START THE DAY THE TORAH WAY 2nd May 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It really is not an excuse!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

לא עליך המלאכה לגמור ולא אתנבן חויין להבטל ממנה

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

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START THE DAY THE TORAH WAY 24th November 2013

I suffered from back pains which have increased over the past two years and despite having check-ups with hospitals, MRI scans etc, nothing seemed to help. I was informed by a leading physician that I had nothing life threatening to worry about, but nevertheless, I was disturbed every night when sleeping, as I was woken up by pains that literally woke me up in the middle of the night.

A few months ago, having been recommended by my doctor, I had a course of treatment by an alternative practitioner (his name is Andre Moncreif-Ressouw Telephone 07448 425125).

After a few months treatment, which consisted, in the main, of pressing on the nerves all over by body, we finally stumbled on the answer. He stated early on that he felt that what was causing the problem was that the thoracic system, which is in the chest and controls that part and towards the back, was blocked. Ducts which should have drained away were not being drained away. He worked on this and was convinced that he was getting there, but, nevertheless, I kept on telling him that it was not clearing at night but during the day I felt better.

I have always requested him, when I lie down on his couch, that the head rest should be raised and that my head should not be lying flat, and he complied.

Very recently, it dawned on him that he ought to ask how I lay down at night. When I confirmed that I used two cushions, he suggested that this might be causing the problem in that I was pressing my chest between my head and my tummy and this was stopping the draining action which was necessary. I, therefore, stopped using one of the cushions and almost, by magic over the past few weeks, I have virtually no pain at night and certainly do not get woken up by it. I am, of course, grateful to Hashem for having sent Andre to me and for him to having done this, as well as having improved my general well being. (The reason why I used two cushions was that I found that my head would go round at night on occasion and it helped if my head was that much higher up than the rest of my body.)

He has discussed with me the interplay between nerves which are situated, for example, in the foot, nevertheless have a direct effect on the head. When twisting one of my toes, he told me that this would help the balance in my ear to be improved.

By working on those nerves and various others situated much nearer my head, he managed to reduce the giddiness and the sensation of my head going round. He explained to me that the nerve which then sends the message from the toe to the ear was one of the fastest in the body and, furthermore, mentioned that the reason why it was situated in the toe was that if a person is walking and the ground is uneven, he is therefore likely to go off balance suddenly and this needs to be corrected. The correction takes place in the ear where the balance of a person is situated. Therefore, there has to be a very quick response from the foot to the ear.

Likewise he mentioned other such pressure points which have an effect, not only in their vicinity but sometimes in a completely different part of the body. Having learnt much about biology through his ministrations and discussions with him, I got thinking about how Hashem created Odom Harishon and matters flowed from there.

We know that Hashem created Odom Harishon with 248 limbs and 365 sinews. There are also 248 positive commandments מצות עשה and also 365 negative commandments לא תעשה.

Furthermore, we are told that every limb has an affinity with a particular positive mitzvah and every sinew with a negative mitzvah.

With this, we can perhaps begin to understand why there are certain mitzvos which are known as prime mitzvos for example, Shabbos, Kashrus, Teharos Hamishpocho, etc. These are comparable to the parts of the body which if not functioning can bring instant death, for example, the brain, the heart, the lungs, the backbone, the liver etc. In the same light, learning Torah appears to be directly connected to the neshomo of every Yid, the חלק אלקי ממעל.

We know that certain mitzvos cannot be performed by everybody, for example, there are mitzvos of the Kohanim, the Levi’im, Dayanim and Yisroelim which are exclusively in their own domains. At the time that there was a Bais Hamikdosh, all the Kohanim there performing the עבודה, the service carried out each day there. There were also the Levi’im who assisted, opened gates, singing songs etc. There were even Yidden who were in attendance. There was also the great Sanhedrin which sat in proximity to the Bais Hamikdosh as the final Bais Din in the Land. Furthermore, three times a year, every male had to attend and once in seven years at the time of Hakhel everybody had to attend the Bais Hamikdosh including the small children. Therefore, all Klal Yisroel had an uplift which centred on the Bais Hamikdosh but spread outwards.

