Torah Tidbits Issue 1350 - 07/12/19

ISSUE 1350 DEC. 7TH '19

‫ט' כסלו תש"פ‬

‫פרשת ויצא‬

PARSHAT VAYEITZEI

WONDERFUL WELLSPRINGS

By Rebbetzin Shira Smiles see page 34

VAYEITZEI: LCHAIM!

By Rabbi Judah Mischel see page 36

‫ׂשם ַֽי ֲע ֧קֹב ֶאת־‬ ָ֨ ְ‫"ו‬ ‫ַה ַּמ ְק ֛לוֹת ְל ֵעינֵ֥י‬ "‫טים‬ ִ֑ ‫ַה ּ֖צֹאן ָּֽב ְר ָה‬

YERUSHALAYIM IN/OUT TIMES FOR SHABBAT PARSHAT VAYEITZEI Candles 4:00PM Havdala 5:15PM Rabbeinu Tam 5:53PM

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PARSHAPIX

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WORD OF THE MONTH This past Motza"Sh, as predicted, arguments broke out in some shuls as to whether KL could be said, since it was only after two days of the month. The point we made last week was that KL can be said after 3 full days after the molad. Which it was on Motza"Sh. If you haven't said KL yet, do not wait for Motza"Sh. Wednesday or Thursday nights are good. But not Friday night.

This year, Kislev has 30 days. That's its 'regular' number of days. It has 30 days in K'seder years (which occur 29½% of the time) and in Shaleim years (about 45%). Only in Chaseir years does it lose its 30th day (25½%of years). So R"Ch Tevet is two days (as it will be this year) 74½% of the time, and only one day, 25½% of the time.

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TORAH TIDBITS / VAYEITZEI 5780

OTHER Z'MANIM

CANDLE LIGHTING A N D H AV DA L A T I M ES

JERUSALEM CANDLES

4:00 4:18 4:16 4:15 4:15 4:15 4:15 4:15 4:16 4:00 4:14 4:03 4:13 4:14 4:15 4:16 4:17 4:16 4:01 4:10

VAYEITZEI

Yerushalayim / Maale Adumim Aza area (Netivot, S’deirot, Bet al)

Beit Shemesh / RBS Gush Etzion Raanana/ Tel Mond/ Herzliya/ K. Saba

Modi’in / Chashmona’im Netanya Be’er Sheva Rehovot Petach Tikva Ginot Shomron Haifa / Zichron Gush Shiloh Tel Aviv / Giv’at Shmuel Giv’at Ze’ev Chevron / Kiryat Arba Ashkelon Yad Binyamin Tzfat / Bik’at HaYarden Golan

HAVDALA VAYISHLACH

5:15 5:18 5:16 5:15 5:16 5:16 5:15 5:18 5:16 5:16 5:14 5:14 5:14 5:16 5:15 5:16 5:18 5:17 5:11 5:11

4:01 4:19 4:17 4:16 4:16 4:16 4:16 4:17

5:17 5:20 5:18 5:17 5:17 5:17 5:17 5:19

4:17 5:18 4:01 5:17 4:15 5:16 4:04 5:16 4:15 5:16 4:15 5:16 4:16 5:17 4:17 5:18 4:19 5:19 4:17 5:18 4:02 5:13 4:11 5:12

Rabbeinu Tam (J'lem) - 5:53pm • next week - 5:54pm OU Kashrut  NCSY  Jewish Action  JLIC NJCD / Yachad / Our Way  OU West Coast  OU Press  Synagogue/ Community Services  OU Advocacy  OU Israel MOISHE BANE, PRESIDENT OF THE ORTHODOX UNION Howard Tzvi Friedman, Chairman of the Board, Orthodox Union | Dr. Michael Elman, OU Israel Chair | Gary Torgow, Chair, OU Kashrus Commission ALLEN FAGIN, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT | Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Exec. V.P. Emeritus | Rabbi Steven Weil, Senior Managing Director | Shlomo Schwartz, Chief Financial Officer | Lenny Bessler, Chief Human Resources Officer | Rabbi Dave Felsenthal, Chief Innovation Officer OU KOSHER: Rabbi Menachem Genack, CEO/Rabbinic Administrator OU Kosher | Rabbi Moshe Elefant, COO/Executive Rabbinic Coordinator ISRAEL: Rabbi Yossi Tirnauer, Rabbinic Coordinator OU Israel | Rabbi Yissachar Dov Krakowski, Rabbinic Field Representative Headquarters: 11 Broadway, New York, NY 10004 212-563-4000  website: www.ou.org

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RANGES ARE 11 DAYS, WED-SHABBAT 6-16 KISLEV (DEC 4-14) Earliest Talit & T'filin Sunrise Sof Z'man K' Sh'ma

5:29-5:36am 6:23-6:30¾am 8:56-9:02am

(Magen Avraham: 8:17-8:23am)

Sof Z'man T'fila

(Magen Avraham: 9:15-9:20am)

Chatzot (Halachic noon) Mincha Gedola (Earliest Mincha) Plag Mincha Sunset (counting elevation) (based on sea level: 4:35-4:36½pm)

9:47-9:52am

11:29-11:33½am 12:00-12:04pm 3:31-3:331/4pm 4:40-4:413/4pm

Seymour J. AbramsOrthodox Union Jerusalem World CenterAvrom Silver Jerusalem College for AdultsWolinetz Family ShulMakom BaLevBirthrightYachadNCSY in IsraelJLIC in IsraelPearl & Harold M. Jacobs ZULA Outreach CenterThe Jack Gindi Oraita ProgramOU Israel Kashrut

ZVI SAND, PRESIDENT, OU ISRAEL Yitzchak Fund, Former President, OU Israel | Rabbi Emanuel Quint z”l, Senior Vice President | Prof. Meni Koslowsky, Vice President | Dr. Simcha Heller, Vaad member | Stuart Hershkowitz, Vaad member | Moshe Kempinski, Vaad member | Sandy Kestenbaum, Vaad member | Ben Wiener, Vaad member | Harvey Wolinetz, Vaad member RABBI AVI BERMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OU ISRAEL David Katz, CFO, OU Israel | Chaim Pelzner, Director of Programs, OU Israel | Rabbi Sam Shor, Director of Programs, OU Israel Center | Rabbi Sholom Gold, Dean, Avrom Silver Jerusalem College for Adults

22 Keren HaYesod <> POB 37015 <> Jerusalem 91370 phone: (02) 560 9100 | fax: (02) 566-0156 email: office@ouisrael.org | website: www.ouisrael.org Founders and initial benefactors of the OU Israel Center: George and Ilse Falk a”h OU Israel, Torah Tidbits and Anglo Media do not endorse the political or halachic positions of its editor, columnists or advertisers, nor guarantee the quality of advertised services or products. Nor do we endorse the kashrut of hotels, restaurants, caterers or food products that are advertised in TT (except, of course, those under OU-Israel hashgacha).

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Torah Tidbits and many of the projects of OU Israel are assisted by grants from MISRAD HACHINUCH- Dept of Tarbut Yehudit

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WEEKLY INSPIRATION ‫ אי אפשר לישראל אלא בארץ‬,‫ במחשבה ובתקף החיים והמפעל‬, ‫יצירה עצמית ישראלית‬ )‫ה‬:‫ הרב אברהם יצחק הכהן קוק זצ"ל (ארץ חפץ ב‬,‫ישראל‬

Authentic Jewish creativity in thought and in life and action is only possible for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel.

HaRav Avraham Yizchak HaKohen Kook zt”l (Eretz Chefetz 2:5)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

06 16 20 26 30 34 36 40 47 48 50

Aliya by Aliya Phil Chernofsky

“What’s In a Name?”

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb Laban the Aramean Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Probing the Prophets Rabbi Nachman Winkler

True Love – From Years to Days Rabbi Shalom Rosner

Wonderful Wellsprings Rebbetzin Shira Smiles Vayeitzei: L’chaim!

Rabbi Judah Mischel OU ISRAEL CENTER SCHEDULE Torah Tidbits This 'n That Phil Chernofsky Simchat Shmuel Rabbi Sam Shor

Every Person Has Three Names Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider

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TORAH TIDBITS / VAYEITZEI 5780

56 58 60 62 64 66 70 72 74 76 78

WEEKLY OU KASHRUT PAGE Divrei Menachem Menachem Persoff Partial Participation in a Wedding Rav Daniel Mann, Eretz Chemda A Damaged Organ Rabbi Gideon Weitzman, Machon Puah Are Raspberries Subject to Orlah?

Rabbi Moshe Bloom Parshat Vayeitzei Rabbi Berel Wein

Our Dreams – A Portal to Eternity!

Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher A Lesson in History Sivan Rahav Meir Fetching Water Rabbi David Walk I Probably Should Have Rabbi Benji Levy Torah 4 Teens By Teens Rabbi Michael Kahn // Yacov Segal

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VAYEITZEI STATS 7th of 54 sedras; 7th of 12 in B'reishit Written on 235.3 lines, ranks 12th Vayeitzei is one single very long (closed) Parsha. It's being a S'TUMA fits with the fact that it is a continuation of the To-l'dot story. It is the Torah’s longest closed parsha, and second only to the open parsha that is all of Mikeitz (254.6 lines) 148 p'sukim - rank: 6th (3rd in B'reishit) 2021 words - rank: 4th (3rd in B'reishit) 7512 letters - rank: 5th (3rd in B'reishit)

ALIYA-BY-ALIYA SEDRA SUMMARY [P> X:Y (Z)] and [S> X:Y (Z)] indicate start of a parsha p’tucha or s’tuma. X:Y is Perek:Pasuk of the Parsha’s beginning; (Z) is the number of p’sukim in the parsha.

KOHEN FIRST ALIYA 13 P'SUKIM - 28:10-22 [S> 28:10 (148)] Yaakov leaves Be'er Sheva and goes to Haran.

SDT why

the

There

are

different

explanations concerning the wording of this pasuk. As to Torah

mentions

Yaakov's

departure (especially having mentioned it

MITZVOT

a couple of times at the end of Toldot).

Rashi explains that a prominent person

None of the 613 mitzvot are in Vayeitzei

not only influences his surroundings, but

This is one of 17 mitzva-less sedras, 9 of which are in Sefer B'reishit, 3 in Sh'mot, none in Vayikra, 2 in Bamidbar, and 3 in D'varim.

negative way. Therefore, the Torah not

his absence from a place is also felt, in a only tells us that Yaakov went to Haran; it also tells us that he left Be'er Sheva, and his absence was felt - even though Yitzchak (and Rivka) remained there. (Perhaps, especially because Yitzchak and Rivka remained in Be’er Sheva - they would feel Yaakov’s absence the most!)

Another explanation - In leaving Be'er Sheva, Yaakov was fulfilling the wishes of his mother Rivka, who feared that Eisav would kill Yaakov if he remained.

In going to Haran, Yaakov was fulfilling

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TORAH TIDBITS / VAYEITZEI 5780

the wishes of his father, Yitzchak (and also his mother's), who sent him there to find a suitable wife. The pasuk tells us of Yaakov's departure from Be'er Sheva AND his journey to Haran, to show us that it was important to satisfy the wishes of BOTH his parents. (Rivka did not tell Yitzchak about the danger to Yaakov if he were to remain home.)

