Shavuot, also referred to as Zman Matan Torahteinu, commemorates the giving of the Torah and each year we have the opportunity to ‘reaccept’ it into our lives. Part of having a relationship with the Torah is recognizing that we all relate to it in a personal way and connect to it as individuals. This is best expressed in the notion that we each have an individual ‘Chelek’, a portion, in Torah. Every Shabbat morning in our Tefillot we ask Hashem “Ve’tein Chelkeinu BeToratecha”, that God provides us with our own portion in Torah. In all areas of life, we sometimes find ourselves making comparisons to others when measuring our capabilities and achievements. This has an especially negative impact with regards to our spirituality, Torah learning and Avodat Hashem. Rather than focusing on those around us, we each need to discover and work on our own Chelek in Torah, taking in to account our background, our strengths, and our situation. We ask Hashem “Ve’tein Chelkeinu BeToratecha” for help in achieving our personal connection. HaRav Avigdor Neventzal, the Rav of the Old City of Jerusalem, explains this concept with an insightful analogy. When the army sends out draft notices, each future soldier will receive a copy of the same piece of paper, telling them to come to the headquarters and register for the army. However, each soldier will ultimately be given their own job. Some will serve in combat; others will sit behind a desk and others will work on base. Even if two soldiers are assigned to the same unit, they will each be given slightly different roles. Using this analogy, he explains that at Har Sinai we all experienced the same Matan Torah, all receiving the identical Torah from Hashem. However, each person has their own individual Tafkid, job or role, in Avodat Hashem and a unique connection to the Torah. The following essays, written by different members of our YICC community, demonstrate how each of us relate to the Torah in a myriad of ways. Each author was asked to share a Dvar Torah related to Shavuot. The range of ideas, concepts and themes that followed, demonstrate beautifully how we each relate to diverse elements of Torah and how different insights and lessons speak to us all. It is our hope that this compendium of Divrei Torah not only educates and enlightens, but also helps inspire readers to further search out their own Chelek in Torah and identify those concepts which resonate with them most poignantly. Another motivation behind this project was to help bind the community together during this prolonged period of separation. There is no greater bond than through the sharing and learning Torah together. Shavuot is synonymous with communal learning and we have attempted to facilitate this both through our online programming and the production of this collection of essays. We are truly grateful to all those who have given of their time and effort by contributing an article, thus making this project a reality. May their words, lessons and insights enhance our Shavuot by inspiring us to find our own unique “Chelek” in Torah. Wishing you and your families a safe, healthy, and uplifting Chag Sameach Elazar Muskin James Proops

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Contents

My Personal Receiving of the Torah – Jeff Astrof ...... 3

Talmud Torah – Seth Berkowitz ...... 6

Second Day Yom Tov & The Moon – Jamie Frankel ...... 7

Defeating a Faceless Enemy – Aryeh Goldberg ...... 9

Megillat Ruth- A Story About How We React To Our Circumstances – Ilana Goldschein ... 11

Megilas Ruth: A Relevant Story – Meyer Graff ...... 13

Remembering Sinai – Rabbi David Mahler ...... 14

Shavuos – Every Day is a Holy Day – Ari Mark ...... 16

Boaz: Progenitor of Moshiach – Sheryl Neuman , MD ...... 20

Seudat Yom Tov – Sarah Proops ...... 21

United For Matan Torah – David Schultz ...... 23

The Two Loaves – Daniel Silverman ...... 25

Matan Torah: Consent or Coercion – Alan Tsarovsky ...... 26

Gleaning Tidbits about Megillat Ruth – Marsha Wasserman ...... 28

Why Isaac Newton Studied Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah – Zach Wertheimer ...... 30

David HaMelech & Shavuot – Mrs. Geri Wiener ...... 32

Lifnim Mishurat HaDin: A Core Jewish “Imperative” – Dr. Alan Willner ...... 33

Follow My Decrees and Safeguard My Commandments – Aric Zamel ...... 36

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My Personal Receiving of the Torah Jeff Astrof

We didn’t have Shavuos when I was growing house (my kids were young at the time). At up. It existed of course, I’m not that old, but it that moment, I was cut off by an all-white Jeep wasn’t one of the Big Three holidays typically Grand Cherokee, with the license plate: observed by Reform Jews. And while no one HALACHA. I trailed the Jeep as it drove would say we celebrated Rosh Hashana, Yom towards my office and continued on my path Kippur or Pesach in a kosher way, they were following Halacha. I would soon realize that the definitely on our calendar. So why was the White Jeep was just one of many instances of holiday commemorating the single biggest Divine Providence where Hashem “showed” revelation in history relegated to only a passing me I was on the right path. reference—a day for us lactose intolerant dessert wanderers to eat dairy? Now that I accepted that the Torah came from G-d, I could celebrate the holiday I once heard Rabbi Frand say, “If you want to commemorating the giving of the Torah, as be Conservative or Reform, you should first prescribed by G-d, Himself, in His Torah. The know what you’re conserving and reforming”. problem, of course, is that the Torah never says The truth is, as a frum Reform Jew, I didn’t that Shavuos is a commemoration of Matan know what I really believed, and more Torah! In fact, it never even mentions what day importantly, what I didn’t. This came into Matan Torah took place. The most we are told sharp focus for me around 17 years ago as I was is that Bnei Yisrael arrived at Har Sinai in the beginning my “Jewish journey”. I had just third month “On this day.”1 Is that an experienced my first Orthodox Shabbaton with oversight? Or perhaps Hashem felt it was so a program called Arachim, which is akin to the obvious that there was no need to add that Aish Discovery program. For forty eight hours detail. Except, as R’ Menachem Leibtag points at the Marriott in Irvine I listened to various out, “When the Torah wishes to inform us of rabbis bring proofs to the divinity of the Torah. the ‘historical’ reason for an event, it certainly Believe it or not, it was not something I had knows how to do so. Take for example the two ever even considered. other pilgrimage holidays ‘chag ha matztot & succot’… [which] are presented from their But my biggest revelation happened the next agricultural… [and] historical perspectives as day. On the way to work I got a call from my well.” He continues, “It is baffling that the best friend at the time, who happened to be a Torah presents Shavuot… without mentioning Reform rabbi. I told him about the Shabbaton even a word about its connection to events of and how exciting it was to learn that the Torah Matan Torah!”2 actually came from G-d! But my excitement was not matched. In fact, he told me he was To solve these difficulties we must turn to disappointed, and that if I gave him a weekend, Chazal. Our Sages (in Masechet Shabbat 86B) he would prove to me that the Torah was a tell us that Matan Torah took place on the sixth product of man. I remember my excitement or seventh of Sivan. Furthermore, Rashi draining from me like a punctured bouncy quotes the Midrash that says “On THIS day”

3 comes to teach us that we should treat the I figured out, or word or concept I grasped, I Torah, not as an event to memorialize, but as if was greeted by a booming “Gevaldik!” from we are constantly receiving it. R’ Liebtag Rabbi Morgan, who made me feel like my explains, “In other words, we should not view picture should be up on that wall. Matan Torah as a one time event. Rather every generation must feel...that G-d’s words were As the Gemara teaches us, we don’t get sated spoken to them no less than to earlier by Torah, the more we learn, the heartier our generations.” 3 So that was my answer. appetite. Learning with Rabbi Morgan led me Growing up there was no Chazal, no Tanaim or to studying Hilchos Shabbos, and doing daf Acharonim. I had not heard of Rashi or the yomi for the first time in my life. I joked with Rambam. Judaism was cultural and historical. Rabbi Morgan that with him I was doing “daf And if we didn’t believe the written Torah came yearly” to which he responded, “Halavei we from G-d, there was no reason to believe the should get through a daf in a year!” It was true, Oral Law was divine. in four years, we were up to our third daf. And the culmination of my yearly journey happened My personal journey into Talmud started late, every Shavuos, when David Weiss, another of in fact, only four years ago. I had decided the R’ Morgan’s talmidim and I would stay up all one thing missing from my learning schedule night, chazering the Gemara, getting into was Gemara (that I believed there was only one heated arguments over whether or not a sign thing missing tells you that there was a lot that was likely to get trampled was actually a more missing). I had heard there was a Rabbi in sign. (I’m not kidding, last year things got out the La Brea area—Rabbi Morgan z”l-- who had of hand in the YULA beis midrash). a method of teaching that could help literally anyone understand Gemara, no matter how The last thing that Rabbi Morgan and I learned old, or what his background. As I was ten years together was a Braisa from Rabbi Shimon ben older than R’ Akiva was when he saw the Elazar who said that if you find a lost object dripping water gnaw away at the rock, I figured (with a sign) in an area where there are a lot of Rabbi Morgan would meet its match. people, you are allowed to keep it because the owner gives up hope. The question was My love was immediate. Not only for the whether or not Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar was Talmud, which opened up parts of my mind speaking about an area where there were and soul I never had access to, but for Rabbi mostly Jews or non-Jews. Rabbi Morgan left Morgan who brought it all to life for me. His me with a cliffhanger, telling me there was an method was to teach word by painstaking unbelievable Tosafos on this braisa. word—to give me the skills not only to be able to understand what he called the “systemics of Sadly, we never got to it. Rabbi Morgan the Gemara” but to eventually be able to learn contracted Covid-19 and passed away shortly inside myself. Week after week we met in his afterwards. The hole left in my heart—and in dining room, the walls of which were covered the community—is impossible to overstate. At with pictures of Gedolim who were watching his shloshim, one of Rabbi Morgan’s sons, over me as I broke my teeth over Rashi’s and Chaim, mentioned that Chazal tell us that Tosafos—not to mention learning how to write Hashem will never take a Rebbe until he knows Hebrew letters in cursive! And with every move his Talmidim are taken care of. It’s hard to

4 imagine, but Rabbi Morgan taught me to trust this group had left off in the Gemara: a braisa in Chazal. from Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar that said if you find a lost object with a sign, you are allowed to When asked to write a piece on Shavuous, I keep it because the owner gives up hope. It struggled to find what I could add to a was the last thing Rabbi Morgan and I had congregation that was much more learned learned together. He finished by saying there than I. I then turned around in my office and was a wonderful mind-blowing Tosafos ahead. saw the picture of the only tzaddik I had on my There was my white Jeep. wall—a photo David Weiss had taken of Rabbi Morgan shortly before he was niftar. I called Through tearful eyes I then listened to his dvar Rabbi Morgan’s wife and asked her if the Rabbi Torah about Shavuos. He explained that had anything to say on Shavuous I could share, Shavuos is more than an anniversary, we are and she said she’d get back to me. Two weeks actually receiving the Torah again. He talked passed and when I didn’t hear from her, I about how proud of us he was for taking time decided to write the only thing I was an expert out to learn every week, and we—I-- should on: my own story. There would be no “White continue learning this Shavuos about Rabbi Jeep” to bail me out. Then, as I was finishing Shimon ben Elazar and everything else we this essay, which I decided would be built on learned up until that point, and iYH, in the the notion that we must constantly be merit of all of our learning we will bring receiving the Torah, Mrs. Morgan called to tell Moshiach. I said “Amen”. me that her late husband spoke about Shavuous to one of his groups last year, one of Why would I ever want to reform that? hundreds of shiurim that he had recorded. Chag Sameach. With a bit of research, I found a class Rabbi Morgan gave June 6th of last year; two days 1. Shemot 19:1 2. Rabbi Menachem Leibtag, Orthodox Union, Shavuot before Shavuos. Rebbetzin Morgan told me and Matan Torah: An Uncommemorated Event”, that the vort on Shavuos was at the end, but of October 3, 2017. course, a chance to hear my Rebbe’s voice, was 3. Ibid. too good to resist so I started at the beginning. He started in his customary way, “Alright, so we want to begin!” and then continued where

