Yaakov Reichert, Drawing Lessons in Is Today)
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igie zyxt zay e"dl oze 843 dkxal xhne lh Jan. 9•10, '09 • h"qyz zah c"i This Shabbat is the 103rd day (of 354), 15th Shabbat (of 50) of 5769 ...d¨g¨l§v©d§e d¨k¨x§A g©l§W¦i§e ...Epi¥l¨I©g z¤` li¦S©i§e xFnW¦ § i d"awd HaShem Ish Milchama... G•d is Master of war, HaShem is His name (Sh'mot 15:3). With these words (and others), the people of Israel described G•d in their (our) Song of the Sea, in acknowledging Him for what He did for the people • Splitting the Sea, providing for us, drowning the Egyptians, saving Bnei Yisrael. Earlier (14:13•14), Moshe said to the people: Do not fear! Stand fast and see the salvation of G•d that He will perform for you today... G•d shall make war for you, and you shall remain silent. On the occasion of the first battle that the not•yet nation of Israel was about to face, G•d assured them that He would fight for them and they needed only to stand back and watch. Ibn Ezra • Correct for TT 843 Rabbeinu Tam (J'm) • 6:10pm explains that having been so recently 4:17 Yerushalayim 5:33pm slaves in Egypt for many generations, 4:35 S'derot 5:36pm the people would not have been able 4:33 Gush Etzion 5:34pm 4:33 Raanana 5:34pm to fight at all. Not against their former 4:33 Beit Shemesh 5:34pm masters. G•d did our fighting for us • 4:33 Rehovot 5:35pm that first time. 4:32 Netanya 5:34pm After that time, however, our battles 4:33 Be'er Sheva 5:36pm were to be a combined effort • so to 4:33 Modi'in 5:34pm speak • between partners. 4:17 Petach Tikva 5:34pm 4:17 Maale Adumim 5:33pm cont. p.10 4:32 Ginot Shomron 5:33pm 4:31 Gush Shiloh 5:32pm Shabbat 3:15pm (Mincha 4:15) 4:33 K4 & Hevron 5:34pm Dr. Moshe (Murray) Kuhr 4:32 Giv'at Ze'ev 5:33pm 4:34 Yad Binyamin 5:35pm in the Wolinetz Family Shul 4:35 Ashkelon 5:36pm 4:18 Tzfat 5:30pm OHEL SHMUEL Tel: (02) 999•8440 US toll free: 1866•376•6716 [email protected] www.traveldealisrael.com Ranges are 10 days, WED•FRI 11•20 Tevet (January 7•16) Earliest Talit & T'filin 5:46•5:46am E+M»R+S Sunrise 6:41•6:40am Sof Z'man K' Sh'ma 9:12•9:14am i i i OT i i (Magen Avraham: 8:25•8:27am) ii Sof Z'man T'fila 10:03•10:05am (Magen Avraham: 9:32•9:34am) i i Chatzot 11:45½•11:49am (halachic noon) Mincha Gedola 12:16•12:19pm (earliest Mincha) Plag Mincha 3:47•3:54pm Sunset 4:55•5:03pm (based on sea level: 4:50•4:58pm) Word of the Month Last opportunity for Kiddush L'vana this month is Motza"Sh, Jan. 10. Even though Motza"Sh is a preferred night for KL, one should not wait cont. p.3 Orthodox Union OU ISRAEL OU Kashrut • NCSY • Jewish Action Seymour J. Abrams • Orthodox Union • Jerusalem World Center NJCD / Yachad / Our Way • Kharkov OU Israel Center programs• Makom BaLev • Lev Yehudi Synagogue Support Services • IPA Pearl & Harold M. Jacobs ZULA Center• Machon Maayan OURadio.org • Young Leadership NESTO • The Jack Gindi Oraita Program • Mashiv HaRuach Project Areivim • OU West Coast Beit Kharkov • OU Israel Communities • OU Kashrut Israel Stephen Savitsky, President, Orthodox Union Harvey Blitz, Chairman of the Board, Orthodox Union Yitzchak Fund, President, OU Israel Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Exec. Vice President, OU Rabbi Emanuel Quint, Senior Vice President Eliezer Edelman, Exec. Dir. 