The Weekly Shtikle Blog

An online forum for sharing thoughts and ideas relating to the Parshas HaShavua

View Profile

Sunday, September 30

The Weekly Shtikle - Sukkos

    As we lead into the holy month of Tishrei with the month of Elul, we recite the chapter from Tehillim (27), "L'Dovid," twice daily. We continue this practice throughout Sukkos. There are various explanations given for this practice. One of the correlations between this chapter of Tehillim and the days of Elul and Tishrei is the reference to a sukkah in verse 5: "For in the day of trouble He will hide me in his sukkah: In the covert of his tent will he Hide me; He will lift me up upon a rock." Surely, there is something deeper than the mere mention of a sukkah.
 
    This pasuk seems to refer to two distinct types of protection. ("Yitzpeneini b'sukoh" and "yastireini b'seiser ahalo" would seem, on the surface to refer to the same form of protection If, in the face of danger, one is lifted up upon a rock, he is removed from the scene of the danger. He may appear exposed, but he is out of reach and out of harm's way. Being protected by an enclosure, however, is not the same. One is still technically in the line of fire. But he is protected from attack and is sheltered by the walls of the fortress.
 
    The holidays in Tishrei reflect these two forms of protection. From Rosh HaShanah to Yom Kippur, we are raised to a higher level. Through the intense tefillah and teshuvah of the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, we are elevated to new heights. We are no longer in the realm of mere mortals. We are promoted to the level of angels. HaShem, so to speak, protects us from the rest of the world by bringing us to another world.
 
    Unfortunately, this experience cannot last forever. We must grow from it and take with us what we can. As we come back to our this-worldly existence, we are given seven days of the second level of protection. Sukkos symbolizes our slow return to real life,. We are once again in the midst of the world around us. Indeed, we bring 70 sacrifices over Sukkos symbolizing the 70 nations. But only we are given the sukkah in which to dwell and be sheltered from outside forces. Eventually, we have to leave the shelter of the sukkah and return to our homes. Indeed, this pasuk speaks significantly of  our special experiences in the month of Tishrei.

Have a Chag Samei'ach.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:

Please visit the new portal for all Shtikle-related sites, www.weeklyshtikle.com
The Weekly Shtikle and related content are now featured on BaltimoreJewishLife.com

Friday, September 28

The Weekly Shtikle - Ha'azinu

    In the concise, yet powerful, rebuke contained in this week's parsha, we are warned (32:26) of a time when HaShem will consider our utter and complete destruction, to put an end to us and our memory. However, HaShem will hold back for the reasons explained in the very next pasuk. "Were it not that I dreaded the enemy's provocation, ... lest they should say: Our hand is exalted, and it is not HaShem who has wrought all this." It is the enemy's blasphemous arrogance that truns HaShem's anger to them and spares us.

    It is easy to read this or observe this and allow it to pass over as simply a "close call." But that is clearly not sufficient. In order for HaShem's rage to be turned toward our enemies, we must make sure to possess the very merits they lack. If they are to meet their demise because they were unable to see HaShem's Hand in their victory, then certainly it is incumbent upon us to see HaShem's hand in our defeat. When difficult times are upon us, we must not lose sight of the fact that everything is part of HaShem's plan. If we are able to face adversity and accept that it is HaShem's will, it is that very virtue that causes HaShem to turn His wrath from us upon those who refuse to acknowledge His Divine Hand.

    This is indeed a task not to be taken lightly and perhaps one that evolves over the generations and the various challenges we face as a nation. When we face Godless and faithless enemies relying completely on their own might and not recognizing any Divine intervention, this distinction is easily made clear. However, an enemy claiming to serve and fear God and act on His will demands an even greater level of faith from us. It is imperative for us to emerge as the true believers in order to ensure that HaShem's wrath is directed at our enemies. 

Have a good Shabbos.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com


Please visit the new portal for all Shtikle-related sites, www.weeklyshtikle.com
The Weekly Shtikle and related content are now featured on BaltimoreJewishLife.com

Friday, September 21

The Weekly Shtikle - Vayeilech

As the Torah wraps up the last of the 613 mitzvos, we are taught of the mitzvah of hakheil, which was performed on the Sukkos following a Shemitah year. One of the unique qualities of this mitzvah is that it contains a Biblical requirement of child involvement on the part of the parents. Whereas any mitzvah contains within it an assumed requirement of chinuch, education of children, here it is clearly spelled out. We are commanded (31:12) to gather around to hear the various readings from Sefer Devarim "so that we will hear and so that we will learn and will fear HaShem our God and will observe to do all the words of the Torah." In the very next pasuk, the purpose of the children's attendance is discussed. It is so that "those who don't know will listen and will learn to fear HaShem your God..."