In the same way, the bodies of all the B’nai Yisroel received direct or indirect affinity with the mitzvos by this. Let us take an example of a negative mitzvah at the time of the Bais Hamikdosh. We are told לא תטע לך אשרה כל עץ אצל מזבח ה' אלקיך אשר תעשה לך, you may not plant a tree as idol worship next to the altar of Hashem which you make for yourselves.

The very fact that at the Bais Hamikdosh the Kohanim were assisted by the Levi’im and possibly by the Sanhedrin ensured that nobody planted any trees near the mizbeach. This was a mitzvah which concerned every Jew wherever he was, but was physically dealt with there, by the experts on the spot.

How do we deal with the mitzvos which concern particular sections of Klal Yisroel nowadays, I believe that there are two ways. Firstly, our חז''ל instituted בתי כנסיות and בתי מדרשות. Houses of Congregation, namely Shuls, and Houses of Learning. These are known as בתי מקדש מעט, smaller versions of the Bais Hamikdosh. Of course, they are not of the standard of holiness and do not have the mitzvos performed in the Bais Hamikdosh but, nevertheless, people attending a Shul or a Bais Hamedrash, a Yeshiva or a Seminary, or for that matter a cheder or a girls’ school, by joining in the tefillos and/or learning about mitzvos tap into the same sources of Kedusha as those that emanated from the Bais Hamikdosh.

We are told by our חז''ל that Avrohom Avinu was shown future generations and he was told that there would be a Bais Hamikdosh. He was pleased to see that there would, therefore, be a place where his descendents would be able to be elevated in holiness and also receive atonement for any sins. He was then shown the Bais Hamikdosh being destroyed and was upset, but Hashem told him ונשלמה פרים שפתינו, by davening with kavonnah one can also achieve the same purposes.

We are also told כל העוסק במצות עולה כאלו היקריב עולה, somebody who busies himself with learning about the mitzvah of bringing a sacrifice known as an Olah, one which was completely burnt on the mizbeach, is equivalent to somebody actually bringing the sacrifice at the time of the Bais Hamikdosh and the same goes for other mitzvos.

Coming back to the connection that I made earlier on with Odom Harishon having 248 limbs which are connected with the 248 positive mitzvos and the 365 sinews connected to the 365 negative mitzvos, we are enabled to have our bodies spiritually uplifted and spiritually connected with Hashem. Not only by keeping the actual mitzvos that we are able to perform nowadays but also by davening and learning, we can also have a connection with the ones that unfortunately we are not able to perform because there is no Bais Hamikdosh or alternatively, the ones which belong to specialised situations.

Let us take another example, this time of a specialised situation. The Torah tells us כי תבנה בית חדש ועשית מעקה לגגך, if you build a new house, you need to put a fence around the roof. What happens if somebody never built himself a house or has a house with a sloping roof and no flat roof at all etc.. By learning about the mitzvah one achieves an affinity with the mitzvah as well.

Sometimes the Torah itself gives us a clue as to cause and effect. We are told ולא תקח שוחד כי השוחד יעור עיני חכמים, one may not take bribery because this will cloud the judgement of wise people etc. I have read stories of such happenings where the person taking bribes became blind which is really the literal translation of יעור עיני חכמים. By taking a bribe and “turning a blind eye” this can actually lead to physical blindness.

Maybe we could take a further example from the third Parsha of Shema, ולא תתורו אחרי לבבכם ואחרי עיניכם למען תזכרו  etc. You should not explore after your heart (for forbidden pleasures) or after your eyes (for impermissible images) in order than one should remember to keep a spiritual balance and, therefore, keep all the mitzvos and be Holy Jews. One can see nowadays, the interplay between degenerate images which can found very easily on the internet etc. and which has the exact opposite effect of us keeping mitzvos and being Holy.

