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Parshas Toldos

Free WilI or Predestination


And the children clashed within her (Bereishis 25:22).
Whenever she passed the entrances to the House of Study of Ever, Yaakov struggled to exit, [whenever] she passed the entrance to houses of idol worship, Esav struggled to exit (Rash) to Bereishis 25:22).

The Midrash cited by Rashi requires much study, for it seems to imply that Esav and Yaakov were already fixed in their tendencies to evil and righteousness, respectively, prior to birth. That would seem to contradict the very foundation of Torah: the principle of free will.

The Midrash also seems to contradict another Chazal. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 91b) relates that Rebbe, the descendant of Yaakov, and Antoninus, the descendant of Esav, debated when the yetzer hara enters a person. Rebbe maintained that it enters at conception and Antoninus maintained that it enters at birth. After Antoninus brought Scriptural proof to bolster his opinion, Rebbe acquiesced that it enters only at birth. Yet the Midrash, cited above, seems to attribute a yetzer hara to Esav prior to birth.

Rambam begins Hilchos De'os with a discussion of in-born personality traits and predispositions. For instance, he writes, some people are by nature cruel and others merciful. Yet Rambam in the fifth chapter of Hilchos Teshuvah is emphatic that a person's nature does not cause him to be righteous or evil, merciful or cruel, wise or foolish, generous or stingy. The choice lies completely in his own hands. Aside from the apparent contradiction with Hilchos De'os, this statement is problematic for another reason. The assertion that wisdom or foolishness is not decreed seems to contradict the Gemara (Niddah 16b), which states clearly that wealth, strength, and intelligence are decreed at conception. Only whether one will be righteous or wicked is not decreed.

Resolution of the problem of in-born traits with individual free will is based on the following premise: While no two people are born with the same exact character traits, and those traits are influenced by many factors - including spiritual forces both prior to and at conception - these traits are not inherently good or bad. They are pareve. A predilection towards anger, for instance, is not necessarily an evil trait. There are situations when anger is required and is the correct response. Similarly, all natural traits and tendencies can be directed in both positive and negative directions. The tendency to shed blood, for instance, can be utilized as a shochet, a mohel, or surgeon, or it can be directed towards crime and murder. Although the character traits are predetermined, their function and control are totally in the hands of the individual. He exercises his free will in utilizing them for good or bad, and suppressing these tendencies when necessary.

Wisdom and intelligence are two distinct realms. One can have the IQ of a genius and act like a fool, and one can lack a high IQ and yet act with wisdom. Although intelligence is largely predetermined, as the Talmud states, whether one acts wisely or foolishly is, as Rambam writes, a function of one's free will.

There is, however, one point that still needs to be clarified. While it is true that no single character trait or tendency is intrinsically good or bad, there are nevertheless certain traits that are more conducive to righteous conduct and those more prone to evil. A tendency towards anger, for example, is more prone to be abused, since there are more instances where anger is negative than where it is positive. By contrast, a natural tendency towards calmness is more prone to lead one to righteous conduct, since there are more instances where this behavior is positive than not.

Thus the difference in natural tendencies might seem to contain an element of injustice. But three points must be kept in mind. First, every person embodies a myriad of character traits. Though someone may be born with a trait that is predominantly negative, he will almost certainly have other traits that are predominantly positive.

Secondly, Hashem takes into consideration one's predispositions in determining the situations he will be confronted with in life. Finally, as the Vilna Gaon states, Hashem judges each individual in relation to his specific nature. Hence, a person prone to anger by nature will be judged less harshly if he succumbs to a fit of anger than a person who is by nature calm. Likewise, a person with a predisposition to anger will receive more reward for controlling his anger than a person with a calm disposition.

Considered in this light, the Midrash is not telling us that Yaakov and Esav were acting in a good or evil fashion prior to birth. Rather they displayed tendencies towards either the more spiritual aspects of this world or the more physical. The houses of Torah study represented the epitome of spirituality and those of idolatry the epitome of physicality (idol worship being the deification of physical forces).

Esav and Yaakov ideally represented the partnership necessary to bring this world to perfection-the mastery and perfection of the physical world as a basis for spiritual perfection. Klal Yisrael would need both the Tribe of Yehudah, from whom the kings came and whose role was to master the world and conquer the forces of evil, and the Tribe of Levi from whom the Kohen Gadol came and whose role was to provide spiritual guidance and inspiration.

Chazal tell us that Yaakov and Esav divided Olam Hazeh (this world) and Olam Haba (the World to Come) between themselves; Esav taking the former and Yaakov the latter. This does not mean that Esav divested himself of a share in Olam Haba before birth, but rather that these two embryos had the ultimate potential to control the physical world and the spiritual world respectively. Had Esav used his traits and tendencies properly, he could have become a partner with Yaakov in bringing the world to perfection. Similarly, had Yaakov abused his traits, he could have developed into one who distorted and corrupted spiritual concepts and values.

The example of what the partnership of Yaakov and Esav could have been was epitomized by their descendants Antoninus-the might of Rome conquering the physical world-and Rebbe-the spirituality of Israel directing it toward spiritual values and goals. Nowhere does it state that Esav wanted to serve idolatry, only that he had a tendency towards it; he was just as capable of destroying idolatry and vanquishing the idolaters, as serving and promoting it. His mother Rivkah, says the Sifsei Kohen, deliberately passed by these places of idolatry in order to influence the heathens to renounce their idolatry.

Now we can understand why Yitzchak wanted to give Esav the berachah, and loved Esav the hunter more than Yaakov, the diligent student. Esav deceived Yitzchak into thinking that he could employ his tendencies towards the physical world to conquer the world for Torah and subdue the forces of evil. Yitzchak attributed the differences he noted in Esav's and Yaakov's behavior-the fact that Esav did not mention God's name and acted without proper courtesy -to Esav's role as the mighty warrior who spoke with force and not finesse. He assumed that Esav was afraid to mention God's name out of fear that he might forget himself in places to which his mission in life would inevitably bring him where mentioning God's name is prohibited.

Yitzchak thought that Esav was utilizing his unique traits for the good. True, in less than sublime ways, but that is the role of a king, who has to engage in war and to meet evil head-on to maintain justice in the world. Therefore Yitzchak desired to give the blessings, which were all material in nature, to Esav, who would need them to fulfill his role. Yaakov, he felt, did not need those blessings in the safe confines of the tents of learning.

Only Rivkah saw through the righteous facade of Esav and recognized his deceptive ways-in part because of her familiarity with her own family of frauds and charlatans. She alone was able to expose Esav for what he really was and cause Yitzchak to see that both roles would be the domain of Yaakov-that Yaakov would be the sole progenitor of the future Klal Yisroel. Esav had exercised his free will to channel his tendencies toward evil, thereby disqualifying himself from a position in the future nation.

Toldos should serve as an incentive to us to delve into our own personalities, to better understand our natural tendencies, so that we can develop and channel our unique traits to their most sublime purpose: the perfection of the world through the promotion of Torah and Divine service.

 

 

 

