Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Ekev

Since there are no Rabbi Frand shiurim for the next few weeks, I have been substituting vorts from other Rabbanim each week, rather than leaving the blog without a vort for shabbos. This week, I am again attempting to repeat a vort heard from R' Eli Mansour as recorded on www.learntorah.com. Same rules as usual apply - I have attempted to reproduce the vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to the maggid shiur.

Parshas Ekev contains the second full paragraph of Krias Shema. In so doing the Torah has now given the beginning parshios of Krias Shema in consecutive parshios as Vaeschanan had the statement of Shema Yisrael and the paragraph of V'ahavta. Rabbi Mansour commented about the use of the plural form for heart in both of these paragraphs ("levavcha" in Devarim 6:5 and "levachem" in Devarim 11:13. He quoted the gemara which explains that the plural form is used because one should love Hashem with both of his yitzarim.

Rabbi Mansour then asked - how is that one can love Hashem with the yetzer hara (evil inclination)? Isn't it difficult enough to love Hashem with the yetzer hatov?

Rabbi Mansour answered that the yetzer hara of jealousy can be used to serve Hashem. If a person sees another who is more modest in conduct or more devoted, a person can say, I am jealous of how well that individual behaves. Similarly, if one sees another who spends more time learning then he does, the person can be jealous of the limud torah.

Rabbi Mansour then tied the Shema's concept of two yetzarim to the statement in the Aleinu prayer that a person should know Hashem in the Heavens above and the land underneath. Rabbi Mansour quoted the Ben Ish Chai who explains that if a person is thinking about spiritual matters he should always look up (Bashamayim M'Ma'al), but if a person is thinking about physical matters he should look down (al ha'aretz mitachas).

The Ben Ish Chai's concept is easily understood within the context of our daily lives. A person can look at another and say, he learns more than me, he gives more tzedakah then me, he is more involved in community affairs. Of course that same person can look at someone else and say, he goes to minyan less often than I do, or he only goes to one shiur a week and I go to more shiurim. If the person looks up in spiritual matters (Bashamayim M'Ma'al) then he will grow closer to Hashem. On the other hand, if he looks down, then he will not have spiritual growth.

The same can be easily seen in the physical world. A person can look at another and say, he has less money than me, he has a smaller home, he has an older car. Or, the person can look at someone else and say, he has a better job, he takes better vacations, he has a nicer home. If the person looks down when thinking about the physical (al ha'aretz mitachas) he will not be jealous of others.

The Ben Ish Chai then gave a mashal. There was a man who had a servant who he told to disassemble a ladder which led to the roof. The servant went to the ladder and began to take the rungs off, but started at the bottom of the ladder. By the time the servant completed the task, he was on the roof, with no ladder and no way to get down. The servant said to the master - you tricked me, now I am stuck. The master responded - now you understand that when you disassemble a ladder you need to start at the top.

A few weeks later, the master asked the servant to disassemble a ladder which went down into a well. Remembering his past experience, the servant started at the top and began to work his way down. Sure enough, the servant became stuck at the bottom of the well with no way to get out. Again, he complained to the master - you tricked me and now I am stuck. The master responded, you are going in the wrong direction again. When you want to disassemble a ladder which goes down, you need to start at the bottom and work your way up.

The Ben Ish Chai summed up the mashal and gave the nimshal - people are always going in the wrong direction. When a person is thinking about physical aspects he usually looks at someone else and thinks - that person is better off than me, when in reality he should look at someone lower and say, I have it better than him. Similarly, when thinking spiritually we look at another and say, I go to minyan more often, I learn more, when we should be looking at someone better than us and trying to emulate that person.

This is the true use of the yetzer hara in our avodas Hashem.

The Ben Ish Chai then tied this all together with the shofar. On Rosh Hashanah we hold the shofar with the narrow part down and the wide part up. This is a symbol to us that we should be interested less in the physical aspects of this world and more in gaining spirituality.

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Tuesday's Thoughts on the Daf - Shevuous 30

Shevuous 30 marks the beginning of the fourth perek of Shevuous and the discussion about witnesses and judicial procedure.

