Tales for the Shabbos Table

In this week's section we find a strange statement. Moses, continuing his final message to the Jewish people before they enter the land of Israel, adjures them to at least repay G-d's kindness and reminds them how they were miraculously fed for forty years in the desert.

"He (G-d) tortured you and starved you and gave you Manna.... in order that you should know that not by bread alone does man live but by the word of G-d does man live." (8:3)

This, at first glance, seems to make no sense.

First of all, if Moses is trying to convince them of G-d's kindness, why does he mention torture and starvation?

Even more, the simple meaning of the sentence is that through the Manna G-d tortured and starved the Jews! Is this so? The Manna kept the Jews alive for forty years. Perhaps it became boring, but certainly not tortuous or deadly.

Also what does it mean that from the Manna they understood that man can't live on bread alone but he can live from the word of G-d?

The Manna seems to teach exactly the opposite! That G-d's word isn't enough and THAT is why they had to eat physical Manna every single day.

To understand this all here is a story.

Rabbi Yisroel of Ruzin, a great Chassidic leader some two hundred years ago, was a known as the 'Holy Ruziner' because of the intense G-liness that emanated from his every action, word and even thought! His thousands of followers said that visiting him was very similar to visiting the Holy Temple; it put new life and meaning into Judaism.

But there were many G-d fearing, highly intelligent Jews that rejected him and all the other Chassidic 'Tzadikim' as well.

Such a person was Rab Yho'shua Charif. He had been one of the most brilliant students in the Yeshiva of Rabbi Akiva Eiger (one of the all time Torah giants) and was, in fact, one of Rabbi Eiger's relatives.

But Reb Yho'shua had married into a family of Chassidim, followers of the 'Holy Ruziner' and they were pressuring him to at least their holy leader.

At first Reb Yhoshua refused outright, but when they didn't let up, he hit on an idea on how to prove to them that their beliefs about this Rebbe were pure nonsense. If his idea worked it would not only get him some peace and quiet, but it might just return his in-laws to 'normal' Judaism as well!

His idea was as follows: He had found an apparent contradiction between the Talmud and the Zohar (basic Kabala book) regarding the difference between vows (Nederim) and oaths (Shavuot). None of the great rabbis that he asked could give him an answer and it was really bothering him:

The Talmud explains that vows only are valid if they deal with existing things while oaths have no such limit. But the Zohar explains it exactly the opposite way! Oaths are limited while vows are not.

He decided that he would visit the Rebbe, and rather than verbally asking, would THINK his question. If the Rebbe was such a super-Jew as his in-laws claimed then he should be able to read his mind AND answer the question as well. But he was sure it wouldn't happen.

Rab Yhoshua traveled with his father-in-law to the Rebbe and the next day when they arrived and finally entered the Rebbe's room it was packed with tens of other Chassidim, but the Rebbe sat at his table and didn't pay any attention to any of them. This went on for almost fifteen minutes and all the time Rab Yhoshua was thinking about his question as much as possible.

Then one of the more important Chassidim by the name of Reb Leib, entered the room. The Rebbe invited him to sit down next to him and began engage him in conversation and everyone leaned forward and strained their ears to hear.

Suddenly the Rebbe said, "True, people don't respect me as a learned person. Although the truth is that I finish all the books of the Talmud once a month.

"But my grandfather the Magid of Mezeritz was recognized by everyone as one of the greatest Talmudic geniuses in the world and never the less once a Misnaged (those who opposed the Chassidim) decided to test him by thinking of a question to see if he both could read his mind and answer it."

Reb Yhoshua stood there almost breathless and waited for the Rebbe to continue.

"The question he had was about an apparent contradiction between the Talmud and the Zohar regarding vows and oaths.

"Well, My Grandfather gave one answer but I'll say an answer of my own. Here is my answer.

Rab Yhoshua couldn't believe his ears!

"The Talmud in Tractate Baba Metzia tells us that once there was an argument in the heavenly court regarding the topic of 'Tzoraat' (a disease affecting slanderers, loosely translated as Leprosy).

"The unusual thing was that this argument was between the entire heavenly court (m'tivta d'rkeia) and G-d!

"The Talmud relates that when they couldn't come to a conclusion they decided to call in an arbitrator from the living to decide who was right. Finally a great and holy Jew called Rabba Bar Nachmani, was summoned and he decided that G-d's opinion was correct. But that's not the end of it.

"Surprisingly, if one looks in the Law book of the Rambam (Rabbi Moses ben Maimon), which is the final word on such matters, one will see that he decides in favor of the heavenly court and against... G-d!

"So it is in our case," the Holy Ruziner concluded. "The Zohar is stating the opinion of G-d while the Talmud represents the heavenly court!! That is the cause of the apparent contradiction."

