In the end, I did not continue my commentary on last week’s Parsha.
Parsha Eikev
The most obvious link
between last week’s Parsha and this Parsha is the Shema Prayer. Last week we
had the first paragraph and this week the second but we have to go back to
Parsha Shelach Lecha for the last passage. The first three Parshiyos of Devarim
are one long Drasha from Mussar, a history review and other Mitzvos not written
in the Torah before. Why not written? Because they were given orally but before
entering the land, more Mitzvos would be written down for the Sacrecees,
Karites and Shomronim would only accept “written” Torah even though they had to
do parts of the Oral Torah on kosher slaughtering, family purity, Tzitzis,
Tephillin, etc.
7:12 And it shall come to pass, because ye hearken to these ordinances, and
keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep with thee the covenant and
the mercy which He swore unto thy fathers, 13 and He will love thee,
and bless thee, and multiply thee; He will also bless the fruit of thy body and
the fruit of thy land, thy corn and thy wine and thine oil, the increase of thy
kine and the young of thy flock, in the land which He swore unto thy fathers to
give thee.
I heard from Rav
Yosef Ben Porat Shlita in the name of the Steipler Rebbe Ztzal. He was against
ultra-sound for babies. All the time that the baby has an unknown disability,
one can pray for a healthy baby and a secret miracle can occur but an out &
out miracle is harder to make for an unborn. Via hidden Mitzvos and miracles
the fruit of one’s body will be blessed.
14 Thou shalt be
blessed above all peoples; there shall not be male or female barren among you,
or among your cattle. 15 And the LORD will take away from thee all
sickness; and He will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou know,
upon thee, but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.
One must always remember
that THE HOLY ONE BLESSED BE HE has given this to us for doing the Mitzvos.
Never forget our creator. Concentrate on prayers and thank HIM and love HIM.
16 And thou
shalt consume all the peoples that the LORD thy God shall deliver unto thee;
thine eye shall not pity them; neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that
will be a snare unto thee.
You shall not let
non-Gerei Toshavim live permanently in Eretz Yisrael. For they will be snares
and thorns for you.
17 If thou shalt say in thy
heart: 'These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess
them?' 18 thou shalt not be afraid of them; thou shalt well remember
what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt: 19 the
great trials which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the
mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, whereby the LORD thy God brought thee
out; so shall the LORD thy God do unto all the peoples of whom thou art
afraid. 20 Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them,
until they that are left, and they that hide themselves, perish from before
thee. 21 Thou shalt not be affrighted at them; for the LORD thy God
is in the midst of thee, a God great and awful. 22 And the LORD thy
God will cast out those nations before thee by little and little; thou mayest
not consume them quickly, lest the beasts of the field increase upon
thee. 23 But the LORD thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and
shall discomfit them with a great discomfiture, until they be destroyed.
Trust in HASHEM and
HE will fight your battles and keep the strange nations out of the land.
24 And He shall
deliver their kings into thy hand, and thou shalt make their name to perish
from under heaven; there shall no man be able to stand against thee, until thou
have destroyed them.
I, unfortunately,
will not be there when you conquer the land but here is what you are to do.
25 The graven
images of their gods shall ye burn with fire; thou shalt not covet the silver
or the gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared
therein; for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. 26 And thou
shalt not bring an abomination into thy house, and be accursed like unto it;
thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a
devoted thing.
I cannot explain it
too well but in ancient times, there was a tendency to worship the local deities
when one went from one place to another.
8:1… 11:25 There shall no man be able to stand against you: the
LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land
that ye shall tread upon, as He hath spoken unto you.
At this point the first
of three Drashos in Devarim of Moshe ends.
I hope to be continued
and as I age and my wife ages we encounter problems that we did not have in our
youth see the story below.
Before Moshiach the
Yetzer will have free run. The safest place on earth before Moshiach is Har
Tzion per the Novi Ovadia. But if the Yetzer wants to take you and your family
into a trap: https://www.timesofisrael.com/top-brain-specialist-says-he-left-israel-because-it-is-becoming-undemocratic/
This week Aish HaTorah had an
article on conversion. Here is the official list of approved Rabbinical Courts:
https://www.itim.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/List-of-Orthodox-Conversion-Courts-recognized-by-the-Rabbinate-2022.pdf
My moto or at least
practice is to work until you drop. That’s what happened. R. Pauli
Beware of Chol HaMoed and Between Times of the Yeshivos
Since my mother-in-law
passed away over a year ago, my wife has been managing my brother-in-law’s farm
and other things. It has gotten on my wife’s nerves. I don’t call her my Maidelach
who helps me. Neither does my brother-in-law who only knows how to throw monkey
wrenches into the gears. He has a care-taker for his physical needs but my wife
does too much managing for him including medical appointments.