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Talmud Torah Seth Berkowitz

As a child, I always thought that Talmud Torah memory, such that we can call upon them in was one mitzvah, maybe two at best: learning practice. and teaching. As an adult, in reading Rabbi Yerucham Fishel Perla, I came to understand In the first paragraph of Keriyas Shema, the Contemporary ”.ושננתם לבניך“ that Talmud Torah may encompass as many as Torah tells us seven independent mitzvos. In unpacking the translations render this as you should impress major pesukim that relate to Talmud Torah, upon your children. The verse continues, that you should recite the things ”,ודברת בם“ there are invariably different points of emphasis and context unique to each that I will command you when you stay at reference. Through careful study of them, one home, when you are away, when you lie down can develop an understanding, at the most and when you get up. basic level, of the complex of associations tied Rashi introduces a new dimension to the doesn’t ”ושננתם“ .to Talmud Torah. mitzvah based on the Sifrei mean simply to impress upon one’s child the Chapter 5 of Deuteronomy opens with the axiological importance of Torah, but also to On the sharpen his or her intellect. Ibn Ezra brilliantly ”.ולמדתם אותם ושמרתם לעשותם“ verse simplest level, this means that one should learn illustrates this through a simile: “Just as one the antecedents in the verse (chukim and sharpens an arrow, by filing it and honing it on mishpatim, statutes and laws) and keep them, each of its sides repeatedly, so too one needs in order to perform said statutes and laws. In to review what one learns with their child from ”.every angle until they know it intimately לעסוקי שמעתא “ our phraseology, this would be It emphasizes the very practical However, the Ibn Ezra continues with a breath ”.אליבא דהלכתא כי עיקר כל האדם עבודת השם :need – in the language of the Chinuch in taking statement It seems, he says, that the .ועבודתו להכיר פעליו to know how to perform the“ -- תיט Mitzvah mitzvoth and to guard against what the Lord essence of life and personhood is Avodas would have us avoid, and to know the laws of Hashem, and the way to serve Hashem is the Torah in the proper fashion.” through recognizing his ways, and the medium to accomplish this is through constant review But there is another aspect of this verse that and discussion of God’s commandments. we wouldn’t naturally appreciate but for Rabbeinu Sa’adia. Saadia Gaon, in his The actual command to teach one’s own introduction to Sefer Mishlei, says that “the children comes from the verse in the second power of memory is that one remembers what paragraph of Keriyas Shema. The Torah tells us Rashi quoting ”.ולמדתם אותם את בניכם לדבר בם“ he learned in one period and recalls it at a different time, and this is called “shemirah” as the Sifrei explains that when the Torah says In you need to teach your children to speak about ”.ושמרתם לעשותם“ the Torah says in our verse other words, we are instructed to learn the the commandments, it is a temporal laws and statutes, but also to commit them to statement: from the moment your child learns to speak, you need to instruct him. From here

6 the Rabbis learn that when a toddler begins we received the Torah directly from Hashem talking, the father should speak to him in without any mediating factors – constitutes Loshon ha-Kodesh and teach him Torah. Limmud ha-Torah itself. And this special experiential element is entrusted especially to Finally, the Torah says that we should take the Masoretic transmission from Grandparents to utmost care and watch ourselves scrupulously, their grandchildren. Something to ponder this so that we do not forget the things that we saw year in particular. with our own eyes and so that they do not fade from our mind as long as we live. And we need In the second parsha of Keriyas Shema, just to make them known to our children and our after we’re told that we will lose our grip on the ,Hashem commands us ”,ואבדתם מהרה“ ,children’s children: land to place the words of ",ושמתם את דברי אלה" "והודעתם לבניך ולבני בניך" (Deuteronomy 4:9). From here we learn the Torah on our hearts and souls. Rashi, again commandment that grandparents are quoting the Sifrei, notes that even after the obligated to teach their grandchildren. What is Jewish people was exiled, it needed to be it that needs to be made known? The Torah expert in the commandments, so that they not answers that it is the day we stood before the be new and unfamiliar when we return to the Lord our God at Chorev, when the Lord said to Holy Land. As the verse in Jeremiah (31:21) הציבי לך ”Moshe, “Gather the people to me that I may let says: “Erect markers for yourself ,After the recent cycle of Yom Ha-Shoah .ציונים them hear my words in order that they learn to revere me as long as they live on earth, and Yom Ha-Zikaron, Yom Ha-Atzmaut and Yom may so teach their offspring.” Yerushalayim, and what has been endured, we can only hope for redemption in our time. The Ramban explains that learning about the source of our belief in the Torah – through remembering the singular day at Chorev that

Second Day Yom Tov & The Moon Jamie Frankel

By the second day of Shavuot, you might be living in Israel”, and “Yes, but it doesn’t asking yourself “Why do we have to keep 2 matter”. So why the second day? days of the Chag? By now, don’t we pretty much know when exactly the holiday is?” The To answer this, we need to first talk about the answers are: (Quote from Fiddler on the Roof): moon. We all know that the Jewish Calendar is “Tradition”, (Quote from all of my Bnei Akiva based on the lunar as opposed to the solar madrichim): “That is your punishment for not calendar, but what exactly does that mean?

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Hashem gave us a great gift, a clock right up in 12 months: 1 month of 28 days + 4 months of the sky for all of us to see, that starts every 29 30 days + 7 months of 31 days = 365 days 1/2 days, called the moon. When the new moon starts as seen in Yerushalayim, so too The average month is around 30 1/2 days, does our new month (Hence moon/month). almost a full day off the 29 1/2 days of the new When it’s mid-month and the moon is full and moon. giving us the most light (15th of our month) is when we start our 2 biggest festivals: Sukkot 365 / 12 = 30.416 and Pesach, just when we need as much outdoor light as possible (especially on Based on all of the information so far, a Jewish Sukkot). year based on 12 months would be 354 days, which is 11 short of what would be needed to Problem 1 – Counting to 29 1/2: If per the complete the solar / 4 season year: above the new moon occurs every 29 1/2 days, back in the days of the Beit HaMikdash, if we 12 X 29 1/2 = 354 365 – 354 = 11 knew when the last new moon was, we also knew that the next new moon would be either Because we always want Pesach to end up in 29 or 30 days later, but we were never sure the Spring, we need to reconcile our lunar which one it would be. So when 2 witnesses in calendar to the solar calendar. Otherwise, over Yerushalayim would see the new moon, they a number of years, Pesach and the rest of our would testify so before the Sanhedrian, and the holidays would end up floating around all of new month would be declared. To spread the the seasons. So in order to achieve this, we word to the rest of Am Yisrael, a bonfire would add 7 Leap Months every 19 years: be set on Har Zeitim, the mountain next to the Beit Hamikdash. People on other mountains 11 days short (over a year) X 19 (Jewish leap and hilltops would see the fire and light one of year cycle) = 209 days added (every 19 years) their own. In a very short time, all of Israel could be informed. Seven mountains later, the which equates roughly to large community in the Galut of Bavel could know as well. This didn’t need to be done all 7 (leap months over the same 19 year cycle) X the time. If there was no holiday coming up 29 1/2 days (per lunar cycle month) = 206.5 that month, there was no need to do this. Or if days a bonfire was not lit on the 29th night, then by definition, the new month would start the 30th Extra days are used to adjust month start dates night. over the years to accomplish directives like making sure Yom Kippur does not end up on Problem 2 – Need to Reconcile to Solar the day before or after Shabbat, etc. Calendar: It takes 365 days for the earth to travel around the sun, which is by definition So again, why 2 days of Yom Tov outside of also of the 4 seasons. The 365 days are Israel? Because the bonfire system may be comprised of 12 months (roughly the days in useful in Israel, but to get the word to other far the new moon cycle). away communities was not feasible. Since in

8 galut we were not sure which day was the true again to full brightness. Similarly, just first of the month in Yerushalayim, we had to when Am Yisrael has had had very low have our holidays on the days assuming that moments, we always come back even the new month started on both the 29th and stronger. 30th day, hence 2 days. Now if you are to say • Samaritans in their distain for us set that today, we can calculate that out over the their own fires in order to confuse us next 10,000 years, I refer back to the other and our Rosh Chodesh communication reasons: 1. Tradition, and 2. This is our system. punishment for not living in Israel. • Rosh HaShana is 2 days, even in Israel, because unlike Sukkot and Pesach Therefore, my bracha to us this Shavuot is the which are on the 15th of the month, same bracha to us as recited on Pesach: Rosh HaShana is on the first, leaving no L’Shana HaBa B’yerushalayim! ability to communicate, certainly not by bonfire, when the new month is Other related interesting items: starting, so it is 29 and 30 days after the prior Rosh Chodesh. • Am Yisrael is compared to the moon for • Based on all of the above, Yom Kippur reasons like: a. The moon does not in Chutz LaAretz should be 2 days, and create its own light. Rather, it simply maybe even in Israel as well. The reflects the light given off by the sun. chachamim ruled against this and set it Similarly, Am Yisrael reflects to the rest to 1 day because they appreciated the of the world the light of the Torah of difficulty we would have in keeping a 2 Hashem. b. Just when the moon almost day Yom Kippur. disappears monthly, it then blooms

Defeating a Faceless Enemy Aryeh Goldberg

this is symbolic of the need for the Jewish “In the Third Month of the Exodus of Bnei nation to be united together in Yisroel from Mitzrayim, on this day, they brotherhood and friendship in order to arrived in the wilderness of Sinai” (Shemos receive the Torah. The Torah cannot be 19:1) given to an isolated individual for it is Rashi, in Maseches Rosh HaShanah (11b) impossible for a secluded individual to comments that the astrological sign for the observe all the commandments of the “Third Month”, or Sivan, is Gemini – twins. Torah. The communal construct seems to Yalkut HaGershuni further explains that be woven into the very fabric of our people

9 serving as a prerequisite for fulfilling the – as one person with one heart”. This in collective tenets of the Torah. contrast to all other encampments in the Throughout our history, though we’ve midbar where Bnei Yisrael argued. faced existential persecution on many What specifically about their time at Har occasions, it is rare that we’ve faced an Sinai motivated Am Yisrael to subjugate enemy who has subtly tore at the their differences and come together as one communal fabric that binds us together and – the acceptance of the Torah? the infrastructure that has enabled us to Rav Yeshaya Zimmerman suggests there persevere. For example, Haman, and are two types of experiences that can similarly Hitler, sought to exterminate the inspire a person to overcome his own Jewish people entirely. The Y’vanim of desires and even his needs so that he can Chanuka fame endeavored to eradicate our devote himself to something far greater. faith. Never have we been forcefully The first is the influence of a great person. isolated from each other, each Jew from The strength of that person’s character another. In fact, just the opposite as in incites those around him to follow in his many instances we were confined together, footsteps, regardless of their previously such as in the ghettos of the 1930’s and identified agendas. At Har Sinai, Am early 1940’s. Yisrael was to be in the presence of G-d – Today, we are facing a subtle, faceless what greater character could there possibly enemy. While we are distracted by the be? health and economic impacts of the virus The second experience is the perception of and its global response, COVID-19 has the a great truth. Hereto, what greater potential to pose an existential threat to perception of truth could there be than that our nation like never seen before. By of the Torah? The Maharal, in his work, the forcing us into seclusion, the virus has “Nesivos Olam”, articulated that the begun to uproot the tangible and universe was created according to the fundamental perpetuating force that is at mandate of the Torah. Planets, gravity, the very core of our nationhood – our electrodynamics, the nature of the cell, and communal interactions. Whether it be daily energy all follow the principles and laws laid minyanim, face-to-face chavrusa learning, out in the Torah. The Gemara in Masesches hachnasas orchim, widespread bikur cholim Shabbos (87b) points out that the universe visits, communal influence on increased was created for the sake of the sixth day – Torah observance, or even shidduch dating the sixth of Sivan – when the Torah would and simchas, these are the scaffolding that be given. have maintained our community for While the effects of the Coronavirus may thousands of years, but yet were essentially have removed the “trappings” of Jewish quashed in an instant just after Purim a few communal life, many distractions of months ago. everyday life have also been similarly Upon arriving at Har Sinai, “Yisrael minimized or removed. Thus, as Jewish encamped there opposite the mountain” families across the globe have been (Shemos 19:2). Rashi hones in on the use of quarantined at home, we’ve been able to the singular(1) to describe the encampment distinguish between and reflect upon the of the Jews, saying, “k’ish ehad, b’lev ehad noise of contemporary society and the