I mentioned earlier on that there were prime mitzvos which I thought were comparable to parts of the body which are impossible to keep alive without. I started off with Shabbos as the mitzvah and the brain as an example of a very important part of the body. I think that one can take this a little further, that, in fact, the Shabbos is comparable to the head, and the brain in particular. Shabbos is the most important part, the Head of the week. As far as Shabbos is concerned, it has two mitzvos, זכור את יום השבת and also שמור. These practically are the mitzvos asei, the positive command to Remember Shabbos and the negative to Guard against not performing one of the 39 מלאכות, the works which one may not carry out on Shabbos. I believe that one can compare this with the brain which produces positive things for a person to do and also controls the negative side.

There are, of course, certain mitzvos that we do not understand and they are called חוקים, statutes, for example, shaatnes, namely, that one may not wear wool and linen together. May I suggest that similarly, there are organs in the body which we do not understand the function of, for example, the appendix.

To sum up, the more we personally can perform the mitzvos which are available to us nowadays, as well as davenning and learning about them, and supporting people who are studying and davenning with kavonnah, the more we will be spiritually at one with all the mitzvos of Torah, all the 613 mitzvos and, therefore, have a strong and growing affinity with Hashem.

Somebody who is not capable of learning can create a partnership similar to that the two tribes יששכר and זבולון participated in. Namely, that זבולון was the merchant who earned money and contracted to keep יששכר who sat and learned Torah. That is a very high level of affinity and there are examples of people, even nowadays who do so.

We must never forget the כח דרבים, a minyan who can recite numerous דברים שבקדושה, for example leyning a Sefer Torah and the shechinah dwells among them. Therefore, davenning with a minyan is very important

Many of the 613 mitzvos are בין אדם לחבירו, mitzvos between one person and another. They are directly connected with מידות טובות, good qualities that every person is supposed to work on. Let us just quote a few:-

The Torah states ואהבת לרעך כמוך, love a fellow Jew as you love yourself. Not only רעך a fellow Jew who keeps mitzvos but also ואהבתם את הגר

The Torah also commands us, לא תעשק שכיר עני ואביון מאחיך או מגרך אשר בארצך בשעריך. In short, if somebody hires a worker whether he is Jewish or a Ger, and he has to pay him that day, the Torah quite clearly states that this is a mitzvah asei, namely that you have to pay him before sundown for work that is carried out the previous night or pay him before the next sunrise for work which was carried out during the day.

I recall a story, I believe, regarding Rav Eliashiv who was unfortunately on the way to a leviya for one of his close relatives, I don’t remember whether  his wife or his daughter, and he stopped on the way looked for money and gave it to somebody with instructions to pay a worker. Even in such circumstances, when one would understand it if the money was not paid by the due time, he was careful to do so.

There are, of course, numerous other positive mitzvos which are connected with middos tovos.

Among the negative mitzvos we are enjoined not to transgress, we find לא תגזול and  לא תגנוב

The difference between them is that גזל means robbing somebody in public and people can see and know about it, whereas לא תגנוב means that this is carried out in private without anybody knowing.

In addition to these two mitzvos which are general rules, the Torah goes into detail on occasion, for example, לא יהיה לך בכיסך אבן ואבן גדולה וקטנה לא יהיה לך בכיסך אפיה ואיפה גדולה וקטנה אבן שלמה וצדק יהיה לך איפה שלמה וצדק יהיה לך. The Torah tells us that one may not have weights and measures which are deliberately faulty, they must be 100% accurate. The Torah carries on, interestingly למען יארכו ימיך in order that your days should be lengthened. We see that here, the Torah actually gives a special brocho to people who keep this mitzvah properly.

The Chofetz Chaim when he lived in Radin was busy with Torah and mitzvos but his wife had a small grocery shop open, so that they should have some parnoso. There was another Yid in the small townlet of Radin who had a similar shop but as people got to know of the צדקות, the righteousness, of the Chofetz Chaim, they started buying more and more from his wife rather than the other shop keeper. The Chofetz Chaim decided that this was not acceptable and his wife only kept the shop open for half a day each day. This still did not help very much and the Chofetz Chaim was worried about the loss and aggravation he might have caused another Yid. In addition, the Chofetz Chaim was very worried about weights and measures. He always insisted that their scales should be checked very often and that, if anything, extra should be given rather than the exact weight.

