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The next scheduled issue is for the week of Parshas Noach. Gut yohr! Agudath Israel Issues Guidelines for Traveling with Minim
Rav Michael Zada, active in Lev L'Achim in Sderot, delivers his shiur regularly, as he has done for the past sixteen years. Aside from this, his days are packed with a full, broad spectrum of activity for the sanctified goal which is above all — to draw more and more sons to their Heavenly Father.
"A Rosh Hashanah such as this one has never yet been experienced in the South, and probably not in the entire land." he says to us at the very beginning of the interview. "This is the first time that so many words and prayers in the 'Ovinu Malkeinu' touched us all so relevantly after the horrors which Klal Yisroel encountered this past year. Understandingly, the shrill outbursts of 'put an end to hostage-seizing' and memory of 'those murdered in sanctifying Your Name' were at unbelievable decibels."
That terrible massacre which took place there on Simchas Torah continued in further stages.
They tell of HaRav Boruch Ber of Kamenitz who was once ill during Aseres Yemei Teshuva. The doctors ordered a blood test to determine if he could fast on Yom Kippur. HaRav Yehoshua tells his listeners that this required a trip to Warsaw which had a laboratory.
He did so, staying over by a Chassidic leader to await the results of the test. Time passed as he continued to wait in vain, fearing that if he did not pick himself and return, he might not reach Kamenitz in time for Yom Kippur. He therefore decided to remain in Warsaw.
Yom Kippur was imminent and he still had not received the test results. What to do? His host saw his distress and said, "Why are you so anxious? In either case, you will be executing the will of Hashem - either through fasting or eating according to requirements. By not fasting, you will be fulfilling your obligation of pikuach nefesh. So why be so apprehensive?"
HaRav Boruch Ber replied, "Very true, but that is not what is disturbing me. I know that in either case, I will be fulfilling a mitzvah. But I do wish to know which it will be — that of fasting or of eating for self-preservation. I want to know for what I am supposed to prepare myself."
We, too, must know for what to be prepared...
One of the secular newspapers wondered why the chareidi media did not commemorate the 7th of October, as did all the other media. That awful day will be remembered as one of the for the Jewish people. All of the media were full of special supplements, interviews, and never ending articles discussing that day and the past year. The chareidi media had nothing about it.
The reason is not all the complicated or subtle. To us the disastrous day was Simchas Torah 5784. The Jewish calendar sets the days for the Jewish community and not the Gregorian calendar instituted just about 500 years ago and still less accurate than ours. Most of the world uses that calendar but we use the Jewish calendar that dates back to Creation.
There was an interview with the father of one of the soldiers who was killed last Simchas Torah. The interviewer asked him how he felt on this year's October 7. He answered that to him it was just 5 Tishrei. The first yahrtzeit of his son will be on Simchas Torah.
October 7 has become a familiar phrase. But that is fixing the date by the non-Jewish calendar. The Jewish people have their own calendar, and that is what we use.
Part 2
HaRav Shlomo Wolbe once said, "It is almost impossible to do teshuva without being familiar with these letters in Or Yisroel (7 & 8)." We are happy to be able to present Letter 7 here in translation, along with some other selections. Readers are advised that the material is dense and difficult, and it requires attentive and serious study.
Every year the prime cause for self improvement is the fear of every believing person that he will come to a bitter end if he abandons Torah and mitzvos. However, our desires overpower us. One should get used to studying poskim (although one should not stop attending one's regular shiurim, for "a synagogue should not be demolished" (Bava Basra, 3b)).
When one comes across a din that is relevant to him, he should study its sources, and delve into the matter deeply in accordance with his intellectual capabilities. Study of this kind will leave almost as big an impression on his soul to fulfill that din as reflection on the fear of G-d.
This essay was first published by us exactly 30 years ago.
We ask of Hashem, "Who is like You, merciful Father, who mercifully remembers His creations for life." The repetition of the reference to mercy, after we have already described Hashem as merciful, requires explanation. Another of our supplications which needs explaining is "...that the Beis Hamikdash be built speedily in our days and grant our portion in Your Torah." What is the connection between the two requests which are mentioned together?
