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OnegShabbosNorth West London's Weekly Torah and Opinion Sheets

A Torah publication that enables local Rabbonim and Avreichim to share their insights and Divrei Torah on a variety of different levels, to provide something for everyone.

ב’ אדר ב’ תשע"ו 12th March 2016פרשת פקודי

And Moshe was not able to come to the Ohel Moed because the cloud was resting upon it, and the glory of Hashem filled the mishkan (Shemos 40:35).

The medrash asks, could it possibly be the case that Moshe Rabbeinu could not enter due to the cloud? We know that earlier in Mishpatim (24:18), the pasuk says that Moshe went into the cloud. The Medrash explains that on this occasion because of the kavod that Moshe had towards Hashem he was not able to go inside.

Rav Shimon Schwab zt’’l asks, if the pshat is that he had too much kavod to go any closer, why does it say he was not able to go closer? Surely he was able to go closer, but chose not to due to the kavod he had for the shechina.

The answer is that Moshe Rabeinu had worked on his kavod so much, the midda had been internalised to the point that he was unable to enter since that did not show the correct amount of respect.

When we work on improving out middos and becoming better people, we must try to make sure that the good middos and actions become so ingrained into our psyche that we are not able to do anything which goes against our good character traits.

We find a similar idea when we examine the bracha given to a baby at a bris mila.

At a bris we say ‘kshem shenichnas l’bris kein yikanes l’torah l’chupa ul’maasim tovim’. This means that just as a bris mila is done with no ulterior motive and is completely lishma, (as who would ever consider causing pain to an eight day old baby if it were not the commandment of Hashem). So too this child should

go l’torah,l’chupa ul’masim tovim completely lishma without any negios or ulterior motives.

A strikingly obvious question on this bracha is why are the mitzvos bein adam le’makom not mentioned. Why do we not say kein yikanes l’torah, l’chupa, l’mitzvos,ul’maasim tovim?

From the answer to this question we can once again see the concept which we learnt above. Bris mila is changing the natural state of something in order to make it better. So in the bracha to the child we are saying, just like with a bris where there was a positive change in nature made on the baby who went from being an arel to becoming a mahul, so too he should have a positive change through Torah. We know that when a person goes from being an am ha’aretz to becoming a talmid chacham there is a positive change in the person. L’chupa as before he was half a person and now he is complete, again a positive change in the nature of a person. Ul’maasim tovim, as becoming used to doing kind acts causes these character traits to become natural to a person and changes his teva as we saw from Moshe above.

When it comes to mitzvos bein adam l’makom however, if a person’s teva would change to the point where he becomes used to doing the mitzvos and it becomes second nature then this will be a negative thing. He will then be doing the mitzvos by rote rather than keeping them new and fresh. As the Sifri says, we should make sure that mitzvos are being done as if they are new, therefore mitzvos are not mentioned in the bracha to the baby at his bris.

We must learn from Moshe Rabbeinu that fixing our middos means internalising, it means changing our natural reactions and psyche so that good middos and maasim tovim becomes an integral part of who we are and everything we do.

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So you think you know Sefer Shemos? This a group that is only once brought in its full entirety in the Torah not in Sefer Shemos. However on seven occasions in Sefer Shemos they are listed but each time one or more is missing. Twice in two different Sedros only one is missing in another Sedra once four are missing and another time only one is missing and the seventh and final time they are brought is in a different Sedra entirely and this time two are missing.

What is this group and what are the Sedros involved?

Any comments can be directed to [email protected]. Answer on back page.BY BORUCH

KAHAN Riddle

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CHANGING OUR MIDDOS IS CHANGING WHO WE ARERabbi Benjy GordonJewish Futures Trust

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1. How many times is the building of the mishkan mentioned in the Torah?

Towards the beginning of Parshas Pekudei, the Torah says that the entire weight of all the gold that was dedicated to the mishkan was 29 Kikar and 730 Shekel [Shemos 38:24]. The Sforno writes that this was actually a relatively small quantity of gold. The amount was a small fraction of the gold present in the first Beis HaMikdash built by Shlomo HaMelech, which in turn had a fraction of the gold present in the remodelled second Beis HaMikdash built by Herod. The Seforno points out that the presence of the Shechina in the three Sanctuaries (the mishkan and the two batei mikdash) was inversely proportional to the amount of gold present. The Shechina was most acutely felt in the mishkan of Moshe, less so in the mikdash of Shlomo, and far less so in Herod’s beis hamikdash.