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Torah values that we hold dear. Without This sixth of Sivan, let us return to our daily commutes, we’ve been able to Sinaitic roots and metaphorically gather at dedicate more time to regular Torah study. the foot of the mountain, to recapture the The mass global proliferation of Torah over experience when we, Am Yisroel, stood as the internet has exploded in response. Our one person with one heart, k’ish echad b’lev community has grown hungry to return to echad, in the presence of G-d and his daven with a Minyan, while in the interim Torah. Emboldened by that strength, we’ve realized how meaningful our together, we will defeat this faceless davening itself can be. Our family enemy. relationships have been strengthened. These are just a few examples of how we’ve Based on Divrei Torah learned from my each grown closer to HaKadosh Baruch Hu Rebbe, Rabbi Ben-Zion Rand, in his sefer, and have strived to perceive the Torah’s “Birkas Moadecha, A Yom Tov Digest” greater truth. (Feldheim, 2019). When we are all, individually and collectively, able to focus on that greater truth - the Torah and our underlying (1) The pasuk here uses the singular form “va’yichen – and he encamped”, whereas earlier in the same purpose in life of growing closer to pasuk the plural form was used to describe Bnei HaKadosh Baruch Hu - we are able to Yisrael’s actions: “va’yisu – and they journeyed”, overcome both the absence of our “va’ya’vo’u – and they arrived”, “va’ya’cha’nu – and they encamped” supportive communal infrastructure and the devastating impacts of the Coronavirus.

Megillat Ruth- A Story About How We React to our Circumstances Ilana Goldschein

Megillat Ruth is a story of ethical dilemmas. but choose to respond to them in opposite Its message surrounds how different people ways. react to the circumstances in which they Elimelech responds to the famine in Beit find themselves. Several of the characters Lechem, an ironic name for a city without seem to serve as foils for one another- Boaz bread, by leaving. Rashi tells us that can be seen as a foil to Elimelech and also a Elimelech was a rich man, but as people foil to Ploni Almoni. Ruth can be seen as a approached him for help, he not only foil to Orpah. Each of these sets of ignores their pleas, but he even skips town- characters are met with similar situations, and for this he was punished. Leaders

11 should not flee in times of crisis. That much despite that both Machlon and Kilyon have should have been obvious. By contrast, died, leaving Ruth and Orpah as widows. Boaz was a landowner who was generous, allowing the poor to come and collect fallen Ruth and Orpah also react completely stems of wheat in his field. differently to their similar circumstances. Orpah responds by returning to Moav, Boaz also deigns to speak to his workers, while Ruth decides to stay with Naomi. It calling out to them “HaShem Imachem,” says “v’Rut davka bah”- “And Ruth held fast “G-d be with you,” and as all B’nei Akiva to her”- the word “davka” gives us the chanichim know well, the workers answer image of sticking like glue, devek, back to him: “Yevarechechah HaShem,” emphasizing Ruth’s resolute decision to be “G-d should bless you.” Boaz also asks a Jew, and to remain loyal to her mother-in- “L’mi Hanaarah Hazot?” “To whom is this law, Naomi. young woman?” Yael Ziegler interprets the Iben Ezra’s explanation that Boaz is What lessons can we learn from these implying that if she is married, Ruth looks character comparisons? During Corona and neglected, as she is forced to fend for quarantine, we have all been dealt with a herself. David Hamelech, a descendant of set of challenges as we face a new reality. Boaz and Ruth, has a similar type of An important theme is that although we humanitarian concern for an abandoned cannot control what is going on around us slave who had not eaten in three days, in in the world, we can control our response to Shmuel Alef Perek Lamed. David asks the what is going on. Do we become hardened Ish Mitzri “L’mi Ata,” again with the same and hide away like Elkana, or do we type of concern for the immoral treatment embrace community and seek ways to help of someone being neglected who cannot and connect with our family and friends like fend for himself or herself, regardless of Boaz? Do we run from our problems like what nation that person comes from. For Orpah, or do we run toward the challenge David and his ancestor Boaz, ethical and immerse ourselves in creative behavior is second nature. solutions, like Ruth? We must take the example of Boaz and Ruth who both took a Boaz is also a foil to Ploni Almoni- the chance with an eye toward the future. Their closer relation to Ruth’s husband Machlon union resulted in David HaMelech and who had the first duty to redeem and marry ultimately someday, Mashiach Ben David. Ruth as a widow in the family. However, With that example in our minds, we must Ploni passes on the opportunity for the take heart, borrow from their courage and mitzvah of helping to continue the line- forge ahead with hope and community.

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Megilas Ruth: A Relevant Story Meyer Graff (shared by my sister, Malka Ita Rubenstein)

Why do we read Megilas Ruth on pity towards her mother-in-law, Naomi. Shavuos? Many answers are given to Rather, by accompanying Naomi to this question: Eretz Yisrael, she showed her tremendous commitment to the Jewish 1. The story of Ruth becoming a convert Nation. takes place at “the beginning of the barley harvest” (Ruth 1:22) and at “the The story of Ruth superficially looks like end of the wheat harvest” (Ruth 2:23). a chain of natural happenings one This time refers to and includes the evolving from the other, yet in the end it holiday of Shavuos, also called Chag shows the inscrutable hand of Hashem’s Ha’asif, the holiday of collecting the plan. The Navi says “There is no chance wheat harvest. happening in this world; whatever 2. Just as Matan Hatorah, the giving of the happens is caused by Hashem” (Samuel Torah, inaugurated the birth of the 2:16). Megilas Ruth serves as a clear Jewish people because at that time they illustration for the marvelous ways officially entered into a holy covenant which Hashem leads man towards his with God, so too, Megilas Ruth tells how destiny. Ruth chooses to glean in Boaz’s Ruth miraculously and spontaneously field (2:3); and her decision ends up entered into this same covenant with causing the birth of David Hamelech. Hashem. The last few verses of Megilas Ruth 3. The Talmud in Yerushalmi (Chagigah trace the genealogy of David Hamelech, 2:3) states that Shavuos is the specifically the last sentence of Megilas traditional birthday and Yahrzheit of Ruth, which continues with the David Hamelech. Therefore, Megilas delineation of Ruth’s descendants and Ruth, the story of the ancestry of David ends with the momentous birth of Hamelech is read on Shavuos. David.

Although Ruth was the daughter of the As mentioned, David Hamelech king of Moav, she is regarded as the descended from Ruth and Boaz and protype of the righteous convert. When from David Hamelech’s seed will come Naomi tried to dissuade Ruth from Moshiach – the time for eternal bliss accompanying her, Ruth replied and Joy on earth. We hope that “Wherever you go, I will go, wherever Moshiach will come speedily in our you lodge, I will lodge and your people days. will be my people and your God will be

my God.” Ruth did not say this out of

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Remembering Sinai Rabbi David Mahler

Memory is a necessary part of a meaningful are listed after Shacharit in many of our life. Additionally, it is an integral part of siddurim. It is not enough to simply recall many mitzvot. It is the backbone of many of the event but rather the memory of the our commandments and a necessary event must be a catalyst for experiencing component in many of their fulfillment. them. Webster’s Dictionary defines memory as “the power or process of reproducing or Included in the Shesh Zechirot is the recalling what has been learned and requirement to remember Ma’amad Har retained especially through associative Sinai, that we received the Torah at Mount mechanisms”. This seems correct yet Rav Sinai. The basis for this are the pesukim in Soloveitchik explains that truthfully, in Sefer Devarim, “Only beware and guard essence, there are two types of memory: yourself carefully lest you forget the things intellectual and experiential. your eyes have seen, lest they stray from your heart all the days of your life, and you We will focus on experiential memory. The are to make them known to your children Rav writes, “In order to understand what and to your children’s children – the day experiential memory is, we must recognize you stood before Hashem, your G-D, at that there are two kinds of memory. The Sinai” (4:9-10). first is an intellectual memory which mechanically recalls and assembles factual There are a myriad of approaches as to the data. The other memory recalls rationale of remembering the scene at Sinai experiences by evoking the feelings of the and the Matan Torah experience. More past event. Judaism insisted that Jews acutely, there are a few which, when recall not only the factual events of the applied appropriately, can serve as past, but that in addition the experiences of tremendous Chinuch lessons. the past retain their vigor undiminished despite the passage of time. Whatever was Kedushat Levi horrible and frightening should be The Kedushat Levi (Sefer Zichronot) writes remembered as horrible and frightening, that the purpose of this mitzvah is to make no matter how much time has elapsed us constantly aware of the abundant love since the event transpired. The memory of Hashem has for the Jewish people. He gave what once was therapeutic and redemptive the Torah to Klal Yisrael alone and it is should forever possess those qualities. In exclusively ours. Even though the angels short, when remembering the past, the Jew fought for it to be kept in heaven and not relives the event as if it were a present given to anyone else for fear of its reality.” (Shiurei HaRav, p. 127) desecration, Hashem insisted that it should be given to us. The Magen Avraham (O.C. 60) writes that there are 6 specific historic events that a This idea can assist in understanding why Jew must recall each day. These 6 mitzvot Hashem waited generations for the Torah

14 to be given. According to the Semak, Our children will imbibe the level of Hashem deliberately waited for other Chashivat HaTorah we create in our homes. civilizations to develop, other nations and If the school has one level and our homes a systems of belief to be actualized, so that different one, our children might be off the Torah could be given to Klal Yisrael as kilter. Learning Torah, valuing people who our exclusive heritage. learn and live Torah is something that is not preached but practiced. Our children must It is crucial our children feel that we have hear us engage in Torah conversations, been given something precious. The Torah must be made aware when we leave the is truly a gift and that idea must permeate house to go and learn and must hear us our homes. We are fortunate and lucky to speak with reverence about people who have received the love and attention of make Torah their highest priority. Hashem. Our children, and ourselves, need to hear the message that Hashem loves Rav Yaakov Emden every Jew, and because He loves you, He In his siddur, Rav Yaakov Emden, writes wants you to learn Torah and perform that the purpose of Zechirat Ma’amad Har mitzvot. Our world should not be hearing, if Sinai is to recall the feeling of complete you learn Torah and perform mitzvot, unity Klal Yisrael experienced as they stood Hashem will love you. ready to accept the Torah. At the end of davening each morning, before we begin Pachad Yitzchak our day, mingling and interacting with all Rav Hutner (Shavuos, Ma’amar #8), in different types of people, we remind addition to the aforementioned pesukim ourselves and request from Hashem, to from Devarim, quotes the mishna in Pirkei rekindle in our hearts that special Avot which seems to learn from the pasuk experience of love which each Jew felt for that there is a prohibition to never forget his fellow Jew at the foot of the mountain. one’s Torah. Essentiall, Rav Hutner writes, We hope and pray that we will be able to the idea behind remembering Har Sinai is regain that unity. This was a unique and the acknowledgement that Torah is one’s profound type of achdut that other nations top priority and must be the most and groups rarely, if ever, experience. important part of one’s life. Torah is the most vital part of our lives and people never May we be zoche to raise families where forget those things that are most important each child internalizes that he/she is to them. Generally, when we do not place uniquely cherished by Hashem, where the value on something, we forget about it. The valued currency is menschlichkeit and Torah opposite should be true with Torah. knowledge, and where harmony and Therefore, Zechirat Ma’amad Har Sinai and solidarity among Klal Yisrael is a cultivated the issur of forgetting one’s learning, stress and preserved. the same idea, that of the eminence of Torah in our lives.

