AN APPRECIATION OF THE BAIS YISROEL OF GUR

As many people may know, today, ב אדר, is the yahrzeit of the Gerrer Rebbe known as the Bais Yisroel. He became Rebbe three years after the end of the Second World War which we now refer to as the Holocaust. He was Rebbe for almost 30 years.

I am going to attempt, today, to give an appreciation of his rebuilding virtually from the ashes, not only the Chasidus of Gur and Polish Jewry in toto, but he also having a tremendous effect on the whole of Charedi Jewry. I will also attempt to outline a small flavour of his personality from my perspective.

I believe that the first thing I ought to do is to commence with the final Dvar Torah from his Sefer that was published after his petireh containing Torahs he pronounced from Shabbos to Shabbos during those years.

כאן נתבשרו שעתידין לחטוא, אבל משה רבינו לא נתרצה בזה ופעל שיהי׳ הישועה ע״י השי״ת לא ע״י מלאך וכן נתמלא בקשתו, לכן השמחה בזה למי שחטא יוכל לשוב בתשובה ולהתקרב להשי״ת וזה בשורה טובה לכל בני ישראל.

The Torah tells us towards the end of Parshas Mishpotim that Hashem told Moshe that he was going to send a malach to guard the Jews. Rashi explains that this was, in fact, an indication to Moshe that the Yidden were going to sin. What the Rebbe says is that Moshe Rabbenu was not happy with this and he managed to persuade Hashem, as it says in the Sedra Ki Sisa, that Hashem himself and not a malach should always lead us. Therefore, the simcha embodied therein is that even somebody who sins can do teshuva, become near to Hashem Yisboruch and he concludes, this is a בשורה טובה, good tidings for all the Bnei Yisroel.

This was one of his major projects, namely, to impress on everybody that whatever they had done in the past, they could do teshuva and improve and Hashem would accept it and they could draw near to Hashem Yisboruch.



To just give some historical background, Reb Yisroel of Gur was born to his father, the previous Rebbe of Gur, who is now known by his sefer as the Imrei Emess, approximately 115 years ago. His famous grandfather, the Sfas Emess, was the Rebbe at the time and he had the privilege of knowing his grandfather until he was approximately 10 years of age and imbibed a considerable amount from the Sfas Emess.

When his father, the Imrei Emess, took over as Rebbe before the First World War, he redefined the Chasidus of Gur in various ways. For instance, he instructed his followers to daven strictly according to the times of tefillah, that is Shacharis early in the morning, Mincha before Shkia etc. He also instituted an hour learning Friday night before the tefillah of Maariv and again after Shacharis before the leyning on Shabbos morning.

He concentrated considerably on the youth. He could see how the various isms that were then around, communism, socialism, bundism, Zionism etc. were unfortunately tearing away the youth from Yiddishkeit and, he, therefore, was mekarev the youth in particular.

In addition, he was a Manhig Yisroel, a leader who was instrumental in the formation and success of Agudas Yisroel.

He was also staunchly in favour of Eretz Yisroel and decided that he wanted to go and live in Yerushalyim which he visited on a number of occasions between the two world wars.

A few years before the holocaust, he decided that he wanted to move to Eretz Yisroel permanently but his Chasidim pleaded with him and he acceded to their request to stay in Gur in Poland.

He was reputed to have 100,000 Chasidim. Certainly he had the greatest number of Chasidim of any Chasidus of that time or any other time before or after.

All this was brought to an abrupt halt in the Second War World. He, together with the Bais Yisroel and other members of their family, made a miraculous escape by train from Poland to Trieste in Italy and then by ship to Eretz Yisroel, but the Imrei Emess was a broken man and he eventually passed away on Shavuos תש'ח, that is 1948 a month after the formation of the State of Israel.

Of the multitude of Gerrer Chasidim, before the war, there were only a pitiful number who remained alive worldwide. I think one could say that if there were 1,000 Gerrer Chasidim, I mean Chasidim in the full sense of the world, alive and functioning immediately after the war ended, that is, if anything, an overestimate.

The Bais Yisroel had, before the war, already commenced helping his father, particularly in directing the activities of the young Gerrer Chasidim, the unmarried men and newly married all over Poland. The Bais Yisroel himself lived in Warsaw but he did travel here and there and he discreetly, at his father’s request, assisted considerably in attracting and retaining the youth in the derech of Gerrer Chasidus.

Nevertheless, it was a surprise to many people when his father left the mantle of leadership to the Bais Yisroel, who had preferred to always be in the background.

The Bais Yisroel when appointed Rebbe was faced with the churban, the Holocaust, with thousands of broken neshomos, not only in Eretz Yisroel, also in Europe, in America and worldwide. People who had fled after the horrors and atrocities of the Second World War, who did not have parnosso and the majority were certainly not concentrating on their Yiddishkeit. The Bais Yisroel set about changing all this in his own unique manner, despite living in a state which frowned on Chareidim.

I was friendly with a gentleman called R’ Dovid Perkovitch who was brought up with the Bais Yisroel before the war in Poland but had emigrated to Yerushalyim before the war. R’ Dovid was not a Gerrer Chosid, but was friendly with the Bais Yisroel, nevertheless. He told me that a few weeks after the Bais Yisroel was appointed, he decided that he would go and wish him Mazel Tov. So he turned up in Gur. The Rebbe discussed with him how vibrant Yiddishkeit had been in Warsaw, in Gur and in Poland generally before the war and then opened a door from his room to the Bais Hamedrash and said, “Look at what my father has left me”. He looked around the Bais Hamedrash where there were a few old Yidden with beards, a few bochurim who were learning in the Yeshivas Sfas Emess and there was a whole generation missing in the middle.

Despite this, the Bais Yisroel energetically and with his own charisma dedicated himself, day and night, and I mean day and night, to building up Torah with a Chasidishe Bren as had been the norm in Poland, once again. When I say day and night, he reputedly did not sleep more than two or three hours a night and whenever one saw him awake, he was always fully awake and not half asleep despite the lack of any lengthy sleeping hours.

He commenced again with the youngsters and was mekarev anybody who was attracted to him. It did not matter to him whether bochurim were from families of Gerrer Chasidim, of Polish Chasidus or for that matter of any Chasidus. Anybody who wanted to experience the holy and dynamic personality of the Bais Yisroel, he took under his wing. He gradually built up first the Yeshivas Sfas Emess, then a Yeshiva in Tel Aviv, the Chidushei Harim, and gradually the numbers increased from 10’s to 100’s to 1,000’s of followers.

He lost his own wife, children and his one grandchild all in the war but he put all that to one side and concentrated on rebuilding Torah and Chasidus anew.

By the time he passed away almost 30 years after having been the leader of the Chasidus, he had built up Gur into a vibrant, growing community. He had also worked strenuously to steer Agudas Yisroel forward and helped countless other Rabbonim and Roshei Yeshiva build up their own communities and organisations.

I heard, that the Ponevezher Rov who built the famous Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, was stuck for money when about to build the Yeshiva and it was the Gerrer Rebbe to whom he turned and who gave him a substantial sum which enabled the project to go forward. In fact, the Ponevezher Rov when he had any major questions asked the Gerrer Rebbe and relied on his advice. Numerous other gedolim had similar stories to tell. He was a Rebbe for the whole of Klal Yisroel.

The Bais Yisroel did not, of course, forget or ignore, the older generation of Chasidim and the broken Yidden who had gone through the holocaust, many of them losing their affinity with Chasidus and Yiddishkeit. He comforted them all and brought many back to the fold. Through that, he managed to influence their children and grandchildren. He used to exclaim “Breng mere de kinder”, bring me the children.

The Bais Yisroel was a Godol בתורה עבודה וגמילות חסדים. In pure learning he was an illui, a genius. In avodah his tefillah and דקדוקי המצות were exemplary. His gemilus chasodim, namely to help people not only in a spiritual way but actually giving them money, clothes etc. was outstanding. He was known in Yerushalyim for the way he visited famous tzaddikim and hidden tzaddikim, what we term ל'ו tzaddikim, whom he managed to locate and visited at odd times of the day and especially the night, (as well as sick people) leaving behind money, food clothes etc.

He, of course, saw people who came for advice and with kvittlach. Normally the door was open for such visits twice a day, in the morning and in the afternoon. People of all types and descriptions turned up, not only Chasidim and Bnei Torah, as we would term them nowadays, יהודי עמך, whether they were Ashkenazim or Sephardim all found a listening ear and a compassionate heart. He gave brochos and aitzes (advice). What we would describe today as mofsim, were quite commonplace, but I want to stress that in addition to all this he was a חכם, a wise and clever person who understood the ways of the world and he, therefore, could deal with not only individuals but organisations, politics, etc. and deal with all matters with incredible speed as well as acumen and common sense.

He really had an extraordinary mixture of so many middos tovos in addition to a magnetic personality and charisma which he used to the utmost to benefit Klal Yisroel. He had in him the sharpness associated with Kotzk and the ahavas Yisroel epitomised by Vorka.

He did build up his own Chasidus and mould it into vibrant Yiddishkeit akin to that which had existed before the war in Poland, but he also understood and supported other organisations which differed in detail. He was just interested in building up more and more Yiddishkeit in Eretz Yisroel and throughout the world. He took everybody according to his particular level and cleaned out that person’s neshomo and indicated the way forward for each individual in his own way. However, he did have guide lines which he concentrated on and these included the following. He was insistent that in his Bais Hamedrash in Yerushalyim nobody, and I mean nobody, talked at all during davenning. And I mean during davening, from the time it started to the time it finished with no exceptions even where one may normally speak say, for instance, during the korbonos right at the beginning of davening. If he caught anybody talking, woe betide. He also had a genius for knowing that somebody was talking.

I myself witnessed the following incident. The Bais Yisroel used to daven next to the Baal Tefillah right at the Mizrach vant of the Bais Hamedrash, he did not have a chair (at least not until the last five years, subsequent to a serious operation) but stood the whole of davening like a general with his troops. There was then a gap where nobody davened around him being sort of a half circle, say ten foot away from him. After that, there were the bochurim and yingeleit who made a wall round him which could be at times four or five rows deep, further back there were other people davening as well. One Shabbos morning as Azehu Makomom was being said, the Bais Yisroel suddenly looked fixedly at a spot where these young men were congregated like a wall and because he was looking so fixedly the wall split like magic and there was an empty path and one could see right to the back of the Bais Hamedrash. I noticed that two people had come into the Bais Hamedrash, obviously talking and were standing right near the back door and they had not quite finished their conversation. After a few seconds, one of the two noticed that the Bais Yisroel was looking in their direction fixedly, he realised what had happened and stopped talking. The other one had not noticed and therefore carried on until he suddenly realised that something was happening and also caught the eye of the Bais Yisroel. The two of them, to put it mildly, were so embarrassed that they almost slunk out of the Bais Hamedrash.

