Oneg Yomim Noroim Edition Volume 2

Oneg Yomim Noroim Edition 5777 ‫תשע“ז‬

VOLUME 2 YOM KIPPUR/SUCCOS

Contents 2

Rabbi Zvi Teichman

4

5

Rabbi Dr Abraham Twerski

Rabbi Joseph Dweck

Volume II

of the Yomim Noroim set

6

12

Rabbi Yissochor Frand

Dayan Yehonoson Hool

7

Rabbi Avi Weisenfeld

27

Dayan Elimelech Vanzetta

8

R’ Binyomin Zev Goldberg

28

Rabbi Moishe Kormornick

9

Dayan Elimelech Vanzetta

29

Rabbi Raphy Garson

10

Rabbi Michoel Jablinowitz

30

Rabbi Shimon Mordechai Cohen

11

Chazan Michael Simon

31

Rabbi Daniel Fine

THANK YOU to all the contributors for taking time out of their busy schedules and making this publication possible.

14

Rabbi Jonathan Hughes

32

Rabbi Shimmy Miller

15

Rabbi Binyomin Marks

33

Rabbi Alan Wilkinson

THANK YOU to Rabbi Yonasan Roodyn, Reb Osher Chaim Levene, Aaron Chaim David, Devorah Englard & Ruth Collins for making this dream come true.

16

Rabbi Aaron Lipsey

34

Rabbi Dr Julian Shindler

17

Rabbi Alan Wilkinson

35

Rabbi Yossi Goldberg

18

Rabbi Dovid Roberts

36

Rabbi Danny Kada

THANK YOU to Rabbi Dovid Tugendhaft for creating the vision.

19

Rabbi Dov Birnbaum

37

Rabbi Yossi Goldberg

26

Rabbi Joseph Dweck

38

Rabbi Yehonasan Gefen

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‫יום‬ ‫כיפור‬

Yom Kippur

VIDDUY

Viduy: Something to Sing About

4

Rabbi Zvi Teichman Congregation Ohel Moshe, Baltimore, MD

Ayy yai yai yai, Ayy yai yai yai, Ayy yai yai yai...

Aaassshamnu!

Have you ever wondered why we sing this solemn but upbeat little tune to the words of Vidui, the Confession? Is the enumeration of our many sins truly something to sing about?

The term ‫ ודוי‬is most often translated as “admission” or “confession”. Yet the Mishna (Bikkurim 2:2) refers to two other mitzvos in the Torah that require an expression of “viduy” that don’t quite fit this meaning.

Where is the “confession”?

On the contrary, if anything one seems to be giving oneself a “pat on the back” for having dispatched one’s duties with aplomb.

When one brings Bikkurim, the offering of one’s first fruits to the Temple and its presentation as a gift to the Kohen, one must recite ‫וידוי בכורים‬, Viduy of the first fruits. That declaration begins with a brief synopsis of Jewish history (Devarim 26:5) where we recount how Lavan sought to destroy our father Yaakov thus compelling him to flee, initiating a chain of events that led us ultimately down to Egypt to eventually return to the Promised Land to benefit from its bounty of fruit. There seems to be no mention of any sin that we are admitting to.

In the piyut of V’chol Maaminim, there is a statement: ”‫" ַהוַ ַדאי שמו כן תהילתו‬, For whom certainty is His name and so is His praise! The Maaseh Oreg reveals that ”‫“הוַ ַדאי‬ ַ Certainty, is numerically equivalent to the ‫שם הוי”ה‬, the Four-Lettered Name of Hashem.

Here Rashi enlightens us by explaining that in this affirmation of our “father” Lavan having been a wicked person, we are “confessing” to the sin of being his progeny (Sotah 32b). Are we being held accountable that our matriarchs, Rachel and Leah, were fathered by Lavan?

The second mitzva that calls for a viduy is that of ‫ודוי מעשר‬, the Viduy of Maaser, Tithes. On the last day of Pesach of the fourth and seventh year in a Shmitta cycle, preferably in the Temple, one would recite a declaration stating that one had fulfilled all the obligations regarding tithing, whether as regards delivering them to their appropriate recipients or in treating them in accordance to their sanctity.

The famed Mashgiach, Rav Shlomo Wolbe (citing Yalkut HaGershuni) explains that this sentiment expresses the notion and hope that just as G-d represents certainty so shall we praise Him with an equal sense of clarity without any doubt. Rabbeinu Bachya teaches that the word for confession ‫ודוי‬, is indeed rooted in the word ‫ודאי‬, certainty (Vayikra 5:5). The Chida points out that ‫ ודוי‬possesses the same gematria of the Name of G-d, 26 ,‫!הוי”ה‬ One who accepts G-d with absolute clarity has no doubt that one is equipped to accomplish all that one needs to, with one’s own devices. When we recite the viduy our objective must be to no longer hide behind the facade of excuses, blame or the easy path of apathy. In a flash of clarity we take responsibility for what we have done. We realise that the first step towards repairing any flaw is contingent upon the realisation that it is my duty, nay, my privilege, to take the reins of

accountability into my own hands. No thrilling moment than this exists when one discovers this truth. It is both redemptive and empowering. One who constantly sees fault in all those around him or in the circumstances of one’s life as the cause for one’s own personal failure is doomed to live with misery and angst for eternity. It is a life that is obscured by doubt.

As Yaakov heads towards his challenging twenty year encounter with Lavan, this seemingly innocent conversation takes place with the local shepherds (Bereishis 29:4-6):

‫ויאמר להם יעקב אחי מאין אתם‬, Yaakov said to them “My brothers, where are you from?” ‫ויאמרו מחרן אנחנו‬, And they said, “We

are from Charan.”

‫ויאמר להם הידעתם‬, And he said to them,

“Do you know...”

‫את לבן‬..., “Lavan...?” ‫ויאמרו ידענו‬, And they said, “We know.” ‫ויאמר להם השלום לו‬..., Then he said to

them, “Is it well with him?”

The Midrash HaGadol reveals mystical underpinnings in this dialogue as follows: Observing the shepherds wandering aimlessly, Yaakov questioned them with brotherly concern to ask why they were so disjointed. They answered that this was

‫לעלוי נשמת‬ Leah Yardena bat L’Bct Mordechai Meir Halevi Leah Yardena (Leilai) Markiewicz ‫ע''ה‬ 6th Tishrei

QUIZ TIME

??

ANSWERS ON PAGE 39

1. livingwithmitzvos.com

What is one of the special things makes Yom Kippur different to every other day of the year?

because they came from ”‫“חרון‬, literally translated as “angst and fear”, indicating their worry of being punished due to their

own life. He instructed them to take the reins of responsibility and assuming with clarity that they will then discover inner strength and solace in life.

“Viduy is not as much a confession of sin as it is a declaration of utter clarity in our ability to assume accountability for our decisions” many sins. Yaakov questioned whether, ”‫“הידעתם‬, they are aware of the power of viduy that can compel G-d to cleanse their dark stains of sin, turning their souls back into ”‫“לבן‬, white like snow purity. They respond, ”‫“ידענו‬, and proceeded to take responsibility for their sins by reciting viduy. Yaakov encourages them that with their ardent efforts, G-d will bless them with ‫שלום‬, wellness.

Lavan was wrapped up in self-delusion.

Always blaming others for his travail, he was constantly pushing his own agenda even at the expense of his own flesh and blood. Lavan stands as the quintessential malcontent, incapable of ever taking responsibility for his own actions.

Yaakov was aware of the challenge ahead. The success of raising the family of Israel lies in conquering this treacherous enemy. He came prepared.

Facing lacklustre shepherds wallowing in mindless self-pity he took them to task.

He taught them that anger and frustration stem from unjustly blaming others and the unwillingness to take charge of one’s

In his Sifsei Tzaddik (III, Pesach 20), the Admor of Piltz says that this is precisely the viduy we express when bringing Bikkurim. We make reference to ‫ארמי אבד אבי‬, Lavan the Aramite sought to destroy Yaakov’s destiny by introducing this poisonous attitude to stifle spiritual growth and the ability to ever affect inner change. We acknowledge in this “confession” this dangerous insolence “inherited” from our “father” Lavan. It often infiltrates our emotions by creating a paralyzing angst and fear that we are incapable of being responsible for our own destiny.

It is not as much a confession of sin as it is a declaration of utter clarity in our ability to be responsible, and a willingness to assume accountability, for our decisions.

In our “confession” we sense that bond between ‫הודאי‬, the G-d of Certainty, Who is always at our side with encouragement, and our ‫ודוי‬, our expression of clarity of purpose and mission that reflects an absolute faith in Him and in ourselves.

Rav Kook teaches that in the viduy of the Tithes we are also asserting this clear truth as well, but from a different angle. When we succeed in fulfilling our duties, we must regale in the joy and satisfaction of our accomplishments.

Although we constantly aspire to attain new and heightened levels of observance, we dare not ever fall into dangerous self-incrimination. It is incumbent on us to take a moment to appreciate our allegiance and privilege in serving Him and the achievements we have made in His service.

The Talmud (Sotah 32b) states that the viduy of Bikkurim is said aloud,

VIDDUY

5

while viduy of Maaser is said in a low voice. When giving ourselves credit, we must maintain our modesty lest we lapse into overconfidence that can often lead to laxity in our observance.

In the “confession” of Bikkurim, we must however possess the courage to express aloud and with confidence, our willingness to assume responsibility and the faith in that ability.

When we have fallen we are aware that we have a Father that is eager to help and assist us, all the more so if we are ready to take responsibility.

One of the thrilling moments in parenthood is when a parent observes a child’s willingness to assume his own responsibility. The greatest assurance of success in a child is when a parent has an abiding faith in that child and, in return, the child senses the parent’s confidence in, and commitment to, him.

The Ritva (Makkos 18b) cites an unknown source that interprets the directive to recite the viduy of Bikkurim, And you shall call out and say before G-d, your Lord, “An Aramean tried to destroy my father...” (Devarim 26:5), to call out ‫בניגון‬, in song.

Perhaps our greatest joy in reciting viduy is in the knowledge that our Father in Heaven rejoices in our accepting responsibility. We need not fear our mistakes but rather to be encouraged in the confidence He has in us that truly gives us reason to sing. As we say in the end of Selichos, Should a son sin, his father would smack him, but a compassionate father will heal his pain.

Let us take ownership of our lives. If we declare with absolute clarity before G-d, our willingness to assume responsibility, He will rejoice in our achievements, encouraging us and providing us with the assistance we need to bring glory to His Name.

This is surely something to sing about!

The letters of “Silent” are the same as “Listen” Rabbi Paysach Krohn QUIZ TIME

??

ANSWERS ON PAGE 39

2. livingwithmitzvos.com

Each festival has its own Mishnayos named after it – e.g. Mishnayos Shabbos, Rosh Hashana, Sukka, etc. Why then is the name for the Mishnayos of Yom Kippur called a different name of Yuma?

Rabbi Dr Abraham Twerski

TESHUVAH

Interpersonal Teshuva

6

Founder and Medical Director Emeritus Gateway Rehabilitation Center

T

he season of heightened teshuvah is here.

It is of interest that Yom Kippur is generally translated as the “Day of Atonement” rather than “Day of Forgiveness,” although the term kapara generally refers to forgiveness.

It is unknown who coined the term “Day of Atonement,” but perhaps there is something to be learned from it.

“Atonement” connotes making “restitution” and “compensation”. This concept is not really relevant to sins of bein adam lamakom, between man and Hashem, because we cause Hashem no harm when we sin, as Elihu said, “Were you to have transgressed, how would you have affected Him, and if your rebellions were numerous, what would you have done to Him?” (Iyov 35:6). Chanun hamarbeh lisloach, Hashem’s mercy is infinite and

His forgiveness is abundant. But that is only for sins between man and Hashem.

If one has sinned against another person, however, Hashem does not forgive those sins until one has appeased whomever was offended. The Chasam Sofer said, “I am

worried much more about sins bein adam lachavero than bein adam lamakom. I trust Hashem’s forgiveness, but I cannot be sure about people.”

In order for there to be forgiveness on Yom Kippur, there must be atonement, restitution – even those this is not always easy to achieve. A thief has it easy. If he stole something, all that is required to do is to make monetary compensation. But it is much more difficult if you maligned someone by speaking disparagingly of him. If you ask the person to forgive you for having spoken badly about him, you may cause him to agonize, “I wonder what he said about me and to whom.” In this case,

Rabbi Yisrael Salanter held that it is better not to tell the person that you spoke badly about him – which would mean that there is no way to ask for forgiveness.

In addition, if you spread a false rumour about him, the halacha does not require that he forgive you.

Whereas one can make restitution by returning stolen money, there is no way of making restitution if you “stole” someone’s time. So if you promised to meet someone at a certain time and you kept him waiting for twenty minutes, you deprived him of time, a commodity which cannot be replaced.

Perhaps you mistreated your child with improper discipline. You might have come from work after a stressful day. Being highly irritable, you were unjustly harsh to your child. That is an offense against another person which requires that person’s forgiveness. However, inasmuch as a child is legally incompetent, he cannot grant forgiveness, and Yom Kippur cannot erase that sin!

Bein adam lachavero applies to husbands and wives vis-à-vis one another. An abusive spouse incurs a sin by mistreating one’s partner, and the aggrieved spouse may not forgive wholeheartedly.

Suppose someone asked your advice.

You told him what you thought would be best, but it turned out that your advice was

misguided, and the person sustained a loss because of your advice. Although your intentions were good, you inadvertently caused him damage, for which you are just as responsible as if you accidentally broke his window. The Steipler Gaon, in the very last moments of his life, cried bitterly, saying “I am afraid that perhaps I may have given someone bad advice.”

What can we do about those situations where restitution is not feasible? One of the students of the Vilna Gaon felt that he had offended someone by sarcastically rejecting the latter’s explanation of a difficult Talmudic passage. He went from shul to shul throughout Vilna, looking for the man to ask his forgiveness, but did not find him.

He was heartbroken. The Gaon told him, “If you have truly done everything within your power to ask his forgiveness, you can be sure that Hashem will put it in his heart to forgive you.”

That is the solution for those incidents where one cannot atone. If one makes serious effort to make restitution and appease the offended people, then Hashem will put it in their hearts to forgive one.

But one must be thorough in making restitution and asking forgiveness wherever possible, and that includes your spouse and your children if you have offended them, because only then will one merit Hashem’s intervention on one’s behalf.

Support Migdal Ohr by purchasing letters in the Sefer Torah that will ‫ אי”ה‬be written in honour of Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Grossman ‫’שליט”א‬s 70th birthday. The proceeds will go towards building a Children’s Residence for Israeli at-risk youngsters. www.migdal-ohr.org

Rabbi Joseph Dweck

YOM KIPPUR

A Chance of a Lifetime

7

Senior Rabbi of The S&P Sephardi Community

O

ver the thousands of years that the Jewish people have been observing the day, the manner in which we observe it has gone through changes.

In former times, there was one procedure that served as the centrepiece for the Yom Kippur service. The Kohen Gadol, the only man who performed the service, took two identical goats.

One was designated one as a sacrifice in the Temple and the other was cast off a cliff far away in the desert. This came to communally cast away vices and self-destructive behaviours with the aim of communal rehabilitation. Yet, the way in which the fate of the goats was determined was unusual: a lot was cast to determine the fate of each goat (Vayikra 16:5-10).

This peculiarity cannot be easily written off as a simple way of making a decision seeing that lotteries pop up else around Yom Kippur. The famous Mincha haftarah reading for Yom Kippur is the Book of Yonah where the decision to toss the prophet into the sea came about by a lottery: And each man said to his fellow, let’s cast lots and discover for whom this evil has [come] to us.

They cast lots and the lot fell on (Yonah.1:7-8). Furthermore, even

the daily lotteries used to determine which kohen would carry out a particular part of the service in the Temple, are oddly inserted in none other than tractate Yoma (Ch.2) which is predominantly about Yom Kippur!

Chance seems to play a significant role on Yom Kippur.

But why? Perhaps it is because chance is what affords us opportunity in life. Although people often say that it is choice not chance that determines our destiny, it is chance that provides the choice in the first place. When we give someone a chance, we are relying on the openness of the world and its possibilities to allow desirable outcomes that may not have been achieved previously, or that are not anticipated. One can fail time and again. But when we have chances, we assume that failure need not always be the outcome. The supposed randomness of the world —

the chance — that gives us the chance to do better.

On Yom Kippur we acknowledge that our lives are filled with opportunities, and we have the ability to respond to the chances that life gives us. In knowing and embracing the world’s lack of predictability, we acknowledge that the road ahead is open to us. Consequently, regardless of what might have come before, the past does not determine how future events and actions must proceed going forward. Each new day brings us a bundle of fresh opportunities at life. On Yom Kippur, G-d asks us to step away from our regular, routine world of cause and effect, and to spend 25 hours in the world of possibilities. It is here that new beginnings, untapped options, recreation and rejuvenation are born. Yom Kippur is the Day that G-d gives us the expansive gift of chance.