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Transcendence By Yael Zoldan. Jewish Action, Fall 2009/5769 Finally, the rush and tumble of preparations ceased and all was still. Even I was still. I gazed up at her, enchanted. Her dark velvet robe was the cloak of a queen, her hair hidden away in a turban of gold thread. Read More » Featured Articles Canceling a Prearranged Service Under Jewish Law By Rabbi Yehonoson Dovid Hool Question: If you order a babysitter, taxi driver or any other person to work for you, may you cancel the arrangement before the job begins, and what are the financial consequences if you do so? Read entire story » Don’t just read the parsha, understand it.   The people who brought you Nach Yomi now present Shnayim Mikra, an exciting way to review the weekly Torah portion aliyah by aliyah. Learn more Watch Auction Video! Parsha Columns Disillusionment: Rabbi Weinreb on Parshat Toldot By Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb Disillusionment. I first learned about it on a park bench on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where I attended high school. I learned about it from three old gentlemen, each affected differently by disillusionment, and each with a different lesson to teach. Read entire article » Toldot: Finding the Neshama Tehora By Rabbi Asher Brander Here's a strange question. Did Yitzchak love Yaakov? Read this pasuk carefully and you’ll understand my problem. "Yitzchak loved Eisav because he placed game in his mouth and Rivkah loves Yaakov." Read entire article » Food Columns Recipes with Ginger By Eileen Goltz Ginger, the plant, is that aromatic, pungent and spicy herb that adds a special zest to stir fries, cakes, meats and fruits and vegetables. This hearty, tasty and versatile plant is a staple in many cuisines around the world. Read entire article » Exceptional New Books from OU Press OU Press has published two new books that are available at a special discount on the OU Press website www.OUPress.org. Covenant & Conversation: Genesis The Book of Beginnings (co-published with Maggid) is the first ever collection of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’ essays on the weekly parsha. Erudite and eloquent, Covenant & Conversation allows readers to experience Chief Rabbi Sacks’ sophisticated approach to life lived in an ongoing dialogue with the Torah. Fresh Fruit & Vintage Wine: Ethics and Wisdom of the Aggada (co-published with Ktav and Yeshivat Har Etzion) by Rabbi Yitzchak Blau takes the enduring wisdom of the Aggada and expresses it with freshness and vitality. Arranged by topic, the book explores enigmatic Talmudic texts and uses classical commentaries to explain the passages and show their relevance to contemporary life. Learn more about these books and buy them at a 15% discount at www.OUPress.org. Next OU Job Tutorials: Staten Island Job Fair & Networking Event- An OU Job Board Event Tue. Dec 01  Check Out OURadio! Cooking on Shabbos A HOT Topic - VIDEO The Midah of “Getting Used To It” ASKOU OUTREACH - Passaic Kashrut Panel Presentation A Glimpse Into The Beis Hamikdash Ask the Rabbi - Every Question You’ve Ever Had, Live and Online November 22, 2009 9:00 PM EST Presenter: Rabbi Mordechai Becher Here's your chance to ask one of the funniest, most talented Rabbis in the world every question you've always wanted to ask, but couldn't find the right address. Rabbi Becher has been answering students questions from around the world for nearly 2 decades. Don't miss this amazing opportunity. Free Online Classes Participate in a series of live, interactive online classes and explore key aspects of living Judaism. Ask questions in real time via chat to the presenter. A certificate of completion will be awarded upon the conclusion of this September - December Fall Series. All classes start at 9:00 pm EDT Sign up now! OU Department of Community Services In association with ProjectSinai.org Parshat Toldot - Rabbi Weinreb Why was Yitzchak so different? This Week's Haftarah* Rabbi Jeremy Wieder The Coming Week's Daf Yomi by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz This essay is based upon the insights and chidushim (original ideas) of Talmudic scholar Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, as published in the Hebrew version of the Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud. Masechet Bava Batra- 91a-97b Dvar Torah by Britain's Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Covenant and Conversation -  Kinship and Difference Dear Friends, We are proud to let you know that Lenny Solomon and Shlock Rock have released a brand new Jewish music album and for the first time you can download it and pay what you want! Lenny has worked for NCSY since 1981. His music has inspired Jewish families to come closer to their heritage. So why would Lenny do this? Because he loves this music and has worked very hard on it. He wants you to have this new release! You decide what you would like to pay for this musical production! There are 12 original English songs which Lenny Solomon wrote and each one is better than the next! To begin the process, click here and download the 31st Shlock Rock album! Enjoy the music! Then tell all your friends! OU Kosher: LISTEN NOW ON OURADIO Cooking on Shabbos A HOT Topic - VIDEO OU Kosher News Learn about all that's new in the world of OU Kosher. Subscribe to OUKosher RSS Feeds and get OUKosher news, articles and information delivered right to your desktop. Kashrut Feature Article What Beracha does one recite on a granola bar? Dear Loyal OUKosher Consumer, OUKosher.org is a resource for Kosher consumers worldwide to access a listing of current OU certified products and keep updated about current Kashruth issues. Please take our survey and tell us how we are doing! Fill out the survey now!  OU Events: The Orthodox Union’s Department of Community Services in conjunction with Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future will present a communal Symposium on “Making Our Tefillot More Meaningful and Personal” Featuring Rabbi Moshe Weinberger of Congregation Aish Kodesh, Rabbi Mayer Twersky, Rosh Yeshiva, RIETS, Yeshiva University, and Rabbi Eli Monsour, of the Sephardic Congregation Bet Yaakob. The symposium will take place Sunday Morning, December 6 From 9:45am to 11:45am at DRS High School, 700 Ibsen Street in Woodmere. Admission is free to the entire community. This program is part of a National effort to help develop a deeper connection, understanding, and appreciation of our Tefillot. For more information, click here or contact 212-613-8188. Torah in Motion and the Orthodox Union present a Communal Symposium When Serious Illness Strikes and Decisions Have to be Made Who Decides, the patient, the physician, the family? November 29, 2009, 7:309:30 pm Bnai Torah Congregation 465 Patricia Ave. Toronto, Canada For more information please contact Rabbi Jay Kelman at 416 633 5770 ASK OU OUTREACH Comes to Passaic-Clifton November 21, 2009 The Harry H. Beren ASK OU OUTREACH Kashrut Program will conduct a series of kashrut shiurim in the Passaic-Clifton community on 3 consecutive Motzoei Shabbat: November 7, 14 and 21. Professional Development Workshop for Mental Health Professionals November 25, 2009 To address the urgent problem of eating disorders, the OU presents a special professional development workshop for yeshiva and day school mental health professionals and guidance counselors. NCSY 18th Annual Chinese Auction December 05, 2009 Win a year of free food from Kosher.com, a six-day trip to Israel and 60 other great prizes, only at the NCSY 18th Annual Chinese Auction. Buy tickets at http://www.ncsyauction.com OU Annual Dinner and Awards Presentation December 06, 2009 OU Awards Dinner Celebrating YACHAD for providing 25 years of "inclusive" programs for Jews with disabilities. Making Our Tefillot Personal and Meaningful December 06, 2009 Presentations by: Rabbi Moshe Weinberger of Aish Kodesh of Woodmere Rabbi Mayer Twersky, Rosh Yeshiva, RIETS, Yeshiva University Rabbi Eli Mansour of Congregation Bet Yaakob OU Israel Center: Motza'ei Shabbat, 4 Kislev - November 21 8:15pm featuring Aviva Woznica, author of Fire Unextinguished written through the eyes of several extraordinary Holocaust survivors and -as the daughter of two of them - the author's, as well. Detailed research and interviews have resulted in an intermingling of history and eyewitness accounts, many never documented before. Full listing of Israel Center Classes

Parshat Toldot 4 Kislev 5770 November 20-21, 2009 Haftarah: Malachi 1:1-2:7 Candlelighting Times and Zmanim Important Changes to Zmanim Calculations Holiday Calendar Archived Divrei Torah for this Week Choose a Dvar Torah OU Kosher News Parsha Summary Halacha of the Week Recipes Torah Choose a Dvar Torah Archived Divrei Torah for this Week Parsha Summary Halacha of the Week Toldot - Bathing on Shabbat Read entire story » Last Week Go to OU homepage www.ou.org * From the VaYavinu BaMiqra CD.  This CD can be ordered here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project Genesis Lifeline News from Project Genesis and Torah.org Volume XVII, Number 6 - Toldos & Chanukah - Genesis 25:19-28:9 To sponsor an edition of the Project Genesis Lifeline, click here.

