The Weekly Shtikle - Leil Seder

The Weekly Shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmas my Oma, Chaya Sara bas Zecharia Chaim, a"h.

 

This week's shtikle is dedicated for a refuah sheleimah for my father.

Please include Reuven Pinchas ben Yehudis in your tefillos.

 

This past year has been a difficult one on a national level in many different aspects, not the least of which was the loss of many of our great leaders. One such giant was Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, former chief rabbi of British Commonwealth. In his honour, I am resending my initial thoughts on his haggadah, of which I am a big fan and I have quoted numerous times:

 

The haggadah includes commentary directly on the actual text as well as a collection of insightful essays in the back. There is a common theme that presents itself throughout - that the story of yetzias Mitzrayim cannot be viewed simply as a singular historical event but rather a monumentally significant episode that shaped and continues to shape us as individuals and more importantly, as a people.

 

In the essay "The Missing Fifth," Rabbi Sacks begins by going over the well-known "fours" - the four questions, four sons, four cups and four expressions of redemption. Four fours, in fact. He goes on to explain how each group actually has a missing fifth - a fifth question, a fifth son, a fifth cup and a fifth expression of redemption. Furthermore, there is yet a fifth group of four - the four pesukim from Ki Sisa which we expound upon in the main part of Maggid. There, too, there is a fifth pasuk, "Vayevi'einu el hamakom hazeh.." which we do not discuss. The common theme of these missing fifths is tied to the ultimate completion of the redemption from Mitzrayim, namely settling Eretz Yisrael and our ultimate redemption which has eluded us for so many generations but feels ever so much closer.

 

I couldn't even attempt to express these ideas nearly as eloquently as R' Sacks but this essay, as well as the themes expressed in other essays, inspired a perspective on the entire seder experience which was new to me and changed the way I understand the "duties of the day." The mitzvah of sipur yetzias Mitzrayim is in fact a two-way street. It is well known and much discussed that we must do our best to transport ourselves back to the great redemption from the hands of Egyptian servitude - "chayav adam lir'os/lehar'os es atzmo..." We need to imagine ourselves there. However, at the same time, we need to "bring the geulah to us." We need to understand that yetzias Mitzrayim is nothing short of a blueprint for HaShem's constant Divine intervention on our behalf. This is perhaps made most evident by the "Vehi She'amdah" passage where we declare that it was not just in that generation but in every generation that our very existence hangs in the balance and HaShem ensures that we survive and endure.

 

Just as the Dayeinu song expresses the ultimate purpose and completion of our exodus as the acceptance of the Torah and settling of Eretz Yisrael, statements such as "lashanah haba'ah b'nei chorin" and the themes found in the songs of Nirtzah express our trust and our yearning for our ultimate redemption, may it come speedily in our day.

 

Have a good Shabbos and a chag kasher ve'sameiach!

 

For a collection of previous seder night shtikles, please check out my archive of past Seder shtikles.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:

Dikdukian: Na'asah

Dikdukian: Shalsheles

Dikdukian: Hagieinu vs Yagieinu

Dikdukian: Chad Gadya

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

 

The Weekly Shtikle - Vayikra

A belated Weekly Shtikle mazal tov to my nephew Yaakov Yosef Shonek and his wife Miriam (née Mandelbaum) on their recent marriage. Mazal tov to the extended Shonek, Bulka and Mandelbaum families.

 

The Weekly Shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmas my Oma, Chaya Sara bas Zecharia Chaim, a"h.

 

This week's shtikle is dedicated for a refuah sheleimah for my father.

Please include Reuven Pinchas ben Yehudis in your tefillos.

 

This week's parsha deals with a number of different versions of the korban chatas, the sin offering. The sin offering of the nasi is introduced in a slightly different way than the others. The other versions of the chatas offering are introduced with the word (ve)'im, and if... The nasi's chatas, however, is introduced (4:22) with the word asher, when the nasi sins.

 

Rabbeinu Bachya approaches this linguistic discrepancy in the simplest manner. He writes that it is the nature of a man in a position of power to be consumed by haughtiness and hubris which is most likely to lead to sin. So, while the sin of others is introduced more indefinitely, "if it would happen to be that a person were to sin," the sin of the nasi is introduced almost as a certainty.

 

Rashi provides a more homiletic interpretation of the word asher from the midrash. Asher is like ashrei, praised. The pasuk is actually giving praise to the nasi, not for committing the sin, God forbid, but for having the integrity to come forth and admit it. After all, without the admission there would be no sacrifice. The high public position makes it all the more embarrassing to admit guilt. Praised is the generation whose nasi swallows that embarrassment and has the gumption to do what is required of him.

