Parashat Shavua

Hemdat Yamim Parashat Vayeze

Hemdat Yamim Parshat Vayeitzei 11 Kislev 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 rabbis to take the Israeli Rabbinate's rigorous Yadin Yadin examinations. Eretz Hemdah, with its distinctive blend of Religious Zionist philosophy and scholarship combined with community service, ensures that its graduates emerge with the finest training, the noblest motivations resulting in an exceptionally strong connection to Jewish communities worldwide. ================================ Different Angels, Different Dreams / Rabbi Macy Gordon "And behold a ladder was standing on Earth with its top reaching into the Heavens, and behold the angels of the Lord going up and coming down thereon" (Bereishit 28:12). The image of Ya'akov's dream has been portrayed in many works of art and as a well-known Biblical story to children beginning to study Torah. Not all are aware that our parasha tells of second dream that Ya'akov had a full twenty years later, which was very different from the first. Ya'akov's first dream takes place on the first night after he fled the wrath of his brother Eisav. His fear strengthened his faith in G-d. The influence of his parental home enveloped him. His thinking and his very existence was G-d-centered. Twenty years later, twenty years of chutz la'aretz in the milieu of Lavan and his sons, twenty years away from Yitzchak and Rivka, Ya'akov was now a husband to four wives, a father to eleven children. He had concerns for his material future, for supporting his family. He finally forced the issue of proper compensation and severance from his father-in-law. He had a dream in which he saw flocks of sheep, enough to secure his economic future, and ways to manipulate transfer of an appropriate proportion for himself. G-d appears to him and says, "I see what Lavan has done to you. It's time to go back to your father's house." Twenty years earlier Ya'akov dreamed of angels. Now he dreams of sheep. Twenty years earlier he too stood on the ground, but his head was in the Heavens. Now, his concerns are more material, down-to-earth realities. This is what Lavan had "done to him." When you live a long time in a society with certain values, you are bound to be influenced by your surroundings. The great Ya'akov, Patriarch of Israel, was no exception. Our sages noted the wording of Ya'akov's first dream: "the angels were going up and going down." One would have expected that angels, whose abode is in Heaven would come down before going up. Our sages grapsed the metaphor of angels to suggest that Ya'akov was always guided by G-d's angels. While in Eretz Yisrael, he had angels guiding his needs there. As he was to leave Israel and venture into chutz la'aretz, he needed a different kind of angel as his guide. The "Eretz Yisrael" angels went up, and the angels for "chutz la'aretz" came down. As Ya'akov learned (and haven't we all) you need a different kind of guarding angel in Israel than in the Diaspora. The challenges are so different. Even the dreams are very different. Ya'akov, who left Israel for Aram, could not help but be influenced by his environment in the Diaspora. All of us who have come from the Diaspora, whether from Ethiopia or Russia, the Far East or Anglo-Saxon countries, were guided to face the challenges there, and we came here. But the challenges that we meet here in Israel are of a different kind and require "special" guarding angels to help us meet them. So many young Israeli's have tragically picked up and adopted the values that we thought we left behind. Prayerfully, we hope that we will adopt the values that are spiritually unique to Eretz Yisrael, retaining the best of both of our worlds. ================================== P'ninat Mishpat- Intra-familial Obligations - Part VI- Support for a Widow While married, a wife receives financial support (mezonot). When the marriage terminates, she is entitled to payment of her ketuba. Does she maintain the right to mezonot at this point? A divorced woman does not receive alimony per se according to halacha. Rather, she receives the value of the ketuba, or whatever other money the husband agreed to either before, during, or upon termination of the marriage. However, a widow continues to receive mezonot from the estate of her late husband (Even Haezer 93). The idea is that as long as she lives as the widow of the deceased, she is entitled to the estate's financial support. When she remarries (or as her marriage is imminent- see Even Haezer 93:7), she loses that status and the mezonot, but she can then ask for her ketuba, which is a larger, but one-time payment. As long as the widow is supported by the estate, the inheritors have a right, as compensation, to receive any salary she earns, and she is obligated to continue with the household obligations which are appropriate for a widow, as opposed to a wife. She decides whether she prefers to keep her salary and financial independence or to receive the mezonot, similar to the situation between husband and wife (Shulchan Aruch, ibid. 95:2). Regarding husband and wife, there are two opinions on whether the wife can demand to stop the normal arrangement and later decide to revert back to it, or whether her decision is final (Rama 69:4) . The same opinions should apply here as well. ===================================== Moreshet Shaul (from the works of Hagaon Harav Shaul Yisraeli zt"l) The Nature of the Mitzva to Educate Children (I) (condensed from Amud Ha'mini, siman 54) Tosafot Yeshanim (Yoma 82a) brings a contradiction between cases where we find the obligation of chinuch (to educate minors in mitzvot) and the rule that beit din is not obligated to stop a minor from violating a commandment (Yevamot 114a). Tosafot assumes in his question that it is more critical to prevent violations than to educate to fulfill. Tosafot's second answer is that only fathers are obligated in chinuch, which is the discussion in Yoma, whereas the