Why do we count the Omer: "Today is 12 days of the Omer" and not "Today is the 12th day of the Omer?"
The Bnei Yissachar (as well as R' Avraham Azulai in Ma'aseh Hoshev) explains that each day of the Omer a new level of HaShem's light is revealed, in addition to the existing levels revealed on earlier days. So with each additional day of the Omer there is an additional day of light shining upon us.
In other words, on the 12th day of the Omer, 12 days worth of light are being revealed, hence "Today is 12 days of the Omer."
Showing posts with label bnei yisaschar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bnei yisaschar. Show all posts
11.4.10
14.10.09
fathers and kings
The Bnei Yissachar explains why Teshuvah only works for Jews: We know that according to halachah, a King can't override his honor, whereas a father can. Jews have an exclusive father-son relationship with God, so He puts aside His honor and forgives their trespasses.
20.4.09
dinov or breslov
At lunch today, some co-workers asked me to say a few words. I told them I thought perhaps I could present them with a conundrum in Hassidut. They aren't normally involved in Hassidut, but they welcomed the topic.
I explained Rebbe Nachman of Breslov's statement that all attempts towards intellectualism were detrimental, even halachic stringency. Rebbe Nachman himself never held any chumroth, stringencies, in halachic matters.
Then I went on to explain the position of the Bnei Yissachar, Reb Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov, who explained that while proper observance of the mitzwah illuminates one with the internal (pnimi) light of the mitzwah, only the stringencies kept out of a desire to serve HaShem beyond what is required draw down the encompassing (makif) light of the mitzwah.
Does Rebbe Nachman believe that we shouldn't draw down the encompassing light? Could it be that they disagree?
I suggested a possible solution to the dilemma:
We know that with negative commandments, the only way to perform them is to be presented with an opportunity to transgress them, and to withhold oneself. Perhaps, as I've tried to say in the past, this applies also to positive mitzwoth when not in their appointed time--through not performing them at the wrong time we are upholding the commandment. Finally, I concluded, perhaps Rebbe Nachman is saying that through performing the mitzwah exactly as proscribed and, out of great love for HaShem, not adding even the smallest stringency, out of a desire to be utterly simple with HaShem, perhaps this too draws down the encompassing, makif, light of the mitzwah.
I explained Rebbe Nachman of Breslov's statement that all attempts towards intellectualism were detrimental, even halachic stringency. Rebbe Nachman himself never held any chumroth, stringencies, in halachic matters.
Then I went on to explain the position of the Bnei Yissachar, Reb Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov, who explained that while proper observance of the mitzwah illuminates one with the internal (pnimi) light of the mitzwah, only the stringencies kept out of a desire to serve HaShem beyond what is required draw down the encompassing (makif) light of the mitzwah.
Does Rebbe Nachman believe that we shouldn't draw down the encompassing light? Could it be that they disagree?
I suggested a possible solution to the dilemma:
We know that with negative commandments, the only way to perform them is to be presented with an opportunity to transgress them, and to withhold oneself. Perhaps, as I've tried to say in the past, this applies also to positive mitzwoth when not in their appointed time--through not performing them at the wrong time we are upholding the commandment. Finally, I concluded, perhaps Rebbe Nachman is saying that through performing the mitzwah exactly as proscribed and, out of great love for HaShem, not adding even the smallest stringency, out of a desire to be utterly simple with HaShem, perhaps this too draws down the encompassing, makif, light of the mitzwah.
21.12.08
into the darkness
Most people have a natural fear of darkness.
To learn a little bit more about darkness and light, we can look at the daily cycle. As the sun passes noon and begins to fall, we already know that night is imminent, it's coming no matter what. When night falls it gets darker and darker until in the depths of the darkness, midnight, we know even if we cannot see it that the night has already begun its approach to morning. At the very moment of midnight, there is a Jewish custom to awaken and mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple. The end of the text which is read at Tikkun Hatzot, as the custom is called, takes heart at the promised return of the Temple in the end of days.
This grows to encompass any and all unknowns, that's what darkness inherently is.
Hannukah is about illuminating the darkness. Yavan, the Greek empire, was called "darkness" by Chazal. Their persecution was an attempt to extinguish the light of Torah in the world and replace it with their own empty or dark culture.
