avakesh

Jewish way of doing things

Prayer to prevent

 

Courage

 

How do you obtain that glorious stuff

That demands both wisdom and faith

Markets stalls are filled with armor and shields

But few sell chisels of Fate

 

This thing Courage is called many, many things

And partakes of a few of them

A pinch of forebearance, a dribble of fear

And spear after spear after spear.

 

A pike of intelligence, sword of hope

and curving the blade of pride

Against all advice, when they call you a fool

And say you are not all right

 

When fear attacks you in the darkness of night

And sleep not easily comes

When questions crowd out all rationales

And melody falls before drums

 

Remember, you thought it, you knew it true

United your heart and mind

And that combination will take you through

And leave shadows and whispers behind

 

By veritas

Angry young men of Borough Park.

In the aftermath of Leiby Kletzky's tragedy our attention should be directed to the hundreds, if not thousands, of single yong men from all over the world who live in the basement apartments and studio flats of Borough Park and Flatbush. Every once in a while, when something happens, their existence bursts onto our consciousness, and then they fade away. The great majority of these yong single men moved to Broklyn to pursue shidduchim, to complete their education and at the same time, grow as Jews. Some, however, have a variety of issues...and no one to whom and nowhere to take them. Their families are far away, they do not always have friends or mentors, and they daven in shtiblach where no one pays them heed and they have no community or a Rav. A few, have difficulty in creating and maintaining a relationship. Some grow increasingly strange and isolated, as their psychological issues come to fore, and no one knows, no one notices.

Remember Gideon Bush? He was one of such men. Alone, slowly descending into depths of emotional illness, with no one to take an interest or to get him help, he acted more and more bizarrely, until he attacked a group of policemen with a hammer on which he engraved the Name, YKVK, and was shot to death. 

Levi Aron was another such man.

About 15 years ago, I attended a shiur in Faltbush. I desperately wanted to master and understand dikduk but was finding it very difficult to break through. Existing seform were hard to understand and I knew that I needed a teacher. I heard of a half-hour shiur by R. Eluzer Bruger, the author of Sefer Hadukduk L'Ramachal that was being given in a shul in Flatbush between mincha and maariv. I adjusted my commute to use the Belt and every night for several months I would eat supper at Chap-a-Nosh, then learn in a nearby Beis Medrash and then walked over a few blocks to the shiur.

I met single angry young men at Chap-a Nosh. They s me there every night and thought that I was also a single angry young man, like they. They came over to chat, while we consumed our evening meal. There was Shmuel, who every few months left observance and then, for a few months, returned to it. There was Moshe, who did not communicate, though he craved company and gave me the creeps.There was Duvi, a bright and sociable young man, cynical and battered beyond his years, the full extent of his bitterness and anger I could then not even begin to fathom.

Had I been at a different point in my life, had I understood more, had I not already been burdened with a myriad responsiblities, perhaps I whould have made this my shlichus. I did not. No one did.

No one did.

And we had Gideon Bush. And we had Levi Aron.

 

 

 

 

 

Baba Sali - Simulacra.

This is called simulacra, not so common in Judaism, see here

Party time? by Dr. Chaim Gershon

 

The parasha after Tisha B’av is usually Va’eschanan.  Much has been written about the comfort of its haftorah, Nachamu and of the next holiday of Tu B’Av and how they provide anyannual after Tisha B’Av.  However, how does the Parashas Va’echanan itself provide a counterpoint to Tisha B’Av  especially since the Torah reading for Tisha B'Av is from the parasha itself ?

 The Parsha Va’eschanan contains a review of the 10 commandments at Matan Torah (see Tiferes Shlomo al HaTorah and other commentators), and the pasukim of  Shema. The parsha includes pasukim in which one is commanded to know HaShem which are recited in Alenu daily and at Simchas Torah are in Va’eschanan (4:39 and 4:35) as well as the pasuk recited whenever the Torah is read (4:4) .