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Shavuos – Every Day is a Holy Day Ari Mark

One of the many unique contributions of Judaism is the idea of kedushas hazman – The holiday of Shavuos however seems to the sanctity of time. In the secular world be a striking anomaly. The Torah never time is merely an arbitrary mathematical prescribes a specific date for the holiday3 sequence used as a tool of measurement and there are no ritual obligations. The but contains no inherent substance. In Torah states that one is to count seven Judaism however time has essence and weeks from “when the sickle is first put in sanctity1. The sanctity of time is most the standing crop” (Dvarim 16:9-10). The evident in the context of the Jewish simple reading implies that the holiday is calendar and specifically Shabbos and Yom not contingent on any specific date or time Tov. First and foremost, it finds its halachic but rather on an agricultural event that can expression in the prohibition of labor- issur vary. This verse is somewhat clarified by an melacha2. It also finds expression in unique earlier verse that states that the count ritual obligations which are invested with begins “from the morrow of the rest day, sanctity and meaning on specific dates and from the day when you bring the Omer.” at specific times. The obligation to eat (Vayikra 23:15). This verse also fails to cite a Matza is no different than eating crackers specific date4 however our Sages teach that unless it happens to be the 15th of Nissan. it refers to the second day of Pesach5. They Sitting in the Sukkah is simply sitting under also teach6 that the count begins after the a pergola unless it happens to be the 15th of barley grain is harvested for the Omer Tishrei. Blowing the shofar is blowing a offering which takes place on the second horn unless it is the first of Tishrei. These night of Pesach, once again connecting the otherwise mundane activities have no holiday to an agricultural event. The spiritual significance until they become requirement to harvest the barely grain for invested with sanctity and meaning on the the Omer is so critical that it supersedes the specific dates prescribed by the Torah. The general prohibition against labor on various obligations engendered by different Shabbos and Yom Tov7. time periods and holidays throughout the year inform and express the unique essence Shavuos is also unique in terms of ritual and personality of those days. obligations. The only obligation associated

1 Rav Soloveitchik has a magnificent shiur on this 4 This is the basis of the famous dispute between the topic which can be found on Yutorah.com – Sages and the Tzaddukim and Baitusim regarding the https://www.yutorah.org/sidebar/lecture.cfm/767746/ day to celebrate Shavuos. See Menachos 65a. rabbi-joseph-b-soloveitchik/kedushas-hayom- 5 See Rashi Vayikra 23:15 and Menachos 65a. shabbos-yom-tov-purim-chanuka/. See also Taanis 6 See Rashi Dvarim 16:9. See Rambam Hil Tmidim 29a. Umusafim chapter 7. 2 Arachin 10b 7 See Rambam ibid. 3 See Vayikra chapter 23 and Bamidbar chapters 28- 29 where the Torah states the different dates of all of the holidays.

16 with the holiday of Shavuos is the offering fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal- of the Shtei Halechem which marks the first offering to Hashem. From your dwelling wheat harvest8. Hence the Torah refers to places you shall bring bread that shall be the holiday of Shavuos as Chag Hakatzir waive, two loaves made of two tenth-ephah, (Festival of the Harvest), Chag HaAsif they shall be fine flower, they shall be baked (Festival of the Ingathering), and Yom leavened; first-offerings to Hashem.” HaBikkurim (Day of the First Fruits). This is (Vayikra 23:15-17) in stark contrast to the other holidays that are rich with ritual obligations beyond their “On the day of the first fruits, when you offer service in the Beis Hamikdash. a new meal-offering to Hashem on your Festival of Weeks, it shall be a holy Finally, although Shavuos is most famously convocation to you; you shall not perform known as the day that celebrates the giving any laborious work.“ (Bamidbar 28:26) of the Torah9 this theme is entirely absent from the Torah’s descriptions of the day. In “You shall count seven weeks for yourselves; fact, from the Torah’s perspective the day from when the sickle is first put to the is exclusively associated with the most standing crop shall you begin counting seven mundane of activities - farming and weeks. Then you shall observe the Festival of agriculture, the equivalent of going to work Weeks (Chag Hashavuos) for Hashem your in today’s parlance. The Torah’s God; the voluntary offerings that you give description, the time of its celebration, and should be commensurate with how much its only obligation exclusively celebrate Hashem your God has blessed you.” (Dvarim agricultural accomplishments10. 16:9-10) This begs the question - what is the “And the Holiday of the Harvest (Chag character, essence, and sanctity of the day Hakatzir) , of the first fruits of your labor that considering that what is generally thought you sow in the field; and the Feast of of as a spiritual and sacred day, when the Ingathering (Chag HaAsif) at the end of the Jewish people received the Torah, does not Year, when you gather in your work from the seem to be very spiritual and sacred? field” (Shmos 23:16) Perhaps this can be understood based on a “And you shall observe the Festival of Weeks famous passage in the Talmud that with the first offering of the wheat harvest; compares the Torah to the days of the year and the Festival of the Harvest shall be at and the limbs of the body – the changing of the year.” (Shmos 34:22) “Rabbi Simlai expounded: 613 mitzvos were “You shall count for yourselves from the states to Moshe, 365 prohibitions morrow of the rest day, from the day when corresponding to the number of days in the you bring the Omer of the waiving seven solar year and 248 positive commandments weeks, they shall be complete. Until the corresponding to the limbs of the body” morrow of the seventh week you shall count, (Talmud Bavli Makkos 23b)

8 See Rashi Bamidbar 28:26 10 It also marks the beginning of the Bikkurim 9 See Pesachim 68b celebration. See Mishna Bikkurim 1:3

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This theme is evident in the Torah’s focus Rav Moshe Twersky Z”L HY”D explained on the mundane activities of farming and that Rav Simali analogized the Torah to the harvesting because it is precisely in the days of the year and the limbs of the body most mundane everyday activities that the because the Torah and its mitzvos infuse Torah provides the greatest opportunity to meaning and sanctity into the totality of elevate and sanctify. However, the the human experience. Every moment and agricultural aspects of the holiday are every action are governed and impacted by exclusive to the land of Israel13. There is the principles and values of the Torah. also a unique rabbinic halacha in the There is no aspect of human experience diaspora that reflects this theme which ignored by the Torah. From the minutia of emerges specifically from the fact that how one gets dressed and ties their shoes Shavuos is not associated with a specific to life altering decisions of defining death. date. During the times of the Beis War, relationships, business, food- literally Hamikdash new months were established every aspect of the human experience is every 30th or 31st day based on eyewitness impacted by the Torah and its mitzvos. accounts of the new moon14. Once these Judaism rejects the notion that sanctity and accounts were confirmed by the Beis Din righteousness are reserved for select HaGadol in Yerushalyim the new moon was individuals, places, or times. The Torah established, and messengers were sent teaches that sanctity and righteousness can throughout Israel and the nearby diaspora be found in every individual, every action, communities to inform them of the new and every moment of every day11. month15. This was critical in order to establish the correct dates for observing Perhaps there is no specific date or ritual the holidays16. However, since the obligation for celebrating the gift of messengers could not reach the entire receiving the Torah because it is a privilege Jewish diaspora prior to the holidays, of every moment and action of our lives. diaspora communities were required to Shavuos celebrates elevating the ordinary observe a second day of Yom Tov due to and mundane to extraordinary and the uncertainty regarding the date of the sanctified. Shavuos celebrates the holiday. This decree is known as Yom Tov opportunity to turn everyday into a holy Sheini shel Galios17. Even after the Jewish day12. calendar was permanently established, and

11 See Akeidat Yitzchak Vayikra 23 and Aruch applies in diaspora communities. See also Ritva to Hashulchan OC 4924:2 Sukkah 43a and Rosh Hashana 18a who rules this 12 See Rabbi Eliezer’s opinion in Pesachim 68b with way as well. However, the Rambam Hil Kiddush commentary of the Beis Haleivi to Yisro who has a Hachodesh 5:9-11 assumes that Yom Tov Sheini beautiful explanation that further supports this applies anywhere that the messengers did not reach general idea. or did not travel to because there were no Jewish 13 See Rambam Hil Tmidim Umusafim 8:2 and communities there are the time. According to the Rambam Hil Bikkurim 2:1 Rambam there were diaspora communities that were 14 See Rambam Hil Kiddush Hachodesh Ch1 near Israel that the messengers reached that do not 15 See Rambam Hil Kiddush Hachodesh 2:8 and 3:9 observe Yom Tov Sheini and there are communities 16 See Mishna Rosh Hashana 1:3 currently in Israel that were not settled at that time 17 See Rambam Hil Kiddush Hachodesh 3:11. See and therefore they would be required to observe Yom Shulchan Aruch OC 496 who rules that this law only Tov Sheini currently. Although normative law is like

18 there was no longer any doubt regarding rooted in the Talmud that the Torah was the correct date of holidays, the obligation actually given to the Jewish people on the to observe Yom Tov Sheini in the diaspora 51st day of their count after leaving Egypt. remained as a rabbinic commemoration of He questions how we can celebrate the the custom of previous generations18. receiving of the Torah on the 50th day when Despite the fact that the initial uncertainty in fact it was given on the 51st. He suggests never applied to Shavuos because it is that perhaps the Torah was purposely given determined based on the seven-week to the Jewish people on what would be the count from the second night of Pesach, the second day of Shavuos to provide a biblical Sages nevertheless applied the decree of hint for the rabbinic decree of Yom Tov Yom Tov Sheini to Shavuos19. Sheini22. According to the Magen Avraham It is based on this that the Chasam Sofer20 the Torah was not actually received on the ruled that Yom Tov Sheini of Shavuos must day mentioned by the Torah as a holiday be treated more stringently then Yom Tov but on a regular every day, and it serves as Sheini of the other holidays. He argues that the original source for the obligation of the rabbinic institution of Yom Tov Sheini Yom Tov Sheini, the obligation to observe a on Shavuos was never based on uncertainty secular day in a sanctified manner. or doubt rather it was an absolute rabbinic Ultimately, Shavuos celebrates the day the decree to observe an additional day of Yom Jewish people were given the privilege and Tov. What emerges is quite remarkable. responsibility of sanctifying every moment, The Sages in their infinite wisdom, and I and every action, of every day23 by fulfilling would suggest with the general theme of God’s Torah. In doing so we fulfill God’s Shavuos in mind, included an absolute promise to us on the eve of that great day rabbinic obligation on Shavuos to take an to be His sanctified nation - “And now if you ordinary, mundane, every day and listen well to My voice and observe My transform it into an extraordinary, covenant, you will be a treasure to Me from sanctified, holy holiday. That is exactly among the nations for all the earth is mine. what receiving the Torah and Shavuos You will be to Me a kingdom of ministers celebrate. In fact, the Magen Avraham21 and a sanctified nation.” (Shmos 19:5-6) suggests based on a complex calculation

the Shulchan Aruch and Ritva there are those who act 23 Remarkably Shavuos is the only biblical holiday stringently in consideration for the opinion of the that can fall out on different dates. When new months Rambam. See Piskei Teshuvos V5 P328-329. were established on the 30th or 31st day of the 18 See Rambam Hil Kiddush Hachodesh 5:4-6 and previous month based on eyewitness accounts of the Beitza 4b. new moon it was possible for Shavuos to fall on 19 See Ritva to Rosh Hashana 18a and Rambam Hil either the 5th, 6th, or 7th of Sivan. The only other Kiddush Hachodesh 3:12. holiday in the Jewish calendar that can fall out on 20 See Responsa Chasam Sofer OC 1:145, YD 2:250, different dates is the rabbinic holiday of Purim. See and Chiddushim Beitza 4b. Megillah 2a. This is particularly fascinating in light 21 OC 494 of the fact that the Talmud teaches that Shavuos 22 See Chasam Sofer to Beitza 4b where he suggests celebrates the acceptance of the written Torah and that the Magen Avraham’s hint also relates to a Purim celebrates the acceptance of the oral Torah. permanent institution of Yom Tov Sheini. What he See Shabbos 88a. Perhaps this is meant to highlight terms Yom Tov Sheini shel Geula. this very idea.