The clear lesson, says the Seforno, is that the grandeur of the wealth or the size of the building is not what determines the Presence of G-d amongst the Jewish people. The beauty of a building has nothing to do with whether the Presence of the Shechina will reside in that building. The Master of the Universe is not impressed with posh and lavish surroundings. The Mishkan, which was temporary –- almost a tent like structure, was akin to a poor man’s house and yet the Shechinah was always there. The Al-mighty does not value such things. What G-d wants is people’s feelings and devotion. He is not interested in the surroundings.

My purpose in mentioning all this is not to cast aspersions against any congregation with plush design and theatre seating. I happen to enjoy comfortable seats. My point is that we should all remember that none of this is what is going to bring down the Shechina into our synagogues. According to the Seforno writes, it is the actions and the piety of the people present will bring down the Shechina.

An extension of this is another idea of Chazal: Take heed of the children of poor people (bnei aniyiim), for from them will emerge Torah. In this context, ‘aniyiim’ does not merely refer to people who are poor of means. Sometimes we see children who come from backgrounds that are

less than stellar and they turn out to be the best students in the Yeshiva. Some of them go on to be great men in Israel.

This is the same thought. They come from humble backgrounds and they are humble people. From them, Torah comes forth. Rav Meir Shapiro zt’’l once explained that when children from poor families see the sacrifices of their parents to send them to frum schools and to make money available for tuition fees and the like, it makes a profound impression on the children. When children are aware of all that sacrifice, they approach their learning differently. The common denominator between the thought regarding the gold in the mishkan and the students from poor backgrounds is that the Al-mighty appreciates humble backgrounds.

The Soloveitchik dynasty of Torah greatness is well known in the Yeshiva world. It has transcended many generations and continues to this very day. How did this great Torah dynasty get started? I have seen this story written up in many places, most recently in something I read by Rav Aharon Soloveitchik, zt”l, a member of this Torah dynasty.

The dynasty did not started with a great talmid chacham, but with a man who was a great business man, named Rav Moshe Soloveitchik, who lived in the time of Rav Chaim of Volozhin. He was in the lumber business and was a fantastically wealthy individual. He gave vast sums of money to charity on an annual basis. All of a sudden, his business took a turn for the worse and he lost everything.

It was such a shocking setback for the Jewish community that Rav Chaim of Volozhin convened an emergency meeting of the Beis Din in Volozhin to determine what Rav Moshe Soloveitchik did that caused Divine disfavour, such that his business suffered such a dramatic reversal. The Beis Din met and deliberated and the only thing they could come up with was that Rav Moshe Soloveitchik gave away too much money to charity! They ruled that he was in violation of the Talmudic dictum that one is not allowed to give away more than 20% of his income to Tzedaka.

Rav Chaim of Volozhin was not satisfied with the conclusion of this Beis Din. At any rate, Rav Moshe Soloveitchik was out of a job, he was out of his business, and he was bereft of his wealth. What could he do? He started learning. He was obviously a very smart man. He no longer had a business, so he went to the Beis Medrash and he learned with the same diligence and the same acumen that made him into this fantastically wealthy person. He became a tremendous talmid chacham in his own right and became the progenitor of the Soloveitchik Torah dynasty.

After that, Rav Chaim Volozhin said “Now I know why he lost his money. In the great merit in giving charity, the Al-mighty wanted to allow him to have the merit of being the patriarch of a great dynasty of Torah scholarship”. But (based on the above quoted teaching of Chazal), it is the children of poor people who have the greatest potential for having Torah issue forth from them. Moshe Soloveitchik had a problem. He was too wealthy to have children who would be great in Torah. He lost his money. He became poor. The rest, as they say, is history.”

This in fact is the lesson of the mishkan –- the Divine Presence has an affinity for the humble.

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BUILDINGS AND HUMBLE PEOPLERabbi Yissochor FrandMagid Shiur, Yeshivas Ner Yisroel, Baltimore

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2. What lies behind the name “mishkan “?

