Monthly Update Telling Tales Torah Readings Dates to Remember
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by Rabbi E. Tauger A Month of Enigma The month of Teves is mentioned twice in the Bible: once as the month in which Nebuchadnetzar began the siege of Jerusalem and a second time, as the month in which Esther was taken by King Achashverosh. On the surface, neither event appears positive. The siege of Jerusalem led to the Temple’s destruction and our people’s exile and the taking of Esther, though ultimately leading to an advantage for the Jewish people, was in itself an undesirable event. The fact that a righteous Jewish woman was taken to be the wife of a lustful, gentile monarch is certainly nothing to celebrate. What is the common factor in both of these events? Seemingly, that gentile nations have power, even over what is most sacred to the Jewish people. They can lay siege to our holy city and take even our righteous women. Sacred Aspirin What’s the traditional religious message
when facing such situations? “Don’t worry. Even if the
present situation
looks bad, it is only a phase in G-d’s ultimate plan. Eventually,
everything will be good.” The knowledge that
everything is from heaven and that ultimately, everything that G-d
does is for the good, is often used by religious
leaders as a tranquilizer so that we do not feel the pain and difficulty
of the moment and can calmly look forward
to a rosy future. When Action is Required, not Belief Now, it’s true that G-d controls everything,
and everything He does is for the good. But these axioms of belief Standing Up For Our People Extrapolating these concepts to matters of
larger scale, when we see difficulty visited upon our people as
a whole,
we cannot remain inert. Take what is happening now in Eretz Yisrael!
There are people dying. Jews are being
shot at every day. Blood-thirsty terrorists are being applauded
throughout the world as statesmen and by and
large, our people remain silent. If there was continued shooting
in your neighborhood, wouldn’t you try to do
something about it? Would you quietly allow the press to portray
the people doing the shooting as heroes and the
victims as oppressors? Virtues in Impatience Similar concepts apply with regard to the
most comprehensive difficulty facing our people in the present age:
exile. |
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In connection with the imperative to actually do something, when faced with difficulty, we’d like to share the following story: Once Reb Yechezkel Feigin, affectionately known to his students as Chatshe, was holding a farbrengen - Chassidic gathering- with yeshivah bochurim – Rabbinic students- in a cellar in communist Russia. Needless to say, such a gathering was forbidden, and two of the students were charged with the task of waiting upstairs and keeping their eyes open for anything suspicious. Without any thought of the danger involved, Reb Chatshe farbrenged from the heart. He made demands of himself, and he made demands of the bochurim with whom he was farbrenging. He wanted more sincerity, more commitment. The bochurim understood and took his words to heart. Some began to cry. Suddenly, one of the bochurim who had remained upstairs came running down. A suspicious-looking group of men had entered the neighborhood. It was possible that they were KGB agents. The atmosphere changed immediately. The bochurim began to suggest different plans. Some thought that they should flee. Others argued that this would arouse suspicion and it was likely that several would be caught. It would be better, they continued, to take out magazines and political science books and pretend they were discussing current events. A third group maintained that the ruse would not help. Instead, they suggested hiding within the building. There was a sub-basement and several closets where they might not be found. The discussion soon became heated, each one defending his suggestions. Then the other bochur came down. The suspicious-looking group had left as unexpectedly as they had come; the farbrengen could continue. Reb Chatshe told the bochurim: “Your conduct provoked a question.” They listened as he continued. “Which is more important to you — material things or spiritual things?” The bochurim were honest, and right away answered: “Material things.” “Why, then,” Reb Chatshe asked, “when I spoke to you about spiritual things did you begin to cry, and then when a problem arose about our safety, no one cried?” “What would crying have helped?” one of the bochurim answered. “Something had to get done.” “Oh, I see,” Reb Chatshe responded, “crying is for when you know that you’re not going to do anything about a problem.” |
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Parshas Mikeitz This Torah reading describes the encounter between Joseph and his brothers. Now, there is an obvious question that arises in the mind of every reader. Why did Joseph play games with his brothers? Why didn’t he come right out and tell them who he was? There are some who explain that Joseph was taking revenge. His brothers had made him suffer and so to repay them, he made them suffer a little. For those of us who view Joseph as an exemplar of spiritual values, such an explanation is untenable. There must be a valid spiritual perspective, as to why Joseph caused his brothers aggravation. One of the explanations given by our Rabbis is based on the words of Maimonides: “What is complete repentance? When a person confronts the same situation in which he sinned, when he has the potential to commit [the sin] again and does not sin because of his repentance alone.” Why did Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery? Because they were jealous of him. So Joseph wanted to bring about a situation which could provoke their jealously - he Jacob showed more attention to Benjamin than to the others. And then he imprisoned Benjamin. When the brothers risked their lives to save Benjamin rather than let him remain in Egypt, it was obvious that their repentance was complete. Parshas Vayigash Our Torah reading relates, that
when Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, “he cried
on the neck of his brother Benjamin and Benjamin cried on his neck.”
Our Sages explain that Joseph was crying
because he had a prophetic vision of both Temples - which was to
be built in the tribal portion of Benjamin - being destroyed. And Benjamin cried because he had a vision of the
Sanctuary of Shilo - which was to be built in
the tribal portion of Joseph - being destroyed. Parshas VaYechi The name of this Torah reading
means “And he (Jacob) lived.” Nevertheless, the majority
of
the parasha is devoted to describing Jacob’s death. It describes
his final messages to his sons and the details of his
burial, nothing about his life. Parshas Shemos Among the featured elements
of this Torah reading is G-d’s choice of Moses as a leader
for
His people. What was the actual process through which G-d revealed
Himself to Moses? He caused one of the
lambs which Moses was shepherding to run away. Moses, concerned
not only with the flock as a whole, but with
each element of it, chased after it, anxious to bring it back to
safety. When G-d saw that, He saw that Moses was
properly suited to serve as a leader for the people. |
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Teves 5 - Didan
Netzach; the date of the historic ruling ordering the return
of the library of Agudas Chasidei Chabad to its rightful owners. |