Parashat Shavua

Hemdat Yamim Sucot 5763

Hemdat Yamim Sukkot 15 Tishrei 5763 ====================================== This edition of Hemdat Yamim is dedicated to the memory of R' Meir ben Yechezkel Shraga Brachfeld o.b.m. ====================================== Eretz Hemdah is the premier institution for training young rabbi's to take the Israeli Rabbinate's rigorous Yadin Yadin examinations. Eretz Hemdah, with its distinctive blend of Religious Zionist philosophy and scholarship coupled with community service, ensures its graduates emerge with the finest training, the noblest motivations and the strongest connection to Jewish communities worldwide. ============================================ There is no Gain Under the Sun / Harav Yosef Carmel This year, as we read Megillat Kohelet on the first day of Sukkot, we can again ask ourselves: why is this megilla appropriate specifically on Sukkot, the festival where we are explicitly mandated to be happy (Devarim 16:14)? Kohelet is a sefer which appears to have a pessimistic outlook on almost every subject under the sun. Let us review just a few areas that Kohelet deems as worthless. "What is the gain for man with all of the toil that he toils under the sun?" (1:3). "That which was will be, and there is nothing new under the sun" (1:9). Not only in matters of man's work and livelihood is there disappointment, but also in what we call the liberal arts. "I said to myself, that which occurs to the fool, will happen to me as well, and so why did I make myself smarter then they, and I said to myself that that too is futile" (2:15). Shlomo is not more optimistic about the public realm than the private one. His social picture is as follows: "I returned and saw all of the oppressions that are done under the sun, and behold the tears of the oppressed and there is no one to console them..." (4:1). The judicial system does not get off lightly either: "I also saw under the sun, the place of the judgment, there is the evil, and the place of justice, there is the evil" (3:16). The possibility that there is optimism at least about the future is dashed as well. "I hated all the toil that I toil under the sun, that I should leave it for a person who shall be after me, and who knows if he will be wise or foolish, and he will take control of all the toil which I toiled and I was wise under the sun" (2:18-19). With so little hope, Shlomo comes to the horrible conclusion that he despises life ... under the sun (2:17). Apparently the solution has to do with the term, "under the sun." Indeed, R. Yodan says that over the sun there is gain, and R. Chuna says that one toils under the sun and accumulates above the sun (Pesikta D'rav Kahane 8). But the question still remains, what optimistic approach are we to learn from Kohelet in reference to our lives under the sun? And certainly, why are we to stress this theme on Sukkot? Let us propose a solution to both issues. Sitting in a sukka is to take refuge in the shade of Hashem, cav'yachol (what the kabbalists call, tzila d'm'himnuta). The sukka is defined by the halacha that "the shade is greater than the sun [that penetrates]." "It is better to take refuge in Hashem..." (Tehillim 118:9). It turns out that two walls and part of a third are more protective than an imposing fortress. Megillat Kohelet gives us the appropriate warning: do not look for solutions under the sun, where you are likely to be disappointed. Go to a sukka, where the sechach covers most of the sunlight. There, under the Divine clouds, there is gain. =========================================== P'ninat Mishpat - Matana al M'nat L'hachzir (Gift on Condition to Return) We saw last week that one can give a present on condition that it is later returned and that this system can be used to transfer a lulav back and forth so that a few people can fulfill their mitzva on the first day of Sukkot. This idea fits into the general framework of conditional transactions. Generally, such conditions must be formulated with a specific halachic formula. If not, the transaction takes hold unconditionally (Gittin 75a). However, the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 658:5) rules that when one gives a lulav to a friend on the first day without saying a word, we make a few assumptions. We assume that he gave it as a present, not a loan. We also assume that the present is conditional on the lulav's return. This is based on a concept, hinted in a few places in Shas, that when one's intentions are fully clear without saying a word, the formula to make conditions is unnecessary (see Tosafot, Kiddushin 49b). Since conditions can be assumed based on a person's intentions in regard to lulav on Sukkot, the poskim discuss what the unspoken intentions are in a variety of cases. For example, what happens if the lulav is lost or rendered unkosher but the recipient is ready to pay for it? Is that considered returning the object or not? (See discussion in Biur Halacha 568:5). What happens if one gives the lulav to a minor who is incapable of halachically transferring it back? (In other realms, it might only be important to get back the object physically, but here he needs it back halachically). The Ran (on Sukka 46b) employs the rule that a condition which cannot be fulfilled (i.e. the minor cannot return the lulav) is an invalid condition, and so the present goes through unconditionally. ============================================ Moreshet Shaul (from the works of Hagaon Harav Shaul Yisraeli zt"l) D'rasha for Sukkot 5708(?) ('47) "All citizens in Israel shall sit in the sukkot in order that your generations shall know..." (Devarim 23: 42-43). Sitting in the sukka and understanding its significance serve as a certificate of citizenship in Israel. However, the lessons to apply from the sukka change according to the generation, and, therefore, Chazal