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Boaz: Progenitor of Moshiach By, Sheryl Neuman, MD, based on Ruth From Alienation to Monarchy, by Yael Ziegler

The book of Ruth (18-4:22) ends with a instituted that one should inquire of family tree that starts with Peretz (a son of another’s welfare in Hashem’s name (Ruth Yehuda), continues through Boaz, and ends Rabba 4:15). There is a suggestion that he with David. Although the text ends here, would frequently check that his reapers our tradition teaches that it is from this were working according to halacha, leaving family that Moshiach will ultimately come. the corner of the field, and not picking up Thus, Boaz is situated in the center of an fallen sheaths. He also shows a strong work august lineage. All the way back, Yehuda’s ethic, visiting his fields daily, doing his own tribe had long been singled out for winnowing, and sleeping on his threshing leadership. Boaz’s grandfather Nachshon is floor to guard his harvest. the famous individual who leapt into the Kindness is another key trait that Boaz sea and caused it to split. Over the course displays, especially when he learns of the of the Megillah, Boaz clearly establishes his selfless way Ruth treated her mother-in- own place in his family tree and law, Naomi. Much impressed with Ruth’s demonstrates his worthiness to be the modesty, Boaz tells her to come only to his ancestor of Moshiach. field, and instructs the reapers to drop Rashi claims that Boaz is the judge Ivzan more of their sheaths for her to glean. He (Bava Batra 91a), a leading sage of his even invites Ruth to dine with the paid generation (Ruth Raba 5:15), but we first reapers, completely validating Ruth in a meet Boaz when Ruth comes to glean in his public fashion. Moabites were usually field. The Zohar says that the book of Ruth shunned by Israeli society for their should have opened with Boaz since stinginess and unkind ways, having Hashem provides the cure before the declined B’nei Israel’s request for food and catastrophe. When everything looks bleak water after leaving Egypt. By singling Ruth and forlorn for Naomi and Ruth, Boaz out and addressing her by name, Boaz heroically steps in to provide not only helps her gain respectability and sustenance, but also continuity of the acceptance in her new country. family name. Described as an ish gibor Yet another striking quality, Boaz displays hayil, Boaz displays courage and wisdom as almost superhuman strength by restraining a man who stayed on his land during the himself when Ruth comes to seduce him at famine, in sharp contrast to his uncle his threshing floor at night. Helping to fight Elimelech, who fled to Moav. his natural impulses, he immediately takes Boaz has several characteristics that make an oath to bind himself to the decision not him a suitable candidate to carry on the to touch her. The Gemara claims that he seed of Moshiach, most notably his piety displayed even greater restraint than Yosef and humility. As a wealthy landowner, did in resisting the advances of Potiphar’s Boaz greets his reapers “G-d bless you” to wife (Sanhedrin 19b). Furthermore, he sees which they respond, “May G-d bless you.” only the good in Ruth’s actions – the fact The Midrash says that Boaz and his court that she is willing to marry an 80 year and

20 risk her reputation for the sake of family Seeing how Boaz dives into the task at continuity. Boaz shows he is a man who hand, Hashem uses him as His agent to does not shirk responsibility and wants to provide food and fertility, both of which do the right thing. He goes through the are considered under divine control. Boaz is proper channels to give his uncle Peloni an individual who shows tremendous Almoni (aka Tov) the opportunity to chesed, a trait Hashem cherishes. Man’s redeem Ruth, but Peloni Almoni will not chesed is meant to model and act as the chance ruining his inheritance marrying a vessel for Hashem’s chesed—notably Moabite. Boaz on the other hand does not bringing Moshiach to us so that we can hesitate to do his duty. fulfill our ultimate destiny to have Clearly, Boaz has a major role to play in this Hashem’s present felt in the world. story, but Hashem’s hand can be seen As we have seen, Boaz clearly deserves his guiding the situation to allow him to place in the lineage of Moshiach: he is actualize his potential. There are three someone who has stellar character traits, hashacha pratis situations: first, Ruth just brings up those around him and steps up “happens” to pick his field to glean from, when the situation demands. All these Boaz just “happens” to come to his field make him uniquely suited to be the when Ruth is there, and lastly Boaz forefather of Moshiach. “happens” to run into Peloni Almoni as soon as he needs him. Hashem sets the scene, and Boaz gallantly plays his part.

Seudat Yom Tov Sarah Proops

Whether a meaty- feast or a dairy buffet, be primarily dedicated to Torah study and there is an obligation to enjoy a Seudat eat only enough to avoid hunger. Yom Tov, a festive meal, in honor and in Nevertheless, regarding Shavuot even he celebration of Shavuot. The Gemmara in agrees that one must indulge in a Yom Tov Pesachim discusses how we should allocate seudah since “it is the day in which the time on any Yom Tov between Torah study Torah was given” (Pesachim 68b). and eating. The halacha ultimately follows Rabbi Yehoshua that on all Yom Tovim What special significance is attributed to there is a mitzvah to both study and eat Shavuot that even for the opinion of Rabbi festive meals. However according to Rabbi Eliezer we are obligated in a festive meal? Eliezer, on Yom Tov a person’s day should

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We might think that on the contrary Hachnassat Orchim and sharing Divrei Shavuot, the day on which the Torah was Torah. received, we would be commanded to study more and eat less than on other Shavuot serves to remind us of the primary Chaggim. What then is the connection purpose of the Torah and the ultimate life between Matan Torah and food? goal of a Jew. It is at this time that we should ask ourselves “Do I allow the Torah A simple answer is that we enjoy a to permeate all areas of my life or do I keep celebratory meal to show how grateful we my religion separate from my day to day are to receive the Torah. Taking part in a routine?”. The lesson of the Shavuot meal festive meal expresses our true joy at is that while intense Torah study is crucial, receiving the Torah, hence why there is an obligation to eat. signified by the custom of Tikun Leil, to learn all night on Erev Shavuot, our primary Another approach found in the Achronim is goal must be to draw the Torah out of the that our eating and drinking on the day of Bet Midrash and shuls and bring it into our Matan Torah is more than just a statement homes. of celebration but really an expression of a In the past few months of isolation, we fundamental Torah principle of how we are to live our lives. The message conveyed in have had to live this principal more than the obligation to eat on Shavuot, is that the ever before. Our homes have become our entire purpose of the Jews receiving of the shuls, schools and places of learning. If we Torah, is to apply it here in the physical allow it to, this Shavuot can serve as an world. The Torah is not merely an ancient opportunity to evaluate and ensure that story book with a detailed account of our Torah values and halacha guide our homes, ancestry, but it serves as a guidebook to decisions and life choices and how we live. enable us to live life in the most meaningful May the lesson of the Seudat Shavuot serve and spiritual way possible. Therefore when as a reminder that the Torah was given to we eat the Yom Tov meal we have the be applied here in the physical world. We opportunity to both fulfill the practical must be proactive in all areas of our lives to halakhot related to the meal, such as the help develop our relationship with God and laws of Kashrut and Brachot, as well as infusing the meal with Torah in a number of to live a more meaningful, spiritual, other ways. For example, ensuring that we purpose filled existence. refrain from speaking Lashon Hara,

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United For Matan Torah David Schultz

etc., are all ”,ל ֖א ָׁ֥ ת ִּרְ צָּ ֖ח“ ”,כַבֵָׁ֥ד אֶ ת־אָּבִּ ֖ יָך וְאֶ ת־אִּמֶ ָָּ֑ך“ commandments directed by Hashem to the מתן תורה If you look carefully at the story of .as a group בני ישראל you will notice that the individual, rather than to ,פרשת יתרו found in discussing the story go back and forth פסוקים in the singular What is going on here? Why does the בני ישראל between referring to ?language of the Torah veer back and forth פרק ,and referring to them in the plural. First states as follows: I believe that by analyzing the changes י׳ט פסוק ב carefully, and looking at both Rashi and the Ramban, we can learn some very important וַיִּסְעּ֣ומֵרְפִּ ידִִּ֗ ים וַיָּבֹ֙אּוּ֙ מִּדְבַ ֣רסִּ ינַַ֔י וַ ַֽיַחֲנ֖ ּו בַמִּדְבָּ ָּ֑ר וַיִּ חַן־שָּ ָׁ֥ם יִּשְרָּאֵ ֖ל lessons about observance and treating נֶ ַָֽׁ֥גֶדהָּהָּ ר

other Jews, particularly during this unique ,וַיָּב ֹ֙ אּוּ֙ ,וַיִּסְע֣ ּו The Torah uses the plural words celebration of Shavuot. as they traveled בני ישראל to describe וַ ַֽיַחֲנ֖ ּו and

to ,ויחן ,to Sinai, but uses the singular word וַיִּחַן־שָּ ָׁ֥ ם “ In his commentary to the phrase .הר סיני encamped by בני ישראל describe how כְאִּ יש אֶחָּד בְ לֵב “ :Rashi states ,פרק י׳ט פסוק ב in ”יִּשְרָּאֵ ֖ל

הר סיני came before Hashem at בני ישראל – ”אֶחָּד Almost immediately thereafter, however, as if they were one person, with one heart. פסוקים the Torah reverts back to the plural. In Only when the Jewish people were united as when Hashem tells Moshe what to say to ,ד–ו one were they deserving of receiving the אַתֶ ם֣ רְ אִּ םיתֶַ֔ אֲשֶ ָׁ֥ ר “ :he says the following ,בני ישראל Torah. So too, we are deserving of הוְעַתִָּ֗ אִּ ם־שָּמ֤ ֹועַ תִּשְמְ עּוּ֙ בְ ק י לִַּ֔ ּושְ מַרְ תֶ ֖ ם אֶ ת־“ ”עָּשִּ֖ י יתִּ לְמִּצְרָּ ָּ֑ יִּם Hashem’s favor when we put our differences וְאַתֶ ם ֶּ֧ תִּהְ יּו־לִּ ִ֛י “ and ”בְרִּיתִָּּ֑י וִּהְ יִֹּ֙ םיתֶ לִּ ֤י סְ גֻלָּהּ֙ מִּ כָּל־הָּ ֣עַמִַּ֔ ים aside and behave as if we are united as one. ,in the plural בני ישראל ,You ”.מַמְלֶ ָׁ֥כֶת כ הֲנִּ ֖ים וְג֣ ֹוי קָּדָּ֑ ֹוש saw what I did to Egypt and if you, in the If so, why does the Torah then revert to the plural, listen to me and observe my plural when Hashem tells Moshe what to say covenant, you will be for me a kingdom of I believe the Torah is teaching us ?בני ישראל to priests and a holy nation. another important lesson. In addition to

coming before Hashem in a united manner, עשרת When Hashem finally announces the all of us, in the plural, have to listen to however, the Torah ,הר סיני at בני ישראל to הדברות Hashem and observe his commandments. It states פרק כ פסוק ב . reverts back to the singular is not enough for us to be united as one if we as follows: do not follow Hashem’s covenant. Only if

we do so may we be considered a kingdom אָּ נכִּ ֖יּ֙יְהוָּ֣ה אֹלהֶַָּ֑֔יָךאֲשֶֶּ֧ ר הֹוצֵאתִּ ִ֛ יָך מֵאֶ ָׁ֥רֶ ץ מִּצְרַ ֖ יִּם מִּבֵ֣ ֵָּׁ֥֥֣ית .of priests and a holy nation עֲבָּדִּ ָּ֑ ים

