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Short Torahs from Mendel!

Rabbi — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:57:53 +0000

Va’erah – Moshe’s words to Pharaoh only made the Jews work harder, why?!

Eisav’s Head

Rabbi — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 16:19:51 +0000

In this week’s parsha, Toldot, we read of the famous story of Isaac giving blessings to his son Jacob. Everyone knows the general story: Isaac has two sons, Jacob and Esau. Esau is the bad guy and Jacob is the good guy. Esau spends his days hunting and killing, while Jacob passes the time immersed in Torah study. Jacob is going to father the Twelve Tribes, whereas Esau is, well, umm… going to try to prevent the burial of his brother Jacob in Hebron, and in general cause a bunch of trouble.
Towards the end of his life, Isaac, having lost his vision, wants to bless Jacob. Oh, did I say Jacob? That’s who you would think he would want to bless. But in reality, we are told, Isaac wanted to bless Esau, even though he was corrupt. Through some interesting machinations, including dressing her son Jacob up in animal hides, Rebecca “tricks” Isaac into blessing Jacob in lieu of Esau.
Now although Isaac had lost his vision, he certainly had not lost his mind. Isaac was sharp as ever, and was certainly aware of the nature of his son Esau. Why did he want to bless his wicked son Esau?
In order to understand why Isaac wanted to bless Esau instead of Jacob, let us first examine the difference between two famous “bad guys,” Esau and his uncle Yishmael the son of Abraham. Although we often mention these two wicked people in the same breath, they are actually quite different.
Although he is the son of the first Jew, Yishmael is himself not a Jew (see Nachmanides’ commentary at the beginning of the parsha). Esau, on the other hand, is actually considered a Jew (albeit an apostate; Talmud Kiddushin 18a).
This becomes stranger in light of the fact that we are told (Talmud Bava Batra 16b) that Yishmael repented for his wrong-doings during the life of his father Abraham. Esau, however, never repented (and, as mentioned above, he actually tried to prevent Jacob from being buried in Hebron with the Fathers and Mothers; see Talmud Sotah 13a; Rashi on Genesis 27:45).
So what’s the deal? On the one hand, Yishmael actually repented, yet he is nevertheless not considered a child (i.e. Jew) of Abraham; Esau never repented but is considered Jewish!
This difference indicates that Yishmael, in his very essence, was not considered offspring of Abraham; he was a gentile, even though he was born from a Jew (keep in mind, that all this took place before the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, when the Jewish people at large were “born”). Deep within, Esau was considered an heir of Isaac and a Jew.
This “essential Jewishness” of Esau can be explained as follows. As mentioned above, Esau tried to prevent the burial of Jacob in Hebron (Talmud Sotah 13a). At that time, Chushim (the grandson of Jacob), attacked Esau and chopped off his head. Esau’s severed head then rolled in to the Cave of the Patriarch’s and lay to rest in the grave of his father Isaac. The Code of Jewish Law (Yoreh Deah 362:5) states that it is forbidden to bury a wicked person next to a righteous person. The [partial] burial of Esau was not a problem of this sort, however, for Esau’s “head” was righteous.
This interesting story indicates that, as the great sage Rabbi Yonatan ben Uziel explains (in his translation of Genesis 53:1), that Esau was not entirely evil. In fact, his “head” – which represents his source – remains connected to, and belongs together with, the holiness of Isaac.
Despite this holiness of Esau, there was a problem. When his “head”, i.e. his supernal source, became connected to his body in this world, he became perverted and corrupt. Thus, Esau, despite his tremendously high spiritual source, never repented.
It goes one step further: Esau’s spiritual source was actually incredibly holy. In fact, his soul actually contained the source of such righteous people as Onkelos the Convert and the Talmudic sage Rabbi Meir.
Isaac’s purpose in life was to uncover the inherent holiness within the world (thus, he spent time digging wells, by which he uncovered the water hidden beneath the surface). Therefore he loved Esau and wished to bless him, for he felt that if he were to channel the power of his blessing to Esau, it would reveal the tremendous holiness inherent within him.
Isaac’s desire to bless Esau was merely a yearning to reveal the deepest nature of Esau’s holy soul. However, it was not meant to be. Rebecca knew that Esau could only reveal his inherent good when his head, i.e. spiritual source, would be detached from his body, i.e. lowly physicality. Esau was not able to reveal his “head” and thus never repented and was not able to receive Isaac’s blessings. It was only when his head was severed from his body that it ended up in the realm of holiness together with his father in the Cave of the Patriarchs.
This story and the explanation above teaches us an important lesson. Esau, who lived before the giving of the Torah, was considered a Jew, despite his wickedness, simply because he was Isaac’s son. Isaac attempted to reveal the true inner being of Esau. All the more so how we – today, thousands of years after Mt. Sinai – should not focus on where another is currently standing, but we should always focus on another’s “head.”
Not only are we all spiritually higher than Esau on a deep, profound level, but even on the surface level we are more spiritually refined than Esau! We must take this important lesson from Isaac: None of us are beyond the pale of the community. We must always reach out to those who may need our help, be it in a physical, spiritual or psychological way. Always focus on another’s “head” in our attempt to strengthen our community, the Jewish people, and the entire world.