He

encounters

"The

Place"

(it

is

unidentified in the text, but is traditionally considered to be Har Moriah, the site of the Akeida, and the location of the future Beit HaMikdash) and stays the night. He dreams of a ladder with its feet planted on the ground and whose top reaches the heavens. Angels are ascending and descending the ladder.

SDT

The S'fat Emet points out that the ladder in Yaakov's dream is described first as

having its feet planted on the ground (representing worldli- ness and/or basic decency) and then its head reaching the heavens (repre- senting spiritual pursuits).

This is consistent with the famous maxim - Derech Eretz Kodma laTorah, worldliness (should) precedes Torah.

In the dream, G-d appears to Yaakov at the head of the ladder and reiterates to him the promises He made to Avraham and Yitzchak. These oft- repeated promises have consistently included the possession of the Land and the "countless" nature of their descendants. This prophecy also includes G-d's promise of protection for Yaakov on his sojourn.

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Yaakov awakens from his sleep and

and left the land for an extended time. In

acknowledges the sanctity of the Place.

Parshat Vayishlach, we find his returning

When Yaakov awakens in the morning,

to Eretz Yisrael is both a physical return

he takes the stone (formerly referred to in

and a spirtiual one.

the plural) that was at his head, and erects it as a monument, which he then anoints.

He names the place Beit El. Yaakov vows allegiance to G-d.

Jews - as far as Eretz Yisrael is concerned - have one of three role models to emulate.

You are either born in Israel and live your whole life here. Or you come on Aliya from

SDT: "And I will return to my father's

the place of your birth, or - if you were

home and HaShem will be for me, G-d."

born in Israel (or lived here at one time)

Ramban explains the connection between

and left to live elsewhere, you work your

Yaakov's return home with his "acquisition

way back to Eretz Yisrael.

of G-d". The Gemara in Ketuvot states that he who lives in Eretz Yisrael is like one who has G-d; he who lives outside Israel is like one without G-d. Yaakov's return from Lavan's house to his father's was a physical and spiritual Aliya - as is Aliya to Eretz Yisrael in our own time.

Avraham Avinu was born in Chutz LaAretz and was commanded by G-d to go and live in Eretz Yisrael, the land that he and his descendants would receive from G-d in perpetuity.

And

the

Gemara/Rambam's

point:

Coming on Aliya is not just a mitzva, it is the way a G-dless person acquires G-d for himself.

LEVI SECOND ALIYA 17 P'SUKIM - 29:1-17 Assured of G-d's protection upon leaving the Land (something Yaakov had reason to be unsure of), his pace quickens. He sees a well in a field, with three flocks

Yitzchak Avinu was born and raised in

of sheep gathered around. The well is

Eretz Yisrael, lived here all his life, never

covered by a large rock. It was the practice

having stepped foot outside the Land, and

of the shepherds to gather at the same

was "reminded" of that fact by G-d, when

time each day so that they would have the

Yitzchak might have left because of a

manpower necessary to remove the rock

famine (as did his father).

and then replace it after the sheep drank.

Yaakov Avinu was born in Eretz Yisrael

(This, to prevent water from being stolen by one shepherd or another.) Yaakov asks the shepherds who they are and why they gather so early in the afternoon to water their sheep.

When they tell him that they work for Lavan, Yaakov asks about his uncle's

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TORAH TIDBITS / VAYEITZEI 5780

wellbeing. The shepherds point out the approaching Rachel, daughter of Lavan.

They explain to Yaakov that they must cooperate with each other in order to physically remove the stone from the well. Just then, Yaakov sees Rachel, his cousin, and approaches the rock and single-handedly removes it from the mouth of the well in order to give water to his uncle's sheep. Yaakov kisses Rachel and weeps bitterly. (He weeps because he sees with Ru'ach HaKodesh that they are destined not to be buried together.)

Yaakov tells Rachel who he is - what their relationship is - she runs off to tell her father. When Lavan hears, he runs to welcome Yaakov, and brings him home to hear "the whole story". Lavan "offers" Yaakov a job and tells him "to name his price". Lavan had two daughters - Leah, the older one and Rachel, the younger one. Leah had "weak" (sensitive) eyes and Rachel was very beautiful.

SHLISHI THIRD ALIYA 31 P'SUKIM - 29:18-30:13 Yaakov loves Rachel and offers to work for seven years in exchange for her hand in marriage. Lavan agrees and the time flies by in Yaakov's eyes because of his great excitement. At the end of the seven years, Yaakov asks that the marriage take place.

Lavan gathers the locals for the wedding festivities and substitutes Leah for Rachel (with, we are taught, the consent of the girls).

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Although Lavan was the

seven years for Rachel. Zilpa and Bilha

deceiver, and had his own

are the hand- maidens of Leah and Rachel

motives,

Sources

respectively (commentaries say they too

indicate that it was Rachel who facilitated

were daughters of Lavan, from a pilegesh

the switch, motivated by love and

- there are other opinions as to who

compassion for her sister. Rachel gave her

exactly they were, including a Midrash

private "signals" to Leah to save her from

that says they were nieces of Devora,

a probable marriage to Eisav, Yitzchak's

Rivka's nursemaid). Yaakov showed his

biological elder. This compassion serves

obviously greater love of Rachel. As a

her descendants well many years later,

result, G-d made Leah fertile and Rachel

when

barren.

SDT

she

our

"intercedes"

before

G-d

following the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash. Tradition tells us that G-d "softened" the punishment with a promise of our return, only after Rachel pleaded before Him. According to Tradition, the Avot

and

Moshe

Rabeinu

had

not

succeeded in their pleas on behalf of the people.

When Yaakov confronts Lavan about the deceit, Lavan says that it is improper to marry off the younger before the older.

(This is the minhag in many communities, despite its Lavanic origin.)

Yaakov agrees to work an additional

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TORAH TIDBITS / VAYEITZEI 5780

Next the Torah tells us, in rapid succession, of the births of Reuven, Shimon,

Levi,

Yehuda.

Leah

names

each son (Levi was named by Yaakov or perhaps by an angel) with a name that expresses her thanks to G-d and her feelings under the unusual circumstances of her life.

Rachel, jealous of Leah, complains to Yaakov that she has no children. Yaakov gets angry with her, saying that it is G-d's doing, not his.

Rachel gives Bilha to Yaakov to have children whom she will raise as her own.

Dan and Naftali are born. Leah, realizing that she has stopped having children, gives Zilpa to Yaakov. Gad and Asher are the results.

Notice the rapid fashion the Torah employs to tell us of the build-up of Yaakov's family. With Avraham and Yitzchak having such a difficult time fathering children, Yaakov has 8 sons in a span of 16 p'sukim!

R'VI'I FOURTH ALIYA 14 P'SUKIM - 30:14-27 Rachel begs Reuven to give her the special

(fertility)

herbs

(DUDA'IM,

mandrake) that he had gathered for his mother, Leah. When Leah complains to her, Rachel promises that Yaakov could sleep with her that night in exchange for the herbs. When Yaakov returns from the fields, it is Leah who goes out to greet him - something Yaakov questions, and Leah explains. G-d answers Leah's prayers of despair, and she gives birth to Yissachar and then Zevulun. Then Leah gives birth to a girl, Dina. Finally, G-d "remembers" Rachel and she becomes pregnant.

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She gives birth and names her son Yosef, praying that she will have yet another son (giving her not fewer than the handmaidens had. Leah has also prayed to G-d that her sister should not be shamed by having fewer sons than the hand-maidens).

(again) and is completely unsuccessful.

Lavan's sons feel that Yaakov has cheated their father. G-d tells Yaakov to return to his birth-place. Yaakov calls to his wives and explains the situation to them. He tells them of being instructed by an angel as to what to do with the animals. Rachel

After Yosef is born, Yaakov asks his

and Leah feel as strangers in their father's

leave of Lavan. He desires to return to

house, as if they have no share in Lavan's

his fathers' home. He asks for his wives,

wealth, and they will do as G-d commands.

children, and compensation for all the work he has done for Lavan. Lavan acknowledges that he has been blessed because of Yaakov.

CHAMISHI 5TH ALIYA 32 P'SUKIM - 30:28-31:16 They make an arrangement by which Yaakov will be paid. Lavan repeatedly attempts to minimize the births of the goats and sheep that will be Yaakov's.

G-d has other plans and Yaakov becomes very wealthy. The details of the speckled, banded, spotted animals and how which gave birth to what, are obscure. The bottom line is that Lavan attempts to cheat Yaakov 12

TORAH TIDBITS / VAYEITZEI 5780

SHISHI SIXTH ALIYA 26 P'SUKIM - 31:17-42 Yaakov prepares to leave. Meanwhile, Rachel takes her father's TERAFIM in his absence. When Lavan becomes aware of Yaakov's departure, he sets out in pursuit. G-d appears to Lavan in a dream and warns him not to harm Yaakov in any way. When Lavan catches up to Yaakov, he confronts him about the unannounced departure and the missing terafim.

Rav Aryeh Kaplan zâ&#x20AC;?l in The Living Torah, expains Terafim according to

different opinions. Some say they were idols that were worshiped. This opinion adds that Rachel took them to save her father from the sin of idolatry. Others are of the opinion that they were meditative devices that would enable Lavan to divine the whereabouts of Yaakov. Thus Rachelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s motive was to prevent Lavan from pursuing Yaakov & Co. Yaakov answers in kind, expressing his anger at Lavan's repeated attempts to cheat him. As to the terafim, Yaakov permits Lavan to search for them and boldly declares that the one who took them shall not live. Lavan fails to find his terafim because Rachel convinces him not to search her person or belongings.

Had it not been for G-d's protection, Yaakov tells Lavan, you would have left me with nothing. â&#x20AC;˘ In the Hagada we read/say: VAYEIRED MITZRAIMA (Yaakov went down into Egypt), and this is qualified by, ANOOS AL PI HADIBUR, usually translated as "Forced

by Divine Decree". There is another explanation offered: It was Yaakov's DIBUR, his statement that forced himself down into Egypt. How so? He inadvertently condemned Rachel to an early death by his words to Lavan. This can be construed as killing B'SHOGEIG. Punishment (and atone- ment) for that is EXILE. (Really, to a city of refuge, but for this "drash", exile to Egypt will do.) Not only does this explanation fit the DIBUR part, but it can also explain why the Hagada connects Yaakov's descent into Egypt with Lavan.

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[Another explanation of a connection between Yaakov's time with Lavan and his (Yaakov's) descent into Mitzrayim goes like this: Lavan's switching of Leah for Rachel led to the friction between Leah's sons - Yosef's Brothers - and Rachel's son, Yosef. That resulted in Yosef

about to return to the Land). On the way, Yaakov names the place Machanayim.

Last 3 p'sukim are repeated for Maftir.

HAFTARA 28+2*P'SUKIM HOSHEIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;A 12:13-14:10

being sold into slavery in Egypt, which in turn brought Yaakov and family down to Egypt.]

*Sources

suggest

concluding

the

haftara with Yoel 2:26-27, in order to end the haftara on a better note than

SH'VII SEVENTH ALIYA 15 P'SUKIM - 31:43-32:3 Lavan answers that the women are his daughters, that the children are his (grand)children, and the animals are his as well. Yaakov and Lavan make a pact and form a mound of rocks as a

Hoshei'a ends with.