stressed different aspects of the sukka. One opinion describes the historical sukkot as actual booths, while another refers to "clouds of glory." There are times when one needs to be stressed and times when the other is more relevant. When the Jewish people were sent into exile and their existence was one of a temporary, shaky dwelling, there was less need to stress that element of the sukka. Rather, the more powerful message was of Divine clouds that miraculously protected the Jewish people during its sojourns in the wilderness and the various exiles. Even during the time of the most horrible decrees, the Divine protection guarded at least "one from a city and two from a family" and returned them to Zion, as our own eyes have seen. [Let us examine parallels between our situation and that of the generation that left Egypt]. There are among us those who ask if it wouldn't be better to sit on "the pot of meat" [Shemot 16:3- a reference to the plenty of Egypt]. This feeling exists despite the bitter experience of the true price of apparently free melons [see Bamidbar 11:6] that we did not need to plant in Egypt, the land of plenty [and other foreign lands, such as Germany]. Having finally made it to Eretz Yisrael and encountering, not respite, but encampments, temporary dwellings, unusual eating, and a new Jewish administration, we need to remember the sukka's second message. The sukka also recalls the physical sukkot of the time of Exodus. Bnei Yisrael of that generation did not leave Egypt and enter Eretz Yisrael without hardship or trials. Only after dwelling in booths, after entering Eretz Yisrael and working hard to conquer and split up the Land, did Bnei Yisrael merit to receive the good and broad Land. "And plant us in our borders." Eretz Yisrael cannot be like another land of immigration, where people decide to stay only if they find favorable living conditions. Here we have to plant our roots. Although it isn't easy, we will succeed with stubborn dedication. When we succeed to become acclimated in our land and build permanent houses, there is a need to stress the theme of the temporary dwelling. We must realize that however protective our homes are from the elements, physical housing is temporary and misleading. Hashem is our true protection. Even or especially in our own home of Eretz Yisrael, we flourish because of a constant Divine Providence which abounds here (see Devarim 11:12). We will build and plant and become implanted ourselves, but we will do so with an awareness and appreciation of Hashem's Providence and Hand. ================================================= Ask the Rabbi Question: I am a resident of Israel and will be traveling abroad during Sukkot. On yom tov, I will be in a city with a Jewish community, but in a different neighborhood. Can I do Melacha (work) publicly outside the Jewish community on the second day (yom tov sheni)? (I assume that privately (b'tzina), there is no problem.) Answer: A person who lives in Eretz Yisrael cannot do melacha in chutz la'aretz on the second day of yom tov because Chazal feared that such activity could cause machloket (Pesachim 51b). This is not a local halacha of yom tov alone, but a general rule when visitors have different practices than their host community (ibid.). We understand many people's impression that there is no problem to "violate" yom tov b'tzina. This is, in fact, the opinion and rationale of the Taz (Orach Chayim 496:2). However, the great majority of rishonim and acharonim forbid melacha even b'tzina (Tosafot, Pesachim 52a; Magen Avraham, ibid.:4; Mishna Berura, ibid.:9, to name a few). Sometimes we allow a person to privately follow his minhag against the local minhag, but not by melacha on yom tov sheni, for two possible reasons. 1) It is more difficult to do melacha unnoticed (Tosafot, ibid.). 2) The prohibition of melacha on yom tov sheni is a major institution, about which we are very strict (Ba'al Hamaor, Pesachim ibid.). We urge visitors to Jewish communities to follow the majority opinion and not do melacha even b'tzina. (We are aware of cases where bnei Eretz Yisrael did melacha "privately," and the matter became known and did cause a fight). In a few situations, one can be lenient. One is a situation where even one who sees what his friend is doing cannot tell that the action is forbidden for a local Jew. For example, one can cook without an eiruv tavshilin, because one who sees him cook does not see that he doesn't have an eiruv (Radvaz, cited by Mishna Berura 596:13). Also, if there is a machloket whether a given action is permitted on yom tov, then even a ben Eretz Yisrael who is strict on the matter can do it on the yom tov sheni. This shouldn't cause a dispute since even many locals are lenient. One example is smoking (which we feel is a melacha on yom tov and strictly forbidden all year, but, unfortunately, not all agree). Where does the prohibition of yom tov sheni apply? The Shulchan Aruch (OC 596:3) says that it applies everywhere within the techum Shabbat (the confines of the city, where one is permitted to walk on Shabbat) of the Jewish community. While it is difficult to rule on a city which we do not know firsthand (ask the local rabbi), in most major cities one can go from place to place within the city without leaving techum Shabbat. If in your case it is not so, how will you get to the beit k'nesset on the first day of yom tov? Harav Shaul Israeli zt"l Founder and President Deans: Harav Yosef Carmel Harav Moshe Ehrenreich ERETZ HEMDAH 5 Ha-Mem Gimmel St. P.O.B 36236 Jerusalem 91360 Tel/Fax: 972-2-5371485 Email: eretzhem@netvision.net.il web-site: www.eretzhemdah.org American Friends of Eretz Hemdah Institutions c/o Olympian 8 South Michigan Ave. Suite 605 Chicago, IL 60603 USA Our Taxpayer ID#: 36-4265359

Main > Parashat Shavua
Eretz_Hemdah