I am Hashem, your [singular] G-d, who took But if we all have to follow Hashem’s you [singular] out of Egypt. The rest of the commandments in order to become a holy delivered in עשרת הדברות commandments are also delivered in the nation, why are the the singular rather than the plural? In his ”,זָּכִֹ֛ור֩ אֶ ת־יָֹֹׁ֥֙וםהַשַבָָּּ֖֖֜ ת לְקַ דְשִ֗ ֹו“ :singular form the Ramban ,פרק כ פסוק ב commentary to

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were involved in בני ישראל ,הר סיני explains that the commandments were besides .that complaints and arguments בני ישראל delivered in the singular to warn each person who fails to follow these commandments will be punished, and that Why does Rashi add this point? Wouldn’t it person will not be able to avoid punishment have been sufficient for Rashi to explain that means like one man with one heart? I ”ויחן“ who בני ישראל by hiding behind the majority of are following the commandments. In other believe that the second half of Rashi is trying words, what the Ramban is teaching us is to convey a profound lesson. It is very easy that although all of us have to listen to for a nation or a group to be united and act Hashem and observe his commandments, as one when facing a special occasion, such Likewise, it is easier for a nation .מתן תורה we each have an individual responsibility to as we will not become a holy or a group to be unified when it is facing a—מצות perform the nation if each of us drops the ball and traumatic experience such as today’s instead relies on the remaining majority to COVID-19 pandemic. Our real test comes at follow Hashem’s commands. the other times—can we similarly be united and act as one when we are involved in our As the above discussion sets out, the Torah simple day-to-day lives and not living מתן תורה goes back and forth between the singular through extraordinary events such as and the plural to teach us three everlasting or a pandemic? lessons about unity, collective obligation, and individual responsibility. Perhaps the Our current pandemic will end sometime in most important lesson we can derive at this the near future, and we hopefully will be time, however, is the one that appears to me able to return to our “normal” lives. The to be most hidden. lesson we should learn is that, just as we are attempting to be united during this year’s ,מתן תורה Although many of us are familiar with the unique celebration of Shavuot and so too must we all remain united members וַיִּחַן־שָּ ָׁ֥ ם “ first half of Rashi’s commentary on discussed above, we are less familiar of the Jewish people, observing Hashem’s ”יִּשְרָּאֵ ֖ל with the second half of the Rashi. Citing the Torah and mitzvot, once we are able to .resume our regular, everyday existence אֲבָּלשְ ראָּ כָּל :Mechilta, Rashi states as follows Rashi tells us that at all . הַחֲנִּיֹותבְתַרְ עֹומֹות ּובְמַ חֲֹלקֶת the other encampments in the desert

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The Two Loaves Daniel Silverman

This short d’var Torah is based on a of two loaves from the new wheat crop. translation done by Rabbi Binyomin Even the name of the Holiday in Parshat Ginsberg of a ma’amar by the Slonimer Pinchas (Bamidbar 28:26) is referred to by Rebbe, Rabbi Sholom Noam Berezovsky Hashem as Yom HaBikurim (the day of the z’tl, better known as the Nesivos Sholom. first “fruits” is a reference to the new wheat Born in Baranovich, Poland in 1911 with crop). Interestingly, these two loaves of yichus to the family of the first Slonimer Shavuot were leavened unlike ALL other Rebbe, he became a talmid at the Slonimer meal offerings during the year that were yeshiva, called Toras Chesed. He was close unleavened. So how is it possible that, just to, and was mentored by, the Yeshiva’s seven weeks after Pesach, when we tried to mashgiach (spiritual advisor), Rabbi Moshe eradicate all traces of Chametz and its Midner (who was a grandson of the 1st spiritually detrimental essence, are we now Slonimer Rebbe as well as a student of Rav celebrating it? Where’s the learning? Chaim Soloveitchik, aka The Brisker Rav). What’s going on? The Slonimer yeshiva was different from other chasidishe yeshivot in that they To begin our understanding of the deeper combined a Lithuanian style of learning message, we must realize that there is an (incisive and penetrating academic depth) underlying double meaning to the two with a joyful Chassidic approach. After the loaves. They represent the two areas of our devastation of the Holocaust, the Slonimer physical pursuits of pleasure: 1) Chassidim rebuilt in Israel through the gastronomical, and 2) physical (see Rashi efforts of Rabbi Shlom Noach. He was on Bereishit 39:6 where Potiphar protected appointed the 7th Slonimer Rebbe after his his “bread” from Yosef was actually a father in law’s passing in 1981. Rabbi reference to protecting his wife). By Sholom Noach was nifter in 2000, and his bringing the two loaves of bread as a son currently serves as the Slonimer Rebbe. sacrifice on Shavuot, Hashem is telling us that we have to elevate and consecrate the The Nesivos Sholom states that when you mundane – our physical desires – to a level think of Pesach, matzah is probably one of that we can receive the Torah on Har Sinai. the first things that pop into your mind. Similarly, for Sukkot, a Lulav and Esrog set. But what is the process to accomplish this When you think of Shavuot though, you difficult task of elevating the mundane? probably would be thinking of learning all There are only two ways: either abstinence night because of the giving of the Torah on (which is easier said than done), or Har Sinai. Yet, when you look at the engagement of the pleasure in a manner passage about Shavuot in Parshat Emor that transforms the experience. As Moshe (Vayikra 23:15-17), the most prominent said to Pharaoh in Shemot 10:26: we are aspect is actually the special meal offering taking our cattle with us to serve Hashem.

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The Nesivos Sholom says that cattle are Now, Bnei Yisrael could measure up to the really a reference to our various physical challenge of the loftier form of Avodah possessions and desires. (worship).

Were we ready for that head on challenge As the Nesivos Sholom says, on Shavuot, from the get-go? The answer is a the very essence and focus of Shavuot is resounding NO! In Mitzrayim, Bnei Yisrael embodied in the two loaves, because they were at the 49th level of tumah (impurity), encompass the principal of physical and at that point in time the ONLY way to pursuits that are elevated and consecrated begin a spiritual journey was to abstain in the service of Hashem. from chametz by G-d’s command. Gradually though, through the 7-week Through the learning of Torah and enjoying period of the Sefirah, they progressed in the physical pleasures of two loaves on our their development and were able to refine, table (and some delicious cheesecake), may purify and sanctify their essence. By we merit to welcome the coming of Shavuot, Bnei Yisrael were ready for not Moshiach, bimheira biyameinu. just an offering from a new grain (wheat as opposed to the barley Omer), but for a new type of offering – a Mincha Chadasha.

Matan Torah: Consent or Coercion By Alan Tsarovsky

The primary theme of Shavuot is celebrating events with the statement that the Jewish Am Yisrael’s receiving of the Torah and people actually made when accepting the accepting the obligation to fulfill all of its Torah, saying, “Naseh V’Nishma.”25 While Mitzvot. the Gemara describes the Jewish people’s acceptance as coerced, this pasuk indicates In describing this historically unique that they accepted the Mitzvot voluntarily. experience, the Gemara famously states that Hashem suspended Har Sinai over the Jewish people.24 Tosfos struggle with the inconsistency of this description of the

24 Shabbat 88a 25 Shemot 24:7

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In the Midrash Tanchuma,26 Rav Dimi express an increased appreciation for those attempts to resolve the same problem by that act, not because they are internally stating that the Jewish people said “Naaseh inspired to, but rather because they are V’Nishma” only in reference to the Torah externally directed to. Tosfos, addressing SheBichtav, the Written Torah, but not in the basis for this statement, note that when reference to the Torah Sh’BeAl Peh, the Oral there is an obligation present, a person is Torah. According to Rav Dimi, the Written inclined to worry about whether he will be Torah is more concise and substantially less able to accomplish the task at hand. difficult to understand. In contrast, the Oral However, one who is not obligated, if they Law contains vastly more detailed rules and so wish, can simply abandon the task. demands and therefore requires the Accordingly, overcoming the angst of compulsion of the hanging mountain. When possible failure and staying loyal to the examining specific Mitzvot such as Shabbat, performance of the Mitzvah merits a greater one may find Rav Dimi’s approach quite reward. intuitive. According to the Written Law, Shabbat is a day of rest which we are The Gemara and the Midrash are both required to guard (“Shamor”) and remember concerned that if a Jew accepts Mitzvot on a (“Zachor”), and on which we cannot perform purely voluntary basis, the acceptance is a general category of work called melacha. fragile and potentially unsustainable. Such a description sounds romantic and However, each addresses a different uplifting for the soul, an easy task to get element of the equation. For the Midrash, excited about initially. Yet, when one adds the focus is on the content of the actions the restrictive guidelines of the Oral Law, itself, whose complexity may be so suddenly we find our behavior so overwhelming, that a voluntary comprehensively governed that we cannot commitment alone is simply unsustainable. even open a package of food or pour a cup For the Gemara, the focus instead is on if of tea without consulting the Halacha. At the Mitzvah performer’s mental state. The this point it is easy to imagine the flames of flippant psyche of a person renders any act excitement quickly extinguished. Therefore, he voluntarily commits as fundamentally for the commitment to endure, the unreliable, since it is subject to their mountain was raised over their heads. individual whims. As Tosfos concluded, “he who has ‘bread in his basket’ can abandon it The question of voluntary performance of if he wishes.”28 In other words, if it is not Mitzvot is raised elsewhere in the Gemara. need or obligation motivating the action, Rebbi Hanina27 famously declares “Gadol then the option to abandon is ever present. ha-mitzuveh ve-oseh, me she-aino metzuveh ve-oseh – someone who is commanded to In light of this perspective, the account of perform a mitzvah and does so is greater the “hanging” mountain was necessary to than someone who performs the convey the entirety of the scene at Sinai. commandment without being obligated to The proclamation of “Naaseh” by itself was do so.” Through this statement, Chazal incomplete. It was spontaneous and

26 Noach 3:4 28 Kiddushin 31a 27 Kiddushin 31a

27 voluntary, and if so, perhaps it was Co-Rosh Yeshiva until the end of his life. He inherently fragile? The depiction of the noted that the idea of absolute obligation “hanging” mountain completes the picture must be built into our generation’s for us and shows us this was not the case. observance of Mitzvot.29 Where there is The external proclamation of “Naaseh” was obligation and commitment there is loyalty the reaction to the challenge of being and continuity. He did not live to see the offered the Torah. However, to understand current circumstances that have enveloped the motivation, Chazal gave us the other our lives, but what a historical testimony of side of the story. The description of a devotion we are making right now as we suspended Har Sinai conveys that Klal proudly fulfill our obligations as Jews, even Yisrael understood both the heavy weight of b’Hadrei Chadarim, in the privacy of our the Mitzvot (i.e. the content) and that they homes under no one’s watchful eye but the understood that they were responsible (i.e. Almighty’s alone. It is our personal obligated performers) to “prop” up the acceptance of the national expectations mountain with their Mitzvah performance. If placed upon the Jewish people in these they did not satisfy their obligation, then the trying times, which will forge yet another nation would have been destroyed under link in the chain that began at the the collapsed mountain. “suspended” Har Sinai and will end in the eventual redemption that we pray for each Rav Yehuda Amital, z”l, himself a survivor of and every day. the Shoah, arrived in Israel and inspiringly built Yeshivat Har Etzion where he served as