S'faradim read the 17-pasuk portion of Hoshei'a that preceeds the Ashkenazi reading, 11:7-12:12. Chabad do also, but they continue for two more p'sukim - namely, the first two p'sukim of the Ashkenazi reading.

sign of their agreement. Yaakov offers

This

a sacrifice to G-d and swears to the

book(let)

covenant. In the morning, Lavan kisses

reference to Yaakov's journey to Aram

his children and grandchildren, blesses

to find (and work on behalf of) a wife

them, and returns home.

(wives) - hence its obvious connection to

Yaakov continues on his journey and encounters angels (of Eretz Yisrael - the sedra thus comes full circle - he left Eretz Yisrael with Vayeitzei and now is

concluding of

portion

Hoshei'a

of

begins

the with

the sedra. The prophet points out to the People of Israel their humble origins, in an attempt to put things in perspective and restore their faith and reliance upon G-d.

The last 9 p'sukim of the haftara are also the first 9 p'sukim of the haftara of Shabbat Shuva. "...so will we offer the words of our lips instead of bulls." This is the textual link between prayer and korbanot.

Remember, the origin of Maariv is found in the sedra.

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TORAH TIDBITS / VAYEITZEI 5780

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RABBI DR. TZVI HERSH WEINREB THE PERSON BY OU Executive Vice President, Emeritus IN THE PARSHA

“What’s In a Name?”

“

Who am I?” This is the most powerful question that a person ever asks himself. For many of us, there are no easy answers to that question. We are uncertain of our own identities.

Social scientists believe that this question is typically asked by adolescents.

After all, it is legitimate for young people to be unsure of who they are. The task of the adolescent is to begin to define his or her identity, to formulate tentative answers to the question, “Who am I?” Often, however, individuals persist in struggling to answer the “Who am I?” question long after they have passed the stage of adolescence. The so-called “midlife crisis” can be understood as a time in life when one again asks himself the question, “Who am I?”, and a crisis arises when no clear answer to that question emerges.

An important component in the formulation of an answer to the “Who am I?” question is the answer to another question, “What’s in a name?” Each of us has a name, almost invariably given to us very early in our lives by our parents or parent figure.

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I would like to suggest that our sense of personal identity is in a large part determined by the names that we have been given. Our names were chosen for us because they have a certain meaning to those who named us. When our parents gave us our name, they also gave us a message about whom they expected us to be. Whether we ourselves are conscious of that message depends upon how explicit our parents were in their choice of our name. But on some level, we know that our name was not randomly chosen, and to a greater extent than we realize, our self-concepts are shaped by our names.

In this week’s Torah portion, Vayetze, no less than eleven newborns are given names. In every case, these names are given by women; by Leah and by Rachel.

Each name is carefully crafted by these women and is designed, not only to reflect the emotions of the moment, but to shape and give direction to the destinies of each of these children.

Let us consider but two examples: Leah gives her third son the name Levi, which means “connected,” or “attached.” This reflects her confidence that with the birth of a third son, her husband, Jacob, will become more attached to her. But it is also a message to the baby Levi that he will grow up to be “attached” to others.

In his lifetime, he is typically number two

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of the duo “Simon and Levi,” secondary to his brother. And his progeny become “attached” to the Almighty and to all things sacred as the tribe of priests for the rest of Jewish history.

from his widow, my great-grandmother.

I learned of his commitment not only to Jewish observance, but to all aspects of the Galitzianer culture, especially to its wry humor and nostalgic Chassidic tunes.

Leah then names her fourth child Judah, which means to praise or to thank, because of the special gratitude she experiences with his birth. And Judah ultimately, in his own life and through his descendants, gives praise to the Lord in his actions and with his words.

I visit his grave ever more frequently as time goes on. And I both consciously and unconsciously model myself after him. When I ask myself, “Who am I?”, a significant part of my answer relates back to him and to his name bequeathed to me.

In more recent times, it has become rare for a Jewish parent to invent a new name for his or her child. The prevalent custom is to name a child for a deceased ancestor or for some other revered personage. The child who carries the name of a grandparent surely internalizes the message that in some way his life should reflect some of the values of that grandparent.

I know for whom I was named. He was my great-grandfather, my mother’s mother’s father, Tzvi Hersh Kriegel. He was an immigrant to America, hailing originally from Galicia. His portrait adorned one of the walls of my grandparents’ home, and it showed an immaculately dressed, bright-eyed but old-fashioned middleaged man, with a luxuriant red beard.

As a child, I learned much about him

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I have found myself preaching over the years to those parents who would listen that they should choose the names they give their children carefully, and that rather than choose a name because they like the way it sounds or because of its popularity, they should select a name of a real person, someone who stood for something, someone your child could eventually emulate.

In my Torah study and in my readings of Jewish history, I have noticed that during different eras, different names seem to predominate. I find it fascinating that the names Abraham, Moshe, David, and Solomon are today quite popular and have been certainly since the days of that second most famous Moses, Maimonides.

Yet, in Talmudic times, those names seemed to have been quite rare. We find no major rabbis in the Mishnah or in

the Gemara who carry the names of the aforementioned four biblical heroes. No Rabbi Moshe, no Rabbi Abraham, but strangely more than one Rabbi Ishmael.

And of course, returning to this week’s Torah portion, Judahs and Simons aplenty.

“What is in a name?” A message to help answer the persistent and challenging question, “Who am I?” As is so often the case in rabbinic literature, one question answers the other.

There is a passage in the works of our Sages which tells of the three names each of us has. There is the name which we were given at the time of our birth, which is the name we have discussed in this column. But there is also the name that we earn by our own deeds, the part of the answer to the “Who am I?” question that we ourselves provide.

And finally, there is a name that others give us, the reputation that we deserve. It is that name to which King Solomon in his Kohelet refers when he remarks, “A good name is better than fragrant oil, and the day of death than the day of birth.” And it is that very name which the Mishnah in Avot has in mind when it concludes that of all the crowns of glory that humans can achieve, there is one that stands supreme: the keter shem tov, the crown of a good name.

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on the Weekly Parsha from COVENANT & Thoughts RABBI LORD JONATHAN SACKS CONVERSATION

‫לעילוי נשמות‬ ‫פנחס בן יעקב אשר וגולדה בת ישראל דוד אייז ע״ה‬ ‫עזריאל בן אריה לייב ומעניה בת יצחק שרטר ע״ה‬

Laban the Aramean

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he events narrated in this week’s parsha – Jacob’s flight to Laban, his stay there, and his escape, pursued by his father-in-law – gave rise to the strangest passage in the Haggadah.

Commenting on Deuteronomy 26:5, the passage we expound on Seder night, it says as follows: Arami oved avi. Go and learn what Laban the Aramean sought to do to our father Jacob, for Pharaoh condemned only the boys to death, but Laban sought to uproot everything.

There are three problems with this text.

First, it understands the words arami oved avi to mean, “[Laban] an Aramean [tried to] destroy my father.” But this cannot be the plain sense of the verse because, as Ibn Ezra points out, oved is an intransitive verb. It cannot take an object. It means “lost,” “wandering,” “fugitive,” “poor,” “homeless,” or “on the brink of perishing.”

The phrase therefore means something 20

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like, “My father was a wandering Aramean.” The “father” referred to is either Jacob (Ibn Ezra, Sforno), or Abraham (Rashbam), or all the patriarchs (Shadal).

As for the word Aram, this was the region from which Abraham set out to travel to Canaan, and to which Jacob fled to escape the anger of Esau. The general sense of the phrase is that the patriarchs had no land and no permanent home. They were vulnerable. They were nomads. As for Laban, he does not appear in the verse at all, except by a very forced reading.

Secondly, there is no evidence that Laban the Aramean actually harmed Jacob. To the contrary, as he was pursuing Jacob (but before he caught up with him) it is written: “God appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, ‘Beware of attempting anything with Jacob, good or bad’” (Gen. 31:24).

Laban himself said to Jacob, “I have it in my power to do you harm; but the God of your father said to me last night, ‘Beware of attempting anything with Jacob, good or bad.’” So Laban did nothing to Jacob and his family. He may have wanted to, but in the end he did not. Pharaoh, by contrast, did not merely contemplate doing evil to the Israelites; he actually did so, killing every male child and enslaving the entire population.

Third, and most fundamental: the Seder

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night is dedicated to retelling the story of the Exodus. We are charged to remember it, engrave it on the hearts of our children, and “the more one tells of the coming out of Egypt, the more admirable it is.” Why then diminish the miracle by saying in effect: “Egypt? That was nothing compared to Laban!”

All this is very strange indeed Let me suggest an explanation. We have here a phrase with two quite different meanings, depending on the context in which we read it.

Originally the text of Arami oved avi had nothing to do with Pesach. It appears in the Torah as the text of the declaration to be said on bringing first-fruits to the Temple, which normally happened on Shavuot.

Then you shall declare before the Lord your God: “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt … Then the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm … He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the first-fruits of the soil that You, Lord, have given me.” (Deut. 26:5-10).

In the context of first-fruits, the literal translation, “My father was a wandering Aramean,” makes eminent sense. The text is contrasting the past when the patriarchs were nomads, forced to wander from place to place, with the present when, thanks to God, the Israelites have a land of their own.

The contrast is between homelessness and home. But that is specifically when we speak about first-fruits – the produce of the land.

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At some stage, however, the passage was placed in another context, namely Pesach, the Seder and the story of the Exodus. The Mishnah specifies that it be read and expounded on Seder night.

Almost certainly the reason is that same (relatively rare) verb h-g-d, from which the word Haggadah is derived, occurs both in connection with telling the story of Pesach (Ex. 13:8), and making the first-fruits declaration (Deut. 26:3).

This created a significant problem.

The passage does indeed deal with going down to Egypt, being persecuted there, and being brought out by God. But what is the connection between “My father was a wandering/fugitive Aramean” and the Exodus? The patriarchs and matriarchs lived a nomadic life. But that was not the reason they went down to Egypt. They did so because there was a famine in the land, and because Joseph was viceroy. It had nothing to do with wandering.

The Sages, however, understood something deep about the narratives of the patriarchs and matriarchs. They formulated the principle that ma’asei avot siman lebanim, “What happened to the fathers was a sign for the children.”1 They saw that certain passages in Genesis could only be understood as a forerunner, a 1 The principle does not appear explicitly in these terms in the classic Midrashic or Talmudic literature. A similar expression appears in Bereishit Rabbah 39:8. A key text is Ramban, Commentary to Gen. 12:6, 10. It was widely adopted by subsequent commentators.

prefiguration, of later events.

The classic example occurs in Genesis 12 when, almost immediately after arriving in the land of Canaan, Abraham and Sarah are forced into exile in Egypt. Abraham’s life was at risk. Sarah was taken into Pharaoh’s harem. God then struck Pharaoh’s household with plagues, and Pharaoh sent them away. The parallels between this and the story of the Exodus are obvious.

Something similar happened to Abraham and Sarah later on in Gerar (Gen. 20), as it did, also in Gerar, to Isaac and Rebecca (Genesis 26). But did Jacob undergo his own prefiguration of the exodus? He did, late in life, go down to Egypt with his family. But this was not in anticipation of the Exodus. It was the Exodus itself.

Earlier, in our parsha, he had gone into exile, but this was not because of famine.

It was out of fear for Esau. Nor was it to a land of strangers. He was travelling to his mother’s own family. Jacob seems to be the only one of the patriarchs not to live out, in advance, the experience of exile and exodus.

