Friday, August 19, 2016

Parsha Vaeschanan, Part 7 of my return to Judaism, stories, TU B'Av advise


Please re-add Chaim Dovid ben Chana Golda.


Parsha Vaeschanan


Moshe Rabbaynu’s Mussar Drasha continues with this week’s Parsha. Perhaps the greatest part of the Mussar after telling the people about the failure to have faith in entering the land in the past and that the L-RD will fight their battles is the Shema and Decalogue stated here. There are some differences for in the past it was “remember Shabbos” now it is to “guard the Shabbos”. A person who remembers is passive in his observance. For example, remember what happened to Miriam. All a person has to do is not to speak or listen to Lashon HaRa. But guarding the Mitzvah of Shabbos by lighting the candles 18, 20, 23 or in Yerushalayim and Petach Tikva 40 minutes early is proactive. In fact, there are some that every week have an early Shabbos and make Kiddush before sundown. Some Kabbalist do this as the planet mars rules the first hour of Shabbos. Or the Kabbalist waits to a later hour. Others say that the stars and the planets were meant to serve Adam and therefore mars helps us guard the Shabbos like soldiers of HASHEM.

Rabbi Beryl Wein Shlita in his Drasha last week wrote about the Goy in a completely Orthodox neighborhood in Monsey, NY who continued living there. When asked if he felt alone there, he said, “No I love the serenity of your Shabbos.”

3:23 And I besought the LORD at that time, saying: 24 'O Lord GOD, YOU have begun to show Thy servant, Thy greatness, and Thy strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth, that can do according to Thy works, and according to Thy mighty acts? 25 Let me go over, I pray Thee, and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that goodly hill-country, and Lebanon.' 26 But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and hearkened not unto me; and the LORD said unto me: 'Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto Me of this matter. 27 Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold with thine eyes; for thou shalt not go over this Jordan. 28 But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see.' 29 So we abode in the valley over against Beth-Peor.

Moshe is now ending the Mussar and since the hearts of all are now ready to receive the laws, he continues. He even covered in his Mussar his own short-comings which most politicians refuse to admit.

4:1 And now, O Israel, hearken unto the statutes and unto the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, gives you. 2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

Once the Torah is set in writing there will be no more Mitzvos. The Rabbis have ordained certain things such as Chanucha, Purim, fast days but they are with the Rabbis. For that reason, if one cannot fully fast on Tisha B’Av by the fact that he or she has to take medications they do not need to worry about a Shuir but drink what they need to swallow. Although they refrain from eating and drinking normally. However, if one is ill over and above his/her normal medication, it is easier to eat and drink but Yom Kippur from the Torah one eats and drinks less than a Shuir unless very ill and for that a Rabbi/Doctor should be consulted for I could drink with the Shuir liters upon quarts of liquid every 9 minutes and do it within the Shuir. The same with eating less than an olive’s bulk and the Ashkenazic Rabbis are very lenient here.

… 7 For what great nation is there, that has God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is whensoever we call upon Him? 8 And what great nation is there, that hath statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

These are what set us higher than other nations. For in Iran and Syria there is the death penalty for homosexuality but the enemies or even suspected enemies of the regime are systematically raped in the name of Islam. So you tell me. I don’t want to go into the Crusades or Inquisition but there was no turning of the other cheek towards Jews.

… 23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which He made with you, and make you a graven image, even the likeness of anything which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. 24 For the LORD thy God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.

This is the last part of the Mussar before the laws and a warning below:

25 When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have been long in the land, and shall deal corruptly, and make a graven image, even the form of anything, and shall do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke Him; 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over the Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.

This is the Kabbalistic concept of inanimate things having the power to offer witness in the next world for or against people. [I brought down a number of years ago the story of the pit and the weasel written by my great-grandfather based on tractate Niddah.]

27 And the LORD shall scatter you among the peoples, and ye shall be left few in number among the nations, whither the LORD shall lead you away.
…41 Then Moses separated three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising; 42 that the manslayer might flee thither, that slays his neighbor unawares, and hated him not in time past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live: 43 Bezer in the wilderness, in the table-land, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.