How on earth the Bais Yisroel could have sensed that these two were talking when he could not have seen it in a physical way? It must have been a purely spiritual, pnemiasdike sensation that made him look there and stop the conversation. This was not the only time it happened, I have heard of many such incidents. The fact is that he was very, very strong on this point. He was reputed to have said that the reason why the churban of the Second World War took place in the Ashkenazi communities, whereas, relatively speaking, the Sephardim of North Africa etc. were not touched, is because the Sephardim gave great kovad, honour and dignity to their Shuls and the way they davenned and learned therein.

I think that this is a lesson for everybody nowadays as well.

This was one point that he was very strong on.

Another point that was his speciality was that bochurim, especially in Sfas Emess, the Gerrer Yeshiva in Yerushalyim should get up what was called “fartugs”, before daybreak.

In the first years that he was Rebbe this meant getting up at say 6.00 in the morning to learn for an hour before davening at 7.30 after having gone to Mikvah etc. By the time 25 years had gone by we are talking about getting up at 3.30 or 4.00 in the morning.

In order to encourage this, he used to invite these youngsters into his private rooms at any time between 4.00 and 6.00 in the morning for tea, a vort of Torah and an occasional discussion etc. This worked wonders in getting people up and learning at that early time of the morning. It made these people feel that they had a special affinity to the Bais Yisroel.

He was insistent on Kedushah, pure holiness.

He was forever pushing people to reach a higher level of kedushah and taharah. Not looking out of their Dalet Amos, not reading secular newspapers or books etc.

One of his most famous methods of building up Yiddishkeit and warmth was the tischen on Friday night and Shabbos Shalosh Seudas. There were a few privileged people, maybe 30 or 40 who actually sat round the table by invitation. To get an invitation to sit at the tisch, this had to be issued by the Rebbe himself, often via the gabbai, and naturally members of his family were among those who frequently had tisch. As far as the Chasidim were concerned, it was, of course, a great privilege and honour to be able to sit at the tisch or even stand inside, what was virtually a reinforced area.

Especially in his earlier years and on Friday night, the Bais Yisroel used to come into the Bais Hamedrash before a tisch and there were hundreds of people standing around. He would walk between the rows of people and throw out a remark or tell somebody he should go into the tisch and it was an amazing sight which I find difficult to describe in words.

Immediately adjacent to the tisch the bochurim and yingeleit formed a solid phalanx standing four or five and sometime even six or seven rows deep, behind which were the baalebatim. The Rebbe did not stop working the whole of the tisch. If he was not giving out shirayim, he was passing messages to people, there was zemiros being sung and l’chaims being called out. Something was going on all the time and the atmosphere was electric.

His divrei Torah, which were given at that time and are printed in the sefer Bais Yisroel are replete with words of Chasidus, Yiras Shomoyim and especially mussar as to how one should behave and strive to grasp the holiness of the particular Shabbos or Yom Tov, with a view to the spiritual uplift continuing.

I don’t think that I mentioned that he had what was equivalent to a computer in his brain. He remembered everything and anything, whether it was Torah or whether it was things that happened and concerned individual persons. I will just give you one example that happened to me. I mentioned earlier on that there were opening hours when one could visit the Bais Yisroel, usually twice a day for half an hour to an hour or so. During that period, many people went in and out and he dealt with them very quickly indeed.

Because when one asked him something he answered so quickly, it was difficult to ask more than a few questions. This was because it was difficult to assimilate all the answers and go away remembering everything clearly. Therefore, one had to come in a second or third time. In addition, the Rebbe was always in a hurry because he knew that other people were waiting outside.

This was especially true over the period from Selichos through Tishrei.

At the time of this story I am going to mention, very few people went to Eretz Yisroel, air travel was still in its infancy, most people still travelled by ship. Therefore, when I went over, I was asked by numerous people to take with kvittlach or ask for berochos, questions etc. I went before Rosh Hashona and came back after Succos. What happened was that I went in once, twice, three times or more and got through a considerable amount of the enquiries for other people as well as something for myself.

I then realised that Succos had ended and I was going back home a couple of days later. I decided that I had better do something different to ensure that I would remember to ask all the outstanding questions. Therefore, I jotted down points on a piece of paper so that if I got stuck I would be able to refer to them.

Lo and behold, I went in the day before I was going back and the first question the Rebbe asked me was how long was I staying, and I told him that I was in fact, travelling the next day. I then proceeded to ask him a couple of things and he answered me in his normal quick manner. At that stage, I decided that I had better refer to my list and therefore, fumbled in my top pocket near my lapel and took out my list. The Rebbe asked what I was doing. I told him what was happening, namely that every time I came in, as soon as I went out of the door, I realised that I had forgotten to ask something. I, therefore, decided that I had better write down a list to make sure that I remembered to mention everything, especially as I was going abroad.

The Rebbe approved and I went through my list and he then asked him, “have you got anything else”, I said no and he wished me l’chaim u’l’sholom and that was the last time that I saw him for a year or two.

A few years later, I was also in Eretz Yisroel for Rosh Hashona until after Succos and I went in after Succos for a final visit to him. Once again I had not exhausted my list of questions and had decided to write a list to make sure that I would not forget anything.

The Rebbe asked me when I was going and I said the next day and I asked him one or two things. Before I could continue, he asked me “have you got anything written down”, to which I smiled and took out of my pocket the piece of paper which I then went through in detail.

I am just trying to explain the computer in his head. Remember it was about five years after the first incident and he had seen thousands of people meanwhile but he knew that Yosef Sugarwhite is a person who comes in with a piece of paper on which he writes down a list just to make sure that he does not forget anything. This was, of course, on the final occasion before going back home.

Occasionally, the Bais Yisroel travelled to meet other Gedolei Yisroel about important matters which he felt were best discussed face to face. These trips usually took place at night, so that the whole matter was kept secret. He very, very rarely spoke on the telephone and, therefore, either dealt with matters himself in the above mentioned manner or had numerous sheluchim, people who worked on his behalf in respect of numerous individual matters and for that matter national and international matters, politics etc.

I heard the following story from the driver of the car concerned. I must explain that the Bais Yisroel did not use public transport or taxi drivers but utilised the services of his wide circle in Jerusalem. At that time, 40 or 50 years ago, the gentleman who told me the story was his driver, especially for these late night episodes.

He received a phone call around 4.00 in the morning. “Can you please come round with your car”. He tumbled out of bed and got to the Rebbe’s residence a few minutes later. Drive out of town, he was told. At that time, there was only one way out of town, down the main road to Motza which then goes past Mevasseret Tzion and out towards the airport and Natanya, where, in fact, the Rebbe was heading. He wanted to have a private conversation with the Klausenberger Rebbe who had arrived to take up residence in Natanya and they were going to discuss sensitive issues concerning chinuch etc.

The car drove down the winding hill, much like a Swiss mountain road, which leads down from Yerushalyim and reached Motza which is in the valley before turning up again a steep hill towards Mevasseret Tzion. It was just after daybreak. As they rounded the bend at Motza and commenced their ascent, the driver noticed a car which had broken down with its driver was under the bonnet. The Rebbe also noticed and told the driver to pull in at the side of the road. By the time he did this they were 30 or 40 yards on. The Rebbe told the driver to stay with the car, he took off his hat, left it in the car and walked down to the broken down vehicle. The Rebbe’s driver watched with curiosity as he saw a conversation was taking place between the Rebbe and the person under the bonnet. He then saw that tools were being passed by the Rebbe to that person, handed back and other tools replacing the first ones. After a few minutes, the Rebbe said something to the gentleman concerned, got a reply and then turned around and walked back very quickly to the vehicle which was waiting for him 30 or 40 yards up the road, got in and said “Drive off”. Meanwhile, the Rebbe’s driver looked around and saw that the person under the bonnet had by this time appeared and was looking round for his guardian angel. The Rebbe, in fact, had helped him solve his problem and once he was satisfied that the car was in working order returned to the vehicle waiting for him.

The Bais Yisroel remarked with satisfaction in his voice, “it is marvellous to carry out, a gemilus chesed, a kind deed, for a fellow Jew especially without the person knowing who carried out that good deed”. This was one of thousands of incidents where he helped people in all types of ways and in many cases, the recipients of the kindness never knew that the Rebbe was behind it or even involved in the acts of kindness.

As the Chasidus grew, the Rebbe appointed leading young men to assist him in his chinuch activities but nevertheless, everything was under his direct and strict control.

Monies flowed through his hands in large sums. Although, he refused as a general rule to take any money with a kvittel, nevertheless, certain people did manage to get him to agree to accept money (I among them) and there were projects such as building new Yeshivas etc. where substantial monies were involved.

The Rebbe was extremely careful with all monetary matters and had his own books of account which he kept scrupulously.

He was known for his stringency in kashrus for all things that he ate or drank and during the week, other than Shabbos and Yom Tov, he did not eat a lot. He also fasted on numerous occasions.

All this was done without any publicity or fanfare. People who were not involved in actual incidents had little or no awareness of the manifold activities carried out and the extreme kedusha and sensitivity that the Rebbe put into all projects and private matters.

Although the Rebbe did not leave any direct descendents as they all perished during the Second World War, I think that the most fitting tribute to him was given by his brother, and successor, the Lev Simcha. The first Shabbos that the Lev Simcha made a tisch some months after the passing of the Bais Yisroel was on parshas מסעי. The sedra starts אלה מסעי בני ישראל , these are the journeys of the Bnei Yisroel. He looked at the assembled crowd of thousands and remarked “we are all “Bnei Yisroel”, namely the generations that had been created by the Bais Yisroel, who were standing there. One can understand the חז''ל who tell us כל המלמד בן חבירו תורה כאילו ילדו whoever teaches another Jew’s child Torah, it is as if he himself gave birth to him. The Bais Yisroel gave birth to whole generation which has now been followed by a further two generations since and is still growing, very much in his זכות.

זכותו יגן עלינו ועל כל ישראל אמן

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CHANUKAH

The mitzvah which we have to carry out on Chanukah is lighting the Menorah. This, of course, is to commemorate the Nes that took place with the one crucible of oil discovered that only had enough it in to last one day but miraculously lasted eight days.

Our Chochomim when enacting the mitzvah of lighting the Menorah ordained that this should remain alight from after sunset each day for a minimum of half an hour.

The reason quoted for this timing is because going back to the time of the Second Bais Hamikdosh, they did not have any street lights, or electric lights etc., and, therefore, people used to hurry home to try and reach their own dwellings by night after which it was extremely dark and difficult to carry on any activity. The final people the Gemora mentions, who still were scurrying around up to a half an hour after night, were known as the Tarmodiam. As the original enactment was that the Menorah should be placed at the entrance to each house outside, it, therefore, meant that in order to have the פרסומא ניסא, the proclamation of the miracle, this had to be done at a time when people walking by would observe the unusual illumination and, therefore, would be reminded of the miracle of Chanukah.

However, after many persecutions, especially when the Yidden were disbursed to other lands and Rabbi Yosef Karo brings, in the Shulchan Oruch, that at a time of danger one lights indoors. There is still the reminder of the miracle, פרסומא ניסא, for the family and this remains the custom among many in Klal Yisroel to this day.

As the lighting of the Menorah is a remembrance to what took place in the Bais Hamikdosh where the Menorah had to remain lit all night, why should we not, nowadays at least put in sufficient oil that nowadays the lights should continue burning all night or at least for a few hours.

