LIGHTS OF OUR RIGHTEOUS TZADDIKIM בעזרת ה ' יתבר A Tzaddik, or righteous person , makes everyone else appear righteous before Hashem by advocating for them and finding their merits. Kedushas Levi, Parshas Noach (Bereishis 7:1) NASO _ CHASSIDUS ON THE PARSHA + Dvar Torah Leadership Uplifts The Hebrew word for leader is nosi . We find that the princes of the tribes were called nesi’im , and we also find that kings and other people in leadership positions were called nesi’im . What is the significance of this word? The precise definition of this word, explains Rav Levi Yitzchok, is to lift up, to elevate. It is the responsibility of a Jewish leader to lift up his people, to elevate the level of their service of Hashem . It is, of course, also true that the leader is responsible for providing for all the needs of the people. Their primary focus, however, should be on elevating them spiritually, not only because the spiritual level of the people is so important but also because the elevation of the spiritual level results in numerous blessings that fulfill all the other needs of the people as well. The Torah tells us ( Bamidbar 7:2) that the nesi’im are those “who stand at the countings”. The word for countings used here is pekudim , w hich can also connote lacks or shortcomings in an alternate meaning. The implication here is that the nesi’im take note of the pekudim of the people, meaning their lacks and needs, and they stand staunchly at the head of the people elevating them to higher levels of spiritual achievement, thereby also addressing all of their needs. This pasuk can also be seen as alluding to the nesi’im themselves. It hints to us that the 1 Naso / [email protected] success of the Jewish leaders was contingent on their “standing at the countings”. With great humility, they were always aware of their own lacks and shortcomings, and this in itself is what qualified them to be leaders of the Jewish people. A leader cannot be expect to elevate his followers to higher levels of spiritual achievement if he is not humbly aware of his own flaws. n Story Rav Levi Yitzchok was once standing in shul after Shacharis when he saw one of his congregants, a simple man, accidentally drop his tefillin on the ground. The man recoiled in shock, then he fell to the ground and lovingly picked up his tefillin , brought them to his lips and kissed them. Rav Levi Yitzchok was deeply moved by the intensity of the man’s emotional response, and he remained standing in his place for a long time, contemplating the implications of what he had just seen. The following Rosh HaShana , Rav Levi Yitzchok opened the Aron Kodesh and prepared to advocate for the Jewish people, as was his custom every year. “Master of the Universe,” he cried out, “Your people are coming before You to be judged once again. And what do we ask of You? We ask that you treat us as the simplest Jew treats his tefillin . If a simple Jew’s tefillin fall to the ground, he immediately stoops to gather them up and kiss them. Well, the Jewish people are Your tefillin through whom You glorify Yourself. All we ask is that You treat us as the simple Jew treats his tefillin . We may have stumbled during this year. We may have done some misdeeds. We may have fallen from the heights to the lowest levels during the long years of our exile. Lift us up and embrace us. Have mercy on us, for we are Your tefillin .” n n n הילולא The anniversary of the petira of a Tzaddik is known as a Hilula , which means “A Day of Joy”. One of the tools that Kabbola teaches is to connect to a Tzaddik (righteous person). The method to connect to a Tzaddik is to adopt the following ritual: 1) Learn the anniversary of his petira or, if this information is not available, the days of Erev Rosh Chodesh , Rosh Chodesh and the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month can be utilized for a connection. 