 

Malbim offers another positive approach related to that of Rashi's. The words asher and im are actually interchangeable (see Rashi Rosh HaShanah 3a). There is one slight difference between the word im and the word asher, used to mean im. The word asher is used to denote a possibility which we would like to occur while im simply implies a possibility. The best example of this is in parshas Re'eih. The parsha begins by explaining what will trigger the blessings and the curses. The pasuk states (Devarim 11:27) "Es haberachah asher tishme'u... (pasuk 28) vehakelalah im lo sishme'u." The translation is the same for both, if you will listen or if you will not listen. However, since listening is what we want to happen, the word asher is used whereas the word im is used for not listening. Here, too, we want the nasi to be one who will come forth and admit his sins. It is his position of power and influence that makes it most important for him to possess this quality. Therefore, the Torah introduces his sin offering with the word asher.

 

Have a good Shabbos and chodesh tov.
Mishenichnas Adar Marbim beSimchah (see Rashi, bottom of Taanis 29a)

 

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:
Dikdukian: Keves vs. Kesev

Dikdukian: Birkas HaIlanos

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

 

The Weekly Shtikle - Vayakheil / Pekudei

Monday, 2 Nissan, marks the 15^th yahrtzeit of my Bubbie. This week's shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmasah, Yehudis bas Reuven Pinchas.

 

Wednesday, 4 Nissan, marks the 3^rd yahrtzeit of my wife's grandmother, Rebbetzin Faigie Frankel. This week's shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmasah, Leah Feiga bas Aharon Tzvi.

The Weekly Shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmas my Oma, Chaya Sara bas Zecharia Chaim, a"h.

 

This week's shtikle is dedicated for a refuah sheleimah for my father.

Please include Reuven Pinchas ben Yehudis in your tefillos.

 

I had some other plans for this week's shtikle but discovered an unfinished draft from last year which I felt would be apropos as a flashback, considering we have now come full circle with a full year since Coronavirus took full hold. I felt it's a nice way to look back, take stock and examine if we have realized the goals we have set out to accomplish:

For this week's shtikle, amid all of the worldwide turmoil due to the Corona virus, I feel the most appropriate thought is one I heard from Rabbi Yisroel Motzen of Ner Tamid here in Baltimore as he closed his shul this Sunday morning. (Video available here.) 

This week's parshios, which most of us will unfortunately not hear in a shul, detail the building of the mishkan, the instructions for which began with parshas Terumah. The famous introductory pasuk reads (25:8) "ve'asu li mikdash, veshachanti besocham." The famous observation, of course, is that HaShem does not declare that He will dwell in it, namely the mishkan. Rather, he will dwell amongst them¸ the people. The proper dedication of the mikdash will cause the Shechinah to dwell among all of us.
This week, and the weeks that will follow, it seems, will present a... [that's where I left off]

Have a good Shabbos and chodesh tov.
Mishenichnas Adar Marbim beSimchah (see Rashi, bottom of Taanis 29a)

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:

Dikdukian: Ve'asa Vetzalel

Dikdukian: Kikar Zahav

Dikdukian: The Lord and the Rings

Dikdukian: Sham and Shamah

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

The Weekly Shtikle - Ki Sisa / Parah

The Weekly Shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmas my Oma, Chaya Sara bas Zecharia Chaim, a"h.

 

This week's shtikle is dedicated for a refuah sheleimah for my father.

Please include Reuven Pinchas ben Yehudis in your tefillos.

 

Last week, we discussed the juxtaposition of parshios to the yamim tovim. Finding a connection between the special parshios we read this year and the weeks on which they fall is slightly more challenging. However, the connection between Parah and Ki Sisa (the parsha on which it falls in most non-leap years) is abundantly clear. Rashi in Chukas (Bemidbar 19:22), based on R' Moshe HaDarshan, explains the entire parah adumah process as an atonement for the sin of the Golden Calf which, of course, we read about in Ki Sisa. He cites the well-known parable: When the son of a maidservant soils the palace of the king it is expected of his mother to come and clean up the mess. So too, the the parah adumah cleans up the "mess" we made with the Golden Calf.

 

While pondering this parable, a seemingly obvious question occurred to me. Why, in fact, was the calf the animal of choice? One would expect that if they were to worship a golden figure, it would be one of authority. Why not a full-grown cow or a more menacing presence such as the Charging Bull near Wall Street? Why the image of a young calf? There is plenty of discussion among the primary commentaries as to why this specific species was chosen - a cow, as opposed to a sheep or goat. However, I was unable to find any explanation as to why specifically a young calf. I do not think it is plausible to suggest that Aharon specifically made that way for that reason - to be less authoritative. (I was later told that Rav Hirsch suggests this approach.) We find hundreds of years later that Yerav'am ben Nevat also specifically made golden calves. Although it seems this was done specifically to mimic the original calf. I welcome any suggestions.

 

Have a good Shabbos.

Mishenichnas Adar Marbim be'Simchah!

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:

Dikdukian: Kol Annnos

Dikdukian: Yeiaseh vs.Taaseh by Ephraim Stulberg

Dikdukian: No More Drinking

Dikdukian: Minimizing Sin

Dikdukian: Whys and Wherefores

Dikdukian: Need to Bring this Up

Dikdukian: Oops (Parah)

Dikdukian: Let Your Heart Not be Desolate (Parah)

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