Then he turned to Rab Yhoshua and said, "Nu young man, are you ready to be a Chassid?"

Rab Yhoshua Charif became one of the Ruziner Rebbe's most devoted followers.

This answers our questions.

Rab Yhoshua was becoming a Chassid not because the Rebbe was smarter than him or because he was impressed with his mind reading or other spiritual
powers. In fact, those things can even be done through magic or other occult powers.

He became a Chassid because he realized that the Rebbe's wisdom and spirituality was not an end in itself but rather nothing more than a VEHICLE
for revealing the greatness of the CREATOR.

In other words, the Rebbe himself was only a means for advertising G-d.
(like the first Jew, Abraham).

This is exactly what happened with the Manna.

It was a miraculous bread from heaven and the more the Jews ate of it the more they realized that it was only a vehicle for the kindness and infinit care of the Creator.

In other words, although it satisfied them PHYSICALLY at the same time it
'tortured' them with a constant 'hunger' for more G-dliness.

It taught that not the bread, the physical satisfaction, really enlivens them but rather the word of G-d; the power that CREATES and enlivens the entire creation . This is especially important in our days. The Lubavitcher Rebbe called it a totally NEW era; the beginning of the days of Moshiach the end of the exile.

Now we witness a tremendous hunger for meaning sweeping the entire world. Entire populations are completely changing their priorities in life and myriads of Jews are seeking true Judaism.

This was the purpose of the Chassidic teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, called Chassidut; to bring a new hunger to the Jewish people so that they and all mankind after them will not be satisfied with anything less than Moshiach. As the Rambam writes in the end of his masterpiece of Jewish law; 'Then the world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d like water fills the ocean."

It's up to us to do all we can, everything in our power to reveal....

Moshiach NOW!!

Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad, Israel

back to top

Tales for the Shabbos Table

This week's section contains the commandment to bless G-d after eating bread:

"And you shall eat, and you shall be satisfied and you shall bless G-d etc." (Num. 8:10)

At first glance this is not understood.

How can we "BLESS" G-d?!

If someone is lacking something, a blessing helps him. Like when Isaac blessed Jacob.

But G-d lacks nothing. (In fact He creates everything so there IS nothing except for G-d) So how can WE bless G-d?

To understand this, here is a story.

There was once a Chassid of the Rebbe Maharas'h (Rebbe Shmuel) of Chabad (1834 - 1882) who had no children.

In those days the Jews suffered many hardships; hunger, poverty, anti-Semitism and more, but not having children was unbearable.

Being Chassidim, he and his wife went to the Rebbe to ask for his blessing but the Rebbe seemed to ignore their request.

They took it as a sign that they weren't doing enough. They began to give more charity, devote more time to helping others, pray with more sincerity but nothing changed; no children and try as they could, no response from the Rebbe.

One of the most important "innovations" of Chassidim is to get together and say 'LeChiam' (over Vodka or something similar) in order to take Judaism out of the books and put it into real life.

This is especially true of Chabad Chassidim (especially when in Russia).
They call it a "Farbrengen" (get-together) and usually much vodka is consumed amidst song, deep words of Torah, Chassidic stories and even dancing.

One night such a Farbringin was held at our Chassid's home. About twenty of his friends sat together and as the night progressed both the seriousness and the joy became more intense.

Then, suddenly everything seemed to die down. His wife peeked in from the kitchen to see what was wrong and when she couldn't figure it out she called to her husband and asked him what happened.

It seems there was no more vodka and no hope of replenishing the supply. Things were becoming more and more academic and the farbrengin was
dying..

She boldly walked into the room where they all were sitting and announced; "If you will promise me that I will have a child, I can get you vodka; as much as you want. But you have to promise!"

Now, usually Chassidim would never agree to such a thing, but this time, because of the unusual circumstances, they all began joyously blessing
and promising with all their hearts and at the tops of their lungs.

She put on her coat, slipped out the door into the cold Russian night and miraculously returned minutes later with several full bottles (till this day no one knows from where). The farbrengen continued till the morning.

Several months later she proudly announced to her husband that she was pregnant! Their joy was boundless but they decided that there must be something very mysterious going on here and they had to see the Rebbe.

It took a while but they finally got an audience, entered, told the Rebbe the good news and asked their question:

Why was it that the Rebbe could not bless them, while the Chassidim not only blessed but their blessings were fulfilled?!

The Rebbe first congratulated them and then replied:

"In general a person's physical needs can be divided into three categories: family, health and income. Some people have the fortune to be blessed with all three and some, G-d forbid, lack all of them.

"I saw in the spiritual worlds that you could only have two. And it was in such a way that if your wife became pregnant then you and she would die shortly after the child's birth. That is why I avoided your requests and pleas for children.

