START THE DAY THE TORAH WAY EREV LAG B’OMER 5772

From the time that Moshe Rabbenu is first mentioned in Torah at the beginning of Shemos, there is only one sedra, I believe, Tetzaveh, where he is not mentioned by name. In fact, in most sedras he is mentioned 10 or even 20 times. He personifies the Torah. So much so, that the Novi tells us zichru Toras Moshe avdi, remember the Torah of Moshe, My servant.

Let us try to understand the special stature of Moshe Rabbenu.

Right near the beginning of שמות, the Torah tells us (second chapter verse 1, and verse 2)

וילך איש מבית לוי ויקח את בת לוי ותהר האשה ותלד בן ותרא אתו כי טוב הוא ותצפנהו שלשה ירחים

A man from the house of Levi went and took the daughter of Levi. The woman conceived and bore a son, she saw that he was good and hid him for three months.

We all know that, in fact, it was Amram a grandson of Levi who got married to his aunt Yocheved and the child being referred to here was our famous Moishe Rabbenu.

It is extraordinary that no names are mentioned, a man, a woman and a child but no trace of any actual name.

There is a Gemora, סוטה יב. which states that Yocheved was 130 when she bore Moishe. She had passed the menopause and similar to the story of Soroh returned to her youthful state by miracle and then bore Moishe.

What is extraordinary in this particular case is that Aharon was only three years older and Miriam possibly five years older than Moishe and yet they, apparently, were born in a normal fashion. It is only after that, that Yocheved ceased to be able to have a child in the normal way.

Indeed, a very strange chain of circumstances all round, I think!!

What can be gleaned from the whole story is that Moishe Rabbenu was born on a different plane than normal human beings. The Hebrew expression is למעלה מן הטבע, super natural.

What follows from that will explain, in my opinion, numerous facts that we are told in Torah about Moishe Rabbenu.

At the end of Parshas בהעלתך, there is the story of Miriam and Aharon speaking what amounted to loshen hora about Moishe and the Torah tells us (in Bamidbar chapter 12, verse 6, 7, & 8)

ויאמר שמעו נא דברי אם יהיה נביאכם ה' במראה אליו אתודע בחלום אדבר בו לא כן עבדי משה בכל ביתי נאמן הוא

And Hashem said to Aharon and Miriam, “Please listen to what I say, if you are prophets, Hashem shows himself to you in a vision, in a dream that speaks to you. Not so, My servant Moishe he is faithful in all My house.”

פה אל פה אדבר בד ומראה ולא בחידת ותמנת ה' יביט

Mouth to mouth I speak to him, and he sees clearly, not in riddles and can look at the image of Hashem.

Indeed staggering statements. The Gemora says that Moishe Rabbenu saw with such a clear vision that it is called אספקלריה המאירה, whereas all other prophets did not have that clarity of vision.

With what I mentioned earlier on, one can understand that as Moishe Rabbenu was born on this much higher plane, his relationship with Hashem was also on a different level and plane to other human beings. The statements of Moishe’s greatness are, therefore, not staggering.

In the same vein, the Chazal tell us that Moishe Rabbenu and all other prophets used the expression כה אמר ה', so Hashem said, but Moishe Rabbenu himself used the expression זה הדבר אשר צוה ה'. This is the command that Hashem gave. He could see precisely and enunciated precisely what Hashem had said.

If we go back to the first vision that we are told about, that Moishe Rabbenu had, at the burning bush, also in Parshas שמות. Hashem saw that he had noticed the bush which was not burning out. It says that Hashem called him from that bush and He said  משה משהMoishe Moishe, The Zohar Hakodesh comments that two other people were called twice by their name. The first was Avrohom, where is says אברהם|אברהם (this was when he was told not to sacrifice Yitzchok at the Akeidah). The other one was יעקב|יעקב. The Zohar states that whereas in the case of Avrohom and Yaakov, they started at a lower level and worked themselves up to an extremely high level, Moishe was born at the same level as he continued for his whole life. This is inferred by the use of משה משה without a line between the two words.

We find at the beginning of the last Sedra in Torah that Moishe is called איש האלקים and our Chazal tell us “part man” part “higher being”. According to the previous comment of Chazal, quoted just above, I would suggest that he was born like that.

In fact, regarding the words I started off with ותרא אותו כי טוב הוא and Yocheved saw that this child was good, Rashi quotes a medrash נתמלא הבית אורה, the house became filled with light, and we are told that that means that the Shechina, Hashem’s presence, came down with the birth of Moishe.

There are numerous other examples of how great Moishe was and how different to other human beings. Let us just quote one further example. After the Torah was given Moishe Rabbenu went up to Heaven, obtained all the details from Hashem and stayed there for 40 days and 40 nights. He, himself, stated לחם לא אכלתי ומים לא שתיתי, I did not eat or drink at all.

With my opening thoughts, one can now understand that because he was on a different plane, it follows that he was not bound by normal human needs and could go 40 days and nights without eating or drinking, and I assume, also without sleeping.

With all this, one can understand another midrash that tells us that when he found the Egyptian beating a Jewish person, he killed him and the midrash tells us that it was by uttering a special name of Hashem שם המפורש. Where did he learn this name? Surely not in Pharaoh’s palace where he was brought up. However, according to what I have suggested, he knew it because he was born on such a high level that automatically this was part of what he had been born with and imbibed.