“If you don’t know what you’re living for, you haven’t yet lived” Rabbi Noah Weinberg

YOM KIPPUR

I Want To Come Home, But I Don’t Know If Dad Will Let Me In

8

Rabbi Yissocher Frand Rosh Yeshiva, Ner Yisrael Baltimore

I

would like to share a thought about Yom Kippur.

As Rav Dovid Kronglass used to say, this is the most important week of the year. We have a tremendous task in front of us and that is the work of repenting. We should always bear in mind one very important fact: how desperately Hashem wants us back.

Every day in Shemoneh Esrei, we recite a blessing about Teshuva. The blessing begins with the words “Bring us back, our Father, to Your Torah, and bring us near, our King, to Your service, and influence us to return in perfect repentance before You.” The blessing ends with the words “Blessed are You, Hashem, Who desires repentance (ha’rotzeh bi’teshuva).”

We recite these words so many times during the year that perhaps they lose their impact. However, ha’rotzeh bi’teshuva does not merely mean that Hashem will accept our repentance. It means He WANTS our repentance. His desire for us to come back is so enormous that as long as we make even a minimal effort, He will be waiting there to take us back.

I recently read a fictional yet powerful story with a beautiful message directly related to this idea.

After finishing high school, a teenager told his parents that he wanted to discover and see the world. His father advised him against this and urged him to start college.

But the boy was adamant to see what the rest of the world is like by travelling throughout America.”

The father told his son “If you leave now, do not bother ever coming back! You can start college now or leave this house and keep on going because you will never be welcome in my house again.” The boy decided to leave anyway.

He left his home in Maryland and began hitchhiking across America. He picked grapes in California. He did odd jobs here and there to keep himself going. But after a few months, the boy became homesick.

He missed his parents. He missed home.

He missed having a permanent roof over his head. He missed knowing where his next meal would come from. He started hitchhiking back to the east coast, which was his point of departure.

tree right near the tracks. I am going to close my eyes. Just tell me if there is a white towel wrapped around a branch on that tree. I am too nervous to look myself.”

He was so scared that the towel would not be there, he was afraid to even look directly at the tree!

He sat on the train with his eyes tightly shut and the train passed the farm and passed the tree. The boy said to the man sitting next to him, “What happened?” He said, “Son, there is a white towel around every branch on that tree.”

He got as far as Iowa, sat down on a curb somewhere and wrote a letter home: Dear Mom, I’m tired. I’m hungry. I’m lonely. I want to come home.

But I don’t know if Dad will let me home. Mom, you know the train track crosses our farm and near the farm is an apple tree. If Dad will let me in, I want you to tie a white towel around a branch of that tree. I will get on the train and I will look for the apple tree and check to see if there is a white towel wrapped around one of its branches. If dad still feels the same way he did the day I left when he told me not to ever come home again, I understand that there will be no white towel there and I will know that I can’t come home.

The boy made it back to the east coast, near Maryland, boarded a passenger train, and started heading towards home. As the train approached the farm, he became terribly nervous. Would there be a towel there or would there not be a towel? As the train came closer and closer, he turned to the fellow sitting next to him on the train and said, “I want you to do me a favour.

We are going to pass a farm with an apple

That every branch was adorned with a white towel clearly signified how much the father could not wait for his beloved son to come home!

This is a powerful parable of what it means “HE DESIRES REPENTANCE”. Our Father in Heaven passionately wants us to return home. Like any father who may have had disagreements with his son, at the end of the day, “as a father has mercy on his children,” how much more so, in the case of the Mercy of Hashem, which knows no bounds. He certainly wants us back as much as any flesh and blood father would ever want his son back.

May we all merit to do a complete repentance and be sealed for a long good life of shalom, a year of redemption and salvation, and peace upon Israel.

Rachel Charitable Trust

Rabbi Avi Weisenfeld

YOM KIPPUR

Not just lip service

9

Rosh Yeshiva, Gevuras Yitzchok; Rov at Kav Halacha Beis Hora’ah

R

av Shimon Schwab zt’’l relates an interesting incident that he was involved in. Years ago, he was standing at a bus stop in Baltimore in front of a Catholic church. A clearly Jewish woman came out of the church, and seeing a rabbi, she walked confidently over to him.

“Rabbi,” she said, “you’re probably wondering what a Jewish women is doing in a Catholic church. Well, let me tell you, those Catholics, they have something special, something that Judaism doesn’t have, something that’s just amazing.”

“Really?” said Rav Schwab. “And what exactly are you referring to?”

“It is the confessional,” she said. “You just sit in this booth, and the priest is sitting on the other side of the partition. You say, “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.” The priest says, “You are forgiven.” And hay presto. Forgiveness. You’re forgiven for all your sins, and you just feel wonderful after that. Well, Judaism doesn’t have that!”

“Madam, you are quite mistaken,” he said.

“Judaism certainly does have confession.

Three times a day, we say ‘selach lanu’ forgive us, our Father, for we have sinned.

We have viduy on Yom Kippur to atone for all our sins. What do you mean Judaism doesn’t have confession?”

“Rabbi, you don’t understand,” she replied. “At the Catholic church, someone is actually listening to you.”

“Madam, you don’t understand,” said Rav Schwab. “The Jewish people also have Someone Who is listening. Always. Not just a mere flesh and blood human that doesn’t have the power of forgiveness, but the Creator of the Universe Himself.”

At this time of year, this must be one of the most important things we can work on.

We often spend so much time in front of a siddur or machzor, but if we don’t realize that there is actually someone listening, and

we are actually talking to Him, and the One we are talking to has the ultimate power to do anything in the world, we may take it a bit more seriously.

There was someone at the Kosel davening, and he couldn’t help but hear the fellow standing next to him, and this fellow was literally talking to Hashem, telling Him all about his day and what went on, and at one point, the fellow corrected himself, “sorry,” he said, “I already told You that.” That’s called talking to Hashem.

Understanding Who we are talking to.

The Dubno Maggid would often scold his followers for the routine manner in which they performed their devotions on the High Holidays. He never ceased to warn his listeners that the mere beating if the breast while reciting the confession of sins, mechanically performed without selfexamination and without the sincere desire to mend one’s ways, would never bring that Heavenly forgiveness for which we all hope in the Days of Awe. He used to explain this with a Mashal (parable): There was a village far off in the provinces where the people were simple and ignorant. Once, one of the villagers had an occasion to spend the night in the main city. Suddenly, he was awakened from his sleep by the loud beating of drums. “What does this mean?” he asked in fright. In reply he was told that a fire had broken out and the beating of drums was the city’s fire alarm. Satisfied with this information, he went back to sleep.

Thank You

When he returned to his village, he excitedly reported what he had seen in the city. “They have the most amazing arrangement!” he declared. “Whenever there is a fire in the city they beat their drums and soon the fire is out.” The mayor of the village thought this was a splendid idea and immediately bought drums for use in the event of a fire. A few days later, when a fire did break out in the village, the inhabitants quickly took up their drums and beat them loudly. In the meantime, half the houses in the village had gone up in flames.

A stranger that happened to be present on the village square laughed ironically and said to the fire brigade who were busily beating away with their wooden drumsticks: Why, you fools! Don’t you know that you can’t extinguish a fire just by beating a drum? The drum is meant only to call out to the fire brigade to come and put out the fire; the noise of the drums won’t frighten the fire away!”

This moshol, said the Dubno Maggid, may well be applied to those of us who believe that idle lip service is sufficient to win forgiveness from Above. However long we may beat our fists against our hearts, it is all worthless if we regard this High Holiday ritual as a magic formula to ward off the consequences of sin. We should instead consider it an alarm, to awaken us to true repentance and resolute to better ourselves and thus extinguish the searing flame of evil that burns within our hearts.

to all those who spend so much time behind the scenes preparing our shuls every day!

R’ Binyomin Zev Goldberg

YOM KIPPUR

Wearing Shoes

10

Author of ‘Koloh D’Yaakov’ on the weekly Parsha and the Moadim

T

here was once a poor man who bought his very first pair of shoes. His joy was tremendous as he walked down the street and, for the first time in his life, he did not feel the biting pain of every pebble cutting into his feet.

He walked proud and tall, knowing that he did not need to perpetually scan the floor for minor obstacles, which he had previously had to do.

Rather, these small pebbles were dashed under his newly shod feet. He was not foolish though, he was well aware that he was still at risk of large boulders and iron beams that builders left strewn around the streets, however he was easily able to avoid these. Then, disaster struck, and his shoes broke beyond repair. Unable to afford a new pair, he returned to his previous existence, whereby every step outside was painful due to the hard roads and pebbles all around. He began to walk again with his head downturned, constantly scanning the road ahead for even the smallest stone, so that he might avoid it.

The Ollelos Ephraim (The author of the Kli Yokor on the Torah) uses this mashal to explain why we do not wear shoes on Yom Kippur. He writes that in order for Yom Kippur to truly achieve atonement, one must pay as much attention to small Mitzvos and Aveiros as large ones. There are some Mitzvos, he explains, that people, “Dash beneath their feet,” meaning that they consistently ignore and appear to trample over them. This is comparable,

to the man in the above story, who, when he has shoes, is able to ignore the smaller pebbles, and indeed, in time, forgets them entirely. It is true that the big stones, which represent the bigger Mitzvos, are still within his realm of thought; however, the smaller ones are not. In contrast, one who walks barefoot is like the person who is always looking for the small Mitzvos. He is unwilling to tread on them as he is aware that they will hurt, meaning in

this context, that they are also a command of Hashem and carry with them punishment for lack of their observance just as larger Mitzvos do.

It is for this reason, he adds, that both Moshe and Yehoshua were told to take off their shoes when they stood on holy ground. When in a place of holiness, he asserts, it is not enough to think only of bigger Mitzvos, represented by wearing shoes, rather one must be a Tzaddik, who desires the fulfilment of even the most minute of Mitzvos. They were therefore instructed to remove their shoes to show them this idea. As such, concludes the Ollelos Ephraim, it is appropriate that people should stand barefoot on Yom Kippur, to remind themselves of the importance of every single Mitzvah and Aveiroh, and that they should not, ‫ח”ו‬, trample them beneath their feet.

"In the place where a person wants to be, that is where he will be found" The Baal Shem Tov QUIZ TIME

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On Erev Yom Kippur there is a special inyan to eat and this is considered as having fasted (Gemora Rosh Hashana 9a-b). Why?

YOM KIPPUR

Wear Clean Clothes, Please!

11

Dayan Elimelech Vanzetta Rov of Kehilas Ahavas Yisrael, Edgware

How can we arrive at Yom Kippur wearing stained, dirty clothes?

We read in Megilas Esther1: “He came until the front of the King’s gate, for it was forbidden to enter the King’s gate clothed with sackcloth.”

As we know, Hashem’s name is not explicitly mentioned anywhere in Megilas Esther, however, whenever the word HaMelech is used, that is a direct reference to the Almighty. Therefore, according to chazal, the abovementioned posuk warrants a deeper explanation as it is, in reality, talking about the gates of the King of kings. It conveys the deep message that one should not arrive at the month of Elul, Rosh HaShonah, Aseres Yemei teshuvah and Yom Kippur wearing “dirty clothes”, which are not fit for the occasion.

As we know, the days of Elul and aseres yemei teshuvah constitute a period of time in which Hashem is closer to us. As such, our whole demeanour ought to be different and more spiritually “sophisticated” then other times of the year. Just like we have special physical clothes which we reserve for special occasions, so too should we have special, spotless clean spiritual “clothes” set apart for important spiritual occasions.

Chazal have taught us that, indeed, our neshomos have their clothes in the form of the fulfilment of mitzvos and the study of Torah. It is, therefore, paramount to keep these pieces of garment constantly clean and unblemished by sins and transgressions. Especially during these fearful Yomim Nor’oim.

Rav Yisroel Salanter zt”l tells us in his masterpiece, the Sefer Ohr Yisroel that Yidden of yesteryear would tremble as the month of Elul drew closer. The impact on their lives of a fast approaching Elul was so great that they felt an uncontrollable need to come closer to Hashem, His Torah and His mitzvos. They were able to establish how far they had strayed from the will of the Almighty during the year and that the only remedy was to exert themselves in studying Torah and in properly observing all mitzvos.

of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?” When the sins are too many, they are comparable to a cord with many knots which must be undone.

This work is achieved mostly as the Yomim Noro’im draw closer, days which, from the beginning of chodesh Elul are called yemei ha rachamim ve ha selichos, days of mercy and forgiveness, during which time we are given greater opportunities to cancel off our transgressions thanks to the power of our own teshuvah.

Says Shlomo HaMelech3: “Don’t be overwicked…”.

It would seem that we don’t need the wisest man in history to give us such a simple advice.

However, explains Rav Nosson Meir Wachtfogel zt”l, the revered late Lakewood Mashgiach, that in fact Shlomo HaMelech is telling us that when one stumbles in the same transgression time and again, without doing teshuvah, one reaches the status of being over-wicked even if the sin in question is the smallest of all prohibitions.

Once it is repeated several times its status is geometrically multiplied.

It is fitting, therefore, that during the entire period from Rosh Chodesh Elul to the end of aseres yemei teshuvah we reflect upon our transgressions so as to untie the many knots created during the year by virtue of our repeated sins, especially on Yom Kippur, if we truly desire a complete atonement, granted to us by the Al-mighty’s infinite loving-kindness.

In general terms, however, what causes a Mitzvah to be of a superior value or an aveirah to carry greater weight?

The prophet Yeshayahu2 writes: “Is not this kind of fasting I have chosen: to loosen the chains

As regards mitzvos, chazal teach us in Pirkei Avos that the reward for the performance of a Mitzvah is proportional to the effort involved in its fulfilment. If a person studies Torah at a set time, in peace and tranquillity, without any worries and

1 4:2 2 58:6

3 Koheles 7:17

continues to do the same when his mind is filled with concerns, his surroundings are not so quiet and the distractions are many, it goes without saying that his reward for the latter scenario is greater than what he will get for the former.

When a person makes the effort to overcome his or her natural tendencies for the sake of studying Torah or performing a Mitzvah his/ her rewards will be much, much greater than whatever could have been achieved if observing this commandment just came “naturally” to him/ her.

The same is true when it comes to sinning.

Although every sin presupposes a certain punishment, such punishment will vary depending on the circumstances leading on to the transgression. There is a great difference between someone who willingly and happily sins and someone who sinned in an almost unavoidable situation and is even contrite about it as it takes place.

In the same fashion, if an individual employs all of his/her strength so as not to sin, his/her rewards will be multiplied manifold.

Rav Chaim Vital zt”l in his Sefer Sha’arey Kedushah gives us decisive advice to help us fulfil our mitzvos and avoid sinning. He says that we must tirelessly work on our inner essence and acquire all the virtues that we admire.

If we just follow these simple recommendations (which do require work but a kind of work that makes us greater), there are no doubts that we will be able to appear before the King of kings on this Yom Kippur wearing our impeccably white, clean spiritual clothes.

OGR Stock Denton LLP Winston House 349 Regents Park Road London N3 1DH T: +44 (0)20 8349 0321 www.ogrstockdenton.com

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Both on Yom Kippur and on Tisha B’Av we fast with five afflictions. What is the difference between them?

YOM KIPPUR

A Time to Eat

12

Rabbi Michoel Jablinowitz Rosh Yeshiva Ateret Yerushalayim

T

he gemara in Rosh Hashanah 9A teaches that anyone who eats on the ninth of Tishrei, Erev Yom Kippur, is considered by the Torah as if he fasted on the ninth and the tenth. The gemara is teaching that there is a mitzvah to eat on Erev Yom Kippur, but why does it say that if one eats on Erev Yom Kippur it’s as if he fasted on both the ninth and the tenth. Why didn’t the gemara simply say there are two separate mitzvos, one to eat on the ninth, and the mitzvah to fast on Yom Kippur? In what way is the gemara connecting the two mitzvos?

The gemara in Pesachim 68B teaches the famous discussion as to whether one may either spend the festivals focusing exclusively on eating or exclusively on learning Torah, or whether the day must be divided. According to the latter opinion, the festivals must be chetzyo lachem v’chetzyo la Hashem. Half the day is for your physical enjoyment, while half the day is spent in study and prayer. After mentioning this machlokes, the gemara says that on certain festivals like Shavuos, hakol modim, everyone agrees that one must eat, ba’iynan nami lachem.

