9 Adar Rishon 5768 – Parshas Tetzaveh 14 February 2008

Yeshaya Perokim 39 - 45

Hi to all my Yeshaya friends. We have so much to discuss. I would love some thoughts of yours on the various perakim, even if you think that they are simple.

I am a little concerned that the things that I find interesting and central to Yeshaya – might not be the topics that interest you – (I think I have mentioned this before…) – and since there is so much to think about, I am going to write a few random thoughts, or pointers, before I write about what is really on my mind.

Famous concept number 1: The term “Kedosh Yisrael” that Hashem is ‘The Holy one of Yisrael’ comes up 44? times in Yeshaya, and very few times in the rest of Tanach. (In fact the passuk which we quote just before the beracha of Ga’al Yisrael in shacharis comes from Yeshaya “Go’alinu Hashem Tzevakos Shemo, KEDOSH YISRAEL…”

What does this teach us about the way in which Yeshaya describes Klal Yisrael’s ideal relationship with Hashem. He is our “Kedosh Yisrael”….

Famous concept number 2:

ישעיהו פרק מב

(ו) אני ידוד קראתיך בצדק ואחזק בידך ואצרך ואתנך לברית עם לאור גוים:

We are the “Ohr LaGoyim” – “A Light unto the Nations” – Klal Yisrael are to be the “moral voice of humanity”. If a Jew does something wrong, it makes the news. Why is it true the “Jews make news”? The very fact that we are held to a higher level of moral conduct, indicates that the ‘other nations’ see Klal Yisrael as a morally ideal people. Aish HaTorah have some tremendous articles – well worth reading – about the seven wonders of Jewish history (I think I have mentioned that one before) – and of how morality of the western world has come from Judaism.

QUESTION: Is Ohr LaGoyim also expressed by the fact that so many scientific advances have been made by Jewish scientists, and that so many Nobel prizewinners are Jewish? (Why did Hashem give us these talents? Ask Rav Hartman.)

THE THEORY OF 2 OR 3 YESHAYAS: In the 20^th Century, some “Bible critics” (also a cover-name for ‘apikorsim’) decided that there were a few authors of Sefer Yeshaya – that the first author wrote from chapter 1-39, the second author wrote from 40-55, and the third wrote from 56-66. Now, I don’t really feel the need to defend Chazal (in Bava Basra 15a) who say that Chizkiyahu and his aid’s wrote the whole thing – I don’t feel bothered so much that the styles are slightly different in each part of Sefer Yeshaya, because he was discussing different time-periods, and different prophecies in the different sections. However, since you are reading pretty consistently through Yeshaya, it might be interesting to show how the different parts of the Sefer actually mirror each other quite closely – and that this whole notion of different authors is not only false, but stupid:

(In the following 4 examples – the first passuk is from the first half of Yeshaya, and the second one is from the second half of Yeshaya. Each example shows how the same words are used for the same ideas in the different parts of the Navi. (IF YOU CAN’T BE BOTHERED, JUST SKIP THIS PART…)

1)

ישעיהו פרק ה

(כז) אין עיף ואין כושל בו לא ינום ולא יישן ולא נפתח אזור חלציו ולא נתק שרוך נעליו:

ישעיהו פרק מ פסוק ל

ויעפו נערים ויגעו ובחורים כשול יכשלו:

2)

ישעיהו פרק ו

בשנת מות המלך עזיהו ואראה את אדני ישב על כסא רם ונשא ושוליו מלאים את ההיכל:

ישעיהו פרק נז

(טו) כי כה אמר רם ונשא שכן עד וקדוש שמו מרום וקדוש אשכון ואת דכא ושפל רוח להחיות רוח שפלים ולהחיות לב נדכאים:

3)

ישעיהו פרק ו

(יא) ואמר עד מתי אדני ויאמר עד אשר אם שאו ערים מאין יושב ובתים מאין אדם והאדמה תשאה שממה:

(יב) ורחק ידוד את האדם ורבה העזובה בקרב הארץ:

