OU Israel Torah Tidbits - Parshat Noach 5782

‫ב"ה‬

ISSUE 1437 OCT 9TH '21 ‫ג' מרחשון תשפ"ב‬

‫פרשת נח‬

PARSHAT NOACH

Introduction to Shemitah Produce Rabbi Ezra Friedman

Director, The Gustave & Carol Jacobs Center for Kashrut Education

page 50

‫עשה לך‬ ‫תבת עצי־גפר‬ ‫ פסוק י"ד‬,'‫בראשית ו‬

Yearly Zmanim Inside! see pag

SPECIAL TRIBUTE Reflections on my Rebbe, Rav Moshe Dovid Tendler zt”l Rabbi Shimshon Hakohen Nadel page 68

e 37

YERUSHALAYIM IN/OUT TIMES FOR SHABBAT PARSHAT NOACH Candles 5:39PM • Havdala 6:51PM • Rabbeinu Tam 7:31PM

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Torah Tidbits Family 04Dear Rabbi Avi Berman

By Aliya Sedra Summary 08Aliya Rabbi Reuven Tradburks the Dots 14Connecting Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb Genesis of Justice 18The Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt"l The Prophets 24Probing Rabbi Nachman Winkler or Stones?

26Bricks Rabbi Shalom Rosner Noach 28Parshat Rebbetzin Shira Smiles Good Yeitzer Hara 30The Rabbi Judah Mischel Israel 34OUSchedule Zmanim 37Yearly Centerfold An Ancient Echo 48Noach: Rabbi Moshe Taragin

KIDDUSH LEVANA

to Shemitah Produce 50Introduction Rabbi Ezra Friedman Shmuel 52Simchat Rabbi Sam Shor Talk 54Righteous Menachem Persoff Finding Our Purpose 56Shlichut: Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider Y- Files Weekly Comic for Kids 58The Netanel Epstein Renter Having a Zecher L’churban 60ARabbi Daniel Mann Kedushat Shevi’it Vegetables 62 Are Here – For A Limited Time Only Rabbi Moshe Bloom

‫על‬ 64‫הצדיקים‬ Rebbetzin Zemira Ozarowski 4 Teens By Teens 66Torah Adele Nemirov // Ayelet Steinberger Reflections on my Rebbe, 68 Rav Moshe Dovid Tendler zt”l Rabbi Shimshon HaKohen Nadel

Three days from the Molad is this Motzei Shabbat; the first opportunity for Kiddush Levana 2

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

OTHER

CANDLE LIGHTING

Z'M A N I M

A N D H AV DA L A T I M ES

JERUSALEM CANDLES

5:39 5:57 5:58 5:55 5:56 5:56 5:56 5:57 5:56 5:39 5:55 5:45 5:54 5:56 5:55 5:55 5:57 5:56 5:48 5:53

NOACH

Yerushalayim / Maale Adumim Aza area (Netivot, S’derot, Et al)

Beit Shemesh / RBS Gush Etzion Raanana/ Tel Mond/ Herzliya/ K. Saba

Modi’in / Chashmona’im Netanya Be’er Sheva Rehovot Petach Tikva Ginot Shomron Haifa / Zichron Gush Shiloh Tel Aviv / Giv’at Shmuel Giv’at Ze’ev Chevron / Kiryat Arba Ashkelon Yad Binyamin Tzfat / Bik’at HaYarden Golan

HAVDALA LECH LECHA

6:51 6:53 6:52 6:51 6:52 6:52 6:52 6:53 6:52 6:52 6:51 6:51 6:50 6:52 6:51 6:51 6:53 6:52 6:49 6:49

Candles Havdala

5:31 5:49 5:50 5:47 5:47 5:47 5:47 5:49

6:43 6:45 6:44 6:43 6:44 6:43 6:44 6:45

5:48 6:44 5:31 6:44 5:47 6:43 5:37 6:43 5:46 6:42 5:48 6:44 5:47 6:43 5:47 6:43 5:49 6:45 5:48 6:44 5:39 6:41 5:44 6:41

Rabbeinu Tam (J'lem) - 7:31PM • next week - 7:23pm TImes According to MyZmanim (20 min. before sundown in most cities, 40 min. in Yerushalyim and Petach Tikva, 30 min. in Tzfat/Haifa) OU Kashrut  NCSY  Jewish Action  JLIC NJCD / Yachad / Our Way  OU West Coast  OU Press  Synagogue/Community Services  OU Advocacy  OU Israel MOISHE BANE, PRESIDENT OF THE ORTHODOX UNION Mitchel Aeder, Chairman of the Board, Orthodox Union | Esther Williams, OU Israel Chair | Gary Torgow, Chair, OU

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Chatzot (Halachic Noon) 12:27 - 12:24 Mincha Gedola (Earliest Mincha) 12:57-12:54 Plag Mincha 5:04 - 4:54 Sunset (Including Elevation) 6:22 - 6:10 Seymour J. Abrams • Orthodox Union Jerusalem World Center • Avrom Silver Jerusalem College for Adults • Wolinetz Family Shul • Makom BaLev • Birthright • Yachad • NCSY in Israel • JLIC in Israel • Pearl & Harold M. Jacobs ZULA Outreach Center • The Jack Gindi Oraita Program • OU Israel Kashrut ZVI SAND, PRESIDENT, OU ISRAEL Yitzchak Fund, Former President, OU Israel Rabbi Emanuel Quint z”l, Senior Vice President | Prof.

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3

DEAR TORAH TIDBITS FAMILY RABBI AVI BERMAN

Executive Director, OU Israel

My wife and I knew that when our son joined the IDF, he would not be home for all of the Chagim. Yet, this holiday season (due to Covid related reasons), our son Shlomo ended up being on his base for Rosh HaShana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Shemini Atzeret/ Simchat Torah. Before Rosh HaShana, my Tzadeket wife prepared all of the Simanim we usually have and I drove to the airport to take it to another soldier who had been home for Shabbat and was on his way back to the base. This was our small way of giving Shlomo a piece of home for Rosh Hashana.

When it came to Sukkot, he showed me the base’s Sukkah on a video call. I commented that I was impressed that not only did the IDF ensure that the soldiers on a remote base up north have a Kosher Sukkah, but they made sure to decorate it as well. At that point, Shlomo explained that while the IDF Rabbanut put up the Sukkah, caring visitors were responsible for the decorations. Shlomo told me that two cars of volunteers came from Nahariya and Beer Sheva to bring goodies and Sukkah decorations for the Chag. Three girls got out of

one of the cars and decorated the Sukkah for the Chayalim. Shlomo also told me about another caring woman who travels nearly an hour to their base each week to bring snacks and refreshments.

I know that there are many Jews who regularly drop off food for our soldiers at the Pina Chama in Gush Etzion as well as at IDF blockades and bases throughout Israel. As a father of Chayalim, these gestures are even more meaningful to me (and all other parents of soldiers) than in the past. All I can say is “Mi KeAmcha Yisrael”. This unity and the above and beyond care Jews have for each other is ultimately the secret of our nation’s success. Holding my 4 minim this year, I thought about this woman and Jews from the North, South, Center, and around the world looking out for each other, and I thanked Hashem for the incredible nation that we are blessed to be a part of.

Another beautiful aspect of our nation is the Shabbat/Yuntif table. This past month, we were blessed with many family meals around the table. Sharing Divrei Torah, stories, and aspirations for the year. The holidays themselves and their unique

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TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

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customs and foods brought a certain level of excitement, particularly for younger kids.

The round challot and simanim on Rosh HaShana, the mood of the Seudah Mafseket before Yom Kippur, and the outdoor setting with the walls of the Sukkah and Schach.

How do we bring this excitement with us throughout the year? Positive and engaging discussions around the Shabbat/Yuntif table are one of the most powerful and important chinuch tools that we have. If we find our children getting bored at the Shabbat table, we know something needs to change; it should be exciting, enjoyable, fun and enthusiastic. One way to do this is by preparing in advance - or having everyone think on the spot - ideas connected to the weekly Parsha, questions that came up during the week, and recent stories that occurred are a good starting point. But sometimes, we have a hard time identifying what our children find to be engaging.

I recently received a unique book from a very special Jew that can help us keep our Shabbat tables exciting. David Woolf is a dear friend from Toronto (and has and continues to be an instrumental player, along with Rabbi Dr. Sholom Gold, in cultivating and strengthening the relationship between Canadian Jews and OU Israel for many, many years). He came to my office before Sukkot on a recent visit to Israel, and gave me a beautiful gift – a book he authored entitled Torah IQ: The Great Torah Riddle Book.

Torah IQ features over 1,500 questions and answers on Parshat HaShavua, Jewish

In memory of my parents

Irene and Pincus Flaum z"l Tamar Iancu

6

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

holidays, Halachot, and general Torah trivia.

This book was a delight in creating interesting and animated discussions around our Shabbat/Yuntif table over Sukkot, and I highly recommend it as a way to enhance your Shabbat table and Torah knowledge.

Wishing each of you a year of happiness, health, and the Geulah Sheleima. Have an uplifting and inspiring Shabbat.

Avi, Executive Director, OU Israel aberman@ouisrael.org

SHIUR SPONSORS Tuesday, October 5- Rabbi Goldin’s shiur was sponsored in memory of our dad Dovid ben Avram Abish z”l whose yahrzeit was isru chag (day after Simchat Torah here). Debbie & Peter Abelow, Judy & Shmuel Davidovics and Phyllis & Sandy Zlotnick Sunday, October 10 - Rabbi Adler’s shiur is sponsored by an anonymous donor Monday, October 11 - Rabbi Goldscheider’s and Rabbi Herschler’s shiurim are sponsored by an anonymous donor Tuesday, October 12 - Rabbi Goldin’s shiur is sponsored by an anonymous donor Rabbi Goldin’s Tuesday Morning shiurim have been sponsored by a generous donor Rabbi Manning’s shiurim for the 2021 academic year have been sponsored anonymously in the merit of an aliya neshama for Matisyahu ben Yisrael z”l, Aharon ben Menachem Lev z”l and Eliana bat Yaakov a”h Rabbi Kimche’s shiurim for the 2021 academic year have been sponsored anonymously in the merit of a refuah shelaima for Janet bat Hannah Rabbi Taub’s weekly Parshat HaShavua Shiur is sponsored by The Jewish Legacy Foundation

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KI TEITZEI NOACH ALIYA-BY-ALIYA SEDRA SUMMARY Rabbi Reuven Tradburks Director of RCA Israel Region Parshat Noach describes: the destruction of the world through the Flood, Noach and his family, the story of the Tower of Babel and the introduction of Avraham’s family.

The first 2 parshiot in our Torah, Breishit and Noach, are essentially parallel creation stories, or more accurately a creation and a recreation. However, the lessons to be learnt are not in the parallels but in the differences. What is different in this recreation? What does G-d communicate to Noah that He did not communicate to Adam?

1st aliya (6:9-22). Noach is righteous, while the world is filled with evil. Noach is instructed to build an Ark, for while G-d is to destroy all

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TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

living beings, He establishes a covenant with Noach to save him. Noach, his family, 2 of each animal and the food are to be brought into the Ark. The aliya ends with “Noach did all that G-d commanded”.

The world will be destroyed with water.

The Torah describes in the second verse in the Torah, that the first thing to exist in the world was water: “The spirit of G-d hovered over the waters”. If you want to indicate that the world is getting a reboot, is starting again, cover it with water, as it was “In the Beginning”.

There is a detailed description of the dimensions of the Ark, while there is hardly any description of man’s evil that is causing the world to be destroyed. The Torah is more interested in the recreation than it is in the story of man’s failure. The title of the Flood story is not the destruction of the world, but the recreation of the world.

2nd aliya (7:1-16). Noach is again described as righteous. Bring 7 of each pure animal, 2 of the impure, and all the birds into the Ark. Noach was 600 years old and brought his family into the Ark. The water of the springs of the depths was released and the stores of water above were opened. All entered the Ark, as G-d had commanded Noach.

Both aliyot began with Noach’s righteousness and end with him doing as G-d commanded. In a word, righteousness is defined.

The water floods the world from below and from above. We have seen water below and above before: in Creation, Ch. 1:6, G-d

but you could possibly do them. For when separated between the waters above and it comes to communications from G-d, you below and made the heavens between. are unique, irreplaceable, sui generis, one There He separated the waters; here He of a kind. is releasing all the water, reversing the Creation.

This exchange presents a fundamental principle ofrd the Torah: that G-d speaks 3 aliya (7:17-8:14). The Flood to Moshe in a way that He does not, nor covers the earth. All living things will He in the future ever do again with die, save Noach and all that are in anyone else. When Moshe says that people the Ark. G-d remembers Noach. The waters come to him seeking G-d, what he means recede. The Ark rests on Mt. Ararat. Noach is: I have access to G-d. He speaks to me. sends out the raven. Then Noach sends out (Speaking trick;has thereceded trick is the dove to to G-d see isn’t if thethe water when He for answers back.)

Similarly, when enough land to be inhabitable.

She Moshe says that he teaches G-d’s law,towhat returns for she has found no place rest. he means is that G-discommunicates After 7 days, she sent out againthose and laws to him and to no one else. returns with an olive branch. The third timecould she is sentwell out,be she notpurpose return.

This very thedoes prime the covering andvery sees there ofNoach this removes Yitro story.

For, in the next is dry land. story, the giving of the Torah, the very same the Theretheme is a lotofofMoshe’s detail ofuniqueness water and ofastime. one whom G-d speaks is central.

Thetorising water, the receding water, how many days rained, how many daysheard. it took 3rditaliya (18:24-27) Moshe to recede.He This stands in contrast to the inichose judges, with only the tial creation of the world. In creation, each most difficult cases brought to thing created happened immediately, each him. Moshe sent Yitro home. day crisp and defined. And after 6 days, the Itcreation takes ceased. an honest to the accept In this leader recreation, covsuggestions improve.