He is setting aside the future Mitzvah showing them what they must do on the Eretz Yisrael side of the Yarden.

5:1 And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and observe to do them. 2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horev. 3 The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. 4 The LORD spoke with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire.



Many of you who were under 20 at the time and the women witnessed the giving of the law on Sinai.



11 Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD thy God commanded thee.



This is an active guarding of the Shabbos lest one fail. Prior to Shabbos setting a closure or tape on the light switch and shutting off the refrigerator light. Shabbos clocks on air conditioners.



12 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work;



Not work but any of the 39 Melachos and their derivatives. One is not allowed to write for example and the Rabbis instituted calculations (outside of one’s head for we cannot stop the mind from wandering). However, even though an abacus is not per sec forbidden by the Torah to be used inside a tent or house, the spirit of Shabbos is violated. There were other things that people did not do even Erev Shabbos such as judgements, haircuts, washing lest one forget to pray Mincha or have enough time to prepare for Shabbos.



13 but the seventh day is a Sabbath unto the LORD thy God, in it thou shalt not do any manner of work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou.



This was for the benefit also of the non-Jewish Servants. Over the centuries the concept of Shabbos Goy developed especially in colder climates where one needed heat in the winter and coal or wood furnaces had to be stoked or other things for an ill but not dangerously ill person (preventive medicine). A recent example happened where a person had an emergency and had to go to a hospital Erev Shabbos. The person would not be admitted but would be on such pain killers that he/she could not walk home. A Rabbi from the Star-K was consulted and the person arranged before Shabbos for a non-Jewish Cabbie which he/she used to drive them home when the hospital called and the payment would be after Shabbos.



14 And thou shalt remember that thou was a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore, the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.


The rest for a non-Jewish Servant was a revolutionary idea and that of an Israel sold as a servant.


…27 But as for thee, stand thou here by Me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.' 28 Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you; ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 29 Ye shall walk in all the way which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.


Not to the right or left but do the commandments straight forward with good intentions in your heart. Examples are the effort needed the holidays with the cleaning and purchasing of Pessach or the building and purchasing for Sukkos. The Mitzvos should be done out of love but modern people have all sorts of financial and time pressure. Sometimes one gets distracted by the high prices of Lulavim and Esrogim before Sukkos and despairs. However, right before the holiday, the prices fall as the salesman wants to make a sale and not take a loss on left over goods. I recommend this for poorer Jews but there are also Synagogues that buy in bulk from stores and receive cheaper prices. Everybody is happy for those who want to choose will go to a less crowded store and those will receive kosher Lulavim and Esrogim. My former work place does this and each year one can buy up to three sets.



6:1 Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it-- 2 that thou might fear the LORD thy God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD, the God of thy fathers, hath promised unto thee--a land flowing with milk and honey.

You are going to get a good land. Be positive for the following is the basis for all the Mitzvos.

4 Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart; 7 and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, …

This is Judaism 101 for all generations and people went into the fires of the inquisition on this the swords of the crusades and jihad with these words on their lips. I have heard about the people who survived the Holocaust of those who sang “I believe …” and “the Shema” before they perished.

…7:11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command thee this day, to do them.

Do them – how important are these words. In my family there is a story of my father’s great-aunt Mathilda who was given a beautiful cake for her 80th birthday. She said it was so pretty she would put it aside for it was too beautiful to eat up at once. The cake eventually developed mold. So when the Mitzvah comes hop aboard the Mitzvah Train and do it. In Yiddish you will always hear “Hop the Mitzvah”.

I was about to write my story when I got on What’s App from Rabbi Barak Kochavi Shlita a story of Ahavas Chinam (unbounding love for a fellow Jew). You will soon see Mida Knegged Mida at the end (measure for measure).


For every action from HASHEM there is an equal reaction. Or Charity saves from death. A true story.


A number of years ago in Chevron there was a soldier from Kiriat Malachi [translation Los Angles in English]. The soldier was on patrol. Suddenly, out of nowhere came an Arab Y”MS who stabbed him in the lower back and damaged some internal organs. The terrorist escaped and lucky a soldier from a different unit came and saved the fellow enough to give him first aid and evacuated him to the hospital in Beer Sheva. He took out from the soldier’s pockets the papers who he was and the hospital contacted the parents. When they arrived, he returned to his unit.


