בס״ד SHAAREI ORAH NEwSlEttER The Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck • 1425 Essex Road, Teaneck NJ, 07666 • 201-833-0800 • www.sephardicteaneck.org Zmanim & Services Rabbi Haim Jachter SHABBAT NACHAMU Menachem Begin and Sefer Melachim PARASHAT VAET'HANAN AUGUST 17, 2019 An Israeli Icon: In a well-deserved honor, Menachem Begin has emerged as an Israeli icon in the past two decades. Especially among observant and traditional Friday Night Jews, he is regarded as a favorite if not the most beloved and respected of all Israeli Shir Hashirim 6:50 pm leaders past and present. Examining a few of his activities as Prime Minister in light Candle Lighting 7:35 pm of Sefer Melachim adds to our perspective on this now revered personality. Minha 7:00 pm Begin Visits the Rav, Rav Moshe, and the Rebbe: Sefer Melachim’s two followed by Kabbalat Shabbat / greatest kings, Chizkiyahu HaMelech and Yoshiyahu HaMelech, send messengers Arvit to a Navi to inquire on their behalf (Melachim II 19:2 and 23:14) but do not visit the Shabbat Day Navi themselves. Berachot 10a presents this as a principled policy of even the most righteous of kings who felt that the Navi should be subservient to the king. Shaharit 8:45 am Latest Shema 9:33 am In stark contrast, when Menachem Begin came to the United States in 1977 Pre-Minha Shiur 6:40 pm after his first election as prime minister, he met with Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Minha 7:20 pm Arvit 8:19 pm Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, and the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Most notably, Mr. Begin did Havdala 8:29 pm not ask these great rabbis to come to his hotel room. Instead, Prime Minister Begin traveled to each of them at their respective home bases in Washington Heights, the Weekly Schedule Lower East Side, and Crown Heights. Shaharit It is even recounted that when Begin visited the Rebbe, each wanted to extend to the other the respect to be the first to enter the room. Once again, this stands Sunday 8:00 am in stark contrast to the struggle between Yishayahu HaNavi and Chizkiyahu Mon/ Thu 6:20 am HaMelech as to who should come to whose residence. Tue/Wed/Fri 6:30 am Begin’s visits to these great rabbis made a major impact on the observant Minha/Arvit Jewish population. Orthodox Judaism in those times was not at all as strong as it is Sunday 7:30 pm today, and the Israeli leader traveling to the great rabbis served as a great boost to the Orthodox community. Begin Averts Civil War: Like Rechavam, Begin heroically avoided a civil war when he ordered that the Irgun soldiers about the Altalena refrain from returning fire on the Haganah troops. Much later in life, during his trip to New York, profoundly foolish and misguided Neturei Karta demonstrators outside of Mr. Begin’s hotel yelled on megaphones that Begin is a Nazi. Mr. Begin was deeply hurt, but gritted his teeth and remarked that a Jew does not fight back against another Jew. Begin’s silence and restraint in the face of vicious vitriol is reminiscent somewhat of Chizkiyahu’s silence in the wake of Ravshakeh’s terrible verbal attack on Hashem and Am Yisrael (Melachim II 18:19-25). The First Lebanon War: One criticism, though, that is pointed in the direction of Mr. Begin was that he was overly ambitious during the First Lebanon War. Had he simply secured the Galil from rocket attacks, he would have enjoyed the backing of a consensus of the community. However, a large segment of Jews disagreed Congregation Shaarei Orah is an inclusive kehillah, all are welcome regardless of edah or level of observance. בס״ד SHAAREI ORAH NEwSlEttER The Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck • 1425 Essex Road, Teaneck NJ, 07666 • 201-833-0800 • www.sephardicteaneck.org with Tzahal at that time pushing all the way to Beirut. In retrospect, it might be fair to say that Mr. Begin repeated some of Chizkiyahu HaMelech and Yoshiyahu HaMelech’s overly ambitious military campaigns. Conclusion: Mr. Begin has achieved status as a twentieth-century Jewish icon. While he may not have been perfect, he was and is widely perceived as a fully sincere individual whose pure concern was for the welfare and benefit of Am Yisrael. His visits to Rabbi Soloveitchik, Rabbi Feinstein, and the Rebbe rank him in Jewish history as surpassing even the greatest of the Sefer Melachim kings in terms of the respect he accorded to the Torah leadership. Announcements Kiddush this week is sponsored by the kiddush fund. To sponsor towards the kiddush fund, please visit https://www.sephardicteaneck.org/form/kiddush-fund-donation.html. Seudah Shelisheet is sponsored by Morris Abboudi