature through his skill and science. In the non-Jewish view, the supreme goal of both individual and society is to secure a prosperous existence on earth, to which all else, from the most material to the most spiritual, must be subordinated.

The non-Jewish individual and non-Jewish society do not consider their task to be accomplished until, through the use of nature and human ingenuity, they have built the elaborate structure of their existence and prosperity on earth and fortified it against all possible dangers. Those who labor under this delusion expect to derive not only their mechitzos, but also the succah itself, the element that covers and protects them, entirely from the powers of man and nature. They regard a sturdy rooftop for their life's structure as the ultimate all-important objective. They surround power with the halo of divine majesty and teach the weak to cower before the strong, the individual to bend the knee before the state, all this for the sake of expediency and survival and for the gratification of their selfish desires. This mentality seeks to build the protective covering for the lives of men and nations under the aegis and with the help of nature and human ingenuity. This notion has become the motivating ideal of men and nations and has demoralized them both.

Israel however, entrusts its survival and defense entirely to the hands of G-d. Israel employs the gift of nature and products of human ingenuity not for purpose of its protection but as a means to fulfill the Divinely ordained task of man on earth, Israel regards devotion to duty, obedience to God and the fulfillment of His will as the focal point of the lives of men and nations. The ideal of Judaism is to use the powers of nature and man only for building the mechitzos of the house of mankind dedicated to the loyal service of God. Israel secure under God's shelter, the roof of the succah, is ready to follow the Ark or the Covenant; His will and His Law; without apprehension or fear.

The theme of the great drama that we call world history is in reality the struggle between the "roof” and the "hut." The ideal represented by the hut is incompatible with the ideal symbolized by the roof. But the hut will prevail, and in the final act of world history we shall witness succah shel Leviyason, all mankind united beneath the shelter of God's grace. The history of nations begins with a tower that strives to reach up to heaven and ends beneath the roof of a hut. It is not mere coincidence that the political force which does battle against the hut, this goal of human salvation, is called "Gog and Magog." (gag – roof) is the antithesis of succah, and magog, according to its grammatical form, symbolizes the realization of the principle of gog and would then denote the political force that upholds the principle of gog. Magog in the form of a political entity, a "state," contradicts the ideological concept of succah (Just as oz —ayin, vov, zayin — power) relates to meoz (fortress) and/or meor — alef, vov, reish — (light bearer).

Teshuvah

                                                                                                             B-H

This essay has been bubbling, like a stew, in the heat of my brain for few weeks already but I couldn’t sit and write it out. It is simply too big to put it into a short essay. As my self-imposed deadline for writing something about teshuvah was fast approaching, I felt some resistance from within me, so I couldn’t do it. Today I understand that it was nothing more than my usual yetzer hara — evil inclination.

This morning, at my daily shiur (lecture with my chavrusa/learning partner) we came to the place where the Gemara is teaching its famous teaching — No tzaddik gamor can exist in the place of the baal teshuvah. Not even the perfectly righteous can be valued as highly as the one who is coming back to G-d.

If I wouldn’t believe in siyata d’Shamaya (guidance of Heaven), I would wonder why we came across this baraisa on the day before Erev Rosh HaShanah. But I do believe.

B’ezras Hashem I will come back to this topic again, but now let me share with you these few words that you can still use before Yom HaKadosh — the Day of Atonement, the week after Shabbos Shuvah.

The world was created for teshuvah, according to Chazal. aven’tHavHaveavesay III’ve said in many of my essays that the reason for Creation is our bechirah — free choice. It certainly is the ikur — the main point — to create mankind. What then do we do with Chazal’s statement that teshuvah is the reason for Creation? For many of you it is clear and understandable, but let me attempt to make it even simpler to help you grasp the idea.