Moshetook displays ering of theto world with water time; his the honesty and humility if the suggestion receding of the water –took time.

Why? is good, embrace it. Just as Yitro accepted the the Torah learned One G-d, news of theMay Exodus and affirmed this issue of so too, from Moshe admits heTorah couldTidbits improve his be in loving memory of our dear mother system. Two men of honesty and humility.

Celia Goodman ‫ע"ה‬ 4 aliya (19:1-6) The people th

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This is the most crucial part of this story.

The world was not destroyed – I mean, not back to “tohu v’vohu – to void and empty”.

G-d did not look at the evil of the world – man and animals - and destroy the world.

He could have chosen to destroy the world entirely and begin anew with another 6 days of creation. He did not do that. He “recreated” the existing world – saving Noach, saving the world, covering it slowly with the water that existed.

The story of the Torah is G-d’s love of and commitment to man. He saves the world.

He saves Noach. But even before this; Adam and Eve sinned and were punished. But not destroyed. Cain killed Abel, the most egregious sin, and is punished; but is not himself killed. G-d is committed to this world and is committed to mankind. He destroys the world naturally, maintaining it, covering it slowly with water and waiting for the water to recede. That very process communicates His commitment to His world and to mankind.

4th aliya (8:15-9:7). Noach is told to leave the Ark with his family

May the Torah learned from this TT be in loving memory of and ‫לע"נ‬

‫ר' חיים בן זרח ז"ל‬

Chaim Greenberg ‫ז"ל‬ ‫ו' מרחשון התשכ"ו‬-‫נלב"ע ב‬

and

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TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

and with the animals, blessing the animals to teem over the land. Noach offered sacrifices on an altar. G-d committed to never again curse land and animals because of man, nor the constellations. G-d blesses Noach and family to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth. They may eat creatures but may not kill man.

The echoes of Creation continue. Noach and the animals receive the same blessings made to the animals and to man in Creation. Noach is the new Adam. But with one dramatic difference. G-d pledges that never again will there be a destruction of land, animals or seasons. This was not promised at Creation.

The notion of G-d promising is shocking. G-d making promises to man? Is it prompted by Noach’s offering a sacrifice?

That’s all it takes to get a Divine promise for all time? Could it be that one little act of offering sacrifices outweighs all the horrible evil that man is capable of perpetrating, and has perpetrated in the history of mankind – that’s all it takes to guarantee the world will never deserve to be destroyed?

And just the notion that He promises to us?

The clear message of the Torah is that mankind is so precious to G-d that He commits to us, regardless of our failings.

5th aliya (9:8-17). G-d tells Noach and his family that He is making a covenant with all living things that the world will never again be destroyed

by Flood. The rainbow is a sign of this covenant between us. I will see the rainbow and remember this eternal covenant.

The word “brit”, covenant occurs 7 times in

this paragraph of 9 verses. We are so familiar with the rainbow after the flood story that its plain meaning slips by unnoticed.

G-d is pledging himself to the world. And, as if to make sure He Himself doesn’t forget, He places a sign, a reminder of his pledge.

This rainbow is a love story. Noach has got to be looking around, wondering, “is He talking to me? What did I do to deserve this? The Master of the Universe, who just covered the world in water due to man’s failings, He is committing to me? And binding Himself with a rainbow, lest He forget?”

The Creation story crowned man with majesty, created in the image of G-d. The Flood recreation story is a love story, the love of G-d for man, the commitment He has to man. And while a covenant has 2 parties, each of whom pledges to the other, in this covenant nothing is demanded of man.

Only He pledges to us.

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6th aliya (9:18-10:32). Noach plants a vineyard, becomes drunk and lies exposed in his tent. Cham sees Noach; the other sons cover him without looking. Cham is cursed, Shem

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is blessed, Yefet granted beauty. Noach’s numerous descendents are listed, distinctive in geography and in language.

Noach seems to follow in Adam’s agrarian footsteps – Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden, Noach plants a vineyard. But the decline of the new man is not long in coming. The generations of Noach are described as different, distinct, separated into nations, into languages and distinct geographic regions. This gives rise to Nimrod, the warrior – distinctions and groupings give rise naturally to competition.

7 aliya (11:1-32). The Tower of Babel, an attempt to unite mankind results in a dispersion and proliferation of languages. The genealogy of Noach’s descendants continues until Avraham’s family is introduced, who journey toward the land of Israel. th

The story of the Tower of Babel begins as a desire for unity, ends with people scattered the world over. The desire for unity would seem to be a good thing. However, unity often implies united under me, coercing all to be like me. World history is the history of

A SHORT VORT

empires, seeking to make the world a better place by being just like me. The theme of dispersion, of exile which began with Adam being exiled from the Garden of Eden, and Cain exiled to wander the world has its next chapter with the dispersion, the exile of the builders of the Tower of Babel.

This dispersion and exile of the first 2 parshiot of the Torah will be reversed with the call to Avraham to come to the land of Israel.

HAFTORAH YESHAYAHU 54:1 - 55:5 This Shabbat the haftorah for parshat Noach is taken from chapter 54 in the navi Yeshayahu. It describes the nation of Israel after the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash.

The Navi assures the people that Hashem will forever share his kindness and love with His people and He will continue to protect and sustain the people.

The special connection to parshat Noach is contained in pasuk 59:9 which refers to the destruction of Yerushalayim as “...this is

BY RABBI CHANOCH YERES

Rav, Beit Knesset Beit Yisrael, Yemin Moshe

“And Noach and his sons…. went into the ark due (“Mipnei”) to the flood waters” (Chapter7:7.)

Rashi immediately comments that from this pasuk we see that even Noach seemingly had little faith, he didn’t really believe the flood would come, and he needed the rain to begin falling before he entered the ark.

Is it possible the Noach, coined as “righteous”, could possibly have questions of faith in G-d?

Rabbi Yisrael Kalish (The Chasidic Master of Varka, 1779-1848) answers Rashi’s statement by saying that until the last moment, Noach truly believed and hoped that mankind would change their ways and cancel the decree of the flood. That is why he waited until the rain started. Of course, he believed in G-d’s ability to flood the world, but he also believed in the power of repentance that can take place at any moment and change the bad decree on the world.

Shabbat Shalom 12

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

like the waters of Noach to me…”

The Navi concludes with the reassurance that Hashem remembers His covenant with the world and His Chosen People.

The degree to which we reveal Hashem’s presence in our lives is the degree to which Hashem’s protection and close concern is realized. It is our responsibility to reveal Hashem. We achieve this by observing His commandments and learning His Torah.

ce is like a work of a f ar ur t Yo

It deserves a beautiful frame

STATS 2nd of 54 sedras, 2nd of 12 in B’reishit Written on 230 lines in a Torah, rank: 15 18 Parshiyot; 5 open, 13 closed; rank: 12 153 p’sukim - ranks 4th Largest in B’reishit - tied w/Vayishlach 1861 words - ranks 11 (6th in B’reishit) 6907 letters - ranks 13 (6th in B’reishit) Drop in ranking for words and letters is due to No’ach’s very short p’sukim. No’ach ranks 49th in words/pasuk and 51st in letters/ pasuk in the Torah.

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MITZVOT No sedra in B’reishit has shorter p’sukim. None of the TARYAG mitzvot are from No’ach, yet there are mitzvot in the sedra, specifically (but not only) references to the Noahide laws. So too is P’RU URVU repeated to No’ach - it is counted as a mitzva from B’reishit, when it was commanded to Adam.

Shabbat afternoon Parsha shiur with Rabbi Chanoch Yeres at 5:00pm in the back garden of the OU Israel Center

In loving memory of our daughter and sister

Judy Yellin a"h

‫יהודית מאשה ע"ה בת אליעזר וחוה‬

on her 27th yahrzeit 9 Marcheshvan The Yellin and Weingarten families OU ISRAEL CENTER

13

RABBI DR. TZVI HERSH WEINREB THE PERSON BY OU Executive Vice President, Emeritus IN THE PARSHA

Connecting the Dots Only a few of the games that I played during my childhood are still popular today.

One of them is "connect the dots." Nowadays, it comes in some very sophisticated and complex versions. But I remember it from the days in which we were given coloring books and instructed to connect several dozen numbered dots in sequence.

We were delighted to discover that what initially appeared to be just randomly scattered spots on the page eventually emerged as coherent images.

Although the game was simple enough for even the very young, the idea behind it is a very profound one. The ability to make order out of chaos is by no means child's play. It is a necessary feature of life and, as I hope to demonstrate in this week's column, it is an important aspect of Torah study.

I first learned of the power of the metaphor of "connecting the dots" from a gentleman who has since become one of my dearest friends. He was a newcomer to my synagogue. I soon noticed that he regularly sat in one of the front pews and listened very attentively to my sermons.

Eventually, he approached me and gave me one of the most cherished compliments I have ever received. He said, "Many rabbis 14

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

give excellent sermons and fill their presentations with dazzling and inspiring ideas.

But they fail to connect the dots between those ideas. They rarely explain how those ideas relate to each other and to real life.

You, however, connect the dots. Yasher koach."

I am thankful to that gentleman to this day, for now when I prepare a sermon, I ask myself one question before I deliver it: "Did you connect the dots?"

One of the ways in which I personally continue to play “connect the dots” to this day is by attempting to connect some of the words and thoughts we have during the sacred day of Yom Kippur to events that occur during the ensuing calendar year.

For example, on Yom Kippur we recite a prayer in which we wonder aloud, "Who will live, and who will die… Who will have a tranquil year, and who will have a year of suffering?" As the year progresses, we indeed discover for whom death was destined, and for whom a year of suffering lays in store. By the year's conclusion, we learn who lived and who experienced good fortune. But seldom do we "connect the dots" between the words we uttered somberly on Yom Kippur and the events which occurred months, sometimes many months, later.

Permit me to present a different sort of "dot" upon which I pondered this past Yom Kippur, when we read the book of Jonah

in the late afternoon of that day. My question was one which has been asked even by casual readers of the fascinating story of this Jewish prophet who was sent by the Lord to prophesize to the city of Nineveh, the capital of Ashur, or Assyria. Jonah, to say the least, does everything he can to resist the Lord's command that he grant prophecy to a city populated by a nation that is a historic enemy of the Jewish people. Jonah eventually delivers his message to Nineveh, informing them that their great city will be overturned unless they repent.

Jonah's worst fear comes true—they do indeed repent, sincerely and totally.

Who were these people of Nineveh that they took a stranger's word as a signal to change their entire society and reform their system of justice? This audience, to Jonah's chagrin, was exceptionally and immediately obedient. What was it in their history and background that readied them to hear Jonah’s message and to take it seriously?

The answer lies in a brief phrase in this week's Torah portion, Parshat Noach (Genesis, 6:9-11:32), as explicated by Rashi.

The verse occurs toward the end of the parsha, where the Torah enumerates the progeny of Noah. We learn that he had a grandson named Cush, and that "Cush also begot Nimrod, who was the first man of might on earth. He was a mighty hunter…

The mainstays of his kingdom were Babylon… and Calneh in the land of Shinar.

From that land Ashur, went forth, and built Nineveh…" (Genesis 10:8-11).

It is fair to assume that most readers of these verses pass them over and consider them mere chronological details. But Rashi characteristically teaches us to read each

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15

verse very carefully, however trivial it may seem. He wonders not only about why the Torah mentions Ashur's departure from mighty Nimrod’s territory, but also about the motive Ashur had for doing so.

Mindful of the fact that our Sages viewed Nimrod as the quintessential tyrant who instigated the construction of the Tower of Babel (of which we read in chapter 11 of this week's Torah portion), Rashi writes, "Ashur noticed that his children were listening to Nimrod's teachings and were ready to join the rebellion against God which the Tower of Babel signified." When Ashur realized that his children were falling sway to the malicious influence of the first tyrant in history, he decided to swiftly flee to another land.

One must admire Ashur's courage. He was ready to abandon his family and his society because he discerned the direction in which they were heading. We know how difficult it would be for any of us to uproot ourselves from our community just because we fear the negative influence that community would have upon our children.

Ashur did so and remains a hero, albeit a relatively unsung hero.

Now, let us "connect the dots." Many centuries after Ashur courageously escaped Nimrod's evil empire and laid the foundations of his own city of Nineveh, that city degenerated into corruption. Over the generations, they forgot the lesson of their founder and ancestor Ashur.

But our tradition teaches us that the noble teachings of ancestors are never totally forgotten. Even when we intentionally try to suppress the lessons of our forebears, they lie dormant within us, just 16

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

beneath the surface.

One can presume that the Almighty had Ashur's heroic precedent in mind when, as He observed the moral deterioration of the Nineveh of Jonah's time, He decided to grant them the favor of Jonah's prophecy and to give them the opportunity to mend their ways.

One can further presume that it was Ashur's lesson to his descendants that endured for centuries (which eventually resurfaced in their consciences) and that motivated them to repent so rapidly and with such ease.

There are many lessons to be learned from Ashur's behavior and from the impact it had upon his children's children. One is the need to remove oneself, however possible, from the negative influences which surround him. Another lesson is to appreciate the power that the actions one performs in his lifetime has upon his offspring.

There is a lesson also to be learned about the "dots" that are scattered, mostly unnoticed, all over our holy Torah. We have just connected the "dot" in this week's Torah portion in the book of Genesis with the "dot" in the much later biblical book of Jonah. We connected a Torah portion read early in the month of November with a text we read about a month prior on Yom Kippur. It is incumbent upon us to be such careful students of the entire Torah that we can learn to connect many other such "dots."

As the Talmud says, “The words of the Torah are ‘poor’ in one place but ‘rich’ in another.” It is by connecting the “poor” dots to the “rich” ones that we can begin to fully appreciate the perfection of our tradition.