Turning to the request by Hashem that he should undertake the task of leading the Bnei Yisroel out of Egypt, and his refusing, as we told for seven days. We find that Moishe Rabbenu’s reason was כי כבד פה וכבד לשון אנכי, because I am a stammerer and heavy of speech.

What I think Moishe Rabbenu was saying is that he knew himself that he was on a different level to other human beings and that the only way in which he was like them was that he had a body which was human. If his speech was impaired and impeded, he felt that he was the wrong person to try to take the Yidden out of Egypt in the circumstances. The main thing that he was supposed to do was to speak to Pharaoh as well as the Yidden and he could not relate to either properly. To which Hashem retorted מי שם פה לאדם, who gave man a mouth. I would ask you carefully note that it says לאדם I think this refers to Odom Harishon and Hashem was saying to Moishe, in the same way that I created Odom Harishon and gave him all his faculties and senses, I can repair your defect of speech.

There is a midrash which says that this was caused by Moishe Rabbenu having burnt his mouth on glowing coals. The midrash comments that at some time as he was growing up, Moishe decided to try on Pharaoh’s crown and Pharaoh got very agitated and wanted to have him killed, but one of his advisers, Yisro, who later became Moishe’s father-in-law, suggested that the child should be tested with a golden dish on one hand and glowing coals on the other to see which one he took. As he was only a child, by taking the coals it would show that he was too young to understand what a crown represented. Nevertheless, Moishe made for the golden dish and the angel Gabriel came and pushed him until he picked up the coals and burnt his tongue.

There is a מאמר חז''ל that the original inhabitants of the world understood why they gave particular names to their children. This was either to do with their characteristics or events that took place during the children’s lives. What I suggest is that Moishe did not have a name at birth because he was above such things, super natural and even his father and mother were not mentioned as the whole episode was above and beyond the norm. He was born to a father and mother, Amram and Yocheved, but had this special supernatural aspect.

We do, however, find one other incident where a child was born in similar circumstances, I am, of course, talking about Yitzchok who was born to his mother when she was already old as the Torah tells us clearly.

However, I think the case there was different because Hashem told Avrohom immediately after informing him that Soroh was going to have a child, that he should name him יצחק. Rashi comments that each letter signifies a particular important point. The י is in commemoration of the ten tests that Avrohom was put through, the צ was the 90 years that Soroh was old when she bore Yitzchok, the ח was the eighth day of the bris mila and the ק was the 100 years that Avrohom was old when Yitzchok was born.

In each case, this is what is known as צימצום and so Yitzchok was born with a specific name tailored to the circumstances and, therefore, not above the normal human way of life in contrast to Moishe Rabbenu, the supernatural child איש האלקים.

לעילוי נשמת אמי מורתי גיטל בת אברהם אבא ע''ה נפטרה ד' אדר תשס''ו לפ''ק

In memory of my mother, yarzheit 4th Adar

  

As we are all aware, we are, at the moment, in the middle of the Sefira days, just coming up to Lag B’Omer. The reason why the sefira is a time of mourning is because the 24,000 talmidim of Rabbi Akiva died during that period. There is a Gemora in Menochos כ''ט which says that Moshe Rabbenu went up to receive the rest of the Torah after hearing the Aseres Hadibbros with all the other Yidden, he noticed that on top of the letters there were kessarim, crowns. Moshe Rabbenu was curious and asked Hashem what are these for, is there not enough written in the Torah itself. Hashem retorted, after many generations there is going to be somebody called Akiva Ben Yosef and he will darshan, explain every single one with numerous halachos. Moshe Rabbenu was extremely curious and said, “Can I please see this gentleman?” Hashem told him to sit down in the eighth row and listen to a shuir Rabbi Akiva was giving, Moshe Rabbenu could not understand what was going on, which, of course, upset him. Until at one point, Rabbi Akiva’s pupils asked him, Rebbe, where do you know this from, and he said ”It was halacho L’Moshe M’Sinai.” At that point Moshe Rabbenu was relieved to hear that it was all coming back to what he had learned from Hashem.

He then said to Hashem, “In that case, if You have a person of such great stature as Rabbi Akiva, why did you give the Torah through me?” and Hashem said “That is My business, it is not yours.” Indeed a remarkable Gemora.

However, we can see from this that Rabbi Akiva must have been an extremely great person and I thought it would be instructive to compare the lives of Moshe Rabbenu and Rabbi Akiva. Please remember that Rabbi Akiva was the son of Gerim, we also know about Rabbi Akiva that for the first 40 years of life he was an Am Ha’Aretz. For the next 40 years he studied Torah under great Tannoim. For the final 40 years of his life, he was the head of the Rabbonim and the greatest Rabbi in Israel.

At some time during this latter period he lost 24,000 talmidim but he did not give up. He then taught 5 new talmidim who became stars of the Tannoim including R’ Shimon Bar Yochai who, tradition tells us, Yahrzeit is on Lag B’Omer. Remarkably, Moshe Rabbenu had a similar background in certain respects.

True he was born to Amram and Yocheved but as a little baby of three months he was brought up in Paroh’s palace and only later on fled from Egypt. He ended up, eventually with Yisro (although I do not know at what age this took place) that initial period of his life would be comparable with the first 40 years of Rabbi Akiva.

Yisro, however, was a different kettle of fish, he had known all the avoda zoras in the world, rejected them and accepted that Hashem was the creator of the world. Moshe Rabbenu was with him for many years and eventually had the vision on Har Sinai of the burning bush. That was at the end of the next forty years. This we know because the Torah tells us that when Moshe Rabbenu finally appeared before Paroh he was 80 years of age. For the next 40 years he was the leader of Klal Yisroel who brought down the Torah and taught it to the Yidden with mesiras nefesh. This was very similar to Rabbi Akiva who in his last 40 years had a similar profile.

