PARSHAS וירא

We read at the beginning of the sedra in the second posek
וישא עיניו וירא והנה שלשה אנשים נצבים עליו וירא וירץ לקראתם מפתח האהל וישתחו ארצה
He (Abraham) lifted up his eyes and saw and behold there were three people standing next to him and he saw and he ran towards them at the door of the tent and bowed down to the ground.


It is brought in the name of numerous tzaddikim in the sefer ליקוטי יהודה that Avrohom Avinu saw into the future and the generations that were going to come. by his deeds he installed in later generations the strength to be able to keep the Torah and mitzvos and perform good deeds. This is implied in the expression מעשה אבות סימן לבנים namely that the strength and religious direction of the children (ourselves) came from the Ovos, Avrohom, Yitzchok and Yaakov.

Rashi explains that the three people were in fact angels who looked as if they were people and they each came with a different job to carry out. Namely, the first to heal Avrohom, the second to tell the good tidings that Soroh would have a child in a year’s time and the third to destroy סדם.

I believe that by examining the פסוק from a different angle one can also find an allusion to a different happening that took place 1,294 years later on.

We find that King Nebuchadnezar besieged Jerusalem some years before the Temple was destroyed. He ransacked the city and took away, as prisoners to Bovel with him, the cream of society החרש והמסגר . Among them were three youths of princely lineage, namely, חנניה מישאל ועזריה Chananiah, Mishoel and Azariah. The story of what happened to them and their colleague דניאל Daniel, is told in detail in the section of נ''ך known as דניאל. They were given name changes and the whole emphasis was to try and convert them to Nebuchadnezar’s religion and utilise their talents and skills for the good of his kingdom.

They were given food from the king’s kitchen but, as we read in דניאל they clung steadfastly to the laws of Torah and refused to eat anything which was not kosher. They requested from the chief of the kitchens that they should not eat anything other than vegetables and water. The official was very concerned that they would not maintain their health and that the king would take it out on him. But they persuaded him to let them try the new diet, by which they would not have to eat anything that was not kosher, and he agreed. Meanwhile, their great wisdom and knowledge was utilised by the king and they found favour in his eyes and in fact their physical appearance, if anything, improved.

Shortly after this, Nebuchadnezar had a dream which he forgot and he also forgot the interpretation. He called his advisors, soothsayers, astrologers etc., the chief of which were the כשדים, Chaldeans. They were aghast when he told them that they had to tell him what the dream was and also the interpretation and they could not help. However, דניאל, after praying to Hashem, had revealed to him the dream and the correct interpretation and he gave this to Nebuchadnezar who, therefore, elevated him above all other of his advisors. He, in turn, placed, חנניה מישאל ועזריה into very high positions. The Chaldeans and other advisors were very upset and looked for a way of having our four heroes removed.

Meanwhile, Nebuchadnezar had erected a very tall gold statue in a place called בקעת דורא Bikas Dura. He then instructed all of the officials, generals and other leading figures to come to the consecration of this large statue.

Following this, a proclamation was issued that all the populace should also come and pay their respects and bow down to this large statue. There was a warning that anybody who did not come and pay the necessary respects would be thrown into a burning furnace.

Dutifully, people came and did as they were told.

However, Jewish people, and in particular דניאל, and חנניה מישאל ועזריה did not come. The Chaldeans seized the opportunity to report them to the king. Nebuchadnezar, of course, was most upset and called חנניה מישאל ועזריה in and told them in no uncertain terms that he had heard that they had not bowed down and that he wanted them to do this immediately in public with accompanying music (the word symphonia סימפוניה is used obviously meaning a symphony). He also warned them that if they did not listen to his instructions, they would be thrown into the burning furnace.

They answered Nebuchadnezar, “the king”, as follows “We only serve one Hashem in heaven and if He wishes to save us from such a fate, He will do so. We will not bow down, in any circumstances to the statue”. Nebuchadnezar became very angry and ordered them to be thrown into the flames.

Nebuchadnezar was not present whilst this was being done. The palace was not in the immediate vicinity of the furnace, but he ordered the soldiers to chain the three together and throw them all in at once. This was done and a miracle took place. The people who threw them in were burnt by the flames that were going up and the three of them חנניה מישאל ועזריה, could be seen walking around in the furnace, apparently unharmed.

Nebuchadnezar was informed and immediately came to see himself. In a state of wonder, he said “I can not only see that the three who were chained are walking around I can even see a fourth one walking with them together.” He ends by saying ורוה די רביעיא דמה לבר אלהין and the appearance of the fourth one is similar to that of an angel. The Gemora, in fact, says that this was the angel Gavriel. (When Nebuchadnezar was with Sancheriv when their armies were destroyed, Isaiah 37)

They emerged virtually unscathed and Nebuchadnezar proclaimed that the true ruler of the world is Hashem Yisborach. (Incidentally, the name of the place בקעת דורא Bikas Dura translates as the “shallow depression of the furnace” and it obviously has a connection with this famous story.)

Where did חנניה מישאל ועזריה take the strength and conviction to be able to withstand all the pressures even to the extent of being thrown into a fiery furnace from? They were, after all, youths who had been taken into captivity, exposed to an irreligious, idol worshiping society and had learned sadly of the Bais Hamikdosh being destroyed only a few years before,.

I would suggest that they took their brave decision as result of the example given by Avrohom Avinu who was thrown into the אור כשדים the burning fire at Ur of the Chaldees by Nimrod. As we know, he also emerged unscathed.

They not only prayed to Hashem to save them when they were being thrown into the fire they also implored that the zechus, the merit, of Avrohom Avinu should help them.

Let us now examine the wording of the posek I brought right at the beginning. וישא עיניו and Avrohom lifted up his eyes, וירא and he saw, I would suggest that he saw into the future and witnessed the confrontation between Nebuchadnezar and our three heroes, חנניה מישאל ועזריה. As they were thrown into the fire, והנה שלשה אנשים there were three people namely חנניה מישאל ועזריה who were frantically standing next to him נצבים עליו and begging him to intercede with Hashem on their behalf וירא and he saw this vision of the future happening וירץ לקראתם and he ran towards them to try and help them. What he did was וישתחו ארצה and he bowed down ויאמר and he said אדנ' Rashi comments that this was a request to Hashem על נא תעבור מעל עבדיך do not forsake your servant. Please help these three individuals be saved from a horrible fate.

And so they were saved miraculously.

When Nebuchadnezar went to look at this extraordinary happening and miracle, he exclaimed “There is a fourth one there who looks like an angel”. I would venture to suggest that it was, in fact, Avrohom Avinu, known as one of the רגלי המרכבה the wheels of the celestial chariot, who had come to assist in their salvation.

You will recall that I mentioned that the people who had thrown them into the furnace were, themselves, consumed in flames. There is a parallel in a midrash that says when Avrohom Avinu was thrown into the furnace at אור כשדים likewise the people who carried out the act also were burned alive. This is known as מידה כנגד מידה

I mentioned earlier on that the word אדנ' applied to Hashem. Rashi, in fact, quotes a midrash where there are two explanations. One is as mentioned above, namely Avrohom was speaking to Hashem. An interesting fact is that the person who makes this comment in this midrash was named חנניה the nephew of R Yehoshua, חנניה you will recall, is the same name as one of the three who was saved and the name Yehoshua means, Hashem should save. It all ties in together.

I had mentioned earlier on that this took place 1,294 years after the time when Avrohom had his bris mila. This is arrived at as follows.

Going forward from the time of the bris mila, one year later Yitzchok was born. 400 years subsequently Yitzias Mitzraim took place. 480 years after that was the year that King Solomon consecrated the first Temple. That stood for 410 years. This all totals 1,291 years. It was 3 years after that the story of the statue in Bikas Dura took place.

If you add together the numerical value of והנה שלשה אנשים נצבים the complete gemmatria thereof is exactly 1,294. Namely, we are talking about 1,294 years later. If you take the rest of the words in that phrase, namely וישא עיניו וירא עליו they total 796. This is the exact same gemmatria as חנניה מישאל עזריה.

One might ask, why is it that it was only at this juncture after Avrohom’s bris mila that we find this hint to his assistance to חנניה מישאל ועזריה and not some time earlier, as we find that he saved Lot in the previous sedra.

The gemmatria of אברהם , Avrohom, is 248 which is exactly the same as the 248 limbs רמ''ח איברים . All of these, bar the bris mila were perfected by him but it was only when he actually had the bris mila that he was completely perfect as it clearly states in Torah at the end of Lech Lecha והיה תמים את בריתי תשמור and the Torah goes on to tell Avrohom to perform the bris mila. Once he carried this out, he was in a position to assist others such as חנניה מישאל ועזריה.

The word מילה equals 85 which also is the gemmatria of פה.

Avrohom now had the power of פה his mouth to beseech Hashem and intercede on behalf of חנניה מישאל ועזריה.

Rashi actually quotes that when Avrohom pursued the four kings, when he reached Don, he lost his strength because he saw that the tribe of Don would erect an idol, פסל מיכה there. Why could he have not prayed that they should not erect the idol.

What I am suggesting is that because he had not yet had the bris mila he was not yet in the same position of strength and perfection as subsequent to the bris mila.

We are all descendants of Avrohom Avinu and his shining example and zechus are with us in all generations to help us in all our trials and tribulations. He, by his deeds and words, gave the will to later generations to keep the Torah and mitzvos and perform good deeds.

To sum up, I feel that you will agree that there are much greater depths in Torah than appear on the surface.

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LECH LECHA The relationship between Avrohom and Lot

It is interesting to note that the description of Lot in relation to Avrohom is not constant.
In the beginning of Lech Lecha posek ד, וילך אברם- וילך אתו לוט with no description of the family relationship. The next verse commences with the wordsויקח אברם את שרי אשתו ואת לוט בן אחיו here Lot is referred to as his nephew (brother’s son). In fact, we read at the end of Noach that Lot was the son of Horon. Avrohom’s brother.

Further on, in chapter 13, verse ה, we have, with no description, וגם ללוט ההלך את אברם. In posek ח we have ויאמר אברם אל לוט – כי אנשים אחים אנחנו, we are brothers. In chapter 14, posek יב, we have ויקחו את לוט ואת רכשו בן אחי אברם וילכו brother’ son (nephew) and immediately afterwards, in posek יד, we have וישמע אברם כי נשבה אחיו his brother (not nephew). In posekטז , we have וגם את לוט אחיו ורכשו השיב again referring to Lot as his brother. So we see that Lot is described on occasion without any particular relationship, also as the son of his brother, that Avrohom refers to him as brother, אנשים אחים, later on he is again referred to as the son of the brother of Avrohom, followed by him being referred to as his brother. Very puzzling, I believe.

One other important point to bear in mind is that both when Avrohom went down to Egypt with Soroh and again when Avimelech enquired after her, Avrohom referred to his wife, as אחותי, my sister.

In order to understand the nuances and apparent contradictions, one has to bear in mind a very important point which is perhaps not well know. Not only was Lot the son of Horon, the brother of Avrohom, the son of the brother who had been burned in the Ur Chasdim, in place of Avrohom (Rashi, quoting the medrash at the end of Noach), in fact, Lot was also Avrohom’s brother in law. Because Soroh was also the daughter of Horon as Rashi once again brings at the end of Noach, namely that יסכה and שרי were one and the same person.

