48 Steps To Torah

The 14th way to acquire Torah is Mishna. As mentioned in the last article, the written Torah is the most worlds famous article. It was given to the Jews 3,300 years ago. What people are unaware of is the oral Torah or the fact that it was given to the Jewish people before the written Torah. It was given to Moshe at Har Sinai when Hashem went through all the 613 Mitzvos in detail and explained how to fulfil them to ones best abilities. It was not until the Jews left the Midbar and entered Eretz Yisroel 40 years later, that Moshe distributed the 5 Books of the Torah to the Jewish people.

One must remember each and every word off by heart, as if he does not have what is essentially every small detail of the manual to life in his head there could be fatal consequences.

THE HASMONEAN HIGH SCHOOL WEEKLY SEDRA SHEET

12th January 2013

This Shabbos, Daily Nach will be up to Melachim Alef Perek 18 . Email dailynach@gmail.com to join or visit www.dailynach.com for more information.
Dvar Torah

Issue No: Shabbos In: Shabbos Out:

419 3:59 5:09

Many of us have an encyclopaedia. When was the last time you used it? Every so often you will happen to want to find out something you didnt know; otherwise it just sits on the shelf. The Torah is not a reference work made to sit on a shelf. It is meant to be lived and internalized. In the Torah, the basics are laid out in writing, but the remainder must be learned orally. The give-and-take The word Mishna comes from the root exchange, from teacher to student, encourlshanen which means to go over. This ages us to discuss and clarify, to know it teaches us the important lesson that as with back to front. any piece of wisdom, the oral Torah must be For thousands of years, the oral instructions revised again and again until one knows it by were passed from teacher to student. The heart. This can be explained through a parastudent would take in the information, then ble of an astronaut. Before take-off, an asrepeat it and review until he knew it perfecttronaut will go through a checklist to make ly by heart. Due to the nature of oral transsure the rocket takes off successfully. He will mission, constant review is the best way to revise this list again and again until he can safeguard its integrity. Thousands of people say it in his sleep because he knows that if learning the same information guarantees he forgets even one small point on that that mistakes do not enter the transmission. checklist there could be fatal consequences. And a mistake is the last thing one would Such is the importance of the oral Torah. want in the manual to life.
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And I appeared to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaa- through harsh punishment, plagues, and superkov with my name "Kel Shakai"; But with my natural destruction. name Y-H-V-H, I wasn't known to them. (6:3) We see, then, that Hashem is making his reasonThis verse brings up an interesting question. If ing for the coming destruction known to Moshe we interpret this verse in its most literal sense, Rabbeinu. If we look a bit later on in the parsha that Hashem didn't make Himself known to the (7:5) "And Egypt shall know that I am Hashem Avot with his Y-H-V-H name, we would find a when I stretch my hand out over Egypt and take contradiction with much of Sefer Bereshit, the Jews out of Egypt," we see that here, similar wherein the Avot regularly converse with Ha- to the other instances of the word , shem with this name. Hashem is revealing his presence through destruction and plagues in order to establish His Let us return to examine the beginning of the presence and His authority to a nation that othverse for a moment. The verse opens with Haerwise wouldn't have accepted Him. shem telling Moshe about the Avot and their relationship to this specific name "Kel Shakai". If In the times of the Avot, these types of nissim we take a look in Sefer Bereishit, the name "Kel g'luim, revealed miracles, were not necessary. Shakai" precedes the command Go before me Now, however, when the B'nai Yisrael are leaving and be perfect (Bereshit 17:1). This command to Egypt, they need these signs and wonders to Avraham, one of many given to the Avot, was establish their faith. This showing of G-d's power not met with queries of "Who are you? Send will effect a change in the behaviour of the Egypsomeone else. Why should we do this?" Rather, tians and the Jews so that, not only will they the Avot did their duty as was commanded to know that Hashem exists, they will realise that them. they must follow Him obediently, as did the Avot. With this in mind, let's revisit the end of the pasuk. Hashem is saying "With Avraham, We don't have the privilege of seeing Hashem's Yitzchak, and Yaakov, I did not NEED to make revealed Hand in our age. Let us strengthen our myself known to them by this name Y-H-V-H". resolve then, in this time of nissim nistarim, hidBut we are still left with the question: Why this den miracles, and take example from the Avot. word choice? Why use the word " ?"Taking Shabbat Shalom. a look in Sefer Yechezkel (20:9, 35:11, 38:33) at the only other times that this word is used in Tanach, we find that it is associated with Hashem making His name and His Presence known