Gleaning Tidbits about Megillat Ruth Marsha Wasserman

This dvar Torah, entitled “Gleaning 1. What’s in a word? Tidbits”, is comprised of snippets, ideas I never encountered as I read and studied When the Megillah first introduces us to Megillat Ruth in the past. I hope you enjoy Naomi and Elimelech’s sons, Mahlon and them. Chag Shavuoth Sameach. Chillion, they are called “banav,” translated as “his sons.” This term is used three times. The fourth time that the Megillah mentions

29 Sichot of the Roshei Ha Yeshiva, Shavuot 5760

28 them, they are called “yeladeha,” her Naomi’s feeling of guilt for having deserted children. Why? The word “banav” has the her people. same shoresh (root) as “boneh,” “builder.” A son represents continuity of the family 3. What’s in the DNA? name and values, a builder of the family. In the beginning of the Megillah, Mahlon and In a midrash the Zohar says that the Chillion have the potential for perpetuating purpose of Megillat Ruth is to trace the their parents’ name. Once they marry the genealogy of King David, the great Moabite women, their Jewish lineage ends. grandson of Ruth and Boaz. Why did Ruth, They lose the potential to build. They a Moabite, merit having such a return to the state of childhood. (from descendent? Jewish women were forbidden Rabbi Moshe Bogomilsky, Torah.org) to marry Moabite men because : the Moabites had denied chessed to the Jews 2. What’s in a name? as they traveled from Egypt to Canaan, refusing them bread and water; the When Naomi returns to Bet Lechem and is Moabites led lives of sexual promiscuity. greeted by the crowd of women, she tells The Zohar suggests that Ruth is doing them to call her Mara instead of Naomi. teshuva for these injustices and Rashi says that when she left Bet Lechem immoralities. with Elimelech, she was “full” meaning that she was rich, had a husband, two sons, and Rabbi Avraham Wein in YUTorah draws was pregnant. She had been blessed. Her parallels between the stories of Ruth and name meant “pleasant.” The name “Mara” Lot. Although the Moabites were means “bitter.” However, that is when it is descended from Lot, Ruth’s standards are spelled with the letter “heh” at the end. The very different from Lot’s as explained Megillah is spelling it with an “aleph.” Why? below. Naomi left with 5 but is returning as one, alone, an “aleph.” (from Aliza Margolies, a. Lot’s uncle, Avraham, had told Lot Bais Yaakov High School in Chicago) to choose east or west but he chose to travel straight, to Sodom. What Professor Nechama Price in YUTorah attracted Lot to Sodom? Rashi says explores the idea that Naomi is an “aleph.” that Lot may have been running Why does Naomi persist in urging Ruth to from Hashem, attracted to the low return to her land, her family, her gods? morals of Sodom. Ruth, a Moabite Rather than being magnanimous, Naomi ‘s princess, comes from a similar persistence may be attributed to guilt society of low morals. Yet, she about having a Moabite daughter-in-law. refuses to return to that society. Until Naomi’s return, the “crowd” in Bet Instead, she is seeking Hashem. Lechem did not know that Elimelech had moved his family to enemy territory. When b. Lot had offered hospitality to Naomi returns, she proclaims that she is strangers as Avraham taught him to alone, even though Ruth is standing by her do. However, when the people of side. Ruth has become invisible because of Sodom storm his house in an

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attempt to capture his visitors, Lot’s c. Ruth is a remedy for Lot. perverted sense of chessed causes Throughout the Megillah she is him to offer his daughters instead. doing teshuva for him. In fact, the On the other hand, Ruth exemplifies word “shuv,” meaning “return,” extreme chessed to Naomi by never appears twelve times. leaving her side, by housing and feeding her, and by giving Naomi her son Oved to raise. Hashem rewards people in different ways. Ruth is rewarded with a “great” grandson, David Hameleh, who was truly “great.”

Why Isaac Newton Studied Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah Zach Wertheimer

“Are you in possession of truth, or are you sinner will suffer. They asked searching for truth?” This was the question ‘Prophecy,’ and it answered, a Rabbi Ammi Hirsch, a Reform rabbi from sinner will perish. They asked Manhattan posed to Rabbi Yosef Reinman, ‘Torah,’ and it answered, a sinner’s an Orthodox rabbi from Lakewood, New guilt-offering will atone. They asked Jersey in their riveting book “One People, ‘Hakadosh Baruch Hu,’ and He Two Worlds.” Is learning Torah a direct answered, a sinner’s repentance will encounter with Hashem, or is Torah only atone.” the roadmap to finding Him? This question has enormous implications for While the Zohar equates Torah with understanding what we received at Har Hashem, the Midrash sees them as Sinai, and in truth, the answer is not totally distinct! clear. A mystical teaching attributed to the Zohar states that Hashem, the Jewish Our celebration of Matan Torah on 6th nation, and Torah are one unified entity. Sivan seems puzzling. It’s true that Shavuot Yet, the Midrash Yalkut Shimoni (Tehillim commemorates the first time Hashem gave 432) teaches: the luchot to Moshe on 6th Sivan. But, the Torah also relates that these luchot were “They asked ‘Wisdom,’ what will destroyed on arrival due to the sin of the befall a sinner, and it answered, a golden calf. Only after Moshe’s second

30 attempt, which culminated on Yom Kippur, that there was more to know than what he did the luchot land safely and securely on had already discovered. earth. Why then, do we celebrate receiving the Torah on 6th Sivan, a date that marks Being open to amazement, allowing the failed first attempt and the luchot which ourselves to stretch beyond the limitations were shattered? of what is familiar, to concede the possibility that there is always more than 1967 was a significant year in Israel’s we already know, is the precondition to history. Most notably, Israel achieved its meaningful Torah study. miraculous victory in the Six Day War. But, 1967 also marked a lesser known victory for Perhaps this can explain why we observe Israel, after Connecticut’s Supreme Court Shavuot on 6th Sivan, which oddly granted Israel’s National Library ownership incorporates the broken luchot into our of 7,500 pages of theological writings celebration of Matan Torah. The revelation penned by Sir Isaac Newton. This ‘Father of of God at Har Sinai caused a revolution in Modern Science’ was surely a brilliant mind, the religious consciousness of the Jewish but it’s only natural to wonder why the nation. The Rambam states in Moreh Jewish state had any interest in his Nevuchim, that prior to Har Sinai the theological theories. It turns out that these Israelites had been exposed only to the were Newton’s personal notes from his pagan practices of the Egyptians and the studies of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah: Canaanites. So, it was unsurprising that Sefer Avodah, the Book of Ezekiel, and the when pressed to seek God while Moshe Zohar. It also included a manuscript called delayed on the mountain, they channeled ‘Notes on the Temple,’ in which Newton their religious impulse into worshipping an explained the sacred geometric idol. But in doing so, the Israelites construction of the Second Temple. demonstrated that they would only be Perhaps the better question is, what made capable of engaging the Torah within the Newton gravitate to these Jewish texts? Dr. limits of their understanding. By breaking Milka Levy-Rubin, the Israel National the luchot and refusing to solidify the Library’s curator explained, that Newton relationship to Torah on these terms, “believed God was the author of two books: Moshe emphasized that the ability to attain the book of science and the Bible, and that a true encounter with Hashem through if he could properly interpret the secrets Torah demands the courage to not be encrypted in the sacred texts, he could deterred by Hashem’s incomprehensibility, reach the truth.” What motivated Newton’s a willingness to transcend what we already profound interest in Jewish sacred texts know and embrace the opportunity for despite his scientific acumen, was his sense wonder. If we do that, we might be amazed by what we find.

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David HaMelech & Shavuot Mrs. Geri Wiener

יטוַיֻּגַ ֶׁ֥ד לְשָא֖ ּול ל אמ ֑ ר הִּ נֵּ֣ה According to most accounts, Shavuot is the 19 And it was related to דָ דוִָּ֔ בְ נָי֖ ֹות )כתיב ,Yahrzeit of David ha-Melech. In addition to Saul, saying, "Behold בְ נָו֖ ית( בָרָמָָֽ ה: his many talents, David was a great talmid David is at Naioth in chacham. I would like to discuss one episode Ramah." in David's life which relates to our learning on Shavuot. One might ask: Why would David flee to A brief background: Following King Shaul's Shmuel -- and not run further away -- when failure to follow HaShem's command David was running for his life? And is there regarding Amalek, an "evil spirit" from any special significance to the fact that HaShem descends upon him. HaShem David and Shmuel went together and commands Shmuel ha-Navi to anoint David stayed "at Nayot in Ramah"? in secret as king of Israel. David becomes Shaul's musician and armsbearer and then Abarbanel points out that David sought out slays Golyat. Shaul becomes jealous of Shmuel since Shmuel had anointed both David, suspecting that David will replace Shaul and David. David needed to him as king. Shaul gives his daughter Michal understand the suffering and persecution to David as a wife in the hope that she will that he was experiencing at the hand of hinder David, but David proves himself as an Shaul, and wanted advice and comfort. outstanding warrior and gains great popularity among the people. Shaul's The Hebrew term Nayot can be interpreted jealousy becomes so severe that he plots to in a number of ways. Radak explains that kill David. Following a number of attempts the root of the word could be "naveh," by Shaul on David's life, David flees from meaning place. As a place, Nayot refers to a Shaul's court and makes his initial escape to location in the town of Ramah or one of its Shmuel. suburbs. Kli Yakar posits that Nayot could be a grazing area near Ramah where David And then in I Shmuel 19:18-19 we learn: and Shmuel could speak in private. Targum Yonatan ben Uziel translates the term Nayot or a study hall. This study hall - ״בית אולפּנא״ as יחוְדָ וִִּ֨ד בָרַַ֜ ח וַיִּמָל ט ֵ֗ וַיָב ֹ֚ א Now David had fled 18 is where Shmuel's students would come to אֶ ל־שְ מּוא ל֙ הָרָ ה מָָ֔תָ וַיִַ֨ גֶד־ and escaped, and he .learn from him לָֹ֔ו א ֵ֛ ת כָל־אֲשֶ ר ֶׁ֥ עָָֽשָ ה־ל֖ ֹו came to Samuel to שָא֑ ּול וַי לֶ ֹ֚ ְך הּוא֙ ּושְ מּוא ָ֔ ל וַי שְב֖ ּו בְ נָָֽיֹות )כתיב Ramah, and told him all On a more figurative level, the Gemara בְ נָָֽוית( : that Saul had done to (Masechet Zevachim 54b) interprets Nayot - him, and he and or beauty -- not as ״נוי״ from the root - Samuel went and referring to a specific place, but rather to stayed in Naioth. Noyo Shel Olam -- "the adornment of the world," i.e., the Beit HaMidash. David and

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Shmuel studied in detail to learn the location of the future Beit haMikdash. The We are now living through very challenging verse above also mentions Ramah, where times. How appropriate that we, together Shmuel lived. The Gemara explains that with our brothers and sisters worldwide, Ramah could also be understood as a "high spend this night -- and/or day -- learning place," i.e., the Beit HaMikdash was to be Torah as we commemorate the yahrzeit of built on a high place. David HaMelech. Just as David HaMelech and Shmuel HaNavi learned Torah Moreover, Midrash Shmuel tells us that throughout the night and, as a result, were Shmuel and David stayed up the entire night able to look forward to glorious days for the learning together about the future location Jewish people with the building of the Beit of the Beit HaMikdash. They were HaMikdash, so may we follow their example. engrossed in discussing the beauty and We acutely feel the need to escape an glory that will be the future of the Jewish invisible enemy, but, through our learning people, thus assuring and comforting David. and acts of chesed, we can look forward, David's highest priority, even more than Be'H, to many future days of glory for Am escaping further away from Shaul, was to Yisrael. learn Torah. By choosing Torah, David learns about the bright future. Chag Shavuot Sameach!