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on the Weekly Parsha from COVENANT & Thoughts RABBI LORD JONATHAN SACKS ZT"L CONVERSATION

Former Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth

May the learning of these Divrei Torah be ‫לעילוי נשמת‬ HaRav Ya'akov Zvi ben David Arieh zt"l

‫לעילוי נשמות‬ ‫פנחס בן יעקב אשר וגולדה בת ישראל דוד אייז ע״ה‬ ‫עזריאל בן אריה לייב ומעניה בת יצחק שרטר ע״ה‬ Dedicated by Dr. Robert Sreter DDS., M.S.

Beyond Nature

A

re we naturally good or naturally bad? On this, great minds have argued for a very long time indeed.

Hobbes believed that we have naturally “a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in Death.” We are bad, but governments and police can help limit the harm we do. Rousseau to the contrary believed that naturally we are good.

It is society and its institutions that make us bad.

The argument continues today among the neo-Darwinians. Some believe that natural selection and the struggle for survival make us, genetically, hawks rather than doves. As Michael T. Ghiselin puts it, “Scratch an ‘altruist’ and watch a ‘hypocrite’

For my dear wife who looks forward to TT every week –MS 18

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

bleed.” By contrast, naturalist Frans de Waal in a series of delightful books about primates, including his favourite, the bonobos, shows that they can be empathic, caring, even altruistic and so, by nature, are we.

T. E. Hulme called this the fundamental divide between Romantics and Classicists throughout history. Romantics believed that “man was by nature good, that it was only bad laws and customs that had suppressed him. Remove all these and the infinite possibilities of man would have a chance.” Classicists believed the opposite, that “Man is an extraordinarily fixed and limited animal whose nature is absolutely constant. It is only by tradition and organisation that anything decent can be got out of him.”

In Judaism, according to the Sages, this was the argument between the angels when God consulted them as to whether or not He should create humans. The angels were the “us” in “Let us make mankind.” (Gen. 1:26) A Midrash tells us that the angels of chessed and tzedek said “Let him be created because humans do acts of kindness and righteousness.” The

Mazal Tov to Evelyn & Howard Ross and family on the birth of their first great grandson

angels of shalom and emet said, “Let him not be created because he tells lies and fights wars.” What did God do? He created humans anyway and had faith that we would gradually become better and less destructive. That, in secular terms, is what Harvard neuroscientist Steven Pinker argues too. Taken as a whole and with obvious exceptions we have become less violent over time.

The Torah suggests we are both destructive and constructive, and evolutionary psychology tells us why. We are born to compete and co-operate. On the one hand, life is a competitive struggle for scarce resources - so we fight and kill. On the other hand, we survive only by forming groups.

Without habits of co-operation, altruism and trust, we would have no groups and we would not survive. That is part of what the Torah means when it says, “It is not good for man to be alone.” (Gen. 2:18) So we are both aggressive and altruistic: aggressive to strangers, altruistic toward members of our group.

But the Torah is far too profound to leave it at the level of the old joke of the Rabbi who, hearing both sides of a domestic argument, tells the husband, “You are right,” and the wife “You are right,” and when his disciple says, “They can’t both be right,” replies, “You are also right.” The Torah states the problem, but it also supplies a non-obvious answer. This is the clue that helps us decode a very subtle argument running through

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19

last week’s parsha and this one.

The basic structure of the story that begins with creation and ends with Noah is this: First God created a universe of order.

He then created human beings who created a universe of chaos: “the land was filled with violence.” So God, as it were, deleted creation by bringing a Flood, returning the earth to as it was at the very beginning when “the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God hovered over the waters.” (Gen. 1:2) He then began again with Noah and his family as the new Adam and Eve and their children.

Genesis 8-9 is thus a kind of second version of Genesis 1-3, with two significant distinctions. The first is that in both accounts a key word appears seven times, but it is a different word. In Genesis 1 the word is “good.” In Genesis 9 it is “covenant.”

The second is that in both cases, reference is made to the fact that humans are in the image of God, but the two sentences have different implications. In Genesis 1 we are told that “God created humanity in His own image, in the image of God He created them, male and female He created them.” (Gen. 1:27) In Genesis 9 we read, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be

20

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

shed, for in the image of God has God made humanity” (Gen. 9:6).

The difference is striking. Genesis 1 tells me that “I” am in the image of God. Genesis 9 tells me that “You,” my potential victim, are in the image of God. Genesis 1 tells us about human power. We are able, says the Torah, to “rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air.” Genesis 9 tells us about the moral limits of power. We can kill but we may not. We have the power, but not the permission.

Reading the story closely, it seems that God created humans in the faith that they would naturally choose the right and the good. They would not need to eat the fruit of “the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil,” because instinct would lead them to behave as they should. Calculation, reflection, decision – all the things we associate with knowledge – would not be necessary.

They would act as God wanted them to act, because they had been created in His image.

It did not turn out that way. Adam and Eve sinned, Cain committed murder, and within a few generations the world was reduced to chaos. That is when we read that “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the

thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart.” (Gen. 6:6) Everything else in the universe was tov, “good.” But humans are not naturally good. That is the problem. The answer, according to the Torah, is covenant.

Covenant introduces the idea of a moral law. A moral law is not the same as a scientific law. Scientific laws are observed regularities in nature: drop an object and it will fall. A moral law is a rule of conduct: do not rob or steal or deceive.

Scientific laws describe, whereas moral laws prescribe.

When a natural event does not accord with the current state of science, when it “breaks” the law, that is a sign that there is something wrong with the law. That is why Newton’s laws were replaced by those of Einstein. But when a human being breaks the law, when people rob or steal or deceive, the fault is not in the law but in the deed. So we must keep the law and condemn, and sometimes punish, the deed.

Scientific laws allow us to predict. Moral laws help us to decide. Scientific laws apply to entities without freewill. Moral laws presuppose freewill. That is what makes

humans qualitatively different from other forms of life.

So, according to the Torah, a new era began, centred not on the idea of natural goodness but on the concept of covenant, that is, moral law. Civilisation began in the move from what the Greeks called physis, nature, to nomos, law. That is what makes the concept of being “in the image of God” completely different in Genesis 1 and Genesis 9. Genesis 1 is about nature and biology.

We are in the image of God in the sense that we can think, speak, plan, choose and dominate. Genesis 9 is about law. Other people are also in God’s image. Therefore we must respect them by banning murder and instituting justice. With this simple move, morality was born.

What is the Torah telling us about morality?

First, that it is universal. The Torah places God’s covenant with Noah and through him all humanity prior to His particular covenant with Abraham, and His later covenant with Abraham’s descendants at Mount Sinai. Our universal humanity precedes our religious differences. This is a truth we deeply need in the twenty-first century when so much violence has been given religious justification. Genesis tells us that

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21

our enemies are human too.

This may well be the single most important contribution of monotheism to civilisation. All societies, ancient and modern, have had some form of morality but usually they concern only relations within the group. Hostility to strangers is almost universal in both the animal and human kingdoms. Between strangers, power rules.

As the Athenians said to the Melians, “The strong do what they want, while the weak do what they must.”

The idea that even the people not like us have rights, and that we should “love the stranger” (Deut. 10:19), would have been considered utterly strange by most people at most times. It took the recognition that there is one God sovereign over all humanity (“Do we not all have one father? Did not one God create us?”; Mal. 2:10) to create the momentous breakthrough to the idea that there are moral universals, among them the sanctity of life, the pursuit of justice, and the rule of law.

Second, God Himself recognises that we are not naturally good. After the Flood, He says: “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, even though the inclination of their minds is evil from childhood on.” (Gen. 8:21) The antidote to the yetzer, the inclination to evil, is covenant.

We now know the neuroscience behind this. Our brains contain a prefrontal cortex that evolved to allow humans to think and act reflectively, considering the consequences of their deeds. But this is slower

Mazal Tov to Shmuel & Rhonda Sackett and family on the birth of a grandson (3rd in a row)

22

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

and weaker than the amygdala (what Jewish mystics called the nefesh habehamit, the animal soul) which produces, even before we have had time to think, the fight-or-flight reactions without which humans before civilisation would simply not have survived.

The problem is that these rapid reactions can be deeply destructive. Often they lead to violence: not only the violence between species (predator and prey) that is part of nature, but also to the more gratuitous violence that is a feature of the life of most social animals. It is not that we only do evil.

Empathy and compassion are as natural to us as are fear and aggression. The problem is that fear lies just beneath the surface of human interaction, and it can overwhelm all our other instincts.

Daniel Goleman calls this an amygdala hijack. “Emotions make us pay attention right now – this is urgent – and give us an immediate action plan without having to think twice. The emotional component evolved very early: Do I eat it, or does it eat me?” Impulsive action is often destructive because it is undertaken without thought of consequences. That is why Maimonides argued that many of the laws of the Torah constitute a training in virtue by making us think before we act.

So the Torah tells us that naturally we are neither good nor bad, but we have the capacity for both. We have a natural inclination to empathy and sympathy, but we have an even stronger instinct for fear which can lead to violence. That is why, in the move from Adam to Noah, the Torah shifts from nature to covenant, from tov to brit, from power to the moral limits of power. Genes are not enough. We also need the moral law.

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RABBI NACHMAN (NEIL) WINKLER PROBING BY Faculty, OU Israel Center THE PROPHETS l

Rabbi Winkler's popular Jewish History lectures can be viewed by visiting the OU Israel Video archive: https://www.ouisrael.org/video-library

“

V’chol yetzer machsh’vot libo-rak ra kol hayom” (Breishit 6:5) As last week’s parasha of Breishit closes, Hashem explains why He decided to destroy all of humanity. And He tells us the reason for Man’s corruption by stating that every inclination of Man was only evil all the time.

It was for this reason that G-d brought the flood.

This reason is echoed in the middle of this week’s parasha, when Noach brings offerings to G-d after the flood. It was then that Hashem pledges never to repeat the destruction of the earth in such a fashion, and He explains: “Ki yetzer lev ha’adam ra min’urav” (ibid 9;21) “Man’s inclination is evil from his youth” It would seem a strange statement! G-d uses the reason that Man’s inclination is only evil as the rationale for destroying humanity; he then uses the very same reason, that Man’s inclination is evil from his youth, to explain why He would never again destroy all life?!

How is it possible to understand this seeming contradiction?

HaRav Soloveitchik asks this very question and finds its resolution in this week’s

haftarah. Yishayahu makes mention of Noah and the flood in this 54th perek of his sefer, in order to convince the nation that, just as mankind had sinned in Noach’s time and were punished with the inundation of the earth, AND YET… soon after, he forgave humankind and promised never again to do so again, so too, Hashem would quickly forgive Israel of her sins despite the painful punishments they would suffer.

In doing so, G-d refers to the flood waters as “mei No’ach”, the waters of Noach which, the Rav explained (see last year’s article) that identifying the flood as the “waters of Noach” was a subtle way of blaming Noach for his failure to plead with Hashem to rescind the decree. But the oath he gives to Noach following the inundation marks a dramatic change in HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s treatment of Man. Before the flood, the Rav argues, the human being’s inclination was “rak ra’ ” –it was ONLY evil – that is, he could be COMPLETELY evil with no hope for redemption.

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TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

Mazal Tov to

Dr Daniel & Sara Berelowitz and Dr Monty & Adrianne Green on the birth of a granddaughter Daughter of

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He was, therefore, punished. After the flood, however, there was no significant change.

Society remained corrupt. Man remained evil. Hashem had proven that severe punishment could not change humankind’s ways – “yetzer lev ha’adam ra’ min’urav”.

And that is why He took the oath no longer to punish humans for their “natural” inclination.

Instead, Hashem granted them the capacity for repentance. No longer would sin and corruption automatically bring severe results. Man could repent…because G-d could forgive.

And this is precisely the lesson Yishayahu taught his generation and all who followed: Hashem’s anger is, comparatively, only short-lived. But His forgiveness, His “desire” to return to Man so that Man could return to Him – or vice-verse – is eternal.

What a powerful message to receive right after the month of teshuva closed! The navi teaches us a lesson that grants us hope in the worst of times and joy in the best of times.

A lesson we should always remember.

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Bricks or Stones?

I

n this week’s parsha we read of the episode of Migdal Bavel, whereby the people sought to construct a tower that reached the heavens. Rav Kashtiel in his sefer Siman Labanim notes that when analyzing the pesukim, it appears that there is an emphasis on bricks. The Torah does not merely state that they built a tower. First we are informed that the people suggested to each other: “Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly; so the bricks were to them for stones, and the clay was to them for mortar.” ‫הבה נלבנה לבנים ונשרפה‬ ‫לשרפה ותהי להם הלבנה לאבן והחמר היה להם לחמר‬ (Bereshis,11:3). Why were the people of that generation determined to create their own bricks rather than use natural stone to use as building blocks?

Their action was significant and epitomized their very nature. They did not want to utilize anything that was created by God. They wanted to highlight man’s creativity 26

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

and remove any hint of Hashem from the equation. When Hashem “descends” to eyewitness the tower, we are told “And Hashem descended to see the city and the tower that the man had built (asher banu bnei ha’adam; Bereshis 11:5). The focus of that generation was on their strength, ingenuity, and creativity. They attributed no hakaras hatov to Hashem for all that He provided.

In contrast, later in Sefer Bereshis there is another structure that reaches the heavens.

The sulam (ladder) that Yaakov envisioned with Angels ascending and descending. The ladder connected the heavens and the earth.

The gematria of sulam is equal to Sinai. Yaakov’s outlook was to reach for the stars in order to bring God into his life. The term “even” (stone) appears several times in that chapter, to highlight that Yaakov is using God’s natural creation as a foundation upon which to rest (‫– ויקח מאבני המקום וישם מראשותיו‬ he took stones from that location to use as a pillow), and later uses the stones to build a monument to serve as a testament to the encounter (‫ויקח את האבן אשר שם מראשותיו וישם‬ ‫)אתם מצבה‬.

