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Cortesy of Partners-in-Torah A simple statement of a profound concept is
given: Man has free will. If he wishes, he may bring upon himself blessing; if
not, G-d forbid, its reverse. Only adherence to the laws of kashrus the
dietary laws graphically illustrating that virtually every facet of human
life, even the seemingly mundane, are governed by the laws of the Torah. The
laws of the Holidays too, are reviewed, showing that time, also, can be included
into the realm, of holiness, if the Torah is followed. "If there shall be a destitute person among you you shall not harden your heart
or close your hand against your destitute brother. Rather, you shall open your hand to him.". (15:7-8) The Torah strongly exhorts us to have mercy
and compassion upon our poor brethren. The Talmud records (Bava Basra 10a) that
a wicked Roman nobleman named Turnus Rufus asked Rabbi Akiva, If your G-d loves
poor people so much, why doesnt He provide for them? Rabbi Akiva answered that
Hashem allows them to remain poor in order to give us the merit of giving them
charity, which will protect us from punishment. Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv (1824-1898), often
referred to as the Alter (Elder) of Kelm, questions Rabbi Akivas explanation.
Although the mitzvah of giving tzedakah (charity) is certainly a great one,
arent there enough other commandments that we can do to save us from
punishment? What is so unique and special about giving charity, and why must the
poor suffer in order to enable us to specifically perform this mitzvah? Rabbi Ziv explains that the mitzvah of
tzedakah indeed serves an irreplaceable function. Although one fulfills the
technical letter of the law by distributing charity to those in need, in order
to perform this mitzvah at its highest level a person must do more than this. It
isnt sufficient to give charity simply because Hashem commanded us to do so and
we want to perform His will. A person dispersing tzedakah should feel
the pain and plight of the poor beggar as if it were his very own. Just as a
person who feels his own hunger naturally responds by feeding himself, so too
should we strive to identify with the paupers hunger and anguish to the point
that we would be moved to assist him even if we werent commanded. On a
practical level, how can we achieve this lofty goal? Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Meisels (1821-1912),
the Rabbi of Lodz, Poland, was renowned for his concern for the poor and
downtrodden. On one ferociously fierce winter day, he knocked on the door of a
wealthy, but stingy, man in his town to solicit a donation. After exchanging greetings, the man
gestured that the Rabbi should enter, but Rabbi Meisels remained outside and
began his appeal. The rich man was puzzled by the Rabbis behavior, but he
attempted to listen out of respect. However, after a few minutes the wealthy man
grew so cold that he was unable to continue. He interrupted the Rabbi and begged
him to come inside. The sagacious Rabbi explained, I am here
to collect money for a family which cant even afford to build a fire on a day
like today. If we enter your warm home, you wont be able to relate to their
suffering. Only by discussing their plight here at your door are you able to
understand the magnitude of their pain. Appreciating both the Rabbis wisdom as
well as the extent of the familys anguish, the miser gave Rabbi Meisels a
generous donation. It is difficult for most of us to relate to
the daily suffering that many of our brethren endure, yet we learn that
empathizing with a poor persons plight is an integral part of giving tzedakah
and is the irreplaceable component which protects us from punishment. We should
all try our utmost to personally experience their pain, whether by volunteering
at a soup kitchen or by walking through a park on a bitter winter night. Our
desire to generously assist them will naturally follow, and in so doing, not
only will we be helping the poor but ourselves as well. See, I place before you today, a blessing
and a curse. 11:26 People often claim that whats
important is not necessarily to be a good Jew, but a good person. Sfornos
explanation of this verse dispels that fallacious notion. By virtue of the fact
that we accepted the Torah at Sinai, we now bear a responsibility to live up to
far greater expectations than the common man. As history has proven, failure to
do so results in consequences that no other nation has ever had to endure.
Success, on the other hand, rewards us with limitless benefits unknown to any
other people. Only be strong not to eat the blood, for
the blood is the life; and you shall not eat the life with the meat. 12:23 Whatever the reason the Torah forbade
the consumption of blood, it is clearly an unacceptable practice and one that is
strongly despised by the Torah. Many people who consume meat from a kosher
animal that has not been properly slaughtered and salted in order to remove all
traces of the blood, are doubtless unaware of the severity of their actions.