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Nאמירה לעכו''ם - NON-JEWS ON SHABBOS [Part 1]

Rabbi Yonasan RoodynAish UK, Oneg Shabbos Editor in Chief, and Member of Federation ShailaText team

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The Rabbis forbade a Jew to ask a non-Jew to do activities on Shabbos which the Jew himself may not do. This applies when asking him to do melacha for a Jew. He may however be instructed to do melacha for himself as long as the Jew’s equipment is not being used.

There are three reasons given for this Rabbinic prohibition1.

1. If a Jew was permitted to ask a non-Jew to do melacha for him, he may well come to treat Shabbos lightly and ultimately end up performing melachos himself2.

2. The verse says in Yeshaya3 מעשות וכבדתו ... רגליך משבת תשיב אם דבר ודבר חפצך ממצוא If you will restrain your feet because‘ ,דרכיך of Shabbos ... and you will honour it by not engaging in your accustomed ways, pursuing your interests or discussing the forbidden.’ One must therefore refrain from discussing business matters on Shabbos. Speaking about forbidden matters to a non-Jew constitutes ודבר דבר, discussing the forbidden4.

3. The non-Jew is considered to be an agent שליח of the Jew, since we say שלוחו של אדם כמותו, the agent is like the master himself. It is therefore as if the Jew himself is doing the melacha5.

All three of these reasons are accepted by the Halacha.

• One may therefore not ask a non-Jew to do melacha for him on Shabbos.

• One may not even ask him on Shabbos to do melacha after Shabbos has concluded6.

• One may not even ask him during the week to do melacha on the following Shabbos7.

The Rabbis similarly forbade one to have benefit from melacha done by a non-Jew. This is so one will not have an incentive to ask the non-Jew to do melacha for him.

It is important to distinguish between these two issues, namely whether one can ask the non-Jew to do the melacha and whether one may benefit from melacha done by a non-Jew.

There are a number of types of benefit and the halacha regarding them will vary.

1. DIRECT BENEFIT8. Eg. The direct benefit of a non-Jew turning on an electric light, is that the room is now illuminated.

1 עי’ ב’’י סוס’’י רמ’’ד.2 רמב’’ם הל’ שבת ו’:א’.

3 ישעיה נ’’ח:י’’ג.4 רש’’י ע’’ז טו. סוד’’ה כיון.

5 רש’’י שבת קנ’’ג. ד’’ה מאי טעמא.6 או’’ח ש’’ז מ’’ב ס’’ק ט’.

7 או’’ח ש’’ז:ב’.8 תוס’ שבת קכב. ד’’ה ואם. עי’ שו’’ת אג’’מ יו’’ד ח’’ג סי’ מ’’ז אות ב’, ושש’’כ ל’:ל’’ו.

2. INDIRECT BENEFIT9. Eg. Where the benefit is a by-product of the melacha, i.e. where the act of melacha serves to remove an obstacle of sorts, such as turning off a light to enable a Jew to sleep.

3. ADDITIONAL BENEFIT10. This is where the benefit produced by the melacha was previously available in a more limited sense. This means that the melacha makes it easier to do something that was previously possible. An example of this is where lights were turned on in a previously lit room.

The Rabbis only prohibited one from making use of melacha if the benefit is new and direct. They did not prohibit indirect or additional benfit. However one may not ask a non-Jew to do a melacha where the benefit is indirect or additional.

• If a non-Jew turned on a light for a Jew in a dark room, one may not benefit from that light on Shabbos, since the benefit is new and direct11. The Jew will therefore have to leave the room, as it is impossible not to have benefit from the light12.

• If a non-Jew boiled water for a Jew, one may not make a hot drink with it.

• If a non-Jew turned a light off, one may go to sleep in that room.

• If a non-Jew turned on the light in a dimly lit room, one may only do those actions that would have been possible beforehand. This is because as far as these activities are concerned, the benefit is new and direct. If the original source of illumination was removed, then one may no longer derive any benefit whatsoever from the newly lit light.

• The extent of the prohibition of benefitting from melacha done by a non-Jew will also depend whether the melacha done was min hatorah or miderabanan.

• If a non-Jew performed melacha min hatorah on Shabbos, no Jew is permitted to derive benefit from the result of that melacha.

• This is even if the non-Jew was not instructed to do the melacha but did so on his own accord.

• If a non-Jew performed melacha derabanan, the person for whom the melacha was performed and his family may not benefit from that melacha. Others may however benefit from it.