ישעיהו פרק סב

(ד) לא יאמר לך עוד עזובה ולארצך לא יאמר עוד שממה כי לך יקרא חפצי בה ולארצך בעולה כי חפץ ידוד בך וארצך תבעל:

4)

ישעיהו פרק יא

(ו) וגר זאב עם כבש ונמר עם גדי ירבץ ועגל וכפיר ומריא יחדו ונער קטן נהג בם:

(ז) ופרה ודב תרעינה יחדו ירבצו ילדיהן ואריה כבקר יאכל תבן:

(ח) ושעשע יונק על חר פתן ועל מאורת צפעוני גמול ידו הדה:

(ט) לא ירעו ולא ישחיתו בכל הר קדשי כי מלאה הארץ דעה את ידוד כמים לים מכסים:

ישעיהו פרק סה

(כה) זאב וטלה ירעו כאחד ואריה כבקר יאכל תבן ונחש עפר לחמו לא ירעו ולא ישחיתו בכל הר קדשי אמר ידוד:

On purely literary grounds, to suggest that similarities such as these are obviously from different authors – is completely ridiculous. There are more that I have collected – but I don’t want to bore you with the details (for those who are not interested.)

NEW TOPIC ON YICHUD HASHEM

דברים פרק ד

(לט) וידעת היום והשבת אל לבבך כי ידוד הוא האלהים בשמים ממעל ועל הארץ מתחת אין עוד:

A passuk that we repeat minimally three times daily – what is it that Hashem wants us to “Know as clear as day” and “infuse it into our hearts”? We repeat quite often “Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad” – we know that there is only One Hashem - that there is no ‘duality’. Are we simply repeating “Hashem is the One and Only” (like the ArtScroll translation of the passuk of Shema.) Fine – I know this to be true – there is only One Hashem. Why the obsession?

משנה מסכת אבות פרק ו משנה יא

כל מה שברא הקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו לא ברא אלא לכבודו שנאמר

)ישעיה מ"ג( “כל הנקרא בשמי ולכבודי בראתיו יצרתיו אף עשיתיו”

“Everything that Hakadosh Baruch Hu created in His world, was only created for His glory (Kavod) as it says (Yeshaya 43:7), “Everything that was created in my Name and for My Glory – I created, formed and even Made.”

A very cryptic passuk, and a very hard mishna to understand. What are all these descriptions in the end of the mishna – create, form, make… what is the Navi telling me – what is the point of the passuk? But most ‘worryingly’ – the mishna and the passuk seem to be going against everything we know about Hashem. Every single mussar or machshava sefer seems to start with the premise that Hashem is “Good”, and therefore wants to bestow good upon us, and therefore created the world FOR OUR SAKE. (After all, what could we possibly give to Hashem who is all-Powerful?) This mishna tells us that Hashem created the world FOR HIS SAKE. Isn’t it going against every source we have? (Another issue we have with this mishna – is that how could Hashem possibly want to create anything for Himself – doesn’t that imply that Hashem was missing something before creation – namely His ‘Glory’?)

What is Hashem’s “Glory” or “Kavod” – (Yeshaya 40:5) “And The Glory of Hashem will be revealed…”???

Let me quote a whole bunch of pessukim, and try to get a deeper understanding of what Yeshaya is trying to tell us:

ישעיהו פרק מג

(כה) אנכי אנכי הוא מחה פשעיך למעני וחטאתיך לא אזכר:

ישעיהו פרק מד

ו) כה אמר ידוד מלך ישראל וגאלו ידוד צבאות אני ראשון ואני אחרון ומבלעדי אין אלהים: (ז) ומי כמוני יקרא ויגידה ויערכה לי משומי עם עולם ואתיות ואשר תבאנה יגידו למו:

(ח) אל תפחדו ואל תרהו הלא מאז השמעתיך והגדתי ואתם עדי היש אלוה מבלעדי ואין צור בל ידעתי:

ישעיהו פרק מד

כב) מחיתי כעב פשעיך וכענן חטאותיך שובה אלי כי גאלתיך:

(כד) כה אמר ידוד גאלך ויצרך מבטן אנכי ידוד עשה כל נטה שמים לבדי רקע הארץ מי אתי מאתי :

ישעיהו פרק מה

(ה) אני ידוד ואין עוד זולתי אין אלהים אאזרך ולא ידעתני:

(ו) למען ידעו ממזרח שמש וממערבה כי אפס בלעדי אני ידוד ואין עוד:

:And most famously

(ז) יוצר אור ובורא חשך עשה שלום ובורא רע אני ידוד עשה כל אלה:

The famous ones I have underlined. Many of these pessukim we repeat during selichos in the run-up to Yom Kippur. Why?

