In This Issue Parshat Toldot Rav Bina speaks about his father Letter from a Parent HaRav Nebenzahl on Parshat Toldot Staff Dvar Torah By Rav Chaim Eisenstein Netiv HaChinuch - For Parents and Teachers Petuchei Chotam on Parshat Toldot Alumni Melava Malke with HaRav Bina and Rav Natan Schwartz next Motzei Shabbat, Parshat Vayetze in The Five Towns! Details will be in next week's newsletter Visitor Log, Mazal Tov's, T ehilim List and on the website as soon as they become available. ~~~~~~~ Join Our List Links Rabbanit Malke Bina's Parsha Glimpse Open Houses with Rav Bina in Livingstone, NJ, West Rav Natan Schwartz will Hempstead, NY, and Los Angeles, CA also be there to answer questions. Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh invites applicants and parents of applicants to an informal gathering with HaRav Aharon Bina, Rosh HaYeshiva. HaRav Bina will speak about the Yeshiva and answer your questions regarding the Yeshiva and the year in Israel. Livingstone, NJ Wednesday November 30, 2011 at 8:00 PM At the home of Jeffrey & Marci Lefkowitz 27 Mountain Ridge Drive RSVP: 516-829-3120 or [email protected] West Hempstead, NY Thursday December 1 2011 at 8:00 PM At the home of Lisa & Billy Korman 239 Locust St. RSVP: 516-829-3120 or [email protected] Los Angeles, CA Wednesday December 7, 2011 at 7:30 PM Hosted by Sheril & Seymour Litwin At the home of Rabbi Shimon & Huvi Abramczik 1467 Crest Drive RSVP: 516-829-3120 or [email protected] ~~~~~~~ 1 of 8 Rav Hershel Schachter, Rosh Kollel in RIETS (Yeshiva University), Addresses The Yeshiva During the Q & A following the first of Rav Schachter's shiurim at the Yeshiva, one of the students asked him about his Rebbe, HaRav Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Click on the photo to hear hi recollections of the Rav z"tl.. ~~~~~~~ Shabbat Davening Times: Friday Night Mincha on the porch overlooking the Kotel (weather permitting) - 4:20 PM Shabbat Day Shachrit- 5:35 AM Second Shachrit- 8:30 AM Mincha-4:00 PM YNA.EDU | Ask Rav Nebenzahl | Suggestion Box Contact Us | Alumni Update Form | Parsha Archives Rav Bina speaks about his father on the Yahrzeit Click HERE to watch the speech Letter from a Parent Dear Rav Bina, This letter is long overdue. When I read the Yeshiva newsletter and see that today is your father's yahrtzeit, I felt it important to write and let you know how appreciative we are for all the care that you have given our son. There are not enough words for us to express our gratitude. Our son has grown and is blossoming at Netiv Aryeh. It was not easy for you to get him as dedicated to Torah study and Jewish life as he now is. We see the result and we are humbly grateful to Hashem for all the work, time investment, and care that you put into the Yeshiva and the boys. You have assembled an extraordinarily fine staff. You are both firm, yet embracing. You understand the 2 of 8 balance. Are you aware that our son learns with me for an hour on the phone once a week? And he reads and explains the gmara to me and not vice versa? When I get off the phone I shed tears of joy. On this day of your father's yahrtzeit, I tell you that you are a shining testament to your father's legacy. You continue his great works, strengthening young men with honesty and not flattery. May Hashem give you and your family good health, happiness and strength to continue to 120 years. And may this all be for an "Ilui Neshama" for Rav Aryeh Leib Bina Zatzal. With great thanks, Netiv Aryeh Parents HaRav Nebenzahl on Parshat Toldot HaRav Nebenzahl asks that his Divrei Torah are not read during Tefillah or the Rabbi's sermon. We are still in need of donors to cover the remaining costs of publishing Yerushalayim beMoadeha - Shabbat Volume III. If you would like to take part in this mitzvah of harbatzat Torah please email [email protected]. Donations of $5,000 will entitle you to a dedication page. GRANT TRUTH TO YAAKOV "Pour into me, now, 'min ha'adom ha'adom hazeh' some of that very red stuff ...he therefore called his name Edom" (Bereishit 25:30). Is this good enough rationale to affix a particular name to an individual because he ate a food of that color? If a person were to walk into a store and purchase a green jacket would we then call him Green? Is this a reason to name Esav, his nation, and his country Edom? The name here signifies much than the food that Esav ate, it was the way that Esav related to the food that gives us an