The Torah itself was given on luchos avanim – perhaps to underscore that we need to internalize and build upon the foundation that Hashem has provided to us. In our modern world with technological and medical advances on a daily basis, we may attribute it all to man. We are warned from having

an attitude of ‫כחי ועצם ידי עשה לי את החיל הזה‬.

We must not think that our strength, intellect and ability is solely what has led to such accomplishments. Our success stems from the raw materials and the foundation that Hashem has provided to us. The shulhan aruch suggests a specific yehi ratzon be recited when we administer medication, lest we conclude that the capsule is providing the cure. Migdal Bavel, serves a reminder that we ought to recognize the hand of God in all that we encounter.

To bring the point home, we will reiterate a famous joke. There was a storm in a town and one neighborhood started to flood.

People began to evacuate as the water level rose. One individual refused to vacate placing his faith in God, his savior. The mayor sent a boat into the village to assist with the evacuation, but this individual refused to budge. As water began to enter his home, he went to the rooftop. A helicopter was sent to help him escape the dangerous situation, but the man refused, stating that he had full faith that God would save him. Eventually, the man drowned. In heaven he confronts God and states “I was a good person, fulfilled your commands and had faith in you. Why did you forsake me? To which God replied: “what do me that I had forsaken you? I sent you a boat and a helicopter, you declined to accept them!”

We need to recognize Hashem’s hand in our daily lives. To take the foundation He has provided for us and to build upon it, to enhance our spiritual and physical world.

When brick houses are going up around us, our Emunah must remain as solid as a rock!

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OU ISRAEL CENTER

27

REBBETZIN SHIRA SMILES Faculty, OU Israel Center

F

or forty days the waters of the Great Flood surged over the earth and obliterated every living thing, only Noach survived, “vayishaer ach Noach” (Bereisheet 7;23). The word ach, only, indicates a limitation. What is the hindrance and how can we make it relevant in the here and now?

Rashi notes that Noach survived the flood in a diminutive state. Chazal teach that one day Noach delayed the lion’s feeding time; as Noach approached with the lion’s food, the hungry lion struck and injured Noach.

How are we to understand this? Did Noach deserve such an extreme punishment simply because he was a few minutes late to the extent that he became a bal mum and could not serve as a Kohen after the flood?

Chazal teach us that all those who are merciful to others, Hashem has mercy on them; to those who are unmerciful, Hashem does not show mercy. The dor hamabul was involved in stealing and corruption. They were thus unworthy of Divine mercy. It was therefore critical for Noach to especially display acts of kindness and mercy to allow Hashem’s benevolence and grace to save him from the flood. The Siftei Chayim

adds that Noach specifically needed to be involved in feeding the animals day and night so that he was a constant conduit of chesed to facilitate his salvation. Noach and his family also had to learn the nature of each animal and be attuned to their specific needs. Therefore, notes Lev Eliyahu, one lapse in this pivotal chesed, coming late to feed the lion, resulted in the intense din to affect Noach is this powerful way. The channels of chesed had to be continuous to protect him from the raging judgement found in the world at that time. Rav Lapian exhorts all of us to be involved in unceasing chesed as a safeguard against the ailments of the world around us. One great act of chesed each of us can perform he suggests, is to daven for others. Think about those who need health, finances, general salvation, and ultimate redemption each time we say the Shemone Esrei.

Rav Druck in Aish Tamid explains that the lion was intimating to Noach that if

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TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

he didn’t care for him properly, all future lions were in danger. As this was the last surviving lion, Noach had a greater responsibility. The Ohel Moshe adds that in times of crises, one must push above and beyond; the expectations for each of us are higher.

Ba’al Haturim notes that the double limitation found in our passuk is coming to add that indeed one other person survived, the giant Og. Targum Yonatan learns that he perched himself on the edge of the Ark and Noach made a hole to feed him daily. Rav Zaidel Epstein in Sefer He’arot explains that Og deserved to be saved for a future kindness -- telling Avraham Avinu that Lot was taken captive. Since the middah of chesed saved Noach and his family from the flood, the middah of chesed saved Og as well. This is alluded to in that his mouth was the only part that was connected to the inside of the and(as ourhenext step will to plant a fruit ark received foodbe from Noach), the tree.

I never thought of myself as being the very mouth that would later be a medium agricultural of kindness. type, but the feeling of settling and planting a portion of Eretz Yisrael, has “Olam chesed yibaneh”, the world built been truly euphoric.

Iy”H, when was we plant on kindness and was rebuilt with kindness. our tree, and eat the fruits that will grow Let work on building ourable individual one us day, I think we will be to truly worlds with kindness as well. appreciate that unique Kedusha found in

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Rather, head over to the fresh produce and buy yourself some nice juicy Kedusha-filled Jaffa oranges and thank Hashem for bringing you to this land in order to be able to ‫לאכול מפריה ולשבע מטובה‬, imbibing that Kedusha in every bite that you take!!

OU ISRAEL CENTER

29

RABBI JUDAH MISCHEL

Mashpiah, OU-NCSY Executive Director, Camp HASC Author of Baderech: Along the Path of Teshuva (Mosaica 2021)

The Good Yeitzer Hara

T

he tzadik Rebbe Naftali of Ropshitz was known for his sharp wit and holy insight. The Ropshitzer’s son, “Leizer”, later the great Reb Eliezer of Dzikov, inherited his father’s penetrating sense of humor.

As children often do, one day the rambunctious Leizer pulled a risky and mischievous prank — and for this he was admonished by his father, the Rebbe. “But Tatty, it’s not my fault! I have a very active yeitzer ha-ra (evil inclination) that pulled me into it… I just wasn’t able to withstand its temptation.”

“Exactly,” said his father, the Ropshitzer.

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‫ה‬.‫ב‬.‫צ‬.‫נ‬.‫ת‬ 30

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

“So you should learn from your yeitzer ha-ra: look how seriously he takes his avodah, carrying out his duty of leading us astray exactly as he is commanded to do, consistently, relentlessly, day after day.”

“It’s true,” countered the young Leizer, “my yeitzer ha-ra is indeed consistent in doing his job. But you see, my yeitzer ha-ra doesn’t have a yeitzer ha-ra preventing it from staying focused and tempting it away from avodas Hashem, like I do!

And the Ropshitzer smiled.

Following the destructive Mabul, when the Earth was finally dry, Noach emerged from the Teivah and offered a korban to Hashem:

‫ל־ל ּבוֹ לֹא־א ִֹסף ְל ַק ֵּלל‬ ִ ‫ֹּאמר ה׳ ֶא‬ ֶ ‫יח ַה ִּניח ַֹח ַוי‬ ַ ‫ת־ר‬ ֵ ‫ָרח ה׳ ֶא‬ ַ ‫ַו ּי‬ ‫ֻריו‬ ָ ‫ֵצר ֵלב ָה ָא ָדם ַרע ִמ ְּנע‬ ֶ ‫ֲד ָמה ַּבעֲבוּר ָה ָא ָדם ִּכי י‬ ָ ‫ת־הא‬ ָ ‫עוֹד ֶא‬ ‫יתי׃‬ ִ ׂ ‫ֲשר ָע ִש‬ ׁ ֶ ‫ל־חי ַּכא‬ ַ ‫ת־כ‬ ָּ ‫ְולֹא־א ִֹסף עוֹד ְל ַה ּכוֹת ֶא‬ “And Hashem smelled the pleasant aroma, and said to Himself, “Never again will I curse the earth because of man, since the devisings of man’s mind are evil from his youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living being, as I have done” (Bereishis, 8:20-21) Rashi brings a Midrash: ‫ֻריו‬ ָ ‫‘ ִמ ְּנע‬from his youth’ is written without (‫ )חסר‬the letter vav, implying that ‫משננער לצאת ממעי‬ ‫אמו‬, “from the time that a person ‘shakes

OU ISRAEL CENTER

31

himself’, when emerging from his mother’s womb, the evil inclination is placed within him.”

The students of the Baal Shem Tov defined the yeitzer ha-ra as simply energy and movement, the engine behind any impetus or desire that makes us ‘go’. Far from being inherently evil, these passions and drives are what makes us human and they form the core of our creative ambition. Without the energy of passion and drive, “no man would build a house, take a wife and create a family” (Bereishis Rabbah, 9:7).

When Rav Yitzchok Hutner, ztl, was a teen, his rebbe found him learning by himself, and asked, “Yitzchok, you don’t have a chavrusa?”

“I’m learning with my yeitzer ha-ra!” he smiled.

His rebbe pressed him again: “Why not learn with your yeitzer tov?

“Rebbe, my yeitzer tov never shows up on time to seder. But I can always count on my yetzer ha-ra!”

Asks Rav David Fohrman, the brilliant contemporary parshan, “If the evil inclination is good, how is it so bad?” Our passions are not evil in and of themselves, rather they constitute a powerful potential life-giving force, and they are the source of all connectivity and relationship. When the awesome power of passion is focussed and directed

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32

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

constructively, it can bring redemption. Yet, left unchecked, the gravitational spiritual pull of the world can drag passion down into destructive outcomes.

This is why we need to learn from our yeitzer ha-ra, and use it in our service of Hashem. In the Shema, we are commanded to love Hashem ‘b’chol levavechem’ with all your hearts, in the plural form. The Gemara infers the meaning: love God with both of your inclinations: your yeitzer ha-tov as well as our yeitzer ha-ra (Berachos, 54a). We are asked to use all of our kochos ha-nefesh and passions in His service.

Rebbe Shlomo Karliner, zy’a, would rally to the defense of the Jewish people by referencing the above mentioned pasuk from our sedra: “You, Ribbono Shel Olam, have already admitted that ‘the devisings of man’s mind are evil from his youth’; what can you expect of the people? They need to eat, sleep and love!”

The Divine commitment to never again destroy the earth as a result of our wrongdoings is, so to speak, God’s way of smiling at his ‘rambunctious’ children.

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OU ISRAEL CENTER

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34

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

OU ISRAEL CENTER

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36

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

OU ISRAEL CENTER

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The centerfold - the yearly zmanim (pages 37-44) can be pulled out and saved