• If the Jew sees a non-Jew is about to perform melacha for him, he must stop him from doing so. If he did not stop him, then the Jew may remain in the lit room but may not do any activity that necessarily requires use of the light, so one may have a conversation in the room, but may not read a book or eat a meal there13.

To be continued in coming weeks בע’’ה

9 שבת קכא.10 או’’ח ש’’ז מ’’ב ס’’ק ע’’ו.

11 או’’ח רע’’ו:א’.12 או’’ח רע’’ו מ’’ב ס’’ק י’’ג.

13 שם. ובה’’ל ד’’ה אסור.


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LAST CHANCE!!


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AHTAKING AND PLACING;

LEARNING AND TEACHINGRabbi Dov Ber CowenJLE

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“Moshe erected the Mishkan; he put down its sockets and emplaced its planks and inserted its bars, and erected its pillars... He took and placed the Testimony (luchos habris) into the Ark and inserted the staves on the Ark, and he placed the Cover on the Ark from above.” (Shemos 40:18-20)

Why do we need to be told that Moshe took the luchos before

placing them in the Ark? The Torah only needed to tell us that

he placed them there. The Ramban explains that until now the

luchos had been kept in a special wooden box in Moshe’s tent

and so the Torah is letting us know that Moshe had to take them

out of that box to place them in the aron. In another explanation,

the Netziv explains that although the Leviim helped Moshe

put together every other part of the mishkan, when it came to the

luchos, only Moshe physically took the luchos and placed them

in the aron.

Whilst these answers go some way in explaining the extra

wording, the Tolna Rebbe shlita brings a medrash on this pasuk

which offers a unique perspective:

The medrash asks, “What is the significance of “He took and

he placed”? It is to teach you that one who learns Torah from

others must also teach it to others. That is the lesson learned from

“He took and He placed,” that Moshe learned Torah “מפי הגבורה,”

from G-d’s Mouth, and taught it to Yehoshua and to all of Israel.”

All limmud hatorah needs to contain both vayikach and vayitein

– taking and placing. Chazal in the sixth perek of Pirkei Avos

enumerate 48 kinyanim, methods for acquiring Torah. Number 44

is lilmod al.

The Tolna Rebbe emphasizes this message with the mishna

in Avos: “If you have learned much Torah do not hold yourself

in high regard, because it is for this that you were created.” The

Midrash Shmuel explains the words אל תחזיק טובה לעצמך, with a

little twist. The literal translation is “don’t hold טובה, goodness,

for yourself.” Chazal tell us there is no tovah other than Torah.

The Mishnah is therefore telling us that if you have learned much

Torah, don’t keep it for yourself, rather teach it to others, because

this is what you were created for! One who neglects to share with

others what he has learned has therefore corrupted the essence

of his existence, because a Jew was created to learn and teach

Torah!

I recently returned from a truly inspiring trip to Moscow with

45 Young Professionals involved with our JLE programmes.

We volunteered at a local orphanage and saw the sights of the

Russian capital, however for many of our participants the most

impact came from hearing the stories of the Refuseniks and those

Jews that made the trips to Russia to aid and support their plight

in the 1970’s and 80’s The group heard about how the Refuseniks

set up illegal “yeshivos” and “study groups” for a generation of

Jews that had been completely denied any vestige of Jewish

education or identity.

In researching for the trip, I watched an interview with the

famous Refusenik, R’Yosef Mendelovitch shlita, who described

his role in teaching Torah to young Jews in one of these

underground study groups in Riga in the late 1960’s. What were

his credentials as a teacher? “By that time I had managed to

study by myself some 500 words and expressions in Hebrew that

I had learnt from some books sent over from the West,” he tells

the interviewer. “I was a simple university student but I found it

interesting and felt the need to share it with others.”

If a Refusenik Jew understands the achrayus to teach when

his Torah knowledge is severely limited, how much more so, that

we, who are zocheh to have so much Torah and experience at our

fingertips, should approach our Torah learning with the attitude

of sharing that Torah knowledge and inspiring others.

This pasuk drives home the message that the derech of Torah

is, was and always will be vayikach and vayitein. May we all be

zocheh to share the goodness that is Torah wherever we are.


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4. When in the year was the Mishkon finished being built?


LAST CHANCE!!


