Parashat Shavua

Hemdat Yamim Parashat Ha'azinu-Shuva

Hemdat Yamim Ha'azinu-Shuva 8 Tishrei 5763 ===================================== This edition of Hemdat Yamim is dedicated to the memory of R' Meir ben Yechezkel Shraga Brachfeld o.b.m. ===================================== Eretz Hemdah is the premier institution for training young rabbi's to take the Israeli Rabbinate's rigorous Yadin Yadin examinations. Eretz Hemdah, with its distinctive blend of Religious Zionist philosophy and scholarship coupled with community service, ensures its graduates emerge with the finest training, the noblest motivations and the strongest connection to Jewish communities worldwide. ====================================== Don't Judge a Book by its Cover / Harav Moshe Ehrenreich The gemara (Rosh Hashana 16b) says: "Three books are opened on Rosh Hashana, one of the fully wicked, one of the fully righteous, and one of average people (beinonim). The fully righteous are promptly inscribed and sealed for life. The fully wicked are promptly inscribed and sealed for death. The beinonim are left hanging from Rosh Hashana until Yom Kippur. If they merit, they are written for life. If they do not merit, they are written for death." The Rambam (Teshuva 3:3) adds on that the beinonim are sealed for life only if they do teshuva. It is difficult to understand the need for three books, according to the gemara's description. The books of the righteous and the wicked both contain people, but it seems that the book of beinonim is only a waiting list for those about whom it has not been decided if they belong to the righteous or the wicked. Another famous question is asked on the Rambam. Why is it necessary for beinonim to do teshuva in order to merit life? Why can't they just elevate their actions so that the week plus until Yom Kippur provides them with more merits than liabilities? Rav Charlop (Mei Marom, Ori V'Yishi 64) provides the following fundamental answer to the first question. There are indeed people who are permanently inscribed as beinonim. However, some beinonim are also inscribed for life, while others are less fortunate. One must realize, though, that a beinoni who is inscribed for life is not a tzaddik, and his neshama suffers from the reality of being among the beinonim. If we incorporate to this approach one of the famous answers to the second question, we can say as follows. The days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur contain a special power to do teshuva. On the one hand, one who does not do teshuva cannot be sufficiently helped by standard good deeds to survive. On the other hand, one who makes full use of the opportunity to do teshuva out of love can elevate himself and turn "aveirot into virtues." Under those circumstances, he can extricate himself from the status of beinoni and be considered a tzaddik. It turns out that one's work of the ten Days of Repentance is to achieve one of the following possibilities: 1. To ensure that he ends the judgment period as at least a beinoni who merits life. 2. To arouse oneself to a sufficient level of teshuva to enable joining the book of the righteous. May we all merit to be inscribed and sealed in the book of the fully righteous and merit life, in its fullest and most fulfilling sense. ========================================= P'ninat Mishpat - Matana al M'nat L'hachzir (Gift on Condition to Return) On a regular Sukkot (see Moreshet Shaul to see how this year is different), it is common for people to employ an interesting twist on the laws of kinyanim (acquisitions), a gift on condition to return. The gemara (Kiddushin 6b) discusses a person who gives five s'laim to a kohen for pidyon haben on condition that the kohen returns the money as a present or someone who gives money to acquire a field on condition that the seller return the money to him. The gemara concludes that the processes are valid despite the seemingly contradictory condition (except the condition that a bride must return the ring which is used for kiddushin). The gemara's proof is Rava's statement that one can give his etrog to a friend on condition that the friend returns it. One should understand that this conditional gift is not like lending an object, which is invalid on the first day of Sukkot, nor is it a temporary present. It is a permanent present on condition. One can give a friend a present and make it conditional on receiving a thank-you note. The present is a complete one, and the condition is an external manner of undoing the present under certain circumstances. This retroactive uprooting of a transaction is the Torah's chidush, learned from the way Moshe Rabbeinu conditionally gave the East Bank to Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven (see Tosafot, Ketubot 56a). Although our condition seems to make the present meaningless, as it appears to totally reverse it, Rava teaches us that it is no different from any other condition (in most areas of halacha). In truth, it does not preclude the present's significance, because the present allows the recipient to enjoy use of the object for some time (sometimes specified and sometimes not), as long as he returns it later. Of course, if the recipient doesn't end up returning the object as specified, it turns out that he really never owned it in the first place. In the case of the etrog, such a recipient would not have fulfilled the mitzva of arba'at haminim. =========================================== Moreshet Shaul (from the works of Hagaon Harav Shaul Yisraeli zt"l) Drasha for Shabbat Shuva 5703 (adapted from D'rashot Layamim Hanoraim, pg. 45) "You will serve there gods, the makings of man, of wood and stone... and you will seek out Hashem your G-d from there and you will find when you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul" (Devarim 4:28-29). Sometimes specifically from the low of gods of wood and stone, one can reach for Hashem. When walking on the earth, the further away you get from a point from one direction, the closer you get from the opposite direction. Wood and stone are two forms of idolatry-like misconceptions that exist today. Wood, the growing tree, has a modern model in the philosophy of labor, to which many Jews in Israel subscribe, that they can accomplish anything