The Sages, however, realised otherwise.

Living with Laban, he had lost his freedom.

He had become, in effect, his father-inlaw’s slave. Eventually he had to escape, without letting Laban know he was going.

He knew that, if he could, Laban would keep him in his household as a kind of prisoner.

In this respect, Jacob’s experience was closer to the Exodus than that of Abraham OU ISRAEL CENTER

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or Isaac. No one stopped Abraham or Isaac from leaving. No one pursued after them.

And no one treated them badly. It was Jacob’s experience in the house of Laban that was the sharpest prefiguration of the Exodus. “What happened to the fathers was a sign for the children.”

But where does Laban come into the phrase, Arami oved avi, “A wandering Aramean was my father”? Answer: only Laban and Laban’s father Betuel are called Arami or ha-Arami in the whole Torah.

Therefore Arami means “Laban.”

How do we know that he sought to do Jacob harm? Because God appeared to him at night and said “Beware of attempting anything with Jacob, good or bad.” God would not have warned Laban against doing anything to Jacob, had Laban not intended to do so. God does not warn us against doing something we were not about to do anyway. Besides which, the next day, Laban said to Jacob, “I have it in my power to do you harm.” That was a threat. It is clear that had God not warned him, he would indeed have done Jacob harm.

How can we read this into the verse?

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Because the root a-v-d, which means “lost, wandering,” might also, in the piel or hiphil grammatical tenses, mean, “to destroy.” Of course, Laban did not destroy “my father” or anyone else. But that was because of Divine intervention. Hence the phrase could be taken to mean, “[Laban] the Aramean [tried to] destroy my father.”

This is how Rashi understands it.

What then are we to make of the phrase, “Pharaoh condemned only the boys to death, but Laban sought to uproot everything”? The answer is not that Laban sought to kill all the members of Jacob’s family. Quite the opposite. He said to Jacob: “The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine” (Gen. 31:43). Jacob had worked for some twenty years to earn his family and flocks. Yet Laban still claimed they were his own. Had God not intervened, he would have kept Jacob’s entire family as prisoners. That is how he “sought to uproot everything” by denying them all the chance to go free.

This interpretation of Arami oved avi is not the plain sense. But the plain sense related this passage to the bringing first-

fruits. It was the genius of the Sages to give it an interpretation that connected it with Pesach and the Exodus. And though it gives a far-fetched reading of the phrase, it gives a compelling interpretation to the entire narrative of Jacob in Laban’s house.

It tells us that the third of the patriarchs, whose descent to Egypt would actually begin the story of the Exodus, had himself undergone an exodus experience in his youth.2 Ma’asei avot siman lebanim, “the act of the fathers are a sign to their children,” tells us that what is happening now has happened before. That does not mean that danger is to be treated lightly. But it does mean that we should never despair.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their wives experienced exile and exodus as if to say to their descendants, this is not unknown territory. God was with us then; He will be with you now.

I believe that we can face the future without fear because we have been here before and because we are not alone.

Covenant and Conversation 5780 is kindly supported by the Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation in memory of Maurice and Vivienne Wohl z”l.

These weekly teachings from Rabbi Sacks are part of the ‘Covenant & Conversation’ series on the weekly Torah reading. Read more on www.rabbisacks.org.

2 On this whole subject, see David Daube, The Exodus Pattern in the Bible, Faber, 1963.

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RABBI NACHMAN (NEIL) WINKLER PROBING BY Faculty, OU Israel Center THE PROPHETS l

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Vayishman Yeshurun vayiv’atshamanta, ‘avita, kasita…” (D’varim 32; 15).

Hashem is “caught” in a conundrum (kviyachol)! He loves His nation of Israel, His children (as He Himself calls them) and therefore delights in showering them with blessings and with success.

And yet, more often than not, the more successful they become and the more of G-d’s blessings they enjoy, the more they drift away from Him and forget Who the source of blessing truly is. It is a problem predicted in the Torah (D’varim 8;11-17), mentioned in the Sh’ma (D’varim 11; 1517) and included in Moshe Rabbeinu’s farewell song, as quoted above. So what should Hashem do? Should He punish His beloved people with disease and poverty (chas v’shalom) so that they call out to Him for salvation or bless them, as He delights in doing, but risk alienating them from Him? We find this problem throughout our Tanach. Sefer Shoftim, covering the events that occurred in the three plus centuries between the leadership of Yehoshua and that of Shmuel, is a book replete with examples of this precise behavior. Israel abandons G-d, G-d punishes Israel, Israel prays to Hashem for salvation, Hashem empowers a shofet who saves Israel and, after some decades 26

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of success and relative peace, Israel sins once more and the cycle begins again.

Suffering brings the nation back to G-d while success causes them to drift away.

This same story repeats itself throughout Sefer M’l;achim and is reflected in the prophecies that our nevi’im share with B’nai Yisrael. And Hashem is “caught” in a conundrum!

Hashem addressed to the nation as He cries: “How can I deliver you into the hands of your enemies?

And that is precisely what this week’s haftarah is about.

The prophet’s message begins in the opening of the 11th perek of Sefer Hoshe’a (although both Ashkenazim and Sepharadim begin the haftarah after that) where the very opening words declare: “When Israel was young, I loved him and since Egypt I have called out to my son,” reminding Israel of the father-son love relationship He always had with them. But the navi continues his message, strongly criticizing “Efrayim”, i.e. the Northern Kingdom, for “wavering” in their decision to repent from their evil ways, to return to

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G-d or not. After reminding the people of everything Hashem had done for them Hoshe’a cannot understand how Israel could still vacillate whether to repent or not. In an especially moving part of the nevuah, Hoshe’a repeats the words of Hashem addressed to the nation as He cries: “How can I deliver you (into the hands of your enemies)?” and continues by declaring that His love for them is too great to allow that! In truth, Hoshe’a adds, although your sins may very well bring you into exile yet, even then, Hashem will bring you back. So what does this have to do with our parasha?

to His people, stories that begin with events in the life of Ya’akov Avinu. And, in that message, Hoshe’a reminds them what G-d had done for their patriarch. And so, as our haftarah begins, the prophet retells the story of Ya’akov’s escape to Aram where he worked to win the hand of his wifeprecisely the story we read in our parasha.

The text stresses how our patriarch left his home penniless and alone yet returned from his stay in “galut” as a wealthy, married father of many. And all of this came about because Ya’akov, having faced great difficulties, remained faithful to G-d and was, therefore, rewarded.

As Hoshe’a continues his message, he attempts to prove G-d’s love for Israel by recalling the stories of Hashem’s kindness

But that does not complete the prophet’s message, for in the final section of our haftarah Hoshe’a condemns Efrayim far

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more than in the earlier passages. The navi details their sinful behavior as a sad reflection of their ingratitude, again reminding them of all the kindnesses G-d had done for them. And he expresses the main theme of his prophecy by stating that they had become comfortable and “sated”, causing them to become haughty and, as a result, forgetting Hashem.

It this very message that Hoshe’a hopes to impress upon the ever-more-sinful kingdom. They need only to repent and return to Hashem and they too will be blessed and protected-as was Jacob. It is for this reason that the final part of the reading is that which we recite on Shabbat Shuva, the Shabbat before Yom Kippur.

Throughout life, we are challenged in different ways. Some are challenged with the difficulties of poverty or illness and struggle to understand Hashem’s ways, while others are blessed with success and comfort and are challenged to understand what Hashem expects them to do with those blessings that He bestowed upon them.

In either situation, we must listen to the echo of Hoshea’s words: “Shuva Yisrael” remember to return and thereby, remain, close to G-d.

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RABBI SHALOM Kehilla, Nofei HaShemesh ROSNER Rav Maggid Shiur, Daf Yomi, OU.org

True Love – From Years to Days

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aakov committed to work an additional seven years in order to obtain Lavan’s agreement to grant Yaakov Rachel’s hand in marriage. With respect to those seven years of labor, the Torah relates: “Yaakov worked for Rachel seven years, but they appeared to him like a few days because of his love for her.” (Bereshis 29:20). Although Yaakov worked hard for seven years, due to his love for Rachel, the years seemed to fly by, like a few days. This seems problematic.

Usually when you want something and it takes longer than anticipated to obtain, you get impatient and it seems like it is taking forever. Why here did the years pass so quickly and feel like days?

The Malbim explains that the years seemed like days due to Yaakov’s true love for Rachel. All too often we confuse the meaning of the word love. We say – I love fish! If we really loved fish, we would place them in the fish bowl and not on our plate. We declare- I love pizza! If we really loved pizza we would frame it and hang it on our wall so it is always visible, 30

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rather than consume it in its entirety.

What we actually love is ourselves and consuming these food items satiates our appetite. With respect to this type of love, if you desire something and can’t obtain it relatively quickly, the anticipation makes it seem like forever.

True love, however, is not based on a desire. Yaakov loved Rachel for no personal gain. He recognized her special qualities and appreciated who she was and what she would bring into the marriage. An ahava she’eno teluya badavar. Love that was not dependent on anything. That is why the years flew by. As it got closer and closer Yaakov got more excited.

The Gra suggests that to better understand the true meaning of a word, we should identify where it is used for the first time in the Torah. Where does the word ahava – love, first appear in the Torah? Not in connection with a husband and wife, rather in connection with a father and son. Avraham is directed to take his son, his only son, the son that “you love” ‫אשר אהבת‬. The love of a parent to a child is not contingent on anything. A mother loves a baby, not because she expects anything from that child, but merely because the child exists.

The fact that it is her child is what leads to her deep love for the child. From here

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we derive that true love is unconditional and not dependent on what we take from the relationship but rather from what we contribute.

The word ‫ אהבה‬is actually derived from an alef – which stands for ‫ – אני‬I. The next letters in the word are ‫ הב‬which in Aramaic means to give. To truly love someone means to constantly want to give to them. To provide gifts, compliments, forgiveness, companionship, lend an ear and more. True love is not about desire and personal benefit, but about sharing with another.

The Gemara in Yevamos 63b states that at a marriage people would ask matza, or motza referring to terms used in two separate pesukim. The term matza is from the pasuk ‫מצא אשה מצא טוב‬ (mishle 18:22), referring to finding a good wife. The term motza is from the pasuk ‫( ומוצא אני מר ממות את האשה‬koheles 7:26).

Why is the word in the past tense (matza) viewed in a positive light while the other term used in the present tense (motza) is viewed negatively? Perhaps we can suggest that when one determines his

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love for another, from that point on, he or she is not to constantly test the other and question whether the love remains the same. One who constantly re-evaluates their feelings for a spouse – motza – is the one who in the end will never be satisfied in the marriage. If one has a feeling that the grass could be greener with someone else, perhaps they should realize that with a little watering and TLC the health and appearance of their grass will improve.

Often we are busy with work, carpool, board meetings, conference calls, exercise, putting kids to sleep and other important chores. By end of the day, we just want to place our head on our pillow.

We are physically in the company of our spouse but there is no time for a real conversation. We should take time to communicate with our spouse, continue to strengthen our bond and express our appreciation to each other. Set aside a night out or a take a walk so that we are able to focus on each other without interruptions. For Yaakov, the years felt like days due to his love for Rachel.

Let’s not spend years together without appreciating each and every day.

