© Copyright 2018 1760 Ocean Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11230 718.677.6886 [email protected] HaDaF Typesetting [email protected] Foreword R ABBI DANIEL ROSENSTEIN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE HEBRON FUND On the occasion of this special Shabbat Chayei Sarah in Chevron, 5779, The Hebron Fund is proud to present you with this booklet, a sample of our forthcoming book with divrei Torah on parshat hashavua related to Hebron. The book, titled “Hebron: Uniting with the Holy Presence,” has been authored by Rabbi Moshe Goodman, a prominent student of Kollel Ohr Shlomo in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron. These divrei Torah originated as weekly parsha-related tidbits sent out by email that have now been transformed into a book. As you will see in the sample, the uniqueness of these divrei Torah is that they all link some element of the parsha to the city of Hebron specifically, as well as to the special halachic and spiritual qualities of the Land of Israel generally. While we look forward to sharing news of the book’s completion in the near future, dedication opportunities are still available. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the divrei Torah on Chayei Sarah that we’ve included here. It is our wish that these divrei Torah will be just the beginning of your own personal process of growth, searching for Hashem’s Presence in your life, and connecting to the greatness of Hebron and the Land of Israel. 3 Introduction The conceptualization of Israel as a husband and the Land of Israel as a wife is clearly seen in Tanach, in Halacha, and in Kabbalistic sources. Although we may not feel it, our souls are innately imbued with a yearn- ing for our “wife.” But our tradition teaches that we must not be satis- fied with this innate connection to the Holy Land: “Zion is she, she has no seeker” – “from this it is to be inferred that she needs to be sought” (Yirmiyahu 30:17; Rosh Hashana 30a). “Seeking” implies that a mere glimpse of external facets is not enough, but rather an internal probing of the soul of Zion is needed. Just as a man cannot truly know his wife from her external dress, so too one cannot truly connect to the Land of Israel merely based on news, politics, etc. Indeed, without the internal search for the soul of our Holy Land, we are lacking our primary recog- nition of this Land as our People’s soulmate. Given this imperative of seeking the Holy Presence in our Holy Land, we must ask ourselves how to execute it in practice: Just as a husband would not recognize his wife after not seeing her for a pro- longed period, how can we seek something so far removed from our consciousness and experience over the lengthy exile? The answer is that these emotions still emanate from our hearts, telling us that we are missing something so essential – “experiencing God’s Presence in our very lives.” Nevertheless, this innate cry is only revealed when we direct our attention to it, thereby beginning our quest for this Presence. Only when we persevere in our quest with sufficient dedica- tion do we come to the realization that only through devotion to the Holy Presence of our Holy Land can we truly and fully experience God’s Presence in our lives. 4 The goal of this book is to increase this innate bond between the soul of our Land – the Holy Presence – and the soul of our People. This goal is achieved through discussing various aspects of Hebron (from chaber – unite), which unites our People with the Holy Land, as we explain in the book’s introduction. I have therefore titled this book as “Hebron: Uniting with the Holy Presence.” In addition, we explain in the introduction that this spiritual quest to identify and bond with the soul of the Holy Land is implemented throughout the book using three methods: Torah study, prayer, and tell- ing real stories that demonstrate the Divine Providence in this Land. For this reason, it is recommended to use the book in ways that help achieve this goal. One possible usage of this book as Torah study is to deliver its messages at the Shabbat table. It can also be used before prayer to help direct one’s focus towards the Holy Presence of the Land that rests with our Patriarchs of Hebron. For this purpose, each devar Torah is labeled as accompanying one of the three daily prayers (Shacharit, Mincha, Maariv). In addition, they are divided into short portions, one for each day of the week, to be read daily before the appropriate tefilla. This will enable one to progress at achieving the goal, slowly and con- sistently, one day at a time. Finally, the book contains a weekly section called “Real Stories from the Holy