Additionally, our ability to refute the claims of the baseless Blood Libels,
rests on our ability to proclaim with conviction that we dont even consume the
blood of animals, let alone that of humans. And the omen or the miracle happens - the one
he told you about - saying, Let us go after other gods, that you do not know,
and let us serve them. Do not listen to the words of that prophet or to that
dreamer of a dream, because Hashem, your G-d, is testing you to know whether you
love Hashem, your G-d, with all your heart and with all your soul. 13:3, 4 Although this rule refers to how we evaluate the
validity of a prophet, it also holds much value when applied as a litmus test to
determine the legitimacy of Jewish leaders. A leader, who advocates the
permanent abrogation of any Torah commandment, or even suggests that its okay
from the standpoint of Judaism to maintain atheistic beliefs, is clearly
unsuitable to be regarded seriously. Regardless of a persons good intentions or
past accomplishments, the Torah states explicitly that there are certain beliefs
and practices that render one undeserving of being a spokesperson for Judaism. Dear Rabbi, Janice, Clearly, candle lighting is a positive
mitzvah that is controlled by the calendar, since it is only done before the
Sabbath and Holidays. However, it is important to point out that this mitzvah
was established by the Rabbis, and is not a Torah requirement. There are two
schools of thought among the early authorities whether a Rabbinic law is also
subject to the rule of women being exempt from positive mitzvos bound by time.
Some agree that this principle applies to both Torah and Rabbinic mitzvos,
whereas others contend that it only applies to Torah laws. In their view,
Rabbinic mitzvos that are time-bound are also among the mitzvos that are
incumbent upon women. So, it turns out that your question needs an explanation
only according to the views that women are exempted from the Rabbinic mitzvos
that are time-bound. Some advance that lighting the Sabbath
candles was established by the Rabbis as an extension to the mitzvah of
Remembering the Sabbath Day to keep it holy, the fourth of the Ten
Commandments, which requires that we recite Kiddush over a cup of wine on the
Sabbath. The mitzvah to recite Kiddush is time bound as well, but nevertheless,
women are required to perform this mitzvah, which the Talmud derives from
Scripture. So, too, the Rabbinic mitzvah to light Sabbath candles includes both
men and women. Others explain that the Rabbis
specifically included women in this mitzvah to light the Sabbath candles as a
way for women to increase the amount of spiritual light in the world. Since Eve,
together with Adam, played a role in diminishing the amount of spirituality in
the world through the sin of eating from the forbidden fruit of the Tree of
Knowledge, the Rabbis also included women in this mitzvah. Men increase
spiritual light in the world with the Torah that they study and women with their
Sabbath candles. In this vein, we could explain a statement
of the Sages, who say that a woman who is very careful with the mitzvah of
lighting Sabbath candles will have children who are very proficient in their
Torah knowledge. When children see how dedicated their mother is in increasing
the amount of spiritual light in the world through her kindling of the Sabbath
lamps, they also feel compelled to increase spirituality in the world and do so
through the study of Torah. Janice, my hope is that you will also see
your children increase their spiritual light in this world and grow in Torah
proficiency through your renewed dedicated to the Sabbath candles. return to top With Torah Blessings , The Talmud in Tractate Gittin (36a) teaches
us that the Torah's warning: Beware lest there be a lawless thought in your
heart, saying, "The seventh year approaches, the shemittah year," and you will
look malevolently upon your destitute brother and refuse to give to him,
instructs us that we should not be fearful that the shemittah year (sabbatical
year) will cancel a loan that we extend to a fellow Jew. Instead, we must ignore
this fear and lend the money to the person in need. (The Shemittah/Sabbatical
year has two dimensions: (a) It is a year during which farm-land in Israel has
to remain uncultivated and (b) It is a year at the end of which debts owed to
individuals are "forgiven" i.e. "remitted". The latter dimension applies
throughout the world, even outside the Land of Israel. The Shemittah occurs
every seven years, and the next Shemitta year will be this coming year, 5768).
Although the Talmud is clear that this
directive to lend money is referring to the period of time preceding the
shemittah year, the commentary known as Lechem Mishneh (Hilchos Malveh V'Loveh
1:1) observes that Rambam (Hilchos Malveh V'Loveh 1:1) nevertheless cites this
verse to reinforce the seriousness of a different law (learned from the verse:
"Im Kesef Talveh Ess Ami" (You Shall Lend Money To My People), Shemos 22:24) that a
person must always lend money to those in need. Although several other Torah
passages clearly tell us of the importance of lending money to another Jew
during any time (even when it is not before the shemittah year), it is clear
from our verse's beginning: The
seventh year approaches, the shemittah year, that this specific Scriptural
passage is not speaking about any time that a person refuses to lend money; it
is referring only to someone who refuses to lend money because he does not wish
shemittah to cancel his debts. How then can Rambam (Maimonides) derive a general
need to lend money from a shemittah-related passage? The Lechem Mishneh answers this question by
explaining that although it is true that if we were to ask the person why he is
refusing to lend his friend money before shemittah, he would answer that the
chance that shemittah will come and cancel the debt does not allow him to extend
this loan, the true rationale for his refusal is something entirely different.