Let us now go through the various verses quoted above. When Avrohom left the town of Haran, to go to Eretz Yisroel, the Torah states וילך אתו לוט, Lot went with him. Really this could have been for one of two reasons, either because he was his nephew or because he was his brother in law, or for both reasons. The Torah, in the next verse, clarifies this, because we are told that Avrohom took his wife and his brother’s son (not his wife’s brother). Avrohom felt a responsibility for Lot. The medrash tells us that Avrohom was thrown into the fire on the orders of Nimrod and miraculously survived. Horon who was watching this, was not quite sure which side he should come down on, that of Avrohom or that of Nimrod. He reasoned to himself that if Avrohom would emerge unscathed, he would come down on Avrohom’s side. When he was asked by Nimrod “and whose side are you on” he said, Avrohom’s side. He was promptly thrown into the Ur Chasdim, the furnace and died because he was not the righteous person, the Tzaddik, that Avrohom was. Because of this, Avrohom felt a responsibility to look after his son, Lot as he felt that, to some small extent, he, Avrohom, had contributed to Horon’s (Lot’s father) death.

Avrohom journeyed to Egypt after a few months in Eretz Yisroel due to a famine. He was asked, “Who is this beautiful woman?” and he stated, אחותי she is my sister. Can you imagine Lot’s feelings when he hears about his sister that her husband (Lot’s uncle and brother-in-law) was saying, Soroh is my sister. Soroh was, of course, in a certain manner his sister being in fact his niece. Lot kept his mouth shut and, in fact, Rashi quotes later on, that because of that zechus, merit, Lot was saved from the fate of Sedom.

Avrohom, therefore, was grateful to Lot and held him in great esteem.

With this, we can also understand the fact that when they returned from Egypt, not only Avrohom had considerable possessions which had been given to him by Pharoh and the Egyptians, but Lot also had sheep, cattle and tents. Where did he have this from? Well, we are told that Lot looked very similar to Avrohom and, therefore, it would be reasonable to assume that in order to curry favour with the whole family, not only did they give Avrohom matonos, presents, they gave somebody who looked like his younger brother, namely Lot, presents. Their objective at the time was that Avrohom and Lot should agree to the “betrothal” of Soroh to Pharoh

When they returned to Eretz Yisroel and the shepherds of Lot started acting as if they already owned land, Avrohom remonstrated with Lot and at that stage, he called him, my brother, כי אנשים אחים אנחנו. Lot, no doubt, had indicated to Avrohom that Avrohom had used a subterfuge in calling his wife, his sister, and therefore, what his shepherds were doing was nothing so terrible. However, pure stealing is not comparable to calling a niece a sister, as we all appreciate. We see from the way Avrohom begged Lot to just step away from him, but that he would, nevertheless, come to his assistance if ever necessary, that Avrohom still retained this feeling that he had to look after Lot as mentioned earlier on.

We then turn to the story of the four kings who came from the region of Iraq and rampaged through our Holy Land. The chief one being אמרפל whom we are told was actually Nimrod. They captured Lot and he is referred to, at that stage, as בן אחיו, the son of his brother, of Avrohom Avinu, of course, because Nimrod had an old account to settle with Avrohom.

Avrohom, on the other hand, when informed of what had happened, chased the kings with all their prisoners and booty as he had heard כי נשבה אחיו, that his brother had been captured. This refers to Avrohom’s memory that Lot had not revealed to the Egyptians that he, Lot, was, in fact, the brother of Soroh and that Avrohom by describing Soroh as his sister was becoming like a brother to Lot (he was his brother-in-law). Therefore, when Avrohom defeated the kings and וגם את לוט אחיו ורכשו השיב, he returned Lot and his possessions and freed them, he once again emphasised the aspect of them being brothers and, of course, the possessions were a direct result of Lot being given presents in Egypt because of that whole incident, as I mentioned earlier on.

One, therefore, can see the necessity for the different titles and names being utilised, as mentioned at the beginning of this article.

Although Lot was by no means an ideal character, he had the zechus of fathering two nations מואב and עמון from whom came רות המואביה and נעמה העמונית. The first being the great grandmother of Dovid Hamelech and the second being the mother of Rechavom, the son of Shlomo Hamelech. Perhaps one could suggest that this was a reward for him having twice heard his own sister being referred to as the sister of Avrohom and him having kept quiet and because of that two of his descendents, generations later, married into the Royal family of Yehuda.

ז מרחשון

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NOAH’S ARK התיבה

The story of the מבול and the Ark is not only written in Torah, but numerous nations, worldwide, have traditions that there was a flood. Not only nations in the Middle East, but even India, China and as far away as Alaska or the ancient inhabitants of Mexico have recorded that the first world was destroyed after 1656 years by rains and lightening until all the land including the highest mountains were submerged 15 amos (approximately 26 foot = 8 metres) in water.

As we know, because it is written in Torah, the measurements of the Ark were 300 amos long, 50 amos wide and 30 amos high. This equals to approximately 500 ft long by 80 ft wide and 50 ft high. (In metres, say 160 by 25 by 16). We also know that the Torah tells us that there were 3 levels in which there were compartments or cages.

We also find that Noach was commanded to take into the Ark a pair of each species of animal, bird and insect and in respect of טהור animals, seven of each.

How the animals were fitted in and, of course, all the stores with which to feed them, is a matter of debate and the midrash gives a number of different opinions. Rashi states, quoting the midrash, that the top floor was for Noach and his family (and I assume to keep the stores). The middle floor was for all the animals etc. and the bottom floor was for the זבל rubbish etc. which accumulated during the course of the year. This is just one opinion in the midrash.

Anybody who has visited a major zoo will understand the comments of the Ramban (ו-יט) where he states that if you bear in mind that there were elephants, hippopotami and other such large animals as well as thousands of insects and hundreds and hundreds of birds, all of which had to be packed into this comparatively small Ark, this must have been through a miracle. He adds, that if it was a miracle, why did Hashem command Noach to make such a large Ark and he comments that one has to try and do as much as possible in a natural manner. He also discounts the theory that the amos quoted in Torah should be in the size of Noach which could have been larger than nowadays, stating that all amos in Torah are the size that we know of, namely around 1 ½ to 2 feet. Say ½ metre approximately.

There is a famous midrash known as Pirkei de R’ Eliezer. This was compiled by one of the leading tanoim Rebbi Eliezer Ben Hyrcanos, Chapter 23 speaks in detail about the Ark and its measurements etc. it also states that there were hundreds of small houses, animal cages, etc. on each floor amounting to 365 in total for each floor. Furthermore, he states that the three floors were used as follows, the animals were on the lowest floor, the birds on the middle floor and the insects and creeping objects as well as the human beings were on the top floor. He does not mention what they did with any debris, זבל, natural wastage etc.

There is a commentary on this midrash by R Dovid Luria (the RaDaL). He quotes the Ramban on Torah regarding the amount of large animals and the amount of food necessary to keep them all alive for a full year, and therefore, the Ramban states, as mentioned above, that there was, therefore, an obvious miracle in respect of the Ark and its inhabitants for the year. The RaDaL comes out with a very interesting idea, namely that there really were not so many animals taken into the Ark, because as he states, numerous animals, birds etc. are really all part of one species but then have sub-divisions of species as well. For example, domestic cats, tigers and lions are all part of the “cat” family. Likewise dogs, wolves and the like are all part of the “lupine” family.

He suggests that one pair only of each species (with the exception of the טהור species) were taken in to the Ark and from these, later on, subspecies developed again after the mabul once they had left the Ark. He brings a proof to this, saying that in the same way as human being have different features, colours, sizes, heights etc. but we all come from one original person, after the mabul, we came from Noach and his children, a similar thing happened as far as the animals etc.

Therefore, he postulates, there were really not so many taken into the Ark all together.

However, he does not dispute the fact that there must have been a miracle in principle. (For the detailed and lengthy discussion please see his commentary at פרק כ''ג , אות י).

He also mentions that as far as food is concerned, it is possible that they had pressed, concentrated, food (דבילה)

Based on his comments, I wonder whether one could dare to suggest the following., We know from the midrash that Hashem told Noach to take these various animals and Noach protested that he would be unable to catch them and bring them into the Ark. This was actually seven days before the doors of the Ark were closed. Because Noach protested, Hashem caused the animals who were to be saved to come themselves to the Ark and Noach only had to lead them in. Would it be too fanciful to suggest that, for example, as far as the large animals, the elephants etc. baby elephants who had recently been born were taken in, one male, one female. They would have, obviously, not taken up such an amount of space and would also have not needed so much food and the same could apply to other large animals etc.

Furthermore, if all the inhabitants of the Ark were fed with only concentrated food, just sufficient to keep them alive, it would not have been a necessity to have very large quantities of supplies. If Noach commenced giving these animals etc. the rations from the first day that they arrived, namely seven days before the doors were closed, the animals could have gradually got acclimatised to their new regime and could possibly have gone out of the Ark during those seven days, carried out their calls of nature outside, so that after seven days, they would have no natural זבל wastages and debris to dispose of once they were inside again for the ensuing year.

True, they may not have put on weight and I would postulate that they might have, very well, lost weight and become very lean. This would tie in perfectly with the posek in Torah וישאר אך נח ואשר אתו בתבהthere remained only Noach and those who were with him in the Ark. The word אך is, as we know from other places a מיועט, namely, something less or reduced. The midrash quoted by Rashi says that the lion attacked Noach and injured him and therefore, the אך refers to Noach. But according to the theory I have just suggested, one could say that the word אך applies to Noach and every other thing that was inside the Ark as they all lost weight and, therefore, אך, מיועט, fits perfectly.

According to this theory, it would be possible, I suppose for all the major species, animals, birds, reptiles, insects etc. to have all been accommodated, with their food, in the Ark. Furthermore, you would, therefore, not need to a compartment for the זבל as I mentioned above.

As far as water is concerned, Noach had a חלון , a window, because he sent out the raven and then the dove from that window. Would it be too much to suggest that he did have some water with him which was taken into the Ark before the door closed. Subsequently, from time to time, whilst the water was pouring down, he collected water into the Ark by opening the window. Although this water may have been very hot as we are told, that Hashem utilised מים רותחין boiling hot water for the מבול, this could, of course, have come in, been collected in a vessel and cooled down over a short period of time. Furthermore, animals on very small rations of food and not moving around would, I suggest, not need large quantities of water especially if the compressed food had moisture in it.

Just to end on a lighter note. We find that after almost a year had elapsed, Noach sent out the dove which returned to him, with an olive leaf it had plucked, in its bill, Rashi comments that this dove was male and brings a number of proofs. Mrs P Lipschitz, during a lecture to Bais Yaakov sem girls suggested that Rashi’s proofs were not really necessary. There is a midrash that this dove flew from Mount Ararat on the Turkish/Russian border to the Har Haziezim in Yerushalayim where there were still some olive trees and picked up the olive leaf. Whoever heard of a female keeping their mouth shut for such a long journey from Yerushalayim to Ararat.

It could only have, therefore, been a male bird.

We really do not know all the details of what happened at the time of the mabul. What we do know is that this is a story with a lesson that has to be visited again and again to ensure that we rise above the depravity and spiritual decline which happened then and which we see unfortunately, daily in our current permissive society.

