Dear Alumni Sheyichyu!
Sholom U’Brocho!
Mazel Tov to Shmully Hecht on the occasion of his engagement. Mazel Tov to Yanky Gittlin on the occasion of his engagement. Mazel Tov to Dovi Barber on the occasion of his engagement. May they use out the special period of Yokor Mikol yokor to its’ utmost! Mazel Tov to Peretz Mishulovin on the occasion of his chasuna. May the new home be set up al yesodei hatorah vehamitzvos, and be a keli for all brochos! Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Dovid Labkowski on the birth of their son. Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Gershon Avtzon on the birth of their son. Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Shlomie Kleinman on the birth of their son. Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Akiva Nussbaum on the birth of their daughter. Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Asher Schochet on the birth of their daughter. May they bring them up lTOveCHuMAA”T mitoch harchovo, and to be a true chayol! (If anyone is aware of any mazel tov’s that I omitted please let me know).
Thank you as always for the feedback, it is much appreciated.
The following story is recorded by R’ “Folle” Kahan:
The Baal Shem Tov wanted to perform the mitzvah of serving talmidei chachomim, and he requested of “heaven” that he be informed who are considered the talmidei chachomim of the generation, so that he might fulfill this mitzvah by serving them. The response was that he should choose either R’ Ephraim Ashkenazi, the Pnei Yehoshua, or the author of the Tevuos Shor.
The Baal Shem Tov travelled to Brod, to the abovementioned R’ Ephraim Ashkenazi. This R’ Ephraim suffered from an affliction that made him always feel extremely cold (a misnaged?), and means would be sought to attempt to alleviate this. For example, he would be frequently carried to the bath house, where he would seat himself in the hottest part of the shvitz, in order to get some warmth to penetrate his body. [While he was there, no one else was permitted to enter the shvitz, the only exception was R’ Sar Sholom of Belz, who was then a child, and was permitted to be present]. When he returned home from the shvitz, he would drink a very hot drink, to help his body retain the warmth.
When the Besht entered the home of R’ Ephraim, he discovered him covered with many blankets and sheets, in a feeble attempt to keep warm. When the Besht saw this (and in his desire to serve this talmid chochom), he immediately went into the courtyard and collected wood, and got a roaring fire burning on the fireplace (Chassidim see less of a challenge in producing warmth?). The room warmed up to such a degree, that the gaon R’ Ephraim was able to remove the sheets and blankets, and was even comfortable enough to remove his jacket.
Presently, the rebbetzin of R’ Ephraim came in, and when she noted the extreme heat in the room, she immediately began to scold and berate her husband mercilessly (she was either very intolerant of heat, or, more probably, was very intolerant of her husband being comfortable). When the Besht saw this, he was very upset. Here, he had come for the sole purpose of serving this gaon, and instead he had caused him additional anguish!
When R’ Ephraim noted the pain of the Baal Shem Tov, he comforted him, saying: “Don’t feel bad, sometimes a great benefit can be derived through having a difficult wife, as is illustrated in the following incident that I personally experienced:
[And the gaon went on to relate to the Baal Shem Tov]:
“Once I was in heaven, and I witnessed a soul from this world being brought before the heavenly tribunal. The beis din shel maaloh began to examine his deeds, and found much fault, and they began to judge him; ‘why did you commit all of these aveiros?’ ‘why were you lax in your performance of all of these mitzvos?’
The accused, however, continued to maintain his innocence throughout the trial, presenting the same “defense” for each and every charge: ‘it was not my fault, it was all because of my difficult wife!’ ‘This aveiroh was because of my difficult wife!’ ‘These mitzvos, my wife prevented me from fulfilling’,
One malach, a prosecuting angel, stood at the side, and became enraged at this defense, and began to shout at the poor soul: ‘What kind of an excuse is this? Whoever heard of such a thing? Because of a wife you commit sins?! Because of your wife you abstain from mitzvos? This is a totally unacceptable defense, and you are fully responsible for all of your actions!’ [The angel apparently forgot that this defense actually has a very strong precedent, it was originally put forward by Odom Horishon himself!]
“I (R’ Ephraim continued his narrative) was rather upset by the position adopted by the malach, and I challenged him, saying: ‘You have no idea what you’re talking about. Do you have any clue what it means to have a wife, and especially a difficult one? How do you have the nerve to discount this poor soul’s defense when you are completely ignorant about the subject matter?! Your claim is utterly ridiculous!’
The heavenly court concurred with my position, and, with regards to the prosecuting angel, they decreed that he be “demoted”; - he was sent down on a trip to experience what it means to live as a human being on earth. The angel was “born” as a person, who, at the age of 13 was married off to a horrible wife. She harassed him and pestered him and persecuted him until she made him ill. Eventually, the young couple came to me (related R’ Ephraim), as the Rov, to arrange their divorce.
