Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace May 12, 2012 20 IYAR 5772

SHABBAT SHALOM FROM CYBERSPACE and SHABUOT MAY 25-28, 2012 5-7 SIVAN 5772

DEDICATIONS: Mazal Tov to our dear friends Serge and Nina Muller on the engagement of their daughter Michal Leah to Uri Bollag – Chantelle is coming to Jerusalem for the LeChayim and brings best wishes from all of us.

To subscribe or to unsubscribe, Morning Service (Shaharith): Yizkor – about 10:30 to 10:45 please reply to 9:00AM The Sisterhood invites the entire [email protected] Please say Shemah at home by congregation for a dairy lunch SHABBAT SHALOM FROM 8:19 AM CYBERSPACE Soul Schmoozing Shabbat Azharaot and Megilat Ruth for the

Mornings 11:30 AM for teenage second day of Shabuot 7:15 Follow us on twitter girls with Leah Colish. Mincha 7:45 follow by a short @BenaiAsher for a daily dose Kiddush is sponsored by Jack class of Torah, Israel or something of and Patti Azizo in honor of their Arbit at 8:50 – Holiday ends at interest daughter Lilly's birthday. 9:00 PM

Newsletter archives now at Pirkei Avot with Rabbi Aharon at Mon-Fri at 7:00 (6:55 Mondays BenaiAsher.Org 6:30 PM – and Thursdays) Childrens program at 6:30 with Continue Yehi Shem Sephardic Congregation of Rabbi Colish followed by Minha: Long Beach Schedule and 7:15 PM WEEKDAY TORAH CLASS Announcements Seudah Shelishi and a Class with SCHEDULE David 7:45 – Megilat Ruth 6:30 AM class – Shelah Please let us know if you will be Evening Service (Arbith): 8:50 PM Hakadosh on the Perasha around for Shabuot – Reply to - Shabbat Ends: 8:58PM this email. We have a Light Candles for Shavuot after Men’s Halacha class – Tuesday commitment from a number of 9:00 PM evening at 8:30 PM guys for Shaharit at around 4:30AM after all night study on - Special Women's Sunday morning. Amidah at 5:28 learning Session given by Aliza Kiddush Celebrating Dan and Vatikin. Avraham Ashkenazi will Siegel at her home 11:30pm- Daniella Kahen – Shabbat read the Torah, Rabbi Steve and 2:00am - 271 West Olive St. Shelach LeCha – June 16th – Aharon Siegel will be with us, Mr (Corner Laurelton) Please join those sponsoring – Yadgarov, Herman, Sam, Hal, Me Speak with Albert Yusupov B’H. We want to make sure we’ll Tikun Lel Shabuot at the have enough guys for the 9AM Synagogue NEED PLANTS? minyan with Rabbi Colish and Uri Midnight to 4:30 AM The Rabbi's gardens are Lemberger. We need Followed by Shaharit Sunday overflowing with extra plants. For commitments. morning at 4:30 a minimum of $5.00, (check made out to the Sisterhood) you can We also need as many of you to SUNDAY 1st Day Shabuot have cone flowers (perennials), come for each Mincha and Arbit Shaharit 9:00 AM Russian sage, prickly pear cactus Service. Typically when we have Everyone who comes to Minyan (sabra), ornamental grasses a three day Shabbat and Holiday, is invited to Phyllis Wagner's straw flowers and, of course, people get a bit holidayed out. house for Kiddush and dessert. mint. See Phyllis to arrange to But we really need each of you to get the plants or call her at 432- make sure we have a minyan Azharaot and Megilat Ruth for the 8637. And thank her for doing each day and on time. Thanks first day of Shabuot 7:15 such a beautiful job in the garden Mincha 7:45 follow by Arbit Friday Night: Candles: 7:58PM - For those who light candles – Because of the response we got Afternoon and Evening service Light at 8PM to Rabbi Eliyahu Yanay’s class, (Minha/Arbith): 7:00 PM we will continue it thanks to MONDAY 2nd Day Shabuot Gregory and Boris Safaniev on Shaharit 9:00 AM