Yesterday for the sake
of my over-worked wife, I had to stop the Torah Drasha and took her to a take-out
place in Petach Tikva that is Glatt Kosher but not for poor people. I did some
shopping like I won the lottery for salads some meat, meat-egg rolls, wedding
type rolled or triangle thins with potato inside.
My daughter offered to
drive us back home. Some elderly Macho Rabbi thought the normal half-hour drive
as a piece of cake. Ha-ha. The number 6 toll road was one big parking lot. In
short, the half hour drive turned into 2.25hours. Driving with a pace-maker is
not the same as the Macho Rabbi of last year. As I write this I am still
knocked out.
Next week or later a few words on the Mashgiach Rabbi Yona Shiber Ztzal
my story and some tales from his sons on my trip to Petach Tikva yesterday.
After the Six Day
War he translated to Hebrew the Talmud Bavli
A Superior Scholar
and True Friend by Rav Yerachmiel Tilles
http://ascentofsafed.com/Stories/Stories/5783/1338-45.html
A. Background
Rabbi Adin Even-Yisrael Steinsaltz was born on 3 Av 5697
(1937) to Avraham Moshe Steinsaltz, a descendant of the first Rebbe of Slonim,
and Rivka Leah Krokovitz, a descendant of the first Rebbe Vorka (Warka,
Poland). When he was a teenager, Rabbi Adin became a Baal teshuvah (someone who
returns to his/her true Jewish roots).
At the early age of sixteen, he began to study mathematics and
physics at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Parallel to his academic
studies, he learned the Oral Torah in Yeshivat Tomchei Temimim in Lod. He also
studied in the Jerusalem yeshivas, Torah Emmet and Mir.
At the young age of 24 he was offered the position of Chief Rabbi
of Holon, but refused. Over the decades, he established a network of
experimental schools and educational institutions in Israel and the former
Soviet Union.
In 5751 (1991) Rabbi Steinsaltz changed his last name to
Even-Yisrael upon the recommendation of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. He authored over
400 books concerning every aspect of Torah including Kabbalah and Chasidut,
although he is best known and celebrated for his monumental linear translation
with commentary of the entire Babylonian Talmud, which he began at the age of
28 and finally completed in 2010.
Rabbi Adin Even Yisrael Steinsaltz passed away on 17 Av 5780
(August 7, 2020). He was buried in the Chabad section of the ancient Mount of
Olives Cemetery.
* * *
B. Story
One of Rabbi Even-Yisrael's close students related:
During one of her pregnancies, my wife, who had juvenile diabetes,
was suffering from drastic, dangerous, and uncontrolled drops in her
blood-sugar levels. One Friday might, I met Rabbi Steinsaltz in the synagogue.
"How are things going?" he asked
"Not good at all," I replied and embarked on an
enumeration of the difficult situation.
Rabbi Adin asked about the doctors, and I answered that we had
already tried everything. He lowered his eyes, waited a bit, looked at me with
penetrating eyes and asked:
"And are you praying?"
Truthfully, his question irritated me. "Do you really believe
that prayer can do something?" I responded. "Will these words truly
balance her sugar?"
Rabbi Adin turned red. After a moment he said to me, "Look, if
you don't believe in the power of prayer, then the only solution is for G-d to
push you against the wall. He will pressure you and cause you pain until
ultimately, not only will you pray, but you will shout. And then He will
answer!"
Rabbi Adin's answer made me feel very pressured, and even a bit
insulted. I began to sob uncontrollably. He looked at me with compassion and
blessed me with "Shabbat Shalom," whereupon I went home.
Amazingly, from that Shabbat day on through the end of the
pregnancy, my wife didn't have one significant glycemic drop. In other words,
we were saved!
Rabbi Adin was very happy to hear the good news. When I thanked him
profusely, he responded with a sentence that to me is immortal:
"Look, I don't know if I'm a Baba whose prayers are more
accepted that the next person's. Anyway, I actually think that something
completely different took place. When you tell a friend your trouble from
the depths of your heart, from the point of your pain - G-d hears.