ל' תשרי

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SUCCOS פרי החג

Towards the end of the sedra Pinchas, the Torah enumerates all the different sacrifices which are to be brought regularly each day, on Shabbos, and then on the Yomim Tovim. The final parshah concerns the קרבנות of Succos. Many of you will be aware that during the first seven days of Succos, there are, in total, 70 bulls to be sacrificed in descending order, that is, the first day 13, the second day 12 until on the seventh day 7 were sacrificed. Finally on the last day, שמיני עצרת, there was one bull offered.

חז''ל tell us that the 70 were offered for the 70 major nations of the world followed by the one for the Bnei Yisroel.

I believe that an introduction to the Dvar Torah below will help appreciate and clarify it fully.

In addition to the letters and words written in a Sefer Torah which are, of course, as given to Moshe by Hashem, there was also given to him as תורה של בעל פה the vocalisation of each word being by way of חולם, קמץ, פתח etc. This is not written into the Sefer Torah by there is a mesoirah as to exactly how to pronounce each word. This, of course, is printed in the Chumashim.

In addition, there is a mesoirah concerning the notes (trop), known as טעמי המקרא. These טעמי המקרא, roughly translated as reasons or interpretations of the verse, consist of a number of notes sung each in a different way. Again, this has come down to us as a mesoirah, a tradition.

There are high notes, the greatest of which being the שלשלת and there are a number of other high notes such as פזר, תלישא גדולה etc.

This is what we hear by the Baal Koreh read in tune every Shabbos and whenever a Sefer Torah is taken out and read in public.

These notes are not there haphazardly but have a definite purpose and not for nothing are they called טעמי המקרא. They help us to understand and give interpretations, albeit sometimes rather hidden, which enable us to understand better or give us fresh insights into the meaning of actual words in Torah.

If one looks carefully at the whole of the sedra Pinchas, which I believe is the second longest sedra at 168 verses, there is no פזר until the instruction concerning the sacrifices, קרבנות, to be brought on the second day of Succos. We find the words as followsומנחתם (their meal offering) ונסכיהם (their wine offerings) לפרים (for the bulls). On the middle word ונסכיהם there is a פזר, this is followed by לפרים with a תלישא גדולה on it. Both of these are known as very “high” notes in other words, ones to which great emphasis applies.

If we then proceed to the third day we find the same טעמי המקרא and strangely enough, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth and the seventh day again, we have the same phenomenon of an ordinary note, a מונח, under the word ומנחתם but a פזר above the ונסכיהם and a תלישא גדולה above the word לפרים.

To add to this unusual phenomenon, if we go back to the first day of Succos, there is no פזר or תלישא גדולה at all when the sacrifices for the first day are mentioned, nor is there a פזר or תלישא גדולה on שמיני עצרת, which follows immediately on after the seventh day.

As I mentioned above these are known as טעמי המקרא, that is to give us an interpretation of the verses.

I would like to suggest that the reason why these particular טעמי המקרא, trop, are used is connected with a Halacha which we find concerning Yom Tov. There is a mitzvah of simcha on Yom Tov and especially on Succos where it is mentioned by the Torah twice specifically, at the end of Parshas ראה. The רמב''ם paskens אין שמחה אלא בבשר ויין . The way to fulfil the mitzvah of simcha is with meat and wine.

We find that people are always excited about an impending Yom Tov and when the first day arrives, especially of Succos, the excitement is great. However, by the second day and third, etc. this gradually subsides. What I am suggesting is that in order to ensure that the simcha is kept at a high level the Torah is hinting that one should eat and drink and therefore, be merry and in order to emphasise this, on the word ונסכיהם which is the wine libations, a פזר is intoned. On לפרים that is the best type of meat, one has a תלישא גדולה. פזר translates as to spread out or spend, in other words, spend money on the wine and, for meat, תלישא גדולה, exert great effort to obtain this and eat it. This is, therefore, emphasised from the second day to the seventh day inclusive.

When it comes to the last day, שמיני עצרת, the Gomora tells us that this was a רגל בפני עצמו, a Yom Tov for itself. Therefore, inherently, the simcha is there for the day itself and, of course, this is the day of Simchas Torah in Eretz Yisroel and leads into Simchas Torah for the rest of the Diaspora. There is, therefore, no need to create extra simcha by the consumption of wine and meat.

In respect of the word ומנחתם, which refers to the flour which was also brought at the same time with every sacrifice, there is no need for a “high” note because that did not add to the simcha. However, it is noteworthy to mention that if one takes all the measurements, עשרוניםof סלת, fine flour, which had to be brought during the whole of סוכות and שמיני עצרת, in respect of all the various קרבנות and add them together, they come to 348 esronim in total. This is the exact gemmatria of the word שמח.

Let us all enjoy ourselves with simcha on Succos, זמן שמחתנו.

ח' תשרי תשס''ט

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SUCCOS פרי עץ הדר

The only mitzvah in Torah where we are told to perform the mitzvah with “הדר” with special beauty, is in the case of taking the esrog on the first day of Succos. The Torah says ולקחתם לכם ביום הראשון פרי עץ הדר and you should take for yourselves on the first day a fruit of the tree “hadar”. The mitzvah is on every Jewish male and is only for the first day.

In the Bais Hamikdosh, one had to perform the mitzvah for the whole week of Succos and nowadays as a remembrance of that, we take the esrog and the lulov, the four Minim, the whole week (except for Shabbos). Much has been written about the significance of taking this particular fruit and why it should be hadar. A thought that has occurred to me which I have not seen mentioned anywhere, is as follows.

On Yom Kippur every year, every practising Jew becomes like a new creation, something like the creation of the world originally.

In the same way as after the original creation of the world, on 6th day, אדם הראשון, Adam, was created, so also the first day of Succos is the 6th day from Yom Kippur.

אדם הראשון was commanded ומעץ הדעת לא תאכל ממנו from the tree of knowledge you should not eat. He unfortunately transgressed this by eating the fruit which Chava gave him.

The Gomora discusses which fruit grew on that tree, and one of the Tannoim states that it was an esrog. Furthermore, the Ramban in Parshas Emor says that we accept this as being the Halacha. Accordingly, I think that we can understand why we are commanded to take this particular fruit on the first day of Succos.

When אדם הראשון ate from the עץ הדעת the whole original creation was spoiled. We take the esrog on the first day of Succos, which is the 15th day of Tishrei and the 6th day after Yom Kippur, a sort of anniversary for אדם הראשון. By virtue of us not eating the פרי עץ הדר on that day but keeping a mitzvah which Hashem commanded us, we, in some way, help to rectify that which was spoiled originally. That is the reason why it must be hadar, the most beautiful of the fruits because obviously, when Hashem created fruits originally in the world, they were all הדר. We are told by חז''ל as well that originally all fruits and the trees on which they grew had the same taste if one ate them, but this changed, except in the case of an esrog. טעם עצו ופריו שוים.

With this idea one can also understand a famous חז''ל on the words ולקחתם לכם ביום הראשון you should take for yourselves on the first day (of Succos). חז''ל comment ראשון לחשבון עונות the first to the reckoning of sins. Normally this is translated as meaning that after Yom Kippur, because people are so busy organising the mitzvos of Succos, there is no time to sin, whereas on the first day of Succos one can already settle down, catch one’s breath and unfortunately perhaps not do the right thing and, therefore Hashem commences counting and looking into matters.

According to the idea I mentioned above, however, it refers back to the time that Odom הראשון and Chava had sinned and means that we, ourselves, by taking the פרי עץ הדר are helping to rectify that first day where there were the original עונות, being the sins of Odom and Chava.

One could also find an allusion to the Gomora that says that הדר means fruit that, דר, dwells on the tree from year to year, because an esrog is unique in being the fruit that once it has grown to normal size does not fall off or rot, it can continue for another two or three years in fact without being spoiled, it just grows bigger.

This again would be relevant to what has been stated above, namely that this all refers back to what happened years ago.

ז'' תשרי תשס''ט

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YOM KIPPUR אור זרוע לצדיק ולישרי לב שמחה

At the beginning of the holiest day of our year, our custom is to take out the Siphrei Torah and whilst these are being taken round the bimah, the Chazzan intones the verse from Tehillim אור זרוע לצדיק ולישרי לב שמחה and this is repeated by the whole congregation with great fervour. The only explanation that I have found for this custom is brought in the name of the Arizal and is very esoteric.

The heads of the community also state at the same time that with the agreement of ה' and the whole community אנו מתירים להתפלל עם העברינים, namely that we allow in to pray with us even people who have sinned grievously.

I would like to suggest an explanation for using the verse אור זרוע לצדיק ולישרי לב שמחה, A light is sown for the righteous one and the upright of heart have joy.

There is a Sefer written approximately 700 years ago by R’ Yitzchok of Vienna, one of the Rishonim, known as אור זרוע. He writes in his introduction that he named his sefer אור זרוע in commemoration of a dream that he had concerning R’ Akiva. The famous R’ Akiva’s name is spelt differently in the Gomora Bavli from the Gomora Yerushalmi. The Bavli spelling is עקיבא. The Yerushalmi spelling is עקיבה. His dream was that the name is encoded in the verse אור זרוע לצדיק ולישרי לב שמחה. By taking the last letters אור זרוע לצדיק ולישרי לב שמחה (ר'עקיבה) you will then find that the last letter of the verse is a ה and this will be the last letter of עקיבה spelt with a ה. To commemorate this dream he therefore called his sefer אור זרוע.

He comments, How praiseworthy are you R’ Akiva that Dovid Hamelech in his prophecy already referred to you in Tehillim. Furthermore, how praiseworthy are you that ה' showed Moshe Rabbenu that you would explain the tagim, the little crowns on top of letters in the Sefer Torah, to the amazement of Moshe Rabbenu.

Many of us are aware of the history of R’ Akiva who for the first 40 years of his life was an Am Haaretz to the extent that he himself stated later that he had hated the Talmedei Chochomim.

He then, with the backing of his wife, commenced learning Torah at the age of 40 and for the next 40 years he studied Torah under the leading Rabbis of the time. He became the leading Rabbi himself for a further 40 years and passed away at the age of 120. I say passed away, but as the Gomora tells us at the end of Brochos, he was tortured and finally killed by the Romans with the posek שמע ישראל on his lips. A צדיק who died על קידוש ה'. The highest imaginable level. However, it is not so well know that this took place just at the onset of Yom Kippur, Kol Nidrei night.

R’ Akiva was the prime example of a Jewish person who had started off as a grievous sinner and changed completely not only to become a Talmid Chochum but eventually the greatest Rabbinical leader of his generation.

I think that it is, therefore, very fitting that the verse אור זרוע לצדיק ולישרי לב שמחה is utilised at the opening of our tefillos and at the same time as we are מתיר to pray with the avayomim, those who have sinned grievously. Even they can improve just the same as R’ Akiva improved so dramatically.

It is also noteworthy mentioning the similarities between Moshe Rabbenu and R’ Akiva. Moshe Rabbenu came down on Yom Kippur for the third time after having brought down the second luchos having by then been in heaven for a total of 120 days.

Moshe Rabbenu himself lived exactly 120 years. Furthermore, his life was divided into three parts, the first one where he lived in the palace of Pharoh, which you could compare with the first 40 years of R’ Akiva’s life. Moshe Rabbenu then went to Midian and the famous burning bush. These were years of growing in לימוד and עבודת הבורא learning about and growing in stature in the service of Hashem.

