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Life on Call בס“ד Parshiyot Vayikra/HaChodesh 1 Nisan, 5778/March 17, 2018 Vol. 9 Num. 28 To dedicate an issue of Toronto Torah for $180, please contact [email protected] or 647-234-7299 Life On Call Rabbi Baruch Weintraub I would like to begin this column in an to drop everything, leave your home and them to accident or to nature, one may unusual way, by describing the family, and step forward to the task. If fail to act according to his calling. If circumstances of its writing. I am this happens often and for long Moshe would have thought that the writing it while on a short break from durations of time, it may come at a very Burning Bush was just another desert reserve duty, still in my IDF uniform. high price. An example is the education mirage, or that G-d really wanted the The reason I share that with you is of one’s children. The Torah is mute complete destruction of the people in because, as happens many times, the regarding the fate of Moshe’s two the aftermath of the Golden Calf, that events during the week can shed light children, Gershom and Eliezer, but our would have been a misreading of the on that week’s Torah portion. Sages teach us that one of them became signs and may have concluded in the Specifically, being called for reserve no less than a priest for an idol! (Baba complete failure of the mission. duty caused me to think about the Batra 109a) Could this tragic fate be opening verse of the parshah, which seen in light of Moshe’s complete The life of those “on call”, thus, is the begins, “And He called Moshe”. The dedication to his call for G-d, His Torah life of those who open their eyes for Hebrew word “Vayikra,” “And He and His nation, to a degree which signs; whose ears are ready to catch called,” could be also translated as prevented him from devoting himself to even remote whispers; who have the summoned or beckoned; but what his own children’s education? It is faith to see and the courage to act. does it actually mean, to be called? therefore not accidental that Moshe’s ‘calling’ is introduced in relation to the Moshe was attentive to his calling; are While understanding the obvious sacrifices; being called is accompanied we? differences between my own life and many times by the willingness to pay the parshah – the only thing more the high toll associated with this kind of [email protected] certain to me than the difference life. [For other explanations of how between myself and Moshe Rabbeinu Moshe’s grandson could have served is the difference between my company idolatry, see Bava Batra 110a, Mechilta commander and G-d – I do believe that d’Rabbi Yishmael Yitro (Amalek) 1, and there is something here to be learned Nedarim 81a.] about the experience of being called, the meaning of being summoned. The full implication of being ‘called upon’ includes a further element. The Frequently overlooked, for example, is Hebrew word “Vayikra” is associated the fact that being called does not only with an additional meaning – to read. Our Beit Midrash is planning a affect you when you are on active duty. This additional meaning is embellished Continuing Medical Education No less important is the fact that you by the custom of writing the final letter may be called. You must always keep of “Vayikra” – the aleph – as a small and Continuing Legal Education yourself ready and accessible, in case letter. Without the final aleph, the word trip to Panama for February 2019. the need for you will arise. For Moshe, means “an accident”, “a happenstance”; Hotel, kosher meals, shiurim, tours! the very possibility of being called with the aleph, the meaning becomes We need a minimum number completely changed his life, causing one of reading and deciphering symbols. of interested parties him to separate from his wife, as noted The first requirement in order to be to proceed with planning. by Miriam and justified by G-d. successfully called for reserve duty is to If you are interested, please email (Bamidbar 12:1-8 and Rashi there) read your mail. In more general terms, Dr. Mickey Ostro one must have his ears open to hear the [email protected] The real difficulty, however, begins call. If when the signs come one for more details. when the summons comes. You have misinterprets them, either by ascribing OUR BEIT MIDRASH ROSH BEIT MIDRASH ABBI ORDECHAI ORCZYNER R M T SGAN ROSH BEIT MIDRASH RABBI JONATHAN ZIRING AVREICHIM DAM RIEDMANN ARON EREZ A F , Y P CHAVERIM NADAV GASNER, COREY KAMEN, JAY KARON, BJ KOROBKIN, YEHUDA LEVI, COBY LYONS, ZACK MINCER, RONI PEREZ, JOSH PHILLIP, AARON ROSENFELD, MORDECHAI ROTH, DANIEL SAFRAN, EYTAN WEISZ, URIEL WEISZ, BARUCH WISE, ELI Find our upcoming shiurim on-line