Lifnim Mishurat HaDin: A Core Jewish “Imperative” Alan Willner, Proud YICC Member since 1998

One of the reasons as to why Megillat Ruth b. Ruth was not mandatorily obligated is read on the Chag that celebrates the to pursue Yibum [5] (i.e., the Levirite giving of the Torah is its fundamental Marriage for the sake of her dead connection to acts of Chesed, loving- husband) to the extent of a distant kindness. The Torah begins, ends and is relative such as Boaz. Conversely, Boaz replete with loving-kindness,[1] and himself was not mandatorily obligated Megillat Ruth is rooted in a recounting of to perform Yibum with Ruth. one of the greatest collections of Chesed in c. Boaz instructed his workers to leave Tanach.[2] Some examples of Chesed in over and provide more food for Ruth and Megillat Ruth are:[3,4] Na’ami than what was strictly required.[6] a. Ruth stayed with and cared for Na’ami in a way that was fully giving and It is not uncommon for contemporary selfless. thinkers to associate Megillat Ruth with the

33 concept of “Lifnim Mishurat HaDin”, which circumstances, the finder might can be loosely translated as a person going nonetheless be required to return the “beyond the letter of the law”.[3,4] That is object to its “rightful” owner (Hashavat because many acts of loving-kindness in Aveida).[9] Megillat Ruth seem to have a connection to c. A person wants to sell a piece of land. “beyond the letter of the law”. The owner of the neighboring property should have preference to buy the land The Torah itself alludes to Lifnim Mishurat from the seller, since the neighbor HaDin in Parshat V’Etchanan (Devarim 6:18) would have more of an affinity towards when it states “V’Asita HaYashar V’HaTov the land being sold (Bar Metzra).[10] B’Einei Hashem” (“You should do what is straight and good in the eyes of Hashem”). An interesting issue relates to the legal Curiously, the Parsha already told Bnei “obligation” of Lifnim Mishurat HaDin. Is it Yisroel to do the Mitzvot enumerated in the simply an act of extreme piety (Midot Torah, so therefore this extra statement Chasidut), a voluntary obligation (Kiyum should carry additional meaning about acts Mitzvah), or a mandatory obligatory (Chiyuv that are “straight and good”. Rashi Mitzvah)? There are many sources that can comments succinctly that this refers to support each of these approaches, with one Lifnim Mishurat HaDin as exemplified by practical issue being whether a court can cases in which a person does not assert their compel a person to act “beyond the letter of full legal rights against another person (e.g., the law”.[11,12] In a theological context, Rav in a court case) but instead practices a Aharon Lichtenstein struggled with the kinder “compromise” position. question as to whether “beyond the letter of the law” is part-and-parcel of the law itself, Several sources define Lifnim Mishurat i.e., is it an ethical imperative part of or HaDin as being related to laws that are inter- distinct from Halacha.[13] personal (Bein Adam L’Chaveiro), often in the form of monetary matters.[7] Classic Beyond the legal ramifications, Lifnim examples of applying Lifnim Mishurat Mishurat HaDin is brought down in different HaDin to legal matters include the contexts that suggest it is a core value to following: living life as a G_d-fearing Jew. Below are three such examples. a. Poor servants accidentally broke some vessels of an owner. The Court First, the Ramban gives crucial insight into ruled that the wealthy owner not only two core Torah concepts, those of cannot demand payment for the “Kedoshim Tihyu” in Parshat Kedoshim broken vessels but must go so far as to (Vayikra 19:2) and “V’Asita HaYashar pay the poor workers’ their normal V’HaTov B’Einei Hashem” in Parshat wages.[8] V’Etchanan (Devarim 6:18). The Ramban b. A finder of a lost object might in elevates the concept of “beyond the letter actuality know who the true owner is, of the law” in V’Etchanan to the same plane but that owner might lack legitimate as when Hashem tells the Jewish people to proof of ownership. Under certain “be holy because I am holy” in Kedoshim.

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According to the Ramban, these two ourselves to follow “beyond the letter of the concepts represent two indispensable law” when dealing with other people? aspects of the G_d-fearing Jew: a. Kedoshim Tihyu represents acts Bein The Jew is likely to often encounter various Adam L’Makom, between a person and situations that require introspection Hashem. concerning Lifnim Mishurat HaDin. Indeed, b. V’Asita HaYashar V’HaTov represents there are numerous possible ways in which acts Bein Adam L’Chaveiro, between a people interact, and yet there are only a person and other people. finite number of Mitzvot that can be specified in the Torah. Our Ramban Second, the Gemora in Yoma 9b attaches (Devarim 6:18) states that Lifnim Mishurat Lifnim Mishurat HaDin to one of the most HaDin is an overarching approach that defining moments in Jewish history, that people can use in almost any inter-personal being the destruction of the Second Bait situation not outlined specifically in the HaMikdash. Every year on Tisha B’Av, we Torah. recount that the Second Temple was destroyed due to baseless hatred (Sinat I’ve always wondered how a person can Chinam) among Bnei Yisroel. Less well know what is “straight and good in the eyes known, however, is another Gemora in Bava of Hashem” without more specific guidance. Metzia 30b that gives the reason for the The Ramban again gives insight, stating destruction as being that Bnei Yisroel did that a person can intuit what is “straight and not practice Lifnim Mishurat HaDin but good” if they are intimately familiar with rather insisted on exerting their full, non- and deeply internalize the other Mitzvot in compromising legal rights. A beautiful the Torah. Personally, I like to also try to dig thought by Rabbi Mordechai Willig [14] is deep and connect with my inner Tzelem that these two Talmudic passages are Elokim, the image and piece of Hashem that interconnected. Specifically, if people do is my Neshama. not treat each other with acts of loving- kindness “beyond the letter of the law”, During the Chag of Shavuot, we typically then baseless hatred and ultimate feel the awe and grandeur of the intimate destruction can be the tragic results. meeting with and revelation from Hashem at Har Sinai. However, the awe and Third, we are told in Parshat Reeh (Devarim grandeur of Hashem resides no less in how 13:5) to emulate the ways of Hashem (“After we treat His creations and our fellow people, Hashem your G_d shall you go”), including as exemplified by Megillat Ruth. His acts of loving-kindness such as visiting the sick and comforting the mourner.[15] Warmest wishes for a Chag Shavuot Bari Interestingly, it is recounted that Hashem V’Sameach! himself prayed that He should act with Bnei Yisroel in accordance with Lifnim Mishurat Acknowledgement: I thank Rabbis Muskin and HaDin rather than strict Din [16]. Should we Proops for leading this wonderful YICC Torah not emulate Hashem and strongly exhort activity, as well as Rabbi Dr. Wiener for his keen insights on this topic and my cherished family for their valuable feedback.

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11. Shmuel Shilo, “On One Aspect of Law and References Morals: Lifnim Meshurat Hadin,” Israel Law 1. Talmud Sota 14a. Review, vol. 13, pp. 359-390, 1978; and 2. Midrash Ruth Rabbah 2:14 references therein. 3. Yehuda Kil, “On Megillat Rut,” Daat, Michlelet 12. Moses L. Pava, “The Talmudic Concept of Herzog, ‘Beyond the Letter of the Law’: Relevance to http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/tanach/megilot/al1- Business Social Responsibilities,” Kluwer 2.htm. Journal of Business Ethics vol. 15, pp. 941-950, 4. Rabbi Ezra Zion Melamed, “A Halachic View 1996; and references therein. of Megillat Rut,” Daat, Michlelet Herzog, 13. Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, “Does Jewish http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/kitveyet/sinay/megil Tradition Recognize an Ethic Independent of at-4.htm. Halakha?” in Modern Jewish Ethics, ed. Marvin 5. Devarim 25:5-6. Fox (Columbus, OH: Ohio State University 6. Vayikra 19:9-10. Press, 1975), 62-88. 7. Nehama Leibowitz, “Doing the Right and 14. Rav Mordechai Willig, Beit Yitzchak 26:140, Decent Thing,” Studies in Devarim, World as discussed by Rabbi Chaim Jachter, “Acting Zionist Organization, pp. 57-63, 1980. Lifnim Mishurat Hadin,” Kol Torah, Torah 8. Talmud Baba Mezia 83a. Academy of Bergen County, Halachah, Volume 9. Talmud Bava Metzia 24b. 7, April 1997. 10. Talmud Bava Metzia 108a. 15. Talmud Sotah 14a. 16. Talmud Berachot 7a.

Follow My Decrees and Safeguard My Commandments Aric Zamel

Chazal have often wondered why the Torah and raise it up to a higher level of holiness was given on a mountain. The Lubavitcher (i.e. the mountain being an elevated level Rebbe once explained that after all, both of earth). level ground and a mountain are made of Our roadmap for understanding how to dust and earth, and that the difference take that which is physical in this world and between the two was not qualitative – a elevate it to a higher level is the Torah, mountain is just more earth collected and which we have an obligation to study each heaped together into a larger mass. The and every day in order to maximize our own fact the Torah was given on a mountain spiritual potential in Olam Hazeh (and teaches us that a Jew’s purpose in this Olam Habah). The Midrash in Toras world is take that which is physical (like the Kohanim explains that the source for our dust and earth of flat land) and to elevate obligation to study the Torah every day is in

36 the opening pasuk of Parshas Bechukosai signifies that these two periods of learning which interestingly is read just before (day and night) should take place within a Shavuos, the holiday which celebrates the single calendar day. giving of the Torah. The pasuk states: “Im Of all the holidays enumerated in the bechokosai telechu v’es mitzvosai Torah, Shavuot is the only one without a tishmeru v’asitem otam” (if you will follow specific date in the calendar. We are told my decrees and safeguard my that after seven complete weeks from commandments). The Midrash states that Pesach the Torah was given on Har Sinai. the word bechukosai refers to toiling in the Chazal explain that no specific date was study of Torah whereas mitvosai is self- given in order not to limit that event to a explanatory as the commandments. particular day. And unlike other holidays like Pesach or Sukkot which commemorate The Ohr Hachaim picks up on this idea and individual events, the giving of the Torah, profoundly offers forty-two explanations and more specifically, the study of its laws on this opening verse. He explains the and decrees was meant to be celebrated reason our “toiling” in Torah study is called and cherished every day and not just once a a “chukah”, or decree, is because the year. There is a hint to this in one of the mitzvah to study and learn includes the prayers we recite for learning Torah each obligation to constantly review even that day. The bracha refers not to “He who gave which one has already learned before. the Torah” but to “He who gives the Torah” Learning Torah is not to be viewed as and “He who teaches Torah to His people.” merely a means to acquiring knowledge, R’ Eliyahu Schlesinger (Eileh Heim Mo’adai) but rather as an end itself, and so there is teaches that we use the present tense and an obligation to constantly be learning. not the past tense because the revelation at Furthermore, since the word bechukosai Sinai wasn’t a moment in time but rather a .is written without a vav in between constantly unfolding event (בְּ חֻקֹּתַי) the kuf and tav, the word can actually be pronounced as “bechukatee (My decree). It follows that if one’s purpose in life is to The reason the word in our pasuk is elevate that which is physical in the world pronounced “bechukosai” (my decrees) in to a higher level of holiness, then the way the plural form (rather than bechukatee, that we accomplish this is through both our My decree) in the singular is because the ongoing commitment to learning and verse alludes to two ideas, both the Written through our performance of the mitzvos in Torah and Oral Torah. The possibility that the Torah. Shavuos is the holiday which we could have read the word in the singular marks the actual giving of the Torah after indicates that the two Torahs are seven weeks of leaving Egypt, but the daily fundamentally one unit, and that “the Oral obligation to learn and adhere to its Torah is included in the Written Torah.” mitzvos are our raison d’etre as a people The plural “My Decrees” is also a reference and our guide for living a more meaningful to two periods of learning, both day and life in this world. night, whereas the singular spelling

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