His final 40 years were as the leader, the spiritual leader, of the whole of the Bnei Yisroel.

Finally, one other comparison, that is that we find a Gomora in חגיגה י''ב which says that four great Rabbi נכנסו לפרדס, they attempted to plumb the depths of the esoteric part of Torah. The Gomorra says that only R’ Akiva went through the process without any harm. The word פרדס adds up to 344. משה adds up to 345. This is to indicate to us that despite the fact that R’ Akiva was so great and that he could even expound on every letter and תג the crowns of each letter to the extent that this amazed Moshe Rabbenu, nevertheless, Moshe Rabbenu was that little bit higher even than R’ Akiva.

Moshe Rabbenu himself received the Torah from Hashem as Hashem told Aharon and Miriam פה אל פה אדבר בו ומראה ולא בחידות. That level was never reached by any person before or after.

ג' תשרי תשס''ט

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ROSH HASHONAH כי אמרתי עולם חסד יבנה

The final parshah read on the first morning of Rosh Hashonah recounts how Avimelech the King of Gerar and his commander in chief came to Avrohom in Beer Sheva and stated that they could see that Hashem was with Avrohom in all that he did. Avimelech then said “I would like you to swear that you will not treat falsely or unfairly myself or my descendents up to four generations” כחסד אשר עשיתי עמך תעשה עמדי in the same way as I was kind to you, you should be kind to me and the land in which you are sojourning.

What was the חסד, the kindness which Avimelech was referring to, which he asked Avrohom to reciprocate? This was the fact that when Avrohom and Soroh came to Avimelech’s country, Soroh was taken into the royal household but Hashem came to Avimelech and said “Don’t touch her because she is married to Avrohom” and Avimelech, after protesting that he knew nothing about it, gave her back to Avrohom and in addition, allowed them to live wherever they liked in his land. (Unlike Pharoh, who told Avrohom here is your wife, get out of Egypt.) For that “kindness” Avimelech was asking Avrohom to promise that would deal nicely with not only Avimelech but with his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Avrohom duly swore to this and the parshah continues telling the story of how there was a well which he stated had been stolen by the servants of Avimelech, Avrohom then took seven lambs, took them aside, gave them to Avimelech and the place was called Beer Sheva. We then have the penultimate posek before the end of the krias HaTorah for the day as follows.

ויטע אשל בבאר שבע ויקרא שם בשם יהו' קל עולם and he, Avrohom, planted an “Aishel” in Beer Sheva and called there in the name of Hashem the Master of the world.

That verse has apparently very little to do with the previous pesukim. Chazal tell us that the word אשל is an acronym for אכילה, eating שתיה drinking and לינה, lodging (alternatively לויה, seeing off a person). Namely that Avrohom opened a sort of guest house and that he provided food and drink as well as lodging etc. for any wayfarers who passed by. We are told that this tent had four entrances, one to each side, so that it should be even more inviting to allow people to come in.

Chazal also tell us that people came, ate and drank and asked to pay but Avrohom refused. They then attempted to just thank him, but he said thank the One above, Hashem in heaven who created the whole world and so ויקרא שם בשם יהו' קל עולם he spread the word among the populace who were idol worshiping, that idols were nothing, that there was one G-d in heaven who created the world and provides food, drink etc. for mankind.

I would suggest that after Avrohom has considered what Avimelech had said regarding חסד, he was appalled. I did you a favour, therefore, you do me a favour. In colloquial English, I scratch your back, you scratch my back. This, Avrohom knew was not true חסד; proper חסד is performing good deeds for the sake of it as Hashem wishes, without receiving reward or favours. Dovid Hamelech tells us about Hashem, in Tehillim, כי אמרתי עולם חסד יבנה because I said I will build a world of kindness. Hashem does not need the favours of any people, as we all understand.

It was because of that and to show the world what true חסד means that Avrohom created an אשל, a lodging house where he could show proper kindness in a true Jewish way.

There is another explanation given by Chazal of the words ויטע אשל, namely that he planted a tree so that the travellers could rest in the shade and this a further sign of חסד.

I believe that this verse is read right at the end of the krias HaTorah for the first day of Rosh Hashonah which is the anniversary of the creation of Odom Harishon and the start of the Jewish New Year to emphasise to all of us the importance of חסד, true kindness. We are blessed nowadays with beautiful examples of גמילת חסד, including loan societies and all types of help given in an organised as well as in an informal manner, in our wonderful communities. May it long continue and provide us with זכיות for the New Year and to help bring משיח , במהרה בימינו אמן

כ''ה אלול

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ROSH HASHONAH מסירת נפש - למעלה מן הטבע

We read in the Sefer Torah on the first day of Rosh Hashonah the Parshah which commences וה' פקד את שרה that Soroh was blessed with a child.

On the second day of Rosh Hashonah we read the Parshas עקידה, the famous story of the binding of Yitzchok on the altar and at the last minute the angel coming and telling Avrohom not to kill him. In his place a ram was sacrificed. Because of this in the tefillos of Rosh Hashonah, we request זכור ברית אברהם ועקידת יצחק. Furthermore, we blow the shofar which is, itself, a remembrance of the horn of the ram of Yitzchok.


Accordingly, it seems strange that we should read the Parshah of the עקידה on the second day whereas the story of the birth of a son to Soroh takes first place and is read on the first day.

It is true that the Gemorra tells us that on Rosh Hashonah, Soroh conceived, but nevertheless, we mention time and again the עקידה as a zechus and we blow the shofar for the first time, on the first day.

One might also conjecture that as the Parshah of ה' פקד את שרה comes in Torah before the Parshah of the עקידה it takes precedence, but we find that when our Rabbis wished to, they changed the order. This, for example, took place in the Hatftoras of the weeks prior to Rosh Hashonah, the שבעה דנחמתא which are all from the Prophet Yeshayah. They are not in the order of the chapters of the Prophet.

I think that one can explain the reason for the reading in the Sefer Torah of the ה' פקד את שרה on the first day as follows.

We find that the Gemora in סנהדרין ל''ח states that when Odom Harishon was created there were twelve hours of the daytime and the Gemora states what happened in every one of these twelve hours. In short, in the first hour the dust was gathered together, the second hour a body was formed, in the third hour the limbs were put into shape and in the fourth hour the neshomo was put into the body. In the fifth hour Odom Harishon stood on his feet, the sixth hour he named all the animals, in the seventh hour he was presented with Chava as a wife. In the eighth hour he had children etc. From this we can see that the timescale was not according to the laws of nature as we know it. It was one nes after the other למעלה מן הטבע, including being presented with a wife in the seventh hour and having children an hour later.

In the same way Soroh, together with her husband Avrohom had a child, Yitzchok, born supernaturally. As the Torah itself states they were both elderly and long past the age of childbirth. Nevertheless, בדרך נס they were blessed with a son Yitzchok.

We are told that each year when the anniversary of a day or an event comes round, the spiritual uplift and effect is repeated but has to be grasped and utilised.

I believe that the implication is clear. The first day of Rosh Hashonah is a day where miracles can take place, things which are למעלה מן הטבע, as things took place in the past, on that very day. Therefore, we read וה' פקד את שרה

It is, of course, true that Avrohom taking his son Yitzchok and preparing to sacrifice him on a altar shows extreme מסירת נפש, but it is not supernatural.

Accordingly, we can gather from this, that on the first day of Rosh Hashonah, we can pray to be helped למעלה מן הטבע, supernaturally, to all have a blessed year בגשמיות וברוחניות.

כ''ה אלול

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22nd ELLUL

Let me pose a question. We all know that Ellul is a time for introspection, coming up to Rosh Hashonah. Pashas Nitzovim which is this week’s sedra is particularly relevant as the parsha of teshuva, repentance, which starts off “Ata Soshuv” is actually in this sedra.

We also find that the Haftorah for each sedra has a relevance to the sedra leyned. However, there are exceptions to that rule.

You will recall that between Shiva’ Oser B’Tammuz and Tisha B’Av, we have, what is called shelosha of paranusa, three Haftorahs of warning of calamities, followed by shiva de nechemta, seven Haftorahs for the next seven weeks of nechoma, comfort. The first one starts off in fact, Nachamu, nachamu ami.

We all understand why we should have the three haftorahs of paranusa, during the three weeks, dealing with warnings about problems that will arise unless people improve. We can also understand why this should be followed by say three weeks of Haftorahs of comfort, nechamo, and we could readily understand that there should be even four of nechamo so that we are given a bigger antidote than the original blows. Why should there be seven haftorahs? In fact the whole of the month of Ellul has these Haftorahs of comfort culminating in this week’s sedra. Nitzovim is always read on the Shabbos prior to Rosh Hashonah.

I would have thought that the week before Rosh Hashonah is an ideal time to mention teshuvah in the Haftorah especially as Nitzovim itself, as I mentioned earlier on, has in it, the parsha of teshuva. Why was it that our Chazal when enacting which Haftorah should be read with each sedra, overrode the norm and chose a different Haftorah, one of comfort and encouragement? That is my question.

I think that the reason for this is bound up with the way we are supposed to approach Rosh Hashonah. There are people who, when looking back on last year, and for that matter earlier years, get very worried, they get depressed, concentrating on all the bad things and negative things that they had been involved in. This is, of course, a negative approach.

The other way of looking at the approaching Rosh Hashonah, is to look forward to the opportunity to be able to appear before Hashem Himself, the Melech Malchei Hamluchim Hakodesh Boruchu. If one appears before a normal judge in court, he looks up the law books and decides according to what is written in them. The only one who can decide otherwise is the judge who is also the lawmaker. He can decide to override what is in the law books.

Hashem is, of course, the ultimate judge and king. When a person appears before Him on Rosh Hashonah and sings praises to Hashem, and proclaims Him to be the one and only King and at the same time asks for forgiveness, Hashem is favourably disposed towards him and grants him a good year. That is a positive approach to Rosh Hashonah.

Now let us look at the Haftorah of this week’s sedra. It starts off “ שוש אשיש בה' ” I will rejoice and rejoice even more intensely with Hashem “ תגל נפשי באלקי ” my soul will exult with Hashem.

I believe that our chochomim were pointing us strongly in the direction of taking a positive attitude to our imminent appearance before Hashem. Parsha Nitzovim and this Haftorah always occur in the week before Rosh Hashonah and, therefore, we are enjoined to rejoice and to rejoice even more intensely with Hashem. If you look carefully it says בה' which is spelt Yod Kay Vav Kay the middo of rachamim, the merciful G-d. The next expression is תגל נפשי באלקי my soul will exult with Elokim, middus hadin. In other words the middo of rechamim should be mumtik, sweeten, middus hadin. We are asking Hashem to sweeten the pill, as I mentioned before, by singing praises to Hashem, proclaiming Him to be the King in a joyful manner. He will, therefore, even on a day of judgement, exercise mercy and look favourably upon us.

I would like to also add a further thought on the beginning of the Haftorah. If you take the word שוש which is written Shin Vov Shin, the gemmatria adds up to 606. I rejoice that Hashem gave us a further 606 mitzvos over and above the sheva mitzvos Bnei Noach, the seven mitzvos that were given to Noach. אשיש, is Alef Shin Yud Shin which adds up to 611, and we find the Gemora at the end of Makkos says that Torah Tzivo Lonu Moshe, Moshe Rabbenu gave us 611 mitzvos as the gemmatria of the word Torah is 611 and for that we are also most joyful; but the main thing is בה'. Bais, referring to the 2 mitzvos we had the privilege of hearing from Hashem Himself. The gemora there says אנכי ולא יהיה מפי הגבורה שמענום

We heard the first two of the ten commandments from Hashem himself

As you can see the whole emphasis is rejoicing with the fact that Hashem has given us Torah and mitzvos and we have the privilege to be able to appear before Him once a year.