at WOODROW www.torontotorah.com WOMEN’S BEIT MIDRASH MRS. ORA ZIRING, MRS. ELLIEZRA PEREZ CHAVEROT NOA BORDAN, MINDY CHAPMAN, SOFIA FREUDENSTEIN, LEORA KARON, We are grateful to ARIELLA SNOWBELL, MIRIAM RIVKA WEISS Continental Press 905-660-0311 והורשתם את הארץ וישבתם בה )במדבר לג( Marking the State of Israel’s 70th Year! Israeli Landmarks: Tel Hai Yaron Perez In 1893, Baron Rothschild acquired a control over Syria; this led to war statue of a roaring lion, meant to large area of land in the Northern Galil. between Syria and France. represent the might of the soldiers. The Most of it became the moshav of nearby town of Kiryat Shemonah Metulla; some years later, the untilled Tel Hai sought and received a small (“village of the eight”) is named for these land of Kfar Talha was given to a group group of fighters to help defend it fighters, and Zeev Jabotinsky dedicated of pioneer farmers. With the Ottoman during this war; the soldiers were led his Revisionist Zionist youth movement retreat from Israel in 1918, this area by Joseph Trumpeldor. On March 1 “Brit Yosef Trumpeldor (the covenant of was established as Kibbutz Tel Hai. The (11 Adar), 1920, a large group of Yosef Trumpeldor)”, a.k.a. Betar. kibbutz was constructed as a fortress, armed Bedouins, led by Kamal Affendi, with a central yard in the middle. came to Tel Hai to look for French By the end of 1920, control of the area soldiers who might be hiding in the was transferred to the British. This led The Sykes-Picot Agreement between area. During their search, they decided to the formation of “The Galilee France and the United Kingdom led the to confiscate the weapons of the Panhandle”, a north-south area under British to cede the area to the French Jewish defenders; during the ensuing British control, jutting into what is now after World War I, but the local Arabs standoff a shot was discharged, and a Lebanon, which passed into the State of did not accept French rule. They fought battle began. The Arabs were defeated, Israel in 1948. it, and they also attacked the local but five Jewish defenders were killed. Jewish communities – Kfar Giladi, Trumpeldor himself was critically Today, Tel Hai hosts a museum Metulla, Hamra and Tel Hai. In 1919, wounded, and they retreated to Kfar chronicling the settlement of the area Chaim Weizmann, President of the Giladi. Dr. George Gerry, who attended and reconstruction of the original Zionist Organization, signed an his bedside, testified that Trumpeldor’s layout of Tel Hai. Every 11th of Adar, a agreement with King Faisal I of Syria; final words were, “No matter; it is good national ceremony remembering the this exchanged recognition of the to die for our land.” defenders of Tel Hai is held. Balfour Declaration for support for the establishment of Syria on land that is The cemetery between Tel Hai and Kfar [email protected] now Jordan and Lebanon. However, the Giladi includes graves of eight fighters participants in the 1920 San Remo – six who fell in this battle, and two Conference decided to grant the French from earlier attacks. There is also a The Zionist Idea: The Proto-Zionists Adam Friedmann The “Proto-Zionists” were a group of thinkers and activists making life unbearable for many Jews in the area. At the who wrote about and attempted to organize resettlement in same time, the emancipation of much of Europe had given the Land of Israel during the early part of the 19th century. Jews political freedoms that they had never before Notable members of this group include Rabbi Yehudah enjoyed. Jewish businessmen like Moses Montefiore and Alkalai, Moses Hess, and, perhaps most influential, Rabbi the Rothschild brothers wielded new Jewish wealth and Tzvi Hirsch Kalischer. The group did not have a definitive political clout. The spirit of nationalism which was manifesto, though Rabbi Kalischer’s work Drishat Tzion was sweeping Europe also stood to allow the notion of a an influential work for many in the group. There were, Jewish state to seem reasonable to European however, some philosophical and sociological stances which governments. As a result of these factors, the Proto- can be seen as definitive of Proto-Zionism: Zionists felt it was the right time to wok towards establishing a strictly Jewish state in the ancestral Jewish • The Redemption and return to Israel must be initiated by homeland. The secular Zionist movement, led by Theodor man, not G-d. The exact formulation of this view differed Herzl, would be motivated by many of these same factors. among the Proto-Zionist thinkers. Rabbi Alkalai, for example, argued that only an initial stage of redemption, Initially, the Proto-Zionist movement failed.
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