Furthermore, in the same way as Rabbi Akiva lost 24,000 talmidim, Moshe Rabbenu, at the time of the story of Zimri, lost 24,000 Yidden. However, Pinchas saved the situation at that time and no doubt he was one of the leading talmidim of Moshe Rabbenu. Pinchas was given a special gift of Kahuna, he was not supposed to be a Kohen and in fact he became Kohen Godol. This is very similar to R’ Shimon Bar Yochai who had revealed to him the secrets of Torah and has become a beacon for all generations.

One the other hand, there are striking differences between Moshe Rabbenu and Rabbi Akiva, as I said earlier on Moshe Rabbenu was born to Amram and Yocheved, children and grandchildren of the Ovos. Rabbi Akiva was born to parents who became Geirim. Although both Moshe Rabbenu and Rabbi Akiva knew that they were going to die at a particular time, there was a great difference, Moshe Rabbenu was in full command of all his faculties and just went into a cave and disappeared. Rabbi Akiva, because he taught Torah, was tortured by the Romans as the Gemora describes vividly, he said Shema Yisroel, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echod and as he said the word Echod, yotzoh nishmosoi b’teharah.

I think that one of the lessons that one can draw from this is that whether one is born into a family that has a great Yichus or into a family which has no Yichus, whether one learnt Torah early on or not, whether one heard Torah from the Rabbonu Shel Olam or not, one can achieve great heights, no very great heights, extraordinarily great heights, by perseverance.

I will only just end with the famous story of R’ Shimon Bar Yochai quoted in the Gemora Shabbos ל''ג who was sitting one date with his colleagues, R’ Yehudah and R’ Yose and discussing the Roman conquest and rule in Eretz Yisroel. As we know R’ Yehudah was complimentary of the fact that the Romans had started rebuilding the land after having caused all the destruction and had created new road and new bridges etc. R’ Yose kept quiet R’ Shimon said they did it all for their good and not for ours. The net result, as we know was that R’ Shimon’s words got back to the Roman authorities and they issued an death edict against him. He ran away, ended up for 12 years in a cave with his son and great miracles took place there, in that a spring of water came out and a carob tree grew. Eventually he came out alive not only physically but spiritually immensely greater because at that time was revealed to him the great secrets of Torah, many of which are embodied in the Zohar Hakodosh.

All the four people I have mentioned, Moshe Rabbenu, Pinchas, Rabbi Akiva and R’ Shimon Bar Yochai showed mesiras nefesh in keeping to Torah and the commands of Hashem. Let us try to emulate them.

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START THE DAY THE TORAH WAY 13th NOVEMBER 2012

Daf Hayomi, learning one blatt a day, the same daf itself being studied all over the world, suggested originally by R’ Meir Shapiro over 80 years ago, has taken off lately. The latest siyum worldwide to celebrate finishing the whole of Shas, attracted hundreds of thousands of people including a few thousand at the Royal Festival Hall here in London.

We are now learning Mesechta Shabbos and I felt that this is a good opportunity to discuss a particular matter which puzzled me for many years. There are 39 אב מלאכות, major works, which one may not carry out on Shabbos. Interestingly enough, the mesechta does not start with them and the Mishna which enumerates the 39 is on daf ע''ג right in the middle of the mesechta. That itself should raise a few eyebrows as to why the fundamentals are buried in the middle of the mesechta. Furthermore, going through the 39 one finds that literally the last one is Hamoitzie mareshus lereshus, namely, carrying from a reshus hayoched to a reshus harabim or vice versa, that is a private domain to a public domain or public domain to a private domain.

What puzzled me always, was why does the mesechta start with the laws of carrying to or from a private domain or a public domain?

In fact, the first Mishna starts with

“The laws of carrying in and out on Shabbos are two which become four inside the private domain and two laws which are also four outside in the public domain”. It continues “namely the poor man stands outside and the owner stands inside, in his house, etc.” There is lengthy Mishna giving various examples of what one may not or may do.

Looking at the 39 malochos, the Mishna on daf ע''ג starts as follows:-

The first eleven melochos are a series commencing with זורע, sowing and continuing with ploughing, reaping produce, gathering together the sheaves, threshing, winnowing, selecting, grinding, sifting, kneading, and finally baking. Baking includes all types of cooking.

What we are told is that all the melochos which were needed for the construction of the Mishkan and all the preparations of its components thereto, are the ones which are considered melochos as far as Shabbos is concerned. When the Torah tells us לא תעשה מלאכה ביום השבת, that we may not perform any melocha on Shabbos, this is the list that we are referring to.

These first eleven melochos commencing with sowing, according to Rashi’s interpretation, all had to do with the cooking that was needed to produce the dyes for the colourings of the curtains etc. of the Mishkan.

That is one series of melochos. The Mishna continues with other ones.

The next series starts with הגוזז את הצמר, shearing wool and continues with all the different processes including weaving in order to produce the curtains of the Mishkan.

The Mishna continues with various other melochos such as shechita, writing two letters, building and demolishing, extinguishing fire and kindling fire and מכה בפטיש, which the Gemora understands as being administering the finishing touches for the completion of a job. Last and apparently least is transferring from public to private domain or vice versa.