The amount of oil that had to be placed in the Menorah each night had to be sufficient to allow the Menorah in the Bais Hamikdosh to stay alight for the longest nights in the year which are exactly when Chanukah falls. In Eretz Yisroel this is approximately a 14 hour span from nightfall to daybreak. Perhaps one could explain that the half hour is, therefore, is 1/28th of the time allotted in the Bais Hamikdosh. That is, equivalent to the Hebrew כח, which adds up to 28. The implication being that one should always remember not to think כחי ועוצם ידי, my strength enabled me to achieve things. The strength to overcome, enemies, bad influences etc. has to be always with the help of Hashem.

We also find that in the Haftorah read on Chanukah, this ends with the words לא בכח ולא בחיל, meaning that not with strength nor with arms, בחיל, (in a war) is one helped, כי אם ברוחי, but with the help of My Spirit. Therefore, the original enactment that there is a minimum of half an hour for the lights to continue burning is relevant just as much nowadays.

We live in an age where human beings continue to make new inventions and technology develops by leaps and bounds and in order to counteract the attitude of כחי ועוצם ידי, the original תקנה remains to this day.

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PARSHAS וירא

The Gemora in Bovo Mezia asks why was it that the angels immediately agreed to Avrohom when he requested them to stay with him whereas when they reached S’dom and Lot begged them to stay with him overnight, they initially refused. The Gemora’s answer is that from this we can see that one may decline a request made by a person of small stature but not by one who is great.

מכאן שמסרבין לקטן ואין מסרבין לגדול

I would suggest an alternative approach.

If one examines the expressions used by Avrohom and Lot, one sees a great difference. Avrohom when inviting the three people (as he understood at that time they were) stated clearly:-

יקח נא מעט מים ורחצו רגליכם

Let there be taken a little water and you should wash your feet. Remember that travellers walking in the dessert in the scorching sun often had swollen and cut feet.

והשענו תחת העץ

And you shall rest under the tree.

He suggested to them, not only that they should wash their feet, but also rest under a tree, protected from the blazing sun. Avrohom then continued significantly

ואקחה פת לחם וסעדו לבכם

“I will take bread and you can eat to your satisfaction”.

Turning to Lot, when the two angels reached S’dom in the evening and Lot spied them, he asked them to come to his house and continued:-

ולינו ורחצו רגליכם והשכמתם והלכתם לדרככם

Stay overnight, wash your feet, get up early and go on your way. He did not offer them any food or drink. They answered, “No, we will stay in the street”.

Lot did beg them to come to his residence and eventually they agreed. The Torah does say that he made them a meal including matzos.

However, הכנסת אורחים, inviting in guests, must be done in a pleasant way to make the guests feel that they are really welcome. The most important thing is to offer them food, not just imply that you will give them some.

Here we have the key difference between Avrohom’s request to them and that of Lot.

I believe that one can maintain that due to that, the three angels immediately said yes to Avrohom’s request, whereas they initially declined that of Lot.

This is, of course, a lesson to all of us as to how to greet guests and make them feel really wanted.

I recall, that over 50 years ago, when I was in Gateshead Yeshiva as a young bochur, shortly after the war ended, the food we received was very sparse, for example, if I recall correctly, we were each allotted a pot of jam which had to last us three months.

On Shabbos, if we were fortunate, we were occasionally invited out by the local members of the Kollel or Baalabatim for a meal.

I was privileged and lucky to be invited by Rabbi Bezalel Rakow who eventually became the famous Rabbi of the Gateshead Kehilla. He was, at that time, learning in the Kollel and often invited me for a Friday night meal.

I recall vividly that the atmosphere was full of Kedusha and the food was very enjoyable. However, what I recall particularly was that often, after we had all eaten a particular course, he asked his wife to bring me a second helping, despite my protestations. “A Yeshiva bochur does not get much to eat during the week, and you should fill his plate again.” Stated Rabbi Rakow emphatically, but with a smile.

I still remember this extra special הכנסת אורחים which I encountered.

Rabbi Rakow זצ''ל was not only a great Talmud Chacham and Posek, he also was a shining example of middos tovos.

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וידוי מעשרות (Part 2)

The declaration concerning the giving of tithe to the poor and needy

Following on from my Devar Torah concerning the above, I mentioned there that by giving Tzedokah to the poor and needy this will be a great zechus to enable the מידת הדין to be replaced by the מידת הרחמים. This is very good for all the year round, but when we come to Yom Tov and Shabbos, we cannot physically give money which is muktzah.

On Rosh Hashonah, we are told by the Midrash, ויקרא כ''ט
בשעה שישראל נוטלין את שופריהן ותוקעין לפני הקב''ה הוא עומד מכסא הדין ויושב בכסא רחמים

Namely, that by blowing shofar, this causes Hashem to get up from the seat of judgement and sit on the seat of mercy. This, of course, is a similar concept to that mentioned above concerning the giving of Tzedokah.

Why should the blowing of the shofar cause this?

We know that the shofar is a remembrance to the אילו של יצחק, the ram. This was the ram that was spotted by Avrohom Avinu after he had been ordered not to kill Yitzchok.

The zechus of both Avrohom and Yitzchok who each individually negated themselves to follow the command of Hashem at the Akeidah demonstrated their complete acceptance of Malchus Shemayim, Hashem being the King of the whole world. Avrohom prepared bring up Yitzchok as an offering and Yitzchok agreed to this without complaint. It is, of course, the essence of Rosh Hashonah where we accept Hashem as the King. This is analogous to the comments made in respect of giving money to the poor and needy and using the expression השקיפה, namely that with all our flaws, we nevertheless, kept to the commands of Hashem and gave sustenance to the poor and needy. In the same way, on Rosh Hashonah by blowing the shofar, we awaken the zechus of Avrohom and Yitzchok who also overcame their personal feelings and did exactly what Hashem told them to do. This enables the מידת הרחמים to replace the מידת הדין.

However, when Rosh Hashonah falls on Shabbos, as this year, we do not blow shofar on the first day of Yom Tov.

May I suggest that there is less need to blow the shofar on Shabbos. The fact that we keep Shabbos and do not transgress any of the 39 מלאכות is sufficient. This demonstrates that we accept that Hashem is the King of the world. He created the world in six days and ordered us to rest on the seventh day, Shabbos. By doing so, we are once again, מעורר, we awake, the מידת הרחמים in place of the מידת הדין. This is sufficient for Hashem to judge us favourably.

The Gemora tells us that in the Bais Hamikdosh, the Temple, the shofar was blown on Shabbos. In the Temple (which had different rules) many מלאכות were carried out each Shabbos and, therefore, the reason I mentioned above, not to blow the shofar on Shabbos, does not apply there.

Turning, finally, to Yom Kippur, which is the final day in the cycle of מלכות, kingship and atonement for the Bnei Yisroel, we add another dimension. Yom Kippur is a one off. Not only may we not carry out any of the 39 מלאכות, but in addition, we fast. We are completely negating ourselves to Hashem because by not eating and drinking we are showing that we are willing to sacrifice ourselves, so to speak, all for the sake of the King of the universe.

May we all have a כתיבה וחתימה טובה.

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FURTHER REFLECTIONS AFTER VISIT TO MOROCCO AND SPAIN AUGUST 2009

Further to my very interesting trip, I gathered many more historic facts and details than I was aware of prior to the trip.

This included the troubled relationship between the Jews who lived in Morocco and in Spain for hundreds of years and in particular between 1,000 years ago and 500 years ago and namely the period ending in the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.

The historic background of Jewish scholarship was that from the time the Yidden went into Golus after the first Temple was destroyed, that is to Bovel (present day Iraq), the Torah Centre was always there through the times of the Anshei Knesses Hagodolah, Tanoim , Amoroim right the way through to the Geonim. The last of the Geonim was Rav Hai Goan who lived between 939 and 1038. Towards the end of his rule, the Torah centres shifted and many of his talmidim and their talmidim in turn, founded Yeshivas in Spain, North Africa as well as France and Germany.

The Berber Arabs invaded Spain from Morocco and North Africa around 711 and conquered, at least, the Southern part of Spain and on occasion, made even further inroads. Those Berber Arabs were, or became Muslim in faith and depending on which regime was in charge, were either tolerant, or friendly to their Jewish inhabitants, or antagonistic, even attempting to shmad them.

One could perhaps find an analogy nowadays in the difference between the attitudes of the rulers of Iran, intolerance, and those of Morocco, great tolerance to the Yidden.

Likewise the strongly Catholic Christian Spain was ruled by kings and queens who were strongly influenced by Dominican Monks and other clerics. Sometimes they were tolerant and friendly, and on other occasions, they were very intolerant and, eventually in 1492, they forced an historic choice, either convert or be banished. We all know the way they then split into different camps.

There were Jews, led by the Abarbanel, that went into exile, others who became Marranos and secretly adhered to the Jewish religion, and unfortunately, others who did convert.

There were similar problems in France and Germany during the same period, namely that the rulers sometimes were very intolerant and occasionally they were tolerant and friendly, we are well aware of the crusades and the way the mobs led by the clerics rampaged through France and Germany killing thousands of Yidden and there were numerous other massacres and forced exiles during the period.

However, despite all these trials and tribulations, Jewish scholarship flowered and flourished. This was the time of the Rishonim. To mention just a few, in France and Germany, there were Rashi and the Baalei Tosefos. In Spain and Morocco there were the Rif, the Rambam, the Ramban and the Rashba. There was the Rosh who was the leading pupil of the Maharam M’Rottenberg, the last of the Baalei Tosefos. The Rosh, because of persecution, fled from Germany to Spain and became Rabbi in Toledo.

There was, however, a major difference between Spain and Morocco and the Ashkenaz communities. In the latter, the Jews were not allowed to study in university, carry on in professions and were very much curtailed in all their business ventures. Many ended up being money lenders because the Christian religion forbade their adherents to lend on interest. This led to further hostility and disastrous consequences for our Jewish brethren in the Ashkenazi community.

In Spain and Morocco, especially under the Arab rulers, the opposite was true, Jews were even encouraged to study all types of philosophy and science and the greatest among them, including the Rambam and the Ramban were doctors and well aware of philosophy and other such disciplines.

As early as 960 R’ Chisdai ben Shaprut become the first court Jew, physician to the caliph, statesman and patron of Torah.

Around 1000 years ago, lived the very famous Rav Shmuel Hanaggid, who was a great Talmid Chacham (his sefer מבוא התלמוד is printed at the end of Mesechos Brochos in the Vilna Shas) he was also a wealthy man. He became the advisor to the Arab king in Granada, Spain and rebuilt the Alhambra Palace which had been in ruins. Apparently, he even had rooms in the Palace himself for himself and his family so that he should always be available to the king.

This ushered in a golden age, in Spain particularly, and Jewish scholarship and yeshivas flourished.

However, at the same time, there was a large Kairite community who distorted the Torah. This together with the study of Aristotelian philosophy which was all the rage at that time, led to a considerable lessening in observance of Torah and mitzvos among large parts of the community in Spain, in particular.

