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The Agudah Convention Started Today
The Agudah Convention this year started today and will run through Sunday, December 8. It is held at the Armon Hotel in Stamford, Connecticut. Many sessions are also available online, but being there is an experience that many treasure.
You can watch the sessions at...
It was primarily residents of the northern cities from the Haifa area and northwards who constantly absorbed the barrage of rockets. But this did not skip over the residents of central Israel when, from time to time, Hizbullah terrorists aimed missiles towards the center which, Providentially, did not cause much damage.
As reported in the weekend Yated, by this past Friday, many reservations for Shabbos were made for Moshav Meiron and neighboring settlements in contrast to the lack of visitors during the past year for fear of aerial attack.
Special good news for Bnei Brak residents: for the first time, a chareidi kindergarten is being planned for the city's visually impaired which will be a fully educational project.
Several parents had appealed to the city's deputy mayor and head of the department for social services, Rabbi Gedaliah Silman, requesting that the city establish an educational framework for children grappling with challenged vision. This came as a result of a great need for such children who had to seek the services of various neighboring cities in environments not suited for chareidi children.
It isn't pleasant to hear the truth, but neither can one argue with hard facts. The Israel broadcasting company, funded by taxpayer money, has a heavy majority of employees from the Leftist camp and opponents of the present government.
The truth is that this is not a military secret nor a domestic secret but a reality which has not changed for the past decades, even since the Likud came into power. Rightist factions associated with the Likud recently published a diagram depicting media announcers from the corporation, grading their sympathies with the government. The company was up in arms and attempted to deflect the impact of this list. But the facts did not surprise anyone.
The originators of the ad 'graded' the announcers in a program of current issues according them individually with marks from 1-5, with highest mark to the most outspoken opponents of the government. Next are three medium marks, beginning those who supported the government at the bottom. Those who were graded as neutral received a three, while those who opposed the government but not extremely so received a four.
According to this table, most of the announcers received 4 or 5, that is, they were hostile to the government, either outspokenly or somewhat lesser. One broadcaster was marked as 'neutral', while another received a 2 which indicated a cool support of the government. Not one received a 1 rating showing a generous support of the government.
Yeshivas Eitz Chaim in Slutzk and in Kletzk. The journal Yagdil Torah. Chidushim of the Ramban on the Shas. Otzar Haposkim. Vaad Hayeshivos. Even HaEzel. These are only some of the monumental accomplishments of the great gaon, Rav of all Israel, R' Isser Zalman Meltzer who died on the tenth of Kislev, seventy-one years ago.
Yagdil Torah was a journal, founded by the great gaon, R' Isser Zalman Meltzer in 5669 (1909) when he was rav of Slutzk. In an introduction to one of its issues, he comments on the passage in Mishlei, "If you seek it like silver and search for it like treasures, then you shall understand the fear of G-d," explaining why Shlomo Hamelech felt it necessary to express his point by using two analogies: the search for silver, and the search for a hidden treasure.
"`If you seek it like silver,'" he says, "refers to man's unrelenting, dauntless pursuit of a livelihood. `And like treasures you shall search for it,' alludes to the tremendous zeal and energy that one who searches for a hidden treasure expends. Only when all these traits—zeal, indefatigability and dauntlessness—are called into play, does `one [come to] understand the fear of G-d.'
"The reason zeal applies to the search for a treasure, is that once a person learns that a treasure lies buried in a specific place, he will begin digging for it with all his might. Only when he fails to discover it, will he despair and grow weary. One who has a family, though, has no choice but to support it. As a result, he continues to strive to earn a living his entire life, never despairing, never growing weary."
The attributes of indefatigability, dauntlessness, zeal and alacrity, run like golden threads throughout the tapestry of his life, and were his salient traits. He established many unique and vanguard institutions, devoting himself to their support and maintenance with unrelenting fervor and zeal, never abandoning them in midstream. Whenever something had to be done, he was the first to offer his services, even if they had not been solicited. He was "the Chalutz before the camp."
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"`And you shall make them known to your children and to your children's children.' Afterwards it is written: `the day you stood before Hashem your G-d at Horeiv' (Devorim 4:9- 10). Just as at Mount Sinai there was awe and fear, shaking and trembling (as it is written `the people saw and trembled' - Rashi), so too regarding learning Torah there should be awe and fear, shaking and trembling.
From here the Sages said: "Zovim and metzoro'im (those who are impure due to a zov discharge or tzora'as) are permitted to learn Torah, but baalei keri (those who are impure due to a seminal discharge) are prohibited" (Brochos 22a).
Rashi comments: "All those who are ritually impure are permitted to learn Torah, because they can do so in awe and shaking. But the ba'al keri became impure because of lightheadedness and arrogance" (Ibid.).
The end of the blessing on the Torah is, "Blessed are You, Hashem, Giver of the Torah," which is in the present tense and not the past tense. This teaches us that Matan Torah, the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, is a new reality which is renewed every day when we learn Torah, and not just an ancient historical event.
Similarly, in bircas Yotzeir Ohr, the blessing on the luminaries that precedes the Shema, the brochoh concludes: "In His goodness He renews daily, perpetually, the work of creation. As it is said: `[Give thanks] to Him Who makes the great luminaries, for His kindness endures forever.'" The use of the present tense-"Who makes"-even though the creation of the luminaries was long ago, teaches us that Hashem renews the creation perpetually. Creation is not a reality that just continues automatically as a result of an original act of creation.
Similarly, learning Torah is akin to Matan Torah on Mount Sinai, and not an act of study alone. Matan Torah is renewed every time the Jewish people learn the Torah.
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"For I Am Hashem Your Healer"
Telolei Oros presents sources relating to doctors and patients. May it be Hashem's will that the verse be fulfilled in us: "The entire malady that I inflicted upon Egypt I will not inflict upon you, for I am Hashem your Healer" (Shemos 15:26).
Part 4
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Health Insurance
The Rabbis taught in Nedorim (49): "Rabbis are sickly." Rashi explains: "They occupy themselves with Torah and do not derive enjoyment from the world, and become sick."
According to natural laws, if a man eats and drinks healthily, takes walks after eating, sleeps sufficiently, and enjoys his life, then his body will be healthy and strong. However, a man who sits and meditates on Torah day and night, never interrupting his learning, and removes himself from all the physical enjoyments-minimizing his sleep, completely straining himself in his toil to understand the Torah's depths-will be weak according to natural laws and could become sick and feeble.
Therefore, the Torah teaches us that this is not the case. For truly: "If you hearken to the voice of Hashem, your G-d, and you do what is proper in His eyes, and you listen closely to His commandments and observe all His statutes" - despite the toil and effort that should weaken the body - "all the sicknesses that I have visited upon Egypt I will not visit upon you, for I am Hashem your Healer" (Shemos 15:26). Just as Hashem cured the bitter waters (Ibid. 23) in a miraculous way, so too He will remove sickness from you. (HaRav Yitzchok of Volozhin, Peh Kodesh).
The Shechinah at His Head
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