In This Issue: Note from the Director The Struggle in Rivkah抯 Womb Red Stuff New Installments of our Ongoing Classes This Week's Torah Reading: Toldos and Chanukah Featured Article: The Insatiable Eye Note from the Director "For the Candle is a Mitzvah, and the Torah is Light." Here's an easy Mitzvah for you, that will spread the Light of Torah in time for Chanukah! All that's required is your knowledge of your community, and a few moments of your volunteer spirit. Notice boards -- in shuls, Hillel buildings, dormitory buildings, JCCs, Kosher restaurants and markets -- remain a powerful and inexpensive place to advertise services for the Jewish community. We have 8.5x11 glossy sheets, to promote "Jewish Learning @ Internet Speed." You, we hope, know of places where they will be noticed. If you can think of five or more places to post them, please tell us. If you think a local poster-hanging would be helpful, just tell us how much it will cost to use the services of the local agency (as there are in many neighborhoods and on many campuses, all inexpensive). In this simple way, you can help us to spread the word about Torah.org, and help others to start learning with us. Please email genesis *at* torah.org to help in this campaign. Also, please take note of our special Chanukah section here at Torah.org, and listen to our Chanukah audio at TorahMedia.com. Good Shabbos! Rabbi Yaakov Menken Director, Project Genesis - Torah.org BACK TO TOP Capalon Communications keeps the lights on at Torah.org, while hosting over 100 other web sites for Torah and Jewish outreach. The majority of Capalon's consultants are now living in Israel, meaning your choice of Capalon supports Israel's economy, helps provide Torah on the Internet, and gains your company truly professional service and expertise. Whether you are exploring Internet telephony, need a face-lift for your web site, or need a team of programmers for a new Internet-based application, talk to Capalon -- you'll be doing well and doing good!   The Struggle in Rivkah抯 Womb See it at JewishAnswers.org Question: Why are the babies struggling inside Rivkah? Answer: The sages teach that a battle of cosmic forces was going on in the womb. It was representative of the eternal battle between morality and justice on one side, represented by Jacob, and license and barbarity on the other, represented by Esau. Red Stuff See it atTorahMedia.com Listen to a short, two minute clip from Rabbi Avraham Nissim, Red Stuff. Rabbi Nissim discusses the effect of Esav's infamous line "Pour me from that Red stuff". Listen Now, or Free Download New to TorahMedia.org is Be Nice - But Why?, by Rabbi Shaya Karlinsky. For premium members, check out The Difference Between Yaakov and Esav: The Willingness to Invest, by Mrs Leah Kohn. You need to reach the entire synagogue membership, and the Rabbi says you need to do it NOW. What do you do? Talk to the Call Mavens! CallMavens.com is the amazing new auto-notification service for Shuls and organizations. Upload a list of phone numbers to CallMavens.com, and then you're a quick phone call away from your entire membership. The rates are great... talk to the Call Mavens today!   BACK TO TOP New Installments of our Ongoing Classes Do Not Steal1 Part 15 by Rabbi Yehonasan Gefen It is not only forbidden to steal items. One may not help or encourage others to steal. Included in this prohibition is purchasing stolen merchandise, or merchandise that has very likely been stolen. The source of this prohibition is the mitzvo... Read more in Jewish Values Tunnel Vision, Part I by Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld In what way did the spies "gossip" about the Holy Land? They came back *praising* the Land: "We have come to the Land to which you have sent us and indeed, it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit" (13:27). Their problem was not... Read more in Maimonides on Life The Torah Wanderlust by Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld Regardless of what a student absorbs in a day of Torah study, if he returns home to the same old scene -- the TV, stereo, talking back to his parents, arguing with his sister -- he will quickly revert to whom he once was. It will be near impossible... Read more in Pirkei Avos Petty Larceny by Rabbi Daniel Travis God said to Noach, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; the world is filled with crime because of them. I am going to destroy them with the earth." (Bereshith 6:13)... Read more in Priceless Integrity Da'at Tevunot - The Knowing Heart by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman You might think that all good, just, and laudable things were nourished by 揼ood emanations?from G-d whereas all bad, unjust, and disgraceful things were nourished by some sorts of 揵ad emanations?on His part, but you抎 be woefully wrong. Because... Read more in Ramchal Chapter 92 by Rabbi Y Reuven Rubin I was privileged to have met a Yid who described himself as the last Yid alive in the world, and I consider myself blessed. He is a life-time inspiration.... Read more in Rhythm of the Heart The Path of the Just by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman There are three sorts of abstinence, actually: the kind that the Torah itself requires of us (when it charges us to avoid this or that); the kind that the sages added onto those, known as 搒afeguards? to make sure we don抰 come close to doing... Read more in Spiritual Excellence Men and Women in Judaism: Understanding our Purpose, Understanding our Role by Mrs. Leah Kohn God Creates Man...Alone. The Torah (Genesis, Cpt. 1) tells the story of how God creates Adam. The text then relates how, after making Adam, God observes, "It is not good that man be alone; I will make him a helper..." (Genesis 2:18). The helper... Read more in Women in Judaism BACK TO TOP New Torah.org classes on Toldos and Chanukah A Smart Bracha by Rabbi Label Lam Read more in DvarTorah Parshas Toldos by Shlomo Katz Read more in Hamaayan No Two People are the Same by Rabbi Berel Wein Read more in Rabbi Wein How About Them Apples? by Rabbi Yochanan Zweig Read more in Rabbi Zweig on the Parsha Rabbi Frand on Parshas Toldos by Rabbi Yissocher Fr and Read more in Rav Frand Digging for Water by Rabbi Naftali Reich Read more in Legacy Yaakov and Eisav Go Separate Ways by Rabbi Pinchas Winston Read more in Perceptions Read previous years' classes on Toldos and Chanukah on Torah.org: Beyond Pshat by Rabbi Yosef Kalatzky Drasha by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky DvarTor ah by Rabbi Label Lam Edutainment Weekly by Jon Erlbaum Hamaayan by Shlomo Katz Kol Hakollel by Rabbi Pinchas Avruch Legacy by Rabbi Naftali Reich LifeLine by Rabbi Yaakov Menken Olas Shabbos by Rabbi Eliyahu Hoffmann Parsha Insights by Rabbi Yisroel Ciner Perceptions by Rabbi Pinchas Winston Rabbi Wein by Rabbi Berel Wein Rabbi Zweig on the Pars ha by Rabbi Yochanan Zweig Rabbi's Notebook by Rabbi Aron Tendler Rav Frand by Rabbi Yissocher Frand Short Vorts by Rabbi Chaim Flom Table Talk by Rabbi Raymond Beyda The Living Law by Rabbi Osher Chaim Levene Yom Tov by Rabbi Yehudah Prero BACK TO TOP Featured Article: The Insatiable Eye By Roiza D. Weinreich http://torah.org/features/firstperson/insatiableeye.html Alexander the Great was the emperor of Greece. He was responsible for the growth of Greek wisdom and culture and supported many scholars, philosophers, artists and athletes. He set out to conquer the world and introduce Greek enlightenment to all the lands of the earth and eventually his power extended over hundreds of thousands of people. Nothing could happen in the civilized world without his approval. Did he need anyone? Could any person living in his time period compete with him? Yet for him it was not enough. The Midrash tells us that when he was exploring in Africa he once sat down to rest near a spring. The spring emitted a wonderful scent that he had never inhaled before, and when he tasted its waters he discovered that they had the magical power of restoring one's strength. Alexander followed the spring to its source and found himself at the entrance to the Garden of Eden. He raised his voice and ordered, "Open up the gates of the Garden of Eden and let me enter." A heavenly voice answered him, "These gates are for those who fear God and only the righteous may enter." "I am an important king, and I have conquered every city I reached," Alexander the Great argued. The gates remained locked, and Alexander could not break through. After a while he made another attempt. "Can you please grant me at least one small request?" he entreated in a less demanding tone. "Since I have already reached this wonderful place, please give me some object, a memento, to prove that I reached the Garden of Eden." Suddenly a hand came out of the gate and gave him a small round object. When he returned to his palace, he decided to weigh the mysterious disc. It was light to carry, yet when he laid it on the scale, strange things happened. He placed a bar of gold on the opposite side of the balance but it was not heavy enough to tip the scale. He threw ten bars on the pan; the disc from the Garden of Eden did not lift. He threw a hundred, a thousand, and finally all the gold he owned into the pan. No amount would outweigh the small round disc. "This is impossible," Alexander thought. "What is happening here cannot be explained logically. " He called the Jewish sages and asked them, "Can you identify this object from the Garden of Eden and tell me why nothing I've put on the other weighing pan can make it rise?" The sages explained, "If a person reaches the Garden of Eden, the object they will give him is something that can teach him a lesson he can apply to his life. You were given the eye of a human being. The nature of this eye is that it never knows satisfaction. It doesn't matter what its owner possesses; the eye always craves more. "You have already conquered many countries, both near and far. If you will now stop going out to battle and focus instead on using the wealth you attained to improve your life and that of your citizens, you will live a long and fruitful life. If you continue, however, to go out and wage wars, you will eventually be killed in battle." Alexander said, "Prove that your words are true." The sages replied, "Take all the gold out of the other pan and cover the disc with some dust. You will find that afterwards even the smallest coin that you put on the opposite pan will tip the balance and cause the eye to rise." Alexander did so and found that the words of the sages were accurate. He asked them the meaning. They replied, "The human eye is never satisfied as long as a person is alive, but once the soul leaves the earth and the body is covered with dust, it no longer has any use for wealth." Alexander's story need not discourage us. Understanding our inborn needs and characteristics is the first step toward outgrowing them. As part of the process we will need to examine and perhaps dismantle some tendencies that society, our backgrounds and human nature have instilled in us. What are we supposed to do? Examine the attitudes you hold dear. Some are hidden deeply in your psyche and you may have to ferret them out. Do you constantly aim for everything around you to be perfect? Do you wonder why things never measure up to your expectations? Who has given you the definition of "perfect" -- your schoolmates? Fair-weather friends? The surrounding culture? Do you feel that unless your circumstances are "perfect," your life is not worthwhile? A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE There was a water carrier in the Baal Shem Tov's (18th century) village. The Baal Shem Tov greeted him one evening and asked, "How is everything?" "Absolutely terrible," the water carrier griped. "I'm an old, weak man. This work is much too strenuous. I never get a chance to rest, and there is no one to help me. When I make an effort to climb stairs with these heavy buckets, the women complain that water spills on the steps. Life is miserable." The Baal Shem Tov comforted the man and blessed him. A few weeks later he met the water carrier again and asked him, "Have things improved?" "Thank God," the water carrier beamed. "I am so fortunate. I may be old, but I am healthy and strong. I can afford basic necessities, and I need not burden my children. Not only am I independent, I can help others in my job. People depend on me; when I bring the water, they are grateful. Sometimes when I've climbed many steps on a cold day, they serve me tea so that I have a chance to rest and warm up." The Baal Shem Tov explained that the water carrier's behavior was really not contradictory; God had just given him the tools to make the most of his circumstances. Sometimes our situation doesn't improve. We wake up to the same problems, the same limited resources, the same surroundings, and we spend our day involved in the same activities. However, we can choose to approach the day differently. God would love to put a feeling of joy and hope in our hearts and if we only allowed it to enter, that slight change of attitude could alter our existence. Reprinted with permission from Innernet, and excerpted with permission from "IN JOY." Published by ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications Ltd. BACK TO TOP     LifeLine, Copyright © 2009 by Torah.org Questions or comments? Email feedback@torah.org. Join the Jewish Learning Revolution! Torah.org: The Judaism Site brings this and a host of other classes to you every week. Visit http://torah.org or email learn@torah.org to get your own free copy of this mailing. Need to change or stop your subscription? Please visit our subscription center, http://torah.org/subscribe/ -- see the links on that page. 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To sponsor ATorahMinute please call 516 487 6676 x123 or visit the link after the Torah Minute.  Someone who is unable to complete the Haftarah by Rabbi Ya'aqob Menashe (Links to the audio appear after the text) If the person who was called up for Maftir on Shabbath is reading the Haftarah and suddenly stops in the middle and falls silent, for whatever reason, someone else must take over from him. The one who takes over cannot continue from where the first reader left off, but rather, must start from the beginning of the Haftarah again. Since there is a difference of opinion as to whether he should repeat the first Berachoth (blessings) of the Haftarah or not, they should not be said. In addition, according to the Ari z"l, each person is obligated to read the Haftarah for himself, except for the blessings which the reader says on behalf of everyone. As such, the blessings that were recited at the beginning counted for the one who replaced the original reader also. If the original reader stops at the end of the Haftarah, then the Hazan or some other person should immediately rise and say the blessings that are after the Haftarah. The Maftir is not repeated in these cases. (See Sh. "A. 284: 5. Kaf Hahayim ibid, Oth 25 and 26) Click here to download today's audio     Click here to visit ATorahMinute.com   We'd love to hear from you. Let us know what you like and what you'd like to hear more of. You can contact us via the contact form at: http://www.atorahminute.com/contact Subscribe Please let your family, friends and colleagues know about this important new website. They can also sign up at: http://www.atorahminute.com Sponsor  Website sponsorships available. Please call (516) 487-6676 x 123, or visit  http://www.atorahminute.com/sponsoring A project of Midrash BEN ISH HAI and midrash.org   (c) Rabbi Ya'aqob Menashe,  ATorahMinute.com

