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Toronto Torah
Toronto Torah
Vol.3 Num. 19
R Baruch Weintraub
lost the whole while battling for a fraction. This is the charge of Pharaoh's advisers, "Do you not yet know that Egypt is lost?" This hardening of Pharaoh's heart is not nullification of his freedom; G-d only allowed his natural psychological vulnerability to sway him. G-d set up the war with Pharaoh as a matter of principle Pharaoh's lack of legitimate ownership of G-d's Jews and Pharaoh homed in on that to the exclusion of all else. Pharaoh believed that freeing his slaves was not an ethical obligation and could not be compelled. He failed to perceive a greater picture: G-d directs the world; G-d had chosen to remove the Jews from Egypt; Man is created in the image designed by G-d and ought not be enslaved to another. Pharaoh only perceived the details he chose to perceive, and in the end he saw the dry land in the centre but not the water waiting to close upon him. Even if he saw the water, perhaps he told himself, "To the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee." (Moby Dick, Chap. 135) And so G-d 'hardened' the heart of Pharaoh. Hashem could have chosen another way to remove the Jews from Egypt; perhaps a dialogue could have led to peaceful emancipation of the Jews. Instead, Hashem chose the pedagogic path of a battle over principle, and Pharaoh stood to defend his principles, and so Egypt came to know "that I am G-d" (Shemot 14:4), that a worldview that does not include the Will of G-d is only partial, must lead to ethical error, and in the end to the depths of a sea of darkness and hatred. As the people who survived Yam Suf, we should always elevate ourselves when determining our path. We must take into consideration not only fragments of reality, but also the root principle that emerged with us from Yam Suf: "G-d will reign forever." (Sh'mot 15:18) bweintraub@torontotorah.com
Parshah Questions
R Meir Lipschitz
(Answers for the questions are on the back page) What is meant by HaShem's words, "Why do you cry out to Me"? (Shemot Rabbah 21:1-8)
What do the words "And with the breath of Your nostrils the water piled up" describe? (Rashi, Onkelos, Rashbam, Ibn Ezra, Seforno, Malbim and Netziv to Shemot 15:8) Why is it significant that the Jews left Egypt "with a mighty hand"? (Rashi, Rashbam, Ibn Ezra, Seforno, Chizkuni, Ohr HaChaim, Malbim, Netziv, and Shaarei Aharon to Shemot 14:8) For children: What is the connection between the war with Amalek and the Manna? (Rashi Shemot 17:8) meir.lipschitz@gmail.com
R Mordechai Torczyner
At Maariv: A chatzi kaddish precedes the amidah to identify it as a unique mitzvah. Mateh Moshe 388 notes that this also demonstrates that the amidah at Maariv need not be connected to Shema and the preceding passages describing our redemption from Egypt. A chatzi kaddish follows the amidah after Shabbat, to mark the amidah as separate from the readings (V'Yhi Noam, v'Yiten Lecha) which follow it. The whole kaddish, also known as "kaddish shalem", is meant to conclude our formal prayer with its "Titkabel" request that HaShem accept our prayers (Terumat haDeshen 15). Therefore, the chazzan recites kaddish shalem after Uva L'Tzion at the end of Shacharit, and at the end of Minchah and Maariv. When there is Musaf, this kaddish terminating Shacharit appears after Hallel. [When Hallel is recited but there is no Musaf, such as on Chanukah, kaddish shalem is recited in its normal location after Uva L'Tzion, and the chatzi kaddish for the end of the amidah is recited after Hallel.] What is the role of the listener? Rav Yosef Karo (Beit Yosef Orach Chaim 55) noted that we try to respond to at least seven recitations of kaddish each day, to fulfill King David's declaration, "I have praised You seven times each day." Per Rav Moshe Isserles (Orach Chaim 25:13), we should make sure that our tefillin are on when responding to four recitations of kaddish on weekday mornings, although others contend that the text should read "three recitations" (Magen Avraham 25:28, Mishneh Berurah 25:56). These quotas include recitations of the Mourner's Kaddish. torczyner@torontotorah.com
First Flowering
Hillel Horovitz
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hhorovitz@torontotorah.com
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Yair Manas
Rabbi Yosef Babad, author of the Minchat Chinuch, lived in Galicia in the 19th century. He enjoyed close relationships with Chassidic leaders in Galicia, and his second marriage was to the sister of R Chaim Halberstam, the Sanzer Rav. He was expelled from his community to another part of the Ukraine following a dispute with the Maskilim, and he ultimately became the Rav in Tarnopol, where he served for seventeen years until his death in 1874. Rabbi Babad's Minchat Chinuch is a commentary to the Sefer HaChinuch, a 13th century work outlining the 613 mitzvot. The Minchat Chinuch clarifies and explains positions of the Sefer HaChinuch, often asking difficult questions which are not necessarily resolved. Rabbi Babad typically quotes the Rambam and other early authorities, asks whether the law under discussion is biblical or rabbinic, and then discusses how the law applies to men, women, children and members of various halachic categories. Many yeshivot and synagogues [such as Clanton Park, Tuesdays at 8 PMMT] host shiurim studying Minchat Chinuch. In a lecture delivered at Yeshiva University, Rabbi Nota Greenblatt asserted that Rabbi Babad had written an earlier version of the Minchat Chinuch, and this version was burned by Mitnagdim. According to the YIVO Encyclopedia, Rabbi Babad also authored works on the Torah and Shulchan Aruch, but they were stolen from him. One can only imagine how enriched we would be if we possessed these seforim. ymanas@torontotorah.com that should law does not change [based upon our incorrect writing], the Torah must still be written as it was given. Therefore, when a Torah is missing a letter, since the Torah was given to us to be written thus and not the way the word is pronounced [this change will disqualify the Sefer Torah] However, other missing or extra letters do not change the meaning of the word Certainly, the first type of letters [i.e. the letters that would change the meaning of a word] were not forgotten but the missing or extra letters that would not change the meaning or cause harm by their absence or inclusion were not known and these letters, which do not change anything, do not harm this mitzvah and a person fulfills entirely the mitzvah to write a Torah with this act of writing G-d forbid that the Jewish people could not fulfill a biblical mitzvah for many generations.
