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A PROJECT OF THE פרשיותפרשת וישבאחרי מות - שבת קדושיםחנוכה כ״וי״ב כסלואייר תשפ״א At the 5781 DECEMBERAPRIL 24, 202112, 2020 ISSUE #38 Shabbos RABBI YITZCHOK WEEKLY INSPIRATION AND INSIGHT ADAPTED FROMTable CLASSIC ARTSCROLL TITLES HISIGER, EDITOR DEDICATED BY MENACHEM AND BINAH BRAUNSTEIN AND FAMILY DESIGN & LAYOUT: L’ILLUI NISHMAS RAV MOSHE BEN RAV YISSOCHOR BERISH AND MARAS YENTA BAS YISROEL CHAIM MRS. AVIVA KOHN THE WOMAN WHO BEGGED TO Parashah CLEAN THE BEIS MIDRASH Aleinu L’shabei’ach by Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein וּמִקְדָּשִׁ י תִּירָ אוּ. And My Sanctuary shall you revere (19:30) The following story happened in a beis mi- The following day, when the members of drash in Hod Hasharon that houses the kollel the kollel returned, they barely recognized that was led by the late Rav Ezra Barzel. the beis midrash, which was immaculate and One morning, when dozens of members of gleaming. It was obvious that the woman and the kollel were engrossed in their Torah study, her daughter had invested tremendous effort a woman and her daughter entered the beis into cleaning it. They had not overlooked even midrash. The members of the kollel did not no- the most inaccessible corners, and had done tice her, until she began to sob. Hearing these everything in their power to ensure that the sobs, the members of the kollel raised their beis midrash would gleam. heads from their Gemaras and asked what she Several days later, the woman and her wanted. R’ Eliyahu Kirsch- berg, who was a member of “I HAVE A TRADITION FROM MY the kollel then, relates that FATHER’S HOUSE IN MOROCCO the woman motioned to her daughter standing next to THAT THIS IS A GREAT THING.” her and explained that the girl had been diagnosed with a fatal illness, for daughter again appeared at the door to the beis which the doctors had no cure. midrash. But this time, they did not look at all “I am asking you to please give me permis- dejected. Her face radiant, the woman informed sion to clean the beis midrash and wash and the members of the kollel that her daughter had polish the floor,” the woman begged. “I have undergone tests several hours earlier, and the a tradition from my father’s house in Morocco doctors had been startled to see that the illness that this is a great thing, and I want to show had mysteriously disappeared. Hashem that I love Him and that I am eagerly “They asked me what hospital I had been anticipating His salvation. If I clean His house, to, and what treatments my daughter had re- perhaps He will take pity on me by healing my ceived,” the woman said, “and when I told daughter.” them the truth — that we had cleaned the beis The members of the kollel were deeply im- midrash — they were baffled.” pressed by this woman’s faith in Hashem, and The woman then made a generous dona- they told her that the study session would be tion to the kollel and asked that the story be over in half an hour. “After we depart, we will publicized in order to show everyone how be happy to allow you to clean the beis mid- great is the reward of a person who shows hon- rash,” they said. or to a beis midrash. ARTSCROLL MESORAH ARTSCROLL PUBLICATIONS To have your shul receive copies of this newsletter every week for free, please send your shul name and address info to: [email protected]. 1 Pirkei MEMBER OF A WEDDING Avos The Pirkei Avos Treasury by Rabbi Moshe Lieber ְו ַה ִּפ ְנ ָקס ָּפתוַּח ְו ַהָּיד ּכֹו ֶת ֶבת. The ledger is open and the hand writes (Avos 3:20). Let man not be fooled. The memory of an enjoyable few hours. bride and groom Heavenly Ledger is always open; The parents of the bride and themselves. Di- no deed is unrecorded or forgotten. groom are often preoccupied with rected by pho- The Shopkeeper is never too busy the managerial details of the cel- tographers, forced to smile at all the to enter man’s deeds in guests (half of whom they do not His ledger. Whatever one even know), tired from the pre-wed- has enjoyed in this world THE GREATER ding fast combined with the long will eventually have to be ENJOYMENT hours of dancing, they hardly re- paid for. Often, the price ONE HAS NOW, member anything that took place is a diminished share in THE LESS HE until they see the pictures. But, of the world of true reward. TASTES LATER, course, they are the greatest bene- The Talmud likens life AND VICE ficiaries. Their whole lives now lie to a wedding (see Eruvin ahead of them, and they can look 54a). Rav Mendel Kaplan Rav Mendel Kaplan