The gemara says this by other days as well, like Shabbos and Purim. Then the gemara brings a statement that Mar Brei D’Ravinah fasted the whole year except for Shavuos, Purim, and Erev Yom Kippur. But the gemara doesn’t mention that on Erev Yom Kippur Hakol Modim Ba’iynan Nami Lachem, the day includes an obligation to feast. Why does the gemara not include Erev Yom Kippur as a day that all agree there is an obligation for physical enjoyment, yet it acknowledges there is a prohibition from fasting on Erev Yom Kippur?

Rav Tzadok explains that there is a fundamental difference between the eating on the festivals and the eating on Erev Yom Kippur.

The mitzvah to eat on the chagim is to rejoice and have physical enjoyment. chetzyo lachem.

However, the eating on Erev Yom Kippur has a very different purpose. On Erev Yom Kippur, we are commanded to partake in the most physical of activities, eating and drinking. We take the physical and refine it by doing it in a way which minimizes pleasure and focuses instead on purpose. We eat in order to survive and serve Hashem better. And this is why the gemara teaches that though one may not fast on Erev Yom Kippur, it would be inappropriate to describe the eating on Erev Yom Kippur as, Hakol Modim D’Ba’iynan Nami Lachem. It is not for you, i.e. for your pleasure. The obligation to eat is in order to serve Hashem.

The Sfas Emes explains further that we eat on Erev Yom Kippur as a prelude to doing teshuva on Yom Kippur. In order to do teshuva we must first confront the challenge of being involved in the physical world. Therefore we engage in the physical act of eating, and instead of sinning through pleasure, we perform a mitzvah. This is the best way to enter Yom Kippur and the mitzvah of teshuva; using the physical to serve Hashem.The Sfas Emes compares this process to the Mishnah in Avos,

Olam hazeh domeh l’prozdor lifnei olam habah.

On Yom Kippur, we lose all connection to the physical by refraining from the five prohibited physical activities and become like angels. It is as if we are all in olam habah. And on the ninth, we eat as a corridor to Yom Kippur. We eat and drink in a purified manner as a means of being able to enter olam habah. In order to enter Yom Kippur, we need the introduction of worldly involvement in a refined manner.

This teaches us a fundamental point. On Yom Kippur we reach the heights of the angels and it is as if we entered olam habah. But we prepare for this process beforehand on Erev Yom Kippur by confronting our frailties and our weaknesses. It is our attempt to meet the challenge of the physical world head on by partaking in the physical, but yet being able to have it lead us into a more spiritual existence.

This is why Chazal say that one who eats on the ninth is considered as if he fasted on the ninth and tenth. As we mentioned in the question above, the two days are intimately connected. The eating on the ninth is not a separate mitzvah similar to the mitzvah of rejoicing on the festivals. Rather it is a means of purifying our eating and leading to a proper teshuva. When the eating on the ninth is lishmah, and is not based on physical pleasure, then it is considered as two days of spiritual activity, and it is as if one fasted on the ninth and on the tenth.

‫לעלוי נשמת‬

‫ר‘ יהודה בן ר‘ יעקב ז"ל‬ ‫נלב''ע ו‘ סיון‬

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5. Why do we call it in davening ‫ יום הכפורים‬in the plural tense and not ‫ יום כפור‬in the singular?

Chazan Michael Simon

KOL NIDREI

Mah nishtano halaylo hazeh?

13

Author of Mimini Michoel, weekly email on the Torah & Mo’adim

F

ew tunes, if any, are more stirring, even to those with the most dormant or suppressed emotions, than the unique melody of Kol Nidrei.

The “tefillah” (prayer) itself has had a lengthy, though somewhat chequered, history. Dating back to the time of the Geonim (7th to 10th Centuries CE), misunderstandings, and no doubt some deliberate misinterpretations, of the nature of the vows for which it grants nullification, have led to textual emendations and even Rabbinic opinions arguing against its inclusion in the machzor. And yet it remains as a vital component of the Yom Kippur liturgy, so much so that the whole evening service is known colloquially as Kol Nidrei night. Its dominance in the public conscience is all the more remarkable when one considers that it is not, even technically, a prayer but rather a legalistic formula recited three times by a Beis Din (represented by the chazan and two supporters) ideally before sunset, in order to have the required halachic effect upon the specific category of oaths to which it is addressed. With this context in mind, we would be forgiven for wondering just what the magnetic appeal of Kol Nidrei is, such that it has had our brethren, however loosely affiliated, flocking to shul in their droves for centuries, anxious to be included in this annual ritual.

Many theories abound, but Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt’’l may have a persuasive answer that draws upon a central theme of the High Holyday period. He points out that the nullification of an oath creates in its wake a tremendous fillip in that it retroactively negates it, meaning that it is as if it never existed. The benefit is, obviously, that any breaches of the oath that have already been occasioned will no longer incur any penalty as there was no oath to break. Rav Soloveitchik explains that there are two grounds upon which the Beis Din can pronounce an annulment. One is called ‫ פתח‬pesach.(meaning ‘opening’), which may be appropriate where a person states “I would not have made such a vow had I known that it was worthless and would cause more trouble than existed prior to it”. The second is ‫חרטה‬ charatah (meaning ‘remorse’) and applies where someone truly regrets that they made such a vow in the first place.

By way of example, the category of ‘remorse’ applies to the man who vows to divorce his wife in a month’s time if she will not desist from frivolous expenditure [this plainly far-fetched example does come from an ancient source]. During the allotted period of time, the man hears a most eloquent, rabbinical oration on the incalculable self-sacrifice of Jewish ladies throughout the ages, never allowing

poverty or privation, turbulence or confrontation to deflect them from their holy task of raising the next generation. Ruminating on this message and recognising the true value of his eishes chayil, the man is horrified at the folly of his vow and, quickly realigning his priorities, he rushes to the Beis Din to have the vow annulled.

The category of ‘opening’ is exemplified by the father who vows to disown his son if he persists in marrying a girl far below his station [I appreciate this may be considered as equally far-fetched as the first example]. The son elopes and settles with his new wife in another town and the father has no contact with him for several years. Then an acquaintance of the father tells him that he recently met the son, who is happily married with two children and running a successful business. Though maintaining his stance that the vow was legitimately made at the time, the father acknowledges that it no longer has worth, as it did not accomplish its intended purpose. It is for this reason that the father now wishes for his vow to be annulled, allowing him to pursue a relationship with his grandchildren as well. The fundamental difference between the two cases is that the remorseful husband actually holds the vow itself to be repugnant, not just ineffective.

Rav Soloveitchik suggests that this is a perfect analogy for the concept of ‫ תשובה‬teshuvah (repentance), which is ideally undertaken by a person recognising and actually lamenting the terrible mistakes that he has made in life. This process of remorse has caused him seriously to alter his outlook on life and to become a new person. There is a lesser level of repentance, achieved by one who examines his life and concludes that his abandonment of the Torah, by, for instance, working seven days a week in order to maximise his income stream, has not in fact achieved its intended aim. Moreover, he can see that his Shabbos-observing neighbour is happier, healthier and just as materially successful. This brings him to a realisation that, had he known that his failures in Torah and mitzvos would not offer him any advantage, he would more likely have embraced his religious obligations.

The difference in quality and consequences between these two levels can be illustrated through

the famous Gemara in Maseches Yoma [86a] which records two apparently conflicting statements of Reish Lakish. The first is that ‫ תשובה‬is so great that one’s deliberate sins are converted to a level of inadvertence. The second is that ‫ תשובה‬affects deliberate sins to the extent of transforming them into zechusim (merits). The Gemara explains that the first statement relates to ‫ תשובה‬that is done out of fear of punishment, whereas the second describes the monumental outcome of repentance performed out of love for Hashem.

Applying these categories to annulment of vows, Rav Soleveitchik equates the ‘remorse’ category with one who repents out of love, because he has genuinely effected an internal change, becoming a new person. This person now merits great reward, because Hashem reviews all of his actions in the context, retrospectively, of his new outlook and grants him concomitantly greater reward. By contrast, one who only returns to the path of Hashem when he discovers that his sins have not gained him the physical or material rewards that he was anticipating, is essentially admitting that he made a mistake. This equates with repentance out of fear and achieves only the downgrading of his sinfulness.

This whole concept of ‫ תשובה‬is a supernatural manifestation of Hashem’s goodness and mercy.

Maybe, it is this that Jews of previous generations recognised and understood. For them, Kol Nidrei represented the quintessential component that brought to mind the level of ‫ תשובה‬that they were striving to attain. This profound meaning within Kol Nidrei clearly connects with us all, even on an entirely subconscious level.

May we merit to achieve the highest level of ‫תשובה‬ so that any negative actions over the last year will be transformed into mitzvos and may Hashem inscribe and seal us all and our loved ones for a year of good health, happiness and success in every aspect of our lives.

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The Haftarah of Yom Kippur

HAFTARAH

14

Dayan Yehonoson Hool Federation Beis Din

W

hen we pause and reflect on our actions on Yom Kippur, weighing them to ascertain whether they are worthy, most of us immediately think in terms of our religious obligations in the service of Hashem. Were we concentrating on what we were saying when we prayed or were we merely mumbling the words whilst watching the clock? Were our prayers said with genuine feeling? Perhaps there were times when we missed praying altogether. Did we observe Shabbos in all its aspects? Did we set aside enough time for learning Torah? Perhaps we unwittingly transgressed prohibitions without even realising because we never got around to setting aside time to study halacha? This list goes on and each person must indeed make a cheshbon hanefesh (a self-accounting), examining his deeds, actions and even thoughts to ascertain what is wrong, inappropriate, missing or in need of improvement.

However, if we take a close look at the Yom Kippur liturgy, (particularly in the list of aveiros that we recite in the vidui, we will notice a surprising emphasis on a completely different area of a person’s activities – his interaction with his fellow man. And prominent amongst these are those that relate to our monetary matters.

Now let us look at the haftarah for Yom Kippur. The prophet Yeshayahu rebukes the people who think that they can effect repentance and appease G-d by fasting and physical affliction that are devoid of inner conviction: “Can such be the fast I choose, a day when man merely afflicts himself? Can it be bowing his head like a bulrush and making a mattress of sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast and

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day of favour to Hashem? Surely this is the fast I choose: open the bonds of wickedness, dissolve the groups that pervert [justice], let the oppressed go free and annul all perverted [justice]….

Then you will call and Hashem will respond, you will cry out and He will say, “Here I am!” If you remove from your midst perversion, finger-pointing and evil speech.” (Isaiah, 58).

The haftarah of the mincha service of Yom Kippur also provides inspiration in this regard. The people of Nineveh heeded Yonah’s call and repented, with the king leading the way. “Let them call out mightily to G-d; each person is to turn back from his evil way and from the robbery which is in their hands….

And G-d saw their deeds… and G-d relented concerning the calamity He

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had said He would bring upon them.”

(Yonah, 3:8-10) As the gemora in Ta’anis 16a notes, the verse does not say that G-d saw their sackcloth and fasting, but that he saw their deeds – they had returned any illegally attained property that was in their possession and thus repented fully.

The climax of Yom Kippur is the neilah prayer. Indeed, neilah is the culmination of the entire period of repentance starting all the way back on the first of Elul. And what do we pray for at this most holy and decisive of moments? “You gave us, Hashem our G-d, with love this Day of Atonement, a deadline, pardon and forgiveness for all our iniquities so that we can withdraw our hands from financial oppression (lema’an nechdal me’oshek yadeinu).”

Of all our sins, the crime of financial wrongdoing is the one that we are most desperate to avoid.

There are several reasons why repentance from this sin is so central to the service of Yom Kippur. Firstly, Chazal tell us that, “[If one has] a box full of sins, which is the one that accuses before all? Theft!” (Yalkut Shimoni, Vayikra, 660). So when we arrive at the Day of Judgment, we don’t want to fall at the first fence. But there’s more to A COMMUNITY SERVICE OF THE

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Why do we blow the shofar at the very end of Yom Kippur?

it than that: “For people sin with idol worship, immorality and murder, yet gezel [i.e. theft] is more severe than all of them” (ibid). The wicked generation that perished in the Flood at the time of Noach transgressed some of the most severe offenses, yet the one that sealed their fate was gezel (Sanhedrin, 108).

And Chazal tell us that “One who steals even a penny from his fellow man is considered to have taken his life” (Bava Kama, 119b).

Now, most of us do not transgress the sin of theft in the classic sense. We don’t rob banks or steal other people’s property. Nevertheless, the Torah demands a lot more under the rubric of gezel. Don’t flat-out steal, but also don’t cheat, lie, or trick. Don’t force a person to sell his property, don’t hold back wages, don’t encroach on another’s livelihood, and don’t overcharge or underpay. Keep your word, honour your commitments, and deal fairly and with integrity to all.

Some people have the mistaken attitude which allows them to make an illegal profit through another man’s loss. “Of course I’m not a thief,” they say, “I’m simply an astute businessman.

And after all, business is business!”

No, it isn’t. Business is Torah.

Business is halacha. And if it isn’t, it’s gezel, plain and simple. Perhaps most

tragic of all, such a person will not reap any benefit from the acts of charity done with his ill-gotten gain. Chazal tell us that if a person used his nonkosher money to perform a mitzvah, he does not have any benefit from his good deed, no matter how well-intentioned he may have been. And it’s worse than that. The mitzvah is not just worthless; it has actually caused a negative effect. Don’t bring a king a gift made of material that he has banned. And don’t bring the King of kings a mitzvah paid for with nonkosher money.

But what about the majority of us who do not have this immoral attitude?

Most of us understand that halacha should reign supreme even in our business dealings. For people like us, the Mesillas Yeshorim (Chapter 11) teaches an important lesson, “Just as the desire for money is great, so too the opportunities for stumbling in this area are numerous. To be genuinely uncontaminated from gezel, one needs to employ much assessment and scrutiny. But one who succeeds in cleansing himself from any trace of gezel has achieved a very high spiritual level.” The Mesillas Yeshorim is telling

us that good intentions by themselves are not enough. Real vigilance regarding the specifics of the halacha is needed or else one can easily

transgress direct Torah prohibitions of gezel. So let us all scrutinise our financial activities. Let us correct any past misdeeds and ensure that from now on our actions will be measured carefully to ensure that they comply with all the halachos of kosher money.

Then, when we raise our ‘clean hands’ in prayer, we will surely be answered, and we will be inscribed and sealed in the book of life and blessing, us and all of Israel.

Things to ponder over the Yomim Noroim (Bein Adom Lechavero) L Loshon Hora

He lost his money on a big deal; they are getting divorced etc.

I felt good because I was the one that broke the news and I enjoyed watching the listeners eyes pop out when I told them. Is it really worth that small sense of satisfaction? Why does everyone need to know, do you want people talking about you?

L I have the last say in this conversation

Why can’t we concede to another person? is the experience of feeling more empowered over another person worth it?

L I correct my parents story

Why do we find ourselves correcting other people’s stories? Do we feel more socially accepted if we know more facts about the occurrence? Do we feel better at the expense of the others embarrassment?

HAFTARAH

15

bu b bl by og 's

L Am I really a better person than that person?

Hashem knows what you think. Hashem gives you the tools you need to achieve your goals, be it Torah knowledge, money, strength, popularity etc. Do you think Hashem is happy seeing you look down at other people. Only Hashem knows who is achieving more with their mitzvos, both in terms of quality and quantity.

L Bilaam tried to talk badly about Jews and couldn’t

Why do we talk badly about our brothers and sisters? Especially when talking to people outside our religion? We should be proud to be Jewish!!

L Why are we so protective of sharing ideas

I recently saw a beautiful site in Eretz Yisroel. Fifteen Chazanim preparing for Yomim Noroim davening in one room together, sharing ideas of Nigunim and Songs to uplift their kehilas over the next 10 days. Why do we find it difficult to share our knowledge and ideas with other people, thinking that they may look better than us performing them? Hashem puts the idea in your mind for a reason….but who knows what that reason is. To act on that idea may just mean to share it!

Rabbi Jonathan Hughes

MAFTIR

Maftir Yonah

16

Rav, Radlett United Synagogue, US City Rabbi, Ambassador of University Jewish Chaplaincy, Maggid Shiur at Shaarei Orah

I

was running. Running along the beach front at Bournemouth when I was seven years old.

My family was walking with me before I began imagining I was in an Olympic marathon and shot ahead into pole positon. I was mentally commentating at my sheer athletic prowess and entered the steep ‘zig zag’ path up from the beach to the hill top.

When I reached the summit, the cheering crowd and gold medal in my head vanished as I realised I was all alone. My family had disappeared. I raced back down the ‘zig zag’ and walked along the promenade, desperately searching for my parents. They were gone. Some time elapsed and an elderly couple approached me, as by now, I had burst into tears. I was trying to explain my situation to them when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw my father running towards me. I threw myself at him and he picked me up. I was rescued.

On Yom Kippur, we read Sefer Yonah.