Towards the bottom of Shevuous 30, the gemara takes a break from discussing the laws of witnesses and judges and remarks that a person should always judge others for the good. Rashi explaind that the gemara is not talking about court cases, but instead is discussing a person who sees another commit an act which could be viewed as wrong if he is not given the benefit of the doubt.

The discussion reminded me of a story I heard from R' Goldvicht last year (and more recently again from R' Goldvicht a few weeks ago) about a butcher store.

The story involves a man who was walking to the subway when he passed a kosher butcher store. The man saw a treif meat truck parked outside the store and the driver was entering the store. As the man watched, the driver entered the store and was allowed to walk behind the counter. Moments later, the driver exited the store with a smile on his face.

The man then called up the Rav Hamachshir for the store and asked him to pull the kosher certification. The Rav asked - did you see the driver take anything into the store? No, was the answer. Did you see him carry anything out of the store? Again, the answer was no. The Rav Hamachshir said - well then I have no reason to take away the hashgacha.

The man was not happy with the attitude of the Rav and decided that he would no longer shop at the store. He also told all of his friends about his decision and the reason he would no longer buy there. Soon, many people stopped buying at the store, although the owner was never told the reason that his customers were not returning.

A number of months later, the store owner died and his family tried to take over the store. However, within two years they realized they could not make the store profitable and the store was closed.

Approximately six months later, the same man was walking outside the now closed store when he saw the treif meat truck parked outside. The man approached the driver and asked why he was there. The driver answered that he had a flat tire and was waiting for AAA. The driver then said - what ever happened to the store that was here? When the man said that it was closed, the driver responded that it was a shame. The driver then related that years earlier his truck had broken down outside the store. He went inside and was greeted warmly by the owner who invited him behind the counter and let him use the phone. The driver said that the owner was a very nice guy and it was a shame the store was gone.

The man became very distressed and approached R' Reuven Feinstein and asked whether there was some way to remedy the situation. He was told that there was no way to get complete teshuva in this world. However, he could take a minyan to the grave of the store owner to ask mechila. Additionally, he could take on the financial support of the widow and children for the rest of his life.

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Monday's Musings on Sports - The Hall of Fame Does Not Want Who?

As regular readers of this blog are aware, the Monday post was usually devoted to sports with highlights and analysis of the Max Kellerman show which formerly aired on 1050 ESPN Radio. Although Max resigned from 1050 more than a year ago, I have tried to continue the tradition of linking sports to Torah which I believe was an undercurrent of the Max Kellerman show.

While driving down from camp, I heard a great discussion on the Mike & Mike in the Morning Show about the Hall of Fame. This past weekend (besides being visiting day weekend in many Jewish sleep away camps) was also Hall of Fame Induction weekend at the Baseball Hall of Fame. As such, the annual debate over whether steroid users should be inducted into the Hall of Fame raised its ugly head again.

The impetus for the discussion on the radio program was the final segment of Sunday's "The Sports Reporters" TV program which ended with Pedro Gomez stating that members of the Hall had been reaching out to voters to ask them not to vote steroid users into the Hall of Fame.

While people feel strongly about whether steroid users should be allowed into the Hall of Fame, the discussion on the Mike & Mike program took an interesting turn as the guys talked about whether these players would be elected to the Hall by those who would be voting ten to fifteen years from now. There was a feeling by some guests that eventually there will be steroid users in the Hall of Fame, while others felt that the baseball purists would prevent those who achieved their gaudy numbers by unnatural means from joining the Hall.

The discussion about the use of steroids and its unnatural muscular additions reminded me of a mashal (parable) said over by the Dubna Maggid about the Torah's commandment not to add mitzvos (Ba'al Tosif).

The commandment not to add mitzvos in a way is counter intuitive. It is understandable that the Torah bars someone from reducing the number of mitzvos, but why can't a person add commandments to the Torah?

