One For All

 לְזֹאת֙ יִקָּרֵ֣א אִשָּׁ֔ה כִּ֥י מֵאִ֖ישׁ לֻֽקְחָה־זֹּֽאת.  Rashi says that the name אשה is לשון נופל על הלשון from איש.  However, man is referred to as אדם, not as איש.  Why is man called אדם and not איש?  The Gemorah in Yevamot (61a) says אתם קרויין אדם ואין העובדי כוכבים קרויין אדם.  Why are gentiles not called אדם?  The word אדם is used both to refer to a single individual or to a group of people, it is both the singular and plural form.  The word איש when used in plural form becomes אנשים.  As explained before, the concept of a tzibbur, of many individuals making up one group is only applicable by Jews, not by gentiles.  That is why gentiles are not referred to as אדם because they lack this quality of being able to be a group, to be many אדם as one.  (See here different sources for this idea.)  The possuk says in Tazria (13:2) אדם כי יהיה, it uses the terminology of אדם, why?  The Sefer Apiryon (of author of Kitzur Shulchan Aruch) uses the above idea to explain.  The sin of loshon harah, one of the causes of tzaras is when one causes a separation between people. However, gentiles, whom lack the quality of a tzibbur are not stricken with loshon harah for they are never together as a tzibbur anyway.  That is why the possuk says אדם, because you are fit to be אדם, to be together as one group, and you violated that, you will be stricken with tzaras. That is why the possuk refers to man as אדם, because it is since he is a אדם, since he needs to be part of a group, that he needs a partner. (Otzar HaTorah.)  Built into the very creation of mankind is the need to be part of a group.  

Removing The Façade

Rashi asks why does it say וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם אֶחָֽד and not יום ראשון which would fit according to the order that it is the first day?  Rashi answers על שם שהיה הקב״ה אחד בעולמו, שלא נבראו המלאכים עד יום שיני.  Asks the Lubavitcher Rebbe (Likutay Sichos volume 25,) how can you say there was only Hashem if the light was only created?  Answers the Rebbe, that the light created on the first day was as Rashi says, the light hidden away for the tzaddikim.  As explained as few weeks ago from Rav Wolbe, the world conceals Hashem's presence.  The clarity of the light of creation was the ability to see through the façade of the World and see the Godliness inherit in it.  However, that light was hidden away to make space for man to make a choice between good and evil.  This light was not a contradiction to the fact that שהיה הקב״ה אחד בעולמו, it complimented it. 

On a certain level that may be the intent of the Gemorah (Shavuot 9a) that Hashem says הביאו עלי כפרה על שמעטתי את הירח.  The Gemorah doesn't mean that originally the moon had its own light like the sun, rather it constantly was able to reflect the light of the sun from all sides, not like the current state of waking and waning.  This represents that sometimes we can't see Hashem, we do not see the light.  For that we need to bring a korban, to come close to Hashem to help remove this separation (Or Gedalyahu Nissan.) 

The Beis Avrohom (Slonim) brings from the Warka that during the week we say good day in the day and good night at night but on Shabbos we say guut Shabbos even at night because there is no aspect of night to Shabbos, it is all considered day. He says that is why it says the word יום three times about Shabbos, ויכל אלקים ביום השביעי, וישבת ביום השביעי, ויברך אלקים את יום השביעי to tell us that the night, morning and afternoon of Shabbos are all considered day.  What does it mean that Shabbos is considered day? 

Last year we explained that the light used in creation was hidden in the Torah.  One who learns Torah in a proper manner can have a clarity of the Godliness of the world.  The Sfas Emes Shelach (5649) says that mitzvot come to fix the body and Torah comes to fix the neshama.  That is why Shabbos, the day of the neshama, the focus is on Torah.  אכן בחי' התורה הוא כולו אור לנשמת אלוקי ממעל והוא בחי' השבת יומא דנשמתין ולאו דגופא. לכן שבת יעשה כולו תורה.  That is what it means that Shabbos does not have night.  The light of clarity shines on Shabbos.  

