Dedicated in memory of Rachel Leah bat R' Chaim Tzvi

is weeks Torat Imecha is dedicated in memory of Leiby Kletzky, Yehuda ben Nachman Volume 3 Number 21 Brought to you by Naaleh.com Bitachon: Meaning of Trust-Simcha and Bitachon #5 Based on a Naaleh.com shiur by Tziporah Heller

We all understand that we are better off not Hashem’s imprint on reality. them through the end of time to Mashiach. stealing or murdering. Having a day of rest is The theme of shirat hayom is that Hashem is great, as is dealing kindly with others. But “A lives by his faith.” It says about there all along in many different manifesta- moves us further than that. It takes us Avraham that he believed in Hashem and tions. Certainly the Jews had many merits, but beyond our comfort level. If you don’t believe, Hashem thought of it as tzedakah. Avraham it was emunah which redeemed them from you’ll only be ethical when it’s easy for you. saw Hashem as the master of all cause and Egypt. But a person with emunah will stay strong effect in a way that was transcendental. He come what may, because he trusts that went beyond his limits of thought. Avraham Following the path which begins with emunah, there’s hashgachic consequences and chose to be thrown into the fiery furnace can take you all the way to ruach hakodesh. consequential punishment. The Torah is the because he believed that doing what Hashem Galut is meant to challenge us into facing all blueprint of the world. Hashem wants certain wanted would only bring good into the world. the things that tell us Hashem is missing. choices to be made and therefore he provided He could have thought, “I won’t submit, I’m When we affirm His presence, when we defined consequences. He made the world in tough, I’m a man of truth.” Then it would have acquire true faith, then we can be redeemed. a way where one choice brings about another been all about him, his principles, and his ego. The Gra sent his students to live in Eretz choice. Although all mitzvot have rewards and But Avraham not only had courage, he had Yisrael because he believed that the mitzvot sins bear punishment, there is always emunah. hat’luyot b’aaretz move a person to emunah hashgacha even if it seems like consequential more than any other mitzvot in the Torah. In reality. The more you are open to seeing On a collective level, the Jewish nation the land of our fathers we can see Hashem’s Hashem, the more you will see Him. And if experienced ruach hakodesh (Divine inspira- hashgacha and His presence moment by you really believe He’s there, you’ll keep the tion) in the merit of emunah. When they sang moment. This is what will bring about our Torah because you’ll recognize it as the shirat yahom, the Song at the Red Sea, it spiritual geulah. wasn’t just an epic poem, but a song that took

Parshat Pinchas Qualifications of Leadership Based on a Naaleh.com shiur by Rabbi Avishai

In this week’s parsha, Hashem tells Moshe to greatest scholars, the ones with the sharpest The Baal Shem Tov had many students who appoint Yehoshua to become his successor. minds and broadest knowledge, are worthy to were great Torah scholars, prominent among The Rambam in Mishne Torah asks why specifi- become leaders. Yehoshua was an outstanding them, Rav Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye. However, cally Yehoshua merited to be selected. There talmid chacham, but he did not become the Mezhreticher Magid merited to assume were other more qualified candidates, like Moshe’s successor by virtue of his superior leadership of the Chassidic movement after the Elazar and Pinchas, who surpassed him in learning, but because he served Moshe Baal Shem Tov’s passing. This was because their intellectual acuity. The Rambam answers faithfully. he, of all of the Baal Shem Tov’s students, was that although Yehoshua, Pinchasi, and Elazar The Ramban writes that when Moshe most familiar with the Baal Shem Tov’s ways were all students of Moshe, Yehoshua was the descended the mountain after cheit haegel and and conduct, having served him faithfully for so talmid neeman, most faithful disciple. He sensed the unrest in the Jewish camp, many years. ministered to Moshe, followed him everywhere Yehoshua said there must be a war going on. The ability to serve a great Torah giant, to study and scrutinized his every action. Of him the Moshe countered that he was mistaken and his behavior and responses to various stimuli, Chazal say, gedola shimusha shel Torah yoxer that the Jews were involved in blasphemous is crucial for a potential leader’s training. Many m’lemuda. Personally attending a Torah conduct. How did Moshe know the truth, while people can acquire knowledge. Torah can be scholar is greater than studying the Torah Yehoshua did not? Moshe had led the Jews for studied through many different venues. But itself. This is why Yehoshua merited to inherit so many years that he was able to discern shimush, serving a Torah leader, is the critical the mantle of leadership from Moshe. correctly what was happening. Yehoshua was factor in the making of a future leader in klal The midrash comments, “Notzer t’eina yochel still a novice. By serving Moshe and observing Yisrael. piryah. The one who guards the fig tree will his ways, he eventually acquired the ability to merit to eat its fruit.” Often we think that the sense the nation.