The parents started saying Psalms asking for HASHEM to save the soldier. The professor in the hospital after a long operation managed to change the prognosis from gravely injured to very seriously injured with a good chance of recovery.

A month went by and the mother contacted the radio to broadcast her name and phone for the rescuing soldier to call her. She wanted to do HaKaras HaTov (thanking him). After a year she brought her plea to the first TV station but with no results. Finally, after a year and a half, she put a sign in her mini-market.


Time went by and it was now two years and a woman visiting her mother in Kiriat Malachi walks in. Before taking the bus back to Beer Sheva, she wants to make some purchases as the bus will arrive a bit towards the closing of the stores. She sees the sign and says that she is the mother of the soldier. She calls up her son and says, “Remember, the story that you told me of Chevron where you saved the soldier who was bleeding to death.” He says, “Of course!” “Well here is his mother.” They talk and they are both very religious so the mother invites them over for a thankyou meal. They accept.


They get together. In the middle of the meal the mother of the hero looks at the mother of the other soldier and turns white and asks to speak to the mother of the rescued soldier in private. She is offered water but refuses. She then says do you remember 22 years ago there was a young pregnant woman who was married but had no money to pay for her future family. The young lady was full of tears and red-eyed from crying. She did not want to do anything bad but was thinking of having an abortion because she had no money. The store owner gave her the day’s receipts so she could continue on without an abortion. The baby that was born turned into the rescuer of the other soldier. Proving once again that Tzeduka saves from death not only in the next world but in this world.


Part 8 of my return to Judaism by Rabbi Rachamim Pauli


This week, I will start on my entrance into the Yeshiva World. As I was now in a Jewish Group at South Campus my friend David Willig (now Rabbi David Willig Shlita) suggested that I go to the Bostoner Rebbe. The Rebbe and Sarai had mentioned Yeshiva Haichal HaTorah near my University.


During the interlude in the Semesters from the first half of my senior year to the second half, I went down to 630 Riverside Drive for an interview. After offering my services as a tutor and substitute teacher, I was accepted without tuition and I got free meals and board.


In my Yeshiva, I was lucky to be placed in the Shuir of the Rosh Yeshiva as most of my College learning was at night, it was easy enough to attend during the day. I was assigned to have a Chavrutha Avraham Arieh Winograd. We would learn and have great fun together for the Purim Song writing contest.
Rabbi Yacov London of blessed memory taught with the most unique method of all the Yeshivas that I have attended. He required that we know the “case, law and reason for the law” for each phase of the Gemara. The older or more experienced fellows also looked into the 13 principles of Rabbi Yishmael from which one the law was made. The Rabbi also asked “What was bothering the commentator Rashi?” especially on the Chumash.
 

One fellow in my class, Mordechai Rubin, introduced me to the Blackman Mishnayos in English and I bought the set in semi-hard cover and use them still today for translation and even helping Menashe with some words that he has trouble with. (For example the Mishnah does not use the full Hebrew word for after-birth but a shortened version and Menashe had never come across such a word.)


My best days in the Yeshiva were Shabbosos as we all ate together including the younger children of the Rabbis who rode tricycles then in the dining room. I would learn in the College Library both the Soncino English Medrash Rabbah on the Parsha and often the translation of the Zohar in which I would learn Pshat. If somebody in the Yeshiva ‘stole’ my Drasha, I would have material for another Drasha. It often happened that the fellows prepared something even fellows well advanced like Baruch, Mordechai and Gedaliah and they would say that one of the fellows who had a turn before them took what they prepared.


We did have a funny incident with one fellow in the Yeshiva who gave a serious argument to the Rabbi. He was trying to say in Yiddish the word for opposite but in Yiddish it sounds like fur and he got stuck on the second letter stuttering. “Rabbi Fu...Fa… and it went on instead of ‘verkert’ and we could only express the utmost self-restraint as not to embarrass him for it was sounding like something one would not say in front of a Rabbi. For once much later on, I was helping the Rabbi with Bingo by selling sandwiches and drinks to the attendees of the game and before the election one of the local politicians who was Jewish came to speak before the attendees. His daughter shook hands with the Rabbi who normally avoid all women. The Rabbi told me that he could not embarrass the woman especially a politician’s daughter. He then sited Perkei Avos that one who embarrasses his fellow in public has no place in the next world.