Yartzheit Story

Dvar Torah

This Wednesday, 5th Shvat, will be the 108th Yartzheit The General drew his pistol. Jew, in this army you are of The Sfas Emes, the 2nd Gerrer Rebbe. a soldier of the Tsar, and let me tell you this: the Tsar does not want you going hungry. Hence, you are to eat During the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05, the Rusall the food you possibly can, irrespective of whether it sian army drafted anyone of serviceable age to fight. is Kosher or not. This draft would almost certainly spell spiritual death to any Jew conscripted. As a result, many of these The Jew replied I am sorry. I am a servant of G-d, not unfortunate Jews came to the Sfas Emes, who was of the Tsar. I will not eat non-Kosher food. nearing the end of his life, for a bracha to get them out The General, slowly, returned his pistol to his pocket. of the army. Lets try again Jew. Do you keep the Sabbath? One of these such Jews, a young unmarried man, came Yes. to the Sfas Emes, and the Rebbe, rather than giving him a bracha, gave him the following cryptic answer: The pistol came back out of the pocket. Youre mad, Learn how to before a bris milah (circumcision). The Jew. You cannot keep the Sabbath in this army, the Rebbe handed him a booklet with instructions on ex- Tsars army! The Tsar requires you to work each and actly how to perform a bris. The young man burst into every day. You cannot just take one day off every tears. Rebbe, I want a bracha, not a guide on how to week! perform a bris! However, his tears were of no avail, The Jew knew what he had to answer, even if it would and the Rebbe said nothing else. come at the cost of his life. I apologise, but I have to So, this Jew was duly drafted into the army, where he keep the Sabbath. My G-d commanded me to keep it. I was inducted into an army unit. After a few days of am a servant of Him, not the Tsar. training, a senior General came to visit. The officer of To the Jews amazement, the General relaxed, and the unit said to the General: I have to admit, most of smiled. Listen carefully to me. I am a Jew. Nobody the soldiers here are messy- their uniforms are a disknows it, but this is the absolute truth. My wife recentgrace, and their equipment is filthy. However, there is ly gave birth to a baby boy, and I need someone to one soldier here, a Jew, whose attire is impeccable. circumcise him. If you can perform a circumcision, I will secure your release from the army. I would like to meet this Jew, replied the General. The Jew was brought in front of the General. Tell me, However, this Jew was not able to perform a bris. Then he remembered the booklet he received from the Sfas Jew, is it true that you only eat Kosher food? Emes... Yes, replied the Jew.

This weeks parsha is a famous one, and with good reason; it contains the first seven plagues in a set of ten in which the mighty Egyptian empire is brought to its knees in an attempt to retain the Jewish people as slaves. However, I would like to focus on something that I believe, although it does not get as big a mention as the plagues, is just as important, and tends to get overlooked: Aharon. Aharon has been a very quiet figure in the Torah so far, and the first time he really comes into the spotlight is when Hashem says to Moshe that Aharon will be his spokesman (vaharon achicha yihyeh neviyecha). Rashi notes that Onkelus translates this word neviyecha (commonly translated as spokesman) as "meturgemonhoch (translator). A translator is a medium. The job of the translator is to put the ideas and messages from meaningless sounds which we cannot comprehend into something that makes sense to us. Hashem is telling Moshe that Aharons role in bringing the redemption for the Jewish people is just as important as his. He is the one who can form the ideas that Hashem is telling him into a message that Pharaoh can understand. He is connected to both Pharaohs world and the Heavenly one. This theme of Aharons power of connection is corroborated when it is Aharons stick that is turned into the snake, demonstrating Hashems power, which in truth is all around us, and presenting it to Pharaoh in a physical and tangible way. This is translating it into something Pharaoh can understand. And this is where Aharons main character trait is first seen. Aharon is someone responsible for linking things together. As I have explained, Aharon is doing exactly this here, link-

ing Hashem (and Moshe) to Pharaoh and the whole of Egypt. However, it does not stop there. Aharon is best known for resolving arguments between people. Once again we see that Aharon is someone who links things together, in this case, the two things being people; bringing them together despite their differences. When two people are arguing, they are in effect speaking two different languages; anger and rage replace understanding and reason. Aharon is the one who links them together, translating each partys meaning to the other, and resolving the argument. The kabbalistic sefirah (divine interaction with the world) which Aharon personifies is hod or empathy. The difference between empathy and sympathy is that when one empathises with another person, it is because they can fully relate to them as they have been in the same situation before. Aharon can link to people using his empathetic abilities as opposed to just being able to sympathise, hence we see how his role as interpreter is heightened. He fully understands each side of a conflict as he can relate to them both, and translate an idea from one side to the other. In conclusion, despite his lack of press attention, Aharon has a vital role to play. He is the man that brings the ideas from above down to earth, and translates the heavenly into the physical, and ensures that the geulah can happen. Good Shabbos

Gematria:
And the staff that was turned into a snake you shall take into your hand. (7:15) Etched on Moshes staff were the first initials of the Ten Plagues that Moshe would bring upon Mitzrayim. And, indeed, Moshe used the staff to directly bring many of the plagues. At the Bris Bein HaBesarim, after informing Avraham that his children would be enslaved, Hashem told him: , but also the nation which they will serve, I shall judge (Bereishis 15:14) The numerical value of ,judge, is 54, which equals the numerical value of , staff, which was used to mete out the promised punishment.

Riddle:
A group of people found a seemingly kosher Sefer Torah. They wished to know whether it was written by a certified scribe. The Noda BYehuda told them "Minhag Yisrael Halacha Hi" (a custom of the Jewish people is law). What did he mean?
Last editions riddle:

Which two people in Parshas Vayigash share the same name?

There are two people in Vayigash called Chetzron. One was the son of Reuven, and the other was the grandson of Yehuda.