We begin our explanation by quoting the mishna and gemora, (Yoma 19,) which describe the efforts made to prevent the Cohen Godol from falling asleep on leil Yom Kippur: "If he wanted to nap, the young cohanim would snap their forefingers in front of him and say, `My master, the Cohen Godol, stand up and display a kidda on the floor to dispel your drowsiness.' They would occupy him until the time for shechita arrived."
The gemora adds, "We have learned: they occupied him neither with lyre nor harp but by word of mouth etc. The distinguished men of Yerushalaim would not sleep all night long so that the Cohen Godol would hear their noise and not be overtaken by sleep. We have learned: `Abba Shaul says, they would do so in the rest of the land as well, as a remembrance of the Beis Hamikdash but they used to sin.' What is the purpose of mentioning the shame of Bnei Yisroel and their sins in this context?
The explanation appears to be as follows: Yom Kippur is a holy and fearful day, one which we spend entirely in prayer. When the Beis Hamikdash stood, people would come there to watch the day's special avoda. They watched the Cohen Godol offer the korbonos and send off the goat, and they watched the burning of the goat and bull outside of the Beis Hamikdash.
That there were spectators watching the avoda is apparent from the mishna's comment (Yoma 68), "Whoever watched the Cohen Godol read [from the Torah] did not see the burning of the goat and the bull." One must nevertheless see to it that even on this day, the obligation of "vehogiso bo yomom volailo," learning Torah day and night, is fulfilled.
I heard from my master, my father and teacher zy'a, how he once entered the holy chamber of his grandfather, the holy sage of Tzanz zy'a, on leil Yom Kippur, and found him sitting poring over a Ketzos Hachoshen, (whose author was almost a contemporary of his.) The gemora, (Megilla 3,) says: "Learning Torah is greater then the offering of the regular daily korbonos." This is because Torah is compared to both fire (as the posuk says, "Are these words of Mine not like fire, says Hashem") and to water (as it says, "All who are thirsty, go to the water") for through Torah it is possible to mollify all the harsh judgments and to draw mercy and kindness upon ourselves.
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My father, Dr. Howard (Tzvi) Plaut, hareini kaporas mishkovo, was born in Europe on Rosh Chodesh Iyar, 5669 (1909), and was niftar on 27 Shvat, 5766 in Silver Spring, Md. These thoughts were collected and distilled from reflections made during the shiva for him and are being published le'iluy nishmoso.
One of the main points I want to make is that there are two common beliefs about German Jewry that are myths: 1] Most German Jews were Reform; 2] the German Jews did not leave Germany in time to escape the destruction of the Holocaust.
The Judaism of Small-Town German Jewry
My father grew up in a small town in German named Witzenhausen. He was born in Stutgart but the family moved back to Witzenhausen to be with their extended family when his father went to fight for the Kaiser in World War I. He did not see his father for five years, from when he was five until he was ten (1914-1919). Even though his father was fighting in the army only a few hundred kilometers away at most, there were no vacations or breaks.
He remembered the Jewish community of Witzenhausen to have consisted of about 40 Jewish families - about 150 people altogether. They were an organized community. There was a nice building for a shul and also a separate school for the Jewish children, both built by the German state, which provided for the Jewish needs of the community.
There was a Lehrer, whom he remembers as a prestigious and dignified man, who spoke in shul and taught some of the subjects in the school. He and another official were paid by the state to take care of religious functions for the community. On the other hand, the salary cannot have been overly generous, because the Lehrer also had a textile store.
One of these two state-employees led the services throughout the entire year and also read from the Torah, probably the second official. The Lehrer also blew the shofar and slaughtered chickens. My father did not remember it, but probably the Lehrer was also a mohel. Another schochet came around every week to slaughter other animals.
The Jewish community was homogeneous and religious. For example, my father's family built their own succah every year and he recalled that most families had their own succah. The shul also had its own succah. Each family had its own lulav and esrog, and he did not remember the cost as having been particularly high.