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REBBETZIN SHIRA SMILES Faculty, OU Israel Center

Wonderful Wellsprings

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very story in the Torah teaches us lessons; every detail is replete with guidance for our lives. Perek 29 opens with Yaakov Avinu arriving in Charan. He sees three flocks of sheep resting near a well, which is covered with a large stone. The passuk (29:3) relates that the shepherds would gather and wait until all the flocks of sheep would arrive so they could collectively remove the stone to water the sheep. What is the message of this story, and what lessons are we to gain for our lives?

Abarbanel offers a fascinating approach. He explains that Yaakov Avinu had just left Eretz Yisrael with a promise that Hashem would be with him.

He nevertheless enters galut apprehensive of the future. Hashem immediately shows him a sign that all will be well. The three flocks symbolize the three Avot, who are connected to the wellspring of Torah and Hashem. The large rock on the well is reminiscent of the rock that he consecrated as a matzevah in Bet El; Hashem is giving Yaakov a concrete reminder that he will be protected on his journey.

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Ramban, however, sees this event as a reference to the future. The well reflects the Beit Hamikdash, the place from which the Jews drew their inspiration and Torah. The three flocks reflect the shalosh regalim when the Jews would come to gather for the chagim. The rock was ‘put on the well’ at the conclusion of each festival, until the next time they would gather and draw inspiration.

Both these ideas highlight the importance of connecting to each other and to ruchaniyut as a means of anchoring us and protecting us in our sojourn through the galut.

The Slonimer Rebbe in Netivot Shalom understands these pesukim as a directive for our lives in a more specified way.

Hashem sends down the soul into this world, far from its spiritual haven. To assist us on life’s journey, He gives us three fundamental gifts to allow our souls to connect with a spiritual reservoir and thrive. The first ‘well’ is Shabbat. The three flocks reflect the three main times of Shabbat; Friday night, Shabbat day, and Shabbat afternoon. Each of these times have different energies allowing us to tap into the different special aspects of Shabbat. However, there is the ‘rock’, the yetzer hara that blocks us from fully appreciating Shabbat and accessing its holiness. The antidote is to use Shabbat

as a time for gathering and inspiring each other. Hence, attending shul and shiurim are so central to our Shabbat experience. The second ‘well’ is Torah.

Torah was given to us in the third month.

Once again, learning in groups combats the yetzer hara as we can encourage and strengthen each other. Finally, tefillah, which is recited thrice daily, is vastly improved and enhanced when we are part of a tzibur.

Our challenge is to tap into these ‘wellsprings’. When we relate to Shabbat as a time of ‘noam haneshamot’, we won’t waste it with idle chatter and sleep. Learning Torah and spending time engaged in tefilah become opportunities for connection and vitality.

Understanding Yaakov’s ‘entrance into galut’ is our key for connection in a world that tries to draw us away from our attachment to holiness.

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RABBI JUDAH OU-NCSY MISCHEL Mashpiah, Executive Director, Camp HASC Dedicated L'Iluy Nishmas HaChaver Shlomo Michael ben Meir z'l

Vayeitzei: L’chaim!

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he year 1804 saw the famous “Zhlobener Wedding”, also known among chasidim as “the Great Chasuna”. A granddaughter of the Alter Rebbe, Reb Schneur Zalman of Liadi zy’a married a grandson of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, the Kedushas Levi zy’a.

The historic wedding lasted from Friday through the end of Shabbos.

During the wedding meal, the Alter Rebbe poured a shot of vodka and said l’chaim to his mechutan, the tzadik of Berditchev: “L’chaim heilige mechutan!

Hashem should bless us b’gashmiyus and b’ruchniyus, material well-being and spiritual success!”

The Kedushas Levi was taken aback by the Alter Rebbe’s toast, and responded with a look of wonderment: “My dear mechutan, how can this be? Gashmiyus before ruchniyus? Should a blessing for physical well-being precede a blessing for spiritual success?”

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The Alter Rebbe explained: “Yes, indeed!

Is this not what we find clearly in the Torah, When Yaakov Avinu awoke from his dream of angels ascending and descending celestial ladder? His prayer was just that: “If He gives me bread to eat and clothes to wear . . and I return in peace . . then Hashem will be my G-d.” He mentioned gashmiyus — bread and clothing — before ruchniyus, returning to Hashem!

Seemingly unconvinced, the Berditchever pressed on. “But how can we compare our gashmiyus, our physical needs, to Yaakov Avinu’s gashmiyus?”

The Alter Rebbe replied with a smile: “And tell me, dear mechutan, how can we compare our ruchniyus, our spiritual state, to Yaakov Avinu’s level of ruchniyus?”

Yaakov simply and humbly davens for the basics: Beged lilbosh, lechem le’echol “And Jacob awakened from his sleep, and he said, “Indeed, the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it...!”(28:16) Declaring “How awesome is this place; surely it is the gate of Heaven,” Yaakov Avinu draws close to Hashem in prayer.

This is also hinted in the words, Vayifgah Bamakom, “and he had an encounter with

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haMakom,” the Omnipresent.

What does Yaakov pray for during this awesome encounter with Hashem?

Directly after the dream vision of angels descending and ascending to Heaven, after a Divine revelation of historical magnitude, Yaakov simply and humbly davens for the basics: Beged lilbosh, lechem le’echol, “If Hashem will provide me with a garment to wear, bread to eat….” Shouldn’t he have prayed for something of cosmic spiritual import at such a moment, perhaps that Moshiach come immediately?

Our basic, ‘worldly’, physical needs are therefore holy, and meeting these needs brings honor to Hashem, for this is a fulfilment of His will.

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov urges us to make fulfilling physical needs a spiritual experience, and not to fall prey to a superficial understanding of Creation. That which can be seen, touched, measured and physically experienced is not merely ‘earthy’, while study, prayer and meditation are ‘Heavenly’. Some people eat, sleep and fulfil their bodily needs in order to have the strength to study Torah and meditate. Others, who are more spiritually aware, study Torah in order to know how to eat, sleep and live.

Each of us are a Neshama b’Guf, a Heavenly soul temporarily carried about within an earthly body, in order to fulfil 38

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our mission in this world. Our basic, ‘worldly’, physical needs are therefore holy, and meeting these needs brings honor to Hashem, for this is a fulfilment of His will.

So often we compartmentalize our “religious” and “spiritual” endeavors, and imagine that our workday, our household chores, shopping or commute, to be necessary but “mundane”. The students of the Baal Shem Tov help us to see our lives in a more expansive way — we are instructed B’chol Derachecha, Da’eihu, to “Know G-d in all your ways”(Mishlei, 3:6) Living with this recognition, even every simple gashmiyusdik task becomes suffused with meaning, ruchniyus, and cleaving to G-d.

L’chaim L’chaim! May Hashem help us to live with this awareness, and may He provide for us b’gashmiyus and b’ruchniyus!

“Master of the World, Grant me the wisdom to reveal the harmony of my body and soul.

Let their oneness be revealed in my devotion to You. My soul perceives Your light — let my body discern it too.

My soul calls out Your praise — let my body sing it too….”

— Reb Nosson of Breslov, Lekutei Tefillos Dedicated in Memory of Sarah bat Shmuel A”H OU ISRAEL CENTER

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SIMCHAT SHMUEL

BY RABBI SAM SHOR

Program Director, OU Israel Center

O

ur Sedra this week contains the well known story of Sulam Yaakov-Jacob’s Ladder.

The Torah tells us that Yaakov sets out from Be’er Sheva towards Charan, in order to flee from the potential danger he faced at the hands of Eisav, due to Yaakov’s receiving the bracha from Yitzchak. As Yaakov lies down to rest under the stars the pasuk tells us: Vayachalom v’hinei sulam mutzav artza, v’rosho magia haShamaima- ‘And he dreamt, and suddenly before him was a ladder that was leaned toward earth, and it’s top was in the Heaven.’

Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch zt’l points out that the ladder, which represents the link between Heaven and Earth, was placed from above by Hashem.

However the verse reads that the ladder’s top reached the heavens. The ladders purpose was not descent from the Heavens, rather to inspire spiritual ascent, to direct our thoughts and actions toward the Heavens.

The Netivot Shalom, the Slonimer Rebbe

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zy’a offers a different interpretation of the imagery of the ladder. A ladder offers the capacity both to climb as well as descend. It is important for us to realize, that in life, even our descent occur within the framework of that proverbial ladder. Even as we may have come down a rung on that ladder, we continue to have the ability to climb back up, and ascend even higher than before!

Similarly, Rav Yaakov Moshe Charlop zt’l explains the imagery of the ladder is meant to teach us that sometimes our descents are necessary; temporary steps, that actually serve as the impetus to propel us to climb even higher up the proverbial ladder, to reach even higher heights in our Avodat Hashem.

Yehi Ratzon, may each of us be blessed both to dream, to seek to ascend higher in our Avodat Hashem, as well as to have the strength and perseverance to bounce back from our temporary descents and setbacks and achieve even greater clarity and growth each and every day.

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RABBI AARON Editor, Torah Tidbits GOLDSCHEIDER

Every Person Has Three Names

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ayeitze is the parsha of names.

Eleven children were born in this parsha and each received a unique name saturated with meaning.

The Ishbitzer Rebbe, Mordechai Yosef Leiner (1801-1854), in his beloved and captivating work Mei Hashiloach, contemplates the underlying meaning of names. Each of us have a name. How are we to relate to our name? What do our names convey to those around us?

In the days of the forefathers, writes the Rebbe, parents were able to discern inclinations and predilections in their child, even at birth, and apply the name appropriately.

Rachel and Leah, named by their father Lavan, were given names that expressed their essential nature. Rachel is named for her surrender like the word rachel which relates to the submission of a sheep. The name Leah is based on the root word, which means ‘weak’ because she drained herself by supplicating with all her strength before the Lord. Clearly, the names that 50

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would be given to the children of Yaakov were not random. They reflect a parent’s ability to identify certain traits within their child and name them accordingly.

Regarding the notion of names, The Rebbe quotes a thought provoking midrash which offers a deep psychological reflection (Kohelet Rabbah 7:3): “Each person has three names: The name that your parents gave you. The name that others call you. And the name you acquire yourself.”

‫ אחד מה שקראו לו אביו‬,‫“שלשה שמות יש לאדם‬ ‫ ואחד מה שקנה‬,‫ ואחד מה שקוראין לו בני אדם‬,‫ואמו‬ ”‫לעצמו‬ Certainly, the midrash does not refer to actual names, or legal names, rather it points to identities or personality traits. There are particular propensities or predilections that one is born with.

These are reflected in the names we see given in the book of Bereshit.

Yet, there is a second ‘name’: This is the name which reflects one’s accomplishments, the stature we have attained, or our professional life. One may be known to others by the name ‘doctor’, ‘social worker, ‘academic’, or ‘millionaire’ etc. This is a ‘second name’ we possess.

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The Midrash, however, identified a third name. What does this ‘name’ embody?