Hashem sent Yonah to rectify the moral condition of Nineveh, but with all

recited on Rosh HaShana, called Keser Malchus. It contains a phrase that pertains to the flight from Hashem:

‫אם עוני מנשוא גדול‬ ,‫אלקי‬ ‫מה תעשה לשמך הגדול‬ ‫ואם לא אוחיל לרחמיך‬ ‫מי יחוס עלי חוץ ממך‬ ‫לכן אם תקטלני לך איחל‬ ‫ואם תבקש לעוני‬ ‫אברח ממך אליך‬ ‫ואתכסה מחמתך בצלך‬ ‫ובשולי רחמיך אחזיק‬ ‫עד אם רחמתני‬ ‫ולא אשלחך כי אם ברכתני‬

the cheshbonos in the world, Yonah runs away and boards a ship bound for a distant destination. The Vilna Gaon writes

The phrase, Evrach mim’cha eilecha, translates as, ‘I flee from you, to you’. What does this paradox mean?

that Yonah represents the neshamah of

Rav Shimshon Pincus zt’’l once said

each and every one of us that is sent to this world on a mission to rectify ourselves and the world through Torah, mitzvos and tikkun hamiddos. But

during a shiur that he once personally experienced the phenomenon of evrach

instead of carrying out our mission, often we too run away. Sometimes we run to indulge in bodily ta’avos that can never really satisfy us. Occasionally, we run after money and the dream of a bigger house, a fancier car. We run from the yoke of being parents, spouses and from the responsibilities of being a Jew. R’ Shlomo Ibn Gevirol wrote a grand and moving piyut in the 11th century which is

mim’cha eilecha. One Purim, he got dressed in a realistic, furry bear costume. His young son, Yankel, saw him and started crying, “Mummy, Mummy - there’s a bear in the house!!” His mother tried to calm her son: “Don’t be afraid! That’s just Daddy in a costume!” Yankel ran over to Rav Pincus, hugged his leg, and cried, “Daddy, Daddy, save me from the bear!!” Rav Pincus said that this is an exact analogy for our tefillos.

We run away from Hashem most when there is hester panim, from the ‘mask’ He puts on – a mask that either hides His existence, or

one that scares us, prompting us to eschew our identity and mission. We are terrified of the mask that hides Hashem’s love.

Evrach mim’cha eilecha captures the essence of Yonah’s flight and ours too. Yonah ran from what he perceived as Hashem’s uncompromising middas ha’din.

Our fears, depression and worldy addictions cause us to similarly retreat from G-d and spirituality. But following the maddening tempest of paranoia and turmoil, Yonah ends up back in dialogue with G-d: he ends up back home. On Yom Kippur, we too return to the only Refuge we know and trust.

We feel the pachad and yirah and know that we have absconded throughout the year; but all we know how to do - what we have to do - is run back to Avinu Shebashamayim and

cry, “Hashem, please save us from the terrifying mask that hides Your love!”

If you, like me, find yourself running – running away from passionate Torah learning, fleeing from the sacred mission we were put here to accomplish, avoiding the investment of real effort in our Yiddishkeit, then Yom Kippur is there for us. Us Boltesque sprinters know that it is only to Hashem that we can run in times of danger.

This is the moment when, like Yonah, we can turn back to precisely what we fear and in that dramatic return may we merit to be inscribed in the Sefer HaChaim and enjoy an enriched life which gives us true meaning, joy and hope.

"There is no room for Hashem in a man who is filled with himself" The Baal Shem Tov

The Avoda of Teshuva

MUSSAF

17

Rabbi Binyomin Marks Golders Green Kollel HaRabbonim

T

he Chazan, in his repetition of the Mussaf Shmoneh Esrai, recounts the seder ha’avoda which took place in the Beis Hamikdosh on Yom Kippur.

As the holiest day of the year, it is characterised uniquely by the Kohen Godol entering the Kodesh Kodoshim, the holiest place within the Beis Hamikdosh, the holiest place on earth. This is something which happens no other day of the year. The Kohen Godol enters to be maktir the ketores (an event which is normally performed on a daily basis on the Golden Mizbayach which is located inside the haichal), as well as to be zorek the blood of the special korbonos of the day. What is this supposed to symbolise? What is it about Yom Kippur that demands the Kohen Godol to go into the place which is the makom haShechina, where the presence of Hashem is more intense than any other?

The Piaseczner Rebbe zt’’l, in his sefer Aish Kodesh1 in his drosho for Shabbos Shuva (from the year 5700/1940) brings the possuk where the Novi declares “Shuva Yisroel ad Hashem Elokecha ki keshalta ba’avonecha”, “Return Yisroel to Hashem your G-d for you have stumbled in your sins”. Explains the Rebbe, the intention of the Novi is to say, it is not sufficient to do Teshuva on one’s sins, that is, to regret them and return to the way one was before the sin. For surely, if a person was able to sin before, if he merely returns to that state in which he was before then it is still possible for him to sin again. Rather, one cannot suffice with teshuva on the sin alone – one must return to Hashem. That is to say, it is not enough to regret the actions of the past, one has to make himself into a whole different person, a person who is close to Hashem, and to whom it is impossible to ascribe those mistakes of the past. Thus the avoda of teshuva, and hence of Yom Kippur, is not focused just on 1 Written by Harav Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira Hy’d in the Warsaw ghetto, the droshos were discovered after his murder of in the remains of the ghetto.

the individual sins we have committed. This is, obviously, a basic necessity of teshuva, and hence vidui is a major feature of the tefilos of the day. However, if we focus only on doing teshuva for the minutiae of transgression, we can lose the overall picture – that the purpose is that we should become new people, who are close to Hashem.

The building of the Mishkon (and so too the Beis Hamikdosh) was a fulfilment of the Will of Hashem which He had intended from the beginning of creation, to rest his Shechina amongst the lower spheres, in our physical world. The meforshim explain2 that the Mishkon in its design actually mirrored the world – both the Olam Hagodol and the Olam Hakoton. The Olam Hagodol is the universe around us. The Olam Hakoton is Man. The different parts of the Mishkon represent different parts of a person, the different spiritual entities and energies which makeup his nature and challenge of existence.3 The Kodesh Hakodashim is the place where the Shechina of Hashem rests – this represents the highest, most elevated state of a person, where he is capable of becoming also a resting place for the Shechina. Chazal tell us ‘ha’avos hein hein hamerchava’ – Tzadikim are themselves the Throne of Hashem, keveyochol.4 The Kodesh Kadoshim represents the place inside of us that the Shechina is capable of coming to rest on. In the depths of our heart we say to Hashem “retzonainu la’asos retzonecha”,

2 See Rabaynu Bechaye Parshas Teruma 3 Ibid 4 Ibid, where he explains that the Tefilin Shel Yad and Shel Rosh are in place of the two keruvim which were on the Aron, and so thus the Shechina between them on the wearer.

‫לעלוי נשמת‬

our will is to do Your Will. Our aim on Yom Kippur should be to discover that state of being, of wanting to become a resting place for the presence of Hashem, to live with Him. This is something which we are all capable of.

The day of Yom Kippur is engineered to allow us to reach this state. The Maharal5 explains that the five inuyim (afflictions) of the day are to free us from the normal inhibitions of the physical body and get ‘in touch’ with our true spiritual selves. This state is not possible to maintain, but we are supposed to use it as a springboard for the coming year. This can only be through doing a teshuva where our desire is to change ourselves into people who are close to Hashem, where our primary focus is on long lasting ruchnius investment. Naturally, the Kohen Godol, as the representative of Klal Yisroel, enters the Kodesh Kadoshim on Yom Kippur to ‘discover’ this state of Shechina, which exists in fact the whole year round, just is not so visibly noticed.

We are a people who are capable of reaching heights of Kedusha and Tahara, whether in the beis hamedrash or the wider world. Yet society around us is intent on spreading the message where the only goal in life is the pursuit of our physical desires and instant gratification. The challenge is to remember that we are different, and that these ideals are ultimately empty and unsatisfying. Let’s allow Yom Kippur to remind us of who and where we would like to be – in the Kodesh Kadoshim.

5 Drosho LeShabbos Shuva

‫ר‘ אברהם בן ר‘ שלמה טבלי הי‘ד‬ ‫נלב''ע ב‘ סיון‬

Rabbi Aaron Lipsey

NEILAH

Neilah: A Personal Reflection

18

Rabbi, UHC of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Student Chaplain, North East of England

M

y grandfather is one of the most important people in my life. Zaida – Matti Brennan – was a real mentsch. He immigrated to Manchester from Dublin in 1953 with the intention of bringing up his young family – namely my mother – in a Jewish community that could provide for their social and religious needs. That decision has baruch Hashem thus far resulted in entire generations of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren being brought up as bnei Torah and shomrei Shabbas. This achievement is all the more startling considering the home Zaida came from. Tragically, none of his siblings married Jewish partners, let alone lived Jewish lives, and certainly none had Jewish nachas from their families.

Zaida was a constant presence during my formative years. We lived around the corner from each other and we would frequently get together.

We often ate Shabbos and Yom Tov meals together, I spent many Sunday afternoons sprawled on his living room floor watching sport, and we usually holidayed together in the summer. We always davened together, at the same table in our Shul, Kahal Chassidim.

Invariably Zaida would arrive in Shul before me. I would run in, wish him good Shabbos, receive a welcoming hug (he was a great hugger!) and sit down to daven. He loved Shul – especially our Shul – and whenever I think back to my childhood years in Kahal Chassidim, he is the first person to come to mind.

In particular I remember one Yom Kippur when I can’t have been more than 14 or 15. It had been a long day and as it was drawing to a close I started to experience a sharp headache and I felt extremely nauseous. Just before Neilah I stepped out of Shul for a couple of minutes of fresh air but it didn’t really help. I came back into Shul determined to get through the last hour or so, but as the ark opened and the chazzan began intoning the prayers I just slumped over the table. I felt truly awful! Suddenly I felt an arm across my shoulders. It was, of course, my dear Zaida. He had seen the distress I was in and he’d momentarily paused his davening to give me some support and encouragement. To this day I don’t know what he did, but I felt sufficiently

revived to pick myself up and continue.

(I told you he was a good hugger!) I straightened my back and managed to get through to the end. As soon as we finished Shul I felt the waves of nausea washing over me again and it was all I could do to get home, take some medicine (the most important drug being caffeine) and finally start to feel better.

Zaida passed away in 2000 but he is still a constant presence in my life.

I remember the way he looked and the nuance of his speech. But more importantly I remember the feel of his arms around me and I know he will never let go. Not a single Neilah has passed since that one that I don’t think back to that moment and reflect on how grateful I am that Matti Brennan was my Zaida. He was – by his own admission – a simple Jew, but all who knew him, loved him and respected him. Of all my childhood memories, that hug is one of my most powerful memories and it inspires my neilah. It inspires me to ask Hashem to allow me another year of health and brocha to try and become a mentsch like my Zaida.

“If you believe that you can damage, then believe that you can fix” Rabbi Nachman of Breslov

NEILAH

‘Keep the gates open’

19

Rabbi Alan Wilkinson Rabbi, Great Ormond Street Hospital

T

he sun setting and the image of the gates closing is a massive impetus to even more fervent davening at the end of Yom Kippur.

Ne’ilah is a desperate last-minute attempt to petition Hashem for a successful and fulfilling year.

Which gates are closing? Rav says in Yerushalmi Berachos 4:1 that ne’ilah refers to the closing of the Shaarei Shomayim whereas R’ Yochanan says that is the gates of the Heichal that are closing.

Rav Amital zt’’l suggested that in addition to Shaarei Shomayim closing there is another aspect to ne’ilah learnt from Shir Hashirim which, together with the verse ‘Ani L’dodi, v’dodi li’ has provided us with the essence of Elul: ‘I sleep, but my heart wakes: hark, my beloved is knocking, saying, “Open for me, my sister…’’ BUT:’ I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I soil them? My beloved put in his hand by the latchet of the door, and my heart was thrilled for him. I rose up to open for my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, and my fingers with flowing myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. (Shir HaShirim 5:2–5) A Midrash links this to the progression of the Yom Kippur tefillos with the phrase ‘Upon the handles of the lock’ alluding to ne’ilah. (Rabbenu Bachya, Kad

HaKemach, Kippurim [2])’ Rav Amital suggests that the ne’ilah service adds an additional dimension to the prayers of Yom Kippur. During ne’ilah we try to respond to Hashem’s “knocking,” to open our hearts to the “Beloved” who has “put in His hand by the latchet of the door.” The feelings of uplift experienced throughout the day are themselves the sound of the Beloved knocking at the door. Our feelings are not a response to the voice of the Beloved, but rather the voice itself. This is how Hashem asks us, “Open for Me, My sister, My love.”

In order to merit the opening of Shaarei Shomayim, we have to open the gates of our hearts.

With the words of the prayer “Open us a gate,” we request divine assistance that will allow us to open our hearts – even just the tiniest opening which Hashem can then enlarge.

Our hearts aren’t always open. Throughout the year we have studied, heard, and read,

but many of the lessons remain piled outside a heart that is shut tight. The Kotzker Rebbe said about the verse, “And these things which I command you this day shall be upon your heart” (Devorim 6:6): “The words are placed upon the heart so that, at the right time, a time when the heart is open, they will be able to enter.” We must respond to the knocking of the Beloved and open our heart to Him –before He turns away and is gone.

The time of ne’ilah is a time of favour for knocking on the gates, for opening our hearts.

Let us make the most of these final moments of the Ten Days of Repentance. Let us offer genuine and heartfelt prayers to the Melech who forgives our sins; let us return wholeheartedly to fulfilling the mitzvos and may Hashem hear our prayers and the prayers of the whole of Klal Yisroel and accept us in complete repentance before him.

DO YOU HAVE A SHAILA? ASK THE federation

SHAILATEXT 07860 017 641

Rabbi Dovid Roberts

NEILAH

Hashem Hu Ha’elokim

20

Rav, Kehillas Netzach Yisroel & Federation Director of Education

T

he emotional climax of Yom Kippur, it’s dramatic finale, is the recitation of the pasuk ‘Hashem Hu Ha’elokim’ seven times. Even as He recedes into the distance, ascending the seven layers of Shomayim, we accompany Him, so to speak, with this proclamation.

In a sense, therefore, one can say that the entire process, the journey of the Yomim Noraim has been to reach this moment, to be able to achieve the clarity to affirm the supreme authority of Hashem. For the real meaning of that phrase is the acknowledgment that, despite appearances to the contrary, Hashem is the boss! He is not only cognisant of everything that transpires, but He actively orchestrates and conducts the affairs of man.

It is instructive to see the provenance of the phrase in context to gain an appreciation of the significance of its recitation at this point.

In Melachim I Perek 19, Hashem presents Himself to Eliyahu HaNavi as a ‘kol demamah dakah’, a subtle and still voice. Hashem tells this to Eliyahu HaNavi after Eliyahu HaNavi had essentially demanded that Hashem reveal Himself in an absolute and indisputable manner at Har HaCarmel, to motivate the Jews of Northern Israel to return to His service. Eliyahu HaNavi even went so far as to blame Hashem for these Jews’ lack of faith, due to His failure to provide sufficient evidence of His presence (Melachim I 18:37).

Hashem responds and proves His existence beyond a shadow of a doubt, and the Northern Jews respond ‘Hashem Hu HaElokim, Hashem Hu HaElokim’.

However, these Jews’ newly acquired

QUIZ TIME

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ANSWERS ON PAGE 39

faith quickly dissipates (see Malbim to Melachim I 19:2) and Eliyahu HaNavi runs away to Sinai in deep despair.

Hashem then encounters Eliyahu and shows him that Hashem is not made apparent in fire, earthquake or hurricane. Rather, Hashem appears in a subtle and quiet voice.

Hashem explains that when He appears in an obvious manner that did not involve any effort on the part of people, the impact is fleeting. As the Mishnah (Pirkey Avos 5:21) teaches, l’fum tza’ara agra, the reward is commensurate with the effort invested. Therefore, Hashem explains to Eliyahu that He interacts with the world in a subtle manner, in order to require an effort be made to discover Him. When people invest in this quest for the divine, its impact has the potential to last.

Hashem told Eliyahu that the way to bring people closer to Him is not by performing overt miracles, but rather through training and sensitising people to appreciate the kol demama dakah of Hashem.

As we make our way through the month of Elul, we engage in deep reflection and introspection. We challenge ourselves to confront our reason for living, together with Dovid Hamelech in the Mizmor said twice daily, Le dovid Hashem, we assert that ‘Achas Sho’alti Me’eis Hashem’, that we need to be focused on the single goal, the purpose of life itself if the journey is to be meaningful.