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Monday night June 4th at 7”30 holiness living under the wings of The 600,000 souls (or pairs of PM – Mincha at 7:15 the Divine. So what happened? souls – as a man and woman Why was there no growth? It's represent two halves of the same Hebrew Reading Crash Course difficult for me to understand and I soul) represent all the parts of Starting Monday June 18th in the haven't seen an answer to the Adam Kadmon or Primordial Man. Study 8-9 PM and continuing question. Monday Nights throughout the When the bodies of these Summer. Beginner and I was pondering this as I traveled 600,000 failed, first on the 17th of intermediate levels welcome! this week. As I understand, there Tamuz through the are 600,000 primary souls. These and then a year later on the 9th of EDITORS NOTES were the souls that left Egypt and Ab through the spies, those these were the souls that stood at bodies were slated to dies over To all those writing last night and to receive the Torah. the next 40 years. But the souls this morning, I apologize for the These same souls should have didn’t die. The souls came back delay. I have been traveling this then entered the land, conquered through the next generation. week and hoped to get the the nations and built a Bet Those same 600,000 primary newsletter out this morning. I HaMikdash. souls in 600,000 bodies needed apologize to those is Israel and to complete the Exodus and the points east if this comes in too The Zohar Chadash tells us that receiving of the Torah, but late. Thanks for thinking of me. there are 600,000 letters in the entering the land, conquering the Torah. The Megaleh Amukot land and building an eternal This week we begin the portion of explains that these each letter Temple. Unfortunately they too Bemidbar. In English the book of corresponds to the each of the failed. They entered the land. Bemidbar is referred to as primary souls and says that the They began the conquest, but Numbers. We are counted in the name Yisrael – Israel is an then backed off. We don’t learn beginning and then towards the acronym for “Yesh Shishim Ribo much about that failure, but I end. About 600,000 Israelites Otiyot Le-Torah” – There are have been thinking that that leave Egypyt and forty years later 600,000 letters in the Torah. failure must have been as great about 600,000 will enter the Holy as the ones in the desert. Time to Land. And this bothers me. Adam HaRishon had a job to re learn the book of Joshua. accomplish in this world, but he The Torah tells us that 70 souls failed – and this failure is depicted So what happened to those arrived in Egypt and 210 years through the story of eating the 600,000 souls? I guess that they those 70 souls becomes 600,000 forbidden fruit. Then came Noah needed to come back and fix plus women, children and elders. who could have completed the what they messed up, but it must Going from 70 to 600,000 job, but he too fails through the have been too difficult for one required the population to double story of his drinking the wine. body to repair every aspect of every 15 years. Considering the Adam and Noah represent all of one of those primary souls. So G- midrashic sources which tell of mankind. But mankind on a whole d in his mercy allowed each part multiple births this is very cant complete the job, thus of each soul to come back and possible. You may recall us Abraham accepts the take a shot at fixing just a small writing about Mrs Yitta Schwartz responsibility for him and his part of what needed repair. who passed away in 2010 at the descendants. Esav rejects the Depending on how we calculate, age of 93 had over 2000 responsibility as does Yishmael. each soul may have 3 parts which descendants over the course of So everything rests with Jacob are divided by 3 and again 65 years. Thats doubling every and his children who go down to divided by 3 and so on. (We could five and a half years. Egypt and 400 years after the also use the number 5 there birth of Isaac, they become representing Nefesh (life force), My problem is that assuming they 600,000 souls which in totality Ruah (spirit), Neshama (soul), grew so much during a period comprise an earthly manifestation Chayah (Higher Life Force) and which was marred by at least 80 of Jewish People. United at Sinai Yechidah (spark of divinity) years of harsh slavery, what on the 6th day of Sivan they (Pardon my translations). So in happened in the idyllic desert receive the commandments and essence 600,000 multiplied by 5 where they had all of their needs in that unity represent Adam and again by 5 can represent the met; food, water, clothing, when he was created on the 6th Jews in the world today. protection, education and what day of creation, prior to his sin. we imagine to be the ultimate in