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Nor do we endorse the email: [email protected] • website: www.ouisrael.org kashrut of hotels, restaurants, caterers or food products that are Torah Tidbits and many of the projects of OU Israel are advertised in TT (except, of course, those under OU•Israel hashgacha). assisted by grants from The Jewish Agency for Israel We recommend that readers check with the advertisers themselves to clarify kashrut and shmita details of their services and products. Founders and initial benefactors of the Israel Center: George z"l and Ilse Falk Page Zero of Torah Tidbits 843 Yes, we know it is confusing. The top of this page announces it as Page Zero. The footer identifies it as page 3. It is actually the 4th page of this PDF file. We bumped this page from its usual place at the head of this file because of the special prayer composed by HaRav Shmuel Eliyahu (the Rav of Tzfat, son of HaRav Mordechai Eliyahu) for the current "situation". This prayer is on the back of the current hard•copy Torah Tidbits and we recommend its frequent use under the present circumstances. We also suggest printing it out and giving it to the Gabbai in shul for it to be said (clear this with your Rav). Lead Tidbit cont. from page 1 (above) The partners, of course, are G•d and the people of Israel. The proportion of participation in various battles that we've had throughout Jewish history changes from battle to battle. R' Menachem Leibtag in an MP3 shiur on the book of Yehoshua (part of the OU's Nach Yomi series) makes the following point: It seems that Yehoshua had a certain strategy and plan for conquering Yericho. G•d had a different idea, and transmitted such to Yehoshua in a prophecy. G•d's share of that particular battle was greater than Yehoshua might have originally planned. And so it goes throughout Jewish History. G•d sometimes hides His involvement so that a victory looks to some people as a total human effort. But it never is all us. G•d is always supervising and actively participating when He chooses. We don't always see it. Some people choose not to see it at all. Some people might go the other way and ignore the share of a battle and victory that is human. That would be a big mistake too. Someone who doesn't see G•d's involvement in what goes on in this world is blind, in the saddest meaning of the word. Someone who doesn't see the value of human hishtadlus (effort) is equally blind. A complication in the picture being painted here is the loss of prophecy. When we had it, a prophet spoke in G•d's name and gave us specific instructions. It was then up to us to believe the prophet and carry out the instructions. But when we are not blessed with prophets and their prophecies, things are a bit more obscure. Decisions to begin an air assault on Gaza or not needed to be made • not quite on our own; never on our own • by political and military leaders of our country. To send in troops or not and how deeply to involve and penetrate • human decisions. We hope and pray that those making the decisions are guided by true wisdom and that our actions will not be misshapen by the wrong kind of input. AND, most certainly, we must recognize that no matter what we as humans do, we will meet with success only with G•d's Will and with G•d's help. May we all • especially the leaders of the country and the IDF forces • be blessed by G•d with total success. More on next page z 3 T Not only do we have a partnership between G•d and His People in everything that we do, but we have an additional partnership within the Jewish People, with different tasks for different individuals. We pray to G•d for the success of the IDF and the protection of our soldiers and citizens from injury and death. As "normal" as it seems to be to expect to pay a price in casualties • it isn't a required given. Remember the joy and thankfulness of the officers of the army that fought against Midyan (as recorded in the book of Bamidbar) when they counted their forces and determined that not one was last. A miracle to be sure, but we can ask this too of G•d. And the rest of us need to pray, and learn Torah, and do mitzvot, and perform acts of genuine chessed... and become better people and better Jews, a better society and a better Klal Yisrael. On the first page of this PDF file is a prayer composed by HaRav Shmuel Eliyahu.