9. livingwithmitzvos.com

We then proceed through the avodah of Rosh Hashanah, proclaiming Hashem as Melech, then undergoing the stages of teshuva, culminating in the fasting and spiritual cleansing of Yom Hakippurim – all this in stark contrast to the flash of revelation experienced at Har HaCarmel. The build-up, a forty-day process of avodah that is essentially transformational, provides a route to lasting and real personal growth. How fitting therefore, that the climax, the culmination of this process is the very same statement, but with a twist. Not as passive bystanders, witnesses to the miracles of Har HaCarmel, but as active participants, having sweated to nurture and create that appreciation. We affirm that Hashem Hu Ha’Elokim, that despite our occasionally encountering the strict, unyielding attribute of Divine justice, represented by the name ‘Elokim’, we have developed our appreciation of the infinite Creator to the point that we are able to withstand the vicissitudes of life, as we realise that, at the root of everything, is ‘Hashem’, the loving Father.

And secure in that knowledge, comforted by that perspective that we have cultivated, we move forward confidently into the New Year.

Why is Yom Kippur only given to the Jews and not also to all the other nations?

MAARIV ON MOTZEI YOM KIPPUR

Maariv on Motzei Yom Kippur – It’s all in the Mind

21

Rabbi Dov Birnbaum Rabbi of The seed shul, Edgware​

W

e are all familiar with that post - Yom Kippur feeling of elation as the chazzan begins the regular weekday Maariv. Of course, this feeling is mainly due to us having achieved forgiveness on Yom Kippur, but maybe a little relief that it’s all over as well!

It has been so long since we have davened a regular tefillah that we have to remember not to add anything else in!

One of the most notable differences in our davening on Yom Kippur is that we say Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuso etc. aloud when we say the Shema.

We start this from the first Maariv at the beginning of Yom Kippur. The reason for this practice is that on Yom Kippur we are compared to the angels. In this world Hashem’s glory is hidden so we say Baruch Shem quietly, but in Heaven Hashem’s glory is clearly seen. On Yom Kippur we are elevated to the perspective of the angels and therefore we too can say this aloud.

The great Maggid, Rav Shalom Schwadron zt’’l asks an intriguing question: At Maariv just after Yom Kippur commences, with our stomachs still full after the Seuda Hamafsekes we say Baruch Shem aloud, whereas at Maariv at the end of Yom Kippur, after a day of fasting we say it quietly. Surely we have attained a higher level and are more similar to angels after having experienced a whole day of Yom Kippur?

Rav Shalom answers that it’s all in the mind.

At the beginning of Yom Kippur our thoughts are focused on the day ahead of fasting and tefillos. Therefore we say Baruch Shem aloud like the angels. However, during Maariv at the end of Yom Kippur there is only one thing at the forefront of our mind – “Ah, soon I’ll be able to eat and drink.” In Rav Shalom’s words “the angel has departed and the man has returned for coffee and cake. And so, he must once again say Baruch Shem in a whisper.” Our mind can transport us anywhere regardless of the place we find ourselves in.

The power of our thoughts is apparent in Hilchos Korbanos too.

Each korban has detailed laws of how it should be brought and when it may be eaten. Some korbanos must be eaten within one day and some within two. If a person performed every single step correctly besides for just one wrong intention - during the shechita he had in mind to eat the korban later than the allowed time; the whole korban is invalid. This is called pigul and there are severe

consequences for eating it, even if he ended up eating within the prescribed time.

Rav Hirsch explains the invalidation of the korban as follows.

The idea of a korban is not simply to kill the animal and offer it to Hashem, but rather to elevate the animal by eating it in the prescribed way. A person who shechts the korban with the intent to eat it beyond this time disconnects the shechita and the achilah. His intention changes the eating of this korban from being a great mitzvah to a grave aveirah.

Rav Elyah Lopian would tell his students to close their eyes during Neilah and accept upon themselves one small kabbalah. This way, whenever they would fulfil their kabbalah during the year they would be transported back to those elevated moments of Neilah.

The day of Yom Kippur may be over but its power can stay with us throughout the year.

It’s all in the mind.

‫לעלוי נשמת‬

‫ר‘ יעקב בן ר‘ יוסף ז"ל‬ ‫נלב''ע כ”ה אלול‬

QUIZ TIME

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ANSWERS ON PAGE 39

8. What does the feast of Achashveirosh have to do with Yom Kippur? livingwithmitzvos.com

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Yom Kippur - T

The Big Picture

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Jewish Futures Trust

Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year. All too often however, people become confused by the details of fasting and find it hard to connect the ‘what’ with the ‘why’; and the mitzvos are relegated to meaningless ritual rather than meaningful points of connection.

The purpose of these pages is to share a bird’s eye view of the various mitzvos and themes of Yom Kippur and to offer some suggested explanations that will enhance their performance. We hope that this will enhance your experience over the day and provide some food for thought to stimulate discussion both at home and in shul.

EREV YOM KIPPUR WHAT: Asking for forgiveness from other people WHY: Yom Kippur erases the wrong we have done in our relationship

with God. However, if we have hurt other people we need to approach them directly. It is also a mitzvah to forgive others easily.

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WHAT: Asking for forgiveness at a grave WHY: When there is someone we have wronged, who is no longer alive,

we publicly request forgiveness at their grave. Humbling ourselves in front of others is one way of rectifying the damage that has been done.

WHAT: Many have the custom to set aside food (some substitute money) WHY:

for the poor through the custom of kapparos Through doing so we realise that through giving to others, especially those in need, we ourselves become greater people, able to think beyond ourselves and our immediate needs.

WHAT: A custom for men to go to the mikvah on erev Yom Kippur WHY: A convert immerses in a mikvah and becomes a ‘new person’,

similarly it is our desire to do teshuvah and become new people.

WHAT: The ‘viduy’ confession is said at minchah before Yom Kippur WHY: In this prayer, which is central to the teshuvah process, we

acknowledge our guilt to ourselves and to Hashem; how we have fallen short of our responsibilities and potential. The afternoon preceding Yom Kippur partakes of some of the holiness of the day itself.

WHAT: The ‘Seudah Hamafsekes’ WHY: Erev Yom Kippur is a festive day, eating on this day is considered

like fasting on Yom Kippur itself. There is a special mitzvah to eat extra food both to help us to prepare for the fast and also as an expression of our joy at the upcoming day of forgiveness. This culminates in the pre-fast meal known as the seudah hamafsekes.

This meal is both serious and joyous and reflects this dual nature of Yom Kippur.

WHAT: Light extra candle(s) in the home WHY: The soul is often referred to as Hashem’s candle. Lighting a candle focuses us on the prominence of our soul over our body on this most holy day.

WHAT: Custom for parents to bless children WHY: As we are about to begin the most serious day of the year, we formulate our deepest aspirations for our children, namely that they live a virtuous and successful life based on Jewish observance and connection to God. This serves as a focus for us and an education for our children.

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YOM KIPPUR NIGHT WHAT: Custom to wear white and limited jewellery and some men wear a WHY:

kittel White is a symbol of spiritual purity. On Yom Kippur, we leave our bodies behind and create heaven on earth for just one day. We try to become like angels, viewing our lives from a different perspective.

WHAT: Custom to wear tallis at night WHY: This is the only night of the year when men wear a tallis, primarily

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because of the special selichos that are recited after maariv. These prayers are based on the recital of God’s 13 attributes of mercy that He revealed to Moshe whilst appearing figuratively as a prayer leader wrapped in a tallis.

WHAT: Kol Nidrei, the annulment of vows.

WHY: If only we appreciated the power of words… Words when used well

share ideas, they allow us to reach out to others and others to see into us. But words that are spoken impulsively can hurt, destroy Ra elle Tabuses of the power of and mislead. At Kol Nidrei we reflect onchour suba ra speech; we accept the fact that our words may have let ourselves and others down. Painfully we have to publicly annul our words because we have not been true to them.

In many communities there is a customary Kol Nidrei appeal for a worthy cause. If Kol Nidrei is a reminder of our failings, it can equally remind us of the power of sincere commitments and pledges.

WHAT: On Yom Kippur there are a number of restrictions including WHY:

refraining from eating, drinking, washing, anointing ourselves, wearing leather shoes.

In Judaism, we relish physical pleasures and aim to leverage them for higher purposes. However, for just one day a year, on Yom Kippur, we live as a soul without a body, we try to be angels for a day. On Yom Kippur we rise above our physical bodies, we free ourselves from desires, liberate ourselves from our lusts and tear ourselves away from our tempers. Simply put, our Yom Kippur experience is up to us. If we choose to focus on our parched pallets and our starving stomachs we will be counting the minutes until we can eat and drink again. Alternatively, we can choose to connect with our ‘higher selves’ and relish every moment of a day of spiritual elevation and relationship.

WHAT: Baruch Shem Kevod is said out loud WHY: These words are said quietly throughout the year, as they are uttered by angels. On Yom Kippur we ascend to Heaven and declare them loudly.

WHAT: Viduy, confession for our wrongdoings WHY: Viduy begins the process of shedding those actions that are not

for us. We strike our chests as if to say, ‘it is my bodily impulses, not my inner essence’. It expresses God’s empowering belief in the goodness of man. And our knowledge that we are great enough to do better.

The viduy is repeated ten times over Yom Kippur but it is meant to be a different experience every time. The viduy focuses on root Rach elle T suus causes of negativity, allowing barato examine how these can filter down to the details of our lives.

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ubar a WHAT: Blessing on spices Rach elle T There is a mitzvah to make 100 brachos every day.

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WHAT: The book of life WHY: When we ask Hashem to ‘write us in the book of life’, we are ra

not asking for merely another year of our hearts pumping blood round our bodies. Life for us is only worth living when we are connected to our Source. We beg for a life of meaning and connection.

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YOM KIPPUR DAY WHAT: Prostrating during the description of the service in the Beis

Hamikdash during mussaf Whilst prostrating was a regular part of the service in the Beis Hamikdash, nowadays we only do so on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This action reminds us that we are mere mortal beings that are willing and able to submit to God’s will.

WHY:

WHAT: The book of Yonah is read at mincha WHY: The story of Yonah, a prophet who tried to run away from his

responsibilities, encapsulates many of the messages of Yom Kippur. Both Yonah himself and the inhabitants of Ninveh become examples of teshuvah.

WHAT: Yizkor - remembering those who have passed away WHY: It is comforting to know that they have not disappeared into oblivion.

Rather those who have passed away now exist in a spiritual dimension. We, who are still on earth, have the ability to elevate their souls through our choices. They may not be able to do any more mitzvos, but they receive credit for the positive actions of their descendants.

WHAT: Children who are bentsching say yaaleh veyavo WHY: Although we abstain from eating, Yom Kippur is a festival and so children (or adults who are instructed not to fast) include yaaleh veyavo in their bentsching.

WHAT: A person who is unwell must consult with their doctor and Rabbi to

determine whether they should fast on Yom Kippur and how much they should eat and drink, if necessary Judaism places the preservation of life over almost every other value, including fasting on Yom Kippur. A person who is instructed not to fast on Yom Kippur is forbidden to do so.

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sound of the shofar is the culmination of all the prayers, tears and emotion of the day, as we stand together in unison, for one last moment in our angelic state.

WHAT: Dancing at the conclusion of Yom Kippur WHY: Many dance in joy and confidence that our prayers and teshuvah have been accepted. Our emotions transform from desperate pleading and hoping, to joyously expressing our firm belief in a glorious future for the Jewish People.

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‫סוכות‬

Succos

Rabbi Joseph Dweck

SUCCOS

Here today…

28

Senior Rabbi of The S&P Sephardi Community

A

story is told in the Talmud (Berachos 5b) of Rabbi Eliezer, who had fallen ill. Rabbi Yochanan went to visit him and he noticed that Rabbi Eliezer was crying. Rabbi Yochanan asked the reason for the tears, and Rabbi Eliezer responded “I am crying over your beauty that will one day be swallowed by the earth”.

The despair that Rabbi Eliezer felt over the transience of beauty has also filled the thoughts and writings of the world’s greatest philosophers and poets. The fact is that all will die; ourselves and our loved ones. The Earth, the world, the universe are all temporary creations. Yet, human beings curiously refuse to accept the fleeting nature of life as normal. Somewhere, deep in our hearts we know that eternity is a reality. We know that the impermanence of love and beauty within this world is a violation of what existence should be.

On Succos we focus on the reality of life’s transience. We build a temporary dwelling, the succah, and we live our lives for 7 days in a place that is inherently provisional. But it is especially when we face

life’s impermanence that we feel most profoundly that, as Freud wrote the “loveliness must be able to persist and to escape all the powers of destruction”.

Facing the fleeting beauties of life, we have two ways how to respond: we can throw ourselves into the moment. That entails to feel completely, to love intensely, to act enthusiastically and to experience, in its totality, the radiance of the present. We can do so even with an undercurrent of sadness, in the full knowledge that the good time will not last, and there will come a time to experience the pain of saying goodbye. Or we can stand back and embrace the creed of “no attachment”, pretending not to care and apathetic to feeling in the fear that, one day, we will have to endure the painful feeling of letting go.

On Succos, the Jewish People choose the former. That means we pour our hearts into the temporary space, filling it with hard work and with love. We take a fruit and greens from the earth that will barely last the 7 days. But we rejoice amidst the evanescence knowing that with those focused experiences we are crafting for ourselves eternal lives. There is no way to get around the fleeting nature of our world — with every passing moment, we experience another death. Yet, with each ending, sacred closure is created. This gives birth to a unique eternity that emerges from it all. Knowing this, we resolve on Succos, in the words of Dylan Thomas, “to rage against the dying of the light”. In doing so, our joy is born out of our absolute demand for, and embracing of, eternity.

"If you are not a better person tomorrow than you are today, what need have you for a tomorrow?" Rebbe Nachman of Breslov QUIZ TIME

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ANSWERS ON PAGE 39

1. livingwithmitzvos.com

The sukkos we build come to remind us of how the Jews had them when leaving Mitzrayim. This means that really the festival of Sukkos should be celebrated in the month of Nissan, the time of the exodus.

Why then do we celebrate it in the month of Tishrei?

SUCCOS

The Sukkah – A Fresh Breath of Emunah and Bitochon

29

Dayan Elimelech Vanzetta Rov of Kehilas Ahavas Yisrael, Edgware

T

he Zohar HaKodash calls the Sukkah “Tzilah deMeheim’nusah – the shadow of faith”. The entire spirit of Chag HaSukkos is to instill in us Emunah and Bitochon in the Almighty. We abandon the comfort of our homes and erect a simple hut, covered in foliage. Given that the Sukkah is a temporary dwelling we do not affix any Mezuzos to its doorposts and are reminded that this entire world is, in fact, a temporary dwelling. Every single physical pleasure is transient and all of a person’s accomplishments and failures in this world depend exclusively on the Will of the Almighty. If a person’s efforts and exertion are not blessed by the Creator, they will amount to nothing, is they are, the person’s efforts will give their fruits. Chag HaSukkos radiates this very spirit of faith and trust in Hashem.

A young child has no worries regarding what he or she will eat, what clothes he or she will wear and who will pay for his or her education, for they know that their parents will take care of their needs.

When a parent tells a child that they will go on a trip somewhere, the child will not show any doubts regarding whether or not they will have a place to sleep, who will pay their travel expenses or what will they eat, the child knows that all of these matters will be taken care of by the parent.

We are the children of the Al-mighty and, therefore, our approach to life should be the same, with the same level of simple and basic emunah and bitochon in our Father. We should strive to achieve the level of sincerely believing that after an appropriate hishtadlus – the amount of effort incumbent upon us all – the end result is really up to the Almighty’s decision. He knows what’s best for us just like we know what’s best for our young children.

Often times one feels that one’s requests are not being answered, that one is not receiving what one is asking from Hashem. In reality, when that happens, we should realise that He may in fact be sparing us from greater nisyonos – tests. How can we be totally sure that what we are asking for is what’s best for us? How can we be sure it would not turn us into arrogant beings?

Says Shlomo HaMelech1: “Osher shamur liba’alav lera’asoh – richness is kept for its owner for his bad”.

Explaining this posuk, Rashi brings the example of Korach who was greatly harmed by his wealth and arrogance.

Regarding our hishtadlus, the amount of effort required will vary according to the spiritual level of different individuals. When someone is on a very lofty spiritual level, he will require less of an effort to attain his material goals. Moreover, he is enjoined to worry much less about his own hishtadlus as his faith and trust in the Creator should be his guarantee of succeeding.