To sponsor ATorahMinute, please call 516 487 6676 x123 or visit: atorahminute.com/sponsoring To subscribe to ATorahMinute please visit: atorahminute.com/subscribe Transliteration Curious about the transliterations used in ATorahMinute.com? It is based on the Babylonian Jewish pronunciation, generally considered to be the most accurate.   You can see a transliteration table here.   About For the first year, which ended with the 100th Hillula of the Ben Ish Hai on 13th Elul 5769 (September '09), Rabbi Ya'aqob Menashe gave Halakhoth and pearls of Torah from the Ben Ish Hai, Hakham Yoseph Hayyim, 'a"h. The daily bulletins continue to feature the Ben Ish Hai and also include a wide variety of sources. Spread the word Please forward your daily emails to your contacts, but remove the "manage your subscription" link at the bottom, so they don't unsubscribe you by mistake. Brought to you by ATorahMinute.com is a  project of Midrash BEN ISH HAI.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To sponsor ATorahMinute please call 516 487 6676 x123 or visit the link after the Torah Minute.  If you are unsure if you read an additional section in the 'Amidah by Rabbi Ya'aqob Menashe (Links to the audio appear after the text) There are different opinions as to what one should do when one is not certain if he added the portion in the 'Amidah for a specific occasion, such as Ya'aleh Weyabo and the like. The Mishnah Berurah says that if a person knows that he intended to say it during the prayer, but some time after he finished he is not certain if he said it or not, he does not repeat it. Only if his uncertainty arose immediately after the 'Amidah does he repeat it. The Kaf Hahayim brings down that for the uncertainty to be of the type that requires the 'Amidah to be repeated, the doubt in one's mind must come during the specific Beracha (blessing) that the additional portion is in or, at the very least, during that 'Amidah. But if he had doubts after the 'Amidah was over (and especially if some time passed) he does not repeat it. The Kaf Hahayim says further that there is a difference between Maran Yosef Karo (the author of the Shulhan 'Aruch) and the Rama in the matter of where there is a doubt if Ya'aleh Weyabo was recited  or not on Rosh Hodesh. Because of that, the correct way to proceed on Rosh Hodesh, is to state when repeating that if it is not necessary to repeat it, it should be considered as a Nedabah (voluntary offering). (See Sh. 'A. 114: 8. M.B. ibid, 38. Kaf Hahayim ibid, Oth 48. Sh. 'A. 422: 1. Rama ibid. Kaf Hayim ibid, Oth 18) (For details of which prayers must be repeated on Rosh Hodesh see http://www.atorahminute.com/2009-02-23). Click here to download today's audio     Click here to visit ATorahMinute.com   We'd love to hear from you. Let us know what you like and what you'd like to hear more of. You can contact us via the contact form at: http://www.atorahminute.com/contact Subscribe Please let your family, friends and colleagues know about this important new website. They can also sign up at: http://www.atorahminute.com Sponsor  Website sponsorships available. Please call (516) 487-6676 x 123, or visit  http://www.atorahminute.com/sponsoring A project of Midrash BEN ISH HAI and midrash.org   (c) Rabbi Ya'aqob Menashe,  ATorahMinute.com

To sponsor ATorahMinute, please call 516 487 6676 x123 or visit: atorahminute.com/sponsoring To subscribe to ATorahMinute please visit: atorahminute.com/subscribe Transliteration Curious about the transliterations used in ATorahMinute.com? It is based on the Babylonian Jewish pronunciation, generally considered to be the most accurate.   You can see a transliteration table here.   About For the first year, which ended with the 100th Hillula of the Ben Ish Hai on 13th Elul 5769 (September '09), Rabbi Ya'aqob Menashe gave Halakhoth and pearls of Torah from the Ben Ish Hai, Hakham Yoseph Hayyim, 'a"h. The daily bulletins continue to feature the Ben Ish Hai and also include a wide variety of sources. Spread the word Please forward your daily emails to your contacts, but remove the "manage your subscription" link at the bottom, so they don't unsubscribe you by mistake. Brought to you by ATorahMinute.com is a  project of Midrash BEN ISH HAI.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To sponsor ATorahMinute please call 516 487 6676 x123 or visit the link after the Torah Minute.  Reciting a blessing loudly or softly by Rabbi Ya'aqob Menashe (Links to the audio appear after the text) The Zohar is very strict about a person who hears a Beracha (blessing) and does not answer Amen. This means, in practical terms, that if a person is reciting a Beracha and sees that, for whatever reason, the people there will not answer Amen -- perhaps they are not paying attention, or do not understand -- but it is clear to him that they will not recite Amen, it is better to say the Beracha quietly. In this way people will not hear the blessing and come to stumble in this important matter by not answering Amen to the blessing. It is good to say a Beracha loudly when you know that the people present will answer Amen. But when you know that they will not, it is better to say it quietly to yourself. (See Ben Ish Hai, Yr 1, Parashath Mass'ei) Click here to download today's audio     Click here to visit ATorahMinute.com   We'd love to hear from you. Let us know what you like and what you'd like to hear more of. You can contact us via the contact form at: http://www.atorahminute.com/contact Subscribe Please let your family, friends and colleagues know about this important new website. They can also sign up at: http://www.atorahminute.com Sponsor  Website sponsorships available. Please call (516) 487-6676 x 123, or visit  http://www.atorahminute.com/sponsoring A project of Midrash BEN ISH HAI and midrash.org   (c) Rabbi Ya'aqob Menashe,  ATorahMinute.com

To sponsor ATorahMinute, please call 516 487 6676 x123 or visit: atorahminute.com/sponsoring To subscribe to ATorahMinute please visit: atorahminute.com/subscribe Transliteration Curious about the transliterations used in ATorahMinute.com? It is based on the Babylonian Jewish pronunciation, generally considered to be the most accurate.   You can see a transliteration table here.   About For the first year, which ended with the 100th Hillula of the Ben Ish Hai on 13th Elul 5769 (September '09), Rabbi Ya'aqob Menashe gave Halakhoth and pearls of Torah from the Ben Ish Hai, Hakham Yoseph Hayyim, 'a"h. The daily bulletins continue to feature the Ben Ish Hai and also include a wide variety of sources. Spread the word Please forward your daily emails to your contacts, but remove the "manage your subscription" link at the bottom, so they don't unsubscribe you by mistake. Brought to you by ATorahMinute.com is a  project of Midrash BEN ISH HAI.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To sponsor ATorahMinute please call 516 487 6676 x123 or visit the link after the Torah Minute.  Answering Amen to one's own Beracha by Rabbi Ya'aqob Menashe (Links to the audio appear after the text) A person must not answer Amen to his own Beracha (blessing). However if he says two or more blessings then he answers Amen after them. An example of this is the multiple Berachoth (blessings) that we recite after the Haftarah on Shabbath to which the one reciting the blessings also says Amen. If somebody hears another Jewish person saying any Beracha, even if he did not hear it in its entirety, from beginning to end, he must answer Amen. The person who answers Amen must also have in mind that he is answering Amen on behalf of the person reciting the Beracha. For this reason, he must answer loudly, so that the person who is reciting the blessing can hear the Amen. For this to work, the person who is saying the Beracha must also have in mind that the Amen is covering him too. The person who answers Amen has to be particular not to answer Amen louder than the one who is making the Beracha. (See Ben Ish Hai, Yr 1, Parashath Mass'ei) Click here to download today's audio     Click here to visit ATorahMinute.com   We'd love to hear from you. Let us know what you like and what you'd like to hear more of. You can contact us via the contact form at: http://www.atorahminute.com/contact Subscribe Please let your family, friends and colleagues know about this important new website. They can also sign up at: http://www.atorahminute.com Sponsor  Website sponsorships available. Please call (516) 487-6676 x 123, or visit  http://www.atorahminute.com/sponsoring A project of Midrash BEN ISH HAI and midrash.org   (c) Rabbi Ya'aqob Menashe,  ATorahMinute.com