"But the Chassidim are something else." The Rebbe continued. "They have good hearts which gives validity to their blessings but they have no idea of these spiritual complications and "G-d protects the simple"
(Psalms 116:6).

Therefore not only will their blessings be fulfilled, but you both will have long lives, and be blessed with many G-d fearing children and
children's children.

This answers our question.

The Ramba'm (Maimonides) writes that the main job of Moshiach is to bring about the revelation of G-d in the entire world.

And when G-d is revealed there will be no hunger, sickness or lacking of any type. In fact eventually there will be no death!! And even the dead will rise!!!

In other words; the reason that the world is so confused and full of pain today is because G-d is concealed.

And that is what it means to BLESS G-d; namely to bring His revelation into the world.

That is how the Rebbe and the Chassidim in our story had the power to bless.

Because they were Jews, and the Jewish people were "chosen" to cause this revelation; it's their "job" to perfect the world by revealing (blessing) the Creator (as G-d said to Abraham "and you will be a blessing" (Gen. 12:2)).

And that is why we bless after eating bread.

Because bread is the product of many "natural" processes and eating bread leads to feeling "natural" and egotistic; G-d wants to be "BLESSED" into even these most natural things.

That is the importance of Moshiach and why he is the goal of Judaism:

Only he will unify and reveal the result of the blessings of our and all the previous generations and make this world into a truly blessed place.

It all depends on us to do as many good deeds and make as many blessings as possible in order to bring...

Moshiach NOW!!

Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad Israel

Torah Online Site: http://www.ohrtmimim.org/torah

back to top

Tales for the Shabbos Table

This week's section contains one of the most important paragraphs in the Torah. We are commanded to say it twice daily, and it is written in every Mezuza and every pair of Tefillin:

"If you do what I want; to love G-d and serve Him with all your heart and soul, then I will give the rain when you need it and you will gather up your grain, wine and oil and your animals will have grasses etc. (11:13)”

It is the second paragraph of the three-paragraph "MOTTO" of Judaism; "Shema Yisroel."

But seemingly it poses a few problems:

Firstly: Isn't it a bit disappointing that all the Torah promises for serving G-d with all your heart and soul, is grain, wine and oil?! Why not something a little more exciting like everlasting bliss or salvation?

Secondly: The Talmud explains that this promise of "gathering your grains", etc. is a punishment!

Ideally, Jews are supposed to be occupied only in serving G-d. But here it's telling us that if they serve with ONLY their entire heart and soul (and NOT with all their MIGHT as well, as it says in the first paragraph of "Shema") then they'll have to do the gathering themselves. What's so bad about ALL your heart and soul?

Finally: These words were spoken by Moshe (all of Devorim was Moshe's words). If so, why does he say "If you do what "I" want "I" will give the rains, etc."?!

He should have said: "If you do what "G-D" wants, "G-D" will give you!!”

I would like to answer all this with a story.

Reuven was in trouble. Big trouble. Five years had passed since he last paid the rent on his farm. Somehow the Baron was so busy that he overlooked Reuven's little farm year after year. But the miracle came to an abrupt end one cold snowy winter day, when a large fine carriage drawn by four splendid horses stopped before Reuven's old house. The driver opened the door, and out stepped a huge man in an immense white fur coat with high shining leather boots and a long curled moustache...the Baron himself.

He strode angrily through the snow, down the path to Reuven's door, and gave it two mighty blows with his fist. When Reuven opened up, he grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pulled him outside, shot a steely look at him as though he was some sort of insect, pushed his forefinger repeatedly into poor Reuven's chest and bellowed: "If I don't have ALL THE RENT in a week....DO YOU UNDERSTAND? ALL THE RENT IN ONE WEEK!! You and your family are sleeping in the....” his nose was touching Reuven's as he lifted him off the ground, then threw him on his back and screamed "...SNOW!!!"

The Baron stormed back down the path, and as Reuven was brushing himself off watching the carriage fade into the horizon, he knew that he was in big trouble. His only hope was the Baal Shem Tov.

He set out immediately in his wagon, and early the next morning he was in Mezibuz waiting in line to see the great Tzaddik.

When he entered the Baal Shem's room, he almost forgot what he wanted to ask So great was the simple holiness there. But when the Master looked up at him from behind his desk, poor Reuven began weeping, "My family, my wife and five children will be thrown in to street, they'll all die of cold and hunger. Ooy Rebbe!! Save me!!"

The Besh't handed him an envelope, assured him that he had nothing to worry about, and gave him instructions:

"Give this to the Baron as soon as possible, but DON'T OPEN IT UP!"