In this context we know that Yosef HaTzadik, given his lofty spiritual status, failed a test by overexerting himself in his efforts to attain his freedom and was, therefore, punished with staying in jail for an additional two years. Rashi explains to us that this happened because Yosef placed his trust in Pharaoh’s minister and, as such, the minister simply forgot about Yosef until the Almighty Himself decided that he should remember him. About this incident we find the following posuk in Tehillim2: “Ashrey hagever asher sam Hashem mivtachoh – Fortunate is the man who places his trust in Hashem…”

1 Koheles 5:12 2 40:5

In the Sefer Tiferes HaYahadus the Sukkah is compared to a human lung. Just like a human being breathes air into his lungs and, through a process known as haematosis the lungs are able to infuse our blood with oxygen, which is then taken to the whole body, so too during Chag HaSukkos a Yid is infused with a fresh breath of emunah and bitochon, which should continue to be felt throughout the year, thanks to the Mitzvah of Sukkah.

In the Sefer Beis Avrohom, the Rebbe of Slonim explains that the essence of the Sukkah lies in the fact that a Yid abandons his place of residence and shelters himself in a Holy refuge in order to be alone with the Creator.

The Sefer Nesivos Sholom further clarifies the concept of a Holy refuge mentioned by the Beis Avrohom and explains a very important concept about the seven Holy Ushpizin – guests (Avrohom, Yitzchok, Yaakov, Moshe, Aharon, Yosef, Dovid) who grace us with their presence during Sukkos. These seven guests do not come to visit us during Pesach, Shavuos or Shabbos, they only come on Sukkos.

Why is that? Why this predilection for Sukkos over any other time? Explains the Nesivos Sholom that the truth of the matter is that they are in the upper realms of lofty spiritual worlds and, as such, they are completely unable to descend into the lowly world in which we live, however, all of this changes on Sukkos, for the Sukkah itself is NOT in this world, and is rather a portal that transports us to the very realm where the aforementioned Tzadikim reside. It elevates us above this world and helps us transcend into the loftiest of planes. That’s the reason why they are able to visit us, in our Sukkah, during Chag HaSukkos for we have ascended to their level and not the other way around.

So, go into the Sukkah and take a deep breath of Emunah and Bitochon in the company of the Heilige Shiv’a Ro’im. B’ezras Hashem, it should give us all emunah and bitochon to last, at least, until LeShanah Habaah B’Yirushalayim HaB’nuyah.

JUST A FEW MINUTES A DAY AND FINISH NACH IN JUST A YEAR AND A HALF! QUIZ TIME

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ANSWERS ON PAGE 39

2. livingwithmitzvos.com

What are the different names of Sukkos?

SUCCOS

Time to Celebrate!

30

Rabbi Moishe Kormornick Author, Short Vort

O

n Succos, we demonstrate our gratitude to Hashem for His care towards our ancestors as they left Egypt; specifically, for providing the Jewish People with the Clouds of Glory which protected them in every way.1

1 The celebration of the Clouds of Glory is the opinion of Rebbe Eliezer (Succah, 11b). Although Rebbe Akiva differs in opinion, Rashi follows Rebbe Eliezer’s approach (Vayikra, 23:24). See also the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, 625:1.

The Chida explains that unlike the miracle of the mannah which fell every day, or Miriam’s well which followed the Jewish People to provide them with water at all times, the Clouds of Glory were not actually a necessity.

For, while the Jewish People would have been unable to survive without food or water in the desert for forty years, they could have survived without the Clouds of Glory. Therefore, by providing the Jewish People with this luxury, Hashem was showing them that He was not merely keeping them alive due to His promise to Avraham that his children will become a great nation,2 but because He loved them and wanted the best for them in every situation.3 Therefore, Succos specifically is the time for our expression of happiness,4 gratitude, and appreciation that just as Hashem loved our ancestors thousands of years ago, He loves us in exactly the same way today.

In fact, the Arizal hinted towards the link between Succos and Hashem’s love for us when detailing the minimum halachic requirement of a Succah: two full walls and

2 Bereishis 12:2.

3 Rosh Dovid, Parashas Emor.

4 Although there is a mitzvah to be joyous on every Festival, Succos is the only Festival we call “zman simchaseinu, the time of our rejoicing.” (See the Rambam in Hilchos Lulav (8:12).

a third partial wall5 — which he depicted as Hashem embracing those in the Succah (an outstretched arm angled to one side and then coming around to form a hug (see image on the right)) — to show that when we dwell in the Succah, we should feel Hashem’s love, protection, and warm embrace.6 Accordingly, it is surprising that during this Festival in particular — which represents the closeness between Hashem and the Jewish People — that seventy bulls were offered in the Beis Hamikdash7 in order to atone for the sins of the other nations of the world!8 Even if the Jewish People were going to atone for the nations of the world, is Succos really the time to do so? What place do the non-Jewish nations have in our moment of closeness and celebration with Hashem? If the King and Queen are speaking in a moment of closeness, would this be the appropriate time to make requests about other people, especially those who hate us?

The answer is simply, yes. Even in our time of joy and closeness with Hashem, we need to think about other people. In fact, the time of our great closeness with Hashem, and when we are in His embrace, is precisely the time to think of others, for at that time we are more 5 Succah 6b.

6 Based on the verse which refers to Succos, “Hashem’s right arm embraces me.” (Shir HaShirim, 8:3).

Furthermore, the Succah itself is referred to the “‫ִצילָ א‬ ‫נּותא‬ ָ ‫ ִד ְמ ֵה ְימ‬, Shade of Emunah” to further demonstrate the immense love and care that we are to feel in the Succah (Zohar, 3:103b).

7 Succah 55b.

8 Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:64.

likely to get a favourable response for any requests we might make.9 We find such actions by King David who used to put on sackcloth and afflict himself with fasts when he heard that any of his enemies were ill10— such was the concern of the leader of the Jewish People! Yet, even in more recent times, our great Jewish leaders have poured out tears on behalf of the other nations of the world. For instance, when the Ponevezher Rav told the Chofetz Chaim about the suffering of black people in South Africa, the Chofetz Chaim started to weep.

And when Rav Chatzkel Levenstein spoke in Ponevezh, he told the audience of the victims of an earthquake which had struck Japan. He explained that anyone who feels no distress over the deaths of human beings — the handiwork of Hashem — is lacking in emunah!11 Therefore, Succos is first and foremost a time to feel Hashem’s love, and then to use the moment to think of others and pray for their success. Because, once we realize that we are in Hashem’s embrace, no-one else’s success can harm us. And by asking Hashem to fulfill others’ needs at this time, we are demonstrating our faith in Hashem and His total providence in the world.

9 Rav Yechezkel Levenstein learned that a moment of closeness is the most opportune time to ask (eis ratson) from Moshe’s request of Hashem to show him His glory (Shemos 33:18) immediately after having forgiven the Jewish People for sinning with the Golden Calf. (Related

by Rav Dov Yaffe in Avodas Yomim Nora’im, p.2).

10 Tehillim 35:13.

11 Related by Rav Moshe Grylak.

Have you written a sefer?

Publish it through Adir Press and Feldheim email: submissions@adirpress.com or visit www.AdirPress.com” QUIZ TIME

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How many walls are needed for a sukka and what is a good way to remember this?

SUCCOS

A lesson from the Cantonists

31

Rabbi Raphy Garson Rabbi, Ohr Yisrael Shul, Elstree; Director of the Hertfordshire Learning Experience

A

bout a year ago, one of my congregants turned barmitzva. During the weekly drasha I reminded him that his great--grandfather was an academic in Novosibirsk, Siberia & that his family surname Nicholls was originally Nicholaevski soldat.

His great great grandfather was one of the Cantonists, drafted into tsar Nicholas’s army as a child and serving for up to 25 years. The word Cantonists comes from the Russian meaning “recruiting district” & refers to the sons of Russian conscripts who from 1721 were educated in special “canton schools”.

Established in 1721 by the decree of Tsar Peter the Great, it stipulated that every regiment was required to maintain a school for 50 boys. For all cantonists, their 25-year term of service began after they reached the age of 18 and were distributed into the army.

The authorities saw it as a corrective, and particularly if you read Shaul Stampfer: Karaite Separatism in Nineteenth-Century Russia – it served as a forced assimilation of stubborn Jews into Russian society.

They would be kidnapped from their parents’ home, tortured repeatedly until they either accepted Christianity or died of their wounds.

They were starved, beaten and lashed, often with whips fashioned from their own confiscated tefillin. In their weakened states, the open wounds on their chests and backs would turn septic and many boys, who had heroically resisted renouncing their Judaism for months, would either perish or eventually consent to be baptised. The Czar would have only reliable Christian Russians defending the motherland.

Over 40,000 young Jewish boys were forced into Czar Nicholas’ army, and very few if any emerged alive as practicing Jews.

Even the brave few survivors who secretly maintained their faith and managed to return to their families 25 years later, by and large found themselves shunned as traitors to Judaism. Letters send home by the schools to brag about their children who were now no “longer Jewish”, did not help their situation.

I told the barmitzvah boy that a few years ago Rabbi Milistien heard a story from a Jew in America, who heard the story from his grandfather. Apparently as many Cantonists were shunned they created a shul of their own.

This man’s grandfather once attended the Cantonist Shul on Simchat Torah. The Cantonists could dance like Cossacks. They were huge, strong men, and the heavy Sifrei Torah would seem like toothpicks in their arms. They effortlessly danced on for hours on end. Although they were looked down upon by other Jews, and they were not very learned and really couldn’t observe the Torah properly, they were nonetheless able to rejoice in their Judaism and celebrate the Torah. It was truly amazing.”

During the final hakafah, the Cantonists, as if on cue, suddenly removed their shirts

in unison! With the sifrei torah held tightly to their bare skin which was covered with the ugliest welts and scars you ever saw, they danced around even more energetically.

Their smiles were now giving way to streams of tears as they looked out into the crowd of assembled Jews, as if to say, ‘You may have studied and observed this Torah, but we gave our bodies and our lives for it. The Torah is at least as much ours as it is yours!’”

The gemara (sukkah 49) teaches that we have mitzvah to say hallel and to rejoice for 8 days. It then proves that from “Vayita Ach Sameach” we learn the obligation of simcah on the last day of Sukkot.

The mefarshim ask that the word “ach” always come to limit not include!? They explain that the other mitzvot of sukkot, i.e arba minim, sukkah, simchat beit hashoeva only apply during the first 7 days. On the 8th day (and the 9th in chutz la’aretz) all that is left is simcha and that is what ach includes and limits.

These holy Cantonists showed us what true unwavering commitment to Torah was despite horrendous circumstances. They expressed that loyalty through intimate simcha with Hashem, dancing around their rejected community’s shul, holding our precious treasure tight to their bare chests.

As we too join the circles of hakafot this year, let us remember their mesirut nefesh and re-commit to live by His every word.

Introducing

It is indeed horrific to read history and learnt that to avoid this horrific fate. Many parents actually had their sons’ limbs amputated in the forests at the hands of

local blacksmiths, and their sons -- no longer able bodied -- would avoid conscription.

Many other children tragically committed suicide rather than convert.

QUIZ TIME

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4. livingwithmitzvos.com

We refer in our tefillos to Sukkos as Zman Simchoseinu, the time of happiness.

Each festival we are commanded to rejoice. Why then single Sukkos out for a time of rejoicing?

SUCCOS

Succos: The Real You

32

Rabbi Shimon Mordechai Cohen Author of The Majesty of Rosh HaShanah (Mosaica press)

T

he story is told of a debate held between the great Rav Yonosan Eibeshitz and a duke.

Are education and culture able to effect a complete change in human nature? Is it able to even change the nature of animals?

The duke wanted to prove culture could transform mankind and cure humanity of all evil. Rav Yonosan maintained that such a transformation would be cosmetic at best. In order to conclusively prove his point, the duke took Rav Yonasan to see a marvellous sight; a true example of mind over matter. A friend of his possessed a cat. Not your ordinary feline, but a highly trained waiter. That’s right, a cat who had been successfully trained to walk into a banquet standing on its hind legs, dressed as a waiter, and serve tray-loads of dishes to the astounded assemblage. “You see, Rabbi? Culture and education can transform even a carnivorous beast!” he proclaimed triumphantly.

Unimpressed, Rav Yonosan requested that some mice be brought to the banquet hall. Upon the cat-cum-waiter’s next appearance, they were allowed to scurry among the tables. Quick as a flash, the steaming dishes went crashing to the floor in a gravy-covered heap as the uniformed waiter pursued his prey for all he was worth (which by now was not much.) The training was but external, for pussy was the same mousehunter he had always been.

It’s not long after Yom Kippur. Doing teshuvah on that holy day of kedushah vetaharah (holiness and purity), we were cleansed of our sins as we resolved to change and improve. But have do these resolutions practically translate into our everyday lives? What happens when we are revisited by the same old nisyonos (tests) of last year and the year before? How do we avoid resembling the cat that easily reverts back to resume its chasing of mice?

It is on the Yom Tov of Succos when it is discovered whether “the real you” has indeed materialised.

The Sifsei Chaim questions the tefillah by Dovid HaMelech: “One thing I ask of Hashem, that I seek – I shall dwell in the house of Hashem all the days of my life…” How could the head of state daven that he would desire to dwell in the house of Hashem all the days of his life? But Dovid wanted to constantly feel that he was in the house of Hashem, that he was sheltering under Hashem’s protection. His life was devoted to Hashem; it was as if he was always in His house.

Hence his request: ‫‘ – כי יצפנני בסכה‬For He will conceal me in His Sukkah.’

So too, man must continuously see himself sitting underneath Hashem’s shelter. On the festival of Succos, he brings his entire life – eating and drinking, sleeping, even his conversations – inside to nestle under the shade of the Sukkah. Post-Yomim Noraim, this is his perfect protection against the Yetzer Hara.

How does this work? He does this by dragging his whole self, body and soul, in an act of avodas Hashem into the Sukkah to be joyously enveloped for one week within a mitzvah. This tangibly brings the resolutions of Yom Kippur until they become ‘real’. It proves that Yom Kippur wasn’t just an act. It was the real thing! It was the real me.

This finds full expression on Succos.

Rav Mattisyahu Salomon shlita compared Succos to the Sheva Berochos week. Just as the Sheva Berochos celebrations is the launch of uniquely lifelong relationship between husband and wife, Succos similarly marks the start of a new stage in the everlasting relationship between Klal Yisroel and Hashem. Here the new avodah is building upon the previous year following the atonement of Yom Kippur.

The expression of personal dedication to avodas Hashem, which lies at the heart of Succos, goes to show that our teshuvah was not an external exercise. Our very essence cried out: ‫רצוננו‬ ‫“ – לעשות רצונך‬Our desire is to fulfil Your wishes” (Berachos 17a). That is why Hashem granted us forgiveness on Yom Kippur. The Nesivos Sholom explains that for this reason, the Torah says ‫לא‬ ‫“ – הביט און ביעקב‬Hashem does not overly examine our sins”. He is prepared to forgive and wipe away our sins, because they do not represent who we really are. The essence of the Neshamah (soul) is represented by the Taharah (purity) of Yom Kippur, not by the sins that we accumulated during the year. Succos is the confirmation of this – such that even the physical body participates in the joy of the neshamah. This will reinforce our resolve to change for the better and to not repeat the mistakes of the past.

The festivities of Succos culminate in the celebration of Simchas Torah with a resolve to put our heart and soul into Torah, regardless of whether our learning is part-time or full-time.

What counts far more than the hours on the clock is the nature of our relationship to Torah: do we put ourselves into our learning or is learning just an external act and something that we do? There has to be toil and hard work in learning Torah.

The Mishnah relates: “If you do so (to toil in Torah study), happy are you and good will be your lot” (Pirkei Avos 6:4). The Chasam Sofer (Deroshos¸ quoted in Siddur Chasam Sofer) read the words “If you do so” to indicates how “it must be you who is learning”. In other words, learning and mitzvah fulfilment, must be yours. They must relate to you – to your very essence. They must be placed at the centre point of your life.

This same principle is illustrated by the episode of Kayin and Hevel in parshas Bereishis when Hashem accepted korbon of Hevel but not that of Kayin?

The Beis Yosef explains the reason was because Kayin brought of the fruits of the ground, but not his best quality. By contrast, Hevel brought the best and choicest of his flocks. He offered something far more important.

The expression‫ – והבל הביא גם הוא‬Hevel brought himself – indicates that his korbon was offered up with all his heart. It came from his essence.

Whilst Kayin had the initiative to bring an offering, it was Hevel who served Hashem with his heart.

That is what Hashem desires – ‫– רחמנא לבא בעי‬ He desires the heart. Just as the esrog, which represents the quintessential talmid chochom (Torah scholar) symbolises the heart, it is when we put our whole heart into Torah and avodas Hashem, when they become the essence of who we are, that we succeed. Succos launches us on this path, enabling us to turn our teshuva into reality.

Let us bear this in mind to enjoy the simcha of this Yom Tov in full!