But, Matityahu and his children plunged into the darkness clinging to the light of Torah, and as we are taught in Hassidut, a small amount of light illuminates a far greater darkness.
The novelty of this idea, the idea of Hannukah where rather than fearing the darkness we confront it head on, even seek it out, was adopted as the banner of Hassidut. This is why Hassidim (especially Chabad) refer to this time of year as the Rosh HaShanah of Hassidut. The Chabad Hassidim celebrated with a great feast the same day their Rebbe was taken into Russian custody. What did they celebrate? His eventual release, his certain conquest over the darkness. On the 19th of Kislev they celebrated an even greater celebration when the Rebbe was released.
So too, in Hassidut, we take great joy in the approach of Hannukah, even in the depth of the darkness that always comes before it. But this joy cannot even be compared to the celebration of the arrival of Hannukah.
To learn a little bit more about darkness and light, we can look at the daily cycle. As the sun passes noon and begins to fall, we already know that night is imminent, it's coming no matter what. When night falls it gets darker and darker until in the depths of the darkness, midnight, we know even if we cannot see it that the night has already begun its approach to morning. At the very moment of midnight, there is a Jewish custom to awaken and mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple. The end of the text which is read at Tikkun Hatzot, as the custom is called, takes heart at the promised return of the Temple in the end of days.
Hannukah, as we mentioned in the past, (and as discussed in the Bnei Yissachar) represents the same time of Tikkun Hatzot in the yearly cycle. At the darkest point of the year, as the year begins to head in the inevitable direction of summer, yet the light of summer is still invisible, at that very time, we light the Hannukah candles in comemoration both of the desecration of the Holy Temple, and our triumph over the forces of darkness which led to the Holy Temple's re-dedication.
Today is the day before Hannukah, where the world is at its darkest. Today we need to rejoice with great and redoubled faith, for just as we know with absolute certainty that tonight the illumination of Hannukah will shine out on the world, so too, we know that HaShem will redeem His people from the darkness of this extended exile.
Hassidut and Hannukah unite together to teach us that in our day and age, a time that parallels the second to last plague of the 10 plagues that befell Egypt, that of Darkness, we need to head feerlessly into the belly of the darkness and therein draw down the light of Torah, illuminating the whole world with utter faith.
[It is an interesting aside to note that after the plague of darkness, the Jews approached their Egyptian neighbors to borrow vessels with which to serve HaShem in the desert. The Torah says that the Jews found favor (חן) in the eyes of the Egyptians, the very same letters that are at the root of the word חנוכה - Hannukah.]
13.4.08
the completion of shabbos
The Bnei Yissachar (Nisan:3) humbly offers a chidush regarding why Shabbath HaGadol, the Shabbath before Pesah, ("The Great Shabbat") bears its name.
Since the time of our forefathers, they were practicing the Torah in all its nuances, but there was one area of halachah that remained undecided. They didn't know whether their practicing of the 613 mitzwoth exempted them from the 9 mitzwoth of the children of Noah. You might say that the 613 mitzwoth contain the 9 mitzwoth, true, but there are still very practical differences.
For example, he goes on to explain, once an animal has been slaughtered according to Jewish ritual law, the animal is now permissible for Jews to eat even if it is still kicking, whereas, since there is no concept of a proper way to slaughter animals for Bnei Noah, they must wait until the animal is dead, lest they transgress the prohibition of eating the limb of a living animal. (Whereas for Jews, the prohibition is only relevant before slaughter but not afterwards. Please note however that this is all a very technical example, but without the necesary information to derive practical halachah.) This safek, the doubt as to how to classify the children of Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov before Sinai, was actually at the root of the dispute between Yosef and his brothers. He told his father (Yaakov Avinu) that his brothers were transgressing the law of Bnei Noah by not waiting until the animal had died, whereas the brothers believed that since they kept all 613 mitzwoth of the Torah that they were exempt from the 9 mitzwoth of Bnei Noah.
This uncertainty created a major problem for our forefathers because it is clearly prohibited for a Bnei Noah to observe the Shabbath. Yet, if they wanted to properly keep the Torah, Shabbath observance is a major tenet of the 613 mitzwoth. What did they do as a result? They would observe the Shabbath flawlessly, except for a single transgression introduced in order to take into account this confounding uncertainty.