One of my good friends was Rabbi Aaron Vachss Shlita who had been a classmate of mine in a history course in the College. He was my Rebbe for the next year.


The Yeshiva was a great place to study and our maintenance man was a Frum fellow who also knew how to learn. He would go on to move to Yerushalayim and work for Aish HaTorah (I believe as one of the teachers) so as not to belittle him, I will just not mention his name. One of the problems with the Yeshiva was heat in the winter as the boiler in the old cobblestone building that was once a nunnery or something was not as good as the tenement that was our dormitories. He would be in charge of people whom the Rabbi tried to raise from skid row that gave them work in the maintenance of the Yeshiva and then recommendation for a regular job.

The Rabbi know many donors and had a name for himself but always had problems paying all the bills like electricity and other large bills for the buildings. Cakes, cookies and Challah he would get from a bakery or two Erev Shabbos of things that they did not sell. The main thing was learning Torah, Gemara and Halacha with the Gemara which we did learn.


Perhaps one last story or two of the Rosh Yeshiva. When he was a younger fellow there was an old Rabbi named Leibowitz who could not make it up the steps of his Yeshiva to give a Shuir. The Rabbi would carry him up. Prior to opening up the first Baalei Teshuva Yeshiva, the older Rabbi taught mathematics at Columbia University. The Rabbis had me wake up the Bochurim as once the Rabbi in his youth woke up somebody for learning and got a shoe thrown at him. So in the morning the Younger Rabbi would come into my Room which was an extension of Baruch’s room and say Modeh Ani (we thank thee who has restored my soul). I then would quickly dress and go around from room to room to wake up the whole dorm. 


With the younger Rabbi as Dean of the High School, many of the young men who passed through the doors ended up living in Eretz Yisrael. Perhaps proportionately to other Yeshivos, the percentage of graduates that went on to Eretz Yisrael is much larger. I was speaking to the younger Rebbetzin on my last trip to the States and her then 5-year-old Chana now has two married children living in Eretz Yisrael.


 In summation, the amount of Talmud we learned was about a Daf a week but of high quality of case, law and reason so that we could go on to higher levels. Since many of the fellows did not have much of a Torah background beforehand, the foundation was solid. What the Rabbis did not teach, the older boys would teach us by example.


Part 9 will cover some other Baalei Teshuva Yeshivos such as Hadar HaTorah of Lubavitch, Shalom Hartman Institute and a few words on Aish HaTorah. I am only familiar with institutions that existed 46 years ago or so and not all the wonderful institutions like Machon Meir and others that have sprung up over the years.


From the Medrash via Cindy G. Titus's Death:
Our Sages tell us: When Titus was traveling back to Rome on a ship with the Jewish captives and the vessels of the Holy Temple, a storm at sea threatened to drown him. He said: "It seems that the G‑d of these people only has power over water. When Pharaoh came, He drowned him in water. When Sisera came, He drowned him in water. Now He is about to drown me in water. If He wants to show His strength, let Him come onto dry land and fight with me there!"
A Divine voice came forth and said to him: "Wicked one, the son of a wicked one, descendant of Esau the wicked, I have an insignificant creature in My world called a gnat. Come ashore and do battle with it!" Titus went ashore and a gnat came and entered his nostril, and pecked at his brain for seven years.
One day, Titus was walking past a blacksmith's shop. The gnat heard the noise of the sledgehammer and became silent. Titus said: "There is a remedy!" Every day they brought a blacksmith and he hammered in Titus' presence. To a gentile blacksmith he would give a handsome stipend, but to a Jew he would say: "It is sufficient that you see your enemy suffering!"
For thirty days they brought smiths to hammer in Titus' presence. Then the gnat adjusted to the noise of the hammer, and continued pecking at Titus' brain even when the hammers were struck.
Rabbi Pinchas ben Arova said: "I was with the great men of Rome at the time when Titus died. They examined his brain and what they found in it was the size of a small bird!"
As Titus lay dying, he instructed his servants: "Burn me and scatter my ashes over the seven seas so that the G‑d of the Jews cannot find me and bring me to judgment."