To sponsor ATorahMinute, please call 516 487 6676 x123 or visit: atorahminute.com/sponsoring To subscribe to ATorahMinute please visit: atorahminute.com/subscribe Transliteration Curious about the transliterations used in ATorahMinute.com? It is based on the Babylonian Jewish pronunciation, generally considered to be the most accurate.   You can see a transliteration table here.   About For the first year, which ended with the 100th Hillula of the Ben Ish Hai on 13th Elul 5769 (September '09), Rabbi Ya'aqob Menashe gave Halakhoth and pearls of Torah from the Ben Ish Hai, Hakham Yoseph Hayyim, 'a"h. The daily bulletins continue to feature the Ben Ish Hai and also include a wide variety of sources. Spread the word Please forward your daily emails to your contacts, but remove the "manage your subscription" link at the bottom, so they don't unsubscribe you by mistake. Brought to you by ATorahMinute.com is a  project of Midrash BEN ISH HAI.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today's A Torah Minute is in memory of Pouran Bat Toba & Avraham To sponsor ATorahMinute please call 516 487 6676 x123 or visit the link after the Torah Minute.  What can we learn from the bees? by Rabbi Ya'aqob Menashe (Links to the audio appear after the text) We humans are the most advanced of all the species in the world. We are endowed with wisdom and understanding and the ability to communicate, more than any other species on earth. Yet we have much to learn from lesser creatures around us. In Qol Sasson it says there are things to learn from animals who do not speak. From the bees we learn Derech Eres (the proper way of behaving with each other). Bees are united and stick together. In fact, they build their homes one next to the other (in a hive). Not only that, but you will not find them trying to outdo each other with the size of the homes they build. Each bee's home is the same size as its neighbor's. Their homes are not spacious but the just right size to hold them. Human beings, on the other hand, are constantly trying to build homes that are larger than the other person's and go out of their way to have something unique about it that no one else has. (See Qol Sasson, ch. 39) Click here to download today's audio     Click here to visit ATorahMinute.com   We'd love to hear from you. Let us know what you like and what you'd like to hear more of. You can contact us via the contact form at: http://www.atorahminute.com/contact Subscribe Please let your family, friends and colleagues know about this important new website. They can also sign up at: http://www.atorahminute.com Sponsor  Website sponsorships available. Please call (516) 487-6676 x 123, or visit  http://www.atorahminute.com/sponsoring A project of Midrash BEN ISH HAI and midrash.org   (c) Rabbi Ya'aqob Menashe,  ATorahMinute.com

To sponsor ATorahMinute, please call 516 487 6676 x123 or visit: atorahminute.com/sponsoring To subscribe to ATorahMinute please visit: atorahminute.com/subscribe Transliteration Curious about the transliterations used in ATorahMinute.com? It is based on the Babylonian Jewish pronunciation, generally considered to be the most accurate.   You can see a transliteration table here.   About For the first year, which ended with the 100th Hillula of the Ben Ish Hai on 13th Elul 5769 (September '09), Rabbi Ya'aqob Menashe gave Halakhoth and pearls of Torah from the Ben Ish Hai, Hakham Yoseph Hayyim, 'a"h. The daily bulletins continue to feature the Ben Ish Hai and also include a wide variety of sources. Spread the word Please forward your daily emails to your contacts, but remove the "manage your subscription" link at the bottom, so they don't unsubscribe you by mistake. Brought to you by ATorahMinute.com is a  project of Midrash BEN ISH HAI.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project Genesis Lifeline News from Project Genesis and Torah.org Volume XVII, Number 5 - Chayei Sarah - Genesis 23:1-25:18 To sponsor an edition of the Project Genesis Lifeline, click here.

