Laughing at קידוש

מאת ר' ש. קאפלין שליט"א

The bookbinder didn’t have a choice and said over his story, “I am a bookbinder, my פרנסה isn’t too good, last week there was therefore nobody came to bind their books…

I had no פרנסה last week, it came to Friday and there was no money in the house to make שבת.

I went to shul on Friday early in the day upset as there was nothing to prepare Shabbos, knowing I had nothing to eat for the שבת .סעודה

When I came home after davening on Friday night, the שבת סעודה was laid out beautifully, it looked like the table of .שלמה המלך

I made קידוש and then I asked my wife, “What happened?!...”

She told me, “I realised we had nothing to make שבת with, so I went rummaging

extremely

bad

weather

of

for and

around the house to find if there was anything of value which we could sell. I found an old dress with three gold buttons… I took them to the market and I was able to buy the food for שבת.”

I was so excited and happy I said to my wife, “Let’s dance and sing together to thank הקב"ה…” And then after the fish they danced again and then again after the main course!

The בעל שם טוב said, “When they danced the entire פמליא של מעלה danced! The heavens were all dancing! I saw this gevaldiga שמחה, that’s why I laughed, that is why I felt such a שמחה, that is why I burst out into laughter.”

He continued to say to שבתי, “Is there anything you need? I want to give you a …”ברכה He told him, “ ברוך השם we have everything, but there is one thing which we haven’t got, and that is a child…” He gave them a ברכה to have a child and that very year they had a baby boy which they called ישראל and this little ישראל grew up to become the great Kozhnitzer מגיד זצ"ל, the מגיד who was משפיע on thousands of אידן.

That was the story with שבתי the bookbinder and his Rebbetzin.

I would like to bring out a point from this story. What was the גדלות of שבתי and his Rebbetzin that made the heavens rejoice?

Dust on their feet

In this weeks פרשה, it says והוא ישב פתח האהל כחם היום , and אברהם אבינו is sitting and waiting outside to greet guests and do הכנסת אורחים, and when travellers come towards him he runs over to invite them in.

After they agree he tells them, "יקח נט מעט מים ורחצו רגליכם והשענו תחת העץ" )י"ח, ד'(, Let some water be brought, please wash your feet, and recline beneath the tree.

רש"י writes, "כסבור שהם ערביים שמשתחוים לאבק רגליהם" , He thought they were ערביים who bow as עבודה זרה to the dust of their feet, "והקפיד שלא להכניס עבודה זרה לביתו", he was careful not to bring dust of עובדי עבדוה זרה into his house. He didn’t want to bring their אבק into his

house. And the velt ask a big קשיא: If they serve dust they can serve dust anywhere? They can serve the dust which was in אברהם אבינו’s house as well? What is פשט they served the dust? ר' חיים מוואלאז'ין זצ"ל explains how the עבודה זרה of בעל פעור had some sort of שכל,¹ but what’s the פשט in serving the dust?

The ספרים explain: These מלאכים were disguised as merchants, merchants who buy and sell, they buy in one place and sell in the other. When a person buys and sells, the person can think to himself: I am buying and I am selling – I am making money, I am making the הצלחה.

These people serve the dust of their feet, meaning: they serve themselves, they tell themselves they knew how to buy and how to sell, they knew how to make money and how to be מצליח, because the dust of their feet symbolises: where they decided to go, where they decided to buy and where they decided to sell.

He told them "ורחצו רגליכם" – he wanted them to wash off that dust, "והעשנו תחת העץ", he wanted to wash off that כחי ועוצם ידי עשו לי את החיל הזה, he sat them under the tree, עץ symbolises the תורה, the "עץ חיים היא למחזיקים בה", and קודשה בריך הוא ואורייתא חד הוא, it’s all the רבש"ע it's הקב"ה giving a person his הצלחה.

Today’s עבודה זרה

I would like to tell you a moiridicker paragraph from ר' אלחנן הי"ד in קובץ מאמרים. Writes "איזה עבודה זרה :ר' אלחנן יש אצלינו" – What עבודה זרה do we have within us?

We think עבודה זרה is historical which doesn’t exist nowadays in our circles, its not one of the s‘ יצר הרע we have to fight, but ר' אלחנן is teaching us that there is a יצר הרע which we find today which is .עבודה זרה

"הדבר פשוט כי עבודה זרה איננו דוקא צלם של עץ ואבן", An עבודה זרה doesn’t have to only be from stone or wood, "כי אם כל דבר שידמה האדם שיש בכוחו להטיב או להרע ,היא עבודה זרה ממש, כי אין עוד מלבדו כתיב..." anything a person believes and imagines that has a כח to do good or bad is עבודה .זרה ממש

Continues "ואם יבטחו על איזה :ר' אלחנן כיתה ושיטה שהיא תעזרנו עושין את הכיתה הזאת עבודה זרה", if a person relies on a group of people or a שיטה, like nationalism, socialism, communism, Zionism or any other ideology which he thinks can help him and save him, he is making this כיתה orשיטה into his עבודה זרה.

