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Moral Decay Leads to Financial Corruption
In introducing the issues of the Generation of the Flood, the Torah writes: Vatishocheis ho'oretz lifnei ho'Elokim, vatimolei ho'oretz chomos - and the Land became corrupt before G-d, and the Land became full of monetary corruption.
Rashi explains that the decree of punishment was signed because of the widespread monetary crimes.
The Vilna Gaon, while agreeing that chomos is a crime that fits under the general category of theft, gives a more specific definition (quoted in Chumash Hagra, Bereishis 6:11). He says that in contrast to "shode which is true theft, . . . chomos is behaving improperly, like giving money forcibly" for an object that the owner does not want to sell.
Rav Shamshon Rafael Hirsch explains that the land will never "fill up" with gross theft. Society will protect itself against thieves and will not allow them to get out of hand. But, he says, chomos is another issue. He also says that chomos is subtle and sophisticated forms of taking the property of others, against which society as a whole has no real defense, as we will see.
Examples? No problem. ...
"When one hears a lesson from one who he favors, he listens differently."
HaRav Moshe Hillel began his speech as follows:
We are discussing the bond between student and master and the question arises: why must the Rav be familiar with each student?
He concretized his point through a true incident. "I know this story firsthand. At the end of a study 'zman', I asked a certain student how he felt about it.
He replied: 'It was terrible. In fact, very, very bad. I hardly learned anything.'
I then asked those appointed over the students, the meshivim, why they did not report such a thing. Had not this student and his chavrusa come to him to discuss many aspects of their study?
And he explained: ...
Anti-Semitism in America is rising and swelling, and it is doubtful if either of the candidates for the presidency, if elected, can halt it. That hatred for Jews, which for years was latent and an embarrassment to exhibit, has burst forth in full malice, precisely as a result of the massacre perpetrated on the Jews in their homeland.
The legitimacy of open anti-Semitism was unleashed in the wake of the Israeli war against terrorist organizations and the humanitarian "crisis" that was created in Gaza against its "uninvolved" citizens which the entire world saw reveling on rooftops over the acts of violence and looting. In the fortresses of liberalism and enlightenment, anti-Semitism has been elevated to a central and fundamental banner, where the presence of Jews studying within their academic walls or serving as staff members has become part and parcel of their "academic enlightenment," liberal openness and freedom of speech. How has anti-Semitism and hatred towards Jews become so openly legitimized in America?
Part 2
This was originally published in 2006.
The tragic episode of the collapse of the greatest aliya until modern times — that of Rav Yehuda HaChossid and his followers around 300 years ago— stemmed from one of the noblest visions of a selfless man. Rav Yehuda of Shidlitz, Poland, labored to become a vessel worthy of Hashem's light, living a life of self-abnegation and devote Torah study. At about the age of sixty he decided that the only place where a Jew could truly perfect himself was in Eretz Yisroel, and began planning to ascend to the Holy City.
Part 2
Shots in the Dark
The money that trickled in from the Diaspora could not alleviate the dire situation in the Holy City. New sources of support for the Ashkenazi community had to be found. Two of them dealt with relations with the Cairo kehilla.
Rav Yaakov, acting as head of the community during the first decade of the 18th century, discovered a problem in the handling of consecrated property from wealthy Egyptian Jews. Over the past twenty years this property had been legally designated for the Jewish community of Yerushalayim.
Unfortunately, unscrupulous Jews of Cairo confiscated the property. When petitioned to release it, they offered to send the profits but not to sell outright the property. Rav Yaakov, after consulting with gedolim, went to Egypt and managed to sell the property. In this way, he was able to return with a substantial amount of money. It a was momentary breathing spell.
In 1711 (5471), Rav Moshe HaKohen of Prague, head of the Ashkenazi beis din, went as a shaliach to Europe. He stopped in Cairo, and was influential in having the Turkish authorities annul the liability for future interest on their loans that had been leveled against the Ashkenazi community in Yerushalayim. He even succeeded in having one third of the debt erased on condition that the remaining two thirds be paid within three years.