Waiting For A Miracle?

Rabbi — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:02:54 +0000

When I was attending many Phish concerts, I used to enjoy arriving at the “parking lot” with a generous amount of time before the concert began (at least in the summer time). It was a pleasant time to wander, take in the sites, and chew on whatever happened to be on my mind.

A common site was a person walking around with a finger in the air, exclaiming, “I need a miracle!”

To translate: “I don’t have money to purchase a ticket, and am looking for a ‘miracle’ AKA free ticket!”

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and perhaps miracles are also in the eye of the beholder.

This morning I read a letter from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, written in 1956. In the P.S. of the letter, the Rebbe addresses a concern expressed by the author of the original letter concerning a Jew he knows who is “waiting to see miracles” before committing himself to a Torah observant life. My free translation follows:

“With regards to what you wrote concerning the Jew from Bulgaria, who says that he is waiting to see miracles, and then [he will become Torah observant] etc. — tell him that if only he will look at his past, he will see numerous miracles, provided that he doesn’t want to trick and deceive himself. Why should he test the Creator and Director of the world to bring him, G-d forbid, to another dangerous ordeal, and then save him? It is understood the trepidation that he will experience in such a state until he is saved. [This whole situation] is merely the attempts of the evil inclination to prevent him from fulfilling the commandments of the Creator of the world.

“It should be His will that your words [to him] should come from the heart, and then they will enter his heart, and he will go on the straight path of Torah, our Torah, the Torah of Life; a Torah that is good for you not only physically, but also spiritually. The very fact that I am writing [to you] concerning a Jew who I have never seen, who was in a dangerous situation in the past and saved [miraculously], this itself should be sufficient for him, that when he accepts this idea, he will commence putting on tefillin, eating kosher, keeping Shabbat etc. It should be His will that there should be good news in this area.”

Truth

Rabbi — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 13:46:12 +0000

Although at times elusive, we all strive for it. The quest for truth takes people to the corners of the globe, and the deepest recesses of one’s mind and heart.

At the beginning of the Torah, there is an intriguing allusion to truth. The Baal HaTurim points out that the last letter of the first three words of theTorah, בראשית ברא אלקים, “In the beginning G-d created,” can be rearranged to spell the word אמת, truth.

Additionally, the last letter of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th words, ברא אלקים את, “G-d created” (note: the 4th word has no actual translation) also spells the word אמת.

Rabbi Dovid Sheinfeld of Khal Degel Israel in Kew Gardens Hills, New York, recently shared a question with me from Rabbi Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam, one of the sons of the Divrei Chaim, the great Chassidic Rebbe from the Sanz dynasty.