And he finishes off, וכן אם יבטח האדם על " כוחו ועוצם ידו עושה את עצמו עבודה זרה." – if he relies on his own efforts and work and believes its up to his efforts and decisions he is making himself into an עבודה זרה. These are the shtarka words from ר' אלחנן ווסרמן זצ"ל. If a person believes that his השתדלות is making him achieve he is making himself into his own עבודה זרה.

The חובת הלבבות writes: There is a reason why הקב"ה created a world where we must make השתדלות whether for פרנסה or whether for שידוכים etc...

Explains the השתדלות :חובת הלבבות the רבש"ע created in the בריאה in order to be a נסיון for a person because a person can be fooled by his השתדלות, it tests a person, he thinks about his good plans, his good talents and his good boss, his good ideas which made him succeed.

A person says today, “I bought a bitcoin ten years ago for ten dollars which is now worth thirty thousand dollars… I knew that this would work and go up in value… I was the פקח…”

A person who bought amazon shares twenty years ago, and today they are worth thousands of times the amount he paid for it, and he stands up and says, “I knew this was a good idea…” and even if he doesn’t say so, but he feels he knows the market and can predict the future, he knows how to make the right decisions. This is exactly the נסיון of השתדלות which ר' אלחנן is teaching us is עבודה זרה ממש, there is no such thing.

There is a moiridicker תרגום a איד once showed me on the פסוק of "כי הוא הנותן לך הקב"ה ,כח לעשות חיל" (ח', י"ח) is the one who will give the power to fight the war, writes the "ותדכר" ,תרגום אונקלוס – and you should remember, "ית ה' אלוקך ארי הוא יהב לך עצה למיקני ניכסין", the רבש"ע is the one who gives a person the thoughts what to buy, what to invest and what to be משקיע in, He puts in our mind what to invest in and how to do business, He gives you the ideas and the thoughts.

Today they interview those who have succeeded as if his עצות and hearing how he made it, is going to help us as well, הקב"ה puts the thoughts in a persons mind what to invest in because its been predestined what he is going to succeed in.

It's עבודה זרה when a person believes in his own decisions. When people say, “He’s a successful businessman!” and mean to say he knows and understands what decisions to make and that is the reason for his success, that is nothing less than עבדוה זרה, we do nothing, it’s gornished what people do, when we see the big גביר our eyes shouldn’t be popping out, he made nothing, it’s nothing to do with the השתדלות, it’s no שייכות, the success comes straight from .שמים

It's a דבר פשוט writes ר' אלחנן that a person who thinks in the wrong way is serving עבודה זרה , and it makes no difference what he believes in, a group of people, a שיטה or himself.

That is what אברהם אבינו was showing his guests, get rid of that dust, he was trying to be מקרב people to come תחת כנפי השכי נה , but the first thing of being an eirlicher איד to stand תחת כנפי השכינה is understanding "והעשנו תחת העץ" – it’s nothing to do with us, it’s all the רבש"ע.

All הקב"ה

A איד once told me that he worked for a certain גביר and whatever this גביר invested in he had gevaldiga הצלחה. He thought to himself, “Next time he buys something I will invest in the same deal…”

He told me, this גביר one day bought a block of terraced houses in Jarrow, a place near Gateshead. There were two blocks for sale, the גביר bought one and he bought the one opposite.

“Oy! the רבש"ע taught me a lesson!” he told me, a חשוב'ער איד this was, he bought it and obviously he had to refurbish all the houses, two years later he got a compulsory purchase order from the council that since the area has become too crowded, they are going to knock down four clocks, one of them being his block.

He couldn’t do anything about it, that was the law, he couldn’t fight it, he got the money he paid for it, but all the money he put in went straight down the drain.

The person he worked for now had his block opposite a park, they wanted to demolish the other buildings and make green areas! His block shot up in value because overlooking a park!

“Oy gevalt!” he said, “I thought I was a clever man… but it makes no difference, הקב"ה has His own plans, what we do doesn’t means anything…”

The world is called עולם, the ספרים explain: the world is called עולם because הקב"ה is מתעלם – He hides Himself behind the השתדלות and טבע, He hides Himself behind the laws of nature, there can be hurricanes and earthquakes,

now

his

properties

were

הקב"ה hides Himself, and our job constantly writes the חובת הלבבות is to understand it’s the רבש"ע, and that is the נסיון of השתדלות.