Reuven was so overjoyed, he wanted to fall to the floor and kiss the Besht’s feet. He thanked him profusely, ran outside, jumped into his wagon and was on his way to the Baron's castle. It was a ten hour trip, and after a few hours of travelling alone in the beautiful Polish countryside, he began wondering. What could the Besh’t possibly have written that would calm the Baron? And in what language? Could it be that he also had such a convincing command of Polish? Usually he only spoke Yiddish. But he pushed these stupid ideas from his mind, and prided himself for ignoring his foolish urges.

"I must put my complete trust in the Tzaddik", he said to himself. "After all, the Baal Shem NEVER made a mistake."

But a few hours later he was still battling. He had taken his mind off it a
hundred times now, but his curiosity was conquering him. "What possible harm could it make to just PEEK??"

After ten hours, the Baron's castle loomed up in the distance. "Made it!" he said to himself as he parked in front and got out. But as he was walking toward the massive castle door a horrible idea crossed his mind:

"What if the Baal Shem made a mistake and gave me the wrong envelope!! What if it's EMPTY!! Wow! Good thing that I thought of it before it was too late!"

The envelope wasn't even sealed; he just lifted the flap and took a "peek". Aha! Sure enough the letter was there. Just another little look here... and before he knew it he had pried the letter partially open without really removing it from the envelope, and was twisting his head around trying to discern a letter or two.

"Gevalt!!" he whispered to himself. The paper was....blank!!!

Suddenly the door opened and the Baron himself was standing before him.

"Brought me the rent, Jew? Well, that was quick wasn't it! Let's have a look!" He snatched the envelope from Reuven's hand and took out the "letter".

Reuven was expecting that any moment he would explode in rage. But after several minutes of pregnant silence, the Baron looked up from the letter and said in a very friendly tone. "All right, Jew. I'll forget about the debt. Clean slate O.K.? But from now on I want the rent on time every month. Do you understand? I won't be so lenient next time". And he slammed the door shut.

Reuven ran back to his wagon and headed back to the Baal Shem. IT WAS A MIRACLE! The next day he was standing in the Besht’s room full of gratitude.

"Tell me exactly what happened." Said the Baal Shem.

"It was incredible! The Baron actually wiped off the entire debt and let me go!! I’m a free man! Rebbe! You saved my life and the life of my family how can I.....”

The Baal Shem didn't look pleased, "He erased the entire debt? That's all? Tell me, did you open the letter?"

"Well, umm umm” Stammered Reuven sheepishly, "I didn't really open it.... that is I did take a small peek, just to see that there was no mistake."

"Ahhh! Why did you look!?" exclaimed the Besh't. "Couldn't you control yourself? If you would have left that letter alone, the Baron would have given you the entire farm as a gift, forever!"

This answers our questions.

The purpose of the Jews is to reveal G-d in this physical world, and make the world holy. In other words; to show the TRUE meaning in every physical thing by bringing Moshiach

But this can only be done through a true leader. For instance in Moshe's time; although there were many great holy men that had seen G-d (the entire nation "saw" G-d on Mt. Sinai) only Moshe realised the true value of this PHYSICAL world and that it is higher than all the spiritual heavens.

Only he really knew that in heaven WE get pleasure, but here G-D gets pleasure from our deeds.

(Therefore Moshe wanted so desperately to enter the land of Israel and had such opposition from the people; they wanted heaven and he wanted only to please HaShem here on earth).

That is why the "Shema" doesn't mention the rewards of Heaven. Because compared to the spiritual treasures of each physical creation heaven is
nothing.

For instance; grain, wine and oil represent three levels of Torah interpretation each deeper than the other. "Grain" is the revealed Torah, "wine" the secrets, and "oil" the essence of HaShem in the Torah. You don't get that in Heaven.

Now we can understand why "heart and soul" are not enough. Serving G-d with all your "heart and soul" means serving totally, but on your OWN terms. But "all your MIGHT" means going out of yourself; serving on MOSHE'S terms. (That is why Moshe, Dovid, and Moshiach are all KINGS, because a king brings people to do things above and even against their understanding and abilities)

That is why Moshe says, "I want" and "I give" when he was really referring to G-d. Because Moshe himself was the true example of "All Your Might"; he did NOTHING on his own (see Bamidbar 16:28). Even his speech was G-d's words coming through his mouth.

That is the meaning of our story. Because our hero Reuven did things on his own terms rather than on the Besht's, he missed out on a bigger blessing; the whole farm could have been his.

Similarly in our generation; in all his writings (a virtual ocean) the Lubavitcher Rebbe looks at the world completely different from anyone else.

Here, in this world, says the Rebbe, is the place where we must think ONLY about bringing Moshiach and we must do it with all our heart and soul and might.

And the Rebbe himself is the best example.

Only then will be revealed the true meaning hidden in each and every creation. Science, technology, art, media and all mankind will all announce the Oneness of G-d with all their might. Then the entire "farm" will be ours, forever!

Moshiach NOW!

Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad Israel

back to top