The Degel Machene Efraim:

Chilul Hashem And Lebron James

 Due to the amount of people that took it upon themselves to misdefine  the concept of chillul Hashem, I will share what the Mictav volume 3 pg. 117-118 says.

According to the mistaken view of those decrying chillul Hashem, I showed the following picture to a friend and he declared it must be a chillul shem Lebron,

Where's the outcry, the lack of masks (according to those that believe it is right to take away the rights of other's to breathe,) the crowd with no distancing?!  Veistos, that is not the issue, rather it is something else....

Future Commitment

We say in the hadran, הדרן עלך וכו והדרך עלן etc. Which means we will return to you, and you return to us. The first half is understandable, we are saying that we will come back to the Tractate but what does it mean הדרך עלן, that the Torah should return to us? The Tractate can't jump off the shelf into your hand?

I heard an explanation from Rav Yisraeli shlita (I subsequently found the same idea in some seforim.) The Gemorah in Sanhedrin (99b) says שנאמר (משלי טז, כו) נפש עמל עמלה לו כי אכף עליו פיהו הוא עמל במקום זה ותורתו עומלת לו במקום אחר. Rashi says (girsah of Eyen Yaakov,) שמחזרת עליו ומבקשת מאת קונה למסור לו טעמי תורה וסתריה. We see that the Torah itself prays to Hashem for a person to be successful in their learning. How can the Torah beseech Hashem for a person? Because the Torah is Torah Chayim. As I like to tell my sister when she says quiet, only dead things are quiet. Learning Torah is not studying some ancient, dead history. Torah is a living screaming organism. By assuring הדרן עלך, that you have not left the Tractate behind, it will be הדרך עלן, it will help you understand the next Tractate as well.  

The Haghos Ashri end of Sukkah brings the midrash (Shir Hashirim 1:9 ) that says after Shlomo asked Hashe for a לב שומע, wisdom and understanding, מיד ויבא ירושלים ויעמוד לפני ארון ברית ה' ויעל עולות ויעש שלמים ויעש משתה לכל עבדיו, א"ר אלעזר מכאן שעושין סעוד' לגמרה של תורה.  How is this a source for making a siyum, Shlomo did not learn anything yet, he was just given greater ability?  We see the celebration is for the Torah that was learnt, rather it is for the Torah that will be learnt.  In other words, after one finishes a Tractate, their connection to Torah is strengthened.  The Torah will come to the individual's aid to be able to have a greater understanding in Torah.  That is the הדרן עלן, celebrating the greater insights in Torah that are possible because one has finished a Tractate. 

Many come into Simchas Torah wondering what is the simcha for me, I didn't learn enough this year, I'm not learning in yeshiva/kollel, what does it have to do with me?  The answer is that we are not celebrating last year's learning, it is a time of commitment for the future.  In some institutions people make learning pledges for the upcoming year.  That is taking upon themselves the commitment for the future (Kotzker.)

On Sukkot there are the great celebrations of the בית השואבה.  Why is the simcha called the simcha of the בית השואבה, when the mitzvah is not the drawing of the water, rather the libation?  And what is so great about the water libation that it deserves such simcha?  Rashi Vayikra (2:13) tells us since the water that was placed on earth complained that they were being sent further away from Hashem they meir to be offered in the water libation on Sukkot.  The water libation indicates our desire to do more, to come closer to Hashem.  That is what we are celebrating.  That is why the celebration is for the בית השואבה, for we are not celebrating the completing of the mitvah, rather the opportunity to reconnect ourselves to Hashem.  That starts with the preparation of the mitzvah.  It is the new opportunity of having shed our baggage of the previous year on the High Holy days and now we are starting a better relationship with Hashem (see the Hornosteipel.)  