"This is the explicit meaning of the verse 'Then the people
who feared G-d spoke to each other, and G-d listened, and He heard.'[1] You
spoke from the depths of your heart with a good friend and G-d heard."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: Compiled by Yerachmiel Tilles primarily from "Wonders"
(Va'etchanan 5782 edition), a publication of inner.org [Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburg].
Supplemented with additional facts from steinsaltz.org.
Connection: This week, on Friday 17 Av (Aug. 4) is the 3rd yahrzeit
of Rabbi Steinsaltz.
Biographical note:
Rabbi Adin Even-Yisrael (Steinsaltz) [3 Av 5697 - 17 Av 5780 (July 1937 -
August 2020)], was a descendant of the first Rebbes of Slonim and of Vorka.
Born to secular parents, he became a Baal Teshuvah when he was
a teenager, and studied in yeshivas at the same time he acquired university
degrees in mathematics and science. Over the decades, he established a network
of experimental schools and educational institutions in Israel and the former
Soviet Union. In 1991 Rabbi Steinsaltz changed his last name to Even Yisrael
upon the recommendation of the
Lubavitcher Rebbe. Hailed by Time Magazine as a
once-in-a-millennium scholar, he authored over 400 books concerning every
aspect of Torah including Kabbalah and Chasidut, although he is best known and
celebrated for his multi-decade project of a linear translation into modern
Hebrew with commentary of the entire Babylonian Talmud.
Footnote: [1] Malachi 2:16, quoted in Perkei
Avot 3:2
Milestone: Alan Sherman, 87,
Pharmacist and Israeli-diaspora sports. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/sports/article-753219
Milestone: Zevulon Mosheashvili, 52,
comedian of a liver disease. https://www.timesofisrael.com/zevulun-mosheashvili-comedy-star-known-for-role-in-shemesh-dies-at-52/
Milestone: Paul Reubens, 70, Comic
famous for Pee-wee Herman. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374943
Milestone: Louise Levy, 112,
Holocaust survivor longevity study. https://www.timesofisrael.com/louise-levy-supercentenarian-subject-of-jewish-longevity-study-dies-at-112/
Inyanay Diyoma
July 29/30
Nasrallah is making a big mistake. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374866
https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-to-huddle-with-security-chiefs-over-hezbollah-tensions/
Biden wants to bend the Banana
Republic into compliance. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374843
Antisemitism in Yerushalayim. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374848
Gov’t will respect court. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374839
Odessa attacked. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374564
Gallant wants unity government. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374824
Attempted car ramming. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374828
Rebellion in the Likud. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374837
Forever and a day: Senate Republican Leader Mitch
McConnell has no plans to step down before 2026 elections. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374842 I WANT TO THANK SENATORS DIANE
FEINSTEIN & JOHN FETTERMAN FOR THIS INFORMATION.
Crazy Injustice. https://gellerreport.com/2023/07/family-forced-to-pay-to-transfer-body-of-marine-killed-in-afghanistan-withdrawal-but-billions-for-ukraine.html/
Glick in Israeli Journal is Dead
35minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-c5Kr7sdrk
The
dancing and jumping at the July 22 and 23 tour stops caused seismic activity
similar to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake, according to Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a
seismologist and geology professor at Western Washington University. https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/taylor-swifts-seattle-fans-caused-earthquake-eras-tour-stop
July 31st
Mossad Chief met US re: Saudis. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374922
15 Judges to hear reasonableness
law. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374930
IDF is ready for war: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374927
New Recruits fill combat units. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-753103
Iran is attempting to seize command of the Syrian
army. The takeover was achieved in part by the assimilation of Shiite militias
into the Syrian army. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374913
Op-Ed on the effect of Gush Katif
withdrawal. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374860
IDF soldiers serving at the Tze'elim base in
southern Israel participated a few weeks ago in an event at a Bedouin
encampment in the area, where they were served foods which had not received
kashrut (kosher) approval by the base rabbi, in violation of IDF policy. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374918
Chabad Orphanage spared in Odessa
but surroundings devastated. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374926
"In the last 30 years, Israel has undergone
a judicial revolution by the most activist judicial court on the planet. And
systematically, the court arrogated to itself the powers of the legislator and
the Executive. And we're trying to bring it back in line somewhat to what
Israel was in its first five decades and where most democracies are
today," the Prime Minister explained. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374906
IDF arrests 12 in Jenin. https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-753115
Atlantic Ocean Current could shut
down? https://www.jpost.com/science/article-753098
https://www.timesofisrael.com/four-killed-53-injured-in-russian-attack-on-zelenskys-hometown/
Wheat prices rise. https://www.jpost.com/international/internationalrussia-ukraine-war/article-753168