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Each of our souls, a fragment of fact that our Sifrei Torah only one of the 600,000, represents a This Shabbat we begin Debarim – contain 304,805 letters! As far part of the millions of souls today. the and this back was can verify, via ancient And now we can understand how Sunday we again stand at Sinai. texts, this has always been the each of us stood at Sinai. For And as we hear the case. There is no evidence nor each of us is part of one of those commandments, we need to mention anywhere of there ever 600,000 souls. Each of us left strive to connect with our soul having been a 600,000-letter Egypt and crossed the sea, each which undoubtedly remembers Torah Scroll. of us heard G-d say Anochi standing there when the heavens Hashem – I am Hashem, each of and earth joined. We need to ask There are several possible us was there when we messed up ourselves, is the answer yes or answers to this problem, most of by the golden calf and with the no, are we commited to ourselves which require the realization that spies, and each of us traveled 40 and each other or not. And if the a single Hebrew letter is, more years through the desert. Each of answer is yes, we need to commit often than not, not a single heard give his final to being part of Am Echad – one Hebrew letter. There are two way speech. Each of us crossed the nation, with lev Echad – one Soul. of understanding this: Jordan and each of us took part in the conquest and every one of May we all make that commitment 1 – every Hebrew letter can be us failed in that conquest. this Shabuot and with it bring the formed by a combination or final redemption, speedily in our permutation of six letters: Dalet, Now each of us has to fix the days, Amen! vov, zayin, yud, kaf, or nun. For segment of the soul that needs example, the letter mem is a kaf fixing. And no two of us have the Shabbat Shalom and Chag with a vov attached to its front same thing to fix. At the same Sameyach while a alef can be reduced to a time though, each of us is vov with yud attached up top and responsible, not only for David Bibi down below. When one counts ourselves, but for each other, for letters according to their the fragment that is part of our PS … Much of what I have written constituent parts (i.e. alef = 3 primary soul and for the fragment above is based on my own letters and Mem = 2) instead of that is part of any of the 600,000 concept of 600,000 and may be as single letters (i.e. alef = 1 and souls that make up Israel. completely wrong. I would love to mem=1) you find that the total Because no matter how much hear your thoughts. number of letters is almost exactly fixing I do for my soul, if I don’t I saw the following posted by 600,000. This understanding is help you, then we’re all messed Congregation Toras Chaim of suggested by the Megaleh up and we all ultimately share in Dallas. A more detailed Amukos, the Pnei Yehoshua to the failure. accounting can be found in Kiddushin 30a, and the Mishnas INSIGHTS INTO THE DAILY Avraham. It’s interesting that at the point we DAF - [email protected] on become Adam before the Sin, the Page 30 of Kidushin. 2 – The Beis Yosef YD 275 points verse tells us we stood there as out that when the Halacha speaks one nation, with one heart. We The Zohar Chadash on Shir ha- in general terms of “letters,” this were unified to the point that we Shirim makes the famous usually implies the smallest letter represented one unified body, statement that there are 600,000 that there is, the yud. Additionally, with all her organs working in letters in the Torah. The Megaleh the Beis Yosef points out that we unison. More than anything else Amukos explains that these describe the dimensions of the this is the test of our generation 600,000 letters correspond to the letters in terms of “yuds.” A shin, as the pieces of those 600,000 in souls of the Jewish people. for example, is three-yuds wide, the final days of repair. Our little Interestingly, the Megaleh while most other letters are two- piece of soul is being asked, “Do Amukos sees a hint to this fact in yuds wide and a few are only you want to be a part of the the very name “Yisroel,” the initial one-yud in width. If one totals all 600,000 or do you reject your letters of which are an acronym of the yud-widths of all the responsibility?” And there are only for “Yesh Shishim Ribo Osiyos 304,805 letters, the result is two answers, there is Yes and Le-Torah” – There are 600,000 supposedly 600,000 letters. there is No. We said Naaseh letters in the Torah. VeNishmah – We will do and we Curiously, I have calculated both will listen, 3500 years ago – will The Zohar Chadash’s statement of these totals only to find that we say it and mean it today? is, however, difficult in light of the understanding #1 results in a total

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of 552,865, while #2 results in a blank from the total yud-widths of 6th Aliya: Being that the Leviyim total of only 575,376! a Sefer Torah, then we arrive at were to be in direct exchange for the first born, Moshe counts all Indeed, very few of any of the 637,980 (total yud-legnths of lines the first born in the rest of the proposed solutions to this for writing) – 37,932 (the total nation. Their total was 22,273. problem, when calculated out number of blank lines) = 600,048 The extra 273 first born are precisely, get us close to yud-widths. instructed to redeem themselves 600,000. from Aharon the Kohain for 5 As far as I can tell, this silver shekels. Part of the problem may be that explanation gets closer to the don’t fully understand the 600,000 letter count that any 7th Aliya: The Parsha concludes counting methods described by other ever offered. But note, that with detailed instructions for the the sages who have tackled this according to this interpretation, family of Kahas. Their primary question. For example, Rav the 600,000 letter count responsibility was to transport the Saadia Gaon wrote that he once mentioned by the Zohar Chadash vessels of the Mishkan. Only counted the letters in the Torah is not a count of the actual letters Aharon and his sons were and arrived to a total of over of the Torah, but rather an allowed to cover the vessels in 700,000 letters! We are not sure enumeration of the total amount preparation for transport. Once how Rav Saadia got this number of written space that is occupied covered, the family of Kahas did and, to this day, no one has ever by the letters of the Torah. the actual carrying. duplicated his method of Indeed, as we have just shown, counting. the total amount of writable space This week's Haftorah is from is almost exactly 600,000 yud- Hoshea 2:01- 2:22. Hoshea's However, I think that a solution widths. prophecy is a seemingly may lay in reexamining the Beis contradictory presentation of the Yosef who proposed that one Summary of The Weekly Torah relationship between the Jews should count the letter-widths of Reading: and G-d. On the one hand the total number of letters. Hoshea compares the Jews to a 1st & 2nd Aliyot: Moshe counts all Harlot who betrays her husband Ideally, the halacho is that a Sefer males over the age of 20, and and can not in good conscience Torah should be written in 245 registers them according to their claim that her husband has columns with 42 lines per column, paternal ancestry. The total, not fathered her children. On the which translate to a total of including Shayvet Layvie, was other hand, Hoshea concludes 10,290 lines of text. Now, the 603,550. The total number of his prophecy with G-d's promise dimensions of an ideal line of text Jews was around 3 million. that he will never abandon the are such that it should be wide Jews and that despite the nations enough to accommodate 62 yud- 3rd Aliya: The tribes are each betrayal and disloyalty, the widths. If we multiply 10,290 lines assigned their position within the children are still His. of text by 62 yud-lengths per line, camp, and in the order of the then the total yud-lengths traveling. In order to understand this encompassed by a sefer torah prophecy, a little background is in are 637,980. 4th Aliya: In preparation for order. G-d had stated to Hoshea separating the tribe of Layvie, the that the Jews had sinned. Hoshea Now, there are certain places in Torah establishes Aharon's responded by suggesting to the Torah text that must be left genealogy. Although the Kohanim Hashem that He exchange the blank, such as the breaks were also from the Tribe of Jews for another nation. As a between the paragraphs of the Layvie, they were counted by Prophet, it was Hoshea's Torah and the spaces between themselves. responsibility to follow Moshe's the lines of Shiras ha-Yam and example and fight on behalf of the Haazinu, both of which are written 5th Aliya: Moshe counts the nation, not reaffirm their guilt and in a different format then the rest Leviyim according to their three sins. In essence, Hoshea had of the Torah. The total average basic families: Gershon, Kehas, spoken Lashon Harah about the yud-widths of these blank and Mirarri. Their individual Jews. sections is about 56.7 yud-widths. responsibilities in transporting the If we subtract the total yud-widths Mishkan is stated, and their total As a part of Hoshea's training, of the sections that must remain was 22,000. Hashem instructed him to marry a woman who was a prostitute. He