Why is the first Torah allusion to truth out of order, while for the 2nd allusion the letters are in order?

Rabbi Halberstam explains that at first, truth can come “out of order.” Things are not always what they seem, and one must often “rearrange” things to get to the truth.

However, after some time (the 2nd allusion mentioned above), truth becomes more apparent; one no longer needs to “rearrange the letters.”

Rabbi Halberstam gives an example of constructing a building. First one must lay the foundation, yet at this stage, the building (“truth”) is not apparent. Furthermore, if one comes across the resources for the roof before he has purchased the cement for the foundation, he will certainly not miss the opportunity to get part of the building — albeit out of order.

So too, we must grab on to any vestige of truth we encouter, even if it is “out of order.” Life does not always (heh heh, actually, perhaps almost never?) give us what we need, when we need it (or so we think).

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, or as we like to say around here, when life gives you limes, make limeade!

More or less kosher?

Rabbi — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:38:22 +0000

Q: So I’ve been working towards keeping kosher for awhile, and now I’m at a point where I basically only eat kosher food, but I don’t have two sets of kosher dishes. My question is: if I buy new pots and pans but I don’t kosher my stove/ oven is the food I eat kosher, or at least more kosher then it was before? Also… will I have to go out and buy new pots and pans because the old ones will be considered treif because I used them on an un-koshered stove?

A: You ask a complicated question, as the laws of kashrut are vast and complex.

First of all, I want to say that I think that this “move” is great, and you deserve much encouragement for undertaking this important step!

Secondly, yes, indeed, the food is “more” kosher than before. However, due to the above-mentioned complexities of kashrut, it is indeed possible that in the future you would need to either kasher the pots, or purchase new ones (it depends on the type of pot & other issues).

I think it’s great that you want to keep kosher, and I find it very inspiring! May you only find happiness and joy in Judaism! Please feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.

Follow-up Q: Thanks for the answer. Can something be more kosher or less kosher or is it just kosher or not-kosher?

A: Good question!

The basic answer is that something is either kosher or it isn’t.

The more complex answer is that it depends

There are basically 2 versions of kosher: plan A and plan B. When all conditions are ideal, we go for plan A; sometimes, we need to “fall back” on plan B.

An example: kashrut forbids eating meat and milk together. Are you allowed to put a small amount of milk into your chicken soup? No. What if it happens accidentally? You can eat the soup (as long as there is less than 1/60th of milk:meat).

Hope this helps.

Another follow-up Q: But my question is this: you can use a milk pot and a meat pot on the same stove top as long as it’s at different times. So why would a pot that touches a not-kashered stove not be kosher.

My second question is this: If I kasher one of my four stove tops and leave the rest to my family is that kosher? Someone said it might not be because of the heat generated from the not-kosher ones. But then they said I should ask a Rabbi. Which is you!

A: The laws are too complicated to go into over Facebook, so forgive my brevity.
1. It is not ideal to use the same burner for milk & meat. Also, remember what I wrote about ‘plan a & b’? It is not correct in Jewish law to use non-kosher utensils/stove, as it presents many kashrut questions.
2. Kashering one burner is better than kashering none. I quote from a previous message to you: However, due to the above-mentioned complexities of kashrut, it is indeed possible that in the future — should you “get frummer,” as you say — that you would need to either kasher the pots, or purchase new ones (it depends on the type of pot & other issues).

I would be happy to continue this discussion if you wish over facebook or in person.

Another follow-up Q: I’m starting to think I’m not ready to keep kosher what with the toveling and the kashering and everything else. Do you have a book on keeping kosher for dummies or something like that that you could lend me when school starts? I think I need to learn a lot more about it before I make this commitment.

A: I would love to speak about this in person, but here are some thoughts to ponder:

Judaism is not all or nothing. Every little bit counts, and one should not refrain from doing a mitzvah because they don’t feel that they can do it 100% (qualitatively or quantitatively). That being said, I would applaud you and encourage you to begin keeping kosher “one step at a time.”