2) Light a twenty-five-hour candle in his or her honor. There is no specific berocha . Some say the following: This candle is being lit in the merit of ______________. Others say that it is the custom within Klal Yisrael to light a yahrzeit candle on the day that a relative or a Tzaddik has passed away. The lighting has no accompanying blessing, and people would like to express themselves in a tefilla when lighting the candle. This is not only true on a yahrzeit but on every Yom Tov as well. 2 Naso / [email protected] The author of the Pele Yo’etz , Rav Eliezer Papo (1785–1828), did in fact compose such a tefilla . Rav Papo was the Rav of the city of Selestria in Bulga ria. Bulgaria was a part of the Ottoman Empire at the time. The tefilla of the Pele Yo’etz is reproduced and translated below, as a public service. Hebrew Tefilla for Lighting a Yahrzeit or Hilula Candle [ ְ # ִ פי ָ לה ַ ה נִ ְ מ ַ צ, ת !ַ ֵ ס ֶ פ ר אֶ לֶ / ַ ה ָ מ ֵ ג' ִ מ ַ ! ַ על ַ ה ֶ ֶ לא י וֹ עֵ עַ ל ָ ָ ר ַ ת ַו ֵי ֵ צ א עָ מ וֹ ד כ"ד] ַ ה ֵ רי ִ נ י מַ ְ ד ִ ל יק נֵ ר זֶ ה לִ ְ מנ ַ חת ְל ִ ע יל י נִ ְ ַ מ ת * ִ בי / ִ א ִ מי מ וֹ ָ ר ִ תי / ַ ה ַ צ ִ ד יק ____________ ֵ !'/ ַ !ת ____________, ְי ִ הי ָ רצ וֹ' ִ מ ְל ָ פ ֶ ני2 ה' ֶאֵקינ ֵוא ֵ קי אֲ בוֹתֵ ינ , ֶ ְ#ַקֵ!ל ְ!ַרֲחִמי% ְבָרצוֹ' ָ(ל ַמֲעֶ)ה הַ טוֹב ֶ ,ִני עוֶֹ)ה , ֵ!י' ְ!ַמַחָ ָבה , ֵ!י' ְ!ִדי!ר , ֵ!י' ְ!ַמֲע ֶ )ה ְו ִי ְ ה ֶ יה ַ ה ֹ (ל ִל ְ זכת ְל ְ מנ ַ ח ת לְ עִ יל י לִ ְ נ ָ מ וֹ ת עַ ְ מ2 ִי ְ ) ָ ר ֵ אל, ִ ! ְ פ ָ ר ט לְ ֶנ ֶ פ ר ַ ח ְנ ָ ָ מה ֶ ל * ִ בי / ִ א ִ מי / ַ צ ִ ד יק ____________. ְי ִ הי ָ רצ וֹ' ֶ ִ # ְ ה ֶי ָ נ ה נַ ְ פ וֹ ֵ תי ֶ ה % צְ רר וֹ ת !ִ ְ צר וֹ ר הַ ַ ח ִ יי%. Translation: Behold I am lighting this lamp for the resting and uplifting of the soul of my father/my mother/the Tzaddik _______ the son/daughter of ______________. May it be Your will before you, Hashem , our G-d and the G -d of our forefathers, that all my good deeds whether in thought, speech or action be done for a merit and a resting and an elevation of the souls of your nation Yisrael. It should be especially for the soul of my father/mother/the Tzaddik _____. May it be Your will that their souls be bound in the bond of life. 3) Learn about the person including history, culture, writings and teachings. 4) Study some of his teaching or writings. See more at: www.yeshshem.com/hilulah.htm n n n Y GEDOLIM BE'MISASAM YOSER Z YAHRZEITS BEGINNING SHABBOS NASO http://www.chinuch.org/gedolim_yahrtzeit/Iyar/Sivan Biographical information and yahrzeits compiled by Reb Manny Saltiel and www.anshe.org ththth + 111111 of Sivan ~ Begins Friday Night (May 21st) Rav Shmuel Rosenberg of Unsdorf, mechaber of Be’er Shmuel , son of Rav Yisrael Yona Tzvi, Rav of Tisa-Ferred. At the age of sixteen, he attended the Yeshiva of the Ksav Sofer . He became a Rav in Tchabba and later in Unsdorf, the latter for thirty -seven years, (5679/1919); Rav Yechi ben Moshe Levi, Rosh Yeshiva and Av Bais Din in Yemen, (5692/1932) ; Rav Mordechai Brisk of Chanad, Av Bais Din Tashnad, mechaber of Teshuvos Maharam Brisk , (5704/1944); Rav Yitzchok Yaakov ben Rav Yosef Yehuda Weiss (1902–1989), mechaber of Minchas Yitzchok , one of the most respected Halocha seforim of recent times. He was Av Bais Din in Grosswardein, Romania, before WWII, then in Manchester, England (1949 –1969), and Av Bais Din of the Eida Chareidis in Yerushalayim (1972–1989). As a young child he learned under the Zhiditchover Rebbe of Delina, Rav Yehuda Tzvi Eichenstein. He also had a daily three-hour chavrusa with his father for many years, during which he learned the derech that his father had acquired from his Rebbe , the Arugas HaBosem . For thirteen years, Rav 3 Naso / [email protected] Yitzchok Yaakov lived in Delina, until the First World War broke out in 1914. The family sought refuge in Munkacz, Hungary. In Adar 1944, the Nazis invaded Hungary and immediately started to erect ghettos. Rav Weiss recorded his harrowing trials and tribulations that he experienced in the war in the first volume of his sefer Minchas Yitzchok in a special section called Pirsumei Nissa , (5749/1989); Rav Yehuda (Yeede’le) Horowitz of Dzikov (1905–1989), the only son of Rav Alter Yechezkel, Rebbe of Dzikov, one of large Chassidic dynasties in Galicia. Rav Yeede’le was born in Vishnitz where his father lived after he married the daughter of the Vizhnitzer Rebbe , the Ahavas Yisrael .