I would mention that the first time I, myself, felt that Rosh Hashonah was not only a Yom Hadin but also a Yom Tov, was when I first went to Gur in Jerusalem to my unforgettable Rebbe the Bais Yisroel ז''ל. There was in the air this mixture of din and rachamim.

I would venture to suggest that somebody who gets to Rosh Hashonah in a positive frame of mind and remember, Rosh Hashonah is the first day of the ten days of repentance, asseres yomei teshuva, that person will do teshuva (because we all have to repent) in a different way than somebody who starts with a negative attitude. There is a difference between teshuva meyira and teshuva meahava. Repenting because one is fearful of the consequences if one does not, or repenting because one sees the goodness and greatness of Hashem and, therefore, one would like to please Him and are upset that sometimes, we have let Him down and not done the right thing. We all appreciate that teshuva meahava is much higher level.

Finally, on this particular subject, once Yom Kippur has gone by and the whole of Klal Yisroel has a kapora, an atonement, we get to Sukkos, that is a level of teshuva meahava that we can all appreciate. We go into the sukka, out of our comfortable houses, we use the esrog and lulav and we culminate everything by dancing on Simchas Torah with the Torah.

Let me pose another question, if we look at the leyning, the Krais Hatorah of Rosh Hashonah, we find that the first day starts off “ וה' פקד את שרה
That Soroh had finally given birth to a son Yitzchok and goes into the detail of what happened subsequent to that.

The second day we read the Akeidah, the famous story of the tenth nesoyon, the greatest test, which Avrohom Avinu was faced with. He took Yitzchok and was going to bring him as a sacrifice on the mizbeach on Har Hamariyah. The question is, Why do we read the two parshas in that particular order? Surely the Akeidah is relevant and more important to read on the first day of Rosh Hashonah which is normally the day that Hashem makes his decisions on the scales of justice. We say in our tefillos זכור ברית אברהם ועקדת יצחק we ask Hashem to remember the bris of Avrohom and the Akeidah of Yitzchok. In addition, the shofar itself came originally from the איל shel Yitzchok, the ram that was taken in place of Yitzchok when Hashem told Avrohom to take Yitzchok down from the altar. Avrohom looked for a substitute sacrifice and found a ram with its horns caught in the thicket. That horn is what we use as a shofar. Surely, we should be מעורר the zechusim, to try and wake up all the merits of the Akeidah of Avrohom and Yitzchok on the first day of Rosh Hashonah?

On a simple level one can answer, that the first parsha is written in Torah earlier than the Akeidas Yitzchok and furthermore, we are told that the conception of Yitzchok took place on Rosh Hashonah, but, nevertheless, I believe that my question is still very relevant.

I suggest that there is a deeper answer. The fact that Avrohom and Soroh who were respectively 100 and 90 years old and at that time had a child, was למעלה מן הטבע , a miraculous event, the Torah tells us.

The test of the Akeidah was a very, very severe test, Avrohom brought his son, who by then was 37 years of age onto the altar to be sacrificed. It was his beloved son Yitzchok and of course Yitzchok was also not a little child, he was 37 years of age a full grown man and yet both of them were willing to fulfil the rotzon of Hashem, the will of Hashem, without question. Indeed, a very great, unbelievable test, but nevertheless, still within the bounds of something natural. It was not supernatural.

Therein I think lies the answer as to why we read the leyning for the two days in the particular order.

Our chochomim decided that in future generations there were likely to be people in Klal Yisroel who might just give up, thinking, we have been so bad, there is so much trouble, so many problems, they would get so depressed that they would think that it is impossible to have a good year. Therefore we read וה' פקד את שרה , to impress on us that Hashem can make miracles in the same way as then, when Yitzchok was born, supernaturally Hashem can help us all supernaturally. The second day, we step down a level. Even in a natural way, if one puts 100% effort in and unquestionably follows what Hashem wants, Hashem will help as well. I believe that is a deeper lesson of the reason for the order of the krias Hatorah.

You may also recall Rashi’s comment on the first words of Nitzovim אתם נצבים היום כלכם לפני ה' Rashi comments after the Tochacho, people were very miserable and pessimistic, their faces were ashen, therefore Moshe Rabbenu comforted them and said “See, you are all standing here today, healthy and well” This ties in with the sentence in the Tochacho that it all came about תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלקיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב מרב כל Because you did not serve Hashem with joy and a glad heart, because that is the way to serve Hashem, and all this underlines the necessity for a positive attitude at all times.

Let us just deal with one further thought today. Towards the end of the leyning on the first day, we read that Avimelech, the king of Garar, together with his commander in chief came to see Avrohom. You may recall that earlier on they had suggested to Avrohom that he leaves the territory and Avrohom did, but they came back and said to Avrohom, when they visited him that ה' עמך בכל אשר אתה עושה
G-d is with you whatever you do, and therefore, we would like to make a covenant with you. And Avrohom eventually did make a bris with Avimelech. Right at the end of that parsha, it says ויטע אשל בבאר שבע ויקרא שם בשם ה' קל עולם
Our Rabbis explain that Avrohom started virtually a guest house and people came and received free food and lodging, they thanked Avrohom. He in turn, said, don’t thank me thank the One and Only above and they did. Therefore he proclaimed ויקרא שם בשם ה' קל עולם The Name of Hashem being the one who is G-d of the whole universe, so creating a Kiddush Hashem.

What has that verse got to do with the previous parsha and to do with Avimelech’s visit. I would suggest that the key lies in the words used by Avimelech when he was trying to persuade Avrohom to make this covenant. Avimelech asked Avrohom to make a covenant with himself, his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and continued כחסד אשר עשיתי עמך תעשה עמדי

Namely, in the same way as I was kind to you, when you were staying with me, you should be kind to me. It was a type of reciprocal kindness paying back one for the other.

Avrohom was not satisfied with that attitude. He decided to start an open house to everybody without an ulterior motive. For us the lesson is clear מעשי אבות סימן לבנים the deeds of our forefathers are a sign of how we should behave. That is the way a Yid should behave and always try to create a Kiddush Hashem. This is another lesson in the Krias Hatorah of the first day of Rosh Hashonah. By doing so and emulating Avrohom Avinu, we will, no doubt, all be zoche to a כתיבה וחתימה טובה and hasten the coming of Moshiach Tzidkainu bimhero veyemanu. Omein.

כ''ב אלול

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RE’EH כ''ו אב 5767

Good morning everybody, I am once again, pleased to be back speaking to you.

This week’s sedra, parshas ראה, has numerous mitzvos in it. There is, however, one major thread which runs through the sedra and is mentioned especially at the beginning and towards the end. The first time we encounter this is before sheini and Moshe Rabbenu was telling the Bnei Yisroel that they must destroy all vestiges of avodah zoro when they enter the promised land. They should destroy their altars, burn their idols and effigies etc. Then the Torah continues


“You shall not do the same to Hashem.” And the next verse is
כי אם אל המקום אשר יבחר ה' אלכיכם מכל שבטיכם לשום את שמו שם לשכנו תדרשו ובאת שמה

“But to the place which Hashem will choose from all his tribes to place His name there, you should search for His Shechina and you should come there.”

And the Torah continues that you should bring all different karbonos etc. Immediately after sheini the Torah again uses the expression
והיה המקום אשר יבחר ה' אלכיכם בו לשכן שמו שם

Virtually a repeat of this and three verses later again it says
כי אם במקום אשר יבחר ה'

If that is not enough another three verses later it again says
במקום אשר יבחר ה'
The place Hashem will choose.

Very strange that the Torah is emphasising again and again this expression of the place that Hashem has chosen to cause his Shechina to dwell. Of course, this does mean the Bais Hamikdosh as I am sure you have understood.

At chamishei we read the famous parsha of עשר תעשר which is also read on the last day of Yom Tov. Once again the Torah keeps on mentioning from there right to end of the sedra, this phrase.
במקום אשר יבחר ה'

The penultimate posuk of the sedra has once again those very words.

And then the final verse of the sedra is
שלש פעמים בשנה יראה כל זכורך את פני ה' אלכיך במקום אשר יבחר בחג המצות ובחג השבעות ובחג הסכות
Three times every year all males should appear before Hashem in the place I will choose, on Pesach, Shavuos and Succos.

You will find, if you go carefully through the sedra that this expression or something like it, is mentioned no fewer than 15 times in this sedra. As usual I am asking a simple question. Why does it need to be repeated again and again and again and why 15 times.

Some of you may recall that many months ago I spoke about the importance of the Mishkon. That, of course, was the edifice erected in the midbar and which carried on serving as the focal spiritual point of the whole Jewish people for the first few hundred years that they were in Eretz Yisroel. Eventually, as we know, Shlomo Hamelech built the Bais Hamikdosh and it was consecrated 480 years after the Jews left Egypt.

This was המקןם אשר יבחר ה' the place that Hashem had ordained would be the spiritual focus of all the activities of Klal Yisroel and a beacon of light for the whole world. It remained so for 410 years until the first Bais Hamikdosh was destroyed. 70 years later it was rebuilt and the second Bais Hamikdosh stood a further 420 years. This Holy and magnificent building which was erected by Shlomo and a further magnificent building which was erected for the second Bais Hamikdosh, was not just an ornamental palace or museum, it was the place that gave spiritual inspiration to the whole of Klal Yisroel all the year round. Even more so, on Yom Kippur when the Kohen Godol carried out the whole avodah and atoned for the Bnei Yisroel.

As far as the Yidden were concerned, the mitzvah mentioned at the end of Re’eh was very relevant to them. This was that three times a year on every one of the שלש רגלים , it was a positive commandment, a מצות עשה to come to the Bais Hamikdosh and bring with presents and karbonos as mentioned right at the end of the sedra.

What was the point of them coming three times a year? Our meforshim tell us that this was to give them spiritual uplift that they could then take home and pass on to their own families. The atmosphere of קדושה, holiness, and טהרה, purity, was palpable there. You will, no doubt, all recall the Mishna in the fifth perek of Pirkei Avos which starts עשרה נסים נעשו לאבותינו בבית המקדש , there were ten miracles that happened to our forefathers in the Bais Hamikdosh. This was a place that was למעלה מן הטבע , supernatural. Therefore, there was, in fact, a recharging of spiritual batteries.

The Gemora in Menuchos כ''ט says on the posek כי בי'ה ה' צור עולמים that Hashem created the two worlds, our world and the world to come with a י and with a ה and the ה represents our world and the י represents the world to come and proof is brought from right at the beginning of Torah because it says בהבראם This word is explained as ב''הא'' בראם our world was created with a ה and the reason is because a ה looks like a veranda so that anybody who wishes to, can fall down (in a spiritual manner) from sitting on the roof of the ה . If he wishes to do teshuva he then climbs up the leg of the foot on the left hand side. The י represents the world to come, because it is the smallest of all letters and there are very few tzaddikim who will be able to aspire to the heights of it and it is also bent in the same way as tzaddikim, who do not walk haughtily but with their heads inclined.

