Dear Alumni Sheyichyu!
Sholom U’Brocho!
A very Freilichen Shabbos Bereishis!
Mazel Tov to Pinny Morozov on the occasion of his engagement. May he use out the special period of Yokor Mikol yokor to its’ utmost! Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Mendel Ceitlin on the birth of their son. May they bring him up lTO veCHuMAA”T mitoch harchovo, and to be a true chayol! (If anyone is aware of any mazeltov’s that I omitted please let me know).
Thank you as always for the feedback, it is much appreciated.
Thank you to Nochum Labkowski for sharing the following story with me:
Once there was a Jew, we’ll call him Yossel, who made his living as a horse-thief. He would travel from town to town, and wherever there was a horse that was not well enough guarded, he would find his way to it and take possession of it, after which he would sell it for a handsome profit.
One day, Yossel heard that Yankel, a farmer in one village, had 4 horses, and that he was careless with their protection. That night, Yossel made his way stealthily into Yankel’s barn, and located the horses. Sure enough, the stalls were all unlocked, and Yossel picked one of the horses. With the help of an apple and some sugar, Yossel ensured full cooperation of the horse, and in no time he had relocated the horse to his own barn.
Encouraged by the ease with which his operation succeeded, Yossel decided to return for a second horse. However, here he met with resistance. The horse became alarmed, being approached by someone he didn’t recognize, and started raising a ruckus. The noise woke Yankel, who ran to the barn to see what the commotion was all about. To his amazement, he saw a man standing there, and a horse missing.
“Who are you?” asked the startled Yankel, “and.. where is my horse?!”
The quick-witted horse thief looked at him, and replied quietly: “I am your horse.”
“Wha.. what are you talking about?” exclaimed the confused farmer.
“Listen to me, and I’ll tell you my story. I once committed a grave sin, and it was decreed that I come down to the earth in the form of a horse in order to atone for my sin through my suffering. What you believed was your horse, was in fact me getting my atonement. Boruch Hashem today my sin is cleansed, and I was able to return to my original form”.
The gullible farmer swallowed the tall tale trustingly, and became at once devastated. “Oy, I feel terrible”, he cried, all these years that I beat you and whipped you, I had no idea that you’re really a person. I feel terrible about it”. Yossel tried to calm him, explaining that this was all Hashem’s decree, but the farmer remained mortified, and insisted on trying to make it up to him at least somewhat. So Yossel was invited into his house, and served a sumptuous meal, and then pressed to accept some money as a token of Yankel’s remorse.
When Yossel finally left, he decided that it was not a bad night of business after all; - he came away with a good meal and a nice sum of money. In addition he still had the 1st horse, which he proceeded to sell the next day to a horse dealer.
In the meantime, Yankel was still short a horse, and at the first opportunity he visited the horse dealer to get it replaced. He starts to look around, and, imagine his shock to find there none other than his own original horse!
At first he was flabbergasted, but when he got back his voice, he walked over to the horse, patted it on the back, and exclaimed: “Ferd Ferd, ein tog bizt du geven a mentsch, un du bizt shoin gevorentzurick a ferd??!!!”
[Horse horse, for one day you were a mentsch, and already you went back to being a horse!].
What is a Mentch?
In order to interpret the story, I want to first preface with another story, which helps define the term “mentch”:
The Rebbe Rashab once visited Vienna. In Vienna there had lived a “porush”, who lived an aesthetic life in a room on the outskirts of the city. After the porush passed away, the room in which he had spent his days was locked up, and remained that way. When the Rebbe Rashab was there, he expressed interest in seeing that room. When the Frierdige Rebbe heard this, he arranged for the room to be opened for his father. When the Rebbe Rashab came there, he found a room that was just enough room to sit in. There was a stump of wood that had apparently served as his chair, and there was a hole in the wall, through which his food was passed to him. In this room he spent the last number of decades of his life. When the Rebbe Rashab finished observing it, he commented “Opge lebt di leben via mentch” [He (the Porush) lived his years like a mentch].
A mentch, then, is someone who lives a life of spirituality, focused on G-dly pursuits rather than on how to attain one more pleasure. As the Posuk says: “Ho’Elokim osah es ho’odom yoshor” – the Eibishter created a man to be straight and upright. When one is upright, then his head is above his body, symbolizing the fact that his intellect governs his emotions and actions and not vice versa. A mentch lives in compliance with the Posuk “Ruach h’odom ho’oiloh hi lemaaloh”,- the spirit of man is being drawn upwards. His interests and attractions are to Torah and Mitzvos and bettering himself,- to elevating himself to a higher level. This is in contrast to someone who lives as a beheima, with his entire focus on earthly indulgences, following the “Ruach habeheimah hayoiredes hi lematoh”,- the animalistic spirit that draws him ever downwards.
