  |
|
| |||||
In these days of unprecedented spiritual arousal amongst the people residing in Zion, we interviewed the heads of Lev L'Achim, Rabbi Eliezer Sorotzkin, and Rabbi Avrohom Zeivald, regarding our obligation to respond to the spiritual arousal which is evident before our very eyes.
In a riveting talk, they described the full picture of thousands of thirsty souls converging upon the batei medrash, and the absolute instructions of our Torah leadership, headed by Maran HaRav Dov Lando, which parallel those of former gedolim, founders of Lev L'Achim. "They instructed us to focus on teaching and spreading Torah study to those living in the peripheries, since the light of the Torah draws people to what is good. The eternal Torah is what protects and preserves us. Alongside this, is the realization of the responsibility resting upon the shoulders of the chareidi public at this favorable period of history."
Can this period be considered as 'one in a lifetime'?
One lone country on the face of earth is about to transform our bnei yeshiva of pure gold, the supporting pillars of the very world, the pride of Jewry — into "criminal offenders", G-d forbid.
According to reports in the media, the prisons throughout the country are being adapted to increased occupancy in order to absorb more of these "offenders," those who are not willing to sacrifice their heads to the army 'Molech-god", and to uproot from their hearts the fundamental principle of Judaism that "Torah protects and saves." As of now, say the prison authorities, there won't be more room for several hundred 'deserters,' unless some agreement is arrived at with Hamas, in which case the prisons will be emptied out of thousands of abominable murderers to make ample room all those bnei yeshiva caught in the criminal act of defectors.
It is inconceivable that we are actually writing these words, but the army is actually being primed for a widespread operation to entrap those criminal offenders whose souls thirst for Torah.
This was first published in 1992, 33 years ago.
Reb Elimelech Tress was for many years president of Zeirei Agudath Israel and then administrative president of Agudath Israel of America. He set a shining example of self-sacrifice for klal Yisroel that has inspired many, including his own children. He was niftar fifty-eight years ago on 2 Tammuz, at the untimely age of 57.
Part 1
America before World War II was a trefena medina. If there was gold in the streets, most people did not use it to buy Torah and mitzvos. Torah Judaism was on the defensive throughout the world. In fact, they were hard times, spiritually and financially.
The world, says the Mishna in Pirkei Ovos, stands on three pillars: Torah, avoda and gemilus chassodim. The Steipler Gaon pointed out that the first two vary from generation to generation. Torah is on the decline from the levels it reached thousands of years ago which are unimaginable today. Avoda, service and worship of Hashem, is also much less than it used to be. Without the Beis Hamikdosh, and even without the powerful personalities of our ancestors, we cannot achieve in avoda what earlier generations could reach.
The situation is different, noted the Steipler, with respect to the third pillar. Gemilas chassodim, kindness, consideration and self-sacrifice for others, is the same today as ever. The challenges are the same, and the achievements are on the same scale. By this measure, the standard that transcends all generation-gaps, Elimelech "Mike" Tress was a giant of Jewish tradition.
An All-American Success Story
As he was growing up, Mike seemed like just another American success story. He attended public school, learning after school in a Talmud Torah. After college, he joined the business world, rising to a managerial position in the firm of Lampert and Brothers, then a major New York textile firm. Always a smart dresser, with his clean-cut good looks he really fit the part of an all-American boy.
This Google Custom Search looks only in this website.
Outstanding Articles From Our Archives
Opinion & Comment
This Shabbos, 19 Tammuz, is the first yahrtzeit of HaRav Ben Tziyon Abba Shaul, zt"l, a great gaon and leader of Klal Yisroel, as well as rosh yeshivas Porat Yosef.
The beacon of HaRav Ben Tziyon's Torah shone from Eretz Yisroel with a new light that reached every corner of the Jewish world. It illuminated difficult topics and revealed halacha in its pristine clarity. HaRav Ben Tziyon's rulings were adopted by bnei Torah in yeshivos of every stream and every community, and were debated in the botei medrash by teachers and students alike. Never was there an air of leniency or stringency about any of HaRav Ben Tziyon's conclusions. Although they bore the stamp of originality, they were always the result of tremendously deep study of the topic, having been hewn from the bedrock of the gemora and subsequent works of halacha, according to the timeless principles which they contain within themselves.
Rather than attempt a survey of the foundations of HaRav Ben Tziyon's halachic thought, we present a selection of recollections and anecdotes which reveal him in his role as an original yet classic poseik.
The Path that Leads from Learning to Halacha
One of HaRav Ben Tziyon's talmidim, HaRav Yaakov Cohen, rosh yeshivas Kinyonei Hatorah, recalled his many years together with his great teacher and tried to reconstruct the approach to learning which led him directly from a sugya in the gemora to the practical halacha.
Opinion & Comment
The forty-day period between 17 Tammuz and Rosh Chodesh Elul is when Moshe ascended to Heaven to appease HaKodosh Boruch Hu. Moshe succeeded in mitigating the midas hadin, which had been aroused against bnei Yisroel because of their sin with the Golden Calf.
After those forty days HaKodosh Boruch Hu's anger towards the Jewish People was pacified, and He said to Moshe: "Hew out for yourself two luchos (tablets) of stone like the first ones . . . and you shall ascend in the morning onto Mount Sinai and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mount" (Shemos 34:1). Moshe Rabbenu ascended again to Hashem for another forty-day period, from Rosh Chodesh Elul until Yom Kippur. At the end of this period Moshe descended from the mountain with the second luchos, which HaKodosh Boruch Hu joyfully handed over to the Jewish People. These days are "days of good will," which still have this special spirit of appeasing Hashem.
After Hashem pardoned am Yisroel on Rosh Chodesh Elul, the 17th of Tammuz -- the day the luchos were broken because of the sin of the eigel -- was transformed into a yom tov, a day of joy. Just as in the times of the second Beis Hamikdash the days of fast and mourning were converted into days of happiness -- as Zecharia wrote, "The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness and yomim tovim" (Zecharia 8:19) -- so the 17th of Tammuz, after Hashem was appeased, became a yom tov.
However, after the destruction of the second Beis Hamikdash, these days returned to their previous status: days of mourning and fasting. And among the reasons that the gemora enumerates for fasting on 17 Tammuz is the breaking of the luchos. It seems that even after we had received the second luchos on Yom Kippur in place of the first, the loss of the first luchos still obligates us to fast.
"Rav Yehuda in the name of Rav said: (Yirmiyohu 9:11) `What is [the meaning of what is] written, "Who is the wise man who understands this (why the land was lost)?" This was asked of the wise and the prophets, but they were unable to interpret it, until HaKodosh Boruch Hu Himself explained: "Because they have forsaken My Torah" (v. 12) which is to say, "they have not hearkened to My voice, neither walked therein" (ibid.). "Rav Yehuda in the name of Rav said: `This means that they did not make a brocho before studying Torah'" (Nedorim 81a).
|
|||||
.jpg)