‘Nu’, I said to him, ‘I hope you’ve learned your lesson, and you will never again prosecute against the Jewish people!’
Two more years passed, and the unhappy angel/husband passed away”. This was the remarkable story that R’ Ephraim related to the holy Baal Shem Tov in order to comfort him!
This can possibly shed light on the words of the midrash (Breishis Raba Parsha 8): “When the Eibishter wanted to create the world, there arose a great debate amongst the malochim with regards to the advisability of this move. They formed into various groups, arguing about the pros and cons of creating a world. Chesed said to create mankind, because they will practice kindness, and Emess said not to create them because they are entirely falsehood and deceit. Tzedek said to create man because he does tzedokoh, and Sholom said not to create him (not nice Sholom..) because he is full of strife [as the Possuk alludes to by saying “Chesed ve’emes nifgoshu, tzedek ve’sholom nashoku”].
What was the Eibishter’s response? He took Emess and flung it down to the ground [as the Possuk says “Emess mei’eret tizmach”].
Obviously this midrash begs for further explanation: what point, purpose, benefit or justification could there be for flinging emess to the ground just because his opinion is not popular?!
But, perhaps, in light of the above story with the Besht, it can be understood: The Eibishter heard Emess criticizing mankind as false and deceitful. Emess suggested that man was not worthy of being created because of his lack of truthfulness. So the Eibishter said to Emess: “Achutzpah! Who are you to judge? Do you know what it’s like to reside in an alma d’shikra? The little bit of honesty that they manage to maintain is more worthy than all of the truth in all of the heavens!” Therefore the punishment for Emess, for being so condescending and judgmental, was (as with the angel in the story with the Baal Shem Tov) “to be flung to the ground”; - i.e. to descend into this world, to personally experience the trials and challenges down below, and see what he thinks about us then!
Now, I must confess that, personally, I have not been to heaven yet (I couldn’t manage to take off enough time from my duties down here to be able to make the trip). However, based on the above information, this is the scenario that I would envision there:
A hapless neshomo is escorted into the heavenly court. Upon an initial examination of his life, he is found to be an incorrigible baal machlokes, constantly feuding and quarrelling, at odds with everyone and anyone. Naturally, his extensive preoccupation in this pastime had severely diminished his ability to properly carry out that which was expected of him. The malochim attending to his case are scandalized. They don’t mince words in the severe rebuke that they give him over his conduct:
“We are shocked! What kind of a life did you live?! To be constantly fighting? Over what? Don’t you understand the importance of ahavas Yisroel? What kind of a despicable soul are you to be able to harbor negative feelings towards your fellow Jew? Of what value is any of your Torah or mitzvos, if you trample so callously on such vital values as peace and brotherhood? This in inexcusable and intolerable! There is surely no place for you in this heaven of ours!”
The soul hangs his celestial head, as his face burns with shame! But from somewhere in the gallery, an angel for the defense pipes up, and goes out on the attack against the prosecuting angels:
“How dare you attack him so viciously, when you are completely ignorant of the challenges? It’s very easy to be an angel (devoid of yetzer hora, devoid of personal feelings, devoid of any trace of ego or arrogance) and preach rhetoric. Do you have any clue what the actual experience of being enslaved and imprisoned in a body is like? How one is drawn, inexplicably, towards certain feelings and behaviors, even while not condoning them with his intellect? Whether or not he’s guilty or innocent, how dare you be the one to accuse him so mercilessly?!”
And the heavenly court said “hear hear”, and they decreed that those angels, who were so intolerant, will be flung to the ground, to see how well they can withstand this test. And thus we find from time to time the reincarnation of those beings, angelic people, perfect in every way, of admirable personality, full of positive traits and characteristics, and yet somehow.. when it comes to living in peace with their fellow.. well, you know.
Take for example this week’s parsha: Rashi informs us that though the Yidden camped by har Sinai as one man with one heart, all of their other campings were fraught with arguments and complaints!
Ribonoshelolam! What did they have to argue about? The Eibishter had just taken them out of Mitzrayim, they were all loaded down with more possessions than they would ever know what to do with, their food supply, dry cleaning and transportation were all provided by ananei hakavod inc. And to top it all off, we are assured that they were a dor deiah, a generation of maskilim, who had a great and profound understanding of G-dliness (almost like a bochur in Yeshiva..). What could they possibly find to fight about? And, yet, we are assured, that find they did, not once, but every single time they camped!