2021-2022 ‫תשפ"ב‬

5782 Zmanim

38

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

23 Kislev

30 Kislev

7 Tevet

14 Tevet

21 Tevet

28 Tevet

6 Shevat

13 Shevat

20 Shevat

27 Shevat

4 Adar Aleph

Vayeshev

Miketz

Vayigash

Vayechi

Sh'mot

Vaera

Bo

Beshalach

Yitro

Mishpatim

Terumah

Nov. 12-13

9 Kislev

16 Kislev

Nov. 5-6

2 Kislev

Toldot

Vayeitze

Oct. 29-30

Chayei Sara 24 Cheshvan

Vayishlach

Oct. 22-23

17 Cheshvan

Vayera

Feb. 4-5

Jan. 28-29

Jan. 21-22

Jan. 14-15

Jan. 7-8

Dec. 31- Jan.1

Dec. 24-25

Dec. 17-18

Dec. 10-11

Dec. 3-4

Nov. 26-27

Nov. 19-20

Oct. 15-16

10 Cheshvan

Lech Lecha

Oct. 8-9

English date

3 Cheshvan

Hebrew date

Noach

Parsha

4:40

4:34

4:28

4:21

4:15

4:10

4:06

4:02

4:00

3:59

4:00

4:02

4:06

4:11

5:16

5:23

5:31

5:39

Candles

5:55

5:49

5:43

5:37

5:32

5:26

5:22

5:18

5:16

5:15

5:15

5:17

5:19

5:24

6:29

6:35

6:43

6:51

Havdala

Jerusalem

4:57

4:50

4:44

4:37

4:31

4:24

4:20

4:18

4:16

4:15

4:16

4:19

4:22

4:27

5:33

5:40

5:48

5:56

Candles

5:56

5:50

5:44

5:38

5:33

5:28

5:23

5:20

5:17

5:16

5:16

5:18

5:21

5:25

6:30

6:37

6:44

6:52

Havdala

Tel Aviv

4:56

4:50

4:44

4:37

4:31

4:26

4:22

4:18

4:16

4:15

4:16

4:18

4:22

4:26

5:32

5:39

5:47

5:55

Candles

5:57

5:51

5:46

5:40

5:34

5:29

5:25

5:21

5:19

5:17

5:17

5:19

5:22

5:26

6:31

6:37

6:45

6:52

Havdala

Beer Sheva

4:45

4:38

4:31

4:25

4:19

4:13

4:09

4:06

4:04

4:03

4:04

4:06

4:10

4:15

5:21

5:28

5:36

5:45

5:55

5:48

5:42

5:36

5:31

5:25

5:21

5:17

5:15

5:14

5:14

5:16

5:19

5:23

6:29

6:36

6:43

6:51

Havdala

Haifa Candles

Candle Lighting Times for Shabbat

OU ISRAEL CENTER

39

40

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

7 Elul

14 Elul

21 Elul

28 Elul

Shoftim

Ki Teitze

Ki Tavo

Nitzavim

Havdala

7:19 7:10

6:23 6:14

6:33

6:42

6:50

6:58

7:06

7:12

7:18

7:22

7:26

7:28

7:29

7:28

7:27

7:26

after 8:26 from pre-existing flame

7:23

7:19

Candles

7:21 7:12

7:31

7:40

7:49

7:58

8:06

8:14

8:20

8:26

8:30

8:32

8:34

8:34

8:32

8:30

8:26

part of Kiddush

8:22

Havdala

Tel Aviv

6:23 6:14

6:32

6:41

6:49

6:57

7:04

7:11

7:16

7:21

7:24

7:26

7:27

7:26

7:25

7:22

after 8:24 from pre-existing flame

7:19

7:15

Candles

7:21 7:12

7:30

7:39

7:48

7:57

8:05

8:12

8:18

8:23

8:27

8:30

8:31

8:31

8:30

8:27

8:24

part of Kiddush

8:19

Havdala

Beer Sheva

KIDDUSH LEVANA CHART WILL APPEAR IN NEXT WEEK'S EDITION

Sept. 16-17

6:08 Sept. 23-24 5:58

7:38

7:47

7:55

8:03

8:11

8:18

8:23

8:27

8:30

8:31

8:31

8:30

8:27

8:24

part of Kiddush

8:19

7:28

6:26

6:34

6:43

6:50

6:57

7:02

7:07

7:10

7:12

7:13

7:13

7:11

7:09

after 8:24 from pre-existing flame

7:05

7:01

Candles

Jerusalem

6:17

Sept. 9-10

Sept. 2-3

Aug. 26-27

1 Elul

Re'eh

Aug. 5-6

Aug. 19-20

9 Av

Devarim

July 29-30

23 Av

2 Av

Masei

July 22-23

Eikev

24 Tamuz

Matot

July 15-16

Aug. 12-13

17 Tamuz

Pinchas

July 1-2

July 8-9

Va'etchanan 16 Av

3 Tamuz

10 Tamuz

Chukat

Balak

26 Sivan

Korach

June 24-25

June 17-18

19 Sivan

June 4-5

Sh'lach

6 Sivan

Shavuot

June 3-4

June 10-11

5 Sivan

Naso

May 27-28

English date

Beha'alotcha 12 Sivan

27 Iyar

Hebrew date

Bemidbar

Parsha

6:15 6:05

6:24

6:33

6:42

6:50

6:58

7:05

7:11

7:15

7:19

7:21

7:22

7:21

7:20

7:17

after 8:28 from pre-existing flame

7:14

7:10

Candles

7:21 7:11

7:31

7:40

7:50

7:59

8:07

8:15

8:21

8:27

8:31

8:34

8:35

8:35

8:34

8:31

8:28

part of Kiddush

8:23

Havdala

Haifa

‫המולד יהיה יום ששי‪ ,‬שלשים ושש דקות אחרי ארבע‬ ‫בצהריים‬

‫המולד יהיה בליל חמישי‪ ,‬חמישים ואחת דקות ושבעה‬ ‫עשר חלקים אחרי שלש בבקר‬

‫המולד יהיה יום שלישי‪ ,‬שבע דקות וששה עשר חלקים‬ ‫אחרי שלש בצהריים‬

‫ראש חדש אלול יהיה ביום שבת‬ ‫קדש ולמחרתו ביום ראשון הבא‬ ‫עלינו ועל כל ישראל לטובה‬

‫ראש חדש מנחם אב יהיה ביום‬ ‫ששי הבא עלינו ועל כל ישראל‬ ‫לטובה‬

‫ראש חדש תמוז יהיה ביום רביעי‬ ‫וביום חמישי הבא עלינו ועל כל‬ ‫ישראל לטובה‬

‫ראש חדש סיון יהיה ביום שלישי‬ ‫הבא עלינו ועל כל ישראל לטובה‬

‫המולד יהיה יום שבת קדש‪ ,‬שש עשרה דקות וחמישה‬ ‫חלקים אחרי שמונה בבקר‬

‫המולד יהיה בליל ששי‪ ,‬שלשים ושתים דקות וארבעה‬ ‫חלקים אחרי שבע בערב‬

‫המולד יהיה יום רביעי‪ ,‬ארבעים ושמונה דקות ושלושה‬ ‫חלקים אחרי שש בבקר‬

‫המולד יהיה בליל שלישי ‪ ,‬ארבע דקות ושני חלקים אחרי‬ ‫שש בערב‬

‫המולד יהיה ביום ראשון ‪ ,‬עשרים דקות וחלק אחד אחרי‬ ‫ראש חדש אייר יהיה ביום ראשון‬ ‫וביום שני הבא עלינו ועל כל ישראל חמש בבקר‬ ‫לטובה‬

‫ראש חדש ניסן יהיה ביום שבת‬ ‫קדש הבא עלינו ועל כל ישראל‬ ‫לטובה‬

‫ראש חדש אדר שני יהיה ביום‬ ‫חמישי וביום ששי הבא עלינו ועל‬ ‫כל ישראל לטובה‬

‫ראש חדש אדר ראשון יהיה ביום‬ ‫שלישי וביום רביעי הבא עלינו ועל‬ ‫כל ישראל לטובה‬

‫ראש חדש כסלו יהיה ביום שני‬ ‫הבא עלינו ועל כל ישראל לטובה‬

‫המולד יהיה יום שני ‪,‬עשרים ושלש דקות וחמישה עשר‬ ‫חלקים אחרי שתים בבקר‬

‫המולד יהיה יום שבת קדש ‪,‬שלושים ותשע דקות וארבעה‬ ‫ראש חדש טבת יהיה ביום שבת‬ ‫קדש ולמחרתו ביום ראשון הבא עלינו עשר חלקים אחרי אחת בצהריים‬ ‫ועל כל ישראל לטובה‬

‫ראש חדש כסלו יהיה ביום ששי‬ ‫הבא עלינו ועל כל ישראל לטובה‬

‫המולד יהיה בליל ששי ‪,‬חמישים וחמש דקות ושלשה‬ ‫עשר חלקים אחרי חצות בלילה‬

‫‪MOLAD‬‬

‫& ‪Elul is on Shabbat August 27‬‬ ‫‪Sunday August 28‬‬

‫‪Menachem Av is on Friday July 29‬‬

‫& ‪Tammuz is on Wednesday June 29‬‬ ‫‪Thursday June 30‬‬

‫‪Sivan is on Tuesday May 31‬‬

‫‪Iyar is on Sunday May 1 and Monday‬‬ ‫‪May 2‬‬

‫‪Nisan is on Shabbat April 2‬‬

‫‪Adar Bet is on Thursday March 3‬‬ ‫‪& Friday March 4‬‬

‫‪Adar Aleph is on Tuesday February 1‬‬ ‫‪& Wednesday February 2‬‬

‫‪Shevat is on Monday January 3‬‬

‫‪Tevet is on Shabbat December 4‬‬ ‫‪and Sunday December 5‬‬

‫‪Kislev is on Friday November 5‬‬

‫‪ROSH CHODESH‬‬

‫‪Eikev‬‬

‫‪Matot‬‬

‫‪Korach‬‬

‫‪Bamidbar‬‬

‫‪Kdoshim‬‬

‫‪Shmini‬‬

‫‪Vayakhel‬‬

‫‪Mishpatim‬‬

‫‪Va-era‬‬

‫‪Vayeshev‬‬

‫‪Chayei Sara‬‬

‫‪SHABBAT‬‬ ‫‪MEVARCHIM‬‬

‫‪41‬‬

‫‪OU ISRAEL CENTER‬‬

‫)‪Shabbat Mevarchim (Molad‬‬

42

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

OU ISRAEL CENTER

43

23 Adar Bet

1 Nisan

8 Nisan

15 Nisan

21 Nisan

22 Nisan

Shmini

Tazria

Metzora

Pesach

Shevii Shel Pesach

Acharei Mot

Bechukotai 20 Iyar

13 Iyar

16 Adar Bet

Tzav

Behar

9 Adar Bet

Vayikra

6 Iyar

2 Adar Bet

Pikudei

Emor

25 Adar Aleph

Vayakhel

29 Nisan

18 Adar Aleph

Ki Tisa

Kedoshim

11 Adar Aleph

Tetzave

6:11 6:17 6:22 6:26 7:31 7:36 7:41 7:47

4:58 5:03

5:08 Mar. 18-19 5:13 Mar. 25-26 6:18 6:23 6:27 6:32 6:36 from pre-existing flame

6:42 6:47 May 13-14 6:52 May 20-21 6:57

May 6-7

Apr. 29-30

Apr. 22-23

Apr. 21-22

Apr. 15-16

Apr. 8-9

Apr. 1-2

Mar. 11-12

Mar. 4-5

Feb. 25-26

7:58 8:03 8:09 8:14

7:52

6:06

4:52

Feb. 18-19

6:37

6:01

4:46

Feb. 11-12

6:59 7:04 7:09 7:14

from pre-existing flame

6:54

6:40 6:45 6:50 6:54

5:25 5:30 6:35

5:20

5:15

5:09

5:03

8:00 8:06 8:11 8:17

7:54

7:38 7:44 7:49

6:23 6:28 7:33

6:18

6:13

6:08

6:02

6:56 7:01 7:06 7:10

from pre-existing flame

6:51

6:38 6:42 6:47 6:51

5:24 5:28 6:33

5:19

5:13

5:08

5:02

7:58 8:04 8:09 8:14

7:53

7:37 7:42 7:47

6:23 6:28 7:33

6:18

6:13

6:08

6:03

6:50 6:55 7:00 7:05

from pre-existing flame

6:45

6:30 6:34 6:39 6:44

5:14 5:19 6:25

5:09

5:03

4:57

4:51

8:01 8:06 8:12 8:18

7:55

7:38 7:44 7:49

6:23 6:28 7:33

6:17

6:12

6:06

6:01

44

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

OU ISRAEL CENTER

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TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

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OU ISRAEL CENTER

47

RABBI MOSHE TARAGIN

Geulas Yisrael Noach: An Ancient Echo

T

he legendary journey begins.

Civilization was centered in the areas to the north of Israel- in the general vicinity of the mountain-top upon which Noach’s ark had landed. After the failure of the audacious but impudent Bavel project, humanity was scattered across the Middle East. Tribes and clans each voyaged different regions, seeking nationhood and homeland. Only one chosen nation was destined to travel to the chosen land of Hashem and launch the greatest project in history. After two thousand years of theological confusion, one people would teach the world about “one God”. Our epic journey to the promised land of Israel was launched by…….Terach! Not Avraham but Terach!

The conclusion of parshat Noach describes Terach’s decision to relocate his family- including his son Avraham- to the land of Israel. Terach dies in mid-voyage, at which point Hashem famously instructs Avraham to complete the journey to israel.

Terach is the first “Jew” to make Aliyah!

Terach doesn’t exactly fit the expected profile of the first “Jew” to settle Israel. This is the same Terach who is annually indicted every Pesach as our pagan ancestor. Chazal fill in the blanks on Terach’s checkered 48

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

Ram, Yeshivat Har Eztion

religious history: he fashioned and supplied pagan idols and was incensed by his son’s monotheistic leanings. Furious with his errant son Avraham, he ‘informed’ the authorities, and soon thereafter Nimrod cast Avraham to what seemed like a fiery death.

Why would this pagan heretic who also “ratted out” his son, relocate his family to the land of Hashem?

Evidently, the land of Israel even enchants hearts empty of faith. Avraham’s captivation with the land of Israel was based upon years of religious discovery, disciplined practice and dedicated preaching to others.

The ‘voice of Hashem’ was familiar to him, and the divine instructions to travel to a land of Hashem were completely reasonable. His pagan father Terach, however, could not understand Hashem and certainly wasn’t interested in knowing about Him. The land of Hashem did not speak to him, yet something about this land of destiny transfixed him. He began the difficult journey from the comforts of Ur Kasdim to the frontier lands of Kena’an. What voice did he hear?

Of course he also heard the voice of Hashem- it was just disguised as something else. Ideally, a Jew inspired by the classic “works” of religion: Mitzvah observance, Torah study, prayer and moral behavior.

Hashem however, realized that, throughout history, many Jews would become severed from these classic religious anchors.

Hashem programmed within the Jewish

heart the capacity to respond to land, people, and country, independent of the ability to respond to religion and ritual. Even for those who have lost the trail of Sinai the mountains of Yerushalayim still beckon.

Terach was the first person to hear this inner echo of the land of Israel.

Redemption can sometimes be a baffling experience. We face so many unanswered questions and so many unyielding enigmas. To so many, these questions are more than nagging mysteries; they seem so unanswerable that the entire process is rejected and Divine authorship denied. If this were clearly the hand of Hashem, it would not be riddled with so many question marks. Even for those who embrace the State of Israel as the start of our redemption, these disquieting questions are haunting.

One of the most baffling enigmas is the question of secular Zionism. Not only were the great leaders of this renaissance secular, but the entire movement was premised on secular principles. The values of Secular Zionism were proposed as a replacement for traditional religious values. Moreover, Zionism, in its inception, was not just “incidentally” secular; it effectively sought to, and, true to its plan, succeeded in, replacing and displacing religion for so many millions of Jews. The State of Israel is primarily a secular organism, generally driven by secular institutions and maintained by a majority which is either completely secular or, at most, traditional in their religious practice.

How can this process be deemed redemptive or even Divine?

The divine nature of secular Zionism can only be understood by appreciating the sad collapse of organized religion during the

19th century. Enjoying a post-Renaissance and industrialized world of prosperity and restored faith in the human spirit, Mankind looked back at the stagnancy and suffering of the past thousand years, and accused organized religion as the great criminal of human history, responsible for much of the death and suffering of humanity. Facing these accusations, organized religion was collapsing around the globe and, sadly, Judaism was no different. By the end of the 19th century, millions of Jews were already “on their way out the door” and threatened with historical extinction. Sadly, religion and ritual no longer gripped their disenfranchised hearts.

At this stage, Hashem Himself, evoked this ancient echo- the echo of Terach. Hashem sounded this echo, resurrecting deep identification with land, people, and history- even in hearts turned away from Torah and religion. The divine broadcast of that ancient echo rescued millions of Jews from historical annihilation. How many millions of Jews cling to Jewish identity through the state of Israel? What about the incredible dedication and commitment of secular Jews to their homeland? Where does this passion come from? It is the modern version of the echo of Terach. Smarter than history, Hashem knew the exact time to amplify this echo. This echo reverberated from the palaces of Vienna, to the Hasidic courts of Hungary, to muddy shtetls of Eastern Europe, galvanizing the Jewish imagination. Millions of Jews are walking down Terach’s path on their way home. Secular Zionism is not a miscarriage of history but is the modern manifestation of an ancient echo, programmed by Hashem in Jewish hearts.