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‘’ויהי בחודש הראשון בשנה השנית באחד לחדש הוקם המשכן’’ ]שמות מ: י’’ז[

It was in the first month of the second year on the first day of the month that the Mishkan was set up.

In Shir Hashirim [3:11], Shlomo Hamelech refers to an event

that occurred ‘’לבו שמחת ביום חתנתו on the day of his’‘ – ’’ביום

wedding and on the day of his heart rejoicing’’. The Mishnah

at the end of maseches Taanis interprets ‘the wedding day’

as referring to the giving of the Torah at Har Sinai, which

represents the marriage between Hashem and the Jewish

people, and ‘the day of the heart’s happiness’ as a reference to

the building of the Beis Hamikdash.

Rav Elazar Menachem Shach zt’’l explains the comparison

by questioning how Shlomo could refer to the day of his heart’s

gladness separately from his wedding day, implying that he

didn’t rejoice at his own wedding?! He answers that although

Shlomo was certainly happy when he got married, his joy was

limited because he only knew his bride and recognised her

positive qualities from a short-term experience. Many people

get engaged after dating for a few short weeks or months and

then get married following a short engagement. This may be

a sufficient period of time to determine that one has found

his life partner. However this stage, due to its shortness and

the unnatural relationship that exists, isn’t conducive to fully

appreciating the greatness of ones fiancé or forming a deep

relationship based on mutual trust and understanding.

It’s only through years of living together, raising a family,

and jointly confronting life’s challenges that a person comes to

a real awareness of all of their spouse’s great qualities. While

it is unlikely that any single event will ever bring the same joy

that one felt at their wedding, Shlomo Hamelech is hinting

that the lasting period of deep inner happiness resulting from

a genuine relationship lies in the future rather than to be

expected in the present.

Similarly at Har Sinai the Jewish people demonstrated great

faith in their ‘Groom’ (Hashem) by unanimously declaring

(Shemos 24:7) נעשה ונשמע – ‘We will do and we will listen’. They

committed themselves to doing his will without even knowing

what it is and were rewarded by being selected as his chosen

people for all time.

Nevertheless, there was a certain lacking in the closeness

of the bond, as the bride hadn’t yet recognized the greatness

of her Groom. It was only after the wedding, when Moshe

taught them the mitzvos and they began performing them, that

a deeper relationship began to develop.

The pinnacle of that closeness came when the bride built

a magnificent dwelling place where she could come to draw

near to her Groom. This allowed for a full recognition of her

tremendous fortune of being selected as Hashem’s bride.

As the Ramban writes in his introduction to Sefer Shemos,

the completion of the mishkan was the spiritual culmination of

the Exodus from Egypt. The relationship that began centuries

earlier with Avraham and continued through the Exodus and

the ‘marriage’ at Har Sinai was finally consummated with the

event that brought true rejoicing to our hearts.

The lesson we learn from here, is just like in marriage it’s

only through years of living together, raising a family, and

jointly confronting life’s challenges that a person comes to a

real awareness of the wonderful decision he made in choosing

his spouse, so to the deeper relationship that one can have with

the Torah is only possible as a result of a genuine relationship,

built through learning it and performing its mitzvos properly

on a continuous basis.

THE GENUINE RELATIONSHIPRabbi Meir DunnerThe Jerusalem Kollel, headed by Harav Yitzchak Berkovits


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LAST CHANCE!!


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FAREFLECTIONS FROM BERLINRabbi Raphy GarsonRabbi Ohr Yisrael Federation Synagogue, Elstree & Director of the Hertfordshire Learning Experience

1939 2016

1939 2016

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Dear Friends Surreal. A word that describes having the disorienting, hallucinatory quality of a dream - something that perhaps feels unreal.

I write these words on a plane whilst flying back to the UK, after a 3 day Rabbinical Conference in Berlin. 120 Rabbis from across Europe gathered in Berlin under the umbrella organisation of the RCE - Rabbinical Centre of Europe. It was as always a time to learn, share ideas about the Jewish World and the challenges we face as the Rabbis of so many communities.

Yet there were times over the last 3 days that I had to pinch myself and ensure that I was really experiencing what I saw with my eyes. Surreal does not begin to describe some of the experiences.