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Opinion & Comment
I once asked Maran ztvk'l for his opinion regarding accepting to yeshiva gedolah students who had previously studied in schools that did not conform to the accepted daas Torah norm. Perhaps such students had true potential for becoming bnei Torah and it would do them an injustice to deny them acceptance; perhaps they had gone to such schools only because their parents had insisted on it.
He mulled over the question for several moments and then said, "If the said student is yirei Shomayim and has genuine aspirations to grow in Torah, one cannot reject him only because his father had forced him to study there. But this applies only if it is very clear that his personal drive is to acquire Torah knowledge. In any case," he added, "such students should only be accepted on a very individual basis and certainly not in any organized group."
Between the Doctor and the Yeshiva
I was once informed that Maran had gone to see an eye specialist in Shaarei Zedek Hospital but that he wished to tell me something. I went there at once and Maran began speaking to me. I accompanied him on his way and when we entered the office, the doctor asked Maran if he would allow his son, who was studying in a yeshivas hesder, to attend the Ponovezh Yeshiva for a week.
The Rosh Yeshiva told him he could come on Rosh Chodesh Nisan and then remain in yeshiva for a week.
"But that is already bein hazmanim! The yeshiva is not in session, then!" the doctor said in surprise.
"Even at that time, there is a large group of talmidim studying in the beis medrash. He will still be able to get an impression of the place. He will be able to learn and also strengthen himself spiritually at that time."
The doctor continued to plead with Maran to let his son come during regular session. Maran was adamantly opposed and stood firm as a rock.
IN-DEPTH FEATURES
It was quite by chance. A brief encounter which this writer had with Rav Henoch Cohen from America, led to a succession of meetings and riveting talks, in the course of which we were treated to a vast and comprehensive survey of the history of Chinuch Atzmai, and how the gedolei Yisroel, led by HaRav Aaron Kotler, joined the battle for the souls, faith and religiosity of the Jewish children in the Holy Land.
We listened to a series of enthralling stories about the painstaking efforts and labor that the gedolei Yisroel, who carried on their shoulders the immense responsibility of guarding the pure Yiddishe chinuch, invested in this sacred task.
Alongside these gedolim and tzaddikim, there was a long line of enthusiastic and dedicated activists who dedicated their lives for the community and for the individual. But without a doubt the central and dominant figure in this whole operation was and is Rav Henoch Cohen.
Before we bring in Reb Henoch's fascinating stories, let us quickly sum up the history of those years that led the gedolei Yisroel, those great and lofty personalities, establish, with so much sweat and toil, the glorious Torah education system in Eretz Yisroel known as Chinuch Atzmai.
Those were unbearably harsh and bitter years. Survivors of the Holocaust began arriving in Eretz Yisroel at the same time as the huge aliyahs from the Eastern countries began to come in, and it was obvious that there was a need to act quickly and with absolute determination to save their children for Torah and Judaism for on the other side, the secular parties were doing everything in their power to bring the children under their influence.
Opinion & Comment
Being in the presence of Rabbenu the Gavad of Tchebin was always an experience of "gilu bir'odoh - rejoice in trembling." There was the spiritual uplifting in joy, combined with great awe. On the one hand, we felt like dwarfs in the presence of a giant among giants, seized by an overpowering trepidation of his greatness. And yet, his pure countenance exuded reviving dewdrops, for he radiated goodness, kindness and wholesome love. He would lower himself to the level of every small child, and his speech and manner were the epitome of simplicity and refinement - which served to melt away the fear and awe.
My father, HaRav Shlomo Zalman z'l of Pressburg, was the Rebbetzin's brother so that when I came from Switzerland as a young boy to study in Yeshivas Mir in Yerushalayim, I became a privileged and frequent visitor in the Gaon's home.
The first time I went in to him, I was very excited and emotional. I was in a quandary. Who was I to speak to my illustrious uncle, the posek hador? What would I say to him?
But as soon as I entered the room, I immediately felt at ease, as if a tremendous calm and relief was settling over me. A sweet feeling suffused my heart with the pleasant feeling that swept over me. Maran greeted me with a radiant face and began conversing comfortably with me as if we were old friends.
What Did Maran R' Chaim Shmuelevitz Say?
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