Land,” which are true stories relating to everyday life in mod- ern Israel. These stories contain elements of hidden Divine Providence that can be used to internalize the realization that even in everyday life, minor “coincidences” can be seen as the Hand of God in disguise. I raise my heart in prayer to Heaven, yearning for the return of the Holy Presence to our Holy Land and Temple. May Hashem aid us in this mission, and facilitate our redemption, as well as that of His Land and Temple, speedily, Amen. Moshe Goodman Hebron, Cheshvan 5779 5 חיי שרה Longing for the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land shacharit avraham וישקל אברהם לעפרן את הכסף אשר דבר באזני בני חת ארבע מאות שקל כסף עובר לסחר )בראשית כג:טז( And Avraham weighed out to Ephron the silver about which he had spoken in the ears of the sons of Cheit, four hundred shekels of silver, accepted by the merchant Sunday “And may our eyes see Your return to Zion with compassion…” (daily Amida). Zion is a common term for both Jerusalem and the Land of Israel in general. One of the fascinating laws about the Land of Israel is found in tractate Bava Kamma (80b): “One who purchases a house in the Land of Israel may write the contract even on Shabbat. Is it really [permitted] on Shabbat? Rather, as Rava explained, that he tells a gentile to do it.” Monday The Rambam rules Hilchot( Shabbat 6:9): “A Jew is permitted to instruct a gen- tile to perform an activity that is not a forbidden labor (Torah prohibition) and is prohibited from being performed on Shabbat only as a rabbinic prohibition. This leniency applies provided that this is necessary because of a minor infirmity, a very pressing mat- ter, or a mitzva.” The same ruling is brought verbatim in the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 307:5). This means that generally speaking, one is allowed to instruct a gentile to perform a forbidden action on Shabbat only if it is a rabbinic prohibition and it is on account of a minor infirmity (sickness), a very pressing matter, or a mitzva. TueSday Now here’s the shock: Two halachot later, the Rambam rules: “When a person buys a house in the Land of Israel from a gentile, he is permitted to tell the gentile to write a deed of sale on Shabbat, since instructing the gentile to perform a forbid- den labor on Shabbat is a rabbinic prohibition, and because of the importance of settling the Land of Israel, the Sages did not enforce their decree in this instance. Similarly, the above principles apply when one purchases a house from [a gentile] in Syria, for Syria is equivalent to the Land of Israel in this regard.” You understood right: One is allowed to ask the gentile (a rabbinic prohibition) to perform a Torah prohibition (writing a deed of sale). This is a surprising, exceptional rule that demonstrates the unique importance of the Land of Israel. WedneSday This same ruling is brought in the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 306:11). However, the Rama limits this permission to non-Hebrew writing, which according to the Or Zarua is only prohibited by rabbinic law. Nevertheless, the Mishnah Berura critically attacks Rama’s limitation, saying “it has no source in the Talmud, and all of the poskim differ (with the Or Zarua).” He then shows at length in the Beur Halacha how this 6 opinion has no source either in the Talmud Bavli, the Babylonian Talmud or in the Talmud Yerushalmi, the Jerusalem Talmud. ThurSday Given this whole discussion, it seems incumbent upon us to understand why purchasing land in the Land of Israel is so unique, and why the fundamental leniency of the Gemara is unprecedented in any other mitzva. The source of this law is in the book of Devarim (20:20), which when describing the conquering of a city in the Land of Israel, uses the term “ad rideta,” “until you subdue (conquer) the city.” The Rabbis derive (in the Sifrei) from this superfluous term that one is allowed to wage battle even on Shabbat. From this inference, the Talmud Yerushalmi (Moed Katan 9b) learns that even redeeming land in Israel from a gentile through purchase encompasses a dimension of regaining the land in battle as mentioned in this verse. As such, this precedent gives leeway to override at least the rabbinic prohibition of asking a gentile to perform a Torah prohibition of writ- ing on Shabbat. It is important to note, however, that this is not a complete derivation. If it were, then just as during battle, the army is allowed to violate Torah prohibitions, so too one would be permitted to violate even a Torah prohibition to buy land (and not just to instruct a gentile to do so, which is a rabbinic prohibition), which is definitely not the case.