In whatever area we make השתדלות we must know it’s not the השתדלות which got us there, הקב"ה put in our minds the decisions to make.

The פסוקים of "כחי ועצום ידי" are speaking about when we come and conquer ארץ שיראל, the פסוקים tell us, you will build houses, successful, but says the "השמר לך ,תורה " פן תשכח את ה' אלוקיך , don’t think for a second it’s your own כח.

It's very important for us to remember this especially now. It’s known that after the six-day war the גדולי הדור warned us: don’t be נכשול in the חטא of כחי ועצום ידי, the גדולים said then, “…and if people were killed in that war it’s because of the …”כחי ועצום ידי

It's known that in 1948 when they established the state, somebody came into the Brisker Rov זצ"ל and said, “The Israeli army scored a big victory…” The Brisker Rov was very upset, he said, “The victory doesn’t come from this השתדלות…” and he continued, “it is in the זכות of two אידן that this victory took

plant

vineyards

be

place…” and he mentioned their names. The איד said to the Brisker Rov, “What do you mean? If it was all the eibishther then why were people killed??” The Brisker Rov said, “Because they think that their כחי ועצום ידי did it, that חטא is גורם people to get killed…”

We should never have a pride of כחי ועצום ידי, whatever they are doing out there in Gaza, the רבש"ע should have רחמנות on all of them as we spoke last week about "ישמע ויושיעם", but there should be no thoughts of כחי ועצום ידי involved.

The Brisker Rov then told this איד, “My father ר' חיים זצ"ל told me that when he was בר מצוה the בית הלוי made a חשוב'ער בר מצוה where many גדולי ישראל came to join in the שמחה who bought him many presents.”

ר' חיים felt very good of himself as he received so many presents.

The בית הלוי wasn’t happy how his son was reacting to the many presents, so he told his son, “The people and the presents didn’t come for you! It all came because of me…!”

ר' חיים said as a joke to his father, “If it came from you then why didn’t more people come? Why weren’t the presents bigger?” The בית הלוי told him, “Because it was your בר מצוה…”

The Brisker Riv said the same thing: Of course it’s the רבש"ע, but why did people get killed? Because you think it’s your own כח.

We must constantly be מחזק ourselves in this area, whether to what’s going on in ארץ ישראל whether to how we live our lives throughout the day, when we look at things around us, when we see people successful or we see people struggling in פרנסה, it’s nothing to do with them, don’t get נתפעל from anything you see, as the חידוש ה רי''ם said a verrtel, "אל תבטחו בנדיבם" – don’t put your ביטחון in נדיבים, בבן אדם שאין לו"" –trust in a person who has nothing, then "תשועה" – then you will be saved, it’s so true, you will see throughout your life how true is, not to get נתפעל by all the השתדלות out there, we have to really know that, we have to live our lives properly and think in the right way, because thinking in the wrong way says ר' אלחנן is עבדוה זרה, our השתדלות is not what brings our הצלחה, we must remember that throughout our lives.

The Brisker Rov would say, “When it comes to שידוכים the השתדלות is just for the nerves…” the השתדלות is nothing.

I met a איד who made his last שידוך recently who I had asked him many years ago, “I see you have always been so מצליח with your שידוכים… how does it work?” He answered me, “I speak to the שדכן three times a day…” It took me a moment to realise what he meant.

That is the true השתדלות, we must know, understand and realise and work on this because the world around us think a person’s success is according to his efforts and actions, that is what people out there believe in and we get מושפע , but we must eradicate this כפירה from our minds, it’s not their actions and not their decision, that’s not what’s controlling it.

We asked earlier what פשט in the story was – why were שמים so happy? His wife went looking around the house until she found the gold buttons, she took the gold buttons….. but what’s he thinking about in the meal? What is he dancing about during his meal? What is he singing about after the fish and main course?

“Thank you Hashem it is all from You!! There is nothing else involved!” and his wife was with him in the same thoughts, to disregard all the thoughts of the השתדלות, that was why the שמים rejoiced as well, and with that a person can be זוכה to have a son like the Kozhnitzer מגיד.

Lets be Mechazek ourselves that הקב''ה is בעל מלח מות and then wewill be זוכה to מצמיח ישועות בעזהי''ת, אמן.

Written by Avrohom Dov Kohn – אברהם דוב הכהן כהן

where we פרשת אמור תשפ"ב גליון See 33 .ענין explained this