Perhaps, these provide chizuk for Avodas HaShem after the yeridah of Tisha B’Av, focusing on attaining knowledge of HaShem’s unity.

 

Daniel

This post is in honor of the book of Daniel being learned by Nach Yomi.

Belshazzar's Feast 1635, by Rembrandt

 

 

Daniel, Ch. 5

By the way, why is Daniel's name Beltshatsar, with a tes and of the king in the painting Belshatsar, without a tes? Does anyone know?

Dressing up for the Party, by Dr.Chaim Gershon

 

 

The chassid R’ Hillel of Paritch related that the great Chassidic Rebbe Levi Yitzhak of Beridichov used to say that each and every Jew gets a vision of the third Temple on Shabbos Chazon .Ostensibly, the name is derived from the first words of the day's haftorah portion, "Chazon Yishayahu"—"the vision of Isaiah." R. Levi Yitzhak, however, taught that on Shabbat Chazon, every Jew is vouchsafed a vision of the third Temple. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev explains this with the parable of a father who had a precious garment sewn for his son. The boy promptly tore it to shreds. The father then made him a second garment, but the child tore this one up as well. Thereafter, the father had yet another garment sewn for his son. This time, however, he did not permit the lad to wear it. He only let him to gaze upon it at appointed times, telling him that when he chose to conduct himself properly he would be allowed to wear it.

See

http://www.meaningfullife.com/torah/holidays/11b/The_Shabbat_of_Vision.php

 

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1007539/jewish/My-Berdichever-Moments.htm

http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=68343

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/92916/jewish/Devarim-Shabbos-Chazon.htm

 

The Lubavitcher Rebbe quoted above questions why the analogy is to a shirt (clothes) and not a house which seemingly is a far more accurate mashal for the Beis HaMikdash. He answers that it can be understood by noting that clothes are more “wearable” than a house and that at least the souls of people can relate to such a lofty concept.

 

Years later in our especially in our “High Tech” galus of today, people only focus even more almost solely on the external “chitzoniyistic” appearance of material objects. Whether clothes, a computerized device (phone, camera, computer) or car, people unfortunately judge, choose, and display based on only the superficial outside, focusing only on the color and gloss and not on content.

 

Millions of people use cell phones and computers with no clue how they work. A recent book, “But how do it know? : the basic principles of computers for everyone” by J. Clark Scott discusses the inner workings of computers down to the level of logic gates but this is still not explaining how the flow of electrons in the silicon itself is modulated to ultimately allow one to talk, type and read words as well as have a memory.

 

See http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/solid-state-electronics-channel.htm

 

For even more decades, people have been driving cars and although they get a licence to drive and know to get gasoline now and then, they have no idea what happens from when they put the key in the ignition and get to their destination, which unfortunately becomes evident when the car occasionally breaks down. “How cars work by Tom Newton” attempts to educate the user.

 

Banking crises have been abound and many people have no idea how their mortgage or finances such as savings as well beyond simple concepts that barely “scratch the surface”

 

Therefore, it should easily be clear that the same holds true for the Holy Temple that we long to see but have no idea how the Shechinah is therein revealed. Animal rights activists and vegetarians deplore sacrifices but have no inkling of how they invoke the flow of energy that leads to an open manifestation of G-d. This is a consequence of the same galus which within they do not truly comprehend how anything else functions. Similarly the child in all of us only understands if at all  that he is missing a shirt. That is what R. Levi Yitzhak implies. Like the child in that parable most of us get a glimpse and a vision of the future Temple on Shabbos Chazon, but it is a superficial and fleeting vision indeed.

 

 

Rebuilding!

Avos 2:12: Misplaced introduction?

They (each of the five students of R. Yochanan listed earlier) said three things. R. Eliezer said: May the honor of your fellow be as dear to you as your own. Do not anger easily. Repent one day before you die. Warm yourself before the fire of the Sages. But be wary with their coals that you not get burnt, for their bite is the bite of a fox, their sting is the sting of a scorpion, their hiss is the hiss of a serpent, and all their words are like fiery coals."