In This Issue: Note from the Director What’s Allowed vs. What’s Right Abraham and the Road to Monotheism New Installments of our Ongoing Classes This Week's Torah Reading: Chayei Sarah Featured Article: The Man Who Has Everything Note from the Director When Sarah passes away, Avraham seeks out a burial place for her -- the cave then belonging to Efron the Hittite. Efron shows us how to say much, and do little. Or more accurately, as Rashi says, "even a little he did not do." Efron said to Avraham, "The cave is a gift, please take it to bury your dead." But Avraham recognized that Efron was saying this for public consumption, and indeed Efron said later, "what is 400 silver coins between me and you?" In the end, the coins weren't the regular ones in circulation, but much more valuable ones "good for the money-changer." They were Centurion coins, each one hundred times the value of a regular silver coin. At that point, at end of the story, the Torah drops the letter Vav from the name Efron, such that it can be read Afran -- from the word "Afar," dirt. Through his dishonest speech and interest in only the money, he proved himself an animalistic man of the earth, rather than an elevated man with a higher focus. Obviously, we can and should strive to do better in our own lives! This past week the author of our popular Yom Tov class, Rabbi Yehuda Prero, lost his father Rabbi Yisroel Aryeh Prero a"h of Chicago. May he and his family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. Good Shabbos! Rabbi Yaakov Menken Director, Project Genesis - Torah.org BACK TO TOP You need to reach the entire synagogue membership, and the Rabbi says you need to do it NOW. What do you do? Talk to the Call Mavens! CallMavens.com is the amazing new auto-notification service for Shuls and organizations. Upload a list of phone numbers to CallMavens.com, and then you're a quick phone call away from your entire membership. The rates are great... talk to the Call Mavens today!   What’s Allowed vs. What’s Right See it at JewishAnswers.org Question: If something is permitted in Jewish law, does that mean that its right? Answer: Not necessarily. The Ramban (Vayikra 19: 2) writes that the Torah itself requires us to make an effort to avoid moral self-destruction caused by over-indulgence in permitted activities. Therefore, even though there are many pleasures and activities that the Torah does not explicitly forbid, the holiness expected of a Jew requires that we nevertheless avoid excess. Since, however, there is no single set of clear guidelines that is appropriate for everyone in every situation, the real trick is to somehow accurately assess what level of restraint is right for you at any given time. With best wishes, Rabbi Boruch Clinton Abraham and the Road to Monotheism See it at TorahMedia.com Listen to a new, short 5 minute clip from Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer on Abraham's personal transformation from Paganism to Monotheism. Listen Now, or Free Download New to TorahMedia.com is Marriages are not Made in Heaven, by Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff. Also new is It's Never too Late to Have a Happy Childhood, by Sarah Chana Radcliffe. For premium member, listen to Mrs. Leah Kohn's new clip: Giving as the Foundation for a Relationship with G-d. This week's Lifeline is sponsored by OlehPhone.com, the Internet Phone Service built for you! With dramatic cost savings, features you've never heard of before (Shabbos Call Block, for example), and an ongoing commitment to innovation and growth, OlehPhone offers revolutionary improvements to your home and business communications. Check them out at OlehPhone.com, and sign up to experience lower costs and improved service!   BACK TO TOP New Installments of our Ongoing Classes Courts and their Punishments - Sanhedrin veha-Oneshin ha-Mesurin Lahem by Rabbi Dr. Azriel Rosenfeld We are commanded to appoint judges and court officials in every part of the land of Israel, as it says "You shall set up judges and officers in all your gates".[1] The court at the Temple, which is called the Sanhedrin, has 71 members.... Read more in Halacha Overview Do Not Steal1 Part 15 by Rabbi Yehonasan Gefen It is not only forbidden to steal items. One may not help or encourage others to steal. Included in this prohibition is purchasing stolen merchandise, or merchandise that has very likely been stolen. The source of this prohibition is the... Read more in Jewish Values Words that Kill by Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld I was recently talking to someone who is involved in arranging a match between a young woman and a fellow on medication for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). On the one hand it is strictly forbidden to withhold relevant information which the... Read more in Maimonides on Life The Crown of Torah by Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld If a crown would be missing a single jewel, it would be no crown. A crown\'s beauty is not in its functionality but in its perfection. It must be whole and complete -- just as the Torah scholar\'s dedication must be complete and unswerving.... Read more in Pirkei Avos Wasting Time by Rabbi Daniel Travis Yaakov said this as a sign of respect to show that he was concerned that he should not waste Esav's time because of his family's slow pace. [1] One must be extremely careful not to waste other people's time, a precious and irreplaceable commodity.... Read more in Priceless Integrity Chapter 91 by Rabbi Y Reuven Rubin I woke up this morning gagging for breath. Don't worry; it's nothing I can't handle. You see I suffer from allergies, and anything floating in the air can become an irritant to my delicate yet prominent nose. Once awake I went and took two little... Read more in Rhythm of the Heart Silent Messages by Rabbi Daniel Travis As with all conversations with an entity outside ourselves, body language plays a central role in Shemoneh Esrei. All of these movements are outer expressions of one’s inner feelings, and allow a more profound level of interaction. Yet there is... Read more in Tefilah: Waking up Jewish Glimpses of Jewish Femininity (Part 3) by Mrs. Leah Kohn Our final installment of "Glimpses of Jewish Femininity" explores the important connection between a Jewish woman's career choice and her spiritual well being. In short, career and spirit can either enhance one another or remain at cross-purposes.... Read more in Women in Judaism BACK TO TOP New Torah.org classes on Chayei Sarah Spiritual Beauty by Rabbi Pinchas Winston Read more in Perceptions A National Loss by Rabbi Yochanan Zweig Read more in Rabbi Zweig on the Parsha Rabbi Frand on Parshas Chayei Sarah by Rabbi Yissocher Frand Read more in Rav Frand Yitzchok and Rivka Build a Family by Rabbi Berel Wein Read more in Rabbi Wein The Edges of the Postcard by Rabbi Naftali Reich Read more in Legacy Read previous years' classes on Chayei Sarah on Torah.org: Abarbanel by Rabbi Dr. Meir Tamari Beyond Pshat by Rabbi Yosef Kalatzky Drasha by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky DvarTorah by Rabbi Label Lam Edutainment Weekly by Jon Erlbaum Hamaayan by Shlomo Katz Kol Hakollel b y Rabbi Pinchas Avruch Legacy by Rabbi Naftali Reich LifeLine by Rabbi Yaakov Menken Olas Shabbos by Rabbi Eliyahu Hoffmann Parsha Insights by Rabbi Yisroel Ciner Perceptions by Rabbi Pinchas Winston Rabbi Wein by Rabbi Berel Wein Rabbi Zweig on the Parsha by Rabbi Yochanan Zweig Rabbi's Notebook by Rabbi Aron Tendler Rav Frand by Rabbi Yissocher Frand Short Vorts by Rabbi Chaim Flom Table Talk by Rabbi Raymond Beyda The Living Law by Rabbi Osher Chaim Levene BACK TO TOP Featured Article: The Man Who Has Everything By Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein http://www.torah.org/advanced/ravhirsch/5770/chayeisarah.html Now Avraham was old, well on in years, and Hashem had blessed Avraham with everything. What do you give to the man who has everything? More interestingly, what can you give him so that a man can be said to have everything? The Gemara offers three opinions.[2] A daughter, says R. Yehudah. R. Meir demurs. Quite to the contrary. The best way to upgrade him to everything status is to make sure that he won’t have a daughter! Some unnamed others object to both approaches, and offer a third. What Avraham got was a daughter named Everything. The “everything” that so many of us pursue is a protean figure, particularly in relation to our three Patriarchs. Each of them owned a different stake in it, leading to the familiar phrase from bentching בכל מכל כל, taken from the different ways each expressed his satisfaction in having so much. Each used a different variation of the word כל, everything, to describe the fullness of his life. To the casual observer, Avraham could make the best case for having had everything. Indeed, nothing lacked in his life, including fame and prosperity. Most importantly, however, he found personal blessing in his everything, which is not always the case. Too many people are privileged to an abundance of things, but never know the happiness that could flow from them. Avraham, though, found joy in what Hashem gave him. He found it to be a true blessing, and took real satisfaction in it. Therefore, the phrase he employed was bakol, or “in everything.” Yitzchok did not live as charmed an existence. He had to deal with numerous obstacles thrown up at him. Not every day was full of joy. Yet, he found joy in those challenges themselves, because he sensed just how he was expected to act, and he found happiness in his ability to respond to duty. He was able to draw something positive from everything – מכל – and turn a bad situation into a source of pride and joy. Of the three avos, Yaakov, beset by problems and grief, led the least attractive life. Yet he achieved the highest form of blessing of them all. He had כל, everything. He didn’t find his happiness in everything, or from everything. He simply lacked nothing. He was interested in doing, not in having. He could thus find satisfaction in every day of his life, regardless of how it looked to others. He had everything, without qualification or modifier. We return to the three opinions regarding Avraham’s “everything.” R. Meir contends that he was blessed by having a daughter withheld from him. This statement, seemingly disparaging the contribution of women, is more than ironic, set in the section of Bereishis that extols the virtues of Soro and Rivka! Additionally, according to Chazal no marriage has accomplished its goal without producing both a son and a daughter. How could failure to have a daughter be a source of blessing? The longest narrative of our parshah yields the explanation. Finding a proper mate for Yitzchok weighs heavily upon Avraham. He realizes that he, Avraham, cannot provide Yitzchok with what he needs; nothing but extraordinary Divine intervention could bring his quest to a successful end. Imagine how much more vexing it would have been to have raised a daughter, only to find it impossible for her to set up a household true to the principles with which she grew up. Avraham could hope to find some special woman for his Yitzchok – someone who would respond to his qualities and message, someone in whom the spirit of his household would resonate. What could he hope for in a partner for a cherished daughter? She would leave his house to take up residence with some Canaanite, living within an alien society. Whatever training Avraham would have given her would be lost, certain to be eroded in the course of time. Thoughts of this fate would constantly disturb his peace. Better not to have a daughter than to be beset with such worries! R. Yehudah argues that precisely with a daughter would Avraham find happiness. Hashem provided him with one – a young woman so compelling that she indeed won over a foreign spouse to her faith and way of life. She became a bridge, a link to the outside world, a pathway through which to spread Avraham’s ideals even further than they had otherwise travelled. What could be more important to Avraham than radiating his mission to the rest of the world? It was with such a daughter that Avraham found true blessing. The third view holds that Avraham’s great blessing was that he had no need of a physical daughter to create links to the world beyond. His very success, his blessing in every and all ways, attracted the attention of others. It won respect for him and his message, and functioned as a bridge-builder more successfully than a daughter could have. His “everything” thus became a substitute for a human daughter! R. Eliezer Ha-Moda’i and R Shimon ben Yocha’i further refine this idea. One said that Avraham’s knowledge of astrology attracted all the kings of East and West to consult with him daily. The other opined that Avraham possessed a precious stone that would cure those who merely looked upon it. These sages lay bare an unfortunate truism concerning the way men of the spirit are seen by the masses. Avraham’s riches did not really add to his happiness. He would have been just as content with less. Had he not been wealthy, however, he could not have had the impact upon others. They would not have taken him very seriously; the riches within him would have remained unnoticed. His material blessing was a necessary tool to help spread his message. His wealth and success, however, could not alone create influence. People would want to know the reason for his success. Had people believed that he achieved his wealth through his high moral standing, they would have admired him - but only from a distance. People do not run to learn how to become moral. They are not attracted by the power that can reside within a person’s character, a power that, while so easily comprehensible, seems humdrum and boring. Instead, they run towards esoteric knowledge, to the secret powers of magic and the occult! To be able to transcend the limitations of the ordinary – to be able to pull the unseen strings that control the areas beyond one’s grasp – this people find tantalizing. Part of Avraham’s “everything” was that Hashem engineered a reputation and mystique for him that worked. It charmed the masses into taking him seriously, on a level to which they could relate. Believing Avraham to possess special, extraordinary predictive powers, they were drawn towards him. Once they had met him, once baited on their own plane of mediocrity, they were able to respond to his true gifts. Meeting him in the flesh, they found that his knowledge was that of the philosopher, not of the astrologer. Once there (according to the other opinion), they learned that his magic stone was none other than a personality so giving and benevolent that people were healed by spending time in his presence. The upshot is identical. Avraham’s “everything” included the tools he had no particular interest in himself, but that Hashem judiciously provided him to make him more successful in acting as His ambassador to the world. Does The Torah Teach About the World to Come?3 And Avraham expired and died at a good old age, mature and content, and was gathered to his people. Too often in history, when people hostile to Judaism were confronted with Jewish contributions to mankind, they jumped through hoops to deny them. Adherents of other religions had a hard time with the Bible, given its obviously Jewish character. One of the techniques they resorted to was claiming that the Old Testament of the Jews was deficient, and required a later addition to offer the world what it needed most. One such claim dealt with the immortality of the soul. Nowhere, they triumphantly proclaimed, had they found an explicit text in which the Jewish Bible taught the doctrine of life after death. The world had to wait for a subsequent teaching. They are on to something. The Torah indeed does not make a point of teaching any such thing. It had no need to. People who could speak of a deceased being “gathered to his people” before his very burial had no need to be instructed in immortality. They took it for granted! To them it was patently obvious that the “real” person, his soul, took leave of the body and returned to his source. There, he joined his people, those who had made the journey into earthly life and beyond before he had. Only after this does the Torah speak of the burial, in which the remains of the earthly phase of a person’s life are respectfully interred in a manner that is fitting its role in assisting the soul during its few decades here. The Jewish people did not have to be taught something with which they were well familiar! -----[1] Based on Hirsch Chumash, Bereishis 24:1 [2] Bava Basra 16B [3] Based on Hirsch Chumash, Bereishis 25:8 BACK TO TOP     LifeLine, Copyright © 2009 by Torah.org Questions or comments? Email feedback@torah.org. Join the Jewish Learning Revolution! Torah.org: The Judaism Site brings this and a host of other classes to you every week. Visit http://torah.org or email learn@torah.org to get your own free copy of this mailing. Need to change or stop your subscription? Please visit our subscription center, http://torah.org/subscribe/ -- see the links on that page. Permission is granted to redistribute, but please give proper attribution and copyright to the author and Torah.org. Both the author and Torah.org reserve certain rights. Email copyrights@torah.org for full information.