The Majesty of Rosh HaShanah Available at Hebrew bookstores or email shimco13@gmail.com / 07971 015 052

Rabbi Daniel Fine

SUCCOS

Sukkos: What’s Lulav Got To Do With It

33

Community Rabbi, Stanmore and Canons Park US; Hasmonean Beis Programme

D

espite the name of the festival, a central facet of Sukkos is the arba minim - the four species. Who could imagine Sukkos without walking down the street looking like a member of the mafia with a concealed shotgun, much to the bemusement of passers by?! The centrepiece of the arba minin is the lulav, and that is what we shall be discussing. In order to dig deep into the meaning behind the lulav, we shall open with two questions about the way the Torah presents the mitzvah of taking the lulav.

First, the commandment to take the arba minim reads like this: “And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the beautiful fruit of a tree (esrog), palm branches (a lulav), a branch of a thick tree (hadassim), and aravos of a brook, and you shall be happy before Hashem your G-d for seven days.” (Vayikra 23:40) Why are the mitzvah of shaking the lulav and the general injunction to be happy juxtaposed? Second, if one looks at the pesukim, the Torah talks about the mitzvah of lulav before it mentions the mitzvah of sitting in the sukkah. Why does it do this?

If anything, the mitzvah of sukkah should be put first, because the festival derives its name from that mitzvah, and the mitzvah of sukkah begins at nightfall, before the obligation to take the lulav the following morning!

Naturally, the only way we can possibly begin to answer these questions is with another question.

The gemara[1] learns from the words of the passuk ‘ulekachtem lachem’ that each person must shake a lulav; a person cannot fulfill the mitzvah if someone else shakes a lulav on his behalf. Why do we need a special passuk to learn this law - why should lulav be any different from other mitzvah? I cannot fulfill my mitzvah of tefillin via anyone else, and I do not need a special passuk to tell me that, so why should lulav be any different that it needs a passuk to tell me this law? Put differently, why would I have thought that I could fulfill my mitzvah of lulav if someone shook the lulav for me?

The key to answering these questions revolves around the concept that the lulav has two different facets, as highlighted by Rav Tzvi Kushelevsky shlit’a. We shall explain these aspects one by one.

The first aspect of the lulav is simchah. We celebrate the fact that Hashem has given us the produce of the land, including the lulav, and the ability to put food on the table. When we take hold of the lulav we are reminded of the successful harvest and are ingrained with a sense of joy and gratitude. This is why the mitzvah of lulav finds itself in the same passuk as simchah, since lulav itself is a demonstration of simchah.[2] As the Raavad[3] puts it, “One should be happy through that which one is commanded to take” (the lulav) - the taking of the lulav is the directive which teaches us how the simchah is to be fulfilled. The Rambam[4] takes the same approach. In his words: “We

have been commanded to take a lulav and fulfill simchah with it before Hashem for seven days.” Similarly, Tosafos Rash MiShantz[5] writes that the halachic principle of mitzvah habaah be’aveirah applies to a lulav because a lulav is something with which “we sing and praise Hashem.”

There is, however, a second aspect to the mitzvah of lulav. The lulav is connected to atonement and finding favour in the eyes of Hashem (kaparah and ritzuy). Thus, the Ramban[6] writes that Adam Harishon sinned by eating an esrog, and we use the lulav and its accompanying species to atone for that sin. Similarly, the Daas Zekeinim[7] quotes the celebrated midrash which comments that our brandishing a lulav on Sukkos is a sign that we have been successful in the judgment of the yamim nora’im. Further, the Ritva[8] writes that mitzvah habaah be’aveirah only applies to mitzvos which come to atone - like the shofar and lulav (but not sukkah). Additionally, the gemara tells us that the four species are there to find favour in the eyes of Hashem so that He will provide rain[9] - which is why we begin saying mashiv haruach during Sukkos.

Elsewhere the gemara says that the reason for shaking the lulav in all four directions is to prevent dangerous winds and dew.[10] Because of the atoning feature of lulav the gemara needed a special passuk to teach that each person needs to shake lulav himself, since the lulav is comparable to a korban. Since the Kohanim perform the service on the korban on behalf of the person who needs to gain atonement through the korban, one might have thought that the same applies to lulav in that someone could perform the mitzvah of shaking the lulav on behalf of another. Thus, the passuk is needed to teach that each Jew must take the lulav himself. Moreover, perhaps it is due to this atoning aspect that the Torah puts lulav before the mitzvah of sukkah. Because the lulav is mentioned before sukkah, it ends up adjacent to the pessukim which discuss korbanos, hinting at the fact that lulav shares this feature of atonement with korbanos. Similarly, the fact that the mitzvah of lulav is put first allows it to be closer to the pesukim regarding Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur hinting at a certain connection between the three. This is certainly true of the atoning aspect of the lulav, a theme which is prevalent across the yamim nora’im.

So far we have shown that there are two facets of the mitzvah of shaking lulav: simchah and atonement. In doing so we have answered all three questions we began with. Let us move one level deeper. If these two concepts (simchah and atonement) are both embedded within one mitzvah, they must be somewhat connected. How can we explain this connection?

The idea is that the atonement comes from the fact that the simchah has been properly directed and dedicated to Hashem. Naturally, in times of joy one feels a heightened sense of self and a feeling of being ‘more alive’. The natural tendency is to use this heightened sense of self to kick out at and detach oneself from Hashem - to feel more independent instead. Thus, the fact that we go out of our way on Sukkos to use simchah and direct it to Hashem is a source of atonement in itself. As the Tosafos Rabbeinu Peretz writes,[11] “Lulav is different because one uses it to sing to and praise Hashem in order to gain atonement or favour.” The atonement is a product of the correctly-developed simchah.[12] Indeed, the Sefer Hachinuch[13] points out that the fact that we are told to be happy while performing the mitzvah of taking the lulav is to teach us that simchah is to be directed towards Hashem; it is to be used as a vehicle to serve Hashem[14] and not as a means to detach oneself from Him. Joy is a gift, but sadly it can often lead to pain if it is mis-directed.

In the Torah’s discussion of lulav we are taught that the true, lasting joy is not one of self-aggrandisement, but rather a simchah which is used constructively in the service of Hashem.

[1] Gemarra Sukkah 41b [2] Ramban and Ralbag on Vayikra 23:40, Sefer Hachinuch mitzvah 324 [3] Hilchos Lulav of the Raavad [4] Rambam Sefer Hamitzvos mitzvas asei 169. Although this is regarding the biblical seven-day mitzvah to take a lulav in the Beis Hamikdash, the one-day mitzvah outside the Beis Hamikdash is a microcosm of that simchah-filled Beis Hamikdash mitzvah, as the Rambam implies.

[5] Tosafos HaRash MiShantz, Pesachim 35b ‘aval’ [6] Ramban Vayikra 23:40 [7] Daas Zekeinim Mibaalei HaTosafos, Vayikra 23:40 [8] Ritva Sukkah 31b ‘tanu rabbanan’ [9] Gemarra Taanis 2b [10] Gemarra Sukkah 37b [11] Tosafos Rabbeinu Peretz Pesachim 35b ‘aval’ [12] The same can be understood from the midrash cited in Peirush HaRosh, Vayikra 23:40 [13] Sefer Hachinuch mitzvah 324 [14] See Rambam Hilchos Lulav 8:15

SUCCOS

The Joy of Mortality

34

Rabbi Shimmy Miller Rebbe at Manchester Mesivta

P

icture yourself in a state of perfect bliss.

Where are you? In the comfort of your own home surrounded by all your modern conveniences? Enjoying the vista of a place of picturesque beauty in total serenity? Or would you imagine yourself being jammed in a ramshackle shed in the back of your garden open to the elements! The Rambam says that although there is a mitzvah to be happy on all Yomim Tovim, this is especially the case on Sukkos. This may lead us to wonder why, if that is the case, we are commanded to leave our nice warm home and enter a temporary structure which may not be so nice and depending on where you live, may not be so warm? “Because the L-rd’s portion is His people Jacob, the lot of His inheritance”.

To answer this we must first understand the message behind the Sukkah that we are commanded to inhabit as elaborated by the Baalei Musar. The impermanence of this abode is meant to represent to us the transitory nature of our existence in this world. However faced we are with our own mortality, more often than not, the way we view life and the way we act, is more representative of someone existing within an eternal life in this world. We chase pleasure and power as if they are the only thing that matter, when in fact these only bring momentary gratification and will count for nothing once we pass on. Living in this way, thinking that we will always

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be here, can rarely bring true internal happiness. Someone only seeking physical pleasures can never be truly satiated because there is always more to experience and someone who has more than you. And someone believing that this is where we shall always remain, can never learn to bridge the gap between how they think their life should be and the realities of life including all its challenges and sorrows.

If we do not internalise the truth of a life after this one, misfortune and tragedies will always remain incomprehensible and inconsistent with our perception of what is and is not just.

The Sukkah teaches us that the path to true happiness is by realising that

L’ilui Nishmas Leah bas Avrohom we are here for only a short amount of time and that seeking spiritual goals is the only means to achieving a sense of true worth and accomplishment. Fully internalising the transience of man helps us to fathom our life and all its difficulties because it helps us embrace the knowledge that our existence here is only a conduit towards the true reality.

This is not to belittle the importance of this world, nor to discourage the appropriate use of physical pleasures.

But true joy is not found in materialistic pursuits but in loftier goals and higher aspirations. It lies in sharing meaningful times with our loved ones and developing our relationship with our Creator. The Sukkah represents the warm embrace of Hashem and a realignment of our perspective. All that under one roof!

May this Sukkos bring us the genuine elation and delight we truly desire.

5. What is a Simcha Beis Hashoeiva and why do it? livingwithmitzvos.com

SUCCOS

Thinking about cholim on Succos

35

Rabbi Alan Wilkinson Rabbi, Great Ormond Street Hospital

E

very Succah is special. This is certainly true of the Succah at Great Ormond Street Hospital which is devotedly constructed and decorated by volunteers united in their desire to ensure that all who use the Succah feel welcome. Whilst building the GOSH Succah we are also all united in prayers that this succah, assembled for patients, relatives and staff will never need to be used with all our patients having a speedy and complete recovery.

Without detracting from the simcha and enthusiasm of our patients when they first see the Succah nor from the efforts of our volunteers, The Mishnah (Sukkah 25a) does rule that ‘cholin u-meshamsheihen p’turim min haSuccah’ - the sick and their carers are exempt from the mitzvah of Succah.

The Gemara (26a) clarifies that this leniency applies not only to those in a serious condition, but even to one experiencing mere discomfort in his eyes or head. The Gemara also refers to the mitzta’er, who is exempted from the mitzvah of Succah due to some physical discomfort resulting from conditions in the Succah.

The Gemara offers no reason for these exemptions. Most commentators are unanimous regarding the cases of the choleh and mitzta’er: both are exempted on the basis of the principle,’teshvu ke’ein taduru’ that one is only required to sit in the Sukkah in the way that one sits in his home. Just as the choleh and mitzta’er would go elsewhere if they were uncomfortable

at home, equally they aren’t obligated to sit in the Succah.

The rationale for the exemption of meshamshei choleh is unclear.

Whilst there are a number of different explanations, the Aruch Hashulchan suggests an approach based on the idea of ‘teshvu ke’ein taduru’: ‘It would appear to me that everything falls under the category of sitting as one lives. Just as one whose house is difficult for his health leaves his home, so too Succah.

Just as carers leave their homes and sit next to the sick, so too Succah’.

Tosafos HaRosh, adds an interesting suggestion: ‘Both the sick and his carers are exempt. Even though he is able to sleep without his carer, in order to give him psychological comfort they were lenient [hikilu] to allow the carer to sleep [near] him.’

The term ‘hikilu’ seems to indicate that it was the Rabbis who were lenient rather than the Torah itself. The sugya addresses an exemption from mitzvah d’oraisa. It is the Torah that must exempt the meshamshin, not the Rabbis.

The term ‘hikilu’, however, implies that

If this understanding is correct then Chazal themselves decided to rule leniently and exempt the carer, in order to ensure the psychological comfort of the choleh further demonstrating compassion and consideration for the needs of cholim.

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Maybe Tosafos HaRosh is hinting at something novel. What degree of discomfort qualifies for mitzta’er or choleh? What if some in this situation would leave their homes while others would not?

Perhaps this is the concern of the Rosh. What is the status of meshamshei choleh? Their presence next to the choleh is not crucial; it is only slightly beneficial. Do they fall under the exemption of teshvu ke’ein taduru or not? Due to this ambiguity, the Rosh implies the following chiddush: in such borderline cases, Chazal were given some flexibility in determining whether certain individuals are obligated or exempted. This is known as mesaruha ha-kasuv la-Chachomim. The Rosh claims that one such circumstance is meshamshei choleh.

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we are bending over backward to make the choleh as comfortable as possible.

What is Happiness?

Rabbi Dr Julian Shindler

CHOL HA’MOED

36

Director of the Marriage Authorisation Office, Office of the Chief Rabbi

K

oheles (which is read on Shabbat Chol Hamo’ed) acknowledges happiness as one of life’s most desirable, yet elusive goals. Some believe that happiness is to be found in sensual pleasures, but these experiences are - by their nature - only transient, producing memories that fade quickly.

Others seek a sort of consumptive ‘happiness’, presuming that this can be achieved by the acquisition of luxury goods. But this, too, rarely satisfies – as the verse (Koheles 5:9) says: ‘One who craves wealth is never satisfied by wealth’. When taken as a marker of a person’s relative success such behaviour leads to disappointment because each person’s latest purchase devalues the possessions of others.

Likewise, this tends to be true of earning power. One can be earning a very comfortable living but if this is less than that of one’s peers, one’s sense of self-worth seems somehow diminished.

According to one interpretation, this was the underlying cause of Korach’s rebellion against Moses and Aaron. Like them, Korach, was a great-grandson of Levi and shared their ‘yichus’ (family pedigree). He held an exalted ranking within his own tribe and was reputed to have been extremely wealthy.

Nevertheless, this did not bring him contentment. Rather than

count his blessings, he saw himself inferior in comparison to Moses and Aaron who had assumed the top leadership positions. Ben Zoma realised that social comparisons cause discontent; he pithily characterised the key to happiness in Pirkei Avos 4:1 with his aphorism: ‘Who is happy? The person who rejoices in their portion.’

Contemporary psychological studies have identified other factors from which happiness and contentment can develop. Two worthy of mention are ‘flow’ and giving to others. Flow is described as a state of being in which one is totally immersed in a challenging task that is closely matched to one’s abilities. In the flow experience, a person gets a series of positive feelings with each task negotiated such as accomplishing something, learning something or improving something. This might occur in group pursuits like choral singing or in solitary, creative activities. It is often encountered in the beis

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hamsdrash by yeshiva students deeply engaged in fathoming a difficult text.

People also seem to experience longer-lasting improvements in mood from involvement with kindness and gratitude activities (chesed) than those in which they indulge themselves. The social benefits of – e.g. volunteering - are particularly true of old age when people have the time to ‘give back something’ after a life lived.

In contrast to the consumptive shopping for objects, which are often the things that separate us, when we extend hospitality, visit the sick or comfort the bereaved, our deeds connect us to others. This is one of the incidental benefits of Shabbos, with its framework of withdrawal from everyday pursuits.

Shabbos observance disconnects us from ‘things’ whilst affording opportunities for connecting with others.

Donating a kidney is a low-risk procedure with a high success rate, and the satisfaction for the donor is immeasurable!

The mitzvah is the reward!

Dialysis is a painful lengthy procedure 3 times a week, the patient is often ill, is greatly restricted as to food/liquid intake and most patients on dialysis die without finding a kidney donor.

For more information, please contact Matnat Chaim UK: 0800-0488276 or matnatc@gmail.com website: www.kilya.org.il/en Matnat Chaim Operates under rabbinical guidance and transplants are carried out in top hospitals.

Matnat Chaim also needs kidney donors of all blood groups for our list of kidney patients.

What happens on Hoshana Rabba, the last day of Sukkos?

HOSHANA RABBA

'‫'יום הערבה‬ The day of the Aravah

37

Rabbi Yossi Goldberg Speeches by design

I

t is well known from the Sifrei Kabbalah that Hoshanah Rabbah is considered the last day of this period of judgment, the Yemei Hadin. It is a day when ‘the letters’, with the final judgements for the year, are sent out. On this day, we wish each other ‘A Gutten Kvitel’ which means ‘a good letter’.

This is why we Daven special Tefillos on Hoshanah Rabbah, to use the last opportunity we have to do Teshuva and try to change the Din to our advantage.

In the last year of his life, the Chassam Sofer was very ill. On the day of Hoshana Rabbah, he was confined to his bed. But he still made a great effort to get up and get dressed so that he could Daven.

After Davening, the Chassam Sofer was very weak. His Gabbai tried to reassure him by saying, “Rebbe, Hashem can do anything! He will still heal you and you will have a Refua Shleima!”