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fathers three children whom he us to show parents, because must divide his property and gives unusual names reflecting Hashem included this throw half away. Now everyone his personal frustration with the commandment on the first tablet. realized the good fortune of the Jews. His oldest is named Yizrael When people honor their parents son. In the merit of listening to - The G-d Who plants. His second Hashem regards it as if they his father he was able to throw child, a daughter, he names Lo honored Him. away a sack of rocks instead of Ruchamah - One who does not half of his fortune. His father’s deserve mercy. His third child, a A great story (quoted in instructions didn’t seem to have boy, he named Lo Ami - Not My Tubecha Yabiu) illustrates this any logic, but the son followed nation. point. Once a Jewish person anyway. went to a faraway land in order to Hashem then told him to send make a livelihood and bring it Perhaps this is part of the away his wife and children. back home to his family. The reason why honoring parents Hoshea begged G-d to rescind man went with his father and the were placed on the first tablet. His order because he loved his son was able to acquire gold and There might be times that we family and did not want to be silver items that had great value. should not question a parent in apart from them. G-d then says to Finally the man decided to go the same way that one would not him, "Isn't your wife a prostitute, back home, but his father stayed. question Hashem. and don't even know if your The son packed his precious children are yours? Yet you love cargo in a sack and got ready to As we stand on the them! So too is my relationship leave. The father noticed that the threshold of Shabuot, the with the Jews. No matter how sack was very heavy so he holiday of the receiving of the they betray me I still love them advised his son to make it a little Torah, we would do well to read and do not want to be apart from easier to carry. He told him that the Mishnah in the last chapter of them!" instead of carrying the whole load Pirkei Abot which lists the forty- on one shoulder, he should eight qualities necessary to Hoshea understood the lesson balance it by placing another sack acquire the Torah. Among them and changed his entire attitude full of rocks on his other shoulder. are refinement of character, toward the Jews. Instead of If he had balance it would be humility, happiness, empathy and presenting the angry demeanor of easier and he will arrive safely so on. harshness and judgment, Hoshea home. The son asked no prophesied some of the most questions and did exactly as his The first one, however, is beautiful and optimistic father told him, and carried an the most important, for that is prophecies that we have. extra sack of stones. However, STUDY. If we want to know people who saw him didn’t anything in the Torah we must, The final words of the Haftorah understand the purpose of the first and foremost, study at a set capture the eternity of G-d's love extra sack. When he explained time, preferably with a teacher. for His Chosen People. "I shall what his father commanded, they Many are those who have made a marry you to Me forever...” still didn’t understand. If all he commitment to study some parts needed was balance, why the of Torah, be it Midrash, halachah EXCERPTS FROM THE JERSEY rocks? The balance could be or Gemara, and those who have SHORE TORAH BULLETIN accomplished by dividing the gold dedicated themselves to it have and silver into two sacks! The benefited tremendously. Now is Rabbi Reuven Semah “Honor son ignored them and continued the time to say to ourselves, let's your father and your mother.” on his way. try some serious Torah learning. (Shemot 20:12) We will then have reenacted the Finally he boarded a ship Receiving of the Torah as on On the holiday of to take him home. However, Mount Sinai, and we and our Shabuot, Israel received the during the trip they ran into a families will be the benefactors. Torah. The terrible storm at sea. The crew Rabbi Shmuel Choueka are inscribed on two tablets, five did all they could to lighten the on each. The first tablet contains load to prevent the ship from laws regarding man’s relationship sinking. Finally the captain gave to Hashem, while the second the order that in order to save the refers to relationships among lives of the passengers, each people. This shows us the passenger must throw overboard significance that Hashem one half of his cargo. Each one attaches to the honor He wants