rule in Yevamot, removing adults' responsibility for a minor's actions, refers to others. Tosafot assumes that the father's special role in chinuch is even to the exclusion of the mother, a claim which seems to be the subject of a dispute between R. Yochanan and Resh Lakish (Nazir 28b). We can ask several questions. Why does Tosafot stress the questionable claim that a mother is not obligated in chinuch, if they needed only to distinguish between a father and beit din? Why can't both parents be obligated and beit din not be? While assuming that preventing violations is more pressing than positive education, why was it sufficient to demonstrate that only a father is obligated in chinuch, when it is still possible that mothers and others are obligated in prevention of sin? These questions are but one indication that we need to explore the different possible elements of the mitzva of chinuch. One idea is that a child, despite lacking full, halachic da'at (understanding), still has enough da'at to be trained cognitively. Another possibility is that mitzvot have a certain positive, spiritual influence on a person, including a child, even when he does not or is not capable of recognize its value. The mitzva of hakhel (the sept-annual congregating for public Torah study), which includes children, is an example where both of these elements of chinuch seem to play a role. The gemara (Chagiga 3a) says that children are brought to enable reward for those who bring them. The Maharsha (ad loc.) asks that the Torah gives a different reason, that they are brought to learn (Devarim 31:12). The Maharsha answers that the gemara's reason is needed for those who are too young to learn. But if they are so young, then what is there from their presence, which justifies reward for those who bring them? Apparently, different elements of chinuch apply, depending on the child's level. Those who are capable of learning benefit from the cognitive form of chinuch. The younger ones are affected by the non-cognitive, spiritual nourishment, which serves to enhance their future ability to perform mitzvot. The younger child himself is a passive participant in the mitzva of hakhel, and so the reward for exposing him to the experience goes to those who bring him. We can understand why R. Yehoshua was so enthusiastic about this explanation (Chagiga, ibid.). The Yerushalmi explains the statement that she who gave birth to R. Yehoshua should be praised by relating that from infancy, his mother used to bring him to the beit midrash to be influenced by the atmosphere. [We continue next week.] ======================================= Ask the Rabbi Question: Should one daven from a siddur or by heart? Answer: Halacha takes into account different personal natures and circumstances in dealing with the issue of where one's eyes should be during davening. As a very strict rule, one's eyes should be looking nowhere but in a siddur during davening (see strong language of Mishna Berura 95:5). Despite this fact, our rabbis knew that we would not always be able to succeed in maintaining tunnel vision. Therefore, one should not daven opposite colorful paintings or the like, which might distract him (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 90:23). It is even proper to have windows (preferably, 12) around the shul (ibid.:4) so that one who loses concentration can use them to be re-inspired. But the proper choices are between looking in a siddur and closing one's eyes. Which is better? In truth, each has advantages. The Sha'arei Teshuva (95:1) and Mishna Berura (95:5) bring from the Zohar that it is important to have one's eyes closed. On the other hand, if they are open to allow one to look in a siddur this is legitimate (ibid.), although it is unclear whether it is as preferable (see Biur Halacha on 95:2). One of the main matters one should concentrate on during davening is to picture himself standing before the shechina (Shulchan Aruch, OC 98:1). For many people, this is more easily achieved with closed eyes. One is also usually less susceptible to outside influences with closed eyes. However, there is also another side to the picture. The Mishna Berura 93:2 cites the Ari z"l that it is better to look in a siddur to help concentrate and be exact. This practical idea is perhaps of even greater impact during repetition of Shmoneh Esrei, where concentration is harder to achieve (Mishna Berura 96:9) and when one is a chazan, who is more susceptible to getting confused (ibid. 53:87). The bottom line is that one should use the system that he has found helps his concentration (Magen Avraham 93:2; Mishna Berura 93:2; Aruch Hashulchan 93:8). (Some people employ different "tricks" to maintain focus and meaning in their tefilla, most of which are fine halachically). There are, unfortunately, communities where people consider one who davens with his eyes closed, a showoff (the halachic term is, yohara). There is value in avoiding causing such feelings (which in some cases may be correct), but one need not change his practice if he has serious difficulty concentrating with his eyes opens, even when looking at a siddur. A factor which seems very pertinent to our discussion, especially in respect to P'sukei D'zimra and Kriat Shma, is that one should not recite p'sukim by heart (Gittin 60b). However, the Shulchan Aruch justifies the widespread practice to recite large parts of davening by heart by the fact that most people know the words well (Orach Chayim, 49). (See additional justifications for the common practice of leniency in Beit Yosef, ad loc.). On the other hand, it probably wouldn't hurt most people to look inside during those parts of the tefilla. Consider also that many grammatical mistakes are made during the davening, and careful reading of the text could help rectify some of them. ================================= 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

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