Generally speaking, we can say about ourselves that for one day we truly live like a mentch. The one and single day of Yom Kippur, the “achas bashonoh”, we are completely removed from physical pleasures. We spend over 24 hours completely immersed in connecting our neshomo with Elokus. As the Rebbe Rashab said: “The idea of Yom Kippur is not so much not to eat, but, rather to not even crave food”, because our sole interest becomes in spirituality.
In a more general sense, this is true about most of the month. Beginning Rosh Hashono, when the majority of the day is spent in intense davening, and right through Sukkos and Simchas Torah, when we spend our entire effort on the mitzvos of the times, during which we are entirely “engulfed” in the mitzvos and detached from our usual worldly pursuits. During these days we are closer to experiencing the words of Chazal “lo to’am nu taam sheina” (not just in their literal sense, but also) in their figurative sense,- in not having a taam and an enjoyment in worldly matters.
But then, after the Yomim Tovim, we say to ourselves: “Okay, for one day, for one season and one period, you managed to live like a mentch and celebrate the Yomim tovim as they were meant to be. But now what?! Now that these special days are over, are you going to go back to living like a beheima?! Now that we’ve had the opportunity to experience something lofty and meaningful, will we ch”v turn away from it all and revert to a life of emptiness?”
That would be tragic, because the purpose of these Yomim Tovim, taking place, all of them, during the season of reishis hashanoh, is to impact and affect the remainder of the year. The kabolas ol of Rosh Hashonoh, when our entire being is bent on beseeching the A-lmighty to be our King,- a King towards who we are totally and completely subservient – should be in our mind and consciousness every day and be constantly fueling our behavior. The deeply felt connection with the Eibishter of Yom Kippur, that is so intense that nothing else is important, neither to us – therefore we don’t eat or drink etc., nor to Hashem – therefore he overlooks our failings, should be – in some measure – part of our mindset permanently, and help determine our priorities every day of the year. And of course the unbridled joy of Sukkos, a joy that knows no boundaries or limitations because of the intense love of Hashem that energizes it, should be in our mind constantly, helping us feel a true joy every day in doing the Will of Hashem.
So, when the Yomim Tovim are coming to an end, now is the time for us to take pains to see that we continue the live as a mentch in the coming weeks and months, and not go back to being a horse. And the main time for implementing this is Shabbos Bereishis (and – as the Rebbe told us in 5752 – Shabbos Noach as well). As the Rebbeim taught us: “Vi men shtelt zich avek Shabbos Bereishis, azoi heit a gantz yor”.
Shabbos Bereishis is the beginning of “plain” days, it is, in a sense, the bridge that connects the auspicious Yomim Tovim of Tishrei with the remainder of the year. On Shabbos Bereishis we don’t have the mitzvos or the spiritual loftiness of the various holy days. Instead it is a time for us to focus on the messages of Tishrei in a “regular” setting. Shabbos Bereishis is the time for us to contemplate the ideas of all of the yomim Tovim that just passed, and determine how to keep them viable in the upcoming year. And the way to implement this is by making hachlotos tovos, in the spirit of the atmosphere of Tishrei, which we will be able to carry out throughout the coming year. This Shabbos we should think about the various ways we lived and experienced “ein od milvado” during the past month, and how we can continue to experience it every day of this coming year.
And while the way we sensed this during the holidays was through the unique mitzvos and minhagim that we had then, the way that we’ll bring this forward to the upcoming year is through increasing our learning, improving our davening and enhancing our performance of mitzvos (yeah, that again). These are all areas where each and every one of us, regardless of the individual level that we’re at, can find concrete and specific means of increase and improvement. This is the way that we continue living with G-dliness and holiness even during the mundane times in the year. And this is how we save ourselves from reverting to a horse, how we can be sure to continue living like a mentch!
L’chaim! May we all take advantage of Shabbos Bereishis to “avek shtelin zich” in the right attitude of serving Hashem, and may Hashem in turn “shtel zich avek” on Shabbos Bereishis in the proper way, by bringing us even before Shabbos the Geulah, so that we can celebrate Shabbos as true mentchen, enjoying the hisgalus of Melech haMoshiach TUMYM!!!
Rabbi Akiva Wagner