We are now launching into a distinct group of teachings, those of the students of R. Yochanan ben Zakkai. It is not perhaps surprising that they are introduced with the same words as the teachings of the Men of Great Assembly in 1:2: "They said three things". This is an appropriate introduction because it delineates a new chapter in Torah history,  of the students of R. Yochanan ben Zakkai, Rabbinic Judaism as we know it. The introduction that echoes the Men of Great Assembly tells us that a period of collective leadership had now began, just like in the period of the Great Assembly. It also establishes a continuity with the Men of the Great Assembly and emphasizes the fact that the students of R. Yochanan ben Zakkai are a direct continuation of the transmission of Moshe's teachings that he received from Sinai and transmitted to Yehoshua.

 What is, however, surprising that as soon as w are told that "they" said three things, we are taught something which is clearly more than three. R. Eliezer does say three things but then he launches into a warning about the words of the Sages: "...Warm yourself before the fire of the Sages. But be wary with their coals that you not get burnt, for their bite is the bite of a fox, their sting is the sting of a scorpion, their hiss is the hiss of a serpent, and all their words are like fiery coals.", which is more than three things.

I had not seen this discussed in the usual places. I did see that Maharal explains that there are two sets of threes in R. Eliezer's words. First he explained three matters of personal perfection and then three matters of Sekhel. Thus, we have three lessons in this 2nd group: 1) Warm yourself from the fire of the chachamim, 2) take care about being burned from the heat of the embers and 3).  "All their words are like fiery coals" warning us not to violate their teachings (Rabbinic commands), for one who violates the teachings of the Rabbis is liable for death. 

It seems to me that if we view this as an introductory mishna, the second part of the mishna is a part of the introduction. As we are being introduced to the new period of the transmission of the Torah, a period that in many ways parallels that of the Men of the Great Assembly, we are warned to be serious and accept the words of the students of R. Yochanan ben Zakkai with reverence. Whereas the teachings of the Great Assembly were introduced with the history of Torah's transmission, the students of R. Yochanan ben Zakkai are introduced with an appeal that we should respect their Torah and approach it with trepidation and great care. Perhaps not everything that they said is directly from Sinai; yet, "But be wary with their coals that you not get burnt, for their bite is the bite of a fox, their sting is the sting of a scorpion, their hiss is the hiss of a serpent, and all their words are like fiery coals."

Purely to illustrate this point, I rearrange the mishna (we will shortly discuss why our version is not presented in this way)

Warm yourself before the fire of the Sages. But be wary with their coals that you not get burnt, for their bite is the bite of a fox, their sting is the sting of a scorpion, their hiss is the hiss of a serpent, and all their words are like fiery coals."

They (each of the five students of R. Yochanan listed earlier) said three things. R. Eliezer said: May the honor of your fellow be as dear to you as your own. Do not anger easily. Repent one day before you die.

Compare it to this introduction in the beginning of chapter 6.

The sages expounded in the language of the Mishnah (blessed is He who chose them and their learning):

Rabbi Meir would say...

Why didn't arranger of the Mishan arrange it that way?

I think that there are two reasons.

1.It follows well after the first teaching of R. Eliezer, in that he taught, "May the honor of your fellow be as dear to you as your own". He tells us to respect fellow Rabbis and the mishna explains why and how (Warm yourself before the fire of the Sages...).

2. R. Eliezer is the one who can teach this principle of reverence for the Rabbis, even though he never taught anything that he did not receive from his teachers and they did( "I never taught anything that I did not hear from my teachers(Sukkah 28a)" Farthermore, R. Eliezer was placed under a ban by his colleagues(Bava Metsia 59b). You may think that this invalidates their teachings or that they do not neeed to be treated with the same respect as authentic Torah teachings from Sinai.Therefore, R. Eliezer is the one who explains that it is not so.