Finally, after some years, by which time he was publishing his own seforim and selling them himself and, therefore, had a certain amount of income from this other source, he decided that his shop, run loyally by his wife, should close down. Even them, once he decided to close it, he had a well dug in the town which everybody was entitled to use free of charge. This was just in case he had, by accident, overcharged or given underweight unknowingly.

We know that the Chofetz Chaim lived to a very ripe old age, in his 90’s למען יארכו ימיך.

I am also reminded of a story that happened to me many, many years ago, where I had a client who was considering whether to use a tax scheme which was then very popular. This would have saved him a considerable amount of money. Eventually, he came back to me and said that he would not go ahead with the scheme because “he wanted to sleep peacefully at night”. By ensuring that one has the right scales being used, people can achieve lengthier lives because they can sleep peacefully at night.

We are all aware of how the Chofetz Chaim publicised and emphasised the strictures against loshen hora and rechilus, which, of course, are written in Torah. These include לא תלך רכיל בעמך and also there is a mitzvah of מדבר שקר תרחק, to actually distance oneself from any untruths. This is the only time in the Torah that there is a mitzvah where the Torah, itself, enjoins us to distance ourselves from something wrong תרחק!!

We all know how difficult these mitzvos are to keep, how nasty situations are created by idle gossip and statements made which often are half truths.

Performing the above mitzvos, even when it is difficult, enables us to improve and perfect our middos.

The sedras we have been reading over the past few weeks have basically all been about Yaakov Avinu and his children. Yaakov is known as the בחיר האבות, the chosen one, the special one of the Avos. We are further told that whereas Avrohom served Hashem with chesed, kindness, Yitzchok with gevura, stressing the fear of Hashem, Yaakov Avinu employed a mixture of the two and therefore, came to שלימות, a complete oneness with Hashem. חז''ל tell usהראשון    שופרה של יעקב מאין שופרה של אדם the beauty, meaning the spiritual level of Yaakov Avinu reached that of Odom Harishon, before he ate from the etz hadaas.

We can also understand a further מאמר חז''ל, a saying of our chochomim, namely that the Avos kept the Torah before it was ever given. They had achieved such a level of oneness with Hashem that all their 248 limbs and all their 365 sinews did what Hashem wanted them to do, namely, His will, even before the individual mitzvos were given to us at Har Sinai. They elevated their whole physical being to a very high level.

We might be forgiven for thinking to ourselves, how can we, individually, reach such a high level. We are approaching Chanukah and we all know the miracle that took place with the menorah, the oil that should have only lasted one day, or maybe less, lasted for eight days. This was because the B’nei Yisroel at the time showed such a מסירת נפש such extraordinary bravery and dedication to do what Hashem wanted and not turn aside from the ways of Torah and because of that they merited supernatural help.

We, ourselves, can also achieve much more than we think if we dedicate ourselves to keep the mitzvos available to us nowadays, properly. To learn Torah, support Torah daven with kavonnah and, of course, improve our middos.

All this will help to tone our bodies up and B’Ezras Hashem, keep us healthy, physically as well as spiritually.

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THE CHOFETZ CHAIM החפץ חיים

One of the outstanding personalities of the last 150 years in the Jewish, Charedi world, if not the most outstanding of all was R’ Yisroel Meir Kagan, universally known as the Chofetz Chaim. His fame as a great author of ספרים and universal acclaim as a great Tzaddik is acknowledged by all segments of Jewry, whether they are Ashkenazim or Sephardim, followers of the Lithuanian school or Chassidim.

His classic on Halacha, the Mishnah Berurah, has become the standard sefer on אורח חיים, the laws pertaining to day by day conduct for the whole year round.

There were other great scholars, teachers, Tzaddikim and phenomenal Torah luminaries in the same period. What was it that has made the Chofetz Chaim this outstanding person, so looked up to and respected by one and all.

One could perhaps attribute it to a number of factors including his great humility, the fact that he lived well into his nineties, was a Kohen, wrote his ספרים in a clear style, easy to understand and follow, and was one of the great leaders of the Agudas Yisroel movement in the early twentieth century. But, if one delves into the history of the period, one can find other people who also approached his greatness in various spheres.