The long and short of the Gemora is that י and ה represent the two worlds and where, I would ask, did the two worlds meet? In the Bais Hamikdosh, because you had the spiritual level coming down represented by the י and the people coming in to the Bais Hamikdosh and all the animals as korbonos and other physical entities such as the shulchan with the show bread on it representing the ה, all together. This was the place that Hashem chose for the purpose and, therefore, one has this constant emphasis, במקום אשר יבחר ה' the place which Hashem had chosen to rest his Shechina there.

We now also understand why it is mentioned 15 times because that is exactly what י and ה add up to.

You may recall the numerous Shir Hamaalos שיר המעלות . If you look carefully and add them up, there are exactly 15. What does the translation of those two words mean, “A song for the steps”. The Levi’im sang the Shir Hamaalos on these 15 steps going up to the בית המקדש as the water was brought up to the Bais Hamikdosh on Sukkos for the ceremony of ניסוך המים There were exactly 15 שיר המעלות and 15 steps to bring together the spiritual and the physical. In fact, the whole ceremony was known as שמחת בית השואבה and we are told that from there רוח הקודש was drawn.

I recall that in 1968 shortly after the whole of Yerushalyim was united, I went to an Arab school which overlooked the whole of the Bais Hamikdosh and it was a very interesting sight. One thing that caught my eye was, that even nowadays, there were 15 steps going up towards the actual mount on which, unfortunately, at the moment, there is a mosque as you are aware.

This idea of 15 joining together and fusing the י and the ה is mentioned in davenning as well every day. Right at the beginning of davenning among the korbonos there is a paragraph which starts off with אביי הוה מסדר סדר המערכה stating the order of the service in the Bais Hamikdosh each day. There are exactly 15 items mentioned. Furthermore, the middle one, number 8, is the ketores that was brought each day. As we know ketores was the most spiritual of all the items brought as an offering and therefore, it is at the heart of all the avodah that was carried out each day.

In the pesukei d’zimra, we have numerous kapitelech which commence and also end with the word הללוי'ה. The Gemora at the end of Pesochim, tells us that this can be viewed as two words namely הללו and י' ה We are praising Hashem who created the two worlds with the י and the ה We go into detail in the pesukei d’zimra of the numerous ways that the world shows that it is created by Hashem. One mizmor talks about the heavens, the earth, the people living in it and others speak about other facets of our world, י' ה as you all appreciate adds up to 15 and represents the fusion of the spiritual and physical worlds. By praising Hashem we are elevating the הto join to the י. Furthermore, the word הללוי'ה adds up to 86 which is exactly the gemmatria of Elokim which is known as middos Hadin. By praising Hashem, we sweeten and offset the middos Hadin. This is known as המתקת הדין.

We are told that the tefillos that we make are in place of the karbonos brought in the Bais Hamikdosh ונשלמה פרים שפתינו our lips should move in place of bringing offerings.

We also find that in ישתבח, which is, of course, a praise of Hashem, you have 15 expressions of praise and the like, commencing שיר ושבחה up to ברכות והודאות

Immediately after Shema every morning we have אמת ויציב which go up to וטוב ויפה again 15 expressions of praise of Hashem. The idea is that we, in our prayers, are also striving to bring together the two worlds, the physical world, Olam Hazeh with the spiritual upper world in the same way as the avodah was carried out in the Bais Hamikdosh.

The mekubalim tell us that the four parts of tefilla, represent the four levels of world. The korbonos represent the Olam Ha’sia, this world, the pesukei d’zimra of which ישתבח is the culmination, represents the Olam Ha Yiztira, the world of formation. The Olam Ha’ Bria, the world of creation, is commenced with יוצר אור all the way up to Shemona Esrei and therefore, we have this idea of 15 mentioned at all three levels. At Shemona Esrei which is the highest level and comparable to Olam Ha’Aztilus as near as possible to Hashem, there is absolute fusion and, therefore, no need to emphasise the 15.

The very posek that I quoted כי בי'ה ה' צור עולמים comes right near the end of ובא לציון after which we say the special Kaddish תתקבל namely that Hashem should accept our prayers and entreaties.

You will, no doubt, recall the famous maamer chazel איש ואשה שכינה שרויה ביניהם a husband and wife have the Shechina that dwells between them, there is a Yod י in איש and a ה in אשה. Together there is a י and a ה . The other letters in each is אש fire, because if the Shechina does not dwell among them, unfortunately there are problems. Whereas, if the Shechina does dwell among them, together they elevate this mundane world to a high spiritual level.

One further thought regarding the original question I posed with the expression במקום אשר יבחר ה' is repeated time and again, there is a possek which we say in יהי כבוד during pesukei d’zimra and in fact it comes from a Shir Hamaalos
כי בחר ה' בציון אוה למושב לו
Because Hashem chose Zion and was anxious that there should be a place for Him to dwell.

Referring again, of course, to the Bais Hamikdosh. The word בחר is, of course the root of יבחר. If one spells out the letters that is ב being ב י ת which adds up to 412 ח which is ח י ת which adds up to 418 and ר which is ר י ש and adds up to 510. This totals 1340.

As we know, Parshas Re’eh was part of the speech of Moshe Rabbenu in the last days of his life and it was 440 years later that Shlomo built the Bais Hamikdosh. The first Bais Hamikdosh stood for 410 years. There were then 70 years of the first golus followed by 420 years of the second Bais Hamikdosh. This also totals 1340 as well. A very deep remez for this constant repetition of יבחר. The י refers to Hashem being the first letter of the name of Hashem and the rest, as I mentioned, in depth, refers to the total years from the statement by Moshe Rabbenu until the second Bais Hamikdosh was destroyed.



As you are all aware, we are almost up to Shmitta year and this week’s sedra we have a particular mitzvah mentioned, of not ignoring a poor person because Shmitta is coming and therefore not giving him a loan which would automatically be cancelled because of Shmitta. The Torah tells us, you should give him, and continue giving him, and not be upset כי בגלל הדבר הזה יברכך ה' because if you do support him Hashem will bless you and all your works and everything that belongs to you.

The Gemora at the end of Shabbos takes the word, בגלל , which is a very unusual word in Torah and explains גלגל הוא החזיר בעולם namely money is like a wheel turning, it sometimes is with one person and afterwards it goes to somebody else.

I came across a beautiful story about this concerning a famous Tzaddik, R’ Mendel Kossover. When he was a young man and very poor, he heard that his Rebbe, known as R’ Feivish of Zeborz was going to visit for Shabbos near where he lived in a place called Skula. R’ Mendel decided that he would, therefore, go to be with his Rebbe for Shabbos and, having no transport, he walked. He had to walk for two or three days and on Thursday evening he reached a village still a quite a few miles away from Skula and spied an inn. Seeing that it had a mezuzah on the door, he went in and asked the baalabos if he could stay there overnight. He had not eaten all day and was very tired.

The answer was “Yes, you can come in and stay here overnight but I am sorry I have not got anything to eat. My children are crying for food and I haven’t got anything for them even. I have absolutely no parnosa and the Poretz, the local squire, is threatening to throw myself and all the family into prison because I haven’t paid him for such a long time.”

R’ Mendel Kossover was, of course, upset and could not sleep all night because of it. When morning came, he left blessing the baalabos that Hashem should help him and started walking towards Skula. He had only walked a few miles and a coach came by and stopped, there was a Yid who was obviously wealthy sitting there and he asked him “Tell me, young man, where are you going?”

He replied “I am going to the Rebbe of Zeborz.”

“Good,” said the other gentleman, “I am also going there, come and join me.”

R’ Mendel Kossover answered, “I am not coming with you unless you give me five roubles.”

The other gentleman was annoyed “Not enough that I want to give you a free lift, you want me to pay you for it as well.”

“I am not asking for myself, believe me,” Said R’ Mendel, “It would also be good for you if you listen to me.”

“How come?” said the oisher, the rich gentleman.

“Well,” said R’ Mendel “except for the fact that you are going to give tzedoka, you should know that nobody knows what is going to happen tomorrow or in the future, גלגל הוא החזיר בעולם.

The other gentleman took it to heart and gave him the five roubles. “Right,” said R’ Mendel “we are not going on now, lets turn round and go back to the village we have just passed and you will see how great a mitzvah you are going to perform. OK?”

They turned round and then went back. R’ Mendel gave the inn keeper the money and said, “Please go into town and buy some liquor.” And he also promised him, “You will see, from now onwards, you are going to be a changed person and you will have hatzlocha.”

Then he said to the rich man “You know what, one mitzvah brings another one, lets daven here and we will give some more money to your wagon driver and he can buy something to eat for breakfast for the children and for ourselves,.”

So he agreed to that as well, handed over some more money and meanwhile, they davenned and afterwards the wagon driver came back with a whole lot of bread and so the children got bread, the inn keeper and his wife got bread and what was left he gave to the wealthy man for Shabbos, after that he took a little bit for himself.

Just as they were leaving R’ Mendel said to the innkeeper “You should know that from now onwards you are on the up and up, you are going to become very rich and the person who just helped you is going to have exactly the opposite fate, so remember that you should pay him back in the fullness of time.” He also suggested to him that he should leave that place and go and live somewhere else.

Meanwhile, R’ Mendel and the rich person got to the Tzaddik of Zeborz and there were lots of people and they could not get in, but suddenly they were spied and R’ Mendel was let in. This surprised the rich man who realised that the young man who he had taken on board was not just an ordinary Chosid of the Rebbe but must be something special himself. When R’ Mendel came into the Rebbe, R’ Feivish of Zeborz, he told him the whole story and was interrupted. “I know,” he said, “I understand what you did but did you tell the innkeeper how he is supposed to act later on?”

“Yes I did” replied R’ Mendel.

Shortly after this, the oisher started losing all his money and after a time he became an absolutely poor man and had to join a group of עניים who used to go from one town to another to beg for funds.

Meanwhile, R’ Mendel of Kossov himself became known as a Rebbe and people flocked to him. After many years, this previous oisher who was now such an onei, reached Kossov and had no idea who this Rebbe was, but was told by other poor people that he was very generous in giving tzedoka. He, therefore, went to see him.

R’ Mendel recognised him and said to him “I know who you are and I am going to give you a letter to a very rich man and you will see that you will be helped.”

The poor fellow was absolutely astounded but he took the letter and went to where he was told. He then handed over the letter to this wealthy man. 15 years had elapsed since the original story and before the man had opened the letter he called in his wife, and said “Do you recognise this man?”. They both looked intently at him and something clicked. Meanwhile, he said to his wife “You know that I had a dream last night, that the Rebbe of Kossov was going to send me a letter stating that I have got to now pay back a favour that was done to us long ago.” They discussed it with the poor man and he finally remembered that he had many years ago helped as mentioned at the beginning of the story. They then journeyed back together to R’ Mendel of Kossov who instructed the rich man to give a very generous sum to the poor individual who once again started business and became very successful and an oisher again.

As I said גלגל הוא החזיר בעולם

כ''ו אב 5767

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NOACH א מרחשון 5768

Good morning everybody, I am once again, pleased to be back speaking to you.