Why I say apparently least, is the fact that in all other cases, as explained in masterly fashion by the late Dayan Grunfeld in a book on the subject, the state of the particular object referred to, changes either immediately or over a period of time and is therefore considered a melocha which is ossur on Shabbos. For example, sowing, means taking a seed and putting it in the ground. It then disintegrates and becomes eventually a new grown plant, so one has changed the status, albeit over a long time. Baking occurs after taking raw dough and other such materials and making it edible immediately. So can be explained 38 of the 39 melochos.

However, in the case of carrying in and out from one domain to another, this does not apply, there is no change in the status of the object that one takes from reshus hayoched to reshus harabim or vice versa. In fact, Tosefes at the beginning of the mesechta, calls it, therefore a melocha geruah, a lesser type of work.

Nevertheless, we have a kabalah, a tradition, הלכה למשה מסיני that this was one of the 39 melochos. This is learned from the request by Moshe for all the Yidden to bring materials for the Mishkan which they all brought enthusiastically. He then commanded them to stop as stated in Shemois ל''ו (see the Gemora in Shabbos צ''ו the top of omod ב for the details). There, it is stated, that this was in fact a commandment not to bring items on Shabbos from people’s own private dwelling houses, each a private domain, to where Moshe resided in the camp of the Leviim, which was a public domain.

I would reiterate my question namely why does the Mesechta start with the laws of carrying to or from a private domain or a public domain?

I believe that one could understand the reason for starting with these laws of הוצאה והכנסה, as follows:-

If one examines all the 39 melochos in detail, one can find that there are numerous of them that most people would not carry out ever in their lives. For example, sowing, dyeing the wool, or setting two heddles in order to start a weaving process, etc. There are others, that one might occasionally carry out and there are a few that one would carry out more frequently, including baking which includes all types of cooking.

Nevertheless, it is quite possible for many people, especially men who have wives who are very good cooks and baalaboostas, never to actually cook anything themselves.

There is one melocha which virtually everybody performs every day and that is carrying between two domains, leaving ones house and going into the street and vice versa. Therefore, very sensibly, the mesechta starts with a practical melocha which is the most frequent that one would come across. Our chochomim decided that that was the appropriate way to start off Mesechtas Shabbos, giving a practical example which everybody would be able to appreciate and would come across time and time again.

If one would have started with a different melocha, for example, sowing, people might say to themselves “Oh I never do this” and, therefore, it would not have the same effect.

This might also be the reason why the mesechta starts off not, as I said at the beginning, with the enumeration of the 39 melochos but with a practical example, because the chochomim felt that one has to first concentrate on halocho l’maaseh, what is the law in practical cases and then after having considered various melochos, enumerate the whole list.

In fact, if you look carefully through Shas, you will find that this is true of many Mesechtas, which commence with a practical holocho. The principles being mentioned much later in the mesechta.

I would like to suggest an alternative and deeper idea as to why the mesechta starts with the laws of הוצאה והכנסה.

If we go back to the first day when Odom Harishon was created, it was a Friday, the sixth day of creation and the Gemora in Sanhedrin ל'ח  omad ב right at the top, states exactly what happened in the 12 hours commencing 6am in the morning.  I quote below the actual wording of the Gemoro.

Namely, in the first hour 6 am to 7 am, Hashem gathered together the dust in order to create Odom Harishon. The Gemoro then carries on with what happened every hour until in the 4th hour, that is between 9.00am and 10.00 am, Hashem gave Odom Harishon a neshomo. In the 5th hour, he already stood on his feet and was placed in Gan Eden. By the 7th hour he had been given Chava as a wife, in the 8th hour, they had two children.

During the 9th hour, that is, between 2pm and 3pm, he was commanded not to eat from the Etz Hadaas. Between 3pm and 4pm he did eat, then he was judged by 5pm. Late in the afternoon, literally before Shabbos, Odom Harishon and his family were expelled from Gan Eden, where, earlier on in the day, Odom Harishon had been placed, some six hours previously. Then we are told that Odom Harishon tried very hard to get back into Gan Eden and that is why there was להט החרב המתהפכת, the flame of the ever turning sword, to stop him getting back in.

He was excluded from Gan Eden just before Shabbos, as of course, would have been Chava and the other two who were born in the 8th hour (incidentally, one would assume that they were Kayin and Hevel but Tosefes suggests it was Kayin and his twin sister).

Hashem rested on the seventh day as it says clearly in Torah, and no doubt, Odom Harishon also did, in fact, we are told that on Motzei Shabbos, he took stones, created a spark and so created fire, after that, he had to perform numerous other melochos, in order to carry on with his life.

As we are aware, the world degenerated from a spiritual point of view and only re commenced uplifting properly from Avrohom Avinu and the Avos onwards. Eventually the Torah was given which brought the world back to the level of Odom Harishon before he sinned.

Unfortunately, shortly afterwards, the story of the eigel hazohov, the golden calf, took place and the world was once again plunged into spiritual chaos. Therefore, Hashem commanded that a Mishkan should be erected and that this should be the focal point of the shechina in future. This was analogous to the Gan Eden in which Odom Harishon was supposed to serve and to guard it and that is the meaning of the words לעבדה ולשמרה. To keep positive and negative commandments as commanded by Hashem to Odom Harishon.

With the building of the Mishkan, the focal point of the spiritual side of Klal Yisroel, Hashem wanted to recreate an oasis comparable to Gan Eden and this continued with the building of the Bais Hamikdosh, where, once again, the Shechina, Hashem’s presence, dwelt. In fact, we are told that there were ten nissim, miracles, which took place regularly in the Bais Hamikdosh.