YICHUD

The content of these pessukim is all about The ‘Unity’ of Hashem. By ‘Unity’, we do not only mean that there are “not 2 Hashem’s”. But rather, THAT NOTHING PREVENTS HASHEM DOING WHATEVER HE WANTS TO DO.

1) ANCIENT-DAY APPLICATIONS:

Apikorsim thought: “There cannot be One G-d, because G-d is good, and since we see Evil all around us (people dying unnaturally, people getting sick, people getting killed by others, etc.) there must be another source other than G-d.” (Source: Sanhedrin 39a)

Christians think: “Hashem works with a system that he set in place called ‘Reward and Punishment’, when He saw that Klal Yisrael were not behaving, He gave up on them and Moved on….” (Maybe we will speak about this more fully, next week or the week after when we discuss Christianity….)

Using the Kochos HaTumah (black magic) to do things that go against Hashem’s torah and mitzvos (or against Klal Yisrael.)

2) MODERN DAY APPLICATIONS:

We usually think that “if we work hard, we make a living.”

“If we study hard, we will score well on exams.”

“If we are intelligent, we will understand things better or faster.”

“If we are wealthy – it will be easier to make a living.”

“We live in a natural world, and that there are natural causes and effects: If we are sick and take the antibiotics, we will get better.”

“Everything is down to luck – some are luckier than others” (Horoscopes, etc.)

RECAP ON THE QUESTIONS:

1) Isn’t the notion of Hashem creating the world for His Glory, going against all other thought in Judaism that Hashem created the world for us?

2) Who is right – is the world created for us, or for Hashem to ‘show-off’ His Glory?

3) What do we mean by Hashem’s ‘Glory’ – or Kavod?

4) Why did the mishnah quote the passuk discussing “created, formed, and made…”

5) Why do we read all the pessukim dealing with Hashem’s Glory in the run-up to Yom Kippur?

6) What is wrong with believing all those ancient and modern-day applications… How are they wrong?

Yichud Hashem means something very important, and with this little discussion we have begun to scratch the surface – (well worth reading/learning “Da’as Tevunos” of the Ramchal – where in the first 15 pages, he discusses all of this in greater detail….)

Hashem created a system of Reward and Punishment – so we would have thought that He created a system where He is obligated to Reward the Righteous and Punish Evildoers. The answer is that there is an OVERRIDE BUTTON that not only can Hashem press at any time He wishes to – BUT IT IS ACTIVE TODAY ASWELL, JUST IN A HIDDEN WAY. When Hashem wants to, He acts with Reward and Punishment, but when He wants to override, he does that as well:

“Vechanosi Es Asher Achon” – Even though one isn’t worthy…..

“Verichamti Es Asher Arachem” – Even though one isn’t worthy…. (Parshas Ki Sissa, Berchos 7a)

There is a system of reward and punishment – of cause and effect – of nature… But Klal Yisrael belong to a totally different system – one of Rachamim (Q. 6) – One of Yom Kippur, where Hashem says to us, even though you don’t deserve this, I will give it to you none-the-less. (Q. 5)

Klal Yisrael should have been “given up on” – but Hashem made a promise that no matter how low Klal Yisrael sink “Yisrael – Af al pi shechata, Yisrael Hu” – “Even though a Jewish person sins, he is still considered a Jew”. [If anyone has heard the Avraham Fried song called “Omnam” – it is taken from this sefer – “Da’as Tevunos”, and describes this function of Yichud Hashem..(Q. 6)]