On Chanukah they lit their menorah in the window, using candles.
This was a deeply-rooted Judaism that did not know of the sicknesses of Reform and Haskoloh, and also did not know of the Frankfurt cure. It was a community that continued placidly along the life path that Jews in Germany followed since the time of the Rishonim.
It was a community of simple people who largely lived a simple life. Most were storekeepers or practiced a trade. Many dealt in cattle. The most common occupation given in our family tree which dates back more than 300 years is Fiehandler - cattle dealer. My father's father dealt in cattle hides, and his grandfather (Plaut) who lived in Abterode, an even smaller town about an hour-and-a-half away, dealt in cattle.
...
IN-DEPTH FEATURES
The Sages said Yerushalayim is in the middle of the world, and the influence of holiness emanates from Yerushalayim to the entire world, which draws from its Heavenly influence and is nourished by it. The sages of Yerushalayim, the men of Yerushalayim, the children of Yerushalayim, and regular old men of Yerushalayim - all have a sparkling cleverness and wisdom, with a heartfelt smile, and a shining, sensitive face. The Yerushalmi simplicity among the winding cobblestone pathways is a well- known thing. Yerushalmim do not flee from honor, because it means nothing to them.
"The shining lights of Yerushalayim" (those with facial radiance and a shining countenance - Rashi, Bava Metzia 84a) were figures that shone over the entire city with their beauty and shining countenance. One of them was HaRav Moshe Halberstam zt'l who departed suddenly from the Yerushalmi scene on 26 Nissan, 5766.
His great Rebbe, HaRav Shmuel Wosner the Shevet Levi, said about him at his funeral: "A man who excelled in halochoh, and excelled in interpersonal relationships, who made peace between husbands and wives, and increased peace in the world." This article presents a few sketches and rays of light from his life.
*
Decades ago, HaRav Moshe took his young children on a trip to pray at the gravesites of the tzaddikim. As they traveled between Kever Rochel and Hebron, HaRav Moshe asked the driver to stop the van by the roadside. He pointed out a nearby mountain, and turned to his children in an emotionally choked voice: "Do you see, precious children? This is where they brought the he-goat to be killed on the sharp rocks on Yom Kippur, which would atone for all the sins of the Jewish people.
"You certainly remember what you learned in cheder? The man who took the he-goat did not live to the end of the year."
Rav Moshe suddenly raised his voice and turned lovingly to his children: "Children, remember! Remember this well! For despite this, the gemora tells us that there was a long line of important Jews who were ready and willing to be the emissary. Why? So that through their hand Hashem would atone for the sins of the Jewish people!"
At this point HaRav Moshe's voice cracked with stirring emotion: "See what we learn from this! This is an awesome lesson. A Jew has to be ready to sacrifice his body and soul to benefit another!"
HaRav Moshe not only educated his children with these principles, he fulfilled them himself. He sacrificed himself for the sake of Klal Yisroel. This was the principle he indoctrinated within himself at all times: A Jew has to be ready to sacrifice his body and soul for another.
IN-DEPTH FEATURES
This past summer (5766), the Jews of Eretz Yisroel fought another war, a difficult war that claimed many lives, Hy'd. Besides the general arousal to strengthen Torah study and prayer, wartime gives rise to its own particular situations and questions of halochoh. During the weeks that the country was at war a variety of such questions, some concerning those on the front and others touching on life behind the lines, were put to HaRav Yitzchok Silberstein, rov of Bnei Brak's Ramat Elchonon neighborhood. At our request, HaRav Silberstein allowed B. Re'em to present the following selection of questions and answers to our readers.
Question One: Should Festive Meals Be Held in Wartime?
Is it correct to hold a festive sheva brochos meal when in another apartment in the same building a family sits shiva for their son who was killed by our enemies?