The Rambam was born in Cordoba, Spain in 1135 and 13 years later because of the persecutions at that time, fled with his father arriving in Fez some years later. He then had to flee on to Eretz Yisroel and finally for the last 37 years of his life, was in Egypt. He passed away in 1204.

We are all aware that he wrote the monumental Mishnah Torah (Yad Hachazokah) in clear precise and brilliant Hebrew. He also wrote a commentary on Mishnyas which was originally in Arabic and translated later to Hebrew.

As far as the Mishnah Torah was concerned, he wrote it, as he states himself, in order to give a concise final ruling about every din in Torah.

He also stated that he wrote his Perish Hamishnyas in order to give the multitude who spoke and wrote in Arabic the opportunity to study Torah and understand it.

He strongly attacked the Karaites.

In addition to all this, in order to try to stem the tide of Aristotelian philosophy to overwhelm Torah true concepts, he wrote his famous Moreh Nebuchim, Guide to the Perplexed. As he points out himself, this is only for people who are perplexed and, at that time, there were many. He tried to reconcile wherever he could the Aristotelian principles with Torah principles but where this was not possible, strongly defended our Torah and mitzvos. He also tried to explain the mitzvos in a rational manner.

His aim was to wean away the intellectuals who had been too much influenced by a non Jewish approach and he was, to some extent, successful.

He was undoubtedly a man of immense stature, we all know the expression

ממשה עד משה לא קם כמשה

From Moshe (Rabbenu) until Moshe (Maimonides), there has never been any other Moshe.

However, he was attacked by other great Rabbis of his period in respect of the Mishnah Torah, because he did not quote his sources and only gave a concise halacha which he felt was the final way to decide. They objected on various grounds including the fact that it was difficult to disagree if he did not quote his sources and give other people an opportunity to examine matters in detail as has always been the way of our great Rabbis all through the ages. (In fact, in his later years, he admits in a letter that this was a fair comment and that if he has time and strength he intends to quote sources for some contentious decisions of his. Unfortunately, he never got round to it being too busy in Egypt as the King’s physician and with Jewish affairs.)

He was also attacked strongly by other great Rabbis in particular in the South of France, known as Provence for his book Moreh Nebuchim. They disagreed with some of his principles and attitudes but even more so with the fact that any sort of compromise should be suggested and the dangers that this might create.

Although other great Rabbis defended him, there were bitter rows and finally a חרם was enacted, about 30 years after the Rambam’s death. The next year, the Rambam’s Moreh Nebuchim was burnt in Paris (right next to the Louvre).

Nine years later, in exactly the same place, 24 cartloads of Talmud manuscripts were burned and this caused not only the loss of numerous manuscripts which no longer therefore exist but the greatness of learning in France began to fade as Torah went eastwards through Germany to Poland etc.

It is a fact that the Rishonim quote the Talmud Yerushalmi on many occasions and we do not have much of the wording in our editions. Furthermore, anybody who has ever attempted to learn Yerushalmi will know that there are obviously missing words and others misspelt because the text does not flow. One has to bear in mind the fact that until Rashi produced his classic commentary on Talmud Bavli, the Talmud Yerushalmi was studied by leading Rabbis even more than Bavli. It was shorter, more concise and in some ways easier to understand.

At that time, well before printing was invented, specialised sofrim had to copy existing manuscripts and there were, therefore, very few and far between, especially with all the exiles and tribulations encountered by our Jewish communities.

Therefore I believe that when the 24 cartloads of Talmud manuscripts were burned in Paris, they included most of the known Yerushalmi manuscripts and we have, therefore, lost forever the clarity of that Talmud.

We were lucky in so far as Talmud Bavli is concerned, that there remained the Munich manuscript (of which I have a photocopy) as well as other lesser manuscripts which survived the trials and tribulations of the Middle Ages.

To return to the events after the burning of the Moreh Nebuchim. The Dominican Monks who saw that Jews themselves had burnt a Jewish book decided that in that case, they could suggest the King of France Louis IX, that Jewish books generally should be destroyed and remember that these were all before the time of printing and, therefore, they were not many precious manuscripts around. 24 cartloads of manuscripts is an awful lot and these were collected from all round France etc.

One of the signatories to the original חרם was Rabbenu Yonah who lived in Spain. He was, however a Talmid of the one of the Baalei Tosefos who were Ashkenazim. They did not have, as mentioned above, the blend of learning Torah studies and other types of knowledge. In fact, in Ashkenaz, study of anything other than Torah was very much frowned upon. It is therefore not surprising that Rabbenu Yonah was also a signatory.

I understand that he wrote Shaarei Teshuvah as a kapporah for what had ensued. He died in Toledo on the way to Eretz Yisroel where he had wanted to go to ask mechilah at the kever of the Rambam as he regretted the חרם and its consequences.

I mentioned earlier on that the Rosh had fled to Spain and he became Rabbi in Toledo around 1300 or so. He was welcomed by the Rashbo who was the Rabbi in Barcelona from where he went onto Toledo. He and his son, R’ Yaakov Baal Haturim, who wrote the Tur, the predecessor to our Shulchan Oruch, succeeded his father in Toledo, shortly after he died, the situation changed rapidly and there was major persecution by the Christian community.

In this context, I visited a beautiful and grand Shul which was erected in the 1300’s and used by the community there perhaps for 40 or 50 years. It was then taken over by the Catholic community and utilised as a Church for the next 600 years. However, the city of Toledo which lives on tourism decided 20 or 30 years ago that they would like to attract more of our Jewish brethren as tourists and therefore persuaded the Church to return this building to them. It is now known as a Sephardi museum. On its restoration there was discovered around the high walls pesukim from Tehillim etc. still engraved going back over 700 years .

Unfortunately, the persecution at that time was so intense that a younger son of the Rosh, who had married the daughter of his brother, the Baal Haturim, and was still alive, was pressured to accept Christianity. The Shem Hagodolim reports that he together with his wife and his mother-in-law, took their own lives rather than be faced with the brutalities of the inquisition which had already commenced 100 years or so before the expulsion in 1492.

There was a blessing in the relocation of the Rosh to Spain.

Unlike the present day world, where we have instant communication, by telephone, fax, etc., at that time, communities and countries were very insular. Therefore, the customs of the Ashkenazi communities of France, Germany and further east became increasingly divergent from those of the Sephardi communities in Spain, and Northern Africa,. Each community had its own gedolim and as new circumstances arose, the halacha was decided according to their understanding. Furthermore, differing customs, more so than halacha, took hold in each community.

The fact that the Rosh, who was brought up in Germany and knew and understood the halachic angle from that point of view to a very high calibre, was then catapulted into a Sephardi community where he encountered many divergent customs enabled him and even more so, his son, who had also been brought up as a young man in Germany, but then lived the rest of his life in Spain, to bring together considerably the divergent strands.

100 or so years later, three great Rabbis commenced making a detailed commentary on the Tur. I know of a tradition that the reason why that of R’ Yosef Caro was chosen was because he was always careful not to denigrate in any way any of the Rabbis’ opinions that he brings in prodigious detail right the way through the four sections of Shulchan Oruch. Because of this his commentary was accepted over the others.

Based on that commentary, he, himself, wrote the Shulchan Oruch as we know it nowadays on which there are now, of course, so many super commentaries right the way up to the Mishnah Berurah.

Rabbi Yosef Caro was born in Spain a few years before the inquisition and fled in 1492. He travelled around a number of countries around the Mediterranean until he finally settled in Tzfas in Eretz Yisroel. He then wrote the Shulchan Oruch as we know it. He, himself, writes that his guiding light in deciding halachic conflicts and who to follow are based on three leading Rabbis, namely the Rif, the Rambam and the Rosh. If two agreed and the other one disagreed, he would follow the majority.

Furthermore, he often brings the exact wording of the Rambam when stating a halacha in Shulchan Oruch.

I would like to suggest that the reason he did this was to try and ensure that we should never have again a bitter type of argument as happened with the Rambam and his opponents hundreds of years before and which led to the dire consequences that I mentioned above. Perhaps if the Moreh Nebuchim had not been burnt and the Dominican Monks would not have had the temerity to therefore burn 24 wagon loads of Jewish books, they would not have then proceeded, albeit many years later, to burn Jewish people alive at the Auto de Fe and otherwise maim them and cause them to go into exile, become Marranos, etc.

I would also suggest that one of the reasons why the famous Mishnah Berurah has become so accepted world wide by Ashkenazim and Sephardim is because Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan likewise is very, very careful when quoting prior Rabbinical sources (even where he disagrees with them) to be respectful at all times.

We all know how important Sholom is. The Mishnayas ends with a statement

לא מצא הקב''ה כלי מחזיק ברכה לישראל אלא השלום

The Shemoneh Esrei ends with the last brocho beseeching Hashem for sholom, the Kaddish ends with a double portion of asking for sholom. Let us all hope and pray and try ourselves to spread sholom in the Jewish world and the world in general. Legitimate disagreements take place, but they can be dealt with in a respectful manner to avoid the terrible happenings similar to those mentioned earlier in this article.

עושה שלום במרומיו הוא יעשה שלום עלינו ועל כל ישראל אמן

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וידוי מעשרות

The declaration concerning the giving of tithe to the poor and needy

In Parshas כי תבוא, the Torah instructs us not to forget to give מעשר עני to the לוי, יתום, אלמנה and גר. This took place in the third year and sixth year of the shmittah cycle and had to be physically handed over before the Pesach of the fourth year and of the seventh, shmittah, year.


The Torah then tells is that there was a mitzvah to made a declaration to Hashem that this had been carried out correctly (see chapter כ'ז, verses 12 to 15 for details.)

The final verse commences with a request to Hashem; Because I have carried out all that you commanded me, therefore,

השקיפה ממעון קדשך וברך את עמך את ישראל ואת האדמה וכ''ו.

Look down intently from Your heavenly abode and bless the Bnei Yisroel and the land etc.

Referring back to an incident which took place many years before, when the angels were on the way to destroy S’dom, in Avrohom Avinu’s time, the Torah uses a similar expression, וישקפו. This means looking from above in a very intense manner. Rashi explains there, that whenever the word השקיפה is used it refers to something bad, except in the case of Maaser Sheni, because by giving מתנות עניים this changes מידת הדין to מידת הרחמים, from strict justice to mercy.

Of course, this is an interesting concept and very welcome because by giving the tzedokah to poor people, one can overturn evil decrees and create an atmosphere of mercy in the eyes of Hashem. Nowadays, as well, whilst we do not have the actual mitzvah of giving מעשר עני at specific times from produce, it applies to us on all our earnings and profits. Our Jewish brethren are famed and very praiseworthy for helping poorer members of our community day in day out, all year round.

My particular question in this context is, why did the Torah instruct the person who is making the declaration to use the wordהשקיפה . If the word itself has the connotation of looking down with an attitude of strict justice, why not use a different word that would express a plea for mercy immediately. For example, he could say תראה look, or תשפיע send down in abundance. Why should the word השקיפה be used at all?