The Dubna Maggid explained by way of the following mashal. A father whose daughter would soon be married wanted to give his future son in law presents. The father of the groom told him, just make two suits and it will be enough. The father of the bride argued with him and said that he wanted to make three suits. The father of the groom tried to persuade him to allow for three suits, but the father of the bride was steadfast.

After the discussion concluded, the groom asked his father why he would not allow the father of the bride to make three suits. The father replied - I know that he is poor and that he has allocated the funds that he has to make the suits. If he makes three suits they will be of lesser quality. You are better off with two suits of decent quality.

The nimshal is that Hashem created the human body with the capacity to perform a finite number of mitzvos. If the person pushes his body to do more mitzvos than the 613 in the Torah, both the additional mitzvos and the original 613 will suffer. As such, Hashem would prefer that a person do the prescribed mitzvos well and not add new mitzvos which will take away from their capacity to properly perform.

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Sunday Night Suds - Joseph's Brau Summer Brew

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Trader Joe's in house summer offering - the Joseph's Brau Summer Brew.

When growing up, every child is taught the lesson, "don't judge a book by its cover." While this is generally a good idea in life, the reverse is not always true and especially when it comes to beer.

There are quite a few good beers out there which don't have flashy labels, commercial or come ons. These are just good brews which can be enjoyed with meals or friends or together with friends at a meal. The label is not needed to sell the bottle, as the beer itself is just known as a good beer.

Then again there are beers which go to great lengths to attract the imagination of the buyer by coming up with ingenious labels or risque names.

And then there are beers which try to sell themselves as the beer of the summer, such as the Joseph's Brau Summer Brew. These are beers to stay far away from as they are usually light beers masquerading as regular brews or contain far too much flavoring to be truly considered beer.

The Joseph's Brau Summer Brew definitively falls into the former category. While the beer advertises itself as a Kolsch style brew, it tastes more like a Pilsner, and a weak one at that. The beer pours a pale yellow, with no nose and little flavor. The bottle indicates that it is 4.8% abv, but I can't taste the alcohol.

Joseph's Brau Summer Brew is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit and there is a tiny Va'ad Hakashrus symbol on the back of the bottle. Please keep in mind that not every Trader Joe's brew is under kosher supervision, so check the label or search my site for the link to the latest list of beers under kosher supervision.To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about Joseph's Brau Summer Brew, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10707/50429.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

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Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Vaeschanan

After a week off from blogging due to various family and religious obligations, Kosher Beers returns with Thursday's Parsha Tidbits on Parshas Vaeschanan.

As mentioned in last week's post, since there are no Rabbi Frand shiurim for the next month, I would like to substitute a vort from other Rabbanim each week, rather than leaving the blog without a vort for shabbos. This week, I am attempting to repeat a vort heard from R' Eli Mansour as recorded on www.learntorah.com, which (in my mind) is linked to a vort said by Rabbi Frand a number of years ago. Same rules as usual apply - I have attempted to reproduce the vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to the maggidei shiur.

Rabbi Mansour indicated that in Parshas Vaeschanan, Moshe prayed 515 prayers that he be allowed to enter the land of Israel. Although R' Mansour did not explicitly state the source for the number of prayers, I surmise that it is the gematria of Vaeschanan.

After the 515th prayer, Hashem says to Moshe - "rav lach" - you have prayed enough, please stop. Rabbi Mansour asked - why did Hashem allow Moshe to pray so many different prayers (as each of the 515 were different from each other)? Why didn't Hashem tell Moshe to stop praying much sooner, as Moshe's request was not to be granted to him?

Rabbi Mansour answered the question by citing chazal for the famous concept that "no prayer goes unanswered." It is possible that a prayer can be put on hold in one generation and it will be answered in another generation. Hashem knew that at some point the Jews would be in need of prayers, and Moshe's tefillos were put away to be used when the Jews are in a perilous situation.

Rabbi Mansour then explained that a person may pray from the heart and still not get the answer he is looking for at the time. This does not mean that the request won't be answered for a different person or at a different time.

Rabbi Mansour then analogized the situation to blood bank. A person will donate blood to the blood bank to be used in the future as needed. If that person needs blood, he may receive it back from the blood bank. However, if another person needs blood, the "banked" blood will be available to that other person to address his medical needs.