Answer: Shut Mishneh Sochir (Vol. II, siman 18) brings the following question. "On Rosh Chodesh Tammuz 5700 (1940) we completed maseches Megilloh, having learned it with the householders who submit to my authority. Some of them said that we shouldn't hold a festive siyum at the present time because of the suffering that our generation is undergoing, this not being the appropriate time for getting together and celebrating. Some of them said that while it can't be canceled completely because it's a seudas mitzvah, it should be held on a smaller scale, without inviting any of the honorables who no longer belong to the chevra Shas, as would ordinarily have been done. The meal itself should also be scaled down, without meat and wine. I was asked for my opinion."
The response was: "Chas vesholom that such a great mitzvah, whose rewards are immeasurable, should be canceled. Neither should the size of the gathering be reduced. The others should also be invited, so as to honor the Ruler of the world with a large crowd. The merit of holding a seudas mitzvah - especially a siyum - is sufficient to push off any evil or harsh decrees and bring the arrival of Moshiach tzidkeinu closer, bimheiroh beyomeinu.
"Ever since the war - known as the World War - broke out in 5674 (1914), these seudas have been suspended. This has caused all these chaburos to fall apart and almost cease operating. At the time, I protested this and told them that they weren't doing the right thing, chas vesholom, canceling these seudas that protect us from our enemies.
IN-DEPTH FEATURES
Shaya's world was divided into two parts: the good part and the bad part.
The good part was good, even very good. It included all the things that made him smile, laugh and fall asleep at night happy and content. And it included things like the laughing sun, whose warm rays penetrated the room with long lines. They were bright, illuminated strips with thousands of tiny particles floating and dancing in them, weightless and free like the birds.
"Dust particles," Mammi called them.
Shaya believed everything his mother said. She was the most authoritative person on every matter in the world, besides Tatti and the Rebbe of course. Yet this fact was hard for him to accept.
"But dust gets things dirty." Shaya said the words, trying to infuse them with great significance. Dust belongs to the bad part and sunrays, with their bright strips, are the good part. How could there be any connection between these two polarized worlds? But the words, as usual, betrayed him. They were slippery and disappointed him, made him dizzy and left him feeling confused and helpless, unable to explain himself.
"A-a-a- . . . "
That was always the close of every conversation. A choking, pitiful cry. Shaya struggled to pull his tongue back into his mouth and wiped off his chin. He knew these things belonged to the bad part and he belonged to the good part. The two must be kept distinct.
"Don't worry," his mother said consolingly, understanding and not understanding the great difficulty. "Dust makes things dirty but sunrays light up the room. Both of them are the work of G-d."
G-d made lots of things, Shaya knew. He made the warm rays and the dancing specks. He made the bashful flowers that peeked at him from the sides of the way, smiling straight into his soul. And He made the great big trees that issued their hollow, terrible noises in the dark when the wind blew, noises that sent a chill down his spine and penetrated deep inside him like cold water.
Tatti had fascinating ways of delving into his world. Shaya remained with his mouth gaping open and was swept into talk and melodies filled with sweetness. And the trees still made their rushing sound outside. Shaya leaned his head on the edge of the shtender, where Tatti's big book did not reach. It was the good, old shtender and the books with the dusty aroma and the sound of hummed melodies. All of this belonged to a single thing called Torah, which belonged, without a doubt, to the good part.
"The Torah is life," Tatti would say, his eyes shining bright. "It is oxygen. It is the world. It is the sum total of everything."
"The Torah will protect you," Mammi would say with moist eyes as he went to the rebbe, carrying a book that would forever remain closed and sealed to him.
Everybody knew it: Mammi, the rebbe and even he himself. Nevertheless . . .
"Let him sit in front of the book," said the rebbe to his parents' stooped heads, "and something in the form of the holy letters may impart him with wisdom, too."
With heavy hearts they agreed. After all, what choice did they have?
*
Summertime was also included in the good part. Shaya knew this and would take advantage of every opportunity to enjoy the pleasant warmth outside. The skies were blue, the sun laughed and tickled his face when he rested beneath it, the wonderful hay lay in high piles in the fields, piles that were so fun to jump on because they made a rustling noise with every jump that was as pleasing to his ears as something sweet melting on his tongue.
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