Toronto Torah

Yeshiva University Torah MiTzion Beit Midrash Zichron Dov

Parshiyot Vayakhel-Pekudei/Parah

23 Adar, 5775/March 14, 2015

Vol. 6 Num. 26

Sponsored by the families of Irwin, Jim and David Diamond

in memory of their father, Morris Diamond zl

United We Stand

Rabbi David Ely Grundland

United we stand and divided we fall.

When Aesop taught this message at
the conclusion of his The Four Oxen
and The Lion fable, he made a point
that has been a defining feature of
nations, and of Israel. Thankfully, in
contrast to the fable, it is often the
case that when faced with a lion, we
Jews unite. Unfortunately, when there
is no perceived lion we are divided.
As we read news and opinions
regarding the upcoming Israeli
election, we are often saddened by the
deep divisions that permeate all
sectors of Israeli society. However, we
can be simultaneously inspired in that
almost everyone shares the goal of a
flourishing nation albeit, with very
different approaches toward their
attainment. Those differences need not
divide us; as shown by classic sources
as well as great Chassidic insights into
Parshat Vayakhel, our differences can
actually unite us.
As told in our parshah, Moshe
Rabbeinu singles out his greatnephew, Betzalel, to be the chief
artisan of the mishkan. A midrash
(Tanchuma, Vayakhel 3) relates that
the nation complains to Moshe,
accusing him of nepotism in his
appointments. Moshe responds by
declaring that Hashem has appointed
Betzalel (Shemot 35:30; and see
Berachot 55a). One might ask why
Betzalel was chosen, though, given the
potential for challenge. Rabbi Avraham
Ibn Ezra (Shemot 35:32) explains that
while many craftsmen were masters of
their respective trades, each one
contributing to the mishkan in their
own ways, Betzalel was a master of all

trades. It was under Betzalels

leadership that the nation could unite.
Rabbi Mordechai Yosef from Izbitz (Mei
HaShiloach I Vayakhel) adds that when
it came to building the mishkan, no one
could look disparagingly upon another.
Upon each persons completion of their
best work, they were enamoured, not by
their own craftsmanship, but by the
way in which everything came together
into a single structure, as though
completed by a single person. They
recognized that each persons work
contributed to the whole, such that if
any piece whether a joint or the Ark was missing, the Divine presence could
not dwell there.
The concept of each individual having a
specific role is the case not only in
building a physical structure, but also
in the loftiest of spiritual pursuits. The
Talmud (Chagigah 13a) teaches that
some talmudic sages were proficient in
Maaseh Merkavah (Account of the
Divine Chariot) and had no knowledge
of Maaseh
Bereishit (Account of
Creation), and vice-versa.
Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib of Gur (Sfat
Emet, Vayakhel 5637) takes this
complementary unity a step further. He
explains that at our source we are
already united. It was only through the
sin of the Golden Calf that we became
divided, and it was through the building
of the mishkan that we were reunited.
He learns this from a very interesting
juxtaposition in last weeks and this
weeks parshiyot.

the creation of the Golden Calf, the

Torah teaches about the eternal
covenant between Hashem and Israel:
Shabbat. (Shemot 31:16-17) Despite the
fact that we have already learnedabout
Shabbat, the Torah again teaches us
about prohibited labour on Shabbat,
and its correlation to the labour of the
mishkan. (Talmud Bavli Shabbat 70a,
Talmud Yerushalmi Shabbat 7:2). The
Sfat Emet explains that just as we
reunited through the building of the
mishkan, it is through the observance
of Shabbat that we can unite after the
construction process is concluded.
Shabbat is a unique opportunity when
even the most mundane physical
actions become elevated to holiness.
Eating a Shabbat meal, putting on nice
clothes, walking to shul or spending a
little extra time together with friends
and family, our individual actions are
united in building a mishkan through
our observance of Shabbat. We each
observe with our own unique actions,
and Shabbat unites us as a nation,
under Hashem. Together, let us build
Hashem a dwelling!
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Immediately after enumerating all the

vessels of the mishkan, and preceding

OUR BEIT MIDRASH

ROSH BEIT MIDRASH
RABBI MORDECHAI TORCZYNER
AVREICHIM RABBI DAVID ELY GRUNDLAND, RABBI JOSH GUTENBERG, YISROEL
MEIR ROSENZWEIG
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We are grateful to
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Book Review: Festival of Freedom