I think that one can understand this by considering a particular example. If we look at a shining white tablecloth which has recently been laundered, on a table, it looks beautiful at first glance. If, however, one would take a microscope and start examining the tablecloth in detail, one would find various blemishes including perhaps the weaving not being perfect, there being bits of fluff and small particles of dirt etc. which are not visible to the naked eye.

In the same way when we look at ourselves and fellow Jews, people may appear to be very good. However, we are told כי אדם אין צדיק בארץ אשר יעשה טוב ולא יחטא , There is no righteous person in this world who has done good and never sinned (maybe only במחשבה, in thought, or דיבור, by word, even if not במעשה). If we are all put under the microscope, and of course, Hashem is the one who can do this, our flaws and hidden bits of dirt and rubbish are clearly visible. This, of course, is the absolute truth as far as Hashem is concerned and by looking at things microscopically, this creates מידת הדין judging strictly in a very concentrated manner.

What I am suggesting is, that the wordהשקיפה was used deliberately. The implication is as follows, Please Hashem look at my personality as a whole and all my flaws and, nevertheless, I am doing what You commanded me and giving away part of my hard earned income to the poor and needy as you have instructed. The hardest thing for a person to do is to give away money from their own pocket. There is always the temptation not to. The thought or excuse that one needs more for oneself, or children or family or for a rainy day etc.

Note that in this particular case, especially, the second of the obligatory times by which this had to be given was bang in the middle of shmittah, where people were even under more pressure than usual. The נסיון, the test, was even greater.

Please also note that the Levi is included in the instruction of the Torah. It fact, he is mentioned first וגם נתתיו ללוי. The Levi’im were to act as teachers for the whole of the Bnei Yisroel. There were even cities which were known as Levite cities spread around the country. Not for nothing was the declaration commenced by mentioning the Levi’im. Likewise, nowadays, one has to remember to support Torah institutions particularly in ones home town as well as paying school fees and other such obligations.

What we are saying in effect is, please look at us carefully with all our flaws and, nevertheless, we are going against our natural instincts and giving away money to poor and needy people and for Torah, because You commanded us to do so. We have a general rule that Hashem wants us to emulate His qualities. מה הוא רחום אף אתה רחום, in the same way as He is merciful so you should be merciful.

The word השקיפה is, therefore, used to emphasise this special purpose.

At this time of year, coming up to Rosh Hashonah, when everybody is judged individually and, in particular, at the moment, in the middle of a world recession, our giving away charity, tzedokah, to poor and needy people will be a great zechus to enable the מידת הדין to be turned into מידת הרחמים.

May we all be blessed with a happy and spiritually uplifting New Year with parnosa, nachas and good health.

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TRIP TO MOROCCO AND SPAIN

I have very recently returned from a memorable, uplifting and inspiring trip to Morocco and Spain, together with a group that was led by Rabbi Paysach Krohn.

The tour commenced in Casablanca on Monday 10th August and we visited Rabat, Marrakesh, Meknez, Fez and Quazzane, finally arriving in Tangier on Thursday evening 13th August.

We then transferred from Africa to Spain by ferry and spent Shabbos in Gibraltar. On Sunday 16th August, we travelled onto Granada followed by Cordoba, Madrid and finally Toledo. The tour came to an end on Wednesday 19th August.

There were around 170 people on the trip between the ages of 16 and 80 years of age including numerous organisers and helpers. We stayed at first class hotels every night and were ferried around on air conditioned luxury coaches.

The group represented a mosaic of frum Jewish people worldwide. The trip had been arranged in the United States and people came from the USA from, at least, ten cities and towns. In addition, there were 30 to 40 people from Antwerp. Others came from Toronto in Canada, Melbourne, Australia as well as Eretz Yisroel. There was also an English contingent of 15 people or so, from Stamford Hill, Golders Green, Finchley, Edgware and Manchester.

It was really a very cosmopolitan crowd, there were Sephardim, Ashkenazim, Chassidim, Litvaks and Yehudei Amcho. It included a Rosh Yeshiva from Denver and his wife as well as a Rabbi from Flatbush and his wife. In the main, however, the participants were baalebatim together with their wives who wanted to be on a Yiddish tour, were followers of Rabbi Krohn or had family ancestry in Morocco.

Despite the variety in age outlook and background, it turned out to be like one big family and the achdus was impressive.

We toured on four buses which were named Paysach Rishon, Paysach Sheni, Acharon shel Paysach and Paysach leyosid levoi (which was later changed to Paysach shlishi). Everybody stuck to the buses that they were allotted to for the whole trip.

The tour organisers had years of experience and the herculean efforts put in by them, especially in respect of catering arrangements, were impressive. Most of the food was brought from the United States in crates and there was a varied and plentiful supply.

I think the heat is worth a mention. The temperature often reached 40ºC, 104ºF and that is in the shade. We often walked around in the sun. It actually reached 43º in Marrakesh which is equivalent to virtually 110ºF. Nevertheless, people determinedly toured around and listened to the amazing stories and divrei Torah of Rabbi Paysach Krohn. Rabbi Krohn is not only an accomplished speaker but he is a Baal Mussar with an American twist and has a very emotional personality and lots of Ahavas Yisroel. This makes him into a very powerful and interesting speaker with lots and lots of stories.

We assembled in Casablanca at lunchtime on 10th August and after lunch and an introductory speech by Rabbi Krohn boarded the buses that were going to be our companions for the next few days and headed for Rabat. This is the capital of Morocco and the seat of government and the king resides there. We went to the mausoleum of King Mohamed V who was the monarch during the Second World War and died about 40 years ago. He was considered a great friend of the Jews.

Morocco was a French Protectorate during the Second World War. The King refused to cooperate with the Vichy government during the Second World War who requested Morocco to deport all the Jews. When told by the French authorities who were then in charge in Morocco that they had produced 100,000 yellow stars for Jews to wear, he told them that they had better produce another 50,000 for himself, members of family and entourage etc. He stopped it all in its tracks and, as a tribute, therefore, we visited his mausoleum. It is impressive. He lies there in state together with the King who succeeded him, Hassan II and another son. The King of Morocco is an absolute monarch.

We then proceeded to a Shul which is still used although there may only be around 100 Jewish people living in Rabat nowadays. Rabbi Kohn spoke there and this was the pattern repeated every time. As well as davenning Mincha in the Shul, he spoke about different aspects of Gedolei Yisroel who lived in particular places or had been born or died there. In this particular place, to my surprise I learned that Sale (or Sali) which is just on the other side of the river from Rabat was the birthplace of the famous R’ Chaim ben Attar, the Or Hachaim HaKodosh who lived there for many years. My wife Esther was born in Rabat.

We were told that after King Mohamed V obtained complete independence around 1955, he used to send a message each Yom Kippur to every Shul in the country via the governors wishing the Jews a “Happy Yom Kippur”. One year he indicated that he would like to visit the Shul in Rabat on Yom Kippur and a special chair was prepared for him next to the presiding rabbi. When he turned up to Neilah, he refused to sit there and stood among the congregation for the whole of Neilah with his eyes closed and his hands raised.

We were fortunate to have a Jewish tour guide Rafael ibn Malach who gave us a lot of extra background as a born Moroccan which complemented the historical and other information which Rabbi Krohn had compiled.

Rafi told us that there had been a Jewish presence in Morocco since the churban Bayis Sheni almost 2,000 years ago and maybe earlier.

Rafi confirmed that the current King Mohamed VI grandson of Mohamed V was well disposed to the Jewish community. Morocco had approximately 360,000 Jews in 1948 but the community has now dwindled to under 5,000, with the vast majority in Casablanca. Rafi has made it his life’s work to go round to all the large and small communities where our Jewish brethren lived in order to take photos of the old Shuls etc. and collect artefacts.

He was so successful that he decided that a museum would be the right place to show this all.

When Rafi wanted to open a museum he asked to see the minister in charge of those matters who, at first, refused to countenance a Jewish museum in an Muslim country but Rafi then spoke to the Jewish adviser to the King and was later told that he could open the museum although the government would not contribute any funds.

The Jewish community in Casablanca contributed all the funds to the museum which is very nice indeed. Rafi, understandably, is very proud of his achievement and it is the only Jewish museum in any Arab country.

We returned to Casablanca on Monday evening, visited the museum and then went to the Jewish cultural centre where we enjoyed a good meal. We also heard from Rabbi Sabbag who is the personal secretary to the Chief Rabbi of Morocco and spoke to us in good English. He explained the background of the community which is run on strictly orthodox lines and mentioned that he, himself, had survived an attack with an axe some six years earlier.

In this context, Rafi was very insistent that whenever we left our tour bus, we should not walk around with just cupples on but have some other headgear above it. He was worried that we should not attract undue attention. He kept on mentioning that Israelis and Israel generally were a very sensitive subject and there were people in Morocco who are very unhappy about the state of Israel. This did not apply to Jewish people, but, nevertheless, if somebody turned up with a kippa on his head, they assumed that they were from Israel and, therefore, he strongly advised us not to walk around anywhere without having some other headgear on and we tried to oblige.

Neither I (nor anybody else that I know of, of the 150 plus people who made the trip with Rabbi Paysach Krohn) encountered any anti-Semitism, comments or felt threatened at any time during the 12 day trip.

Tuesday morning, we davenned around 7.40 am and this was proceeded by Daf Hayomi, optional, which was well attended, and then a lavish breakfast was served. Rations were on hand for us to take our own lunches and drinks for each day trip. This was the pattern for each day and generous helpings were available to all.

We travelled to Marrakesh, approximately 150 miles south of Casablanca. This is a walled city as were most of the places visited by us. We arrived at there at around 1.30 pm but did not stop in the town. We went on straight through it to the Atlas mountains which are about 30 miles southeast of Marrakesh and visited the tomb of R’ Shlomo ben Hence. This R’ Shlomo was a great Tzaddik but the ruler of the district was very anti the Jews. R’ Shlomo told him that he should not persecute the Jews and he retorted “You can’t tell me what to do but I am getting test you.” He put R’ Shlomo in a dry pit for three days. He was then taken out of this pit alive after having been found there with lots of snakes around him who apparently gave him to eat and drink during those three days. In Arabic Hence means a snake. This therefore alludes to the great miracle which took place. Fervent tehillim and prayers were made by all our group.

We then met the last Jew in the Atlas Mountains and he remained even though his family, including his wife, had emigrated to Israel. He said that R’ Shlomo had appeared to him in a dream and told him that he was not supposed to go yet. At one point, he even went down to Marrakesh after pleadings by his wife and family with a view to him emigrating to Israel but fell in a coma for three days. When he came out of the coma he reiterated that R’ Shlomo had told him that he may not go. People got brochos from this old Yid who must be in his middle 80’s.

We then went to visit a Berber village and went into a house on a steep hill which had been owned by Yidden. It was extremely interesting to see how there was “rooms” on the lower ground floor level, one for the donkey, another for the cow and a third one for the chickens. When you went upstairs people lived there and there was even a Succah which was kosher but with all the various kulus outlined in the first perek of mishniyas Succah. It really was an eye opener.