Day Of Laughter

In Maaseh Rav #133 it says the Gaon was happy on Sukkot and even happier on Shemini Atzeret which is the greatest day of happiness according to the kabbalah.  What is the great happiness of Shemini Atzeret?  In Even Shelameh Ch. 11 #10 it brings from the Gaon that the holidays in Tishrei correspond to the process of the future days, starting with the great day of judgment.  The day of Shemini Atzeret corresponds to the time when the כופרים of Hashem will be finished off and Klal Yisroel alone will left to rejoice with Hashem and we will eat the three feasts of Shabbos, לויתן, בהמות הררי אלף ויין משומר.  The Gaon says in Mishley (31:25) on the possuk עֹז־וְהָדָ֥ר לְבוּשָׁ֑הּ וַ֝תִּשְׂחַ֗ק לְי֣וֹם אַחֲרֽוֹן says that עוז in on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, הדר is on Sukkot and וַ֝תִּשְׂחַ֗ק לְי֣וֹם אַחֲרֽוֹן is a reference to Shemini Atzeret.  Again, we see that he defines Atzeret as the principal day of simcha. 

The very next piece in Even Shelameh says the סעודת לויתן is the דעת that will be increased and that is the greatest joy.  

As explained on this blog before, laughing or שחק comes about when a completely unexpected event happens.  As explained in the last post, the holiday of Atzeret is to bring Godliness into the earth.  It is to be able to bring kedusha in that which seems the opposite of it that creates the ultimate שחוק.

Earth Holiday

 In the Gra al HaTorah Pinchas it brings:

What does this mean? 

The Targum Yonason on the possuk of  בַּיּוֹם֙ הַשְּׁמִינִ֔י עֲצֶ֖רֶת תִּהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֑ם (Pinchas 29:35) explains that you shall gather yourself in your house and leave the sukkah, ביומא תמינאה כנישין תהוון בחדוא מן מט(יל){לי}כון לבתיכון.  Why does he emphasize the leaving of the sukkah, it is a mitzvah and we generally leave mitzvot with sadness?  Rashi in Sukkah (48a) also says that Atzeret is a רגל in its own right means that you don't have to sit in the sukkah, again emphasizing leaving the sukkah, why?  As we wrote last week, the yesod of the mitzvah of sukkah is to leave aside the plesures and pursuits of this mortal world and pursue ruchniut.  However, Atzeret is a higher level than that. While it is of course necessary to reject the הבל הבלים present in this world, to completely reject the physical world is not the ultimate goal either.  The greatest kedusha if found hidden specifically in the physical world.  After we have inbued the lesson of Sukkot and have learned to reject the הבל הבלים, we are now ready to find the kedusha that is present in the earth.  That is why the Targum and Rashi emphasize that we leave the sukkah, because ultimatly we must learn to come into our house, enter the physical world and find the kedusha inherint in it.  That is the power of Atzeret and that is maybe what the Gra means it is נגד הארץ, present in the earth, the mostr base matirial, we have to find and bring kedusha. With this we can understand why the possuk says עֲצֶ֖רֶת תִּהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֑ם, why does it not say 'עצרת לה, as it says in Reah about the last day of Pesach?  Because we find the kedusha in the לכם, in the actions of your own mundane world. 

Sukkot Story

This is a Reb Shlomo story (with a few minor changes) that I found someone else wrote the whole thing online and I did the old copy and paste.  So, if you want a hassidic tale and have never heard it before, here it is. 

 It has been told that Reb Zusha was a very humble man. So much so that he never referred to himself in the first person so as not to say the words “I” or “Me”.

Zusha and his brother Rebb Elimelech were merchants for a living, and not very successful ones at that. They were both so poor that while one taught at the Beit Midrash, the other had to travel from one town to the next just to make ends meet.

It was on the eve of Sukkot one year that Reb Zusha found himself in a small town in the north-eastern regions of Russia. With no money for a place to stay, Rebb Zusha made his way to the local shul, hoping to find some kind Jews. When he walked in to shul, a murmur passed through out the synagogue, “could it be? Is that Rebb Zusha?? It is, isn’t it?”