There are two kinds of choices. One kind I would call choice of maintenance, or passive choice. This is the choice of a person who was born with a certain level of kedushah (holiness) as a result of his environment and inborn character, among other factors. In the span of his life he maintains this level, sometimes even with great effort as his yetzer pulls him to failure. Nevertheless, he wins his battle and leaves this world with the great accomplishment of maintaining what he got. This is the tzaddik gamor — a man of perfection.

On the other hand, there is the Jew born into a family that is remote from keeping the standards of the Torah, but who realizes the Torah’s value. With great effort, he climbs up, passing multiple shaarey teshuvah (gates of repentance, or steps of return) and he ends his life with great spiritual accomplishments. We call such person a “baal teshuvah” and his choices are active choices, as he must conquer areas of evil that are part of his upbringing and nature. There is no question that his effort has more value than the maintenance of holiness of the tzaddik gamor, at certain moments in his life he adds this quality of maintenance to the quality of return.

In the classic writings of Chazal there is, however, another category of people also called “baal teshuvah”: A person who failed in his Yiddishkeit (the way of Jewish life) but realized his mistakes and with great pain comes back to what he left before. Because he realizes his lowly position and yet has a great love of G-d, this man’s attachment to Him is even greater than it ever was before. Certainly his dveikus (connection to Hashem) is greater than that of the tzaddik gamor and perhaps even greater than the baal teshuvah. One of the maamar Chazal that even children who grew up in a Torah environment know, is the mushal of rope.

The rope of the mitzvah is hanging all the way from Heaven down to our earthly reality; this rope is connecting us with a higher reality, at the same time marking the distance from there. Sometimes however this mitzvah rope is broken, lo aleinu, and we lose this connection. It can be fixed, with the power of teshuvah (return) we can tie the rope again and reestablish our connection with Hashem. But we know what happened with the rope that had to be fixed by tying it together — it became shorter. And that’s precisely is what is happening with our spiritual distance from G-d. Not only the place where the rope is tied becomes the strongest part of the rope, but we are closer to G-d as result of the teshuvah.

Someone can make a simple calculation to break the rope and fix it as many time as possible. Smart, no? Not at all. There is no way to know if we will be able to jump so high to be able to reach the other end of the rope. There is no guarantee that teshuvah will happen and this is the secret of teshuvah — it bring us closer but we cannot, we must not, put ourselves in a position to lose the connection in order to make it better. The first man tried this and the result was tragic for all of us, but this is already a different story.

But there is fourth category as well. Someone who for various reasons or teritzim — excuses — chooses not to do ratzon Hashem — the will of Almighty — and has begun to walk the path of evil. Where can this path lead him ultimately? We saw this at the beginning of this past summer.

A person was born and raised as frum, a devoted Jew, and at some point in his life — probably in a slow process — began to shake off the yoke of Torah. Ultimately he became a chaye ruach, a wild beast who in the end killed a child. A boy whom we treasured so much in our Jewish society, a boy who as the Gemara describes supports the existence of the world with his learning — Torah learning is the very foundation of world. The formerly frum man killed, dismembered, and stuffed parts of the body in his refrigerator, perhaps in preparation for even more hideous act. I can’t even think further.

I will not go so far as to accuse of all demented individuals who might have such inclinations as this chaye ruach did, but this single example shows how far the path of destruction can go.

In the second part of the same summer, we heard about something that is almost the opposite of the first event.

Two streets from where I live, a man, a baal teshuvah, attempted to save the life of a young boy and in the process of jumping in to do that, he sacrificed his own life. For many years Reb Reichenberg z”l was walking the path of return to his heritage, the path of his forefathers, the path of the ultimate good of Torah.

His reward for this effort is incredible! I know many of you will think that I have gone mad at this moment. He lost his life. How can I call this a reward?

No, he gained life, and he won it in the best possible way!

There is a halachic principle expressed in the Talmud that if there are two people walking in the desert and one of them has an amount of water enough for only one of them to survive, he should drink it himself rather than share it with his companion. If he were to share the water, it could possibly bring death to both of them, since neither would have enough water to survive. This teaches us that value of our life is the highest principle, as only in this life can we exercise our bechiros — free choices. That’s the value of life as it is expressed by Chazal (Michtav MeEliyahu).