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RABBI ELI MANSOUR means of perfecting one’s people will have children who Perfecting Our Middot Through character. Children look to their disrespect him and will show Parenting parents as examples to follow, respect to other people in their and thus parents have no choice lives, instead, and this accounts The Torah in Parashat Bamidbar but to be careful how they speak for the implied link between these briefly recounts the death of and act. Keenly aware of the Misvot. Nadab and Abihu, Aharon’s two effect our behavior has on our older sons: “Nadab and Abihu children’s character development, Why are disrespectful children the died before God…and they had we are forced to conduct consequence of envy? If children no children” (3:4). The Gemara in ourselves in a dignified, respectful grow up around envious parents, Masechet Yebamot interprets this and becoming manner. Strange who frequently speak of their verse to mean that Nadav and as it may seem, parenting is not desire to have what others have, Abihu died because they did not only about building our children, then they, the children, will beget children. On this basis, the but also about building ourselves. naturally become envious people. Gemara establishes that one who We perfect our characters by And it is then likely that they will does not involve himself in Periya being parents, as the role forces be envious of their friends’ Ve’ribya – the Misva of begetting us to conduct ourselves in the parents. If we cause our children children – is liable to death, just way we want our children to to be jealous people, we may very as Nadab and Abihu died behave. And so, the Hatam Sofer well be causing them to because of their refusal to have says, Nadab and Abihu died disrespect us – because they will children. because they did not have be jealous of their friends and children. Being childless denied show greater respect to their The commentators raise the them the opportunity to develop friends’ parents than to their own question as to how the Gemara their characters and their sense of parents. can attribute Nadab and Abihu’s humility and respect, and thus death to their decision not to have indirectly caused their untimely Parenting is a precious privilege children. After all, the Torah right death. and opportunity for many here in this Pasuk states explicitly reasons, and one reason which that they died on account of their On Shabuot we read the Aseret we should not overlook is the way irreverence toward the Mishkan, Hadibberot – the Ten it can help us become better for bringing an unwarranted Commandments that Beneh people. But this will only happen if offering. And the Midrash gives Yisrael heard at Sinai. The we remember how much our other reasons for their untimely Midrash comments that the Ten behavior affects our children’s death – drinking wine before Commandments are divided into development, that the way we act entering the Mishkan, and acting two sets of five, and each directly impacts upon their disrespectfully toward Moshe and commandment corresponds to characters. By being careful how Aharon. How, then, are we to the parallel commandment in the we act and speak around our understand the Gemara’s other set. Thus, for example, the children, we not only help them comment that Nadab and Abihu first commandment – “I am develop and cultivate proper died because of their decision not Hashem your God” – corresponds Middot – but we help ourselves to beget children? to the sixth commandment – perfect our own characters, as murder – because murder well. The Hatam Sofer (Rabbi Moshe constitutes the destruction of the Sofer of Pressburg, 1762-1839) divine image. The second Rabbi Wein explained that Nadab and Abihu’s commandment – idolatry – refusal to have children is the root corresponds to the seventh Among the customs that cause of their other sins, which all commandment – adultery – accompany the holiday of have to do with a lack of respect. because worshipping a foreign Shavuot, the public reading of the The irreverence they showed deity is a betrayal of God book of Ruth is personally one of toward Moshe and Aharon and comparable to marital infidelity. my favorites. The beauty and toward the Mishkan was the result Interestingly enough, according to simplicity of language, the of their failure to cultivate proper this structure, the fifth conciseness and majesty of its Middot (character traits) – a commandment – honoring narrative and the great moral failure which could have been parents – corresponds to “Lo lessons that are embedded in its averted if they had begotten Tahmod,” the prohibition against four short chapters have always children. Parenting, the Hatam envy. The Midrash explains that fascinated me. There is much that Sofer says, is the most effective somebody who is envious of other we and our current society can