We gathered at the site of the Brandenberg gate. A gate where after a meteoric rise to power at the head of his Nazi party, Adolf Hitler yms’’h was appointed to the position of chancellor on January 30, 1933. That evening, the new chancellor was treated to a torchlight procession through Berlin, as thousands of brown shirted stormtroopers and SS members passed under the Brandenburg Gate to the presidential palace, where Hitler and high-ranking members of the Nazi Party were cheered.

On the First of March 2016, 120 Rabbis stood proud in the very place where Hitler marched proud years ago. We listened to the next generation of young Jewish German children who shared their passion for learning and education. The words of Am Yisrael Chai pierced the heavens.

Berlin - the very heart of the lion’s den of Nazi Germany resonated with the powerful voice of Torah learning . A place that was supposed to be judenrein is now 100,000 strong and growing year by year. We met with Norbert Lammert the President of the Bundestag - the German Houses of Parliament, who explained the very clear vision of the German government. Anti-Semitism in every form will not be tolerated. Jews he promised, will be allowed to live a life of freedom and practice Judaism openly. In perhaps a strange form of irony, Germany has become one the fastest growing Jewish Communities in Europe. With a huge increase in new Shuls and Jewish infrastructure being built every year. Surreal, that the first “random” cab driver I flagged down in Berlin, “happened” to speak Hebrew. He was a Jew from Israel, who lived in Berlin.

Standing under the gate I recalled the story of the Ponevezher Rav, founder of the famed Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak. Rav Kahaneman lost his family in the Shoah & rebuilt the Ponevezeh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, Israel.

He visited Europe to fundraise for the yeshiva. Dr. Moshe Rothschild was a former student of his and the Rabbi said let’s go now to Titus’s arch. Once,

when they were in a taxi, the Rav continuously repeated over and over to himself, “I am going to settle the score with him once and for all.”

Naturally, Dr. Rothschild could not imagine who the Rav was speaking about, since the Rav would never speak that way about any person!

When the taxi neared the Arch of Titus, the Rav asked the driver to stop. He then left the car, walked up to the arch and looked at the image of the Menorah

being carried away by Roman soldiers with the words, “Judea is destroyed” written below.

He straightened his hat and clothing, and at the top of his voice, he cried, “Titus, Titus! Two thousand years ago you wished to obliterate the Jewish people and to leave no remnant of them. But heed my words, Titus: Who today knows who you are? When a person walks the streets of Rome and asks his children who Titus was, they do not even know how to pronounce his name correctly. Nothing is left of your heritage! Are there any people in the world who see themselves as the bearers of your legacy?”

“I just arrived from Bnei Brak, Israel, the Land you wished to destroy. At this moment there are over 500 students sitting and studying the Torah, which you so badly wanted to make us forget. And that is only in MY yeshivah! There are hundreds of other yeshivos and Torah institutions all over the world, in which tens of thousands of people study Torah as well! You disgraced the Holy of Holies terribly, but

I invite you to come now to the Kosel, the remnant of our Beis HaMikdash, and see how Jews stand there day and night bewailing its destruction, eagerly awaiting its rebuilding, and studying its structure and all the relevant laws about the service. That is the clearest possible sign that our Beis HaMikdash will be rebuilt speedily.

You have been forgotten forever, and your name has been forgotten; but Judea will forever be, and will yet blossom!”

My tears flowed down my cheeks as I stood there at the gate. A gate where an evil tyrant came to power with his plans to annihilate our people.

“Hitler - where are you! You tried to kill us, and we are back!”

We are still here. A clear fulfilment of the promise ki be shem kodeshecha nishbata lo shelo yichbeh nero le olam vaed - Hashem promises that his candle will never be extinguished! Such a promise should fill us with immense joy.


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E 6. Why when mentioning the setup of the mishkan does it omit the anointing of the mishkan and its vessels as well as the Kohanim?

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AHMY WEEKLY HALACHIC QUESTION

Rabbi Avi WiesenfeldRosh Kollel, Yerushalayim and Rav at Kav Halachah Beis Horaah H

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Follow Rabbi Wiesenfeld’s shiurim on torahanytime.com

Yolie and Eli’s parents traveled away for a week, so the two boys went to stay with Uncle Shlomo and Aunt Sarah. Yolie and Eli loved their aunt and uncle but were a bit apprehensive of staying with them, because they were very

health-conscious individuals and would often serve food the boys had never seen before.