This week’s sedra parshas Noach is, as we all know, a very interesting one. As we read in the first posek of the sedra אלה תולדת נח נח איש צדיק תמים היה בדרתיו את האלקים התהלך נח Noach has titles and praises showered on him more than any other person in the whole of Torah איש ,צדיק ,תמים. Neither Avrohom nor any other of the Avos or Moshe Rabbenu have so many praiseworthy titles appended to them. Why did Noach merit this?


I have other questions regarding Noach. If you go back to the last posek of the previous sedra it reads as follows ונח מצא חן בעיני ה' If we look carefully at that posek the words נח and חן are actually the same letters but inverted. The Torah does not play with words and here you can see that there is a definite correlation and that the Torah is trying to tell us something. In fact, if you read that verse first, and then the next one that we started off with, you get a whole picture. Noach found grace in the eyes of the Hashem. These are the history of the generations, and history, of Noach. Noach was an איש צדיק תמים in his generations and he walked with Elokim, Hashem.

The name נח is mentioned four times in these two pesukim. I don’t believe that it happens anywhere else in Torah that you have the same person’s name mentioned so many times in just two verses.

Let us go back further, to when he was actually born. The Torah tells us that Lemach was 182 years of age and he finally had a son and the Torah continues
ממעשנו ויקרא את שמו נח לאמר זה ינחמנו
The whole wording is strange. Lemach called his name Noach “saying”, What is this לאמר?. What did he say; the Torah continues this (person נח) will comfort us from our works and the toil of our hands. We find that Rashi, at great length, discusses the fact that his name should really have been Menachem מנחם which means comfort or comforter and is related to ינחמנו so why was he called Noach rather than Menachem? Rashi concludes that during Noach’s time the earth rested from the original curse that there would be difficulty in producing food and, therefore נח means “rest”

One other interesting thing is that on the word זה “This”, we have two טעמי המקרא the נגינות, trop, they are תלישא גדולה followed by a גרשים. It is very unusual that there should be two נגינות on one word and even more unusual when there are only two letters to the word. Even more peculiar is that fact that when the Baal Koreh reads this he sings the גרשים before the תלישא גדולה.

One final difficulty is that there is a אות משונה in the ז and this, of course, I must explain. There are certain letters in Torah that by tradition were not written in the normal way. We all know about the big ב of בראשית and the small א of ויקרא but in addition, on rare, but some, occasions there is an אות משונה . That means they are written with something different about them, not in the normal way and I have, today brought with me a copy of these unusual ways of writing letters as extracted from a Sefer called מחזור ויטרי written by a Talmid of Rashi. If you look at each individual letter, you will see that they are sometimes most extraordinary and if you look at the ז it looks like almost a ת with a line through the middle. The ז of זה has by tradition this similar split in it.

I feel sure that by now, you all realise that Noach birth and Noach’s life were all something very special.

In order to explain this special quality, I think we have to go back to the creation of Odom Harishon who was created by Hashem as the perfect man, both physically and spiritually. The Torah tells us when he was created on the sixth day of Maasei Beraishis, ויברא אלקים את האדם בצלמו בצלם אלקים ברא אתו and Hashem created the man in his image, in the image of Hashem he created him.

צלם אלקים is a special spiritual affinity with Hashem.

If you go back to the beginning of the sixth day of creation and count the words commencing from ויאמר אלקים תוצא הארץ נפש חיה למינה and you keep on counting the words until you come to ויברא אלקים את האדם בצלמו בצלם אלקים you will find that there are exactly 58 words. The gemmatria of נח and חן is each 58. What I am suggesting is that ונח מצא חן means that Noach found grace in the eyes of Hashem because he adhered to the חן namely the צלם אלקים the special spiritual affinity with Hashem.

The Zohar Hakodesh at the end of Parshas Beraishis and the Midrash likewise both comment on a posek in tehillim which says אשר שם שמות בארץ The Rishonim, the original inhabitants of this world used to have kavona, they gave names to their children according to their attributes. The word שמות is interpreted as “names”.

If we go back two generations, the great-grandfather of Noach was the famous חנוך Here, in his name also, we have the Ches and the Nun, the חן but in addition we have a Vov and a Chof which adds up to 26 which is the same gemmatria as the name of Hashem. What I am suggesting is that his father also gave him a name which had in it this hint that he would attain a very high spiritual level, that he would have this צלם אלקים and הוי' integrally in himself. In fact, we find that he unusually died very young for those generations, he was only 365 years of age and the Torah tells us
ויתהלך חנוך את האלקים ואיננו כי לקח אתו אלקים
Rashi comments that he was a Tzaddik and he looked as if he would possibly be going to sin and, therefore, Hashem took him from the world earlier than he should have otherwise departed. There is a medrash which says the כוחות הטומאה ganged up on him and I suggest that because his name so clearly showed that he had this spiritual affinity, extreme pressure was put on him to make him sin.

When his grandson, Lemach, had a son, he realised that this boy also had the potential to be spiritually bound up with Hashem as had happened to חנוך. He was scared that the same thing might happen to his son as had happened to חנוך. Therefore, he did not name him חנוך after his great-grandfather but named him נח and when asked about the name explained that he, נח, would comfort everybody by inventing a plough to make agriculture easier. That being the implication of לאמר, saying ממעשנו זה ינחמנו

We find that when ראובן was born to Leah, the Torah tells us that she called him ראובן because כי ראה ה' בעניי Hashem saw my humiliation (because Yaakov was still upset that she had replaced Rochel) Rashi there quotes Chazal who explain that she said ראו מה בין בני לבין חמי etc. See the difference between my son and the son of my father-in-law (namely Eisav). Why was it that our Chazal gave a different explanation from that which is written in Torah as being the reason for Reuvain’s name? If you look carefully at what is written in Torah it says כי אמרה, when she was asked she said, see my discomfort and humiliation. That was the טעם גלוי, the official explanation. But deeper down there was a hidden reason, a hidden meaning טעם כמוס.

What I am suggesting is, that a similar occurrence took place when נח was born. His father gave an official reason for the name but there was this deeper explanation, namely, that Noach had the potential to adhere to the צלם אלקים

We can now understand the last posek of Beraishis ,ונח מצא חן בעיני ה'because he, unlike all of his generation had not gone astray.

The third verse in Noach states
ותשחת הארץ לפני האלקים ותמלא הארץ חמס
(All the inhabitants of) the earth had become corrupt before Hashem and the earth had become filled with robbery.

The next posek itself states כי השחית כל בשר את דרכו everybody was affected and it was only Noach who stood out against the depravity, permissiveness and loss of spirituality and lack of affinity with Hashem. It is because of this that he was given such extraordinary titles.

Let us enumerate them again, איש a man, a mensch, the way every person should be, צדיק righteous, תמים perfect. If that is not enough את האלקים התהלך נח he walked with Hashem. Every action of his was in accordance with what Hashem really wanted and that is precisely the idea of adhering to צלם אלקים.

Avrohom Avinu was 58 years old when Noach passed away. As the אבן עזרא puts it כשנח נח היה אברהם בן נח. The midrash says that he, in fact, did meet Noach and obviously knew the background of why the mabul had taken place. He, followed by Yitzchok, Yaakov and Moshe Rabbenu etc., had the example of Noach and what happened in his lifetime to learn from and, therefore, it was not so difficult for them to retain their צלם אלקים .

Let me come back to other points I have raised, namely the two neginos on the word זה and even more extraordinary that the Baal Koreh reads them the other way round. First you have a תלישא גדולה and then you have a גרשים and yet when the Baal Koreh reads them he intones the גרשים first.

The word תלישא is similar to תלוש which means to tear out, so תלישא גדולה means a great tearing out. The Zohar Hakodesh says that תלישא also means תל אש a mound where there was previously a property that has all been destroyed., aish is fire. This is exactly what happened at the time of the מבול, the whole world was uprooted and Hashem used boiling hot water. So the תלישא גדולה is a hint to the mabul which took place in the lifetime of Noach, namely זה, this one, during his lifetime this will happen.

The other side of the coin is that you have Noach standing out against the yetzer horah and all the evil influences. He pushed them away and that is, גרשים. To divorce, to drive away these bad influences and yetzer horah etc. He succeeded.

If you would ask most people what was the greatest event that happened during Noach’s lifetime, the immediate answer would be the mabul but really on a spiritual level, it was even more impressive that he managed to stand out against the whole of his generation. Therefore, when it comes to the Baal Koreh reading these two niginos, both on the word זה , he reads the גרשים first to emphasise that at a very high level that was the first and foremost and primary achievement of Noach.

The fact that the ז is split into two, an אות משונה, comes to tell us that Noach spanned two different epochs of the world one before the mabul and the second after the mabul. The world after the mabul was quite different, for example, things grew differently, people were already allowed to eat meat and there was little comparison with before and after the mabul.

However, Noach remained steadfast in his adherence of צלם אלקים and as it says איש צדיק תמים היה בדרתיו in his generations, both before and after the מבול

Looking carefully at the two words צלם אלקים we can discover a deeper meaning than just the simple explanation mentioned above of being a special spiritual affinity with Hashem. Taking the word צלם the letter צ has a numerical value of 90. The ל has a numerical value of 30, the מ is an end ם. The mekubulim tell us that in addition to the letters of the אלך בית, up to ת the end lettersץ ף ך ם ן also have numerical values. ת equals 400 and ם equals 500, ן equals 600 etc.. Accordingly, in respect of צלם we have, therefore the 500, as well as the 90 plus 30 totalling 620. This is equivalent to the 613 mitzvos the Torah has given us, together with the 7 mitzvos d’rabbonon which, therefore, total 620. Furthermore, it equals the word כתר, a crown. By adhering to all the mitzvos, we are, in effect, figuratively speaking putting a crown on the head of Hashem, namely confirming that He is King of the whole universe.

This dovetails with the expression לעולם ועד יהו' מלך יהו' מלך יהו' ימלוך (total numerical value 620) which, in fact, is not a verse anywhere but is taken from three different posukim. This is said every morning in the middle of יהי כבוד and elsewhere in davening. Once again, we are stating that Hashem, Was King, Is King and Will always be King, proclaiming His ultimate Kingship over the whole of the universe. All this is part of us retaining and proclaiming our צלם אלקים.

Turning to the second word namely אלקים utilising on the numerical values, we have א equals 1, ל equals 30, ה equals 5, י equals 10, and ם is again 500 all totalling 546.

We have a tradition that 91 is the total of two words namely א - ד - נ – ' equals 65 and י - ה - ו – ' equalling 26. Those two words signify our acceptance of Hashem as Lord, Adnus and Havaya, not only Hashem of mercy but the true Name of Hashem שם העצם 6 times 91 is 546. This alludes to the fact that אלקים which represents מידת הדין , in depth, has in it qualities including mercy and the ultimate Name of Hashem. This is true for all points of the compass, North, East, South, West as well as Up and Down, namely, 6 times 91 = 546.

There are other mekubolim who tell us that the numerical values ofץ ף ך ם ן are in the order of how the letters are in the אלך בית so therefore, ך would be 500, ם would equal 600 etc.

According to that calculation the word צלם would, therefore, be צ equals 90, ל equals 30 and ם equals 600 and therefore the total is 720.

The name of Hashem הוי' can be spelt out in full, מלוי in four ways. The one with the greatest numerical value is יוד הי ויו הי, that totals 72. This is known as the spelling of the Shem Haviya associated with the highest world עולם האצילות . From that very high point through the ten ספירות, the קדושה of Hashem descended to this world. 72 times 10 equals 720. Once again, the implication is that by adhering to צלם אלקים one has a unbroken cord right up to the highest spiritual world as when Hashem created Odom Harishon.