OU ISRAEL CENTER

49

OU KASHRUT RABBI EZRA FRIEDMAN PAGE BY Director, The Gustave & Carol Jacobs Center for Kashrut Education

Introduction to Shemitah Produce hemitah begins on the first day of the year, Rosh Hashanah, and ends on Erev Rosh Hashanah of the following year. Once shemitah has begun, all of the prohibitions of working the land come into effect. These include planting, pruning and plowing, as well as laws pertaining to the produce itself.

(ibid) explicitly lists the first day of Tishrei (Rosh Hashanah) as the beginning of all laws pertaining to shemitah. There is a minority opinion in early sources that certain laws of shemitah begin only from the fifteenth of Shevat (see Rabeinu Chananel on Rosh Hashanah 15:b). Nevertheless, it is clear from the Rambam (Shemitah Veyovel 4:9) and other authorities (Pe’at HaShulchan 22:14, P’nei Yehoshua on Rosh Hashanah 15:a) that the first of Tishrei is the definitive time for all shemitah laws including those pertaining to produce.

Later authorities codify this ruling as well (see Mishpetei Eretz 15:1).

Timing for produce

Kedushat Shevi’it

The first Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah lists four types of yearly cycles which govern different branches of halacha. For example, there are annual animal tithes whose cycle begins on the first of Elul. The Mishnah

Produce that grows or is harvested during the shemitah year acquires a unique holiness, called kedushat shevi’it. The laws of kedushat shevi’it apply to the produce even before it has been picked, and continue until the produce is either consumed or is no longer edible in any fashion (see Mishpetei Eretz p.220). Once it acquires kedushat shevi’it, the produce maintains that status even after the shemita year is over, and even if it has not yet been harvested.

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TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

Relinquishing ownership The Torah (Shemot 23:11) proclaims “v’hashevi’it tishm’tenah untashtah” (“but in the seventh you shall let it rest and lie fallow”).

The OU Israel Gustave & Carol Jacobs Center for Kashrut Education was created to raise awareness and educate the public in all areas of Kashrut in Israel. Rabbi Ezra Friedman, a Rabbinic Field Representative for the OU is the Center's director.

This verse teaches that according to Torah law, shemitah produce belongs to everyone.

In order to fulfill this mitzvah, the owner of the land must relinquish ownership of the produce while it is still on the tree or plant (see Chazon Ish Shevi’it 15:11). The owner must allow anyone, rich or poor, to enter his property and freely harvest the produce. Although he must relinquish all ownership of the produce, he may still collect a certain amount of fruit for personal consumption (including for his immediate family.) Neither the owner nor anyone else may harvest more than a certain amount at a time, generally considered to be a week’s worth. According to certain authorities, if too much produce has been collected, the food is prohibited for consumption (see Chut Shani 4:15).

Exemption from Terumot and Ma’asrot Produce grown in Israel requires the removal of tithes, referred to as terumot and ma’asrot. Produce which has not had tithes removed from it is thereby prohibited for consumption. Shemitah produce which has kedushat shevi’it (holiness of the seventh year) is exempt from these tithes.

Early authorities dispute what the reason is. Rashi (Rosh Hashanah 15:a) explains

Refuah Shleima to ‫אלה בת רחל‬ who was seriously injured in the Bnei Akiva bus accident last week up north

that only fruit that has ownership requires the removal of terumot and ma’asrot, but since shemitah produce belongs to everyone, there is no obligation to remove these tithes. Thus, it is accepted among most poskim that if ownership was not relinquished (doing so intentionally would be a halachic transgression, although such a case could happen inadvertently), one must separate terumot and ma’asrot (see Responsa Avkat Rochel 24).

In Summary • The cut-off date that determines which produce is shemitah produce is Rosh Hashanah of the seventh year.

•

Produce that has kedushat shevi’it remains holy even if picked during the eighth year.

•

Ownership of shemitah produce must be relinquished, allowing anyone, rich or poor, to harvest.

•

The owner of the land may collect produce up to a certain amount to feed himself and his family. An outside collector is limited to the same quantity.

•

Shemitah produce is exempt from terumot and ma’asrot as long as ownership was indeed relinquished.

Kashrut Questions in Israel?

Call or Whatsapp Rabbi Friedman at 050-200-4432 OU ISRAEL CENTER

51

T

SIMCHAT SHMUEL

BY RABBI SAM SHOR REBBETZIN SHIRA Program Director, OU Israel Center SMILES Faculty, OU Israel Center

here is a fascinating teaching in the Zohar HaChadash that upon emerging from the teiva and witnessing the destruction in the world following the flood, Noach began to weep, and then called out to Hashem- questioning how it could be that the world was decin a deeply powerful scene, Moshe mated. Hashem, according to this teaching, Rabbeinu is found with his hands answers Noach, calling him a foolish serheld high on top of the mountain vantI told you that you were righteous praying for the people gripped in before me, and that the world was destined a raging battle with Amalek below. for destruction, and you did nothing!

You Ahron and Chur stood on either side of had the capacity to daven and intercede, Moshe Rabbeinu holding his hands aloft and you did nothing to teaches convincethat meChur that (Shemot 17;10).

Rashi the was of worth protecting! wasworld the son Moshe’s sister, Miriam.

The great Kedushat What moreChasidic do weMaster, know the about Chur?

Levi, of Berditchev, zy’a WhatReb is Levi the Yitzchak symbolism of his joining with Ahron to support the hands of points out something interesting about Moshe Rabbeinu? this teaching.

In not advocating at all, by not making any effort whatsoever to show Rabbi Roberts in Through the Prism of concern for others, Noach was not simply Torah explains that Ahron and Chur selling others short, but rather was selling personified contrasting character traits. himself short!

Noach simply did not underAhron was a peacemaker, he constantly stand or believe that he, as a looked for ways to create righteous harmony person, ability Indeed, to both advocate among had his the people. he was for or influence others!

He simply didn’t ready to compromise his own values understand that he, like each of us, to achieve this goal, as we see in can the indeed a difference-that we are all story ofmake the sin of the golden calf.

Chur,

Tribute to the Trio

I

given the gift of koach hatefila, the power of tefila to transform ourselves, and transon the other hand, was a person who form the world! stood strong in his values, unbending Reb Levi Yitzchak teaches us so powerand resolute in his beliefs. Chazal fully, that so too, each of us should reflect teach that Chur tried to challenge the on this powerful lesson, that each of us people when they wanted to build the should appreciate the capacity each of us calf and they subsequently killed him. has been endowed with, that our actions Chur, a descendent of Yehudah, was a and tefilot do have the ability to impact othperson who was inflexible and strong ers, and to lift up the entire world. like a lion. Truly, a combination of both This idea reflected inIn a powerful short qualities isisnecessary. interpersonal teaching from the Reb relationships it isTzidkat wise to HaTzadik, follow Ahron’s Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin zy’a: path, to compromise and make peace K’sheim She’Adam L’Haamin whenever possible. Tzarich However, in the B’Hashem Yitbarach, kach tzarich achar service of Hashem and reinforcing kevod shamayim, needs toasfollow Chur’s kach l’haaminone b’atzmo-Just a person must example and be resolute in his values. believe and be faithful to Hashem, so too one These two special must believe and havepeople faith injoined oneself!Moshe Rabbeinu activate bestows the merits of of these Hashem to Yitbarach each us approaches as he implored Hashem to with incredible capabilities-each of us must have mercy on His people and vanquish look inward with confidence and ask ourAmalek, physically and spiritually. selves-how can I contribute to making the world a better place?

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OU ISRAEL CENTER

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DIVREI MENACHEM

BY MENACHEM PERSOFF

Special Projects Consultant, OU Israel Center mpersoff@ou.org

Righteous Talk

P

arshat Noach teaches us much about what we do with one of our most vital attributes: the ability to speak and address others and talk about them.

But first, let us consider Rashi’s wellknown comments on the opening line of the Parsha that talks of Noach as “a righteous person, perfect in his generation,” which can be understood in one of two ways. (1) Noach was righteous and, moreover, he walked with God or (2) In his generation, he was righteous, but compared with Avraham Avinu, who walked before God, Noach would be considered “worthless.”

Rashi is perhaps warning us that, to coin a phrase, ‘comparisons are odious.’ After all, the laws of Lashon Hara strengthen that notion – for even if one talks well of someone, there will always be somebody to undermine the compliment and speak in derogatory terms about that same person.

Later in the Torah narrative, Hashem turns to Noach, saying: “Come to the Ark… for it is you whom I have seen to be righteous before me in this generation.” Rashi again comments: ‘Hashem did not invoke the previous accolade accorded to Noach, namely, that he was both “righteous and 54

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

perfect” – but only used the term “Tzaddik.”’

Rashi proposes that from this shortened description of Noach when Hashem approached him directly, we learn to bestow but “half” of one’s praises when addressing frontally those we wish to compliment. Surely, the rationale is not to overly praise individuals lest their pride gets the better of them.

Furthermore, when Hashem instructs Noach to bring the animals into the Ark, He distinguishes between “every clean animal”[those later permitted to be eaten] and those “not clean.” Rather than employing terms such as ‘impure’ or ‘foul,’ Hashem softens the language, as it were – to teach us, no doubt, to use clean language in our daily speech.

Perhaps Hashem is also teaching us – to coin another phrase – to be as careful about what comes out of our mouths as what enters them.

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RABBI AARON Editor, Torah Tidbits GOLDSCHEIDER Each week this column will present an original idea and life lesson from the thought of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt”l.

Shlichut: Finding Our Purpose

T

he Talmudic description of the embryo learning Torah in the mothers womb offers us an unforgettable portrayal of the way each one of us begins life. Just prior to being and entering the world an angel slaps the child on the lip and it forgets the Torah that was learned in utero. (Niddah 30b) Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik took note of another detail in this memorable Talmudic passage. The infant, before birth, must make an oath that he will direct his life to being a person of righteousness (Yemei Zikaron p.10).

Whenever an oath or act of swearing is employed, an assignment of import is being undertaken. Two examples of this from the Torah: (a) When Avraham calls on Eliezer to find a wife for his son Yitzchak he has his trusted servant swear to him that he will loyally fulfill this charge. (b) Yaakov summons his son Yosef prior to his passing and Yosef makes an oath that he will bury his 56

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

body in the land of Israel in the family plot in Chevron.

In each of these cases one is assigned a crucial task and to act as a shaliach in fulfilling an essential deed on behalf of the nation.

Perhaps the individual assigned the most exalted shlichut was Moshe. In this case the Holy One Blessed be He Himself assigned him his duty.. “So now go, and I will send you (ve’eshlachecha) to Pharoah, and take My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” The word shlichut is found in this verse. Moshe is assigned a task and he is given his marching orders that will in time shape the rest of his life on earth.

The Rav argued that Moshe Rabbeinu’s shlichut serves as a paradigm for each of us. We are born into this world with the weight of an oath on our shoulders. This means that we are here for a purpose and to live righteously means that our lives must exhibit a dedication and commitment to fulfilling a unique task and mission.

In a rare instance where the Rav quoted from Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, the Rav brought proof to this notion from a memorable passage from the conclusion section of each Yom Kippur Amida.

We state: “My God, before I was formed I was unworthy, and now that I have been formed, it is as if I had not been formed.

I am dust in my life and will surely be so

in my death.” On face value this prayer sounds quite demoralizing.

Every single person has an assignment on earth, and for this reason we are each born in a specific era under specific circumstances. Rav Kook explained this passage in our prayers as follows: Hashem, You know know that had I been born in an earlier generation, in an earlier era, I would have been worthless, unable to accomplish my specific assignment. Before I was created, I had no place in the order of things and events. With the birth of every person at a given time and place, a situation is formed within which he can serve God via the specific assignments given to him. But thus far I have accomplished so few of my assignments that I am unworthy of having been born even in this generation . The miracle of my birth has been wasted; it is thus as if I have never been created (Derashot HaRav, pp. 50-51, Out of the Whirlwind, pp. 149-150).

There is a Divine call that we are meant to hear. If man disregards his assignment on earth he lives and dies in vain. There is great capacity in each person to achieve and attain great heights.

The Rav is articulating an idea that resonates deeply: • A Jew lives life with gusto and enthusiasm; each of us has a great deal to achieve.

• Every person has a unique contribution to make that is singular.

• Apply your personal aspirations and talents toward addressing a greater need that provides for those around you and betters the world at large.

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58

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

OU ISRAEL CENTER

59

FROM THE VIRTUAL DESK OF THE

OU VEBBE REBBE RAV DANIEL MANN

A Renter Having a Zecher L’churban Question: The house I am renting does not have an unpainted segment of wall as a zecher lachurban (a remembrance that the Beit Hamikdash has been destroyed).

Should I make one?

Answer: The gemara (Bava Batra 60b) is the source of the halacha (see Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 56:1) to leave an amah X amah of wall unpainted. The gemara presents this and a couple of other small limitations on enjoyment as a balanced approach between showing no aveilut and those who stopped consuming meat and wine (which were parts of the Temple service).

The gemara states that one who acquires a fully painted home can leave it as is. Why is that so? The simple reading of the Radbaz (II:640) is that only a person who improperly painted is required to peel off paint.

The Magen Avraham (560:1) says that one can leave it as is only if it might have been built in a permitted manner, e.g., even if he bought the house from a Jew, perhaps it was fully painted by a previous, non-Jewish 60

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

owner. He and most poskim (see Mishna Berura 560:4) posit that if it was painted improperly, then even a subsequent owner must peel a section of paint.