Aguna thanks to the father of the husband: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/216357





Ancient Synagogue found that existed when the earliest Christians were observant Orthodox Jews with a Messianic belief: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4841308,00.html
This is prior to Rabban Gamliel sending Shaul to remove the Messianics from Judaism.


Jewish man at 35 is the oldest swimming gold medalist in Olympic history. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/216468



From Chaiya: Films of the Kotel over 100 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq32TmaEEos&feature=youtu.be



On May 23, 1967, amidst the high-strung economic and political tension of the Cold War, all three of the United States' ballistic missile early-warning radars became simultaneously jammed. Located in the high-latitude areas of Alaska, Greenland, and the United Kingdom, these radars were designed to detect incoming Soviet missiles, and any attack or disruption of these radars were considered to be an act of war.
The United States Air Force, believing their radars had been intentionally jammed by the Soviet Union, authorized aircraft with nuclear-strike capabilities to take to the skies. Timely information from space-weather forecasters, who realized that it was a powerful solar flare jamming the radar, managed to prevent military action just in time.
Delores Knipp (University of Colorado, Boulder, and National Center for Atmospheric Research) collaborated with retired U.S. Air Force officers involved in forecasting and analyzing the storm to bring this story to light in a recent article published in the journal Space Weather.


Today is TU B’Av or women’s proposal day. Article where Marriages fail: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/216643


Heinrich Himmler’s Diaries released: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4838047,00.html



Inyanay Diyoma



Note: As the election in the States and in the future in Israel approaches I express my opinions, facts and data from others. My intent is the best for Israel. I have a friend whom I have known for well over 60 years and 60 years ago attended his Bar Mitzvah. He is very high up in the Democratic Party and one can be friends. The main goal here is for the production and distribution of words of Torah. My politics is based on what I personally believe is best for Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael and to bring the Moshiach. So if you see my political opinions vs. pure news please take this into account for my intent is not to get people angry but to enhance my view of the world. So please skip political opinions if they agitate you.



Rebuilding of the Gush Katif Synagogue(s) 11 years later. Similar to Chashmonayim – Yemenite, Sephardim, Ashkenazim and Chabad Chassidim in one massive complex of Synagogues including a different Yemenite Synagogue with a different Nusach across the street. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=374kQ1DeJB0


Are the Arabs using germ warfare or is just an unlucky year? Many Arabs work in food processing plants. First it was Cornflakes. Then Humus: http://hamodia.com/2016/08/11/salmonella-returns-time-hummus/  Tahini:  http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-tehina-products-pulled-from-shelves-in-new-salmonella-scare-1001145698 French Fries with dangerous germs: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4840558,00.html


British teen lured to be an ISIS Jihad Bride dies in air strike: http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/British-teen-who-joined-ISIS-killed-in-Syria-air-strike-463976



Medical clown helps save and treat injured child who refused treatment: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/216322


Female terrorist stabs female soldier: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4841503,00.html





I don’t know if Trump wants this verification of claim that proves that Obama founded ISIS: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/216384














Wednesday Dec. 9, 1992 long before the exile of the Jews from Gush Katif 11 years ago, Dr. Martin Sherman wrote on the dangers of giving up Gaza: http://www.strategic-israel.org/article.pdf













Hezballah Facebook recruitment in Yehuda and the Shomron stopped by the Shin Bet. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4842264,00.html


The next conflict with Hezballah or Hamas should be the last as we strengthen defense and offence: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4842472,00.html



The Establishment is to keep us down. In Kansas the common sense folk ousted one: http://endingthefed.com/nevertrump-kansas-gop-lawmaker-loses-primary-to-pro-trump-challenger.html


Traffic accident on border injures 7 soldiers. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/216528








Russian Base in Iran with anti-aircraft missiles: http://debka.com/article/25611/After-bombers-Russian-S-400s-for-Iranian-base









A peaceful and healthy Shabbos to all remember to guard this holy Mitzvah,
Rachamim Pauli