This system is called Yichud Hashem – the Unity of Hashem – because, the world is set up with ‘bechira’ – free choice – and this free-choice is only possible when there are two choices – to do Good, or to do Bad (another topic for discussion: Is there any “makom reshus” in Judaism – are there any choices, like ‘walking down Golders Green Road’ or ‘cycling down Golders Green Road’, which are neither good, bad, better or worse…)… But the “revelation of Yichud Hashem”, the deeper understanding that everything is part of a Master-plan, and is “for the good” – is when we are able to appreciate the fact that Hashem really holds the reins of EVERYTHING – even the things that seem Evil, and seem to go against His will….. This is Hashem’s GLORY or KAVOD (Q.3)

(Look up what Rashi says on Krias Shema – Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad, in Va’eschanan)

I am going to answer (Q. 4) but leave 1 & 2, for you to tell me – or to e-mail me if you are really interested – because I think I have already written 7 pages – (which would have been 4, before I found our Bar-Ilan CD… (PS: do you think that The Bar Ilan CD is a good thing or a bad thing?)

I think, that the reason why the mishnah uses the passuk in Yeshaya – “created, formed and made…” – besides all of the kabbalistic or deeper understandings of different spiritual worlds – I think that there is a simple connection, which I would like you to make:

Chapter 45

(ז) יוצר אור ובורא חשך עשה שלום ובורא רע אני ידוד עשה כל אלה:

Chapter 43

(ז) כל הנקרא בשמי ולכבודי בראתיו יצרתיו אף עשיתיו:

Given these pessukim, and that we know why Hashem created Evil, to give free choice to be able to experience “Yichud Hashem” – why did the mishna chose this last passuk to show us that everything was for Hashem’s glory.

May we all become:

ישעיהו פרק מג

י) אתם עדי נאם ידוד ועבדי אשר בחרתי למען תדעו ותאמינו לי ותבינו כי אני הוא לפני לא נוצר אל ואחרי לא יהיה:

Witnesses of Hashem, that Hashem runs the world, from every blade of grass to every star in the sky – from every question on every exam, to every business deal…. And that we should not just “know”, but also “understand” (experientially) – Bimheira Beyameinu.

(Please get back to me – some of you have – I would love to hear what you have to say….)

By R’ Shmuel Kimche

shmuelkimche@hotmail.com

Rosh Chodesh Adar 1 5768 – Parshas Teruma 7 February 2008

Yeshaya Perokim 32 - 36

Hi Everybody

I hope everyone is beginning to really enjoy Sefer Yeshaya – from here onwards it gets only better and better…

WARNING: THIS WEEK’S IS VERY DIFFERENT TO PREVIOUS WEEKS – AT LEAST FOR THE FIRST HALF – I hope you guys appreciate it… I can’t resist – after all, I can’t quash my personality (not after last week’s edition), and a very meaningful part of who I am, is what I stand for…. So here goes…

Everyone has heard of the 13 Ikkarim of the Rambam – we (try) to say them after davening (usually unsuccessfully – well it is the most pressured time of our day…) – we reaffirm them by singing “Yigdal Elokim Chai”, which has 13 lines, each line expresses a different Ikkar – and generally, people are aware of them. [If u don’t know them, get a siddur right now, and learn them by heart!]

What is an Ikkar? Well, OK, I hear you say it is a ‘Principle of Faith.’ What determines a principle of faith? Why did these 13 make it into the Rambam’s List? In fact when did the concept principle of faith come into Judaism?

Although we don’t really have “dogma” [important word: look it up] in Jewish thought before the Rishonim (From R’ Sadia Gaon, right down to Abarbanel) who laid down “Principles of Faith,” we do, however, find a fascinating Mishna in the 11^th chapter of Sanhedrin – also known as “Perek Cheilek”, which reads something like this:

“All of Yisrael have a portion in Olam Haba… and the following don’t have a portion in Olam Haba; One who says that there is no [proof of] techiyas hameisim [in] the Torah, the Torah does not come from Heaven and the Apikores….” [Sanhedrin 90a]

Three things are beliefs for which one can lose Olam Haba:

1. Being an Apikores – denying Hashem’s existence
2. Denying Torah Min Hashamayim – denying the Divine origin of the Torah
3. Denying Techiyas HaMesim – rejecting the future resurrection of the dead.

