By Rabbi Yehoshua Frankenhuis
It is the night of Rosh Hashanah 5780 at Yeshivas Heichal HaTorah, Har Nof, Yerushalayim. The final notes of Adon Olam hover in the air as the bachurim surround the rosh yeshivah, Rav Zvi Kushelevsky. They accompany him as he slowly makes his way through the throngs of people, out of the beis midrash, and up the stairs to his apartment located on the top floor of the yeshivah.
Suddenly, joyous singing and dancing break out in the procession. This is no Rosh Hashanah tune, nor a poignant song of dveikus. It is a heartfelt rendition of “Zara zara zara zara chaya v’kayama...” This annual minhag is five years old. Ever since Rav Zvi remarried following the petirah of his first wife, he requests a berachah to have children from everyone he meets — from gedolim such as Rav Moshe Sternbuch to bachurim not even a quarter of his age.
He seeks berachos from everyone, because who knows which person’s berachah will break through the Gates of Heaven and bring down the yeshuah? And so, on the night of Rosh Hashanah, the bachurim took it upon themselves once more to bless their rosh yeshivah with the berachah “Zara di lo yifsok...”
A thought passes through some of our minds: Perhaps after more than five years of marriage, and at the Rosh Yeshivah’s advanced age, the time has come to stop falsely inspiring hope in him. Maybe the Rosh Yeshivah should move on, rather than dwell on the crushed hopes and the anguish! To focus on the gifts he has, rather than be reminded once more of the precious gift that he so deeply yearns for...
But no. Rav Zvi encourages all of us bachurim and passionately joins in the singing. He radiates the steadfast belief that through our tefillos and berachos, his yeshuah will come. That he too will merit “zara di lo yifsok v’di lo yivtol mipisgamei Oraisa.”
Rav Zvi enters his apartment, the singing quiets down, and the bachurim drift away to their various seudos, while I head home to my family. The beis midrash and the yeshivah corridors fall silent once more. Yet the clear realization that Hashem doesn’t run the world based on statistical probabilities continues to ring loudly in my mind. Yes, Hashem is truly all-powerful. Even when the chances seem very slim, we ought to place our bitachon in Him and daven to Him, because He can bring a yeshuah under any circumstance. I already knew this in theory, but on that special night I deeply experienced and internalized how a true maamin, a true believer, relates to unbounded yeshuas Hashem as a tangible reality.
Reprinted from At the ArtScroll Shabbos Table. Excerpted from the recent ArtScroll book – “Miracle Baby.” Rav Zvi Kushelevsky Rabbi Kushelevsky, the Rosh Yeshiva of Heichal HaTorah BeZion in Jerusalem celebrated the birth of his first child on March 10, 2024 at the age of 88.
And you shall make holy garments...for glory and for beauty (Ex. 28:2)
It is significant that the commandment to make holy garments immediately follows the commandment to make oil for the menora. Oil is symbolic of the intellectual faculties; the holy garments are symbolic of the physical body, the "garment of the soul." Both the mind and body need to kept pure and unadulterated, as it states, "Let your garments be always white, and let your head lack no oil." (Sefat Emet)
You shall make the breastplate of judgment ("choshen mishpat") (Ex. 25:25)
The Hebrew letters of the word "choshen" (chet-shin-nun) are the reverse of the word "nachesh," from the root meaning sorcery or divination. Sorcery is the harnessing and utilization of spiritually impure forces to discern the future. By contrast, the breastplate of judgment, with its Urim and Tumim, clarified the unknown through the power of holiness. (HaKetav VeHakabala)
Reprinted from Parshat Tetzaveh 5762/2002 edition of L’Chaim