The only reason a person can refuse a loan request and rationalize his refusal
by saying that it is due to his fear of shemittah is because he does not truly
feel the pain and need of the person who is asking for his assistance. If he
felt the pain of the other Jew, he simply would not be able to hold himself back
from extending this loan. Thus, explains Lechem Mishneh, although the
Torah is clearly speaking about shemittah in this directive, it is in essence
telling us not to use this reason as an excuse not to help a fellow Jew. When we
are told that we are not allowed to even feel worried, we are being instructed
to change our overall perspective so that we will truly wish to help another
person; our quality of giving must overwhelm us to the degree that we will not
be fearful to extend the loan because of shemittah, for our desire to perform
chesed (kindness) will not allow us to look for excuses. Thus, concludes Lechem
Mishneh, we may understand that although shemittah is the example of the excuse
that the Torah employs, this directive applies to any motivation that we may
rationalize is a just reason to avoid helping a fellow Jew by lending him money.
We must never allow ourselves to be ruled by tzaras ayin (a begrudging eye),
which directs us to look for reasons not to assist others. Q: The animal commonly
considered to be the most non-kosher is the pig, referred to in the Torah
(14:8) as a ????. What is the significance of its name? A: The Medrash (Tehillim
146) teaches a little-known, but fascinating fact: in the Messianic period, the
pig will become permitted in consumption (presumably by changing its physical
nature in order to chew its cud). This is alluded to by the very name of the
pig, as chazir is related to the word chazor, to return, which hints that there will
come a time, may it be speedily in our days, that pigs will return to being
permitted in consumption as they were prior to the giving of the Torah! Q: The Torah prohibits (14:1) various extreme forms of
mourning the death of loved ones. As the laws of nature require every living
thing to eventually die, why is it human nature to mourn the death of a loved
one, sad as it may be, with such intensity when we mentally recognize that it is
inevitable? A: The Ramban, (Rabbi Moshe
ben Nachman) in his work Toras HaAdam on the laws and customs of death and
mourning, offers a fascinating explanation for this phenomenon. When Hashem
originally created the first man, Adam, He intended him to be immortal and
created him with a nature reflecting this reality. When Adam sinned by eating
from the forbidden fruit, he brought death to mankind and to the entire world.
Nevertheless, this new development, although it would completely change the
nature of our life on earth until the Messianic era, had no effect on mans
internal makeup, which was designed to reflect the reality that man was intended
to live forever. Therefore, although our minds recognize that people ultimately
must die and we see and hear about death on a daily basis, our internal makeup
remains as it was originally designed, one which expects our loved ones to live
forever as they were originally intended to do. Thus, when one is confronted
with the reality that this is no longer the case, the human response is to
plunge into intense mourning.
Table Talk: For discussion around
the Shabbos Table
Parsha PartnerTM
Parshas RE'EH
Parsha At-a-Glance
By Ozer Alport
Parsha Perspectives
By Ozer Alport
Talking Points
Rabbi Elazar Meisels
1. Striving For Mediocrity
2. A Bloodless Coup
3. The
Criteria To Lead
Partners Talk
Sabbath Candles
Ive been studying about the Sabbath and the mitzvah of lighting Sabbath
candles. Im embarrassed to say that in the past, I always lit them at 8 PM
every Friday night, even in the winter. However, Ive just learned that they
should be kindled before the Sabbath comes in, so in the winter I need to light
them much earlier. Anyway, Ive been wondering why lighting the candles is a
mitzvah which women are supposed to do, since Ive been taught that, in general,
women are exempted from positive mitzvos bound by time, such as Tzitzis. Could
you please explain this to me?
Thank you, Janice N.
This is the first time Ive heard anyone ask this question! It is very
perceptive and, as a matter of fact, is addressed by the early authorities.
Rabbi Reuven Drucker
Soul Talk
Hey, I never knew that!
Amazing Insights About the Weekly Parsha
By Ozer Alport
a) The Torah prohibits (14:1) various extreme
forms of mourning the death of loved ones. Why is the mourning period over the
more natural and frequent loss of a parent longer (12 months) than that for the
unnatural and seemingly more traumatic loss of a child (30 days)? (Rabbi
Yitzchak Hutner, Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, and Rabbi Pinchas Teitz quoted in
Meged Yosef by Rabbi Yosef Sorotzkin)
b) Parshas Reeh contains the laws of kosher
food and delineates which species may be consumed. In another place (Leviticus
11:44-47), the Torah stresses the importance of observing the laws of kashrus in
order to become holy and pure. How does consuming only the permitted species
delineated in the parsha make a person holy?
Torah Umesorah, the National Society for Hebrew Day Schools
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