Meshech Chachmah points out that there is a phrase missing from the description of the children's purpose. The words "veshamru la'asos" seems to be relevant only to the adults. He explains that this phrase refers to the performance of active commandments, mitzvos aseih. Children under the age of Bar Mitzvah are not commanded in specific mitzvos aseih. There is only a general requirement of chinuch, to educate the children in the mitzvos so that when they do become of age, they know how to perform them properly. Prohibitive commandments, mitzvos lo sa'aseih, however, do specifically involve children. The gemara (Yevamos 114) teaches us that Beis Din is required to separate a child from eating neveilah, meat that comes from an animal that was not properly slaughtered. Therefore, part of the children's purpose is "velamdu leyir'ah," a phrase associated with mitzvos lo sa'aseih because this aspect of mitzvah observance is directly relevant to them. The reference to mitzvos aseih, however, is omitted because it is not immediately applicable.

Have a good Shabbos and a Gemar Chasimah Tovah. Or is it a Gemar Chasimah Tov? See Dikdukian.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:
Weekly Shtikle: Skipping around the Haftarah
Dikdukian: Don't you Worry
Dikdukian: A Happy Ending

Please visit the new portal for all Shtikle-related sites, www.weeklyshtikle.com
The Weekly Shtikle and related content are now featured on BaltimoreJewishLife.com

Skipping Around the הפטרה


This Shabbos, the haftara will begin from Hoshea with the fitting words "Shuva Yisroel, ad HaShem elokecha", Return, Israel, unto HaShem your God. The exerpt from Hoshea ends "Ki yeshorim darchei HaShem, vetzadikim yelchu bam, uposh'im yikashlu bam." Just are the ways of HaShem, the righteous shall go by them, and the rebellious ones shall stumble upon them. This is a bad note on wish to end and there is a concept that we do not end off a reading on a bad note, especially on Shabbos Shuva. Tosafos in Megilla 31b say that we add a piece from Yoel. But Abudraham says that we add from Micha. The Elya Rabba writes that the minhag is to read from both. However, in most chumashim the order is Hoshea-Micha-Yoel. The problem with this is the halacha we find in Orach Chaim 144:1. In the Torah we are not allowed to skip from one topic to another. In Navi we are allowed to skip from one topic to another but not from one Navi (i.e. sefer) to another. In Trei Asar, since it is one unit, we are allowed to skip from one Navi to another. However, the Magen Avraham (144:4) writes that to skip backwards is not allowed, even in Trei Asar. The jump from Micha to Yoel is indeed a backward jump. Therefore, the Likutei Maharich writes that one who does like Elya Rabba should read from Yoel and then Micha. Such is the minhag in Ner Yisroel.

However, the Noda BiYehuda writes in Dagul MeR'vava (428:8) that this is not the proper practice. But rather that the psukim in Micha are more relevant to the pesukim in VaYelech ("Veheishiv la'ad apo" versus "vechara api") and the psukim from Yoel, which speak of rain, are in correlation with Ha'azinu which begins "Ya'arof kamatar (rain) likchi". That is why the Micha excerpt was printed before that of Yoel, because Micha corresponds to VaYeןlech which comes before Ha'azinu. And the proper custom would then be to add on only Micha when Shabbos Shuva is Vayeןlech, and to add Yoel only when Shabbos Shuva is Ha'azinu.

Finally, R' Moshe Feinstein is of the opinion, like the Noda BiYehuda, that only one of the two should be read. But he has a different calculation. When the Haftara is being read from parchment, Yoel should be read because it comes right after Hoshea and therefore will constitute less of a wait for the congregation which could be problematic if we had to wait until we got to Micha. However, if the Haftara is being read from a Tanach or a sefer of Haftaros, since the switch is much simpler, for you can easily keep your place, it is advisable to read from Micha which is shorter and more on the topic. The important conclusion is that it doesn't seem that any of the poskim say it should be done in the order that it appears in the chumashim. (Note: Some of the newer chumashim rearrange the readings in the correct order.)

Sunday, September 16

The Weekly Shtikle - Rosh HaShanah

    The gemara (Rosh HaShanah 18b) quotes the very famous excerpt which sums up Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. R' Keruspedai said: "Three books are opened - those of tzaddikim, resha'im and beinonim. The tzaddikim, the righteous ones are written immediately for life. The resha'im, the wicked one, are written immediately for death. The beinonim, the fence-sitters, the ones in the middle are given until Yom Kippur. If they merit, they are written for life. If not, they are written for death."