The Ishbitzer Rebbe explains this ‘third name’ personifies the following: ‘Perfecting that which one is missing’. "‫"היינו מה שמתקן ומרפא חסרון שלו‬. Apparently, the Rebbe is not speaking of sins that need to be eliminated. Rather, he speaks of developing and ennobling one’s personality. Making oneself a fuller person. (Mei HaShiloach, Vayeitze, ‫לאה‬ ‫)ד"ה שם גדולה‬

The Rebbe was addressing the issue of personal development and growth and bringing the ideals and virtues...to one’s life and to one’s heart It has been said, “One needs to know oneself in order to grow.” Evidently, the Rebbe of Ishbitz was teaching his chassidim to be more aware of their ‘third name.’ In a word, the Rebbe was addressing the issue of personal development and growth and bringing the ideals and virtues that have not yet found a place, to one’s life and to one’s heart.

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We limit ourselves severely if we relate only to the ‘two names’ we possess. We can easily become stuck in our ways, even frustrated, if we don’t develop and step out of our comfort zones. The first ‘two names’ relate to our past and our present situation. However, our true self worth is to be found in our yearnings, personal victories and steady growth.

The Maharal of Prague (1525-1609), Rabbi Yehuda Loew, beautifully captures this idea in his writings: “Man is not created in his final wholeness. Man was created to actualize his wholeness. That is the meaning of the verse “Man was born to toil.” Man is born and exists for the aim of this toil, which is the actualization of his potential.” (Tiferet Yisrael) Rabbi David Aaron, a contemporary master teacher of Kabbalah, tells the story of a guest they once hosted for Shabbat dinner in their home in the Old City of Jerusalem. The guest had stopped in Israel after traveling throughout the world.

She had just come from Japan where, she said, “she was looking for herself”.

Rabbi Aaron’s daughter, who was eight years old at the time, turned to her father with a very confused look on her face.

She opened her eyes wide and asked: “Looking for herself? I don’t understand.

How did she lose herself”? And if she was never in Japan before - why would she

think she would find herself there?!”

Rabbi Aaron shares this humorous anecdote in order to illustrate that truthfully we do carry multiple layers of identities. When we speak about ‘finding ourselves’, we are actually touching on a very profound idea. We are far more than just the identity that we we embody from birth, and even more that the status and achievements in our professional and social lives. We have a ‘third name” which is our very essence; what we call the soul. From this place emanates our strivings, lofty aspirations and growth.

Rabbi Aaron names these multi-layers found in every human being: “Me, Myself, and I.” ‘Me’ refers to the traits that we possess from birth, ‘Myself’ refers to the accomplishments and status we attain, and the “I” refers to our essence, the Divine spark with us us.

The Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassiidic movement, in a like manner taught the idea that a person is made up of three parts. However, the holy master put it this way: There is the guf, the body.

The neshama, the soul. And then there is the core of the neshama, ‫ נשמה‬which is the ‫( שם‬name). The central letters of the word neshama spells ‘shem’, name. Our names define us. Indeed, we are made up of a variety of ‘names.’ However, our essential identity is the Divine image embedded within us, which fuels our creativity, propels us to go beyond our seeming limitations, and drives us toward becoming the most magnificent human beings we can be.

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Gustave & Carol Jacobs Center for WEEKLY The Kashrut Education OU KASHRUT PAGE

I only eat chalav Yisroel. Is it permissible for me to eat at someone’s home who eats chalav stam, assuming they serve only pareve foods, if the food will be cooked in a milchig pot?

Rama (YD 115:2) writes that if chalav akum was cooked in a pot, the pot must be kashered. Although it is unlikely that milk from a non-kosher animal was mixed into the milk, chalav akum is treated like any other non-kosher food, and kashering would be required. However, as was explained in a previous Halacha Yomis, there are poskim who permit commercial milk (chalav stam). Therefore, Rav Henkin, zt”l (Teshuvos Ivra 43) writes that even among those who are stringent to only drink chalav Yisroel, there are many who are lenient to eat foods that were cooked in chalav stam pots, especially when visiting other people’s homes. However, those who do not consider chalav Yisroel to be a stringency, but rather believe it is an

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absolute requirement, would have no basis to be lenient with cooking in a chalav stam pot. Still, Shach (YD 119:20) writes that if a person considers a food to be non-kosher and is eating at someone else’s home who is lenient, they may eat the food items that meet their standard of kosher, provided the food was not cooked specifically for them (i.e. the food was cooked also for those who are not strict), and they do not know if the pots were used in the past 24 hours.

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DIVREI MENACHEM

BY MENACHEM PERSOFF

Special Projects Consultant, OU Israel Center mpersoff@ou.org

I

n our Parsha, we learn how Yaakov is running from Esav and encountering a new world that is no longer safe. He has left his “comfort zone” for terrain that is polluted spiritually; it is a world “full of crisis and contradictions,” to cite Rabbi (Even-Yisrael) Steinsaltz. Yaakov, as his name implies, is not built for confrontation, for “when Esav enters Yitzchak’s tent, Yaakov exits through the other door.”

It appears that only when Yaakov grappled with a divine being and prevailed could he contend with the new reality.

Now he could confront the challenges of a world compounded of Esav’s hatred for him (“anti-Semitism”), a world that had absolutely nothing in common with him.

Insofar as Yaakov represents the quintessential Jew – you and me – the Parsha is prodding us to contemplate how we, today, confront the “modern world,” oh so different from the spiritually safe home of our great-grandparents, a world that is at once “very intimidating and frightening,” a world that the rabbi describes as, “full of division, alienation, and self-destruction.” *** A Midrash treats of the angels associated with Ya’akov’s ladder. It says that the angels were crowding around Ya’akov in astonishment and questioning, “You 58

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are the one whose image is engraved on high – and here you are sleeping?” Rabbi Steinsaltz explains: Ya’akov is the ladder that bridges the void between heaven and earth. Yaakov is “us” and like Ya’akov, each of us is standing at Sha’ar Hashamayim, at the Gate of Heaven, at the bottom of that ladder.

But will we climb it? Will we make a difference? Or are we sleeping? Will we come out of our comfort zone and face the challenges of our generation? Like Ya’akov, we can overcome. We can face ourselves and face the divine; we can transform ourselves from the frightened and unsure “Ya’akov” to the noble and assertive “Yisra’el.” We can at least make a clearing in the forest. It really is up to us.

Shabbat Shalom!

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FROM THE VIRTUAL DESK OF THE

OU VEBBE REBBE RAV DANIEL MANN

Partial Participation in a Wedding Question: If one does not have enough time to take part in a whole wedding, is it better to come for the chupa or for the meal?

Answer: Although they are sometimes discussed interchangeably, there are two distinct, albeit closely related, mitzvot in which non-principals at a wedding should try to take part.

The gemara (Ketubot 17a) discusses the mitzva of hachnasat kalla – joyously escorting the kalla from her father’s house to the place of the “chupa.” A large part of the townspeople were expected to join in, and this is important enough to warrant suspending Torah study and gaining right of way over a funeral procession (ibid.). It is a sign of kavod (see Tosafot ad loc.) for the participants in the important institution of marriage

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(there is a machloket whether marriage is a formal mitzva). While we no longer escort the kalla through the streets, poskim identify parallel events in today’s wedding ceremony in which one can fulfills this (see Taz, Even Haezer 65:2).

Presumably, one who is a full participant in a wedding ceremony fulfills this element of showing respect. There is not much precedent for a formal mitzva to watch the performance of mitzvot (while appreciation of mitzvot is generally a nice thing). However, if the chupa is not well attended or people are not attentive or are talkative (I have seen both), it is a zilzul to the institution of marriage, the chatan/ kalla, and the families, who rightfully expect interest in the momentous moments.

Chazal held the celebratory seuda after the chupa in very hard regard. Regarding the provisions, significant time should be used to prepare for it (Ketubot 2a) and a burial of a parent can be pushed off so that the provisions are not wasted (ibid.

4a). The music is seen as deserving of far-reaching leniencies (see Rama, Orach

The Orthodox Union - via its website - fields questions of all types in areas of kashrut, Jewish law and values. Some of them are answered by Eretz Hemdah, the Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, headed by Rav Yosef Carmel and Rav Moshe Ehrenreich, founded by HaRav Shaul Yisraeli zt”l, to prepare rabbanim and dayanim to serve the National Religious community in Israel and abroad. Ask the Rabbi is a joint venture of the OU, Yerushalayim Network, Eretz Hemdah... and OU Israel’s Torah Tidbits.

Chayim 338:2; Igrot Moshe, OC II:95).

Regarding participants’ mandate to be mesame’ach (bring joy), we find great rabbis praised for compromising their honor (Ketubot 17a) and relaxing the standard level of tzniut in dancing before the kalla and praising her (ibid.), including the controversial Chassidic minhag (with earlier sources – see Beit Shmuel 21:11) of the mitzva tantz. The gemara (Berachot 6b) warns of Hashem’s disapproval of one who “benefits from the feast of a chatan and is not mesame’ach him” and praises those who are mesame’ach. The Perisha (Even Haezer 65:2) limits this obligation to one who benefits from the meal. The Beit Shmuel (65:1) says that one should go to the wedding in order to be mesame’ach.

The Tiv Kiddushin (EH 65:1) suggests that all can agree on a middle position – there is a mitzva to go, but only one who benefits and is not mesame’ach is criticized.

How each individual is mesame’ach is subjective (Ezer Mikodesh to EH 65:1), but it can include appropriate words, presents, dancing, or the very presence of an important person (ibid.). If one has a relationship only with the couple’s parents, one can presumably be mesame’ach the couple vicariously.

Let us return to the question of preferences. Regarding a brit mila, the famous idea of not inviting actually refers

to the seuda, not the brit itself (Tosafot, Pesachim 114a; Rama, Yoreh Deah 265:12).

The Rama cites this idea of angering Hashem by failing to take part only regarding a brit, as we generally assume, but Tosafot also applies it to the seuda of a wedding of a talmid chacham. This points to the prominence of participation in the seuda. On the other hand, the Tiv Kiddushim (ibid. 3) says that the idea of suspending Torah study is for the escort, not the meal. Perhaps, though, that is because escorting when the procession passes one’s place was likely not very timeconsuming.

We have thus seen the importance of various elements of participation at a wedding. No element seems to have a clear advantage over others, so subjective factors can be decisive. The factors can relate to the guest (e.g., convenience, whether he is better at dancing or verbal encouragement) or the couple/families (e.g., ask what they prefer; their budget).

Having a dispute?

For a Din Torah in English or Hebrew contact ‘Eretz Hemdah - Gazit’ Rabbinical Court: 077215-8-215 • fax: (02) 537-9626 beitdin@eretzhemdah.org OU ISRAEL CENTER

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Puah for Fertility and RABBI GIDEON Machon Gynecology in Accordance with Halacha WEITZMAN

A Damaged Organ

L

ast time we saw that many poskim are of the opinion that a couple experiencing fertility challenges is considered to be ill. As such we are permitted to perform certain treatments that are prohibited on a rabbinic level.

Alternatively a gentile can even perform a treatment that includes a Torah prohibition.

It appears from the answers that we quoted, as they were received by PUAH, that this is not a complete heter and all attempts should be made that the treatment by before or after Shabbat. Only in cases where all effort was made and there is a great need can the treatment be done on Shabbat.

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One of the most interesting responses that we received was from Rabbi Nevenzhal, of the Old City of Jerusalem.

He is of the opinion that the infertile couple can be considered ill since their reproductive organs are not functioning at a regular level. He viewed them as sakanat ever, meaning that there is a danger to a limb. There is a debate as to whether this is synonymous with an illness that is not lifethreatening (choleh sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ein bo sakanah) or is a separate category with its own set of rules.