through their own efforts, without Divine assistance. The stone represents the philosophy of the Soviet regime in which Jews were involved, where all compassion for our fellow person is to be removed from the heart, and the heart is to turn into stone. From both of these camps, we see signs of sobering and a desire to return to a better path. However, disenchantment is only half the task, and they still need to find the proper direction. In our camp, we have a solid foundation of faith and Torah values. If we were to feel a need for teshuva, we would know where to go. However, we are dozing and do not feel the need for teshuva. The navi Yeshaya already described our disease. "Since this nation approaches Me with its mouth... but its heart is far from Me, and their fear of Me is like the learned (melumadah) command of men. Therefore, I will continue to do wonders against this nation, wonder upon wonder, and the wisdom of the wise shall be lost" (Yeshaya 29:13-14). It is clear that the navi was criticizing those who were involved in a religious lifestyle. What is the problem with the learned fear of Hashem, something we are commanded to do (Devarim 14:23; ibid. 4:10)? Are we not to learn from people? The distinction is as follows. The proper study of the fear of Hashem is as the Torah instructs the king: "It[the Torah scroll] will be with him and he will read from it all the days of his life in order that he learn to fear Hashem..." (Devarim 17:19). The study must be continuous all of one's life. "Melumadah" implies a completed study, without a need to further develop one's understanding. There is a tendency to not only make due with the level of faith which one received in grade school, but to believe that there is nothing beyond that. Under such circumstances, the wisdom of the wise will indeed be lost, as the navi says, because no one feels a need to learn from them. After all, there appears to be nothing more that is worthwhile to learn! Teshuva is another mitzva that everyone knows about but is also "learned." In that atmosphere, a person can beat his chest all day, but the heart isn't affected one bit. In contrast, Yoel (2:13) tells us: "Tear your hearts and not your clothes." Against these tendencies, the days of teshuva present the imperative, "Renew (chidsho) your actions in this month (chodesh)." Refresh yourself, examine yourself, and be prepared to set yourselves anew. Give a fresh look at the words of tefilla, as the service of Hashem of these days requires, and overcome the tendency to be "melumadah." =========================================== Ask the Rabbi Question: Does one have to buy a set arba'at haminim (=lulav) for a son Before bar mitzva, or can he share his father's? Answer: The gemara (Sukka 46b) says that one shouldn't give (with a kinyan) his lulav to a minor on the first yom tov, because a minor can receive an object but cannot give it to others. On the first yom tov, one must fully own the lulav when performing the mitzva (Shulchan Aruch, OC 649:2). If a father gives his lulav to his son, no adult will be able to use it to fulfill the mitzva. The simplest advice for parents is to buy a child his own kosher lulav from the time he is obligated in the mitzva (when he can shake the lulav appropriately (ibid., OC 657:1; Biur Halacha, ad loc.)). The Shulchan Aruch (658:6) does bring a dissenting opinion (Ran) that a child at the stage of p'utot (who understands buying and selling- usually at age six) is able to halachically give the lulav back (see Shulchan Aruch, CM 235:1). Many poskim counter that the minor can acquire the lulav from the Torah (when it is given to him by an adult) but can return it only rabbinically. Therefore, adults will not have the Torah-level ownership they require. The Ran can argue that a minor can acquire an object only rabbinically, and he can return it on the same level (see Biur Halacha, ad loc.). Others explain that the machloket depends on the classic question whether kinyanim of rabbinic origin work in regard to halachot from the Torah (Melamed L'hoil I,120). The Shulchan Aruch's first, stringent opinion is considered the more authoritative one. The Shulchan Aruch (ibid.) presents another (partial?) solution. The idea is for the adult to hold on to the lulav (ibid.) or otherwise maintain ownership as the child shakes the lulav (Mishna Berura 658:28). Does this idea work for the child, or just the adult? The Mishna Berura (ibid.) brings two opinions whether one fulfills the mitzva of chinuch of a child with a borrowed set. Rav Feinstein (Igrot Moshe, OC III, 95) demonstrates the basis for the two approaches, whether practical training suffices to fulfill the mitzva of chinuch or whether he has to perform the mitzva in a manner which is fully valid for an adult. He sides with the stringent opinion and explains that the practice in Europe not to buy a lulav for children was based on the fact that sets were very expensive, but that in our days, a father should buy a set for his son. Minchat Yitzchak (IX, 183), addressing a much poorer community with larger families, reconfirms the legitimacy of leniency for financial reasons. When Sukkot starts on Shabbat [like this year], we start taking the lulav on the second day. In Eretz Yisrael, we do not need ownership of the lulav (Shulchan Aruch 658:1). Therefore, a father can lend his set to his children. Even in a regular year, he can give it to his child after all adults have fulfilled the mitzva. (His child will regrettably not be fulfilling the mitzva during Hallel, with this system). In chutz la'aretz, ownership is needed on the second day, which is treated like the first (Mishna Berura 658:23). Thus, the only agreed upon way to share in chutz la'aretz [even this year] is to give the lulav to the child after the adults are done on the second day. Harav Shaul Israeli zt"l Founder and President Deans: Harav Yosef Carmel Harav Moshe Ehrenreich ERETZ HEMDAH 5 Ha-Mem Gimmel St. P.O.B 36236 Jerusalem 91360 Tel/Fax: 972-2-5371485 Email: eretzhem@netvision.net.il web-site: www.eretzhemdah.org American Friends of Eretz Hemdah Institutions c/o Olympian 8 South Michigan Ave. Suite 605 Chicago, IL 60603 USA Our Taxpayer ID#: 36-4265359

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