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The Parshah in a Nutshell Chayei Sarah Genesis 23:1-25:18

Sarah dies at age 127 and is buried in the Machpeilah Cave in Hebron, which Abraham purchases from Ephron the Hittite for 400 shekels of silver. Abraham's servant, Eliezer, is sent laden with gifts to Charan to find a wife for Isaac. At the village well, Eliezer asks G-d for a sign: when the maidens come to the well, he will ask for some water to drink; the woman who will offer to give his camels to drink as well, shall be the one destined for his master's son. Rebecca, the daughter of Abraham's nephew Bethuel, appears at the well and passes the "test". Eliezer is invited to their home, where he repeats the story of the day's events. Rebecca returns with Eliezer to the land of Canaan, where they encounter Isaac praying in the field. Isaac marries Rebecca, loves her, and is comforted over the loss of his mother. Abraham takes a new wife, Keturah (Hagar) and fathers six additional sons, but Isaac is designated as his only heir. Abraham dies at age 175 and is buried beside Sarah by his two eldest sons, Isaac and Ishmael.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 Bruce and Kenneth Zuckerman, West Semitic Research/The Moussaieff Collection, London

ON THE COVER: “Lay not your hand upon the lad,” commands the angel of God as Abraham prepares to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22). The binding of Isaac is represented on this 1-inch-high pendant owned by collector Shlomo Moussaieff. As a test of Abraham’s faith, God orders him to sacrifice his son; when Abraham proves his willingness to obey, God tells him to spare Isaac, and Abraham sacrifices a ram instead. God then promises Abraham that he will have numerous descendents. Abraham, Isaac, the sacrificial altar and the hand of God are depicted on this onyx pendant, inscribed on its obverse side in an unusual form of Byzantine Aramaic. In “Magnificent Obsession,” Hershel Shanks provides a portrait of Shlomo Moussaieff, exploring the shadowy world of antiquities collectors—in whose private “museums” lie thousands of unpublished, uncataloged relics from the ancient world.

 

  Haftorahman for Parashat Chayei Sarah

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Parshas Chayei Sarah

Remembering the Day of Death



Sarah died in Kiriath Arba which is Hebron in the land of Canaun. And Abraham came to eulogize Sarah and bewail her (Bereishis 23: 2).
Rabbi Yitzchak Karo in his work, Toldos Yitzchak, explains that the account of Sarah's death is placed between Rivkah's birth and Yitzchak's marriage to remind us that even on such joyous occasions as a birth or a wedding, one must still remember the day of death. It is the day of death which puts life in its proper perspective. Thus we break a glass at a wedding, in part, to temper our joy with a reminder of the fragility of life and our ultimate mortality (see Berachos 31a and Tosafos ad loc.).

The Midrash interprets the verse, "And God saw that all that He had created was very good" (Bereishis 131)-'Good' refers to life; 'very good' to death. We remember our mortality in order not to love this world too much and forget our ultimate purpose (R' Yitzchak b. R' Shlomo on Pirkei Avos 3:1).

When one is confronted with the desire to sin, the Gemara (Berachos 5a) tells us, he should arouse his yetzer hatov to suppress his yetzer hara. If he is successful, fine; if not, he should learn Torah. If learning Torah is sufficient, fine; if not, he should recite Krias Shema. If this succeeds, fine; if not, he should remember the day of death.

From this Gemara we realize that focusing on our own mortality is not without its own dangers. Otherwise why not confront the yetzer hara initially with thoughts of death?

There are at least three ways that excessive concern with death can have negative results. When a person is suddenly confronted with his own mortality, a denial reaction may take place that manifests itself in irrational feelings of power and ability to overcome any threat. Secondly, awareness of one's mortality can also lead to despair or feelings that nothing in this world is of any meaning. Finally, thoughts of mortality can lead to feelings of total abandon and frenzied indulgence in physical pleasures "Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" (Yeshayahu 22 13).

Each of the stages mentioned by the Gemara is designed to counteract these negative consequences of remembering one's mortality. The exhortation to exercise one's free will in overpowering the yetzer hara reminds us of our own limited control in this world "Everything is in God's hands except the fear of Heaven" (Berachos 33b). Recognition of this fact prevents delusions of mastery and power.

Studying Torah and God's commandments-the second stage recommended by the Gemara for combating the yetzer hara - reminds us of the value of this world as the arena for fulfilling God's will and earning eternal reward. We thereby counteract feelings of despair generated by remembering the day of death.

And finally, reading Krias Shema and accepting the yoke of Heaven restrains us from wallowing in earthly pleasures.

Once we have anticipated all the negative consequences, we can use the knowledge of our own mortality positively: to remind ourselves that time is limited, the stakes are high, and if not now, when. "Repent one day before your demise," Chazal advise us (Pirkei Avos 2:15). In other words, treat every day as if it were the last and live it with a sense of urgency and desire to secure one's eternal reward. Talmudei Rabbeinu Yonah (to Berachos 25a) comment on the phrase, "We run and they run. We run to eternal life, and they run to ultimate destruction," as meaning that one must be constantly aware that he is running towards his final destiny and do all in his power now to acquire eternal reward.

Considered in this way, awareness of death can be an exhilarating incentive to realize the spiritual potential in every moment. That, said the Alter of Kelm, was why R' Hamenuna Zuti entertained the guests

at a wedding feast by singing, "Woe to us that we are dying; woe to us that we are dying" (Berachos 31a). This chant was not a dirge, but rather a joyous challenge to the new couple to enhance their true simchah.

When R' Akiva saw his students dozing off during shiur, he awoke them by asking, "What did Esther contemplate that caused her to rule one hundred and twenty seven provinces? He answered that she had reflected on the life of Sarah, who lived one hundred and twenty seven years" (Bereishis Rabbah 58 3). Sarah lived a full one hundred and twenty seven years, each moment utilized to the fullest. Her life furnished Esther with the model she needed to reach her full potential. The same consideration, R' Akiva implied to his students, should lead them to remain attentive and not slumber during their learning.

The sedrah recounting Sarah's death is called Chayei Sarah-the life of Sarah, to teach us that the awareness of death gives meaning and inspiration to life.




Chesed - Foundation of Emunah

She said, 'Drink my Lord,' and quickly she lowered her jug to her hand and gave him drink. When she finished giving him drink, she said, 'I will draw water even for your camels until they have finished drinking' (Bereishis 24 18-19).
Chazal teach us that kindness and benevolence — gemilas chassadim — is one of the pillars upon which the world stands. Yet it still remains to be understood why chesed was the sole criterion which Eliezer, the servant of Avraham, considered in choosing a wife for Yitzchak.

The benefit of chesed in promoting harmony between people is obvious. But there are many sources in Chazal that link chesed to other values where the connection is far less obvious. The Midrash (Yalkut Shoftim 64), for instance, states that one who does acts of chesed is viewed as if he believes in all the miracles that Hashem performed for the Jewish people; one who does not do acts of chesed is considered as if he denied all the miracles. Another Midrash (Koheles Rabbah 7) links chesed to emunah: One who rejects chesed is as if he denies God. The Torah begins and ends with acts of chesed (Sotah 14a), and Maharal explains that just as in a chain the connecting links are on the ends, so, too, the links to Hashem that emanate from the Torah are created by chesed.

What exactly is the connection of chesed to emunah? Understanding that connection requires us to consider the ultimate barrier to faith in God. Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman, hy "d, in Kovetz Ma'amarim, writes that God's existence is obvious to every human being. The orderly and complex nature of the universe cries out the existence of an intelligent Creator. Only a person's desires and passions blind him to seeing the truth. Shortsighted self-interest prevents him from recognizing that which is self-evident. Chazal enjoin us from straying after false ideologies with the words, "Do not stray after your heart." The source of false ideologies is not in the intellect but the heart. The passions of the heart deprive the intellect of the objectivity necessary to acknowledge the truth. As Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch so beautifully puts its, "Emunah is not the knowledge that there is a God, but rather the acknowledgment."

Our discussion of a person's desires as the major barrier to emunah will help us understand a difficult Rashi in Lech Lecha. Rashi says that God miraculously saved the King of Sodom from his fall into a lime pit because there were those who did not believe that Avraham had been miraculously saved from the fiery furnace of Nimrod. Only when they heard of the miraculous deliverance of the King of Sodom, did they retroactively believe in Avraham's salvation.