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learn and apply from the ideas The Jewish people over the ages always operate as agents of our and events described in the book have been victimized simply for own freedom of will and choice of Ruth. being different. No amount of while at the same time being Nobel prizes won can erase the mindful that it is God’s plan that Firstly and perhaps most fact that we are different and the will certainly prevail. importantly is the value that refusal of most of human society Judaism places upon compassion to tolerate differences within the King David need not have arrived and help to the widow, the human race inevitability leads to through Boaz and Ruth. The Lord orphan, the stranger – the outrage and atrocities. has many paths to effectuate His disadvantaged in our society. The will. Yet because of the great future of the Jewish people, The gleaners and the harvesters compassionate behavior of Boaz even of all Western civilization, is and their supervisors all looked and Ruth, the Lord made them founded on acts of compassion – askance at Ruth – the different the eternal parents of Jewish Ruth to Naomi, Naomi to Ruth, one – as she bent down to take monarchy. This is a confirmation and Boaz to Ruth. There are no the fallen grain. They identified of the statement of the rabbis of great intellectual or theological her to Boaz and to themselves as, the Talmud: “Good and discussions related to us in the that ”Moabite” person. It was not meritorious events occur to us book of Ruth. It is deceptively only meant as a term of through the acts of good and simple in its shining message that description but rather as one of meritorious people while other we are to be nice to each other. derision as well. The different types of events occur to us person always bears the stigma through the behavior of sinners.” We are here to help others and of being different. These lessons from the book of such help oftentimes comes not in Ruth should be guideposts for us grandiose social welfare The Torah warned us thirty six all year long - not limited to the programs or numerous times to be careful to treat the holiday of Shavuot itself. organizations but rather in small stranger, the convert, the different personal acts of kindness and one, fairly and with justice and Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky - sensitivity towards others.` The compassion. We are taught that Parsha Parables Davidic dynasty is created by “the world is constructed and built giving a tired, poor and strange upon compassion towards The words resounded like the woman a rather meager lunch others.” The book of Ruth battle cry of our destiny, "we shall and some comforting words. perhaps more than any other do and we shall listen!" (Exodus book in the canon of the Bible 19:8). They were words that The book of Ruth purposely illustrates this value in a most characterized a superhuman details for us the “menu” that emphatic fashion. commitment to observance of G- Boaz offered Ruth for her midday d's Torah. After all, most people meal in order to emphasize to us The book of Ruth also drives listen, ponder, and then accept to that true human kindness rests in home to us the unseen but execute. The Jews, however, the small things in life and the omnipresent hand of God, so to when asked if they want the everyday accommodations to speak, in the seemingly ordinary Torah, used a terminology that is others that sustain us in an affairs of humans. Though we are only expressed by angelic beings otherwise difficult world. all accorded almost unlimited free - first we shall do, then we shall will in our choices, decisions and listen. That being the case, the The attitude towards the stranger behavior, we are yet operating Tosfos (French medieval amongst us is also one of the within boundaries of events that commentators) in Tractate highlights of the book of Ruth. are subject to the Will of the Shabbos question a Talmudic Human beings are very territorial Divine. interpretation of a difficult verse. and xenophobic. We look askance at strangers, at those Boaz is free to choose how he will The Torah, in painting the scene who are not like us physically and treat Ruth, kindly or otherwise, at Sinai, places the Jews in a very temperamentally. In our schools but as Rambam explains, this strange location in relation to Mt. the “different” child is rarely if ever freedom in no way impinges on Sinai. "And the Jews stood under accommodated. Bullying and God’s ultimate master plan for the the mountain" (Exodus 19:17). violence are condoned if not even Jewish people and the Davidic The wording is strange. The sometimes encouraged. dynasty. “Many are the thoughts Torah should have written that of humans but it is God’s plan that the Jews stood at the foot of the will ultimately prevail.” We should mountain or at the bottom of the

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mountain. The wording "under the the entire universe. And its Yet there is a curious delay in the mountain" seems to be presentation had to personify narrative. Ten chapters pass until unsuitable. such. Though there was the Israelites actually begin to unmitigated love and travel (Num. 10: 33). First there is The Talmud in Tractate Shabbos wholehearted enthusiasm in the a census. Then there is an explains this verse in a literal Jewish nation's acceptance of the account of the arrangement of the sense. Hashem, the Talmud Torah, Hashem had to make a tribes around the Ohel Moed, the explains, literally placed the Jews point that would be as eternally Tent of Meeting. There is a long under the mountain by lifting the powerful as Torah itself. He account of the , their mountain above them like a giant presented the Torah with families and respective roles. pot! And in that state, the Talmud unmitigated force -- a manner that Then there are laws about the continues, Hashem decreed, "If characterized its essence -- a vital purity of the camp, restitution, the you will accept the Torah, fine. necessity for mortal and universal sotah, the woman suspected of However, if you do not accept the existence. Torah's acceptance adultery, and the nazirite. A Torah, this will become your final could not be left to the fortunate lengthy series of passages resting place." goodwill of a very spiritual and describe the final preparations for wanting nation. It was wonderful the journey. Only then do they set On any level this Talmudic that the Jews accepted the Torah out. Why this long series of interpretation is difficult to as such, and their acceptance seeming digressions? understand, but in the light of the merited endless reward. But it Jewish nation's unwavering was time to show what the Torah It is easy to think of the Torah as acceptance of Torah - we shall do truly meant to the creation at simply telling events as they and we shall listen -- it is almost large. Otherwise, for generations, occurred, interspersed with incomprehensible. Thus Tosfos the emergence and observance various commandments. On this asks a powerful question: "why of Torah would be an outcome of view the Torah is history plus law. did Hashem force the Torah upon mortal benevolence -- and that is This is what happened, these are a nation that had already not the case. the rules we must obey, and there accepted it, lovingly and willingly is a connection between them, in superhuman terms?" The Torah is plains above the sometimes clear (as in the case mortality of its observers, and its of laws accompanied by reminder When Queen Victoria (1819- transmission and acceptance that “you were slaves in Egypt”), 1901) of England was about to must represent that immortality -- sometimes less so. marry Prince Albert, she wanted even if it takes raising Sinai! to have him bestowed with the But the Torah is not mere history title King Consort through an act Sir Jonathan Sacks as a sequence of events. The of the British Parliament. Chief Rabbi of the United Torah is about the truths that Hebrew Congregations emerge through time. That is one Prime Minister William of the Commonwealth of the great differences between Melbourne, knew the strong ancient Israel and ancient opposition he would face in Bemidbar takes up the story as Greece. Ancient Greece sought making such an unprecedented we left it toward the end of truth by contemplating nature and move, especially since Albert was Shemot. The people had reason. The first gave rise to of German descent. He strongly journeyed from Egypt to Mount science, the second to advised the Queen against such Sinai. There they received the philosophy. Ancient Israel found a move. "Your Majesty," the Torah. There they made the truth in history, in events and Prime Minister explained, "we Golden Calf. There they were what God told us to learn from can't have any of that." After all, if forgiven after Moses’ passionate them. Science is about nature, the English people get into the plea, and there they made the Judaism is about human nature, habit of making kings, they will Mishkan, the , and there is a great difference get them into the habit of inaugurated on the first of Nisan, between them. Nature knows unmaking them as well!" almost a year after the exodus. nothing about freewill. Scientists Now, one month later, on the first often deny that it exists at all. But The Torah, the Maharal of Prague day of the second month, they humanity is constituted by its (1526-1609) explains, is a vital are ready to move on to the freedom. We are what we choose necessity for worldly existence. It second part of the journey, from to be. No planet chooses to be is more than the blueprint of Sinai to the Promised Land. hospitable to life. No fish chooses creation, it is the raison d'etre of to be a hero. No peacock