Otherwise all fertility treatment would be prohibited on Shabbat It is permitted to perform a rabbinic prohibition to correct a limb that is in danger and made end up losing part of its function on Shabbat. However it is only

permitted to do an act that corrects the limb and not any other medical treatment.

As such Rabbi Nevenzhal permitted on Shabbat anything that would correct the functioning of the organ. For example, if the problem is a lack of ovulation a woman would be permitted to take medication to induce ovulation on Shabbat.

But if it is a case that does not involve an obvious problem with a specific organ then he did not permit medication to be taken on Shabbat or any other medical treatment. In many, if not most, cases it is difficult to pinpoint the exact dysfunction of a particular organ. Often the doctors are unclear as to why the couple are experiencing infertility and simply treat the symptom and not the cause. They give medication or perform treatment for a pregnancy but do not subject the couple to extensive monitoring to ascertain the exact cause.

Therefore, according to this psak, it would only be permitted to give medication or undergo treatment if it would rectify the problem of an organ. Otherwise all fertility treatment would be prohibited on Shabbat.

However Rav Nevenzhal has another approach to the definition of such a couple.

More on this next week.

The Puah Institute is based in Jerusalem and helps couples from all over the world who are experiencing fertility problems.

Offices in Jerusalem, New York, Los Angeles & Paris. Contact (Isr) 02-651-5050 (US) 718-336-0603 www.puahonline.org OU ISRAEL CENTER

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TORAH VEHA'ARETZ RABBI MOSHE BLOOM INSTITUTE BY www.toraland.org.il/en

Are Raspberries Subject to Orlah?

(Rubus idaeus) and blackberries (also part of the rubus genus) are grown.

Question: I saw that a green grocer’s kashrut certificate in Jerusalem stated that only non-mehadrin stores are allowed to sell raspberries. Why is that?

There are two types of raspberry bushes: (1) Primocane: bears fruit within a year of planting on the upper part of the branch emerging from the roots. The rest of the fruit in the next fruiting season grows on the lower part of the branch. After both fruiting seasons, the branch withers completely. (2) Floricane: bears fruit only in the second year.

Answer: The Institute for Agricultural Research According to the Torah, headed by Rabbi Yosef Efrati shlita, were concerned that raspberry bushes are halachically considered trees. This means that raspberries would be forbidden for the first three orlah years. At Torah VeHa’aretz Institute, however, we believe that this simply isn’t the case.

Is the raspberry bush a tree?

A few weeks ago, the rabbis of the Torah VeHa’aretz Institute toured the Agricultural Research Organization (ARO)—the Volcani Center to clearify this question. Raspberry cultivation is Israel is relatively small-scale (approx. 6 hectares); both raspberries 64

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Raspberries have a perennial root system that sprout branches. These branches last for two years and then shrivel up.

After bearing fruit, the branch dries up completely. Only new shoots, growing out of the perennial root, bear the next yield.

The Shulchan Aruch follows the Geonim, who define a tree as a plant with a perennial trunk that bears fruit. However, if there is no perennial trunk, even if the root system is perennial the plant would not be considered a tree.

In light of the above, according to Torah VeHa’aretz Institute, even those wishing to be stringent and eat only mehadrin can eat raspberries and need not be concerned with orlah.

A branch emerging from the root system

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RABBI BEREL WEIN Rav, Beit Knesset Hanassi, Jerusalem

R

ashi quotes the well-known Rabbinic observation that the departure of a righteous person from a society leaves an indelible loss to the community. Now, I do not want to sound like a heretic, God forbid, but for many years I was troubled by this statement. For in my personal experience and life observation, I did not always find this idea to be realistic and accurate. I lived in many communities where a great man from that community passed away, or left to live in a different community. Life in that original community seemed to go on as usual. Everyone certainly missed the presence of that great person who no longer lived in the community, but after a few days, no oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life seemed to be truly altered or affected by that personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s absence. The bitter truth of life is that out of sight is indeed out of mind.

Therefore, I have always struggled to understand the deeper meaning of this Rashi quote.

words and an insight into that sublime message. A certain community had a distinct problem, and for various reasons, contacted me to hear my opinion as to how it should deal with this problem. That community had a great and wise person whom I knew personally, who had lived there for half a century. As long as that person was alive, the community had no need to call upon any outside person for advice or good counsel. But now that the person was no longer present to handle this problem, which all agreed that he would have been able to solve equitably and peacefully, there now arose a similar issue that threatened to cause irreparable harm to the fabric of that community. The community was now forced to turn to outside sources for help.

At that moment, they realized that the great man was no longer present, and that even though no one human being is indispensable, so, too, no human being is ever replaceable either.

However, as I have aged, hopefully gracefully, I now am beginning to gain a glimmer of understanding into those

When Yaakov left Beer Sheeba I imagine that not everyone took notice of his absence. Everyone in Beer Sheeba

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got up the next morning and went to their daily tasks as usual. However, it is obvious that in the twenty-two years of Yaakov’s absence from that community, problems and issues arose that, had he been present, he would have been consulted and would have helped solve. It was at moments such as those that the full realization that Yaakov no longer lived in that community became apparent. And it was at that moment that the observation of Rashi about the absence of a good and wise person, became real and evident to all.

Such is the nature of life: that much greatness and goodness is not appreciated until somehow it – in the form of a human being – is no longer present within that society. We always see things much more clearly in retrospect than we do with current eyes and lenses. This is an important lesson worthy of our consideration.

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein

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How do we know that Yaakov Avinu wore a Kipa? Vayeitzei Yaakov, Yaakov went out... Would he go out without a kipa?! Old (corny) joke represented by the KIPA • Road sign could have been at the side of the road that Yaakov traveled at the beginning of Vayeitzei, with Be'er Sheva behind him and Charan still to come. En route, Yaakov encounters THE Place where he spent the night and had his famous dream • Speaking of which, there's the rock he put by his head... • The rock is also the one that covered the well that Yaakov removed so that Rachel (and the other shepherds) could water their sheep • It also stands for the rock that Yaakov set up as a MATZEIVA to mark his agreement with Lavan (GAL-EID) • and the ladder standing on the ground reaching heavenward • UFARATZTA is represented by the compass • Yaakov promised to give G-d MAASER, one tenth, .1 • There are 10 baby boys in a column representing Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, Dan, Naftali, Gad, Asher, Yissachar, Zevulun. And an 11th one on its own (sort of) representing Yosef • The "It's a Girl!" balloon is for Dina • The plant on the left is a mandrake, the DUDA'IM that Reuven collected for his mother • Two of the sticks Yaakov used to induce the production of... • striped, speckled, and plain sheep and goats - upper left • Ice cream, G'LIDA, which is the Targum of KERACH in Yaakov's tirade about his cold nights. In other words, the Hebrew word for ice cream, G'LIDA, comes from 68

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the Aramaic word for ice • Torah Tidbits logo with a thumbs up signal is for Lavan's endorsement, when he said to Yaakov: TOV TT • The sine wave is a GAL (Hebrew for wave), as in the pile of rocks at the end of the sedra • Phillies cap. That team has the ignoble honor of being the losingest team in MLB and in all major league sports (in the US) Perhaps, then, they are the incarnation of the teams that did play in LUZ, an older name for Beit El • Staying with sports, we also have a South Park figure playing dodgeball similar to the game MACHANAYIM, as in the concluding word (and pasuk-count siman) of Vayeitzei, referring to the twin camps of angels • The matador waving his red cape at - not a bull, but a pair of lips. As in the haftara, UNSHAL'MA FARIM S'FATEINU, and our lips (voices in prayer) will replace the bulls (sacrifices) • Oil stands for Yaakov's anointing the stone at the beginning of the sedra...

• Yogi bear and the Xed out Cubs cap represent DOV SHAKUL, a bear without offspring • Upper-right - logo of Herby's Bakeshop in Beit El • The owl with the speech bubble is saying HU. This goes with ET, the last two words of B'reishit 30:33 • The peeler is for what Yaakov did with the sticks from the various trees, VAYFATZEIL • Lower-right is a notepad and a male sheep. PAD AND A RAM. Say it the right way and you get PADAN ARAM • Boy with the dunce cap - from the haftara of Vayeitzei. Of Efrayim it is said, HU VEN LO CHACHAM, he is a not-smart child • Two Unexplaineds. Unexplaineds are visual TTriddles, sort of.

Note to (grand)parents: You should pick and choose from the PP with your (grand)child in mind. Some elements are straightforward and can lead to a review of the sedra. Others are puzzle-type for older kids and you can prompt them accordingly.

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RABBI EPHRAIM SPRECHER Faculty, OU Israel Center

Our Dreams – A Portal to Eternity!

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efer Bereshis contains many dreamers and their dreams. First we have Yakov’s dream followed by Yosef’s dreams, Pharaoh’s dreams, and the Butler and the Baker’s dreams.

There was a popular song called “Life is but a Dream.” Why do we dream? What is the meaning of our dreams? The Mishnah in Avot states, “One moment of pleasure in the After-Life is better than all of life in this world.”

How can we have confidence that another world awaits us after death?

The answer is dreams! Have you ever had a dream that was so vivid, that you

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experienced it as if it were reality, but then you woke up and realized that it was all an illusion?

A dream is a humbling experience, and it is the key to belief in the AfterLife Dreams remind us that this world is not the ultimate reality. After death, we will awake to an even more real existence, and our experience in this world will be like a dream to us. That is why the Talmud in Berachot describes sleep as one sixtieth of death, so that we can taste the AfterLife in this world. And that is why there are two events in life that one cannot predict when they will occur – Sleep and Death!

The Zohar teaches that everything in this world serves to teach us about the ultimate reality of the Spiritual World. This

world is really just an illusion and the Next World is the ultimate reality. That is why the Talmud calls this world Olam Hashekr (World of lies – fake news) and the After Life is called Olam HaEmet (World of Truth).

This world may seem real, but one day, we will leave this physical dimension and enter an entirely different spiritual dimension, which I call the Fifth Dimension!

A dream is a humbling experience, and it is the key to belief in the AfterLife. So even a dream, the experience of illusion teaches us about the ultimate reality of the World To Come. This is what the Mishnah in Avot means, “This world is compared to a foyer or lobby before the World To Come. Prepare yourself in the foyer, so that you may enter the banquet hall of the AfterLife.”

As the Chinese Philosopher Chuang Tzu wrote twenty six hundred years ago “In the midst of a dream, we cannot know it’s a dream. Only after we are awake, do we know it was a dream. But only after the GREAT Awakening can we understand that all of this life is just a great dream.”

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THE DAILY BY SIVAN RAHAV-MEIR PORTION

A Lesson in History .‫ׁש ַבע ַוֵי ֶּל ְך ָח ָרנָה‬ ָ ‫ַעקֹב ִמ ְּב ֵאר‬ ֲ ‫ַוֵי ֵּצא י‬ And Jacob left Beer Sheba, and he went to Haran.

(Gen. 28:10) Parashat Vayeitze tells of Jacob and his dream: “And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on the ground, its top reaching to heaven; and behold, angels of God were ascending and descending upon it. And behold, the Lord was standing over him.” This famous dream can be explained on two levels.