I believe that the secret of his acceptance by all, of this outstanding personality, lies in two stories that I read about in a book produced by Rabbi Pesach Krohn, Travelling with the Maggid (from pages 138 onwards).

In short, the father of the Chofetz Chaim, Rabbi Aryeh Zeev Kagan lives in a suburb of Grodno, known as Zhetel. He married a lady called Miriam, and they had two sons, Moshe and Aharon and a daughter Reizel. Miriam unfortunately passed away and he was left as a widower with three small children. He then married Miriam’s younger sister, Dobrusha, and in 1839 they had a little boy named ah BrYisroel Meir. He was an extremely bright boy and by the time he was nine, Rabbi Aryeh Zeev decided to take the young boy to Vilna where a suitable melamed could be found to teach him.

Rabbi Aryeh Zeev himself had been supporting his family by giving private lessons in Vilna, as well as teaching in Yeshiva there and he decided that accordingly he would be able to keep a fatherly eye on his son, Yisroel Meir. When he was eleven years of age a cholera epidemic raged and Rabbi Aryeh Zeev, who was only 47, passed away, a poor man. Therefore, Yisroel Meir was left to fend for himself. He was taken in by a man who did that in exchange for Yisroel Meir tutoring his grandson.

Three years after Dobrusha was widowed, she remarried a person called R’ Shimon, a widower from Radin who had attended the Volozhin Yeshiva in his youth. The family moved to Radin and the Chofetz Chaim was by then approximately 15 years of age.

Some time later, R Shimon who had a daughter Freida by his previous marriage thought that it would be a good idea for his daughter to marry Yisroel Meir.

Shidduchim had already been suggested for this very bright and gifted boy, for example, a dowry of 10,000 rubles, a fabulous sum, had been offered by one of the wealthy Jews of Vilna. In addition, he had been suggested to the daughter of a very famous Rabbi and another who was a Rosh Yeshiva.

When his older half brother, Aharon, heard about the suggestion that he should marry Freida, his step-father’s daughter, he was incredulous, he stated emphatically that Yisroel Meir was doing a disservice to himself. “Not only is the girl much older than you but you could also marry into either a home full of Torah, being that of a great Rabbi or Rosh Yeshiva, or alternatively, with a father in law who has wealth and is able to keep you for the rest of your life.”

Yisroel Meir would not hear of it. He stated “If I marry Freida, can you imagine how grateful R’ Shimon will be to our mother. He will appreciate her all the more, imagine the good will that will be engendered between R’ Shimon and our mother.” Reading between the lines, I am tempted to suggest that there may have been friction or potential friction in the family and the Chofetz Chaim wanted to make sure that his mother would be looked up to and treated in the best possible manner.

Against all the advice that he was given, and his own natural inclination, he agreed to marry the daughter of his step father. I believe that they got married around 1860 and the Chofetz Chaim lived in Radin with the rest of the family.

Some ten years later, a bitter dispute broke out in Radin between the Rav and some members of the community. As a result the Rav had to leave his position and within two years he died, still suffering the heartache of having been forced to leave the position he loved. Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan, now a mature young man who was very learned, was terribly pained by that episode and he decided to write a sefer about the problems that words can cause. He worked on the book for a number of years and when it was published, he was in his mid thirties. This was the famous sefer Chofetz Chaim – Shmeras Haloshen, חפץ חיים, שמירת הלשון which basically is a definitive Shulchan Oruch on the laws of speech.

Incidentally, before I read this story, I often wondered how it was that the Chofetz Chaim, in his sefer, so accurately portrayed in detail the way people think, speak and spread tittle tattle, loshen hora etc. If, as I believe we all know, he was such a Tzaddik, how did he hear it all. However, having learned that he lived in this small town, almost a village, known as Radin for all the years that the community was in turmoil, because the dispute between the Rav and some of the members of the community, he, no doubt, could not avoid hearing various opinions expressed wherever he turned. Whereas a lesser person might have just ignored them or perhaps even accepted them, he stored them in his memory and utilised them to illustrate so brilliantly in his sefer, how one may not behave and how one must try to strive to speak and behave in general and indeed, in detail, according to the rules of our Holy Torah.