idea of just who he was. The red food in question was lentil stew which Yaakov was preparing for his father. Avraham Avinu had died that day and Yitzchak was therefore in mourning. The custom is that other people provide the mourner with a Seudat Havraa. Today it is customary to serve eggs at such a meal, during Yaakov's time eggs or lentils were acceptable. Esav, who may have been evil, was no ignoramus. He was a man of the world and knew very well that Avraham Avinu had just died. There is no question that Esav was well aware of why Yaakov was preparing the lentils. On the other hand, Esav desperately wanted the food. What option did he have? He realized that given his great reputation for honoring his father, taking food intended for his father and eating it himself would be hypocritical. The best solution, he felt, was to pretend that he did not know what food Yaakov was preparing "give me that red stuff - tomatoes or whatever it may be". "He therefore called his name Edom". This is Esav outwardly he gives the impression of being a tzaddik yet in truth he is no tzaddik. Esav is called Edom because he is like that impure creature who flaunts its trotters trying to mislead everyone into thinking it is kosher. The name Edom would not have been conferred upon him if this were but a one-time occurrence, but this was a recurring phenomenon in Esav's persona. Throughout the generations Edom displayed themselves on the outside to be fine people when in reality they were far from it. Yaakov is the exact opposite - he exemplifies truth as the pasuk states "titen emet leYaakov" "grant truth to Yaakov" "grant truth to Yaakov" (Micha 7:20). If Yaakov was a man of absolute truth, how do we explain some of the incidents in the Torah, specifically what appears to be deceit encouraged by his mother Rivka in fooling his father into thinking that he is Esav. Where is the attribute of emet? In actuality, there was no falsehood in Yaakov's statements at all! "I am Esav your firstborn" is the absolute truth! How can this be? My Rebbe HaRav Dessler z"l gave the following analogy: Suppose the watch I am wearing is a half an hour fast - the correct time is now 10:30 and my watch says that it is 11:00. Someone comes over to me and asks me "what time do you have". I could tell him 11:00 for, after all, that is the time displayed on my watch. That, however, is not the answer this person is looking for. He is interested in the correct time. His question to me of "what time do you have" assumes that my watch was set correctly. The appropriate answer to give him would therefore be 10:30. In this manner we can explain Yaakov's identifying himself to his father as Esav. Yitzchak had no interest in blessing a wicked man, yet for all these years he was deceived into thinking that Esav was a tzaddik. Esav used to ask him how one separates tithes from salt and straw, misleading Yitzchak into thinking that Esav was even more 3 of 8 meticulous in his observance of mitzvoth than Yaakov (see Rashi Bereishit 25:27). Based on this, Yitzchak elected to bestow his blessing upon the righteous Esav. Yaakov, however, knows the truth - there is no "righteous Esav". In fact, Yaakov knows that had his father been aware of Esav's true character he would not have blessed him at all (certainly not with the bracha he had designated for him) - he surely would have elected to give the blessing to Yaakov. Based on Yitzchak's perception of reality, Yaakov tells him "I am Esav your firstborn", I am in fact that person whom you picture in your mind's eye as "Esav your firstborn" and therefore I am the one you truly wish to bless. (see Michtav MeEliahu volume 1 pages 94-96). Based on this, we can say that Yaakov is telling Yitzchak the truth. Yitzchak at first did not realize what was behind Yaakov's words. It was only later when Esav revealed the deceit that had taken place and Yitzchak saw Gehinom open up under Esav (see Rashi Bereishit 27:33) that Yitzchak realized that Yaakov was right - he was the one worthy of receiving the bracha, not Esav. Yaakov's words were free of any falsehoods - he simply was not following Yitzchak's misconception that Esav was the righteous son. Instead he directed his father in the way he truly wished to be lead - to bless his righteous which was in fact Yaakov. The problem is that to all outward appearances there is seeming deceit in Yaakov's words and it is this that Yaakov tried his best to avoid.