What I am suggesting is that the idea of   reshus hayoched, namely Gan Eden and the place outside, namely reshus harabim, was the first set of circumstances that occurred with Odom Harishon just before Shabbos Beirishis and in the same way as these were completely delineated and separated by Hashem in that Odom Harishon had originally been inside in Gan Eden and then was placed outside and not allowed to go back in, and, of course, this happened just before the onset of Shabbos, there remains every erev Shabbos, just before Shabbos, an echo of what happened originally. In consequence, carrying from one reshus to the other became an important idea to be remembered and rectified.

In the same way as Odom Harishon made a mistake and, therefore, was excluded from his original dwelling place, by us not carrying between reshus hayoched and reshus harabim, we are in some small measure rectifying matters.

Also in consequence, because this was the first major thing that happened and before any other מלאכת, works, were performed by Odom Harishon, therefore the whole mesechta starts off with the mitzvo concerning public and private domains.

We learn all the 39 melochos from the Mishkan and what was needed in order to build and be used in the Mishkan. That itself echoed the original Gan Eden in which Odom Harishon was placed.

Just to reinforce the idea, please look at the opening words of the first mishna which I mentioned earlier on.

Namely, the laws of going out on Shabbos are two which became four inside. This is an allusion to Odom, Chava and the two children born to them whilst they were still in Gan Eden. The mishna then continues, two that became four outside, meaning when they were all excluded from Gan Eden and stood outside. Obviously Odom Harishon would have liked to have gone inside, but he was, in fact, the עני, the poor person, standing outside and the Rebbono Shel Olam, Hashem who created the world, was the בעל הבית, the owner, inside Gan Eden.

I believe I have demonstrated a deeper idea as to why the mesechta starts off with the laws of הוצאה מרשות לרשות

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A PESACH STORY WITH A LESSON

There is a kehilla in Bnei Brak founded by the late Rabbi Ungar, known as Chug Chasam Soffer. This was formed after the Second World War, basically, consisting of survivors of the Holocaust, their children and other Jews from Hungary who escaped, especially in 1956, when there was a revolution there.

In 1978, one of the Baale Batim, Reb Yaakov, came to Rabbi Ungar one morning looking very troubled.

“Rebbe, I must speak to you about a dream I have had”.

Reb Yaakov proceeded to tell Rav Ungar the following:-

“I ended up in Auschwitz early in 1944 and was among a group who worked very hard and, therefore, lived rather than being burnt in the ovens. We had to get up at 5.30 in the morning and by 6.30 we were walking ten kilometres to the factory where we worked all day coming back about 6.00 or 7.00 in the evening, knocked out. We were then given our meagre rations for the day, watery soup and a little bread etc.

In the same block occupying the next bunk was a very Holy Jew, Reb Leibl, a בנן של קדושים. A few weeks elapsed and he said to me, “Do you know that Pesach is coming”. I nodded my assent. “Do you know that we have to have matzos on Pesach”. I looked at him in utter surprise. “We must do something about getting some matzos for Pesach”, said R’ Leibl. The very thought of trying to organise matzos for Pesach made me shiver, continued R’ Yaakov.

Nevertheless, everyday, I got this comment and request that I must do something about it.

Whilst I was walking to my work, one day, I noticed that there was some wheat stored in a shed which we passed every day. This gave me the thought that I could possibly obtain some so on the way back one day, I slipped out of line and managed to get a quantity of wheat. I did it once again, and managed to bring it back to our bunk. I then had the problem of how to grind it but with the aid of two stones, very primitively eventually ground the wheat and made flour.

There was still the problem of how to bake the matzos. I took the flour with to the factory I was working in, where there was an oven and eventually located a metal tray which I cleaned and put in the oven and so kashered it. I then mixed the wheat with water and eventually managed to make a few matzos.

You understand, Rebbe, that all this was extremely difficult and dangerous, I was very nervous that I would be caught but, Boruch Hashem, I managed to do this without any of the guards noticing what I was doing. Having managed to make the matzos, and by this time it was almost Pesach. I had to smuggle them back in with me to the barracks. This was much more difficult, because I could not just put things in my pocket as I had the flour, these were whole matzos.

I got to the outside of the concentration camp of Auschwitz and a guard looked me up and down but did not spot that I was clutching three matzos under my thin and torn clothes. I managed to get as far as the entrance to the barracks, at which point another guard did spot the matzos and asked me what they were, when I told him matzos, he gave me a tremendous beating and I went flying, he then stamped on the matzos in bestial anger. After I recovered I noticed that there was still some fragments of matzos lying around and I picked up the broken pieces as fast as possible and made it finally into my bunk.

Unfortunately, all that I had managed to save was enough for one kezias, כזית, I offered it to R’ Leibl, after all it was his idea. He in turn insisted that I had to eat it because I had risked my life time and again until I managed to make the matzos and had even been beaten up on the way back bringing the remains into the block.

Eventually, we compromised, R’ Leibl would eat the matzo on Seder night and I would get the zechus, the merit for the mitzvah.

Came leil Seder and R’ Leibl ate the matzo with great kavonnoh. Of course, you understand that everything had to be done very quietly because there were guards patrolling all the time and that at the slightest hint of anything they would come round and beat up the person, and they could kill the person as well.

We, together, tried to say the haggodah quietly and you can imagine the tears when we started Ho Lachma Anya.