Our sages teach that the ladder and the dream represent the essence of world history. Jacob sees the nations of the

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world ascending the ladder, as leaders of the world, and then descending, as they fall from power. Babylon rises and falls, followed by Greece, Edom, Egypt, Persia, Rome, and so on throughout history.

After the dream, Jacob will receive the name Israel and will represent the Jewish people through the generations. Already at this stage, he learns of all the powers of evil (including Hamas and ISIS) that will rise and inflict their heinous crimes on the world, but in the end will fall.

Note the continuation of the verse: “And behold, the Lord was standing over him.” There is a leader controlling world events and there is a purpose to all these upheavals. One small nation will survive, and evil will not rule forever.

The people of Israel also have a role to play on the global stage of history, as stated in the subsequent verse: “And you shall burst forth westward and eastward and northward and southward; and

through you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” The Jewish people are commanded to forge ahead and spread blessing throughout the world.

Other commentators explain the dream at the level of the individual and say that it symbolizes the constant relationship between God and man.

The commandments we fulfill and the good deeds we do “ascend” and, at the same time, a wealth of goodness “descends” from above. According to this approach, the use of the words heaven and earth, symbolizing the spiritual and material worlds, is not coincidental.

Each individual is the manifestation of “a ladder set up on the ground, its top reaching to heaven” and embodies the constant tension between the holy and the mundane. We draw encouragement from the knowledge that “the Lord was standing over him.”

An additional point worth noting is the contrast between Jacob’s dream and an earlier attempt to reach heaven by means of the Tower of Babel. Those who began construction of the tower saw it as a symbol of human arrogance. In this parasha, Jacob also connects to heaven but in a completely different manner.

Importantly, he also knows how to return to earth.

Sivan Rahav-Meir is an Israeli journalist, currently on shlichut of World Mizrahi movement to the US. She is the author of #Parasha. To receive her daily insight on the portion of the week, text your name to: 972-58-679-9000 OU ISRAEL CENTER

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WALK THROUGH THE PARSHA WITH RABBI DAVID WALK

Fetching Water

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udaism has many, many symbols.

Today, we think of the Magen David as the great icon of our faith, but that wasn’t always true. When we visit ancient synagogues, we see the Menorah, SHOFAR and LULAV branches. The sixpointed star only started appearing around the year 1100. However, in our Torah reading we have an amazing symbol of our belief system, namely Jacob’s Ladder. Ya’akov’s vision inspires us because it includes our spiritual aspirations. In spite of the ladder’s exalted place in our religious psyche, I’d like to discuss another symbol in our parsha, the well.

When Ya’akov finally reaches Charan, his first encounter is at a well. Wells were, obviously, very important in the ancient world. Yericho was the world’s first walled city, because the citizens were protecting their water sources.

Our well was, therefore, covered with a massive stone to protect its contents. But within our tradition the importance of wells goes far beyond water.

The Midrash points out the social 74

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importance of wells, noting that three of our spiritual giants found their wives at wells, Yitzchak, Ya’akov and Moshe. That conclusion is, of course, no coincidence because there were three flocks surrounding our well. So, the number three will often be referenced in these explanations.

The well is also compared to TZIYON, the source of our spiritual connection to God. That’s where we draw (SHO’AVIM) our RUACH HaKODESH. Of course, then the number three refers to the three times a year we are commanded to visit the Beit Hamikdash. Others conjecture that three is the number of Holy Temples Tziyon will eventually contain. IY”H the third is on the way.

The well is also compared to the Jewish nation. The three flocks are the Cohanim, Levi’im and Yisraelim. It can also be compared to Mt. Sinai and the source of Torah, which has three parts, Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim. This well reminds us of the well in the Midbar, and the three flocks are Moshe, Aharon and Miriam.

However, the first attempt to understand this story symbolically is much earlier than the Midrash. Shlomo Hamelech, who, of course, had the soul of a poet, incorporated this image into two of his works. He refers to his beloved

as, ‘A garden locked, my sister, my bride, a fountain locked, a sealed spring...You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water (BE’ER MAYIM CHAYIM, Shir HaShirim 4:12 & 15). But Shlomo HaMelech wasn’t done. Later in life, he returned to this theme: Drink water from your own source, from your own well...They will be yours alone...let your fountains be blessed, find joy in the wife of your youth (Mishlei 5:15-18). So, the well is the beloved; Rachel.

But as Freud famously said, ‘sometimes a cigar is just a cigar’. It’s hard not to return to the P’SHAT. This well in the middle of the field is the perfect trial for the new Ya’akov. Ya’akov had been the ISH TAM YOSHEV OHALIM, ‘a simple man, dwelling in tents’ (Breishit 26:27).

It’s time for Ya’akov to shed his Caspar Milquetoast persona and emerge as the hero of our story. The guarded well, requiring many shepherds to roll away the rock is the perfect testing ground for our Patriarch who had been invigorated

by God in his dream of the Ladder.

Opening the well conjures many visions, but the emergence of Ya’akov is the best image of all.

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THE NEW OLD PATH

BY RABBI BENJI LEVY CEO Of Mosaic United

I Probably Should Have

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solated in the wilderness, Jacob dreams of ‘a ladder grounded in the earth, with its head reaching the Heavens and behold, angels of God are ascending and descending’. This intense prophecy brings Jacob to an acute awareness of the sanctity of the ground on which he is resting – Mount Moriah. Jacob awakes and says, ‘Indeed God is in this place and I did not know!’ What does Jacob mean when he professes to not knowing that God is in this place? Surely God’s presence resides everywhere? Is Jacob, the forefather of faith, exhibiting here a lack of faith?

Jacob is exhausted; physically fatigued from travelling and emotionally drained after duping his father and angering his brother. He is roaming from his painful past into his arduous future where he will have to dedicate over a decade of his life to a deceiving father-in-law. But in this moment of tranquilly, his body and soul crave sleep. Rashi explains that if Jacob had known he was in such a holy place, he would not have slept. Moreover, Jacob is sorry that he slept in a place of the Divine presence when he could have instead 76

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stayed awake to pray or engage in other meaningful activity. Essentially Jacob, it seems, is painfully disappointed to discover that he has missed this opportunity of a lifetime; his chance in this unique moment of calmness, on the holiest site on earth, to pour out his heart to his Creator. In that very moment that is filled with so much spiritual potential, he instead lies down to escape reality, and falls asleep.

To learn for the future rather than dwelling on the mistakes of the past Regret can be a gut-wrenching sentiment.

It is terrible when an opportunity passes us by and in retrospect we realize that we could and would have done it differently.

We review what we have done and realise it is simply ‘a twisted thing that cannot be made straight, a lack that cannot be made good’. Yet we live in the moment, for the moment and within the parameters of the moment. This means that much of the significance of our acts and their effect on others are hidden from view – both from us and from those around us.

And in this moment of missed opportunity, Jacob has his historic dream. What is the essence of a dream?

A dream is a set of thoughts taking place

in the mind without direct or explicit connection to the outside reality. In that sense, a great deal of our waking life is like a dream; all the thoughts and ideas that float in and out of our heads while we are busy doing other things, absorbed with the world of practicality. Dreams are thoughts that occur while we are focused on other things. So often, it seems, we actually sleepwalk through life, too busy with thoughts of our past or our future to truly live consciously in the present. In relation to this ongoing state of slumber, Maimonides states, ‘Awake sleepers from your sleep; rouse yourselves, slumberers from your slumber.’

We can all name people with whom we wish we would have spent more time, activities in which we wish we would have invested more, conversations during which we wish we would have been more conscious, and life moments during which we wish we would have been more aware.

Hindsight works to our detriment when considered in terms of regret and we can become caught up in the thinking of: ‘I probably should have.’ In the same vein, however, hindsight can propel us forward, offering us a lens through which to learn for the future rather than dwelling on the mistakes of the past. Perhaps the Torah brings the example of Jacob’s painful moment of realisation as a wake-up call. It serves as an alarm bell to awaken within us the profound understanding that the seemingly insignificant moments in life can often hold great significance and that the greatest opportunities are sometimes right beneath us.

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TORAH 4 TEENS

BY TEENS NCSY ISRAEL Rabbi Michael Kahn, Co-Regional Director, NSCY Israel What it means to be a “Yehudi” Yehudah is given his name in this week’s parsha. Today we are called Jews because after the Assyrian King Sancheirev conquered Malchut Yisrael the ten tribes were then lost. The only remaining Yisraelim were those from Malchut Yehudah. The term “Yehudi” became the term used from then on to refer to all Yisraelim. While that may be the technical reason we are called Yehudim, there is a much deeper meaning as well.

“Thank you” and “sorry,” are two common used phrases that are easy for some and hard for others. Why? It is hard at times to remove ourselves from our comfort zone, and “modeh” (admit) that we aren’t in control of everything, or we aren’t right about everything, and we do need help. Saying “sorry” puts one down and gives the admittance that they were wrong which can be hard. While saying “thank you” sometimes gives off a sense of being indebted for the future to reciprocate a favor one received.

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The Chidushei HaRim (Ger Rebbe, 1799-1866) explains that the essence of a “Yehudi” is “hoda,” to admit. Every morning the first thing we declare is “Modeh ani”, giving admittance to Hashem for returning us to this world.

We say “Modeh” and then “ani.” We recognize the good that Hashem has done for us by giving us another day and only then do we say “ani.”

What holds us back from saying thank you and sorry? I think the underlying barrier is that we tend look at ourselves (the ani) and tend to forget those who helped us along the way. As a Yehudi we have an obligation to always acknowledge the source of our wellbeing and others who help us reach our goals and aspirations.

Yacov Segal 12th Grade, Alon Shvut In this weeks parsha, Vayetzeh, we read the famous words:

‫ְמה‬ ָ ‫ׁש ָמי‬ ָּ ‫יע ַה‬ ַ ‫ֹאשוֹ ַמ ִּג‬ ׁ ‫ֻצב ַא ְר ָצה ְור‬ ָּ ‫ֻלם מ‬ ָּ ‫ּחלֹם ו ְִה ֵּנה ס‬ ֲ ‫“ ַוַי‬ ”ֹ‫ֲכי ֱאל ִֹהים ע ִֹלים ְוי ְֹר ִדים ּבו‬ ֵ ‫ו ְִה ֵּנה ַמ ְלא‬ “And [Yaakov] dreamt, and behold a ladder was on the ground, and its top reached toward heaven; and behold, angels of G-d were ascending and

descending on it.”

The Mefarshim spend a great deal of time discussing this pasuk. The Ba’al ShemTov points out the fact that the gematria of the word “‫( ”םלוס‬Ladder), is equal to the gematria of the word “‫”ןוממ‬ (money). The Ba’al ShemTov explains that money has the ability to bring people up, but also down. It all depends on how it is used. Of course, everyone needs money to live and survive, but if achieving great wealth becomes our main focus in life, then we can begin to lose sight of the most important things in life. What the Ba’al Shemtov is trying to teach us, is that there is no problem with having big life goals involving a big income, but when it takes over our lives as the most important thing, then it can become dangerous. So just as a ladder has the ability to bring people up, as well as down, so too does money. Money is important, but if it pulls us away from the things that matter most, then we risk being pulled down. Money can be - and is - very important in life and can bring our levels of happiness and comfort up, but it also has the ability to drag them down.

May we all be zocheh to appreciate all that we have given by Hashem, and may we be elevated not by gashmiyut (materialism), but rather by ruchniyut (spirituality).

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