I am the proud possessor of a first edition of the Chofetz Chaim and Shmeras Haloshen which was printed in Warsaw in 1877. This sefer has on it, handwritten, that it has been מוגה, gone through by the Chofetz Chaim himself to ensure that there are no major mistakes. Furthermore, it does not give the name of the author, even though it has four approbations from famous Rabbis, they also do not give the name of the author. In his humility, the young man as he was then, R’ Yisroel Meir Kagan, had his first sefer published anonymously.

Now let me return to my original question, as to why this giant of stature has been so phenomenally successful and he and his ספרים accepted by every segment of the Charedi community.

I believe that the two stories I mentioned above, are the key to it. The Chofetz Chaim when turning down more glittering shidduchim and settling for the girl he married went beyond the call of any duty of Kibbud Av V’em. He set aside completely his own preferences in favour of his mother having a better life. Secondly, when he witnessed the terrible results of loshen hora and rechilas, he did something about it practically. He did not look for his own honour and he disregarded the fact that he might have considerable antagonism when he published the sefer and when it would finally come to light who the author was. He was motivated by a pure desire to try to repair the problem and help improve klall Yisroel.

It is related that he, himself, used to go round from town to town and city to city to sell the sefer. A leading scholar once suggested to him that he was, in fact, stopping people from talking, as people would be afraid to say something that was either loshen hora or rechilas etc. The Chofetz Chaim retorted that the opposite was the truth. Whereas previously, people were unsure as to whether they were allowed to say things because they might be doing something wrong, once they had studied his sefer, they would know what they may say and could speak clearly, in accordance with the Torah guidelines.

Once the Chofetz Chaim found that his sefer had been accepted with acclaim and was achieving his objects, he set about writing other seforim, only publishing those which he felt there was a burning need for in the particular context of the times.

For example, there is a sefer נדחי ישראל which goes into detail for the people who emigrated to the USA and other such places to ensure that they kept the minimal halachos even if they did not have a Rabbi or Torah structure in which to live. He wrote a sefer specifically for the Jewish soldiers who were conscripted into the Russian army, once again, to try to ensure that they kept the minimal halachos and there are many other examples in his numerous seforim published.

The sefer Ahavas Chesed is as its name would suggest devoted to showing the importance of doing kind deeds and charitable deeds with every fellow Jew. We are talking about a time and place where people were extremely poor in the main and it was very difficult to keep Jewish life going and his sefer helped considerably to raise standards of chesed.

I mentioned earlier on that the חפץ חיים was a Kohen. He was for ever hoping that the Moshiach would come quickly and that the Bais Hamikdosh would be rebuilt. Accordingly, he started off a Kollel to learn specifically קדשים in Radin. One famous member of that Kollel was the Ponivizher Rov. He discovered that there were very few classic commentaries on the Mesechtas of קדשים and that they were very rare and difficult to find. He, therefore, published a sefer ליקוטי הלכות which incorporates a number of the great classic commentaries to assist in understanding the difficult Mesechtas as well as bringing clarity to the matter.

I, in fact, myself heard from his grandson Rabbi Mendel Sacks who was in my house many years ago that his grandfather never published a sefer unless there was a major need for it and he felt that he could fill the gap.

His crowning effort was the famous משנה ברורה which was published originally, commencing in approximately 1885. It took the Torah world by storm and as I mentioned earlier on, has become the standard textbook studied world wide in Yeshivas and by lay scholars as well as, of course, all Rabbonim. It is considered as the final פסק to be relied upon.

In short, Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan’s extraordinary success was triggered by the fact that Hashem decided that because the Chofetz Chaim had been so self effacing and willing to give away his own future life of comfort, for the sake of his mother, coupled by his burning desire to produce seforim needed for the times and for future generations, Hashem has ensured that he be accepted as the final authority in so many ways as far as Jewish scholarship and learning is concerned.

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