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visit us online at: www.naaleh.com | for questions, suggestions, or dedication opportunities, email [email protected] 1 Practical Aspects of Yichud #1 Based on a Naaleh.com shiur by Rabbi Azarya Berzon What is the most important ingredient in life? The laws of yichud are discussed in three longer duration. What virtues define man? places in -, Avodah Zarah, and Sanhedrin. The question if The Piskei Teshuva rules that if the door is Philosophers throughout the generation have yichud is a Torah prohibition? The Rambam closed and unlocked, there is no issur yichud. debated this question and have come up with answers that it is m’divrei kabbalah because However according to Rav Akiva Eiger the several theories. Early Greeks put emphasis there is only an allusion to it in the Torah. For door or window must be open in a way that on knowledge as the key to human success in something to be m’dorayta there has to be an anyone can look in. The Gemara in Avodah behavior and morality. The stoics believed in explicit verse telling us so. However many Zarah writes that King David and his beit din self-discipline and will power. The school of Rishonim counter that it is m’d’orayta How enacted an issur d’rabanun of yichud that a Epicureans taught that contentment and then could the Torah allow so many leniencies man may not be alone with an unmarried banishment of fear and pain were central to in different situations? woman. The Beit din of Hillel and human existence. accepts all these ruled that yichud extends to being alone with a ideas as worthy but there is one overpowering The Smag and the Sefer Hachinuch point out non-Jew too. The Mishna prohibits a man from virtue that defines us and that is kedusha- a verse in Vayikra that forms the base for the being alone with two women. The Rashba sanctity. prohibition of yichud, “V’el isha b’nidas tumasa adds that this is only d’rabanun. For yichud to lo sikorov.” What does kirva mean? According be d’orayta it must be a state of perfect “Kedoshim tiyhe ki kadosh ani”-Be holy for I to some Rishonim kirvah is yichud. There are seclusion. am holy. The key to developing a relationship cases when a prohibition is deliberately vague with Hashem is sanctity. There is hardly an in the Torah allowing our Sages to define the If there is a situation of yichud in a car, some endeavor in human behavior that is not parameters, which is the case here with poskim rule to take another woman along. encompassed by kedusha. Kedusha means yichud. Then the prohibition gets reduced m’dorayta to imitating Hashem in mind and spirit and m’darabanun and in a car there’s less focusing our energies on that which is What is the nature of yichud d’orayta? What suspicion of an issur. In the presence of a uplifting. One area where kedusha is stressed defines it? Yichud is a situation where a man young child who can serve as a chaperone, most is -modesty. Much emphasis has is secluded with a woman who is forbidden to according to some Poskim between the ages been placed by the Poskim on the halachot of him. Is the Torah protecting the person from a of seven and nine, yichud may be permissible. yichud. A man and woman who are forbidden more serious prohibition or is yichud in and of Giving another man the key with the to each other, may not be alone in a secluded itself objectionable? The Ramchal writes that understanding that he can come in at any area. The laws are complex and have become yichud is prohibited onto itself. This is also a moment could also be a deterrent. The even more so in contemporary society. machloket between and Tosfot. The halacha differentiates between a man who is Sociological and technological advancement Gemara in Kidushin asks, may a man be alone kosher and a paratz (one who is not careful such as the fact that more women have joined with a married woman whose husband is with Jewish law). In a case of a paratz, he may the workplace, adoption has become more within the city limits? Rashi rules that it is not be alone even with ten women. If such a popular, and the rise in innovations in therapy prohibited while Tosfot maintains that it is man is traveling on the road and there is a and medicine have raised many questions in permitted. The root of their disagreement is woman riding along, three men must be in the halacha. There is a whole gamut of reasons really how yichud is defined. Rashi maintains car. The same would be the case if they are why the laws of yichud need to be studied, but that yichud itself is an issur while Tosfot alone in a secluded area or in an apartment most compelling is that society has become maintains that it is only to protect us from a late at night. A brother and sister may be alone so permissive and immoral. more serious violation. Therefore according to in a house temporarily. They may not live Rashi even a split second is yichud while together permanently. according to Tosfot it would need to be a Rebbetzin’s Perspective I Class #5 Excerpted from Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller’s Question and Answer series on Naaleh.com

Question: in Eretz Yisrael. The spiritual capacities of other shopping, I have a nicer home, and I’m emotion- countries are limited in that they cannot reveal ally comfortable with the language and culture,” I know living in Israel should be every Jew’s Hashem in a way that He can be revealed in the then there’s a root problem with your reasoning. dream but it doesn’t seem to be the best land of Israel. Of course you can live a good life We shouldn’t feel comfortable with the culture of choice for my family right now. There are in chutz l’aaretz, but it is in spite of where you galut. Our purpose is not shopping, consuming, many reasons keeping us where we are are, not because of where you are. In a sense or owning. If Hashem is compelling you to stay in including health and financial consider- you are working against your environment and chutz l’aaretz for financial or health reasons, that ations. Am I wrong for only wanting to go the unique spiritual forces that define your means you have to find your role and place there when Mashiach comes? country. No matter how holy a person in there. Lakewood may be, he can never fulfill the Answer: mitzvah of maaser there. The kedusha of This was the difference between the First Temple As Jews our mission is to bring light into the maaser-elevating gashmiut, is limited in chutz and the Second Temple. The First Temple darkness of the world through Torah and l’aaretz. contained all the vessels and was an edifice of mitzvot. Eretz Yisrael is the ideal place where great light. During the Second Temple, we can fulfill our collective purpose. The A meaningful question to ask yourself would be, everything was concealed. In a sense the First Maharal writes that we end the second blessing “Where can I best accomplish my mission?” If Temple had more sanctity. However, the Second of Birchat Hamzon with, “Al ha’aretz v’al there is no one to replace what you or your Temple really brought forth greater holiness hamazon,” as opposed to thanking Hashem for husband are doing in chutz l’aaretz then you because we were forced to reach into a dark what was mentioned in the actual blessing, i.e. have to sacrifice and stay. But if what you’re place within ourselves to find the light. May yetziat mitzraim, brit milah, Torah, because all of thinking is, “I’d rather be in chutz l’aaretz Hashem illuminate your path wherever it may these levels of elevation are meant to take place because my family lives here, there’s better lead. 2