Festival of Freedom Essays on
Pesach and the Haggadah
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
Ktav 2006
Who is the author?
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik ztl (19031993), or The Rav, as he was
reverently known by his numerous
students, does not need any
i n t r od u c ti on . A p r o ud , w or th y
descendent to generations of great
Torah scholars and a once-in-ageneration Jewish thinker, Rabbi
Soloveitchik headed RIETS, the
rab bini cal sem inary of Yesh iva
University, for almost half of a century,
a period during which RIETS ordained
more than two thousand rabbis. The
memory of his personality, and the
force of his teachings, are still carried
and cherished by many in our
communities, who had the merit to
learn from him first-hand.
Why is this book unique?
While all of Rabbi Soloveitchiks books,
on halachah or aggadah, are wonderful
treasures, his posthumously collected
essays about Pesach, Festival of
Freedom, deserves a special place
among them. Pesach, as the Rav
declares in the essay opening the book,
was a festival that attracted him from a
very young age I used to feel
stimulated, aroused, inspired to

surrender to a stream of inflowing joy

and ecstasy.(pg. 1) He concludes this
personal note, stating, All these
memories are at the root of my
religious weltanschauung (view of life BW) and experience.
The first essay, like the rest of the
book, is dedicated to connecting these
experiences, named by the author as
halachah shebalev halachah of
spiritual perceptions, with the
halachah shebasechel an intellectual,
formal and abstract form of learning
for which the Rav was famous.
Thus, apart from providing an
excellent source of ideas and teachings
about Pesach, this book also affords
us a glimpse into the inner experiences
and thoughts of a spiritual giant;
indeed, to trace the emotional aspects
which lie behind the abstract
structures.
What is the books central theme?
As its name suggests, the books main
theme is Freedom what does it mean,
and how is it attained. The Rav
repeats, again and again, that freedom
is not measured by the things I can do,
but by the things I can do but refrain
from doing. In his words: There is
only one way for man to free himself
from all his restrictions, from all his
fears, from all his phobias. Surrender

613 Mitzvot: #430: Birkat haMazon

After describing the support G-d gave us in the wilderness,
including the manna, Moshe told our ancestors of the bounty
they would find in the Land of Israel. He then instructed
them, You shall eat, and you shall be full, and you shall
bless Hashem, your G-d, for the good land He has given you.
(Devarim 8:10) Rambam (Sefer haMitzvot, Aseh 19) and
Sefer haChinuch (Mitzvah 430) take this as a biblical mitzvah
to bless G-d when one eats a meal involving bread, or a
filling, grain-based meal.
The concept of blessing G-d is theologically challenging; our
normal concept of a blessing is that we pray to G-d to help
the recipient of the blessing, and how could this apply when
offering a blessing to G-d? How are we to understand our
blessings, as well as talmudic passages like the account of
Hashem requesting that Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha offer Him
a blessing (Berachot 6b)?
Sefer haChinuch (430) suggests that our blessing is actually
an act of making ourselves worthy of blessing: It is only a
declaration meant to awaken our souls via the words of our
mouths, [to recognize] that He is the blessed One, combining
all that is good. As a result of this we merit, through this
good deed, to draw His blessings upon ourselves.
Per Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (Horeb 672-673), the
blessing is a means of dedicating ourselves to our missions
as G-ds delegates in this world, whether in the biblical

Rabbi Baruch Weintraub

to G-d frees man all man has to do is
to exert his ability to give up
pleasure. (pg. 51)
Hence, the freedom meal the Seder
is an exercise in strict order. Only
when man displays the unique ability
of withdrawing from positions of
triumph can his food become the
bread of G-d. (pg. 12) Indeed,
according to the Rav, this message is
an essential part of the exodus story.
Fear of slave upheaval haunted all the
tyrants the brutish drive for
vengeance, for gratification of the
satanic in man, was irresistible. Did
anything of that kind happened on the
night of the exodus? Nothing of the
sort. Not one person was hurt, not one
house destroyed. The liberated slaves
had the courage to withdraw, to defy
the natural call of the blood. None of
you shall go out of the door of his
house until the morning. (pg. 36).
Finally, this concept is not only a
teaching of the past or a mission for
the present, but also our hope for a
better future, when the human state
would no longer be equated with the
field or the jungle. It has been
redeemed by human moderation,
teleology, and generosity. (pg. 172)
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Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner

blessing after meals or in other, rabbinically instituted
blessings: Our Sages regarded it as their duty not only to
call us from the turmoil of life to a gathering to G-d but to
approach us in life itself in order to make vivid for us the
thought of G-d in life and to help us towards an active life in
the service of G-d The thoughts of G-d acquired in the
Divine inner worship must be held on to firmly in active life,
so that life be not divided for us into hours of prayer and
hours of activity, standing before G-d in the former but in
the latter not walking before Him. What would the Divine
inward worship be worth if it did not return us to active life
in a holier, stronger, more G-d-filled state, and if it did not
transform our whole life into Divine service?
Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin (Nefesh haChaim 2:2-3) explained
the concept of blessing G-d mystically. He rendered
Baruch as a word associated with growth and
multiplication, so that our blessings are actually prayers
that G-ds presence in this world should grow and spread.
In a fourth vein, Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein contended
that our blessing is actually a means of triggering Divine
gifts for ourselves. He wrote (Aruch haShulchan Orach
Chaim 5:1), It is not that the Blessed One needs our
blessing, G-d forbid; rather, it is like reflected light, causing
Him to send His blessings to us for all affairs depend
upon our actions.
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Biography

Torah and Translation

Rabbi Yoel Sirkis

Bach

Selling Chametz but Keeping it at Home

Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner

Translated by Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner

Rabbi Yoel Sirkis was born in Poland in

about 1561, and he grew up in Lublin.
His family was scholarly, and connected
with leading rabbinic figures; as a youth
he once read the Haftorah on the last
day of Passover before the great Rabbi
Shlomo Luria [Maharshal]. His familys
last name was actually Jaffe, but it was
changed to Sirkis in reference to his
mother, Sarah.
Married twice, Rabbi Sirkis had at least
two sons and three daughters. His sons
became scholars of note, and two of his
sons-in-law went on to become dayyanim
[communal judges]. One of them, Rabbi
David haLevi, wrote the important Turei
Zahav [Taz] commentary to Shulchan
Aruch.
A leading halachic authority, Rabbi
Sirkis is famous for his Bayit Chadash
[Bach] commentary on the classic
halachic work Tur. Rabbi Sirkis also
wrote the Hagahot haBach textual
notes on the Talmud, and hundreds of
published responsa. Rabbi Sirkis served
as Rabbi of several Polish communities,
including Lublin, Brest-Litovsk and
Cracow. His primary love, though, was
his work of teaching pupils, whom he
often supported from his own funds. His
students included the authors of the
great halachic texts Tzemach Tzedek,
Nachlat Zvi and Avodat haGershuni.
Rabbi Sirkis passed away in 1640, in his
native Poland. His son, Shmuel Zvi,
wrote of his fathers dream of travelling
to Israel, but this dream was not
realized. A few years ago, Rabbi Elijah J.
Schochet published a biography of this
Torah giant, Bach: Rabbi Joel Sirkis His Life, Works and Times.
The yahrtzeit of Rabbi Sirkis is the 20 th
of Adar.
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Rabbi Yoel Sirkis, Bach Orach Chaim 448:2

...

It is written in Terumat haDeshen 119,

One should instruct them to give the
chametz to the non-Jew outside the
house, indicating that the chametz
itself must be outside the home. And so
wrote Maharil, that the Jew should not
be as one who is charged with holding
the non-Jews chametz

In this land, where most commerce is in

whisky and one cannot sell it to a nonJew outside the home, and especially for
those who hold a license for selling
liquor, there is room to permit sale to a
non-Jew of all chametz in the room, as
well as the room itself.

( )






...

However, since we rule that a non-Jew

only acquires land with a deed and
presentation of payment (Kiddushin
14b), and it would be burdensome to
write a deed, and because this
[presenting a deed] might also lead the
non-Jew to hold the chametz and not
reverse it since he is holding a deed,
which would involve great loss,
therefore, one must make a condition
with the non-Jew. One should say to
him, I am assigning this room to you in
exchange for the money you are giving
me, even though I have not recorded a
deed for this sale. This declaration will
be effective for this transaction, as per
Choshen Mishpat 194

...