The next morning, at 4.30 or so, R’ Leibl decided he wanted to daven Shacharis before roll call at 5.30 and he started very quietly in order to not attract attention. Unfortunately, when he got to Hallel, he lost himself and started the brocha and by the time he got to the end of the brocha, he said it loud. The guard noticed this, came over and gave him such a beating that a few hours later, he passed away.

I meanwhile, continued the horrible experience of Auschwitz and survived and Boruch Hashem I now have children and grandchildren who go in the Yiddishe way and I am here still to tell the tale.

Last night, I had a dream, I saw R’ Leibl, who came and said to me “I am in a very special place in Gan Eden, but I am short of one mitzvah, the mitzvah of eating that kezias of matzo on the Pesach night before I died, I have not got it because I gave it to you, I am asking you, please give me that zechus, that merit of the mitzvah, that I actually ate the kezias myself.”

I replied, said R’ Yaakov, “A deal is a deal, this is what we agreed”, and he could not persuade me. I went back to sleep and then he came a second time and asked me again.

“Rebbe,” he said to Rav Unger “ what do you say I should do.”

Rabbi Ungar said to him “you know there is a very Holy Rebbe living here in the district, the Alter Machnovker Rebbe, he went through lots of tzorres in Russia until he came out, go and ask him”.

So R’ Yaakov went to the Machnovker Rebbe and told him the whole story. The Rebbe looked at him and said, R’ Leibl is right, that would be the correct thing to do,  , namely to give the zechus, the merit of the mitzvah to R’ Leibl. אס איז יושר.

R’ Yaakov was taken aback. But why Rebbe, he protested, we made a deal. Yes, said the Rebbe, but you are here to tell the tale, you are still making a Seder with your children and grandchildren, you have lots of other mitzvos which you have managed to perform for the last 34 years. It would be very nice of you to give him the zechus of that particular mitzvah. The Rebbe continued, however, you have got to say it, that is tell him that with your full heart you are mochel him the agreement and that you are giving him the zechus of the mitzvah.

R’ Yaakov nodded, and said “alright Rebbe, if you say so I will do so.”

The Rebbe said to him Do the following. Here you have two keys one is of the Bais Hamedrash (which was adjacent to where the Rebbe lived) and one is of the Aron Hakodesh. It is now the middle of the night, I want you to go into the Bais Hamedrash, turn on a light, open the Aron Hakodesh and say that you are mochel R’ Leibl the zechus, you want him to have it in your stead.

With trembling hands R’ Yaakov took the keys, went into the Bais Hamedrash and when he opened the Aron Hakodesh, the floodgates of the all the tzorres that he been through in Auschwitz opened up and he cried torrents of tears. He managed, with a choking voice, to say to Hashem that he wanted R’ Leibl to have the zechus of that particular mitzvah of having eaten the kezias of matzo that night in Auschwitz.

Finally, he closed the Aron Hakodesh, feeling much better. He locked the door of the Bais Hamedrash, the Shammas was standing there. He gave the keys to the Shammas and said, I know the Rebbe wanted to speak to me after I had opened the Aron Hakodesh but I am feeling much too emotional and drained now. I will come and see him the morning.

That night, R’ Yaakov had another dream, R Leibl came to him and said, “Thank you very much, you do not know how much you have done by having given me the zechus of that kezais of matzo”.

The next morning, R Yaakov went back to the Rebbe and told him everything. The Rebbe smiled and said, you did the right thing.

This is a modern day example of mesirus nefesh. One can also appreciate the zechus that every Yid has for every mitzvo done, especially, if this is done under difficult circumstances.

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START THE DAY THE TORAH WAY 2nd May 2013

As you are well aware, we are in the period between Pesach and Shavuos, and have been busy counting the Omer over the past few weeks, we are now up to 37 days ל''ז and there is less than two weeks to go until the Yom Tov of Shavuos.

At the time of the Bais Hamikdosh, the sefiras ha’omer was to enable us to ensure that fresh produce, wheat should be brought as a special offering. However, in addition, it was a time for introspection and the build up between the time the Yidden were originally taken out of Egypt at the beginning of Pesach until kabbolas Hatorah, the Torah was given seven weeks later.

Nowadays, we concentrate on improving ones middos, the qualities that we all possess.

Our great Rabbis enacted long ago the learning and saying Pirkei Ovos, best translated as the Ethics of our fathers, each Shabbos on the six weeks between Pesach and Shavuos.

We know that there are very important fundamental principles and deep insights mentioned in Pirkei Ovos in the name of numerous famous Rabbis, mainly the Tannoim, mentioned in detail.

We are now up to the fifth perek which talks more about generalities. It starts off with the fact that Hashem created the world with ten maamoros, ten utterances, and then talks about the ten generations between Odom and Noach and the ten miracles that happened in Mitzraim and eventually the ten nissim that took place regularly in the Bais Hamikdosh etc.

Later on in the perek, namely mishnas י, that’s the tenth mishna to ט''ו, 15, there are five mishnas all starting with four middos, four different qualities. In a person, In his ideas as far as pupils being taught, Giving tzedokah, People going to a Beis Hamedrash and generally sitting before learned Rabbis, the Chochomim.

If one looks at all this these mishanyos in depth, one finds time and again, the stress on the latent difference between various middos, various qualities, to the extent that one mishna states  הולך ועושה חסיד that a person who goes to the Beis Hamedrash and learns is a chosid and if somebody does not go and does not do things the way he ought to, he is a rosha.