So at first glance, the ruling for a renter depends on the landlord. If it is a non-Jew, who did nothing wrong, the paint can stay.

If a Jew owns it, since he should have left an unpainted area, we obligate the present resident. However, the matter is more complex.

Some say that a renter is not considered like a temporary owner, and a non-owner who happens to be staying in a home is not required to make a zecher lachurban (Migdal Hashein 61; Avnei Yashfei I:116 disagrees). Thus, even if the owner sinned, the renter need not rectify like a buyer would.

There is even an opinion that if it is built to be immediately sold or rented, the owner is not required to leave a zecher lachurban (Migdal Hashein ibid.; Igrot Moshe, OC III:86). While this makes more sense if the owner was not planning to sell or rent to a Jew, it is possible to exempt in both cases (ibid.; Mishneh Halachot V:71 disagrees).

If so, the renter is not obligated since the gemara states that living there does not create an obligation to peel paint. If the renter paints himself, then he must leave over an unpainted area (Pri Megadim, 560, EA 4; Sha’arei Teshuva 560:3).

Most agree that if the owner does not permit, the renter may not and therefore

The Orthodox Union - via its website - fields questions of all types in areas of kashrut, Jewish law and values. Some of them are answered by Eretz Hemdah, the Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, headed by Rav Yosef Carmel and Rav Moshe Ehrenreich, founded by HaRav Shaul Yisraeli zt”l, to prepare rabbanim and dayanim to serve the National Religious community in Israel and abroad. Ask the Rabbi is a joint venture of the OU, Yerushalayim Network, Eretz Hemdah... and OU Israel’s Torah Tidbits.

is certainly exempt from peeling off paint (see opinions in Dirshu 560:10). If he lets on condition that the renter repaint fully before he leaves, there are two further reasons for leniency – 1. If he would otherwise not have to paint at the end, it is unclear whether the halacha was meant to require an outlay of money; 2. The full painting at the end (at least if the next resident is Jewish) might be worse than leaving things as they were (Avnei Yashfeh ibid.).

This final point highlights a chakira about the zecher lachurban. Is it a requirement to have a zecher lachurban to remind one about the Beit Hamikdash, or does the act of fully beautifying one’s house contradict our national aveilut? The term zecher lachurban implies the former approach (which Igrot Moshe ibid. posits). Actually the gemara does not mention it, but many Rishonim (including the Tur, OC 560) do.

Parts of the gemara and several halachot or opinions imply that the idea is an aveilut

prohibition (see Rashi, Bava Batra 60b). It is likely that a violation of the prohibition turns the house into a chillul Hashem that needs rectification. Among the cases that might depend on this chakira are: painting but having an alternative zecher (see Mishna Berura 560:3 and Sha’ar Hatziyun 8); having a palatial house with an unfinished area (see Radbaz ibid.); can there be a need for more than one such area (Mishna Berura ibid.). We cannot elaborate.

Because of some broad possibilities for leniency (including that our paint might not count (ibid. 2)) and the idea that we are generally lenient on this halacha (Radbaz ibid., Igrot Moshe ibid.), a renter may be lenient except when he paints in the midst of the rental period.

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61

TORAH VEHA'ARETZ RABBI MOSHE BLOOM INSTITUTE BY en.toraland.org.il

Kedushat Shevi’it Vegetables Are Here – For A Limited Time Only

T

he information in the article below presents the halachic position of Torah VeHa’artez Institute, and does not necessarily reflect the position of the OU. Vegetables that were planted and began to sprout before the beginning of shemitah and were harvested during shemitah may be eaten and have shemitah sanctity, kedushat shevi’it. The largest organization providing vegetables with kedushat shevi’it is Otzar Ha’aretz.

Eating these vegetables is meritorious.

According to some opinions, one who eats such produce fulfills the biblical commandment of “the produce of the land’s Sabbath is for you to eat.”

Furthermore, by eating shemitah produce grown by shemitah-observant Jews we support our farmers, certainly a worthy act.

Now (at the end of Tishrei), the vegetables that are available in stores include 62

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers (red, orange, yellow, light-green, hot), and eggplant.

Be sure to check for the sticker or sign saying that the vegetables have kedushat shevi’it.

Tomatoes with kedushat shevi’it, Otzar Ha’aretz store, Petach Tikvah.

Even if you do not have membership or have trouble using the Otzar Ha’aretz app, you can still purchase the vegetables in the usual way (best together with another item without kedushat shevi’it).

Soon more vegetables with kedushat shevi’it will be available: cherry tomatoes (early Cheshvan), squash (mid-Cheshvan), and carrots (early Kislev).

Other vegetables (beets, potatoes, etc.) in Otzar Ha’aretz stores are sixthyear produce or from Olei Mitzrayim territory.

Note: the time we will have vegetables with kedushat shevi’it is limited to the next few

months since it is forbidden to plant or sow new vegetables during shemitah.

Otzar beit din vegetables were sown two weeks before Rosh Hashanah, latest. After the vegetable ripens and is harvested, there will no longer be more vegetables of that type during the year. For each type of vegetable, the time there will no longer be vegetables with kedushah depends on its growing time and shelf life. Vegetables like cucumbers, tomatoes, and squash cannot be refrigerated for long. Cucumbers (grow for 2–3 months) and squash with kedushah will be available until Chanukah; tomatoes and peppers a few weeks after that. Carrots can be stored for long periods, so they will be available for many months.

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63

TOWARDS MEANINGFUL REBBETZIN ZEMIRA OZAROWSKI TEFILLA BY Director of OU Israel L’Ayla Women’s Initiative

A

‫על הצדיקים‬

fter a few weeks of Chagim, we now return to our regular study of the Shemoneh Esrei.

The last bracha we studied was ‫;ולמלשינים‬ we will now continue with ‫על הצדיקים‬. As we mentioned previously, the first half of the brachot of Shemoneh Esrei are personal in nature, whereas the second half are communal requests for the development and success of the nation as a whole.

The first three of these national brachot – ‫ולמלשינים‬, ‫ השיבה שופטינו‬and ‫ על הצדיקים‬are all spiritual communal requests in which we ask Hashem to provide us with the ideal spiritual environment in which to flourish as a nation. We firstly need to have good leaders and a justice system based on Torah values (‫)השיבה שופטינו‬, we secondly need to rid ourselves of all evil influences (‫)ולמלשינים‬, and we thirdly want to have a society of positive role models in which we are surrounded by good influences (‫על‬ ‫)הצדיקים‬. ‫ל־ז ְק ֵֽני ַע ְּמ ָֽך ֵּֽבית־‬ ִ ‫ְע‬ ַ ‫ידים ו‬ ִֽ ‫ֲס‬ ִ ‫ל־הח‬ ַֽ ‫ְע‬ ַ ‫יקים ו‬ ִֽ ‫ל־ה ַּצ ִּד‬ ַ ‫ַע‬ ‫ ֶיֽהֱמוּ־‬,ּ‫ְע ֵֽלינו‬ ָ ‫ְעל־ ֵּג ֵֽרי ַה ֶּֽצ ֶדק ו‬ ַ ‫יהם ו‬ ֶֽ ‫ופ ֵר‬ ְ ‫יטת ֽס‬ ַֽ ‫ל־פ ֵל‬ ְּ ‫ְע‬ ַ ‫ׂר ֵֽאל ו‬ ָ ‫ִש‬ ְ‫י‬ ‫ׇל־ה ּֽבו ְֹט ִֽחים ְּבִׁש ְמ ָֽך‬ ַ ‫ׂכר ֽטוֹב ְלכ‬ ָֽ ‫ְתן ָש‬ ֵֽ ‫ ו‬,ּ‫יך ה’ ֱאלֹקינו‬ ָ ‫ֲמ‬ ֶֽ ‫ָֽנא ַֽרח‬ .ּ‫י־ב ָֽך ָב ָֽט ְחנו‬ ְ ‫ֹש ִּֽכ‬ ׁ‫ ו ְּלעו ָֹֽלם ֽלֹא־נ ֵֽבו‬,‫ׂים ֶח ְל ֵֽקנ ּו ִע ָּמ ֶֽהם‬ ‫ְש‬ ִֽ ‫ ו‬,‫ֱמת‬ ֶֽ ‫ֶּֽבא‬ .‫יקים‬ ִ ‫ ִמְׁש ָען ו ִּמ ְב ָטח ַל ַּצ ִּד‬,’‫ָּברו ְּך ַא ָּתה ה‬ May Your mercies be aroused, Hashem our G-d, upon the righteous, upon the pious, upon the elders of Your people, the House of 64

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

Israel, upon the remnant of their sages, upon the righteous converts and upon us. Grant ample reward to all who truly trust in Your Name, and place our lot among them; may we never be ashamed, for we have put our trust in You. Blessed are You Hashem, the support and security of the righteous.

At first glance, this bracha seems to simply be a request to reward the Tzadikim. This is all good and nice, but what does it have to do with us? Why is this request so important, and of what relevance is it to those of us who are not Tzadikim?

The answer is found in the words - ‫ושים‬ ‫ חלקינו עמהם‬and place our lot among them.

In this bracha, we ask Hashem to reward those who have complete faith in Him and then we go on to say ‫ – ושים חלקינו עמהם‬and place our lot amongst them. It seems like we are asking that we should be included in their reward. Rav Eliyahu Lopian asks –This seems like an inappropriate request.

Why should we deserve the same reward as the Tzadikim? He answers that we are not asking to be part of their reward but rather that we should become part of the “club” of those who completely trust in Hashem, that their complete bitachon (faith) should rub off on us.

This bracha is so important because in order to grow as a nation, we need to create a society where the righteous are held in high esteem. We want to live in a world in

which those who are good are rewarded, in which it is clear to all which individuals we should try and emulate.

Rav Eliyahu Dessler in the Michtav M’Eliyahu writes that when a person does a Mitzvah, that Mitzvah generates another Mitzvah – ‫מצווה גוררת מצווה‬. We generally understand this to mean that when a person does a Mitzvah, it will enable him to continue on that path and to do more Mitzvot. Rav Dessler writes that this is also true on a communal level. When a person does a Mitzvah, that has a domino effect on those around him, who see the Mitzvah that he has performed and are inspired to perform Mitzvot as well. So it is very important to be surrounded by good influences. But he goes on to write that this only works when we are in the company of a ‫צדיק משפיע‬, a person whose good deeds are noticeable.

So we ask Hashem not only to put us in an environment where we are surrounded by Tzadikim, but that their actions should be obvious and unconcealed so that we have the opportunity to learn from them and to emulate them.

We conclude with the message - ‫ְלעו ָֹֽלם ֽלֹא ּ־‬ ‫י־ב ָֽך ָב ָֽט ְחנו‬ ְ ‫ֹש ִּֽכ‬ ׁ‫ – נ ֵֽבו‬we will never be ashamed for we have put our trust in You. The true reward for trusting in Hashem is the state of calm that it affords us. We never have to feel ashamed for we know that Hashem ְׁ‫ַה‬ will take care of us. The knowledge of ‫ש ֵל ְך‬ )‫כג‬:‫ְה ְב ָך וְהוּא י ְַכ ְל ְּכ ֶלך (תהילים נה‬ ָ ‫ ַעל ה’ י‬that we can throw our burdens onto Hashem and He will deal with them, is the most comforting and empowering message we can take with us, both as a nation and as individuals. May we all merit to attain such a level of complete bitachon in Hashem!.

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TORAH 4 TEENS

BY TEENS NCSY ISRAEL Adele Nemirov Jerusalem Chapter Director Noach’s Greatest Challenge Noach is a complicated and mysterious man. While the Torah introduces Noach as a tzaddik tamim b’dorosav, a righteous individual [who was] complete in his generations, Rashi notes that this description has two possible meanings: either that Noach was righteous despite the spiritual failings of his generations, or he was only righteous when compared to his corrupt and violent peers.

Many commentators praise Noach for his righteousness, noting his strength in resisting the negative influences around him. While the rest of the world descended into immorality, Noach’s commitment to goodness and G-dliness was steadfast.

However, one of the greatest criticisms of Noach is that, in the 120 years that

he spent building his ark, he was either unable or unwilling to motivate the rest of his generation to repent for their evil ways. Chassidic masters compare Noach to a man sitting in the cold with a group of people. The man can either build a fire and warm the whole room or wrap himself in a fur coat, warming only himself. Noach is a tzaddik wrapped in a fur coat while his neighbors shiver.

There is, however, a third option: a man sitting alone in the cold, wrapping himself tightly to stay warm next to a fire that no one else is drawn to. Perhaps Noach’s peers were so far gone that no rebuke could have brought them back, and Noach’s solitude and lack of outreach stemmed from a fear of sinking beneath the floodwaters of evil that consumed his generation. He was only able to remain righteous because he pulled back and focused on his own connection to G-d. The unique strength of realizing when to put oneself first is what made Noach the right person to survive the flood. But next,

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TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

we have the challenge of then putting oneself second, reaching out, and seeing the good in others.

Ayelet Steinberger Jerusalem, 10th Grade United We Stand In our parasha we witness two phenomena of human deterioration. The first one is that people were stealing from each other, which led to the mabul/flood and extinction of almost all mankind. The second is the tower of Bavel which was a tower built by a people who decided to start a new empire of sorts. We see that G-d didn’t kill them, rather he just scattered them.

Rashi explains that the differences between the two are that the mabul was a punishment for sins of Bein Adam Lechavero- between and amongst the people, whilst in the building the tower of Bavel tower went against G-ds will- but were united amongst themselves . These two punishments are an example for all of us to teach us an important lesson.

God is willing to be more forgiving towards people even when they go against his will as long as they are united and respect each other.

We just recently celebrated Yom Kippur, the day of forgiveness. On this day all of our sins are forgiven except those that are bein adam lechavero. Even the holiest day won’t help us be forgiven if we don’t behave respectively towards others and make amends with those who were hurt by us.