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chooses to be vain. Humans do Egypt where the whole people choose. And in that fact is born become enslaved. God is about That long introduction, at the the drama to which the whole to begin again, not with a family beginning of Bemidbar, is all Torah is a commentary: how can this time but with a nation, which about creating a sense of order freedom coexist with order? The is what Abraham’s children have within the camp. Hence the drama is set on the stage of now become. census, and the detailed history, and it plays itself out disposition of the tribes, and the through five acts, each with Act 3 is the subject of the book of lengthy account of the Levites, multiple scenes. Shemot. God rescues the the tribe that mediated between Israelites from Egypt as He once the people and the Divine The basic shape of the narrative rescued Noah from the Flood. As Presence. Hence also, in next is roughly the same in all five with Noah (and Abraham), God week’s parsha, the three laws – cases. First God creates order. makes a covenant, this time at restitution, the sotah and the nazir Then humanity creates chaos. Sinai, and it is far more extensive – directed at the three forces that Terrible consequences follow. than its precursors. It is a always endanger social order: Then God begins again, deeply blueprint for social order, for an theft, adultery and alcohol. It is as grieved but never losing His faith entire society based on law and if God were saying to the in the one life-form on which He justice. Yet again, however, Israelites, this is what order looks set His image and to which He humans create chaos, by making like. Each person has his or her gave the singular gift that made a Golden Calf a mere forty days place within the family, the tribe humanity godlike, namely after the great revelation. God and the nation. Everyone has freedom itself. threatens catastrophe, destroying been counted and each person the whole nation and beginning counts. Preserve and protect this Act 1 is told in Genesis 1-11. God again with Moses, as He had order, for without it you cannot creates an ordered universe and done with Noah and Abraham enter the land, fight its battles and fashions humanity from the dust (Ex. 32: 10). Only Moses’ create a just society. of the earth into which He passionate plea prevents this breathes His own breath. But from happening. God then Tragically, as Bemidbar unfolds, humans sin: first Adam and Eve, institutes a new order. we see that the Israelites turn out then Cain, then the generation of to be their own worst enemy. the Flood. The earth is filled with Act 4 begins with an account of They complain about the food. violence. God brings a flood and this order, which is Miriam and complain about begins again, making a covenant unprecedentedly long, extending Moses. Then comes the with Noah. Humanity sin again by from Exodus 35, through the catastrophe, the episode of the making the Tower of Babel (the whole of the book of and spies, in which the people, first act of imperialism, as I the first ten chapters of Bemidbar. demoralized, show that they are argued in an earlier study). So The nature of this new order is not yet ready for freedom. Again, God begins again, seeking a role that God becomes not merely the as in the case of the Golden Calf, model who will show the world director of history and the giver of there is chaos in the camp. Again what it is to live in faithful laws. He becomes a permanent God threatens to destroy the response to the word of God. He Presence in the midst of the nation and begin again with finds it in Abraham and Sarah. camp. Hence the building of the Moses (Num. 14: 12). Again only Mishkan, which takes up the last Moses’ powerful plea saves the Act 2 is told in Genesis 12-50. third of Shemot, and the laws of day. God decides once more to The new order is based on family purity and holiness, as well as begin again, this time with the and fidelity, love and trust. But those of love and justice, that next generation and a new this too begins to unravel. There constitute virtually the whole of leader. The book of Devarim is is tension between Esau and Vayikra. Purity and holiness are Moses’ prelude to Act 5, which Jacob, between Jacob’s wives demanded by the fact that God takes place in the days of his Leah and Rachel, and between has become suddenly close. In successor Joshua. their children. Ten of Jacob’s the Tabernacle, the Divine children sell the eleventh, Joseph, Presence has a home on earth, The Jewish story is a strange into slavery. This is an offence and whoever comes close to God one. Time and again the Jewish against freedom, and catastrophe must be holy and pure. Now the people has split apart, in the days follows – not a Flood but a Israelites are ready to begin the of the First Temple when the famine, as a result of which next stage of the journey, but only kingdom divided into two, in the Jacob’s family goes into exile in after a long introduction. late Second Temple period when