After we have had a whole month of learning in Pirkei Ovos, going through various sayings of great Tannoim on an individual level, the Pirkei Ovos carries on with general principles pointing out the good and bad of middos. This is obviously in order to give people the incentive to improve their middos having highlighted what is good and what is bad in general terms.

We are all individuals, we all have different qualities, some better than others which we are born with or acquire during our formative years and even later.

The challenge is to try to improve our middos. I believe that, unfortunately,  what people very often do not do, is think about where they have weaknesses in their middos.

Fifty years ago, unfortunately, many, many people spoke loshen hora. The Manchester Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Segal ז''ל started a campaign and this has been very successful in highlighting the problem and so many people are now learning the Chofetz Chaim’s sefer or something based on it, that there is a great awareness and that particular problem has been tackled considerably. However, there are many other weak links in the chain.

After all, there are 613 mitzvos and numerous of them are bein Odom l’chaveroi, interpersonal relationships. Whether these are in connection with monetary matters or sensitivities between man and his fellow man, and for that matter ladies and their fellow ladies or any combination of the above, and alternatively between man and his Creator are all part of the same totality of middos. The idea is that during the sefiras ha’omer, we should examine our own selves in depth and try to work on our middos. We all have weaknesses.

By the way, it is no excuse to say “everybody does it”, I still recall, when I was a bochur in yeshiva that somebody else was speaking in a derogatory manner about gedolei Yisroel and when I mildly pointed out that to me it seemed wrong to say such things being loshon hora, rechilas or motzei shemra or possibly all of them, the retort was “Oh everybody does that nowadays”.

It really is not an excuse!!

Some people think that by looking at mussar seforim or articles in our Jewish press this can lead to great improvement. Yes it is possible!! The best way of doing so is to inspect oneself or alternatively ask a good friend, an honest friend, a true friend, to give, in a positive way, an opinion of where a particular person’s weaknesses lie. It is those particular weaknesses that need to be addressed. It is the totality of a person that needs to be brought up to standard.

I mentioned the Chofetz Chaim before, and, of course, his classic sefer on shemiras haloshen helped hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of our brethren to improve themselves and continues to do so. The Chofetz Chaim, himself, was not only a great scholar and educator, he understood human psychology. I was told by one of his grandchildren, who I had the privilege to receive in my house years ago, that the Chofetz Chaim authored numerous seforim but only ones which he felt that the need for them was important and where there was a gap that needed to be filled. For example, he wrote a sefer specifically for Jewish soldiers in the Russian army and all the problems they had, what they could do and regarding which matters they had to absolutely stand firm and not give in. There were many other seforim of a similar nature written by him.

I believe a story that I heard regarding the Chofetz Chaim sums up what I am trying to emphasise today.

When the Chofetz Chaim was elderly, over 85 years of age, he came to Vilna unannounced and called for the Rosh Hakohol, the Jewish president of Vilna, who, of course, immediately came to see the Chofetz Chaim. The Chofetz Chaim told him, I want to make a major speech, a drosha, in the biggest Shul in the whole of Vilna tomorrow night. The president nodded. “But, however,” said the Chofetz Chaim, “I actually want to make two droshos, one night after the other,” The president was taken aback.

The Chofetz Chaim continued, I would like you to arrange that the first night, the only people allowed in are the baalabatim, that is the people who work for their living and do no study full time or act as Rabbis, Roshei Yeshiva, etc. You, as the president, will know everybody and will know who to let in. The next night, I want to reverse the situation, you only let in the Rabbis, the Roshei Yeshiva, the people learning in Yeshiva or Kollel, the melamdim, the Jewish teachers but not the baalabatim.

The Rosh Hakohol went about organising matters and the next evening, he stood at the door of the biggest Shul and carefully ensured that the only people allowed in were the baalabatim, the ordinary lay people. If a Rov or a Rosh yeshiva, or for that matter anybody sitting and learning full time (or most of the time) tried to gain admission, he firmly stopped him. “This is not for you” he said. “I have had instructions by the Chofetz Chaim himself” Finally, he closed the doors and went in to the listen with everybody else.

The Chofetz Chaim spoke for a full hour, even though he was old and weak. He extolled the fact that the baalabatim of Vilna were very good Jews, who kept Yiddishkeit and tried their best. “However,” he continued, “you all work very hard and find it difficult to make parnoso as I am aware, but you must really try and set aside sometime every day, preferably in the morning and in the evening, to learn some Torah. If you can’t learn something difficult like Gemora or Mishnayos, learn Ein Yaakov. Learn Kitzer Shulchan Oruch, learn Chumash Rashi. Learns something, please. Every Jew must learn some Torah to be connected with Torah.”

And then he turned to Tefilla. He said to them “I am sure that you all daven, but does everybody go to daven with a minyan everyday, I know it is difficult especially for Mincha in the middle of the day, but you must realise how great the mitzvah is davenning with a minyan. Not only that, one has to think about what one is davenning and not have the mind preoccupied with business or other matters, and of course, not to speak or interrupt in the middle of davening.” Then he proceeded to tzedokah. “I know that many of you have difficulties in parnoso, but nevertheless, there always is somebody worse off and it is a mitzvah to help other people, giving something to tzedokoh.”

By the time the Chofetz Chaim was finished his drosha an hour later, he was very tired.

The next night, the Rabbonim, the Roshei Yeshiva, yeshiva bochurim, people who learnt in the Kollel as well the melamdim, all crowded in to listen to the Chofetz Chaim, once again the president stood at the door and did not let in any baalabatim, any laymen at all.