The first evening, Yolie and Eli were relieved to see the supper menu. They couldn’t make out what the soup contained, but it was definitely tasty, and the brown rice really wasn’t as bad as they’d always imagined it to be. The organic chicken tasted pretty much the same as their mother’s.

All went well until Aunt Sarah brought the children some drinks. She handed the boys two tall glasses that contained…milk! Or so it appeared. Before Yolie and Eli could say a word, though, their aunt placed the carton of drink on the table. It was clearly marked “Soy Milk,” which is pareve.

“Oh!” the two boys cried together. “We thought it was regular milk!”

Aunt Sarah laughed. “Many people know that soy milk exists, but as you didn’t, I put the carton on the table in order to avoid maris ayin.”

“What’s maris ayin?” asked Yolie.

“Chazal instructed us to avoid performing acts that can look like we violated a halachah,” explained Uncle Shlomo.

“I don’t care what people think!” announced Eli, “as long as Hashem knows I didn’t transgress.”

“That’s not what the halachah says, though,” said Aunt Sarah. “You might know that what you’re doing is okay, but others will not

understand that. It could cause a chillul Hashem. It could even cause someone to copy you. Therefore, there are certain things you mustn’t do to arouse suspicion, even though you know that you are doing nothing wrong. Can you think of examples of food items we eat that might make us seem we are transgressing?”

“Eating a pareve hot dog at a dairy meal,” suggested Yolie. “Or a soy schnitzel.”

“Smearing margarine on your bread during a meat meal,” said Eli. “People could think it’s butter.”

“Eating meat that was cooked in almond milk,” Uncle Shlomo put in.

“Great examples,” said Aunt Sarah. “Although not all of them are actually prohibited.”

Which of the above mentioned foods are permissible to eat and which are forbidden?

ANSWER

You may not eat meat that was cooked in almond milk (which is pareve), because it may seem like you are eating meat and dairy together.

However, you may drink soy or rice milk at a meat meal, but in a place where this product is not well known, it is best to place the container on the table.

You may eat pareve hot dogs or soy schnitzel during a dairy meal, because these products are very well known and people won’t suspect you of eating meat and dairy together. Some poskim still maintain one should place the wrapper on the table whilst eating.

Similarly, many opinions contend that since margarine is so common nowadays, nobody will mistake it for butter and it may be eaten with meat.

1

There was much excitement in Miriam Rose’s family as preparations got underway for her upcoming wedding. When Miriam went with her mother to purchase electrical appliances, they began to debate about what type of oven

to purchase. Mrs. Rose was not much of a baker and all she’d ever baked in her oven were challos and sponge cakes. Miriam, however, had been attending a baking class and there were many meat and dairy dishes she was longing to try out. No cooked chicken dishes could compare to the heavenly taste of roast chicken and those cheese lasagnas her teacher had baked were just delicious. In the class, there were three different ovens, one for pareve, one for meat and one for dairy.

The problem was that Miriam couldn’t afford to purchase more than one oven. Did that mean she could only bake pareve food items? Or was there any way she could bake all types of food in her oven?

In the store, she was shown different types of ovens. The self-cleaning oven caught her eye and Miriam wondered if it was more mehudar halachically to use a self-cleaning oven.

What should she do?

ANSWER

If you don’t own more than one oven, the same oven may be used for both meat and dairy, provided that you always cover one type of food, e.g. dairy. The food must be covered well enough that no steam will escape and it must remain covered throughout the baking.

If you wish to bake both types of food uncovered, the oven must be kashered between types of food. You must clean the oven well, wait 24 hours from its last use and then heat the oven to its highest temperature (or the highest it ever reached) for half an hour.

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KASHRUS STORIES [Part2]

Please could you ensure that there are ample sheets left in shuls for Shabbos before taking one home -as there have been few left in shuls.

This newsletter contains Divrei Torah and may contain Sheimos - please dispose of accordingly.

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AHHIDDEN THINGS,

REVEALED THINGSRabbi Daniel FineMaggid Shiur, Aish Gesher and author of Journey through Nach

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אלה פקודי המשכן משכן העדת אשר ם ביד פקד על־פי משה עבדת הלוי

איתמר בן־אהרן הכהן:These are the numbers of the mishkan, the mishkan of the Testimony, which were counted at Moses’ command; [this was] the work of the Levites under the direction of Isamar, the son of Aaron the Kohen.