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it was riven into rival groups and Torah. The Torah is here. Here it accept their testimony. Well, there sects, and in the modern age, at is, and we are here. We are the are so many documents; there the beginning of the nineteenth nation that claims our fathers are a lot of documents. You want century, when it fragmented into gave us this Torah that they documents? Josephus wrote two religious and secular in Eastern received from their fathers, and thousand years ago a big Europe, orthodox and others in we received a tradition that document. So that's thousands of the West. Those divisions have Moshe our teacher gave it to years ago, so that's as good still not healed. them, and our entire nation stood evidence as any evidence that at Har Sinai and they heard you'll produce for anything that And so the Jewish people keeps Hakadosh Baruch Hu say to happened three hundred years repeating the story told five times Moshe and give him a mandate in ago in America. in the Torah. God creates order. their presence. Moshe Rabbeinu, Therefore we are standing on Humans create chaos. Bad things you're going to speak to this solid ground, we have a historic happen, then God and Israel people for Me from now on, and tradition. We are not one person, begin again. Will the story never therefore Moshe Rabbeinu when we are a nation. And our nation end? One way or another it is no he gave us the Torah was always was united behind this. coincidence that Bemidbar mandated by Hakadosh Baruch We never had a single Jew who usually precedes Shavuot, Hu in the presence of 600,000 disbelieved that Moshe received anniversary of the giving of the males between 20 and 60 years the Torah from Hashem, up till a Torah at Sinai. God never tires of of age, not to mention the elderly hundred fifty years ago. Not the reminding us that the central ones, the young ones and the Karaites, not the Sadducees, human challenge in every age is women. That's our claim; no none of them disbelieved that, - whether freedom can coexist with nation in the world ever claimed they all believed. There wasn't a order. It can, when humans freely such a claim. Not the single Jew up to the time of the choose to follow God’s laws, Mohammedans. Of course the German assimilationists and given in one way to humanity Mohammedans claim that the reformers one hundred fifty years after the Flood and in another to Bible is true because the Jews ago; there wasn't a single Jew Israel after the exodus. say so. Christians claim the Bible who disbelieved in the Torah. So is true, because the Jews say so. our entire nation was behind this The alternative, ancient and The Vikings didn't have any tradition. Not to mention the fact modern, is the rule of power, in traditions, the Buddhists didn't that the Christians and which, as Thucydides said, the have any traditions, they made no Mohammedans all say the same strong do as they will and the such claims. thing about our Torah, that we weak suffer as they must. That is We are the only ones who claim received the Torah. not freedom as the Torah that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave it understands it, nor is it a recipe to us. And if you'll ask, how do we So therefore if anybody wants to for love and justice. Each year as know that it's true? So we'll ask bring proofs against the we prepare for Shavuot by you a question: How do you know authenticity of the Torah, we'll reading parshat Bemidbar, we that there was a George give him the floor. hear God’s call: here in the Torah Washington? Prove George and its mitzvot is the way to Washington. So you say there are Parts of this newsletter are courtesy of create a freedom that honours Project Genesis: Torah on the Information books. We also have books. We Superhighway. Permission is granted to order, and a social order that have books, too. So you say redistribute, but please give proper honours human freedom. There is Washington was recent and our attribution and copyright to the author and no other way. claims are old. Anybody around Project Genesis, and refer to here saw George Washington? [email protected] and http://www.torah.org/ . Both the authors and Project Genesis AS HEARD FROM RABBI Anybody saw a man who saw reserve certain rights. For full information AVIGDOR MILLER Z'TL George Washington around on copyrights, send email to here? How do you know he was [email protected]. Please prove the authenticity of there? It's emunah; you believe Shabbat Shalom From Cyberspace E Mail our Torah? That's a question I like people. So should we believe Edition is published each week since 1995 to get! nations of disorderly people, there and is distributed to 18,000 readers. Our were so many shikurim among goal is to spread torah knowledge. ANSWER: So we say to the Articles are downloaded from sites and them, and so many club wielders, from e-mail forwarded to us. We questioner, you have the floor, so many roughnecks. Such a encourage you to reprint the newsletter please disprove it. Please nation testifies that George and distribute it to co-workers, friends and disprove the authenticity of our Washington was present, and we family.

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