Halachically, it is our life that should be most important to us; that’s the law. But there is the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. Law represents din (judgment) but since the world cannot be sustained only by the letter of the law, so we cannot limit ourselves only to this aspect. It would be enough for us if we would be able to be perfectly righteous but we are not. We cannot perform all the commandants of our Creator, and according to din we should therefore be annihilated.

Another Divine middah,  attribute, was necessary to add to the spiritual fabric of the creation, namely chessed or Heavenly love. According to the principle of justice, due to our constant failures, we deserve the punishment of being eradicated. However, with the attribute of chessed consequently allowing our mistakes and rebellion to be forgiven, our continued existence becomes possible.

It is necessary to say that even the quality of din, which this world was created with, originates in the quality of  chessed, but since we are touching deeper level of teachings of Torah that are not so familiar to me in a broader sense, I cannot explain more than this.

The word “chassid” , for the person who claims to be such, comes from the word “chessed.” As with everything else, we should emulate G-d.

A chassid is a person who at least from time to time acts above the letter of the law. Let’s say there is sign on the road indicating the presence of children playing. One driver on this road would slow down his car to exactly the speed as the sign says, exactly where it is posted. The chassid would slow down much before the sign, just by seeing the children or knowing that there is a playground. He would slow to a speed even lower than that which the sign instructs, just being aware that the nature of children is to run unexpectedly into the street, without watching. The law would serve him only to indicate a playground where children cannot be seen.

This is how chessed works in the area of service to G-d called bein Adam l’chaveiro — between man and his fellow man. In the area of service to G-d called bein Adam l’Makom — the submission of a person to the will of G-d, totally unrelated to his fellow man — this above example cannot be used.

The Orach Chaim in his sefer, Rishon L’Tzion, on page 103, teaches us a similar lesson. He says that yes there is such a principle to favor our life before the other people’s lives, but it is permissible to save the other’s life in an act of  chessed, even if it can cost us our own life.

The life of our brother, Reb Reichenberg, was taken precisely in a moment of such chessed!

There is another principle that comes from Chazal.

When Ishmael was almost dying in the desert, the malachim (angels) were asking Hashem to let him die, as in the future his descendents would bring harm to the children of Yitzchok on their way to galus (exile). The Midrash describes how Hashem asked the angels, “Who is he now, a tzaddik or rasha – righteous or evil?”

“He is a tzaddik,” answered the malachim.

“Then I must help him to survive,”’ said the Creator of life.

This teaches us that person is judged at the current stage of his life.

Reb Reichenberg ended his trial of life at a moment of highest devotion to the values of the Torah — attempting to save the life of his fellow Jew. It happens to be that as in the story from just few weeks before, this was also the life of child — a boy whose breath could have supported the existence of the world for little longer.

The way and the moment of petirah of our brother, Reb Reichenberg, was the most that we could wish for ourselves. The opportunity given to him to leave this world performing an ultimate act of chessed is his reward for years of spiritual effort and climbing to the heights of what a human, what a Yid, can do for his fellow man, and for the sanctification of the Name — a Kiddush Hashem.

Most of us will not be privileged with such an opportunity, and as we go through our lives we must look for other opportunities to sanctify His Name, to do the will of our Creator as expressed in the revelation of the Torah, and to perform acts of chessed.

At this time of the year, all of us Yidden have an opportunity to taste the flavor of what it is to be like the one of the baalei teshuvah. With the help of our machzor and the special atmosphere of these days of teshuvah, we can return from our evil ways, we can feel the chessed and rachamim, love and compassion, of our Father and King.

I wanted to thank for ideas contained in this essay to Rabbi Shechter and my Chavruso Reb Menachem and my Rav ( Hashem should bless them)  for clarifying certain issues necessary to write this essay.

Matys Weiser