Ha’azinu 5774 September 26, 2014 A Taste of Torah Stories For The Soul Stuck In a Rut By Rabbi Eli Mozes Who Will Win The War It’s that time of year again, when so strong that none of these strategies Based on a story from Tales of the Holocaust by Yaffa Eliach we will once again make our Rosh work; in this case, we need to go for The labor battalion was constantly on the move, never sleeping in the same location. They were given only a few hours to sleep under the open Hashanah resolutions for the new year. our secret weapon, contemplating sky before being moved to the next demolition assignment. On the eve of In the beginning we feel empowered; the day of our death. We never know Yom Kippur, they reached the Polish mountain of Bornemissza, between our destiny is in our hands, to forge when Hashem will reclaim our souls Osmoloda and Tacev, on the Slovakian border. The German commander on to a brighter tomorrow. But then and, after we pass on, we will have to stepped out from his covered wagon and gave one of the long speeches they reality sets in: “Wait a minute! Isn’t explain our every action. One ought to had learned to accept as part of their daily suffering. “I know that tomorrow this the exact same resolution I made say to himself, perhaps these are the is one of your most important holidays, Yom Kippur. It is an important fast last year? It only lasted for a day/week/ last five minutes of my life; is this how day in your religion. I want to remind you that you are soldiers, soldiers at a month!” The question we need to ask I want to meet my Maker? time of war on the battlefield, and as such, it is strictly forbidden for you to ourselves now is, where did I go wrong There are two questions we can ask fast. All those who fast will be executed by a firing squad.” On Yom Kippur, September 27, they worked as usual. It was an especially in the past, and what can I do this year on this approach from the Talmud. 1) difficult day for it rained heavily and everything around them was turning If the recollection of the day of death is so that this time I will truly walk away into a muddy swamp. When food was distributed, all the men, as if by prior a changed and better person. so potent, why bother with these other agreement, spilled the coffee into the running muddy gullies and tucked The Talmud (Brachos 5a) gives strategies? Why not just go straight for the stale bread into their soaked jackets. Kalman Mann and another Jew, us a formula for how one should our foolproof weapon? 2) We seem also from a Hasidic family, recited the Yom Kippur prayers, whatever they battle his temptations. “A person to have a source in the Torah which remembered by heart. All the others repeated after them while their tears should constantly incite his Yetzer Tov shows that recalling the day of death is mingled with the rain and their voices fought the noises of hammers, axes, (Good Inclination) to fight against not at all foolproof. We find in Parshas and the constant downpour of the rain. And so while demolishing telegraph his Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination). If he Toldos (Genesis 25:29-32) that Esav and telephone poles in the heavy downpour, the men calculated the time to say the closing prayer of this holy day, the Ne’ilah prayer. Night came and they vanquishes it (the Yetzer Hara), good. (Esau) comes home to find Ya’akov fell exhausted at the foot of Mount Bornemissza, ready to break their fast. Just But if not, one should engage in Torah (Jacob) cooking a pot of delicious then, the German commander and a group of soldiers emerged from their study. If he vanquishes it, fine. But if lentils. Esav gets an intense desire for covered wagons and ordered them to line up for roll call. The Jews expected not, one should recite the shema. If he them and begs Ya’akov to give them the worst. Fathers parted from their sons, brothers said good-bye to brothers, vanquishes it, good. But if not, one to him. Ya’akov responds, “I will give friends feared for their last moment together. should remind himself of the day of them to you in exchange for you right “I am a benevolent officer in the best German tradition.” Their fears death.” The Talmud lays out for us a as the firstborn (i.e. the right to serve intensified, for they knew what to expect when they heard one of these series of strategies for how to overcome in the Temple; see Rashi ibid).” Esav “generosity” speeches. It was usually followed by the most catastrophic aftermath. “I know that you fasted today, but I am not going to invoke the our