Denmark to ban Quran burning. https://www.jpost.com/international/article-753161
71year cycle comet returns. Apr. 21,
2024 next encounter. https://www.jpost.com/science/space/article-753089
Aug 1st
Out-right intermarriage with on-line
and other false conversions. https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-753223
Arab drug grower arrested on
military base. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374961
Bibi-Biden Unity Government: "That would be complete capitulation," Lapid
told Kan
Reshet Bet. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374960
Zambia wants closer ties. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374951
Memphis TN deranged Jew shoots at Margolin Hebrew Academy l later
taken out. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374941
Dozens of cancer patients who arrived yesterday
for treatment at the radiation institute at Ichilov Medical Center were asked
by the nurses there whether they were secular, religious, or Haredi. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374939
Republican Primaries Trump gains. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374944
Border Policeman on way to get
haircut before his anniversary celebration neutralizes terrorist multi-injures.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374969
Aug 2nd
After the Maalei Adumim shooting at
a Chevron Bus Stop there was a stabbing attempt and today shooting in the
Jordan River Valley. https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-753400
I drove the terrorist home prior to
the shooting. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374992
Charges against what he was thinking
then. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374983
9th anniversary of the
taking of Goldin’s body. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374986
Brother died 24years ago similar circumstances.
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-753369
Red-Line to finally open. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-753350
Russian Drones attack wheat destined
for Israel. https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-753422
July 3rd
Israel took in Goyim and antisemites from Russia.
A synagogue of the Georgian community in the 5th district of Ashdod was
vandalized. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/375047
David’s Sling to Finland. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/375025
COS in flack jacket visits border. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/375012
Time to change strategy. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-753495
CAIR-Hamas ‘to fight’ antisemitism
at CUNY. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/375046
Mosquitos with West Nile Virus in
Israel. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/375016
Iran taking over UAE Islands. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/375019
Found Dark Ages “Magic Mirror”. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/375048
Fitch cited the federal government’s rising
debt burden and the political difficulties that the US government has had in
addressing spending and tax policies as the principal reasons for reducing its
rating from AAA to AA+. https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-us-governments-debt-has-been-downgraded-heres-what-to-know/
PLO vs. gunmen. https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-753431
Exercise each day helps. https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/exercise/article-753419
Solar deal with the Saudis. https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/energy-and-infrastructure/article-753374
Iran taking over Syria’s Chemical
Weapons Production. https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-753429
Nuclear
Spin and life processes: Scientists have long believed that “nuclear spin” has
no impact on biological processes. But new research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has
shown that certain isotopes behave differently due to their nuclear spin. https://www.jpost.com/science/article-753204
Time to tackle plague of
intermarriage. https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-753475
Blue hole’s bottom is a garbage pit.
https://www.jpost.com/environment-and-climate-change/article-753487
UFO’s nearly caused WWIII according
to testimony. https://www.jpost.com/omg/article-753288
Turkey against unregistered Syrians.
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-753488
Senior officials in both
Israel and the United States cautiously expressed optimism that Israel is
steadily advancing toward ascension into the U.S. Visa Waiver Program by
September 30th. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/syndt2usn
Op-Ed Yossi Yoshua on Hezballah and
the northern border. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/b1hdsdhsn#autoplay
Aug 4th
https://www.timesofisrael.com/gravestones-smashed-in-samaritan-section-of-tel-aviv-cemetery/
Op-Ed Singer Two State Solution is
the elephant in the room. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374996
Rabbi Fischer On Covid, Holocaust,
etc. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/375104
Latest Poll: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/375106
Jihadi Leader & five wanted individuals
suspected of involvement in terrorist activity were apprehended in the town of
Beit Ummar. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/375056
Drug dealing IDF LT. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/375073
Strauss-Elite like Budd Lite under
Boycott this time by Religious Jews and the Right. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/375073
A healthy, restful and
peaceful Shabbos,
Rachamim Pauli