However, when he closed the doors, he, himself, being curious as to what the Chofetz Chaim would say, went inside rather than staying outside. He heard a different type of drosha. The Chofetz Chaim started off by praising all these marvellous people who dedicated themselves to learning and disseminating Torah, day and night and mentioned that Vilna was known as the Yerushalayim de Lita, just like Yerushalayim of old, where there were so many Talmidei Chochomim as well as erliche baalabatim.

But the Chofetz Chaim continued, you have also to consider other matters, is there possibly, an almona or yesomim, a widow or orphans living near you, who perhaps have not got what to eat or need some spiritual uplift by being invited for a Shabbos meal etc. Don’t think that because you are learning all day that you have no responsibility when it comes to other mitzvos, maasim tovim, doing good deeds.” And he went on by enumerating various ways that Talmidei Chochomim could help other people, including, of course, learning with laymen who perhaps were comparatively speaking amei Ha’eretz (that means ignoramuses) when it came to learning.

And so the Chofetz Chaim continued with this theme until an hour later, completely exhausted, he finished his drosha.

The president, accompanied the Chofetz Chaim home and then asked the Chofetz Chaim the following “Rebbe, I must confess my sin. Although I heard your drosha the first night, when it came to shutting the doors the second night, I slipped inside the Shul. I see how tired you are, how you are physically and mentally exhausted, why could you not have given one big drosha, one night, for say and hour and a quarter and have mentioned all the points, that you went through during the two different droshas.”

The Chofetz Chaim replied with a smile, “You do not, perhaps, understand human psychology, if I would have done what you suggested, and would have talked about learning, namely, that one has to learn Torah whoever one is, every Jew has the mitzvah, what would have happened is that laymen, the ignorant baalabatim, who work very hard would have said, he does not mean me, he is talking about the Talmidei Chochomim, the people who sit and learn 8 and 10 hours a day. The Talmidei Chochomim would have thought, yes, of course, the Chofetz Chaim is right and they would learn an extra hour or two because of it.”

The same would have happened regarding Tefilla, the klei kodesh would have taken longer over their davenning and tried to increase their kavannah and the baalabatim would think to themselves, it is not for us.

“Conversely, when I made mention of not forgetting the almonos and the yesomim, and looking after such people, the Talmidei Chochomim reaction would have been, he is not talking about us, we learn all day long, we will leave it to the baalabatim.”

“So,” continued the Chofetz Chaim, “the net result would have been that the Rabbis would have learned more whereas the baalabatim would have concentrated on chesed, but I wanted them to understand that each one of them has to be well rounded.”

I think this sums up the point that I am trying to make.

On a practical level, every generation has its own nisyonos, its own tests. In our generation, one of them is the mobile phone. I believe that approximately 90% of the population has at least one such instrument and uses it frequently. However, some people unfortunately, overuse it. It is, of course, vital in special circumstances and very often useful in other circumstances.

However, I believe that it is very often overused to the extent that some people cannot turn it off but must have it open at all times, except, of course, for Shabbos and Yom Tov.

We all know that there are emergencies where a mobile phone is a great asset and can be very instrumental in saving lives etc.

I have, however, found, unfortunately too often, when trying to daven that somebody’s mobile goes off in the middle of davening which not only disturbs the whole atmosphere but is also against the whole culture of davenning and becoming close to Hashem.

I have even, on odd occasions, to my amazement noticed people taking out a mobile whilst davening Shemoneh Esrah. When I remonstrated with a particular individual regarding this, he was taken aback, he genuinely did not remember that he had done so, because it had become such an ingrained habit to forever look at whatever message buzzed, even on vibrator.

On a more mundane note, when people are talking together and the mobile rings it often takes precedence over conversations being held face to face and I wonder whether that is correct.

The only time that I can say that I wish that myself and my wife had a mobile each is when we are at a Simcha and try to contact one another to arrange when to go home.

It certainly has good uses. It just needs training and thought about how to utilise it in the best possible way without it taking over a person’s life and, on occasion, actually transgressing a halocho.

Similar remarks could be made about other modern inventions, but I leave it everybody to reflect on what I am saying in their own specific circumstances.

Looking at the sedra we have just read, Emor, one of the parshas starts off

וספרתם לכם ממחרת השבת מיום הביאכם את עמר התנופה שבע שבתןת תמימת תהיימה

You should count from after Shabbos (meaning after the first day Pesach) seven complete weeks.

I have asked numerous people how you spell the word temimos, is it spelt תמימות in Torah or תמימת and most people have plumped for the full word, תמימות and even added that it should be מלא, complete, full, because in fact it is not just 49 days, we are talking about 50 days, if anything over full.

Surprisingly enough, the word is spelt in Torah without the ו, it is spelt תמימת. If you look carefully at this word, you will see that it is a palindrome, it spells the same backwards and forwards. I believe that the remez here is that one should improve ones middos so that they are the same backwards and forwards.

To give you a practical example, if one considers a diamond which has been taken out of the earth, it has to cut and cut again until it forms a perfect shape. If you look at the perfectly cut diamond, every angle that you look at, shines beautifully and that is what תמימת is about, one has to improve ones middos so that they should shine whichever side you look at the personality of each individual.

I would only add that I, like most people, am still working very hard on this, it is not an easy job, but Rabbi Tarphon says in Pirkei Ovos

לא עליך המלאכה לגמור ולא אתנבן חויין להבטל ממנה

A person is not expected to be able to complete his works, but because of that is not allowed to say, I won’t try at all. Let’s all try our best.

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