    Abudarham poses an interesting question. If the man-in-the-middle does not merit then he has just failed to tip the scales in his favour. Why should they be considered tipped in the other direction? He answers that between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur we have an active duty to repent and do teshuvah. It is a special mitzvah for this time. The beinoni is required to do teshuvah in order to tip the scales in his favour. If he fails to do teshuvah, he has in essence violated the active mitzvah to do teshuvah in this time and therefore, he tips the scales against him.

    The gemara proceeds to quote Beis Shamai's description of an almost identical scenario. However, it is clear (from Tosafos) that this judgement takes place before "techiyas hameisim." Again, we will be divided into these three groups. My Opa, z"l, speaking in the name of his Rebbe, R' Eliyahu Lopian, asks why there would be a need for this judgement. If one is judged after he passes away, what could possibly have changed that they need to be judged again. R' Elya answers that even after a person passes on, the deeds they performed in this world still have lasting effects on the people around them. There is still much more of history to be filled by those people whose lives were affected by the departed during their lifetime. Each year, even the deceased are judged by how their actions shaped the world they left behind. If we follow in the righteous ways of those who have left us, we are not only helping our own cause, we are also helping them to merit a favourable judgement of their own.

Have a Kesivah vaChasimah Tovah!

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:
Dikdukian: Remember us for the Good

Please visit the new portal for all Shtikle-related sites, www.weeklyshtikle.com
The Weekly Shtikle and related content are now featured on BaltimoreJewishLife.com

Friday, September 14

The Weekly Shtikle - Nitzavim

This short parsha contains a most important discussion of the significance of teshuvah and the study of Torah. The pesukim proclaim

 "For this mitzvah (the whole Torah, according to Rashi) that I command you today is not removed from you, nor is it far. It is not in the heavens that you may say who will go up to the heavens and take it for us and teach it to us and we shall do it. Nor is it across the sea that you may say who will cross the sea and take it for us and teach us and we shall do it." (30:11-13)

At first glance, this passage seems to be letting us off the hook, comforting us that Torah and  teshuvah are not out of our grasp. These are not difficult things for us to achieve. However, R' Kulefsky, zt"l, points out that Rashi reveals that in fact, the passage may be indicating the exact opposite. Rashi quotes from the gemara (Eiruvin 55a) that while the Torah is reassuring us that it is not across the sea or in the heavens and therefore, one need not journey there to attain it, it is implying that if it were, we would be expected to go such lengths. The Torah is, in fact, relating a stringency in HaShem's expectations of us. No matter how far from our reach the Torah is, no matter what extremes are necessary to grasp it, those extremes are nevertheless expected of us.

R' Kulefsky would illustrate this idea with a story that was told of R' Zalman of Volozhin, the brother of R' Chayim. When studying late at night, if he were to need a sefer which was not immediately available to him, he would not simply move on. He would travel even to another city to obtain that sefer. His actions were based on the above. If the Torah were across the sea or in the heavens, one would be expected to go there. If the Torah he seeks is in another city, surely he is expected to make the journey.

Have a good Shabbos.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:

Please visit the new portal for all Shtikle-related sites, www.weeklyshtikle.com
The Weekly Shtikle and related content are now featured on BaltimoreJewishLife.com

Friday, September 7

The Weekly Shtikle - Ki Savo

The main focus of this week's parsha is the "tochacha," the rebuke. Many commentaries deal at length with the similarities between the warnings, the threats and the curses of the tochacha in Ki Savo and those found in Bechukosai. Ramban devotes much attention to the illustration of his theory that the first tochacha in Bechukosai corresponds to the first destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and the tochacha in Ki Savo corresponds to the second. 

Ramban makes a startling comment based on a pasuk in this week's tochacha (28:36): "And HaShem will bring you and your king whom you have raised above you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known." The sages offer a number of examples of characters and events that were, in their own way, catalysts that lead to the destruction of the second Beis HaMikdash and our exile from Eretz Yisroel. But Ramban suggests here that it was the travelling of King Agrippas to Rome to sign treaties that was the cause of our exile their. He adds that the pasuk hints to Agrippas by referring to the king "whom you have raised above you" and not the the king "who ruled over you," a reference to the illegitimate appointment of Agrippas as king as discussed in the gemara (Sotah 41a). Agrippas' cordial approach to our enemies encouraged our destruction and condemned us to exile at the hands of the Romans.

We have certainly seen in our time numerous futile attempts to establish treaties with those sworn to destroy us with quite drastic results. Ramban's lesson from this week's parsha has been clearly overlooked. We must learn that these events are not mere political milestones that may be easily glanced over but rather, they are pivotal moments in our history with the potential to shape our future. 

Have a good Shabbos.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:
Al Pi Cheshbon: Balancing the Shevatim 

Please visit the new portal for all Shtikle-related sites, www.weeklyshtikle.com
The Weekly Shtikle and related content are now featured on BaltimoreJewishLife.com