Yetzer Hara. First, we should use responded “Lo! I am going to die; of death penalty that you deserve according to law. Instead, you are going to our own moral compass and remind what use, then, is this birthright to climb that mountain and slide down on your stomachs. Those among you ourselves what is wrong with what me?” If recalling the day of death is so who would like to repent may say that they were wrong in disobeying army we want to do. Our next step is to get potent, how could Esav discuss it and regulations and fasting today. Those who would like to do so please raise absorbed in our Torah studies and still make the terrible mistake of selling your hands.” Not a single hand went up. And so, tired, soaked, starved, the ignore the Yetzer Hara; the Talmud away his spiritual future for a bowl of emaciated Jews climbed the wet, slippery mountain. When they reached the (Kiddushin 30b) tells us that Torah is lentils? top, they were ordered to slide down on their stomachs. When they reached the antidote for the Yetzer Hara. If this Perhaps we can answer the second the bottom, they were ordered to line up again. They were asked if there were fails, we move on to our next weapon, question with the first. The reason that individuals who wanted to repent and be spared the ordeal. Mud-covered figures with feverish eyes looked at the clean-shaven German officer in silent the shema. When we recite the shema, Esav had such an abysmal failure was defiance. And so, ten times, they repeated the humiliating performance, we accept upon ourselves the yoke of because he went straight for the secret each time with more determination, each time with more strength, climbing Heaven. We internalize that even if weapon, recalling the day of his death, and sliding from an unknown Polish mountain which, on that soggy night, we really want to do something that while bypassing the first three steps. became a symbol of Jewish courage and human dignity. At midnight, as the is contrary to the will of Hashem, we There is a verse in Isaiah (22:13) that rains abated, the performance was stopped. The men were given food and are not free to follow our whims, but says, “Yet behold! There is joy and drink. They lit small campfires, trying to dry their clothes and warm their are completely subservient to Hashem. gladness, slaying of cattle and slaughter shivering bodies. Their faces shone with a strange glow as they sat around the However, sometimes the temptation is of sheep, eating meat and drinking small campfires at the foot of Bornemissza. continued on back continued on back Kollel Happenings Interpersonal Issues KOLLEL’S DONOR The Laws of Lashon Hara (Slander) Another situation of avak lashon like, thus indicating that something APPRECIATION EVENT hara is when one person asks another negative was said. The person being SEPTEMBER 30TH what a third individual said about asked should avoid answering or, if The Kollel will be holding its him. The person, while not revealing need be, he may even bend the truth the damaging information, responds, to avoid revealing the facts to avoid annual Donor Appreciation “I don’t want to discuss it” or the rechilus. Event on Tuesday, September 30th, 6:30 pm, at the home of Dr. Mickey and Susan Ask the Rabbi Gordon, 57 Sommerset Rosh Hashana, After Yom Kippur? Circle, Greenwood Village, Kevin from Johannesburg asked: and phone bills. Spiritual matters - Mitzvos, Olam Haba (the World to Come), repentance, etc. - are harder for us to get CO 80111. Dear Rabbi, excited about. I understand that Rosh Hashana is the day of judgment, and To RSVP please email info@ Therefore, we have Rosh Hashana first. On Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur is the day of repentance and forgivness. Shouldn’t denverkollel.org. all our physical needs are determined - Will we live or will we Yom Kippur be first? Wouldn’t we be better off doing Teshuva die? Will we have money for the phone bill? Once we begin (repentance) before Rosh Hashana, and go into Rosh Hashana thinking about these issues, asking Hashem for a year of health A DEEPER LOOK AT THE to be judged, already having been forgiven? and wealth, we can then hopefully go one step further, asking PARSHA WITH RABBI Dear Kevin, Hashem to enlighten us, forgive us, and to help us towards Teshuvah (returning to the way of Torah). Shachne Sommers On Yom Kippur, Hashem showers the world with forgiveness: Sources: Join Rabbi Shachne Sommers But just like a shower, if you want the cleansing effect, you have to get into the water! Kochvei Ohr, Ma’amar 83.