Interesting, huh?

Well, you probably know all this. This was a major issue for the Rishonim, especially Rav Yosef Albo [1360-1444] from Spain. His Rebbe, Rav Chasdai Crescas, had an arrangement of 6 Ikkarim – but R’ Albo had a number of questions on all the numerations of the Gedolim who preceded him. For example; how are we to define “Ikkar”, it must be something that Judaism as a whole cannot exist without… why can’t Judaism exist without a belief in the coming of Moshiach???? [HE IS NOT DENYING THE BELIEF THAT MASHIACH WILL COME – HE IS JUST SAYING THAT ‘THE COMING OF MASHIACH’ SHOULD NOT BE AN IKKAR!!! A VERY IMPORTANT POINT!!!!]

Rav Yosef Albo (another of Shmelke’s heroes) laid down 3 Ikkarim, which ‘kind-of’ mirror the mishna that we just spoke about. His three Ikkarim were:

1. Existence of G-d
2. Torah Min Hashamayim
3. Reward and Punnishment / Hashgacha

No religion can exist without these three components. (1) Belief in G-d is obvious – without it there is no meaning to anything which we do. (2) We have to know what G-d wants from us and expects us to do. If no communication between Hashem and ourselves exist, we still can have no activity that we know to be meaningful – everything becomes fanciful guesswork. (3) If G-d is not interested in little ‘me’, and He doesn’t care about what I do, and there are no consequences to my actions – then again, religious activity is simply a charade.

In reality, what R’ Albo is saying, that those 3 mentioned in the mishna [Apikores, no Torah Min Hashamayim, no Techiyas Hamesim min HaTorah] are in fact the reverse expression of the 3 Ikkarim [belief in Hashem,Torah Min Hashamayim, reward and punishment]….

I could bore you with details of how the Rambam’s 13 divide neatly [5, 4, 4] into R’ Albo’s three …. And whether they argue or not (The last Chasam Sofer in his shailos and teshuvos…..) but of course, with such a huge topic we cannot cover even the beginnings……

WELL – WHAT ON EARTH HAS THIS GOT TO DO WITH YESHAYA???????????

Excellent question, my friends – I see we have observant friends…..

Well, where do we find in Tanach references to these 3 Ikkarim… You guessed it: (Quoted and discussed at length in Sefer HaIkkarim, Ma’amar 1, Perek 4)

YESHAYA 33:22 – “Ki Hashem Shofteinu, Hashem Mechokekeinu, Hashem Malkeinu – Hu Yoshiainu.” - “For Hashem our JUDGE, Hashem our LAWGIVER, Hashem our KING – He will save us.”

KING – Hashem Exists

LAWGIVER – Torah Min HaShamayim

JUDGE – Reward and Punishment

This is really where this week’s thought begins. Now I know that this idea is not necessarily very central to Yeshaya, in other words, we don’t find this trio to be the structure of the Sefer, nor do we find these three themes to be more poignant or present in Yeshaya – but it is central to our lives, and this passuk in Yeshaya is the earliest expression of all three coming together.

Where is it so central to our lives – I mean, Olam Haba is pretty central – so why do we not recite these ideas regularly and daily in our davening and learning? Why is our week not more focused on these? BASICALLY: WHY ARE WE NOT IKKAR OBSESSED IN OUR MITZVOS?

The answer is very simple; we are!!!!!