Furthermore, ע''ב is the same gemmatria as חסד and by adhering to this, one brings down from the upper worlds Hashem’s loving kindness to ourselves. אלקים on the other hand being מידת הדין represents the fact that we have to always have יראת ה' we must never forget to be in awe, full of reverence for the בורא עולם the creator of the whole world.

To sum up, we, therefore, have in the depths of צלם אלקים much deeper spiritual affinity with Hashem, than just appears on the surface.


I feel sure that you will agree that Noach can serve as a great example for all of us nowadays. I do not think that we need to dwell too much on the frightening moral decay and lack of standards of behaviour taking place over the past decades, the permissive society. We, at least, have the example shown by Noach and also all the mitzvos of Torah to help us to withstand the moral decadence and continuing new inventions which are used in a bad way to try to influence us in an incorrect manner.

I have just returned from Los Angeles having spent an inspiring and spiritually uplifting Succos with my family who live in Los Angeles. There is a thriving Yiddishe kehilla there. In the Toras Emes school alone there are well over 1,000 school children studying and experiencing חנוך, על טהרת הקודש, there are thriving Botei Midrash with limud Hatorah, kollelim, mikvoas, a strong Beth Din and a reliable Kashrus organisation etc.

Do you know in which part of Los Angeles this is all situated, in Hollywood!! Yes, one mile or so from Sunset Boulevard the מקור הטומאה there are Yidden who proudly adhere to the צלם אלקים. There are, in addition, numerous בעלי תשובה among them, many of whom have progressed so far that they are completed integrated into the original kehilla.

This just goes to prove that if Noach could do it, against all of his generation, we can certainly try to emulate him and retain our צלם אלקים together with the rest of Klal Yisroel until the coming of משיח , במהרה בימינו אמן

Thank you.

Start the Day the Torah Way א מרחשון 5768

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YAAKOV’S SHEEP

The Sedra Veyiteizei contains the whole story of Yaakov’s sojourn in Haran. We are told that he wished to marry Lovon’s younger daughter Rochel and was duped by Lovon who switched Rochel with Leah. Yaakov did finally marry both plus, of course, two further hand maidens, Bilhah and Zilpah. From these good ladies came the twelve sons of Yaakov known as the shevotim and, of course, Dinah. In order to marry Rochel, Yaakov worked for seven years, as a shepherd, for Lovon and then worked a further seven years after he was given Leah before Rochel. At the end of the 14 years he approached Lovon with a request that he be allowed to earn as an independent person rather than employee and so build up some capital himself. Interestingly enough, Yaakov did not request money or chattels in payment.

We then have the extraordinary suggestion made by Yaakov as follows; there were sheep of all colours, plain white, speckled, striped etc, other than white. Yaakov suggested that all the animals that were not pure white should be separated out and kept completely separate from the ones that were with white wool.

He, Yaakov, would retain the ones that were pure white and only the off spring of those white sheep which were striped, speckled and otherwise coloured in some way would be Yaakov’s property to retain.

Lovon jumped at this suggestion because it meant that he did not have to actually physically pay any money but he also did something which had not been agreed, namely, Yaakov, suggested that he himself would separate out the pure white from the others but Lovon and his sons went and did it the same day, obviously because they were scared that some sheep would not be separated properly.

The posek carries on והכשבים הפריד יעקב, Yaakov separated the lambs. The Seforim HaKedoshim state that this alludes to the souls, 600,000 plus males over 20 years of age who stood at Har Sinai and accepted the Torah. Yaakov then proceeded to use a number of objects including dark coloured ones to put in the troughs where the sheep came to drink and subsequently all sheep born were not white, but speckled, striped etc.

It is related about R’ Moshe Teitlebaum, the Yismach Moshe, that he said that he could remember being one of the sheep concerned and even showed a mark on his back where Yaakov had once hit him to get him into line. Indeed, remarkable!!

Yaakov’s flocks increased rapidly and he became rich. The Medrash states that Yaakov’s sheep were measured in the millions. This, of course, could tie in with the males, females and children of Bnei Yisroel who, no doubt, exceeded 3 million at the time of יציאת מצרים .

The Sepher גלי רזיא states that we find a verse as follows דבר צוה לאלף דור Hashem gave the Torah (at the end of) a thousand generations. The Gemora says that we only received the Torah 26 generations after בריאת העולם, and there were 974 generations previously. Those generations were not actually brought down in this world. What the גלי רזיא says is that the souls of those generations were מתגלגל reincarnated (?) into the pure white sheep set aside by Yaakov.

The גלי רזיא also states that this accounts for the great and rapid increase in the numbers of the Bnei Yisroel during their 210 years sojourn in Egypt. They had to achieve over 600,000 males alone after having gone down to Egypt with only 70.

We, therefore, can understand why Yaakov wanted to have as his reward, lambs that had been separated in the particular way. The question occurs to me as to why Yaakov suggested the separation that particular way round, namely that he should retain the white sheep and all the others should be taken away by Lovon. Subsequently, all the ones that were striped, speckled etc. were Yaakov’s reward. He could have done it the other way round, namely that he should retain all the spotted, speckled etc. sheep and Lovon should take the white ones. In fact, it would have made sense because of the name, Lovon, meaning white.

I would suggest that Yaakov wanted to produce the souls of the Jewish nation who accepted the Torah from a completely pure source, namely, those which had not been utilised, being from the 974 generations before the world was created. However, Yaakov realised that however pure these souls were, because we have a verse which states כי אדם אין צדיק בארץ אשר יעשה טוב ולא יחטא , there is no righteous person on this world who does only good and has never sinned, that is was incumbent on him to prepare these souls himself, for use. Therefore, although they would become somewhat “soiled” over later generations, because of Yaakov’s involvement, it would be possible to purify the souls once again subsequently לתקן אותם

Because of this, he retained the pure white ones, and then proceeded to make the offspring speckled, striped, etc.

As I stated earlier on, the souls of the Bnei Yisroel stood at Har Sinai and accepted the Torah. We find at the beginning of Bamidbar that Moshe was told to count them and the total count then was 603,550. The word לגולגלתם is mentioned twice, it is usually translated as a head count but I am suggesting that this refers back to the original souls of the 974 generations which via the intercession of Yaakov had passed over to the members of Bnei Yisroel.

We also find that Hashem instructed Moshe to tell the Bnei Yisroel to set aside two sheep each day, one to be sacrificed in the morning and one in the afternoon
את הכבש האחד תעשה בבוקר – ואת הכבש השני תעשה בין הערבים. The lambs had to be perfect תמימם. This is known as the קרבן תמיד.

If one bears in mind that the Jewish year is based on the lunar calendar but 7 in every 19 years had a leap month, an extra Adar, to bring it in line with the solar calendar this would mean that there were be 365 times 2 equals 730 sheep sacrificed each year, as the קרבן תמיד. The first temple stood for 410 years. The second stood for 420 years, totalling 830 years. If one multiplies 730 by 830 this comes to 605,900 sheep in total for the two Temples.

However, we know that for three years before the Chashmonaim recaptured Yerushalayim and the nes of Chanukah is celebrated the קרבן תמיד was not sacrificed.

Antiochus had decreed that the bringing of קרבנות should be stopped and it took three years until this was restored. (See History of the Jewish People, The Second Temple Era, pages 64 and 72.)

This would, therefore, amount to 3 x 720 = 2,160 sheep not having been brought as a קרבן תמיד during that period. This would, therefore, leave only 603,740 sheep during the 830 years that the two בתי מקדש stood.

Furthermore, the Gemora tells us in three places (Sotah 49b etc.) that two descendents of the Hasmonean, named Hyrkonus and Astrobolus, were fighting one another. There was a power struggle to rule the country. Whoever controlled Yerushalayim would control the whole country. Hyrkonus was outside Yerushalayim and Astrobolus inside. There was a shortage of lambs for קרבנות. The people inside sent money over the walls and lambs were hauled up. Hyrkonus was supported by the Hellenists who spoke Greek and tried to adopt the Hellenistic culture. One elderly person who understood this, told them that as long as the service in the Temple continued, i.e. sacrificing the קרבן תמיד, etc., those outside would not defeat the ones inside. Therefore, the next day, when money was sent over the wall they sent an unclean animal, a pig, and when it reached halfway up the wall it put its nails into the wall and the whole of Eretz Yisroel was shaken by this.

From this we see that there were times when the קרבן תמיד was suspended and not sacrificed. Furthermore when the Romans besieged Yerushalayim some time before the destruction of the second Temple, it would appear that there was nothing to eat in the city and therefore, there was very unlikely to have been any animals to sacrifice, as they would have, otherwise, been used to give people food to eat.

We even find this in respect of the first Temple where, before its destruction, Nebuchadnezar besieged the city and once again there was hunger. It would therefore be fair to assume that the lambs needed for the קרבן תמיד were just not available. Therefore the total figure of 605,900 needs to be reduced somewhat.

The number of Jewish People, who were counted at the beginning of Bamidbar, amounted to 603,550 as I mentioned above. Would it be too fanciful to suggest that the amount of sheep sacrificed in total at the time of the two temples was the same as the amount of Jewish people counted as mentioned above. These, in turn, had the souls of the sheep that Yaakov had set aside 250 years earlier and these souls themselves had come from the 974 generations before בריאת העולם.

The verse I quoted earlier on was והכשבים הפריד יעקב, the gemmatria of כשבים is 372. Remarkably all the other lambs which were brought as קרבנות in a year, other than the קרבן תמיד twice daily, add up to 372, this is arrived at as follows:-

Every Shabbos 2 x 52 104
Every Rosh Chodosh 7 x 12 84
7 days of Pesach 7 x 7 49
2nd Day of Pesach extra 7 7
Shavous 9
Rosh Hashanah 7
Yom Kippur 7
Sukkos 7 x 14 98
Shiminei Atzeres 7
372

You will, perhaps have noticed that the original verse I quoted והכשבים הפריד יעקב refers to the lambs as being כשב. When I quoted the verses concerning קרבן תמיד, it is called כבש. Whilst the first letter remains the same the ש and the ב are inverted. In most every place in Torah where “lamb” is mentioned, it is written כבש. Perhaps we can understand why when Yaakov separated the lambs the order of the letters is inversed and we have כשב.

There is a very famous Medrash about the letters of the alef bais appearing before Hashem and requesting that the whole of Torah be commenced with that particular letter and it starts from ת and works backwards. Finally, Hashem says to the ב yes I am going to chose you because you represent ברכה a blessing. That is why the first letter in the Sefer Torah is a ב. Bearing in mind that I mentioned above the pure unsullied souls that Yaakov utilised in respect of the lambs came from the 974 generations before creation of the world, prior to בראשית, by writing the word כשב with the ב as the last letter, there is an allusion to the fact that this all came from prior to the ב.

However, later on when the קרבן תמיד was sacrificed and other korbonos were brought from lambs normally the expression used is כבש because these were sacrificed subsequently to the Torah having been given.

חז''ל tell us מעשה אבות סימן לבנים the actions of our forefathers, Avrohom, Yitzchok and Yaakov, have a bearing on, and influence how, future generations behave and what transpires in future generations. I believe that Yaakov’s sheep are a prime example.

ב טבת תשס''ח

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