VERSA. forward to long years spent in a fruit- explained this to mean ful, loving relationship. Thus, the that the immediate gratification one ebration, such as the seating and greater enjoyment one has now, the enjoys at a wedding is in inverse pro- arrangements with the caterer, and less he tastes later, and vice versa. portion to his enduring pleasure. are unable to enjoy the wedding in The world is very similar. Every The guests, for example, generally a relaxed way. Once it is over, how- bit of pleasure enjoyed here is at the have a great time. Good food, fine ever, they go home satisfied and expense of true reward in the next wine, music, dancing, and social- grateful that they have seen their world; conversely, every thrill one izing all add up to a pleasure-filled children united in marriage. forgoes here will earn him a great evening. Once they go home, how- The people who are the most increase in the quality and quantity ever, they are left with nothing but a harried during the evening are the of his eternal reward. Humility THE FRIEND AT THE KOSEL The Editor’s View by Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz A young man who had recently become a baal teshuvah approach the rabbi and ask him for a went to Yerushalayim to study in Yeshiva Ohr Somayach. berachah. Feeling bashful, the man de- One Friday night, he was sitting in his rebbi’s home, re- clined. His new friend then took him by counting a story that had happened to him in the Holy City. the hand and said, “Come, I’ll take you He told the rebbi that he had gone to the Kosel to daven and over to the rabbi.” He introduced him to noticed some excitement and commotion nearby. People Rav Schechter and asked him to give the young man a were crowding about, craning to get a look at someone. He berachah for success in his studies in Yerushalayim. shouted out to nobody in particular, “What is going on?” The young man relating this story marveled at the A man heard him and came over to him, explaining kindness and warmth of a total stranger who went out that two great rabbis had come to Israel on a mission for of his way to make sure he received the highly valued be- an organization called Lev L’Achim. The man told him rachah from the visiting rabbi. He had wanted to thank that they are very famous and beloved American rabbis his benefactor, but before he could do so, the man was and that the people at the Kosel wanted to catch a glimpse swallowed up in the crowd and disappeared from view. of them. One of them, he said, was Rabbi Avrohom The rebbi commented that there were actually three Chaim Levin, head of the Telshe Yeshiva in Chicago. He American rabbis on that mission, not two. “Didn’t the identified the other as Rabbi Aharon Schechter, head of man tell you about Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky? He is Mesivta Yeshivah Rabbi Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn. The the rosh yeshivah of the Philadelphia Yeshivah and a man suggested that the baal teshuvah join the others and leading rabbi in America. He was part continued on page 3 To have your shul receive copies of this newsletter every week for free, please send your shul name and address info to: [email protected]. 2 SHABBOS DAY KIDDUSH NEW! Halachah A Women’s Guide to Practical Halacha by Rabbi Eliezer Krohn; reviewed by Rabbi Noach Isaac Oelbaum The Obligation it is good to do so (Be’ur Halachah 273:5 Women are obligated in the mitzvah of Kiddush on s.v. Kusvu and Piskei Teshuvos 273 fn. 70). Shabbos morning. This is because they are obligated in Fulfilling the Mitzvah all commandments of Shabbos, similar to men (Shulchan To fulfill the mitzvah of Kiddush, one Aruch, O.C. 289:1, and Mishnah Berurah 6.) must immediately eat something that This Kiddush is known as Kiddusha Rabbah, the Great constitutes a seudah. This is called “Kiddush b’makom seudah, Kiddush. It was given that name because the requirement Kiddush in the seudah’s location.” Some are scrupulous to to make Kiddush on Shabbos morning is only rabbinic, un- always serve a hamotzie food as their seudah (Shulchan Aruch like that of Friday night, when Kiddush is mandated by To- ibid. and Mishnah Berurah 25). However, the halachah is that rah law; thus, in order to lend more prominence one may have mezonos foods as well for a meal to be consid- to the Shabbos morning Kiddush, it is called “the Great ered a seudah (Mishnah Berurah ibid. 21). This means eating Kiddush” (Mishnah Berurah, ibid.

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