His great name in Torah and good deeds had gone before him and it wasn’t long before the Rabbi of the shul invited him to sit by his side and asked that he stay by him for the holiday. Rebb Zusha was thankful for his lot.

They sat in the Sukkah for hours after dinner, singing, learning Torah and telling stories. Finally it was time for bed and the Rabbi ordered his servants to prepare the Sukkah for sleep, since it is a great Mitzvah to sleep in the Sukkah. When they asked Rebb Zusha how many blankets he would need, he answered “none”, he had all that he could ever want. At this the Rabbi looked up perplexed.. “Rebb Zusha, we are pretty far north. It gets very cold at night, please take some blankets. But Zusha refused “You have already given Zusha more than he could dream of, Zusha will be fine” Zusha said adamantly.

“But…” stuttered the Rabbi, he did not continue, he realized that Zusha was not going to budge. “Put the blankets on the edge of his bed” he said to the servant, “I am sure that when it gets cold enough he will give in and take a blanket.” The servant did as the Rabbi requested and left the Sukkah.

As they lay in their beds, The Rabbi under dozens of blankets and Rebb Zusha still in the clothes of his travels, The Rabbi thought he heard a whisper. Listening carefully he became aware that it was coming from Rebb Zusha. First it sounded like a prayer, but as his ears grew accustomed to the sounds of the night, he understood that a conversation was taking place.

“God..? This is your humble servant Zusha. You have done great things for your servant today as you do everyday in his life, much that he does not deserve. Tonight you gave him a warm community, a meal, a bed to sleep in… he should not ask you for any more.. but.. but.. it’s a little cold in this Sukkah. Would it be a terrible inconvenience for you blessed father to make it a little warmer?”

When the Rabbi, pretending to sleep in the bed near by heard this he couldn’t help but smile to himself. “Soon he will reach for the Blankets”, He thought.

He hardly had time to amuse himself with this thought when he realized that it seemed a little warmer in the Sukkah. He removed a few blankets in disbelief.

Moments later the Rabbi heard the whispers again. “God..? This is your humble servant Zusha again, Zusha knows you are very busy and thanks you. Zusha knows that he does not deserve any of this… but… Could you… would you make it a little warmer? It still quite cold here.”

The Sukkah now got considerably warmer and the Rabbi removed all of his blankets and lay sweating in his bed, amazed by the miracle he had just witnessed.

A few moments went by, and Zusha was at it again… “God..?, it’s Zusha.. Could you..”

“STOP!” The Rabbi yelled, interrupting Zusha. “Stop, Stop right now. If you make it any warmer in here, the Sukkah will burn down…!” So Zusha stopped, and no more miracles happened that night.

In the Sukkah at the time was also a student of Zusha’s, who had accompanied him on his travels. Once they were back home, the student ran to the Beit Midrash to recount to Rebb Elimelech and the students of this wonderful miracle.

“Can you believe it?” He asked Elimelech? A miracle, a real miracle happened to your own brother.” Elimelech did not respond, he simply looked away and began to cry. The other students around Rebb Elimelech who had heard the story stood in disbelief and did not know what to do.

“Rebbi, why are you crying??

It’s a festive moment, your brother just experienced a wonderful miracle.”

“I am not crying for the miracle that happened” Reb Elimelech finally responded, “but rather for all that could have happened, but did not”

Rebb Elimelech turned to walk away and as he did, his students could almost hear him mumble.

“If only that Rabbi had not stopped Zusha, my brother could have warmed up this entire world…”עכ"ל.

The lesson Rav Zusha was teaching was that one can isolate themselves from the cold and bitterness in the world by hiding under covers, but that is not out mission.  It is our job to warm up the world with light.  Sometimes though, we add light, but after doing a little, we feel content and stop.  But that is not enough, we must not stop until the world is illuminated.