The Chassam Sofer shook his head and replied, “I feel that my Tefillos on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur were accepted, but today, on Hoshana Rabba I felt that they were blocked.”

That year, the Chassam Sofer was Niftar. How important are the Tefillos on Hoshanah Rabba!

Another name for Hoshana Rabba is "‫יום‬ ‫ "הערבה‬The day of the Aravah. We take a bundle of Aravos in Shul and hit them on the floor.

The Sfas Emes explains why the Aravah is chosen. The Aravah is a twig that has no taste and no smell. This corresponds to the Yid who has nothing special about him; no Mitzvos or good deeds.

We apologise for crediting Rabbi Yossi Goldberg’s Devar Torah on Malchiyos (Page 51 of Volume I) to another author

We take the Aravah in our hands to show how deep the love of Hashem is for every single Yid, even for those that are lacking in their Torah and Mitzvos.

The Shem Mishmuel takes this idea further. He writes that the Aravah should teach us to respect every single Yid - even if they have no special value or qualities. The basic fact that they are Yidden is why they are loved by Hashem and considered one of His children. So we too, should respect them and love them for this reason alone.

One Erev Yom Kippur, a few years before his passing, Rav Moshe Feinstein zt’’l was wheeled into the elevator of his apartment building in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He was going to be spending Yom Tov in his Yeshiva in Staten Island.

man turned to Reb Moshe’s daughter-in-law, and said “It’s obvious that I am not religious, but the Rabbi still thinks I am a somebody.”

In the car Rebbetzin Feinstein told her father-in-law how moved the man was.

Reb Moshe explained his show of warmth toward the man in one short sentence “Ober er iz a Yid” But (after all) he is a Jew! Let’s try to love every Jew and to come closer together and in this Zechus, may we all be Zoche to ‘A Gutten Kvittel’.

There was a Jewish man in the elevator and his head was bare. The man bent down towards Reb Moshe and said “A Happy New Year, Rabbi.”

Reb Moshe looked up at the man with genuine warmth and wished the man the same.

The man then bent down again and said to Reb Moshe “And a healthy new year too, Rabbi.”

Reb Moshe looked back at the man and said “May you also be blessed with a healthy year, one filled with success and Nachas from your children and may you live to witness Mashiach’s arrival”.

The man was visibly moved by his words.

As Reb Moshe was getting into the car, the

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8. Why do we say the full Hallel on all seven days of Sukkos (while on Pesach it is only said on the first two days)?

How To Stay Inspired

SHEMINI AZERES

38

Rabbi Danny Kada S&P Sephardi Community

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ou thought it was all over. An entire month waking up an hour earlier for Selihot, two days of lengthened services on Rosh Hashana, a complete day of fasting and worship in the synagogue on Yom Kippur and seven days of waving the four species and sitting in our Succot in the bitter British weather. Surely that’s enough?

But then right at the end when you think the festive period is coming to an end and Succot concludes, there are two more days; the first Shemini Atseret, the second Simhat Torah.

What is Shemini Atseret? The intriguing thing about this festival is that there is no specific ritual to the day. Pesach has the matsot, Succot the succah and the four species, Rosh Hashana the Shofar and even Shavuot has the delicious cheese cake! Shemini Atseret conversely, has no unique practice to the day. So what is the religious significance of this day?

Imagine going on holiday and buying a whole range of souvenirs for your family and friends. As you get ready to fly home you realise your suitcase is broken and you

can’t find a replacement before your flight. Try to envisage how distressed and saddened you would feel about having to leave all the souvenirs you spent so much time choosing for your loved ones at the hotel. A functional suitcase is now priceless.

As the Chagim come to an end, the winter season bereft of any major festivals begins to dawn upon us.

The next burst of inspiration and major celebration will be Pesah. How do we carry with us through the winter the religious inspiration and stimulation we have gleaned over the past few weeks?

Shemini Atseret is the answer.

This day deliberately has no specific mitsvah or ritual, as this day is merely the ‘suitcase’ to transport with us the

inspiration of the Chagim. We can sometimes become so bogged down with the minutiae and intricacies of the various Chagim that we forget the purpose of it all. Shemini Atseret gives us the opportunity to reflect on the preceding Chagim and understand the bigger picture of the Chagim. It gives us a chance to internalise and carry with us the inner message of the last few weeks and resolve to be committed and devoted to our community and religion. We are then ready to begin dancing with the Torah on Simhat Torah and all the way through the winter!

Shemini Atseret may just be a ‘suitcase,’ but sometimes suitcases are invaluable!

bu b bl by og 's

T

wo men, both seriously ill, were lying in a hospital room. One of them was able to sit upright in bed for half a day. His bed was next to the only window in the room. The other man spent every day lying on his back. Every day when the first man sat by the window after lunch, he described everything he saw for his neighbour. The second man looked forward to this. The window looked out on a park with a beautiful lake. Swans swam in the lake, children placed toy boats on the water. There was a beautiful landscape stretching into the distance. The man by the window described everything in vivid detail, and the second man lay in bed and imagined the scene.

Days passed. One morning, a nurse entered the room and saw that the man by the window had died peacefully in his sleep. The second man asked to have his bed moved next to the window. The nurse moved the beds and left the man alone. He lifted himself on to his elbows with difficulty, trying to look out of the window. But all he saw was a blank wall! He called the nurse and asked; “How could my neighbour see all the things he told me about”? The nurse answered that his neighbour had been blind, and couldn’t even see the wall. Perhaps he simply wanted to cheer the other man up?

There’s no greater happiness than making others happy, regardless of your own problems.

Because when you share happiness, it doubles.

As heard from my father

Be happy and rejoice on Simchas Torah

39

SIMCHAS TORAH

'‫’שישו ושמחו בשמחת תורה‬ Rabbi Yossi Goldberg Speeches by design

T

here once lived an old lady who one day called her five children to her bedside to make her last wish.

She asked them to go into the nearby forest and get a bunch of twigs. They should then tie them up in a bundle and bring them to her.

The sons thought she was crazy, but they decided that they would do it just to make her happy.

When they brought the bundle to her, she asked each one of the children to try and break the bundle in half. Each one tried, but the bundle was too strong and would not break.

The weak old mother then asked them for the bundle. Very calmly, she untied the bundle and separated the twigs. Lifting each one individually, she broke each twig in half, one at a time.

The mother then turned to her children and said, “There will come a time very soon that I won’t be here to keep the family together as one.”

“But never forget, no matter what struggles life brings your way, if you stay together as one, you can’t be broken, but the minute you are not together, anything can break you.”

On Simchas Torah we dance in a circle. The idea of a circle is that all are equal, the same distance from the centre.

In what way are all Yidden equal?

We are equal in that we have the Torah. We all dance with the Sefer Torah; it is the centre of our lives. All through the generations, the Torah has been the focus of the Yid. It has accompanied Klal Yisroel through all the Golus and it is what gives the Yid the strength and the courage to live.

In the aftermath of the Second World war, the Survivors of the concentration camps were placed in DP camps. There they would try and recuperate a bit from the horrors they had suffered and then decide where to go on to.

On Simchas Torah in one DP camp, the survivors agreed that even though there were many types and stripes of Yidden there; they were going to make one big Minyan for everyone to join together.

After Maariv, preparations were underway for the Hakofos. That was when the trouble started.

One person wanted it to be done in line with his Minhag and Nussach.

Another wanted it very much to be conducted like he was used to from home. Slowly, the situation

deteriorated and soon it became a big argument.

One Yid, his face aflame with passion, stepped right into the centre of the fight.

“Yidden! Yidden!” he called out. “‫אין‬ ‫ שיור רק התורה הזאת‬all we only have left is this Torah!”

Quiet descended on the crowd as they thought about what he had said.

Indeed, all they have left was the Torah. And they only had each other to celebrate it.

Gradually, they began to hold hands together and dance as one.

The arguments and differences were forgotten.

Now they were in one circle.

All equal, with the Torah in the centre.

‫ אין שיור רק התורה הזאת‬All we only have left is this Torah!

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We say a special Harochamon in bentching about raising up the Sukkas Dovid that fell down. What is this referring to and why mention it on Sukkos?

Vezos Habracha and Simchas Torah – the numerous mitzvos

VEZOS HABRACHA

40

Rabbi Yehonasan Gefen Rabbi for Keter HaTorah

T

he very final Parsha in the Torah contains the first Passuk that we teach our children; “Torah Tziva Lanu Moshe, Morasha, Kehillas Yaakov.” (Devarim 33:4)This passuk is the source of the concept that there are 613 Mitzvos (Taryag Mitzovs); The Gemara says that the gematria of the word, ‘Torah’ is 611, which teaches us that Moshe Rabbeinu instructed Klal Yisroel in 611 mitzvos and Hashem directly told them the remaining two, those of belief in G-d and the prohibition to follow other gods, bringing the total to 613, (Makkos, 23b-24a).

This Gemara causes the commentaries great difficulty in defining which commands in the Torah are included in the 613, because, in truth there seem to be far more commands than these 613. The brother of the Vilna Gaon zt”l addresses this problem in ’Maalos HaTorah’. He quotes the Gaon himself explaining that the Torah is compared to a tree; a tree has roots and has many branches that sprout from the roots. So too, the Torah has 613 roots which comprise the Taryag Mitzvos, but that there are numerous branches that sprout from each root, all of which are Torah obligations. He goes further and writes that all the stories in the Torah are replete with ‘mitzvos’ that obligate us in numerous ways. Each lesson derived from the actions of the characters in the Torah constitutes a Torah obligation, consequently the number of ‘mitzvos’ in the Torah becomes incredibly great. The Gra explains that this is the explanation of Chazal’s saying that Hashem wanted to benefit the Jewish people by giving them many mitzvos - it does not just refer to the 613 of Taryag, rather to the

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thousands of obligations that arise from all the stories in the Torah (Hakdama to Maalas Hatorah).

With this understanding we can approach learning Torah with a new perspective. When the Torah tells us an account of an event, it is not merely telling us an interesting historical incident, rather it is teaching us valuable lessons about how we should live our own lives.

Rav Noach Weinberg zt”l explains that the Torah is not merely a ‘history book’, rather it is called ‘Toras Chaim’, which is literally translated as ‘Instructions for Living.’

This lesson is highly relevant as we complete the annual cycle of learning and celebrate the gift of Torah. Torah is not merely a highly intelligent and interesting book; it is Hashem’s detailed instructions of how to conduct our lives. This applies to all aspects of Torah, including the Gemara and Halacha. However, it is perhaps most apparent with regard to the Chumash. One talmid chacham pointed out that it is possible for a person to miss

this vital point and instead primarily look to the Chumash as a source of a ‘good vort’ on the Parsha to be said over at the Shabbos table! There is nothing wrong with having a good vort, however, it is important to remember that the Chumash is Hashem’s instructions about how to live our lives.

Rav Tzvi Kushelevsky Shlita makes this point in a haskama to a sefer that emphasizes the relevance of Torah to our daily lives. He quotes the Ramban in his Iggeres: “When you rise from studying a sefer, ponder carefully what you have learned in order to see what there is in it that can be put into practice.” Rav Kushelevski comments: “The above words, written by the Ramban in a famous letter to his son, instruct us to search for the practical application of everything we learn in Torah. As lofty and essential as this goal is, however, it is one that often eludes us. We tend to perceive our Torah study as an intellectual pursuit, divorced from the reality of our lives.” (Haskama to

‘Relevance’ by Rabbi Dan Roth).

Simchas Torah is a day when we celebrate the great gift of Torah. May we all be zocheh to utilize this gift to its fullest.

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10. How many times is Sukkos mentioned in the Torah? livingwithmitzvos.com

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ANSWERS YOM KIPPUR

1. The Gemora (Yuma 20a) brings that there is no Soton on Yom Kippur. This is seen in the gematria that 364=‫השט”ן‬ meaning that he is in operation for 364 days in the year but not on Yom Kippur. Yet we see people sinning on Yom Kippur? It must mean that there is no new evil inclination for other things that a person has not previously been attracted to.

2. The Maharsha (to Yuma 2a) brin gs that Yuma in Aramaic means day expressing that Yom Kippur is a special day of the year. This new name high lights it being spiritually higher than the other festivals.

3. Even though eating and fasting are usually two opposites, however at times they can be complementary. This is when the eating is in order to assist better fasting. By doing so, it can be even considere d as fasting itself!

4. The five afflictions on Tisha B’Av come as a sign of mourning. However, on Yom Kipp ur they come as an atonement as well as raising us to the levels of Angels.

5. This is because this day aton es for the living as well as for the dead. (The dead are judged for the effects that they had on people during their lifetime that continues through the living people.) Perhaps anot her idea is that this day atones for people in different ways , each person on their own level.

SUKKOS

6. Yom Kippur only atones for sins committed between man and Hashem. However, the sins done between man and his fellow need a separate atoneme nt. This is why people ask each other forgiveness before Yom Kippur so that on that day both these types of sins will have been forgiven.

7. This is to remind us of the Yove l year when the shofar would be blown on Yom Kippur and since we do not know which year is the yovel, we therefore do it each year. Another idea is as a sign of victory over the Soton who tries to make us sin and now we have achieved forgiveness for those sins. It also acts as a warning sign to remind us to not sin again in the coming year.

8. The Midrash Eliyohu (on Meg illas Ester) suggests that Achashveirosh purposely arranged the feast so that the final day of it fell on the 10th of Tish rei, Yom Kippur! His intention was to prevent the Jews from repenting on Yom Kippur so that Hashem would not forgive them!

9. Perhaps because on Yom Kipp ur Moshe came down with the second Luchos. The Torah was offered to all the other nations who refused it. Therefore , the receiving of the second Luchos and the Torah that comes on Yom Kippur is only for the Jews who were the only ones to accept the Torah.

celebrating nowadays by e remember it W g. in nc da and ght. to d dancing at ni ival of Sukkos epherds of the with music an move the fest e y w in ra at ng to seven sh th e di s th lu er al of sw ts g es an in r gu nn Tu gi ns logical order e be ea no 1. Th kka. In chro 6. Ushpizin m shem rei that is the Su Ha sh e r Ti th ve t of te si vi ha th , Aaron w to on e the m ing to do v, Yosef, Moshe Jews who com how we are will Yosef Yitzchok, Yako , es m ov . ho m ro sy at season to show ea Av t th e: they ar alistic order even if it is no e bb to th ka us a of ds is g e in an er m ild bu com and Dovid. Th os, after the the name Sukk ’Asif. This means the time of Sukkos before Dovid.

2. Besides for Ha ag e y and final day Ch th so called e houses at the seventh da th the final is a to is in bb It e booths, it is al Ra n. uc a io od an at 7. Hosh g in of the pr also called great supplic is of It y rry out . da ca ar e ye to th l nt ra of the gatherin and means Angels are se and agricultu t e es th rv n ha he w e t th en end of stage in judgm (Emor, 23:39). . The ch day Chag Hashem and a bit walls o tw the decrees. en ev were offered ea d s of sacrifices four, three an is seen in the nt hallel ve is ll ou th ha fu am a n at s nt ca th nt re t It ra

ffe ou 3. sach) this war ingly points has four 8. Since di Pe az h to ec am d m se on Sa po Ga e op a Th Viln ‫סכה‬. of Sukkos (as word Sukka – i has two and letters for the des and the He sh that was si e each day. re th s ha Beis Hamikda sides, the chaf d refers to the vi tually done Do ac as as kk w Su

by Dovid and l his produce 9. The up al t a bit! in se when the ed e be er th tim prepared to kkos is the the farmer ga turally Su n na he o. le w m op lo as pe echina.

Sh w e ng 4. Sukkos and therefor expresses Sh by his son Ki ths of labour Yom Kippur rned and this tu m igated re st fro d in vo on as ka w s after his mon w at Ha Ananei Hamikdash th , Sukkos follo renewed so is ds Al Be ad e where y. is th e pp Th of ha . tim g felt our sins The rebuildin Sukkos at a each e forgiven for essed during pr happiness by l ex ua is when we wer us d vi e th

by Do ent. addition to echina is pres happiness in in the Torah naturally the Sh e place five times th s ke of ta n l. os tio kk ra Su leb festiva os 34:22); 3) of ce m n e he th sio (S d us ation, 10. The disc :16); 2) Ki Sisa of Chol Hamoe lib 23 er os ys at m da ); 5) Re’eh w he e , :12 (S th im 29 g r ch hamay 5. Durin – 1) Mishpatim has (Bamidba er for the nisu 23:34); 4) Pinc es of the Beis ra tim ik e ay th (V g drawing of wat or rin Em du music e mizbayach ) mpanied with brought on th (Devorim 16:13 e. It was acco ac pl ok to sh Hamikda

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