Ramban asks what was the connection between the King of Sodom's miraculous escape and belief in the miracle on Avraham's behalf. The essence of the miracle on Avraham's behalf was that he was saved on account of his righteousness and trust in Hashem, factors completely absent in the case of the King of Sodom. Ramban speculates that perhaps the King of Sodom was delivered from the pit when Avraham approached it, and hence it was obvious that he was saved due to the merit of Avraham. But if so, Rashi omitted the crucial detail. In addition, what does Rashi mean that they believed in Avraham retroactively? It would seem rather that they believed in Avraham from that point on.

Avraham's salvation from the fiery furnace was a matter of public knowledge. It took place before a multitude of spectators who had come to witness Nimrod's execution of the heretical destroyer of idols. How, then, could there be people who did not believe? The answer is that even well-documented historical occurrences can be denied if their implications point to uncomfortable conclusions. Belief in Avraham's miraculous deliverance necessitated recognition of an intelligent Creator, Who is involved in this world and rewards the righteous. And that in turn would lead logically to recognition of the need to subjugate oneself to God's design for the world. Those with uncontrollable passions therefore needed to reject what they or others had clearly seen.

But when the King of Sodom was saved in a miraculous fashion, the miracle no longer needed to be attributed to Divine reward and punishment. It could be argued that supernatural events can benefit the wicked as well as the righteous. No longer did the miracle suggest the existence of a God of justice. The evildoers of that generation could now believe retroactively in Avraham's miracle, for there was no longer any need to deny its implications. Though Hashem performed this miracle to demonstrate to the non-believers the fickleness of their approach-their lack of intellectual honesty and integrity-they used it to further blind themselves to His reward and punishment.

We have seen that the belief in God is a direct function of one's freedom from subjective desires and capacity for objectivity. This, then, is the connection between chesed and emunah. Only one who can be selflessly concerned with others, who can divest himself of his own needs and be sensitive to those of others can attain the objectivity needed for the true belief in Hashem. Avraham was rosin hama'aminim-the first and greatest of the believers-and at the same time the pillar of chesed. The two are inseparable.

The Baalei Mussar point out that the difference between a window and a mirror is but a little "kesef"-silver. Kesef is derived from the root "to desire." When one gives into passions and desires, he sees only himself. Similarly, one who is selfishly concerned only with himself will distort the world. One who frees himself of this selfish perspective and looks out the window to be concerned with others will ultimately have a more honest and objective perspective of the world.

Therefore Eliezer tested Rivkah to see if she was a lover of chesed. He sought not just someone who acted with kindness but a lover of chesed like Avraham, who actually suffered when opportunities to perform chesed did not present themselves.

Eliezer tested Rivkah by asking her for a favor rather than letting her offer first. It is easier to volunteer chesed, which is a boost to one's own self image, than to acquiesce to another's request. Eliezer stood by quietly while Rivkah toiled to draw water for his entire flock of camels. He neither offered to help in the slightest way nor expressed any gratitude. Had Rivkah not sought to do chesed for its own sake, she would have been discouraged by his rudeness. Only when Eliezer was convinced that Rivkah's chesed emanated from complete selflessness, did the test cease. For now he knew that Rivkah's selflessness guaranteed the objectivity needed for true emunah, and that she was fit to be the mother of the Jewish people.

 

 

 

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The Maharal: His Life and Works By Matis Greenblatt. Jewish Action, Fall 2009/5769 The 18th of Elul, 5709 (September 7, 2009), marked the 400th yahrtzeit of an extraordinary figure in Jewish history: the Maharal of Prague, Rabbi Yehudah Loew. Read More » Kosher - Quiz By Rabbi Yonatan Kaganoff Test your Kosher knowledge with this quiz. Test your knowledge! » Don’t just read the parsha, understand it.   The people who brought you Nach Yomi now present Shnayim Mikra, an exciting way to review the weekly Torah portion aliyah by aliyah. Learn more Parsha Columns Mourning Sarah: Rabbi Weinreb on Parshat Chayei Sarah By Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb Grief is the most powerful and most painful of human emotions. Yet, it is an emotion which few human beings can avoid in their lifetime. We all face loss, and we all grieve. Read entire article » Chayei Sarah: Gray Matter By Rabbi Asher Brander In our shul (and I suspect in many others) the Artscroll siddur gray box is well known to many. 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Covenant & Conversation: Genesis The Book of Beginnings (co-published with Maggid) is the first ever collection of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’ essays on the weekly parsha. Erudite and eloquent, Covenant & Conversation allows readers to experience Chief Rabbi Sacks’ sophisticated approach to life lived in an ongoing dialogue with the Torah. Fresh Fruit & Vintage Wine: Ethics and Wisdom of the Aggada (co-published with Ktav and Yeshivat Har Etzion) by Rabbi Yitzchak Blau takes the enduring wisdom of the Aggada and expresses it with freshness and vitality. Arranged by topic, the book explores enigmatic Talmudic texts and uses classical commentaries to explain the passages and show their relevance to contemporary life. Learn more about these books and buy them at a 15% discount at www.OUPress.org. Next OU Job Tutorials: Ten Steps to a Federal Job Thu. Nov 12 RESUME CHECK-UP DAY BOCA RATON Thu. Nov 12 Mortgage & Credit Crises-Practical Answers & Solutions to Your Credit Issues Mon. 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OU Department of Community Services In association with ProjectSinai.org Parshat Chayei Sarah - Rabbi Weinreb A Mitzvah to take a bath This Week's Haftarah* Rabbi Jeremy Wieder Torah Tidbits Audio Phil Chernofsky is the educational director of the OU Israel Center and the editor of Torah Tidbits, the Center's weekly Torah publication distributed throughout Israel. The Coming Week's Daf Yomi by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz This essay is based upon the insights and chidushim (original ideas) of Talmudic scholar Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, as published in the Hebrew version of the Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud. Masechet Bava Batra- 84a-90b Dvar Torah by Britain's Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Covenant and Conversation -  Parents and Children, Husbands and Wives The Orthodox Union’s Department of Community Services in conjunction with Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future will present a communal Symposium on “Making Our Tefillot More Meaningful and Personal” Featuring Rabbi Moshe Weinberger of Congregation Aish Kodesh, Rabbi Mayer Twersky, Rosh Yeshiva, RIETS, Yeshiva University, and Rabbi Eli Monsour, of the Sephardic Congregation Bet Yaakob. The symposium will take place Sunday Morning, December 6 From 9:45am to 11:45am at DRS High School, 700 Ibsen Street in Woodmere. Admission is free to the entire community. This program is part of a National effort to help develop a deeper connection, understanding, and appreciation of our Tefillot. For more information, please contact 212-613-8188. Dear Friends, We are proud to let you know that Lenny Solomon and Shlock Rock have released a brand new Jewish music album and for the first time you can download it and pay what you want! Lenny has worked for NCSY since 1981. His music has inspired Jewish families to come closer to their heritage. So why would Lenny do this? Because he loves this music and has worked very hard on it. He wants you to have this new release! You decide what you would like to pay for this musical production! There are 12 original English songs which Lenny Solomon wrote and each one is better than the next! To begin the process, click here and download the 31st Shlock Rock album! Enjoy the music! Then tell all your friends! OU Kosher: LISTEN NOW ON OURADIO Fermentation: A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread, and Th’ O.U. OU Kosher News Learn about all that's new in the world of OU Kosher. Subscribe to OUKosher RSS Feeds and get OUKosher news, articles and information delivered right to your desktop. Kashrut Feature Article What foods are subject to concern about Bishul Akum and must be cooked by a Jew?  OU Events: ASK OU OUTREACH Comes to Passaic-Clifton November 14, 2009 The Harry H. Beren ASK OU OUTREACH Kashrut Program will conduct a series of kashrut shiurim in the Passaic-Clifton community on 3 consecutive Motzoei Shabbat: November 7, 14 and 21. Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski In an Open Forum on Singles Issues November 14, 2009 Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski & Lisa Twerski, LCSW in a rare, open forum on singles issues OU Kosher Webcast November 17, 2009 OU Kosher Poskim, Rabbi Yisroel Belsky and Rabbi Hershel Schachter will be speaking on topic: Cooking on Shabbos. Professional Development Workshop for Mental Health Professionals November 25, 2009 To address the urgent problem of eating disorders, the OU presents a special professional development workshop for yeshiva and day school mental health professionals and guidance counselors. 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Parshat Chayei Sara 27 Cheshvan 5770 November 14-15, 2009 Haftarah: Melachim I 1:1-31 This Shabbat: Mevarchim Hachodesh for the month of Kislev. Special Day this Week: Rosh Chodesh Kislev is celebrated on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 17-18. Candlelighting Times and Zmanim Important Changes to Zmanim Calculations Holiday Calendar Archived Divrei Torah for this Week Choose a Dvar Torah OU Kosher News Parsha Summary Halacha of the Week Recipes Torah Choose a Dvar Torah Archived Divrei Torah for this Week Parsha Summary Halacha of the Week Chayei Sara - Saving a Life on Shabbat Read entire story » Last Week Go to OU homepage www.ou.org * From the VaYavinu BaMiqra CD.  This CD can be ordered here.