We then travelled back to Marrakesh arriving around, I think, 5.00 p.m. It was still very hot around 43ºC equals 108ºF. We went to the Shul, which we were told was over 500 years old. I sensed a special kedusha there. It appeared to have been founded at the time of the expulsion of the Yidden from Spain. A member of the community (only about 140 are left, I believe, in Marrakesh) told us that they had a tradition that the Bais Yosef, Rabbi Yosef Caro, who fled from Spain after the expulsion, came to visit the Rav who founded the Shul over 500 years ago. Once again Rabbi Krohn was in good form speaking about the particular community etc. We davenned Mincha and then, later on, proceeded to the large town square where we saw snake charmers, acrobats etc. and then had a surprise ride on horses with buggies to a beautiful hotel where we had another sumptuous meal all under the השגחה of the Casablanca Beis Din. The road in which this hotel is situated was a dream and the hotel itself was something special, I haven’t seen anything in London, or in Europe, quite as impressive.

The houses etc. are generally in a reddish pink which reflects the mountains from which the stones and the earth are quarried. Breathtaking, boiling hot, but very enjoyable.

We returned to Casablanca at about 2.00 am. We were up early the next morning Wednesday at about 7.00am for davenning and packed up. Our main cases were taken immediately onto Tangier where we were going to get the ferry on Thursday evening and we took just enough hand luggage for the one night’s stay in Fez.

We proceeded to Meknez from Casablanca leaving around 10.30 am arriving at Meknez at about 1.00 pm. The countryside is very pretty. We went to a beautiful Talmud Torah overlooking the Beis Olam and once again were greeted by one old Yid who gave us brochos and mishabereichs etc. Rabbi Krohn spoke as usual, this time about Rabbi Boruch Toledano (who is the grandfather of Mrs C Hertz of Stamford Hill). He was the Chief Rabbi there. He had such authority that if any Yid kept his shop open on Shabbos, he reported them to the police and the police closed the shop and fined the person concerned.

I found a Kitzur Shulchan Oruch written by him and he was obviously a great Talmud Chacham as well. Rabbi Paysach Krohn mentioned that he had heard this Rabbi Boruch Toledano speaking at the Knessei Gedola in Yerushalayim about 40 years ago. He was a very tall distinguished gentleman with a long white beard and he was crying because he was talking about the state of the youngsters from Morocco who had lost a lot of their Yiddishkeit because of the Alliance and when they went to the state of Israel further inroads were, unfortunately, made.

From my Yeshiva days I knew a number of the Toledano family, learning in Gateshead with two of them. One has unfortunately passed on but the other is a Rosh Yeshiva in Beer Yaakov. I believe, his name is Rabbi Nissim Toledano. Rabbi Pinchas Toledano of the London Sephardi community is another scion of this family of Rabbis who fled from Toledo in Spain 500 years ago.

Meknez was known as the Yerushalayim of Morocco and we were in the Talmud Torah where reputedly thousands of children had been learning.. It was an impressive building.

We then proceeded later in the day to Fez. We visited the Jewish Quarter, the Mellah. The Rambam lived there after he had fled from Spain. We had with us on the trip a friend of mine, Mr Danan of Stamford Hill, who I did not realise had a grandfather and great grandfather who were the Rabbis in Fez and the next morning, in fact, we went to visit their kevorim as well as that of Sulika, a girl of 18 who refused to marry a sultan’s son. She was actually killed al Kiddush Hashem, because of it, about 200 years ago, I understand. The ladies in particular davenned hard and with great emotion at this juncture. We prayed at another kever of R’ Yaakov ben Attar apparently a relative of the Ohr Hachaim Hakodesh and there are numerous other tzaddikim there and in various other parts of Morocco. This was all in the blazing sun in the middle of the day. (40ºC equals 104ºF in the shade)

One of the places we went to was a Shul built by a private family in Fez. When we came into this relatively small building, I looked around and was struck by the fact that there were stairs going down at the side of the Aron Hakodesh. I went down to investigate and came across a kosher Mikvah with water in it.

When I came up and questioned Rafi about the matter, he explained that this building had become disused. When he was on his travels investigating numerous such disused Shuls etc. he came into this building and was struck by the fact that between the Aron Hakodesh and the Bimah towards the front of the Shul, there was a pipe which was hanging down from the ceiling going straight to the floor. Eventually he discovered that this was, in fact, the source of the Mikvah, being fed by rainwater which was allowed to flow straight down the pipe into the Mikvah below the floor of the Shul. Very ingenious. It does rain in Fez for quite a few months in the winter.

On Thursday morning, Shacharis was at 7.00 am after the Daf Hayomi. It was early as we were going to tour around Fez properly. We went round the souk (market consisting of small alleys etc.) in groups with, we were told, protection and led by various people including Rafi and other guides. We had to be careful as we walked along where the donkeys and other vendors would decide to come the other way. We were just squashed into the sides and were warned by shouts of Balak which apparently meant beware oncoming traffic!! It was very interesting but we did not have time to buy things. We were, however, pretty tired after two hours going round in the various alleys in the heat.

The Jewish Quarter was adjacent to a Royal Palace affording some protection to the residents by the authorities.

At around 11.00 am we got into our air conditioned buses and proceeded to the highlight of the trip for those who were looking for yeshous. We went to visit the kever of R’ Amram ibn Diwan which is much further north lying in the Rif Mountains north of a small town called Quezzane.

I can only describe the reputation of this Tzaddik as being similar to that of R’ Elimelech of Lizhensk. In the same way as there is a pilgrimage to R’ Elimelech on his yahrzeit, there is a pilgrimage each year to R’ Amram, I believe on Lag B’Omer. In this context, I heard an interesting story, namely that, one year on Lag B’Omer an Arab couple were spotted offering sheep to be schechted by the Jewish people who had gathered at the kever. On enquiry it was learned that they had been married for many years and had had no children. Somebody had suggested that they should pray at the kever of R’ Amram ibn Diwan and the very next year they had a child. Since the, they stated, they came each year to contribute lambs in honour of R’ Amram.

We finally reached Quezzane around 2.00 pm and listened to an emotional speech by Rabbi Krohn, davenned Mincha, and spent some considerable time, saying tehillim and lighting candles as well as leaving kvitllach on the kever.

May all our tefillos be answered.

We then proceeded to Tangier which is at the northern most tip of Morocco where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean.

We were supposed to go on a fast ferry at 10.00 pm but this finally took off at 11.20 arrived at 12 midnight Moroccan time. This, however, was 1.00 am Spanish time and we arrived at Algericas and then had to transfer over again to Gibraltar.

After delays with customs etc. we finally arrived at our hotel in Gibraltar around 3.30 am.

The organisers worked hard to ensure that our passage through three countries, namely Morocco, Spain, and into Gibraltar went without any major problems.

Friday was a comparatively quiet day, although people who had not visited Gibraltar before went up the rock to see the sights and the monkeys.

I think that everybody felt exhausted by that Friday and we needed a day or two to recover.

Davenning took place on Erev Shabbos around 8.10 pm and the shkiah was around 9.00 pm. The Gibraltar community is frum, they have a Rabbi Chasid there who has been the rabbi for 20 years and is a Talmid Chochum and very likeable personality. They also have a kollel and a Jewish school as well as kosher shops and a restaurant. There are numerous baalebatim who are leading lights in the general Gibraltarian community. We were addressed on Friday night by Mr Solomon Levy (brother of Rabbi Abraham Levy of the Sephardi community in London) who had just retired as Mayor of Gibraltar.

After davenning on Friday night, we went off to the Catholic!! Centre where we ate all the meals on Shabbos. The atmosphere was very enjoyable, zemiros being sung, divrei Torah being said, especially by Rabbi Krohn of course, and we finally got to bed at around 11.30, I believe.

The next morning, Shacharis was at 9.00 am and the davenning was at a leisurely speed, Shacharis ended at about 10.45 and the whole davenning at around 12 noon. Rabbi Krohn then made a powerful speech regarding the importance of tefillah and mentioned how beautiful the davenning was that morning where pesukei dezimra was said or perhaps better chanted in unison by the members of the congregation, together word for word. His whole drosha was a gem.

One story he told was about a gentleman who travelled from the USA to Eretz Yisroel. He arrived in Jerusalem at 2.30am in the morning having not yet davenned Maariv. He was always careful to daven every tefilla b’tzibbur.

He went to Zichron Moshe looking for a minyan but only found one other person who had not davenned.

After waiting to 3.00am or so, he decided that he had better do something drastic.

He telephoned a minicab service and asked for eight Jewish drivers to come to Zichron Moshe. He was told that they only had five available and asked them to send those. He then telephoned a second firm and asked for three Jewish cab drivers.

By 3.30 am eight taxis rolled up expecting to have to take people home from a simcha. He met them and told each one to put his meter on and he would pay for the time until they finished Maariv, of course, by now, he had ten Yidden together, although in a couple of cases he had to search for a head covering for the mini cab drivers.

Maariv was davenned with fervour. When it finished he went to the first can driver and asked him how much he owed, the answer came “Nothing!! I have never davenned a Maariv like this in my life.”

He then turned to another can driver not religious and asked him how much he owed. “I haven’t been in a Shul since Yom Kippur” was the answer. “If anything, I owe you money and I have determined that I will, in future, remember to daven.”

In short none of the drivers wished to take any money in the circumstances. He, of course, had achieved his object of tefilla b’tzibbur.

After our communal meal, complete with zemiros and divrie Torah, not only by Rabbi Krohn but also one of the participants, Rabbi Krohn stood up again and announced that two participants who had been in Yeshiva together over 50 years earlier had now been reunited (and had not seen each over the 50 years) due to the fact that one of them had been the gentleman who spoke. The other one, happened to be sitting next to me, and suddenly said “I know him, I went to Yeshiva with him.” They had a long conversation together. It then turned out that there were two ladies who had not seen each other for over 40 years and met on the trip.

Sometime later, I was talking to a gentleman from Passaic, New Jersey, and when I spotted that he had an English accent, it turned out that he was born in Leadale Road, London N16. He was one of the first six pupils at the Yesodey Hatorah school in 1943. It’s a small world!!

After Shabbos afternoon shloff, there was a talk on behalf of the Chofetz Chaim Institute in New York which disseminates Yiddishkeit. This was followed by Rabbi Krohn once again and subsequently our group davenned Mincha in one of the four Shuls followed by Shalosh Seudos and then to Maariv at around 10.00 pm.

I actually attended Shaarei Shomayim a very sweet and smaller Shul where, together with a Rabbi Winter of New York (a Talmid of Rabbi J B Soleveichik) we shared divrei Torah with the baalabatim there.

It was interesting to see the main tefillos of the Sephardim are virtually the same as ours, but that additional tefillos and bakoshos are said by them which we do not say and vice-versa.

Nevertheless, the davenning was very uplifting and the atmosphere was one of Kedushas Shabbos. We were all made very welcome by the local community.

On Sunday morning, once again, we had to get up early as davenning was 7.00am. We were trying to leave by 9.00am. However, I must state that the timetable was in keeping with Stamford Hill, being Jewish Mean Time, one or two hours later than the official time for leaving any town was the norm in the whole journey. Two or three hours later than scheduled was the time when we finally arrived at our destination in the evening. This is not surprising due to the logistics of keeping everybody happy on four buses including frequents stops for use of the conveniences etc.