For that matter, the same point is in the beginning of the parsha: Moshe was sitting and judging them from morning until night (until Yisro warned him that he was heading towards executive burnout).
What on earth were there so many din Torah’s about? They had no fields (no bor or she nor regel), no businesses (that I know of), not even fundraisers or meshulachim. They had no monetary issues or hasagos gvul issues. They couldn’t even be fighting about hezek re’iyah, since their windows were all facing away from each other. Did they make din Torah’s and bother Moshe all day long that he should rule who’s pshat in the Rambam was better?
Yet, the fact seems to remain that, inexplicable as it may seem, a large part of their time seems to have been devoted to bickering and arguing and politicking. Which leads to the conclusion that they were the first reincarnation of those punished angels, who had to be flung to the ground to face the challenges of machlokes!
In fact, it may be said that, if we really look very closely, we can find some descendent of those malochim even in our day and age. Because, come to think of it, we actually share more than we may admit with the generation of this week’s parsha. Just as they had just been saved from the hardships of mitzrayim, we are only a few short generations after the darkest eras in Jewish history. Many of our grandparents suffered unimaginable hardships and deprivations, in the holocaust, in Russia, or through persecution in various parts of the world. And that was just the tail end of a thousand years of relentless persecution that chased our ancestors from country to country all around the world, unable to find any peace.
For the first time in history we are living in unprecedented comfort and peace. Our homes could have housed entire villages of our ancestors. There is enough space for all of us, enough food for all of us (none of us are going hungry, we are able to feed our families comfortably, and there’s even enough for some pizza and sushi once in a while), and there’s enough money for all of us (well, almost enough anyway).
In a certain sense we are a dor deiah. Amongst this generation itself, we were educated by the Rebbe to disregard material comforts and focus on the spiritual, on Moshiach. We experienced in so many ways the Rebbe’s love and care for us enough to convince us to put aside our petty differences and focus on what we share in common.
And yet...
Somehow, sometimes, in some places, on some very rare occasions, there is this inexplicable friction, even in our generation. Somehow, two Chassidim/bochurim/shluchim etc., who, according to any logical prediction, should be the best friends and share so much in common, somehow (on that rare occasion) just don’t see eye to eye (and sometimes even that’s putting it mildly, believe it or not). And, when you look closely, it’s really inexplicable. What on earth is this disagreement over? Really, it almost as bad as in this week’s parsha (of course we’re actually much better than them).
What can this be, other than those naughty angels raising their heads again. Amazing. You’d think after all these years they’d finally have completed their atonement.
Rabbi Shmuel Dovid Raichik had a close friend, by the name of R’ Shlomo, who had learned with him in Otvotzk. When the friend decided to move to Los Angeles, he contacted Rabbo Raichik to ask him to intervene on his behalf to help him get settled. R’ Shmuel Dovid promised he would do what he could. Unfortunately, however, Rabbi Raichik’s effort did not bear the anticipated results, and R’ Shlomo put the blame on him. Having been close friends for so many years, he felt hurt and betrayed, and harbored ill feelings towards Rabbi Raichik, who he felt had let him down.
Many years passed, with the relations between them broken down because of R’ Shlomo’s bitterness. One day, Rabbi Raichik was in New York, and he was called into the mazkirus and informed that the Rebbe had inquired about R’ Shlomo. Helplessly, R’ Shmuel Dovid replied that there had been no contact between them for years because of R’ Shlomo’s “broigez” against him. Without delay came the Rebbe’s response: “Vos iz mit ahavas Yisroel”!
[It goes without saying that, after that answer, Rabbi Raichik spared no effort, and the relationship was eventually repaired].
Indeed, VOS TUT ZICH MIT AHAVAS YISROEL? While the malochim may have no right to judge us or criticize us, we have to ask ourselves, does it make sense, as we’re at the doorstep to geulah (just as the Yidden in our parsha were at the doorway to ma’an Torah), that every single step should be so fraught with dissent and discord? It’s hard, and perhaps one of the prime challenges of our generation, but after all is said and done vos tut zich mit ahavas Yisroel?
Even if we take little steps in this area, they will surely be very precious, in view of the great hardship involved. And surely they will be the final steps to step out of golus and into the ultimate and imminent geulah!
L’chaim! May we break a bit of the boundaries between each other, and may the Alm-ghty do His part to remove the boundaries between Him and us, to practice true Ahavas Yisroel and make peace with us, and bring us the final hisgalus of Moshiach Tzidkeinu TUMYM!!!
Rabbi Akiva Wagner
לזכות'רשלוםמרדכיהלויבן,רבקהלגאולהוישועהקרובה,ושלימהי"תומממש ג"בטוהנוהנ