If you think that you are not ready to purchase new pots etc., I would suggest that perhaps you should consider committing to only purchase food with reliable kosher certification and only eating in kosher restaurants (in Queens, both of these are pretty easy to do). Once you are comfortable with these (no small feat!), you can consider moving on to another step. You should know that most people who begin keeping kosher, do it in steps.

I have a great book that I would recommend which follows exactly this approach, called “Going Kosher in 30 Days.” I don’t think you have to do it within 30 days, but the concept of moving gradually is what applies. I would be happy to lend my copy to you.

Let me know if you would like to discuss this further. Oh, and I have a copy of our new Jewish calendar for you! Hope to see you soon.

Direct Mail Solicitations

Rabbi — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:16:13 +0000

It’s that time of year again. Yup, the time when it seems like at least 10 direct mail solicitations arrive in the mail every day. Most not-for-profit organizations send solicitation mailings before Rosh Hashana, as it is a time that people often feel moved to give to charitable causes.

A friend once asked me: What if he contributes to a cause that turns out to not be quite as charitable as they seem to be?Does it still count as performing the mitzvah of tzedakah (charity)?

There may be two approaches to this pertinent question, a legal one and a philosophical one. To my friend that day, and in this article, I offer a possible philosophical perspective, based on an analysis of a verse in Lamentations 3:22, “The kindnesses of G-d have surely not ended.”

Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the first Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch, notes (Iggeret HaKodesh 10) a grammatical peculiarity in the verse. The word which has been translated above as “not ended,” תמנו, would more properly be rendered as, “we have not been brought to an end.” If the verb had meant to indicate that the kindness of G-d has not ended, then it should have been written in the third person plural, rather than the first person plural.

What is the meaning behind this grammatical anomaly?

Tzedakah is perhaps the most unique of all 613 commandments. Every commandment in the Torah has a specific limit. For example, the strands on a tallit, the tzitzit, are meant to have a certain proportional length; a cup of Kiddush wine has a minimum size; a shofar must be a certain minimum length; a lulav also has a miminum length; the examples go on and on.

However, tzedakah is unlimited in nature. Ok, so you’re wondering: What is this Torah column guy talking about? I heard that you are supposed to give 10% and not more than 20% of your income to charity?!

True. However, imagine that you were, G-d forbid, ill. You would certainly be willing to go to any length and expense to be cured. So too, Rabbi Schneur Zalman write, one is permitted according to Jewish law to give all ones funds to charity if he feels that he needs to do so because he is “spiritually” ill, and requires the merit of the charity to be healed. This is in accordance with the verse, “Whatever a man has he will give on behalf of his soul” (Job 2:4).

We can now return to our initial question: Why does the verse “The kindnesses of G-d have surely not ended,” which we noted would be more accurately rendered as, “we have not been brought to an end.” The Hebrew word translated as “surely not ended,” (or the alternative “we have not been brought to an end”) is etymologically related to the word perfect or whole.

It is because we are not perfect and whole without any fault or iniquity, that we must behave in accordance with “G-d’s kindnesses,” which are endless in nature.

In order that we should merit this infinite kindness, we must emulate G-d’s infinite kindness. Tzedakah is the infinite emulation of G-d’s unbounded kindnesses.

I thus answered my friend that day, that even though some people asking for charity may not be as charity-worthy as he may hope, nevertheless, there is something positive about giving anyway, for by giving boundlessly, we emulate the Creator, thus meriting, in turn, that he behave as such with us, even if we don’t deserve it.

So the next time you receive a pre-Rosh Hashana direct mail solicitation, consider opening it up rather than placing it directly in the garbage, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll consider making a donation even if you’re not sure if they’re 100% worthy of your hard-earned cash. Because hey, that’s what G-d would do.