We finally left Gibraltar at around 10.30am and travelled for many hours through the Costa del Sol, past Malaga and this looked very beautiful from the motorway which itself passed through scenic country with many tunnels. It was very mountainous in parts.

We arrived at Granada in the early afternoon. We immediately made for the Alhambra Palace which is on a mountain overlooking the city of Granada.

We were informed that there had been a Palace there some 1200 years ago which had fallen into ruin but that when R’ Shmuel Hanaggid became the advisor to the Arab King around 1000 years ago, he rebuilt the palace which is beautiful and has extraordinary beautiful gardens as well. There are many fountains, pools and running water which add to the beauty.

We were told that R’ Shmuel Hanaggid was a man of such influence with the king that he actually lived in the palace enclaves with his family and from the time that he became so influential, the Jewish community, especially in Granada entered into a golden age. At the time the Arabs from Morocco rules southern Spain of which Granada is part being in Andalucía. The situation continued for many hundreds of years until Granada was finally retaken by the Catholic, Christian north who swept the Arabs out of Spain and Granada was the last fortress that they had. This, in turn, led to 1492 and the Spanish expulsion. Ironically, that decree was signed in the throne room of the Alhambra Palace which had been built by R’ Shmuel Hanaggid for the king some 500 years earlier.

We, of course, 520 years later, were a Jewish religious tour group in the very same place.

It highlighted the ups and downs of Jewish history, the trials and tribulations in an unforgettable manner. Rabbi Nissel (our extra tour guide for Spain) told us there that people who wished to make petitions to the king were often kept waiting two or three days and then were allowed in only late in the afternoon. The way the throne was situated with sunlight coming in behind from the windows meant that the petitioner could not really see the king but the king could see everybody as they came in. All this was to add to the atmosphere of reverence and awe that was demanded of all the petitioners and subjects of that particular king.

We wandered around the palace for perhaps three or four hours and by this time, our legs were quite used to walking around for hours on end and we knew that we had to drink large quantities to ensure that we did not become dehydrated. We then had a bonus in that we got back into the coaches and drove down the hill and lo and behold our hotel for the night was the Macia Real de la Alhambra within about a mile of the actual Palace. We then ate in the hotel and managed to retire to our beds early for a change, perhaps 11.00 pm.

On Monday morning, once again we had to be up early as we were heading for Cordoba, this was birthplace of the Rambam and we had heard much about him as he had fled from the city when he was a boy, wandered around Spain with his father R’ Maimon and family for about ten years and finally ending up in Fez for about 5 years and he wrote his Peirush Hamishnays whilst on the way, finishing it, I believe, either in Eretz Yisroel where he stayed for 2 years after fleeing again from Fez or possibly when he arrived in Egypt, where he lived the rest of the life for about 37 years, where he wrote the famous Mishneh Torah, Yad Hachazokeh

When we finally reached Cordoba (and it is a long drive from Granada, especially with four coaches who can only go at a certain speed) we were pleased be able to descend from the coaches. Meanwhile, the countryside was breath-taking, there were lots of hills and valleys, a tremendous amount of olive plantations. Altogether very pretty. The temperature was around 40ºC equals 104ºF.

We proceeded to the house which is alleged to be where the Rambam lived and afterwards went round the narrow streets with a tour guide, finally reaching a Shul (this was unfortunately was locked we were told it was never open on a Monday). We could not get in. We were, however, informed that this Shul was, in fact, many, many hundreds years old but was really only like a Shteible about 15 m² say 16 foot by 10 foot, not really a large room.

We have to always remember that the Catholic Church when taking over the country in 1492 obliterated most of the Shuls or converted them to churches. This one, because it was hidden behind the house only came to light recently when a wall became weak and the Shul itself was revealed.

We then got back in our coaches and proceeded from Cordoba to Madrid, which took, I think, about 5 hours arriving quite late, maybe 9.30 at night.

North of Cordoba the terrain became even more mountainous and all of a sudden we were going along almost like Swiss roads, and hairpin bends. We went through three successive tunnels and suddenly we were out on the other side of the mountain range and it was much flatter. We had reached Castile which is a large district in the middle of Spain.

I can now understand how it was that the southern part of Spain from which we had come, from Gibraltar all the way through Granada to Cordoba was under Arab control for many centuries even though the north part of Spain was Christian, Catholic. Those mountains in the middle must have been very difficult to scale and easy to defend.

The countryside from then onwards was much flatter although there were hills and mountains from time to time. The scenery was pretty but scorched by the blazing sun.

We finally reached Madrid late in the evening and were taken to the Westin Palace hotel. Whereas the other hotels we had stayed in were 5 star this was 5star plus plus, magnificent opulent, luxurious, the adjectives roll off the tongue and actually do apply.

We stayed there for our final two nights before returning on Wednesday to our respective destinations.

All the while, at every convenient spot, Rabbi Paysach Krohn spoke, both in Shuls, Palaces, etc. as well as usually speaking every evening at our supper which took place anytime between 9.00 pm and 12 midnight. He really is an excellent speaker with lots of knowledge and depth. He researched the historic angle and other matters thoroughly and he speaks with wit enthusiasm, is full of emotion and peppers his dvirei Torah (which are either incredible, amazing or beautiful depending on the phrase he chooses to use) with stories. Furthermore, he developed personal relationships and started new ones with numerous people on the trip. Because there were 4 coaches, we did not always have the privilege of hearing him whilst the coach was travelling. We did see some videos of him as well from time to time. I do wonder whether that if there would have just been one or two coaches that was travelling, it would not have been too much. It was perhaps a blessing in disguise, that we were given time to assimilate numerous facts and stories whilst admiring the countryside and also getting to know other people on our coach.

On Tuesday morning there was a tour arranged for Madrid including the Royal Palace there, we opted out, very simply because we woke up very late, not surprising as we went to bed at about 1.00 in the morning.

As in other places, the management, that is Eli Slomovits and Miriam Schreiber, in particular had arranged for us to have a separate dining room where we could also daven and, therefore our group was catered for separately each day when we stayed at the various hotels.

The centre of Spain is virtually as hot as Marrakesh in southern Morocco.

I don’t know exactly how hot it was in Madrid but I think that it must have been around 40º.

On Tuesday afternoon at around 4.00 pm we once again got into our coaches and I began to understand what the 42 journeys, when the Yidden went round the midbar after the Mattan Torah must have been like!!

We reached Toledo which is a small town approximately 70 miles southwest of Madrid around 5.00 pm.

After our coaches managed to find somewhere to park, we then started on an extraordinary tour. Firstly, in order to reach the old walled city, we went up a series of six escalators which meant that we did not have to walk up the very steep mountain.

We then came out towards the old town and each group was allotted a tour guide. They told us all about the history of the city and we heard a lot about the convents and the churches there as well unfortunately. Basically the city now lives on tourism but they did know a little about the Jewish history. This was amplified to us by Rabbi Krohn and also Rabbi Nissel who were both very informative.

Although it was late in the afternoon the temperature was still 41º approximately 107ºF I believe. That is, of course, in the shade, and we were walking around quite a lot in the sun. We eventually were taken to a large building which had been turned into a museum of Sephardi Jewish interest. Basically, we were told that this was a Shul built around 750 years ago and that the Rosh, the Rabbenu Osher who had fled from Germany was welcomed with open arms by the Rashba in Barcelona. The Rosh then journeyed on to Toledo where he became the official Rabbi and it was believed that this was the Shul that he davenned in. I believe his son, the Tur, followed him.

The Shul apparently only functioned as such for about 30 to 40 years towards the end of the 1300’s and then it was taken over by the Catholics. We also learned another fact that although the inquisition started officially in the whole of Spain in 1492, for a hundred years prior to that, in many parts of Spain, including Toledo, the Jews had been very much oppressed and there had been forced conversions etc. This Shul had been taken over by the Catholic Church and used as a church and it was only, I believe, about 20 years ago that it was taken over by the government who wanted to increase tourism and pointed out that there were many other churches in town and there was no need to keep them all. When the whole place was renovated it was discovered that various pesukim which had been engraved on the walls high up were still in existence under the plaster or whatever had been used to cover them. We managed to read round the whole four walls right at the top of the ceiling פ''ד chapter 84 of tehillim and further down there was again a whole series of less easily read pesukim round the four walls followed by a third layer. All of these much higher than anybody could reach.

We are talking here about a Shul with dimensions approximately 30 metres long, say 100 foot by 20 metres wide, say 70 foot. The height was at least 35 metres, say 120 foot. An amazing creation going back over 750 years.

As it had been restored the place leading to the Aron Hakodesh was clearly visible and very beautiful and at the sides once again there were pesukim of Ashrei going up the wall from the bottom and coming down the other side on both sides of the Aron Hakodesh. There was also a large plaque which blessing for the king Pedro and this really gives the date of the building of the Shul. We were told that he was called Pedro the cruel, nevertheless, there was a beautiful blessing in his honour. (I was reminded of a machzor I have which goes back to the blessing of the King after Shacharis on Shabbos in honour of the Tsar of Russia, Nikolai Nikolevitch.)

There was also a ladies gallery high up and were told that when the Catholic Church took it over, the bishops used it as their living quarters.

Before going in, I noticed that the windows were high up and this was obviously to ensure that no mob could break in through windows. The door was on the side. There was also at ground floor level a little arch of stones and I surmised that that was originally an entrance to a mikvah which would have been below the building.

We recited chapter 84 of tehillim with Rabbi Krohn and it was really very moving. Please read through the words the psalm and you will, I believe, understand why it was engraved on the walls. When one comes across this type of preserved writing, one wonders what might have been completely obliterated and, therefore, we cannot have the privilege of understanding much of the depth and beauty and thought that went into building these beautiful Shuls of which the Sephardim, in particular, are famous.

Further down the road, we went past another building which, unfortunately is still used as a Catholic church although it has on it SYNAGOGA because it was also originally a Shul. I ventured into the courtyard and walked around a little but did not actually enter into the building. Ironically, at the side of the word synagogue it states that it is Santa Maria something or other and I was reminded of the fact that Satmar Chassidus also is based on the words Saint Mary.

We kept on coming across people who said that they had Jewish blood in them. For instance, on the plane coming back, we sat together with a young man, who stated that his grandfather was Jewish and this seemed to be a pattern repeated often in Spain.

In this context, one of the people in our group told her story.

She was born in Brazil into a Catholic family. As a teenager she expressed a desire to study religion. Her grandfather then called her in to his private room and took her into a secret room, took out Jewish artefacts and told her that she should know that the family was Jewish and Marrano.

She became a religious Jew but had to undergo Geirus in case somewhere in the 500 years there might have been a break in the Jewish family life. We heard a number of stories of how the Marrano women ensured that they should always continue the Jewish traditions and this was passed on generation after generation.

She is now married with five children and works in Aish Hatorah as well as voluntarily working for the Bostoner Rebbe’s Ezer U’Refuah organisation in Boston which has a worldwide reputation.