I would like to give some examples of this. A lot might be obvious to some, and some might be obvious to many – but, as Sherlock Holmes would oft be found repeating to Dr. Watson, “One is found to be in habit of seeing and not observing. It is essential to observe too…” For those of us who might not be reading Sherlock Holmes right now – when we are in routine, we don’t always notice what we are doing. Let me give some examples:

A)

FRIDAY NIGHT SHMONA ESREI – “VAYECHULU HASHAMAYIM VEHA’ARETZ…” – SHABBOS BERAISHIS

SHABBOS MORNING SHMONA ESREI – “YISMACH MOSHE BEMATNAS CHELKO” – MATAN TORAH

SHABBOS MINCHA SHMONA ESREI – “ATA ECHAD USHIMCHA ECHAD” – MASHIACH

We have here three time slots. The Beginning of History. Matan Torah. Mashiach: These three time periods, very clearly mark; Hashem as King. Hashem as the Giver of Torah. Hashem as presiding over the ultimate time of Reward.

B)

The Tur points out that in this middle beracha of the different ‘amida’s’, we have three different nuance changes; FRIDAY NIGHT – VeYismechu Bah, SHABBOS MORNING – BeYismechu Bo, SHABBOS MINCHA – VeYismechu Bam…. Yisrael Mekadshei Shemecha….

The Tur says:

Bah – The World was created with a ‘Heh’ – Beraishis

Bo – Matan Torah was on the 6^th of Sivan, therefore with a Vav – Matan Torah

Bam – With a ‘Mem’ for Mashiach – Reward and Punnishment

(See what the ArtScroll siddur says)

C)

We have three berachos around Krias Shema, two before and one after;

YOTZER HAMEOROS – Hashem being King over everything, particularly as He created everything

AHAVA RABBA – ‘Place in our hearts the wisdom to understand all of Your Torah…’

GO’AL YISRAEL - Hashem is The Redeemer of Klal Yisrael….

D)

SH’MA YISRAEL – G-d is One….

VE’AHAVTA – Teaching Torah to children…

VEHAYA IM SHAMOA – The most clear paragraph of Reward and Punishment in the whole Torah…

E)

On Rosh Hashana, the highest point in the year – we crown Hashem as king… What are the main parts of Mussaf? You got it: MALCHUYOS, SHOFROS and ZICHRONOS…. Hashem is King, The Shofar that was blown at Matan Torah, and that Hashem ‘remembers’ every detail and rewards or punishes accordingly…. Amazing, really…..

Well, what is my point, after 3 very broken up pages of writing, quoting, summarizing, and proving… I’m not so much interested in what Sherlock Holmes would say, as much as I am interested to hear what you would say…. Or what Yeshaya HaNavi would say…. These Ikkarim spell out our life – they tell us where we came from, where we are going to…..

Every Seder night, my father (shlita) would tell us ‘The Rocket Story’ over the soup at “Shulchan Orech” – I think now is the time to repeat it (even though we are 10 weeks early…)

A group of scientists wanted to investigate minerals on a distant star, but they realized that it would take hundreds of years of space travel to get there; so they built this huge complex rocket to get to this star – but they realized that they would have to send us families into the rocket, that they could repopulate the rocket over the centuries…. So this is what happened, lift off day came, and the four builders of the rocket, with their families boarded… Lift off… All went well for the first 40 years, the first generation passed onto the next generation information about the rocket, how to maneuver it, why they were on board, what the trajectory of the spacecraft was to be, etc… The next generation, too, told their children “Look, we’ve never been to earth, but that is where we come from. We’ve never seen this star, but that is where we are headed. We know that if we press the green button, the ship turns left, and the red one makes us go right. This lever does this, and that button increases oxygen….” 100 years into the journey, the great-great grandchildren called a meeting, where it was decided “there is no such place as earth, there is no distant star, there is no meaning in how or why we should turn the ship in any particular direction. We are alone in the Universe.” The ship veers from course…. One day, 50 years later, a kid is rummaging through some old magazines… he finds pictures…. They re-establish connection with NASA…. Etc. (I am vey tired right now…)

The point is; we were created in a time, where the universe recognized Hashem’s Kingship (Creation). We are headed to a time period where once again we will see Hashem’s Kingship (Mashiach). We have been given the instructions Manual of how we are to get there (Torah). We need to keep our eye on the ball at all times….

Love from Yerushalayim -

Shmuel

By R’ Shmuel Kimche

shmuelkimche@hotmail.com