HaAretz
Bat Ayin
R Ezra Goldschmiedt
Bat Ayin, an expansion of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, was founded in 1989 on land originally purchased by the Jewish Agency in 1927. Only a twenty minute drive south of Jerusalem, Bat Ayin is the home of seven natural springs as well as many other scenic areas. The village is also a historical site an ancient winepress and mivkah were discovered duri ng the construction of Bat Ayin's roads. These finds have been dated to the Second Temple period, clearly establishing the village's Jewish roots in an earlier age. Today's yishuv, spearheaded by the popular mystic Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, was founded by an eclectic mix of newly religious Jews. Emphasizing a holistic and natural way of life, Bat Ayin is primarily an agricultural community - its overall philosophy has been described as "Chavakuk" (in Hebrew )an acronym for Chabad, Breslov, (Rabbi Abraham Isaac) Kook, and (Rabbi Shlomo) Carlebach. The settlement's name, literally translated as the pupil of the eye and found in Tehillim 17:8 as a term for something precious, is an expression found in the Zohar for Shabbat, the Jewish people and the land of Israel, emphasizing their preciousness to G-d. Since its humble beginning of just seven families, Bat Ayin's population has grown to over 150 families and 1,000 people. Bat Ayin is the home of a unique, agriculturally-oriented Talmud Torah, as well as the Bat Ayin men's yeshiva and Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin, schools which cater particularly to baalei teshuvah. Although the community is internally warm and inviting, the area is under constant threat from the nearby Arab village of Khirbet Safa. Terrorist attacks have occurred frequently, taking the lives of a number of residents. Rising tensions between the villages have forced the local residents to be involved in security operations at night to ensure its safety. egoldschmiedt@torontotorah.com
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Parshah Answers
What is meant by HaShems words, "Why do you cry out to Me"? A midrash in Shemot Rabbah offers a n um b e r of e x p l a n a ti o n s . O n e explanation provided is that G-d was telling Moshe to stop crying out in prayer, as the prayers had already been accepted by G-d and it was now time to travel. A second understanding is that G-d was telling Moshe that now was the time for him to act as the servant of G-d, entering the sea, and then G-d would certainly enable his success. What do the words "And with the breath of Your nostrils the water piled up" describe?
R Netanel Javasky
Onkelos says that the water stood by the word of G-d, and "the breath of Your nostrils" refers to G-ds utterance. hardened Pharaohs heart. The fact that the Jewish People were leaving in this mighty manner should have scared Pharaoh and prevented him from chasing the Jewish Nation. This is why G-d had to harden his heart. For children: What is the connection between the war with Amalek and the Manna? Rashi explains that after Bnei Yisrael complained about the Manna, Hashem punished them by demonstrating that he is constantly taking care of them. Rashi says this is similar to a child who is constantly being protected by his father and yet seems oblivious to his fathers existence. The father then distances himself, allowing the child to get hurt, in order that the child recognize that the father was constantly there for him. taneljavasky@gmail.com
Why is it significant that the Jews left Egypt "with a mighty hand"?
Rashi says that the Torah is stressing that the Jews did not leave as a downtrodden slavenation, but as a strong nation. They made a public statement by leaving with their heads held high. On a similar note, Rashbam says that the Torah is noting that at this point Bnei Yisrael were not at all scared of the Egyptians. Chizkuni and Ibn Ezra say that these words tell us that the Jews did not escape from Egypt, but rather they exited with permission from their masters. Netziv says that it was because Bnei Yisrael left very calmly and not in a rushed manner, that Pharaoh was eventually able to catch up to them. Ohr Hachaim focuses on the juxtaposition of this phrase with the first half of the verse, that G-d
Rashi explains that the Torah often uses anthropomorphisms to help us better understand the ways of G-d. Here, too, the Torah describes the great wind as emanating from the nostrils of G-d to teach that it was strong enough to cause the water to stand still. This approach is taken by the Ibn Ezra as well. Rashbam says that the water rose because of a great eastern wind.
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