...

Still, one must give the non-Jew the key

as well. Otherwise, since the Jew
intends to re-purchase this chametz
after Pesach, he would just be as one
who has rented out his home Further,
since the Jew holds the key and can
enter the room and remove the chametz,
the non-Jew does not view it as a full
sale

...

Certainly, the Jew may not place his

seal on the room so that the non-Jewish
purchaser will not enter. Were one to do
this, there would be no sale, for his deed
placing his seal on the room would
cancel the I sell to you completely
declaration he makes to the non-Jew.
One should compel and excommunicate them for such conduct...

This Week in Israeli History: 23 Adar, 1959

Night of the Ducks

Rabbi Josh Gutenberg

23 Adar is Shabbat
In the late 1950s, tensions were high on Israels borders
with Syria and Egypt. To test the armys readiness for war,
the IDF organized several drills requiring reserve troops to
report to their units. These exercises were publicized well in
advance, and the reservists were always waiting near a radio
for the announcement to begin mobilizing. However, the
IDFs top staff wanted to simulate an emergency situation to
see how the reserve troops would react without previous
notification of the drill.
At 9 PM on 23 Adar, 5719 (April 1, 1959) Israeli radio
stations announced the call-up of several units, concluding
with code words indicating where they should go. The
country went into hysteria. Many believed that Israel was at
war with Egypt and Syria. International radio stations
spread the news that Israel was preparing to go to war. In
response, the Egyptian and Syrian armies called up their

own troops to prepare for battle. The government was then

required to invest much effort to calm the nation and convince
the international community that they were not going to war.
Several factors contributed to the hysteria. Unlike the
previous drills, mid-level officers were extremely energetic in
their activities. Also, the call-up announcement was made in
nine different languages. Further, it took several tries for the
Prime Minister to contact the armys Chief of Staff, which
delayed the assurances of the Israelis and the international
media that this was only a drill.
Two high ranking army officials, Meir Zorea and Yehoshafat
Arkabi, were forced to resign from their posts after the
incident. The night was named the Night of the Ducks
because duck was a code word used to call up the troops.
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Weekly Highlights: Mar. 14 Mar. 20 / 23 Adar 29 Adar

Time

Speaker

Topic

Location

Special Notes

R Josh Gutenberg

Daf Yomi

BAYT

Rabbis Classroom

10:30 AM

Yisroel Meir Rosenzweig

Meshech Chochmah

Clanton Park

Before minchah

R Mordechai Torczyner

Daf Yomi

BAYT

Rabbis Classroom

After minchah

R Mordechai Torczyner

Gemara Avodah Zarah:

The Temple Institute

BAYT

West Wing Library

8:45 AM

R Josh Gutenberg

Contemporary Halachah:
Kitniyot Questions

BAYT

Third floor

9:15 AM

R Shalom Krell

Kuzari

Zichron Yisroel

with light breakfast

8:30 PM

R David Ely Grundland

Gemara: Mind, Body, Soul

Shaarei Shomayim

R Mordechai Torczyner

Legal Ethics:
To Sue or to Settle?

Shaarei Shomayim

Mon/Tues/Wed
6 AM, 8:20 AM
Mar. 13-14

Sun. Mar. 15

Mon. Mar 16
8:00 PM

CPD-approved
Non-Lawyers Welcome

Tues. Mar 17
1:30 PM

R Mordechai Torczyner Book of Job: End of Round 1 Shaarei Shomayim

Wed. Mar. 18
10:30 AM

R Mordechai Torczyner

Sociology and the Synagogue

Beth Emeth

12:30 PM

R Mordechai Torczyner

Jew vs. Jew

in Secular Court

Miller Bernstein
5000 Yonge St.

R Mordechai Torczyner

The Book of Yehoshua:

Dividing the Land

49 Michael Ct.
Thornhill

R Mordechai Torczyner

Advanced Shemitah

Yeshivat Or Chaim

Week 4: Breakaways

Lunch served
RSVP to
[email protected]

Thu. Mar. 19
1:30 PM

For Women Only

Fri. Mar. 20
10:30 AM

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