So too with the prayers that are made. Hashem may not give the person what he is asking for when he prays. But the prayer will be answered down the road and Hashem will assist him or perhaps his children or grandchildren.

A number of years ago, R'Frand told a story during one of his Thursday Night shiurim which related to the concept of no prayer goes unanswered. R' Frand spoke of a man who was walking on the street in Tel Aviv and was asked to join a minyan. The man protested multiple times, stating that he was not religious and had never been in a synagogue. Eventually, the man agreed and joined the short prayer service. The man later became Orthodox as a result of the experience.

Meanwhile, the gentleman's father became the butt of jokes on his Kibbutz. How could his son become Orthodox when his father had raised him to despise religion. The answer was that it must have been the prayers of the grandfather for his son. While the grandfather was unsuccessful in convincing his son to become frum, his prayers did not go unanswered. Instead, the grandson became the beneficiary of his grandfather's prayers and tears. It should be no great surprise that the synagogue where the man's journey to religion began was the same shul that his grandfather himself had prayed in.

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Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Devarim

Since there are no Rabbi Frand shiurim for the next month, I would like to substitute a vort from other Rabbanim each week, rather than leaving the blog without a vort for shabbos. This week, I am attempting to repeat a vort heard from R' Eli Mansour as recorded on www.learntorah.com. Same rules as usual apply - I have attempted to reproduce the vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to the maggid shiur.

In Devarim 1:10 Moshe tells the Jews - Hashem your G-d has multiplied you and today you are like the stars in heaven in abundance (using the word in Hebrew, LaRov). R' Mansour asked, the Jews are less than one half of one percent of the world's population, so what does Moshe mean about being numerous like the stars in heaven? Rabbi Mansour answered --look at a star from afar, it looks very small. However the star in its true size is larger than the planet earth. So too the Jews, they may look small from a distance, but see what they have accomplished and how well represented and renown they are in the prestigious fields, and you will see up close they are much larger than they appear.

Rabbi Mansour then quoted a vort from the Ben Ish Chai on the use of the word LaRov. The word itself is spelled chaser - without a cholam between the reish and vet. As such, the word can read LaRav. The significance of this relates to a machlokes between Rav and Shmuel, but requires an introduction.

When a person is sleeping, his soul goes up to shamayim and admits the sins the body did during the day. There is a punishment and a penalty which comes from doing sins. The punishment comes from doing the sin against Hashem. The penalty is for damaging the soul, a piece of Hashem which does not belong to the person and to which he commits me'ilah by sinning.

When the soul goes up to testify, it is not the only entity that wishes to speak about the sin, as the act of sinning has created an angel which too desires to attest to the act. However, the soul and the angel have different rules of procedure. The angel wants to appear at the heavenly bet din to testify, but cannot do so at night because the bet din does not sit in judgment at night. However, the soul can testify at night and manages to get its testimony in first.

The soul's ability to testify first is highly significant. The gemara brings a machlokes about a person who admits an act which is punishable by a fine before the witnesses come. Rav teaches that a person who admits an act which is punishable by a fine and then witnesses come, the person is exempt from paying the fine. Shmuel disputes this as he says that the person's testimony before the witnesses appear does not exempt him from payment of the fine.

Boruch Hashem, the halacha is like Rav and our soul's testimony exempts us from the penalty which accompanies the punishment. The Ben Ish Chai explains that Bilaam when he blessed the Jews in Bamidbar 24:23 states Oy Mi Yichyeh Mi Sumo Kel. However it can be read as MiShmuel, by which Bilaam states - who could live if Shmuel is right and the soul's advanced confession is incapable of deflecting the penalty.

The Ben Ish Chai also supports this with a sentence from Tehillim in which it states "v'salachta l'avonee ki rav who" which can be explained as Hashem will forgive our sins because the halacha is like Rav.

This is what the meaning of the pasuk that Hashem makes up great that our neshama can testify at night and that way tomorrow during the day we will succeed, because the halacha is like Rav.

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