in memory of his father Yaakov ben Regina. To sponsor seudah shelisheet please visit https://www.sephardicteaneck.org/form/seudah. We are excited to announce that as of today, Friday, August 9th, we are on a Shaharit minyan streak of 77 consecutive days! Stay tuned for our big Kiddush celebration if we hit the 100-minyan mark. Thank you, Ari Stein, for all your help with the daily minyan and thank you to all of our participants. Let's keep this streak alive! For updates and suggestions or if you would like to contribute towards this celebration, please contact Cesare Pinto - [email protected]. This week's audio shiur is sponsored by anonymous in memory of Shmuel Natan ben Yisrael Moshe. To sponsor an audio shiur please visit https://www.sephardicteaneck.org/form/Audio_Shiur_Sponsor. Reminder: Rabbi Jachter's Tuesday night class will not take place during the Summer. Yamim Nora'im 2019 Registration is now open for the Yamim Nora'im seating. Early bird pricing ends on 8/29/19 and the final deadline for all reservations is 9/15/19. Our Yamim Nora’im services last year were at full capacity in both the women’s and men’s sections. Notwithstanding the above-mentioned deadline dates, we highly recommend you place your reservations as soon as possible to ensure that you will be able to obtain seats for your entire family. As in previous years, the seating committee will make best efforts to use similar seating from previous years. However, please note that full members have priority over affiliate members and affiliate members have priority over nonmembers and requests will be honored on a first-come-first served basis. To make your reservations, click here. If you have general questions or need assistance making your reservations, please contact Mati Goldstein [email protected] or 201-833-0800. For financial questions or concerns, contact Gila Stone- [email protected]. Happy Birthday to Shlomo Ben Tzion Fink (Aug 17), Hillel Shlomo Zalman Jachter (Aug 17), Shaya Murad (Aug 18) and Daniel Sausen (Aug 19). The deadline for all submissions to the weekly newsletter is Thursday at 10AM. Thank you for your cooperation. Come and participate in our wonderful classes. See details on the back page of the newsletter. Congregation Shaarei Orah is an inclusive kehillah, all are welcome regardless of edah or level of observance. בס״ד SHAAREI ORAH NEwSlEttER The Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck • 1425 Essex Road, Teaneck NJ, 07666 • 201-833-0800 • www.sephardicteaneck.org Shorashai Orah Chesed Opportunity: A young widow living in Teaneck, whose husband was a Talmid of Rabbi Jachter, is in need of babysitting coverage on Sunday mornings from 9:45-11:15 each week and as needed, when she has to work, from 11:15AM to 1:30PM/2:00PM. Looking for our babysitting-age girls to volunteer for this important chesed on a rotating basis. The individual has two daughters (ages 6 and 2) and lives in Terrace Circle. Please respond to Erica Ohayon - [email protected]. A Story – On Being Different Dvar Torah by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in The Torah states: a world that's trying to make you like everyone else. For research purpose, scientists placed 5 monkeys in a cage, with a ladder in "And you shall do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 6:18). the middle and bananas on the top. Every time a monkey went up the ladder, the scientist soaked the rest of the monkeys with What does this verse come to teach us? The Ramban, cold water. After a while, whenever a monkey attempted to climb Nachmanides, cites the words of our Sages who explain that this the ladder, others would beat him up. After some time, no verse exhorts us to go beyond the dictates of the law in our monkey dared go up the ladder regardless of the temptation. dealings with our fellow human beings. The Ramban adds that Scientists then decided to replace one of the monkeys. this is a very great principle, since it is impossible for the Torah to actually list every last detail as to how a person should behave with his neighbors and friends. As expected, the new monkey instantly fell for the temptation and was beaten up by the rest. After several beatings, The Talmud (Bava Metzia 30b) states that Jerusalem this new member learnt not to climb up the ladder even though was destroyed because its inhabitants failed to go beyond the letter he never learnt the real reason. Then, a second monkey was of the law. Rabbi Zalman of Volozhin explained that this alone brought in and the same thing happened. The first monkey was not the cause of the destruction, for they had other participated in the beating of the second monkey.