The old town of Toledo is as originally built, perhaps 800 or 900 years ago and there is a flowing river just under the Jewish quarter adjacent to those synagogues I mentioned and the views are breath-taking and one can see the old walls and imagine how our Jewish Brethren lived 700 or 800 years ago in this very place.

Once we had crossed over a bridge, and met our busses Mincha was davenned. I wonder when the last time there was a minyan of about 60 people in Toledo davenning together. We then proceeded back to Madrid arriving at around 9.00 pm. We had a grand finale meal with Rabbi Krohn, of course, talking, thanking all the staff and we eventually retired to bed. We all said our farewells to our newly found friends as well as old acquaintances and wished each other a כתיבה וחתימה טובה.

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נדרים

The sedra of מטות commences with a set of laws concerning נדרים, vows or promises made. Some of these are straight forward, namely that should a man make a promise to Hashem or swears to obligate something on himself, he should not profane his words and must keep to the נדר or שבוע.

The same goes for a woman over the age of 12 and unmarried, or alternatively who is a widow or divorced.

Those laws can be understood logically and appear to be straightforward.

The interesting laws in the rest of the parsha concern the other cases, namely where a girl between the ages of 11 and 12 makes a נדר. Where an engaged girl makes a נדר and finally, where a married woman makes a נדר.

There are detailed laws whereby basically the father or the husband, or in the case of an engaged girl, both together, have the opportunity to annul the נדר in certain cases and with a certain time limit as enumerated in the parsha. The final verse reads as follows אלה החקים אשר צוה ה' את משה בין איש לאשתי בין אב לבתו בנעריה בית אביה.

The Torah clearly considers that these laws are chukim, statutes, things that we would not have understood from our own logical processes.

In order to understand the parsha properly, one should study it carefully at least with Rashi but the purpose of this article is to highlight certain phrases or laws which may seem, at least, strange, but which I believe have a connection with a previous event and therefore, can be better understood and appreciated.

In order to deal with this, I will try to enumerate and highlight certain wordings and laws.

I mentioned that the parsha is called מטות. In fact, this is the only time in Torah that there is a phrase stating that Moshe spoke אל ראשי המטות, to the heads of the tribes. Why was this particular phrase used and why were these laws given to the heads of the tribes?

From the wording in the whole parsha, there appears to be no hint that in addition to a father or husband being able to annul a vow, there is also what is known as a התרת חכם namely that a great scholar can also annul a vow. Furthermore, he can make it annulled retrospectively, that is from the time it was uttered and not like a father or husband from the time they find out, onwards. They cannot cause it to be annulled retrospectively.

Although the Torah states the case of a girl between the ages of 11 and 12, firstly, it then continues regarding an engaged woman and only then turns to the case of a husband and wife. Right at the end of the parsha, the emphasis in on בין איש לאשתו between a husband and wife as if this it the most important case.

The Torah uses an expression as follows:-
ואם ביום שמע אישה יניא אותה והפר את נדרה
And if on the day that the husband hears he, יניא, restrains her, והפר and he annuls her vow.

Rashi asks what does the word יניא mean and then says it means annulling. If that is so, why are both expressions יניא and והפר necessary?

There is another verse which reads as follows:-
כל נדר וכל שבעת אסר לענת נפש אישה יקימנו ואישה יפרנו
Every promise and every oath which, לענת נפש, her husband can confirm and her husband can annul. I have seen the expression, לענת נפש, translated as personal affliction or alternatively, vitiating ones life. Rabbi Shimson Rafoel Hirsch explains that vows which would entail neglect of care for one’s health, curtailment of one’s joy in life, would embitter one’s existence or stunt one’s feelings are all included. So are vows which affect the conjugal relations between husband and wife. All this the husband has the power to annul, but not any other vows. Why is this?

Finally, the expression מיום אל יום, from a day to the next day, is used by the Torah. We have a tradition, הלכה למשה מסיני, from Moshe Rabbenu that this means that the husband, only has the right to annul any such נדר or שבוע during the actual day that he hears it. For example, if he hears on a Monday evening after night falls, he will have up to Tuesday evening before nightfall to annul the נדר. (Subject to a proviso that if, however, during that period, he has already indicated that he agrees with it, he cannot then annul it).

If he hears about a נדר shortly before sunset, on the Tuesday, he still only has until nightfall on the same Tuesday evening, possibly only a half an hour, to annul it. He does not have 24 hours from the time that he hears it, but just during the actual day, which for Jewish purposes, is from nightfall until the next evening at nightfall.

Furthermore, as you may have realised, he does not have to annul it on the day that the נדר was made, but the first day that he hears about it is the relevant day for these laws.

I think one can see that there are some very unusual points I have made and, in fact, there are more in the parsha.

Let me make a suggestion as to what the underlying rationale might be, based on what happened during the first day that man was created.

We all know the story of אדם and חוה being placed in Gan Eden and being told that they could eat every fruit except one tree עץ הדעת טוב ורע, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They were further told that on the day they ate from this tree they would die.

Nevertheless, the נחש, the snake, spoke to חוה regarding the matter and Rashi tells us that she told him that she and her husband were not allowed to eat or touch the tree. The snake pushed חוה into the tree and nothing happened. She did not die. She then ate and compounded the sin by persuading her husband אדם to eat.

Because of that the whole perfection of creation was spoiled. The words spoken by חוה without due consideration led to the chain of events for which we are still paying. It is also in our hands to try to rectify, to some extent, the damage caused.

It would also have helped considerably if she had not persuaded her husband and he would have not eaten from the fruit.

אדם הראשון compounded the sin by, when being questioned by Hashem said,
האשה אשר נתת עמדי הוא נתנה לי מן העץ ואכל,
The woman you gave to me gave me the fruit and I ate it. He blamed his wife for the problem instead of accepting that the problem was his.

The ספרים הקדושים state that we should attempt, by our actions, to try to rectify the problems caused by the fact that אדם and חוה ate from the עץ הדעת.

Let us now proceed to deal with the points I raised and maybe we can appreciate better the unusual points and laws.

As a general rule, men tend to make decisions with logic whereas ladies tend to rely on their emotions more. In fact, the Torah tells us that חוה saw
כי טוב העץ למאכל וכי תאוה הוא לעינים ונחמד העץ להשכיל
She perceived that the tree was good for eating and that it was a delight to the eye and that the tree was desirable for understanding. She, therefore, ate the fruit and then gave it to her husband to eat as well.

חוה was swayed by her emotions rather than thinking logically that they had been commanded that they may not eat from the fruit.

In the same way one can suggest that ladies are more likely to make a נדר when faced with strong emotions or a crisis (in their eyes) at that moment.

When this concerns only themselves and is a matter of very little consequence, for example, to vow that she will never wear a dress colour blue again, this is acceptable. However, when she makes a vow which affects her relationship with her husband or can lead to major consequences in some other way, there has to be a mechanism whereby this can be stopped and annulled.

Similarly in respect of girls who are reaching the age of puberty where they are beginning to assert their own personality there is the danger of them making irrational נדרים ruled by their emotions.

At that stage, the father figure is the one to have the opportunity of step in with calmness and logic.

The other major period covered is when a girl becomes engaged, אירוסין, and makes a נדר. In that case, both her father and future husband have to intervene jointly in the matter. The engaged girl is likely to be in a more emotional state than at other times. Here, however, it is not sufficient for her father to step in but also the future husband as this may affect him during their life together.

Let us now proceed to try to deal with the wordings and laws that I highlighted. Bearing in mind my remarks above, we begin to understand why it is that a father or husband has the ability to annul נדרים made. In the same way as חוה let her emotions at that moment rule her head regarding a most important matter, with dire consequences, the Torah is trying to forestall a similar situation.

Therefore, the power of the husband or father only applies where a factor of לענת נפש which I went into in detail earlier on, and quoted Rabbi Shimson Rafoel Hirsch (please see above) applies. Furthermore, a husband must use logic and common sense. By using a double expression יניא, restraining and והפר annulling, the Torah is emphasising that he should act as a restraining influence altogether as well as annulling this particular נדר. In effect, by stopping it once, this will, hopefully lead to such situations not happening again. It is also, to a small degree, a rectification, תיקון, for the original sin of אדם and חוה.

One could even, perhaps, suggest that the words לענת נפש also include the fact that by אדם and חוה having eaten from the עץ הדעת, this caused affliction, לענת, for all the future souls, נפש, namely all their offspring.

The reason why it has to be annulled on the same actual day, even if it is only a short while before and not as one would otherwise understand as a 24 hour period (which is the maximum) is because of the sequence of events at the time of the sixth day of creation when אדם and חוה were actually created.

The Gemorra in Sanhedrin tells us that by 11.00am that day, אדם הראשון stood on his feet, by 1 o’clock in the afternoon, he was already presented with חוה as his wife. By 3 o’clock in the afternoon, they were commanded not to eat from the עץ הדעת. By 4 o’clock they had already eaten, by 5 o’clock Hashem had decided their fate and just before evening came they were sent out of Gan Eden.

We are also told that as it was beginning to get dark, אדם thought that it was the end as far as he was concerned because he had been told that on the day that he would eat from the fruit he would die. Indeed, it may have been so, but Shabbos, which was imminently coming in, pleaded with Hashem to accept אדם’s repentance, his תשובה and as Dovid Hamelech says in tehillim כי אלף שנה בעיניך כיום,
A thousand days in G-d’s eyes is like one day. Hashem commuted the sentence and allowed אדם and חוה to live up to 1,000 years.

However, all this took place during the same day and was decided by nightfall.

Therefore, in the same way, the rectification for אדם not having stopped חוה from eating or at least, not eaten himself and also putting the blame on חוה all took place in the period up to nightfall on that very same day.

Because of this the maximum time that can be allowed for annulling a נדר is up to nightfall on that same day.

Let us turn now to the hidden law, namely that there is התרת חכם, a great scholar can annul a vow and furthermore, he can annul it retrospectively unlike a father or a husband.

May I suggest that the חכם represents the Rebbonu Shel Olam, Hashem Himself, who is היה הוה ויהיה, was, is and will be, and He is above time. He, therefore, has the ultimate power to do things retrospectively unlike human beings who can only act from now onwards. That is the reason why a father or husband can only annul the vow from the moment that he says מופר, it is annulled. We now see why their annulment of the vow does not take retrospective effect.

Finally, returning to the first question that I posed, namely as to why does it say that Moshe spoke אל ראשי המטות to the heads of the tribes. Perhaps one could find a רמז here that the ראשי המטות are אדם and חוה who were the first two human beings and therefore the heads of all the tribes of the world for that matter.

Moshe was implying that by adhering to the laws, חוקים, of נדרים, we would assist in the rectification of the two original ראשי המטות.

The gemmatria of the three words אל ראשי המטות adds up to 1,002. Bearing in mind the remarks that I made about Hashem granting אדם a thousand years life and that אדם and חוה were the two human beings that this all concerned, we have 1,000 + 2 = 1,002 and that adds up to the words אל ראשי המטות as a רמז to the whole picture and a clue to the חוקים of נדרים having an affinity with אדם and חוה.

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