Right after Yom Kippur comes Sukkot which is a holiday where we all sit together and are united. It is also one of the 3 Regalim- Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot which are the times all the Jews from all over came to the Beit Hamikdash, holidays in which the focus is once again on unity.

I am grateful for the amazing opportunity that NCSY provides. A platform and opportunity to unite with my fellow Jewish brothers and sisters from all around the world. I wish you all a Shabbat shalom and a healthy winter!

NCSY Israel is the premier organization in Israel, dedicated to connect, inspire, empower, and help teen olim with "Klita" to the Land of Israel by encouraging passionate Judaism through Torah and Tradition. Find out more at israel.ncsy.org

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REFLECTIONS ON MY REBBE, RAV MOSHE DOVID TENDLER ZT”L Shimshon HaKohen Nadel The Talmud (Mo’ed Katan 25b) relates that following the death of Rabba and Rav Yosef, the bridges over the Euphrates collapsed into one another, and following the death of Abaye and Rava, the bridges over the Tigris collapsed into one another.

These great sages were ‘bridges’ - ba’alei mesorah - connecting one generation to the next. And their deaths marked the end of an era.

Moreinu HaRav Moshe Dovid Tendler zt”l was a living link in the chain of tradition. He connected us to the gedolim of the previous generations, all the way back to Sinai. And his death too marks the end of an era.

Rav Tendler was many things: A posek and a professor. A rosh yeshiva and a scientist. A world-class talmid chacham with a Phd in microbiology. A communal leader and synagogue rabbi. But to me, he was a Rebbe.

His shiur was unlike any other in the yeshiva. Rav Tendler wouldn’t get lost in abstractions, pilpulim, or lomdus. Instead, his shiur focused on halacha l’ma’aseh, the practical application of halacha.

The sugya would come to life - pirouetting off the page of the Gemara - as Rav Tendler would share real questions and cases he was involved in, drawing on years of experience as a posek. We would often look 68

TORAH TIDBITS 1437 / NOACH

together at the teshuvot of his beloved shver, HaGa’on Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l, with Rav Tendler providing fascinating footnotes and important background information to the teshuvah.

Rav Tendler defined ‘Torah L’shmah’ - the study of Torah for its own sake - as ‘L’shem Hora’ah,’ for the sake of being able to rule; to render p’sak halacha. He would invoke Kiddushin 30a: “The words of Torah should be sharp in your mouth, so should someone ask you a question you will not stammer instead - answer him immediately.” And he was critical of those who study in yeshiva or kollel for many years, but when asked how to make a cup of tea on Shabbos, ‘don’t want to pasken.’

It was not uncommon for me to be sitting with him in his office at Yeshiva University, or at his home in Monsey, NY, and he would receive a phone call - usually from across the great expanses of the globe - on some serious matter. And it was also not uncommon for him to quickly gesture to me to pick up the phone and listen in on the conversation, so I could hear how he navigated the complex question.

He wanted his talmidim to be competent and confident in answering a shayla.

He was also the address when the answer was unclear, or the question too great for a newly-minted rabbi. We knew we could turn to him and he would guide us. One of the poskei ha-dor was just a phone call

away, always magnanimous, always generous with his time.

It’s no surprise he was so generous with his talmidim, he loved us. Chazal compare the talmid-rebbe relationship to the parent-child relationship (Sifrei, Va’etchanan).

This was tangible to anyone who merited to be a talmid of Rav Tendler. He treated us like his own children, and our children like his grandchildren. Our s’machot were his s’machot, and our successes were his successes. He was deeply invested in his talmidim, and was so proud of their accomplishments. Together with his late Rebbetzin Sifra a”h, he would open up his home to us for Shabbat, Yom Tov, and Chanukah. And we talmidim didn’t call him Rav. We called him Rebbe.

For decades, Rav Tendler served with distinction as a Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and Professor of Biology and Jewish Medical Ethics at Yeshiva College.

He entered the yeshiva at the age of thirteen in 1939, and in his own words, “never left.” YU’s motto of Torah U’Madda was his own personal mantra. But he would often quip that there should “be more Madda in the Torah classes, and more Torah in the Madda classes!” He brought science into the Beit Midrash and Torah into the laboratory.

Sophisticated sugyot were illuminated by scientific material, and his biology classes were peppered with statements of Chazal.

As a preeminent posek and pioneer in the field of Medical Halacha, Rav Tendler ruled on the most difficult and delicate areas of halacha: Complicated questions of pikuach nefesh, end-of-life issues, organ donation, agunot, abortion, and reproductive

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medicine. He answered them all with a surgical precision, a great finesse, and with a great sense of responsibility. He had broad shoulders and garnered the confidence of the broad community, recognized as a leading authority.

In addition to his many accomplishments, he also developed a cancer drug he named Refuin. A Time Magazine article dated May 31, 1963 described how “the discovery made

by Dr. Moses D. Tendler... took on an aura of romance because he spends only part of his time in the laboratory, the rest in his study as a Talmudic scholar.” Even Time magazine couldn’t ignore this Kiddush Hashem. As the Mishnah he was fond of quoting states, “Lovely is the study of Torah together with worldly pursuits!” (Avot 2:2). How many can boast that their rosh yeshiva discovered a cure for cancer?

Rav Tendler was an invaluable resource to his saintly father-in-law, HaGa’on Rav Moshe Feinstein. When Rav Moshe was posed with questions of medical procedures, or innovations in science and technology, he turned to his beloved son-in-law. Rav Tendler is quoted in tens and tens of teshuvot in the Igrot Moshe, providing the necessary medical or scientific information needed to pasken the shayla.

His Torah was a ‘Torat Chayim,’ a living, breathing Judaism that engages the modern world and confronts its challenges. He believed that an understanding of science, technology, and the metzi’ut is indispensable. He would point to how Rav spent eighteen months among the shepherds studying what types of blemishes on animals heal and which are permanent (Sanhedrin 5b), or how Rabbi Zeira was 70

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hesitant to rule on issues of family purity without requisite knowledge of the physiology involved (Niddah 20b), or the Talmud’s critique of one who knows how to calculate the calendar based on astronomy and the constellations but does not, as such calculations are considered a “mitzvah” (Shabbat 75a). “There is wisdom found among the gentiles” (Eicha Rabbah 2:13), and for Rav Tendler, an understanding of that wisdom is sine qua non for deciding halacha.

A rare scholar, he was an expert in both Torah and science. And he saw no conflict between the two. For him, they lived together in perfect harmony. They complemented one another. He was equally at home quoting Galen as he was quoting the Rambam.

Equally at home in the dalet amot of the Beit Midrash and the four ells of the science lab.

Returning from the funeral of Rav, the Talmud (Berachot 42b-43a) records how his students sat by the river and ate. When they finished and wanted to bentsch, a question arose to which they had no answer.

Rav Adda bar Ahavah stood up, rent his garment a second time and said, “Rav has died and we have not learned from him the laws of Birkat Ha-Mazon!” Now that Rav Tendler is gone, who will answer our questions? Who will provide us with direction and guidance in the most difficult questions of Medical Halacha, innovations in science, and advancements in technology?

Born in 1926, he would often say that he was born in a “small shtetl in Europe, known as the Lower East Side of Manhattan.” “Hitler killed more than six million Jews, he destroyed a culture that you kids don’t even know about,” he would remark. And in his shiur we were transported to a long-lost

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world where a man dressed in tatters knew every Tosafot by heart and could be asked any question on any page of the Talmud.

Rav Tendler would share stories of how as a child he would accompany his maternal grandfather, Rav Shalom Baumrind, known as the Boyaner Mohel to the fish market for kapporos, where he would buy a live carp and place a piece of bread soaked in schnapps in its mouth. He shared how the same grandfather would take him to the Boyaner Rebbe’s tisch, which he remembered as being regal and majestic, but to his grandfather’s chagrin, still refused to take the Rebbe’s shi’rayim. He recalled how his grandmother used to cut the bottoms of carrots first, as it’s not nice to chop off the head.

He connected us to the gedolim of previous generations. As a bachur, he would read the Gemara for an elderly, blind Rav Yosef Eliyahu Henkin zt”l who sat on wooden orange crates so as not to take money from the yeshiva for furniture. He shared stories of his father, Rav Yitzchak Isaac Tendler zt”l, who served as a Rosh Yeshiva at RJJ and the Rav of the Kaminetzer Shul for decades, and his father’s rebbe Rav Baruch Boruch Ber Leibowitz zt”l. Unpublished, little known anecdotes and chiddushim from the Rav, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt”l along with

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other former RIETS roshei yeshiva from long ago. Stories of his interactions with Torah luminaries like Rav Kahaneman zt”l, Rav Hutner zt”l, and the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt”l. Often, while relating a story about his beloved shver, Rav Moshe, Rav Tendler would have to hold back the tears.

For Rav Tendler, sharing these stories and anecdotes was not ‘bittul Torah.’ “Even the mundane conversations of Talmidei Chachamim requires study” (Avoda Zara 19b).

He was connecting us with the mesorah. He taught his students more than just a ‘blatt Gemara,’ he gave us a glimpse into greatness.

Rav Tendler was a towering intellectual giant, but at the same time very down to earth, and easily approachable. He was famous for his wry sense of humor. He possessed a sharp wit and biting sarcasm.

Always quick with a comment or a comeback. Once when asked by a student if a certain decadent dessert made with dairy equipment can be eaten after meat, he scratched his beard and wondered aloud if it should be eaten at all, given just how unhealthy it is.

As a posek he could be unyielding, uncompromising, and unapologetic. He lived the Torah’s charge to the dayyan: “You shall not tremble before any man” (Devraim 1:17). Whether it was brain death, metzitza b’peh, or ascending the Temple Mount, he was unafraid to take a controversial position, even at great personal cost. He strove for truth, often quoting the Maharshal’s

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comment that any distortion of the Torah is yehareg ve’al ya’avor (See Yam Shel Shlomo, Bava Kamma 4:9) or Rav Soloveitchik’s comparison of a posek who errs to a false prophet.

He had an illustrious career, spanning decades dedicated to Jewish communal life.

As a rosh yeshiva and the rabbi of Community Synagogue of Monsey, he helped shape Orthodoxy in America in the 20th Century.

His books and dozens of scholarly articles on the intersection of halacha, science and medicine guided generations, and will continue to guide generations to come. He was blessed with arichut yamim, and continued giving shiurim until his most recent illness made it too difficult. He drew strength from his great love for the Torah and his great love for his talmidim.

“From Moshe to Moshe, no one arose like

Moshe.” Like Moshe Rabbeinu, Moshe ben Maimon, and Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav Tendler taught Torah to generations, connecting them to our mesorah.

Upon learning of the death of his teacher and master, Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Akiva rent his garments and cried out, “Woe is me, my teacher! Woe is me, my teacher! My master, who has left the entire generation orphaned!” (Avot D’Rebbi Natan, 25).

With the passing of Moreinu HaRav Moshe Dovid Tendler zt”l, our generation is orphaned. But he leaves a lasting legacy in the myriads of talmidim he taught and inspired. Yehi zichro baruch.

Shimshon HaKohen Nadel lives and teaches in Jerusalem, where he serves as mara d’atra of Har Nof’s Kehilat Zichron Yosef and Rosh Kollel of the Sinai Kollel.

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IT BEGINS NEXT SATURDAY NIGHT!!

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Real Life Rescues Falling From a Tower

1221

On Monday afternoon, Hoshanah Rabbah, at around 12:00 p.m., a 47-year-old man fell from the height of around 7 meters while on a ropes course at the Tower of David in the Old City of Jerusalem.

He was rappelling down the building when the rope that was supporting him gave way and he fell to the ground. The man received some minor cuts and bruises but most of the damage occurred internally when he landed on his head.

United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Raphael Morris, who lives in Shilo, was on a family trip with his wife and four children touring the Old City when the man fell. Just as they had reached the Jewish Quarter of the Old City he was notified about the emergency. Raphael ran to the Tower and in less than a minute was directed by passers-by to the injured man.

The man was lying on the ground when Raphael got there and he quickly kneeled by his side to assess the situation. The patient was conscious but very disoriented and wasn’t cognizant of where he was, what day it was, what happened to him, etc. He had bruising on his neck, head, and arms from the impact of the fall, as well as some minor abrasions which the trained EMT cleaned and treated.

Simultaneously, Doctor Arie Jaffe, a United Hatzalah volunteer from Jerusalem, arrived and they continued the treatment together. Dr. Jaffe was on his way home from shopping for the holiday, at the intersection right near his house, when he received the alert and immediately turned around and headed to the Tower of David.

Together Raphael and Doctor Jaffe did a complete neurological analysis on the patient, checked his blood pressure, pulse, and examined his spinal cord in case of injury from the crash.

Then, just as the ambulance was pulling up, United Hatzalah Chief Paramedic Avi Marcus arrived after also receiving the alert. Marcus, who lives in Petach Tikvah, was in Jerusalem for a meeting that was taking place close by. Avi assisted the other United Hatzalah volunteers in bandaging the injured man’s head and arms and put him on the stretcher to be brought by the ambulance to the intensive care unit at the nearest hospital.

Raphael spoke about the dedication and diversity of the group he was working with and said, “In many emergencies that we respond to, each of the volunteers come from different places or backgrounds and we drop everything to respond to the emergency and work together quickly and seamlessly. It is truly inspiring to be a part of such a terrific flashmob of lifesaving. Even if we are unfamiliar personally with one another and come from different places, the work that we do as United Hatzalah volunteers brings us together.

What I think is so amazing about United Hatzalah is the unity and pure kindness that brings us together, we treat the patient no matter who it is and no matter who we are working with as we all share the same goal.”

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Celebrate Our Volunteers. Hear Their Stories.

Support Their Lifesaving Efforts.

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