The above is the opening pasuk of our parsha. The Ohr Hachaim is bothered by the use of the word ‘these’, given that the typical use of this word connotes excluding something similar. If you send someone to the shop to buy

‘these items’ you are clearly excluding the option to purchase any other items. What does the

‘these’ exclude at the beginning of the mishkan instructions in our parsha, and why indeed is it necessary to begin the list with the word ‘these’ in the first place?

The Ohr Hachaim writes that the word ‘these’ comes to tell us a simple yet important message, by excluding similar cases. These instructions regarding the mishkan were public and the praise offered for carrying them out was public too: the majority of the parsha entails praising Moshe and the mishkan builders for carrying out Hashem’s instructions. Yet this (‘these’) was an exception, for normally things (done) in the open, public sphere do not readily receive Divine blessing - this is normally a property of things which are more hidden or covered up, as the Gemara in Brachos (42a) records with the words a bracha is only found on those things covered up from the eye.

The message is an important and apt one: keeping things hidden, covered up and out of the public sphere is more likely to accrue blessing. The idea is reminiscent of the explanation of the Sefer Hachinuch regarding the raison d’être of the fire we light on the mizbeyach despite the presence of the miraculous heavenly fire

there. The reason says the Chinuch, is that we are commanded to light our own fire to hide or muffle Hashem’s fire - such is the way of modesty and humility to hide or mask miracles somewhat.

The books of mussar discuss that the key to meaningful growth and achievement is to first develop an internal world of security and strength. To understand who one is and be happy with one’s real character and person is necessary for real long-term development on top of this base. For if one goes to the other extreme and simply lives for other people’s perceptions of you and constantly hopes and yearns for approval from others then one is not really living one’s own life - one is living the life others have dictated for you via your perceived expectations that others have of you. Further, if one is constantly looking to publicise and outwardly express one’s own life and one does not save any time for one’s own self (or private time) one often does not value one’s own private achievements and it becomes much more difficult to view oneself as an individual and assess and build oneself as such.

Our generation has a great gift of technology - no generation before had the reach that we do, the communication skills we have, the ability to research and influence that we have been blessed with. But the more negative side of the technology ‘coin’ is that people are ‘told’ to constantly outwardly express their lives to others without regard for privacy, which taken to the extreme has the risk of failing to concentrate on, invest in or garner one’s own inner security and inner world.

When reading through the mishkan parashiyos it is worth sparing a thought for the idea that though the mishkan was grand and miraculous, it was not totally easily accessible; it had different parts open to different groups of people (Yisraelim, Leviim, Kohanim and the Kohel Gadol) - a true hallmark of privacy in the most ‘public’ and important of places - a tribute to our theme this week.

1. The Vilna Gaon (Aderes Eliyohu, 36:8) brings that the building of the mishkan is mentioned a total of seven times, to bring it down through the seven heavenly realms to this world.

2. It is related to the word “Shochen” to “dwell” alluding to the residing of the Shechina there. Also, it is related to “ mishkan “, a “pledge” since its continued existence depends on the behaviour of the Jews.

3. Perhaps they would have sinned and not merited Hashem’s Shechina. Therefore Moshe additionally blessed them. (Yalkut Reuveni)

4. The Medrash brings that it was completed on the 25th of Kislev but was delayed and only put up properly on Rosh Chodesh Nissan. (See MB to O.C. 670:7)

5. The Haamek Davar brings that since only now were the sacrifices burnt up on it therefore it only got this new name when becoming fully functional.

6. The Ramban (40:18) answers that since over here it is discussing the setting up of the mishkan for the seven days of inauguration while the anointing only took place on the eighth day when the mishkan was finally properly setup.

ANSWERS

Riddle AnswerThe Sheva Ammemim the 7 nations. Kenaani, Chitti, Chivi, Perizzi, Yevusi, Emori and GirgashiThey are only once listed in their entirety in Parshas Va’eschanan (7:1) In Sefer Shemos they come

in one form or another in four different Sedros. a) Shemos (3:8) and again Shemos (3:17) both times one is missing.b) Bo this time two are missing (13:5)c) Mishpatim again twice this time one is missing (23:23) but in 23: 28 four are missing d) Ki Sisa again twice and again both times one is missing this is in 33:2 and 34:11

If you think I have missed any off any or wish to make any other observations/comments please feel free to email me direct on [email protected]


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