The Bnei Yissachar goes on to explain that the Rabbis all agree that according to the Torah, for a Bnei Noah there is only one valid way to purchase something. There is a disagreement as to what that one way is, but everyone agrees that there is only one way, it is either through meshicha pulling something into your possession, or through kesef, paying money for something. Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam disagree as to which way it is, but everyone agrees that one opinion is right and one wrong.
When HaShem commanded Bnei Yisrael to take the Pesah lamb, He tells Mosheh to tell them, "Pull and Take for you." The word used to Take here is a word that carries the connotation of purchasing with money. From the fact that HaShem, whose knowledge is without limit, commanded them to purchase the Pesah lamb both through pulling it into their possession, AND through paying money for it, Bnei Yisrael finally understood that they were no longer considered Bnei Noah. How so? Well, everyone agrees that Bnei Noah have only one way to purchase, meaning a second way would be irrelevant, and lest you say that they performed both kinds of purchasing just to be sure, there was no need 'to be sure' because HaShem doesn't have any 'doubt' about which kind of purchase is a valid purchase. (The Bnei Yissachar goes on to illustrate this chidush a little further, but this post is already complex enough.)
[To anyone who was brave enough to follow this far and hasn't gotten confused, I just wanted to reflect on this idea:] Stop and think about this. Their whole lives, for as many as five or six generations they had been guarding and keeping the Shabbath in every detail, except at one point each and every Shabbath, because of one uncertainty, they had to break the Shabbath somehow. No matter how small the transgression, it was an acknowledgement that they couldn't keep the Shabbath in its entirety. For more than four hundred years they ALMOST kept Shabbath. (that's more than 20,000 Shabbaths!)Can you imagine what it was like on Shabbath HaGadol, THE GREAT SHABBATH, that Bnei Yisrael kept Shabbath for the first time? Can you imagine the rejoicing and the singing?.. Can you imagine Seudah Shlishit, the third and final meal when they approached the end of Shabbath and they could hardly believe that this was it, this was their first Shabbath ever.
Shabbath is tantamount to the Beit HaMikdash. What Shabbath is to time, the Beit HaMikdash is to space. The Torah speaks about the completion of the Mishkan and the completion of the Beit HaMikdash, but for me this is the first time I ever heard about the completion of Shabbath. And we know, that while we don't have the Mishkan nor the Beit HaMikdash, we still have Shabbath. Shabbath and the Jewish people have celebrated thousands of years together. Wherever there is a Jew, that's where Shabbath will be. Shabbath and the Jewish people are inseparable. We can't begin to imagine the rejoicing of that first union.
That's why it's called The Great Shabbath.
May we all merit to experience A Great Shabbath this week, and may it uplift us into Pesah like we never experienced it before. (This year Shabbath HaGadol runs right into the first night of Pesah, when one ends the other begins.)
Since the time of our forefathers, they were practicing the Torah in all its nuances, but there was one area of halachah that remained undecided. They didn't know whether their practicing of the 613 mitzwoth exempted them from the 9 mitzwoth of the children of Noah. You might say that the 613 mitzwoth contain the 9 mitzwoth, true, but there are still very practical differences.
For example, he goes on to explain, once an animal has been slaughtered according to Jewish ritual law, the animal is now permissible for Jews to eat even if it is still kicking, whereas, since there is no concept of a proper way to slaughter animals for Bnei Noah, they must wait until the animal is dead, lest they transgress the prohibition of eating the limb of a living animal. (Whereas for Jews, the prohibition is only relevant before slaughter but not afterwards. Please note however that this is all a very technical example, but without the necesary information to derive practical halachah.) This safek, the doubt as to how to classify the children of Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov before Sinai, was actually at the root of the dispute between Yosef and his brothers. He told his father (Yaakov Avinu) that his brothers were transgressing the law of Bnei Noah by not waiting until the animal had died, whereas the brothers believed that since they kept all 613 mitzwoth of the Torah that they were exempt from the 9 mitzwoth of Bnei Noah.
This uncertainty created a major problem for our forefathers because it is clearly prohibited for a Bnei Noah to observe the Shabbath. Yet, if they wanted to properly keep the Torah, Shabbath observance is a major tenet of the 613 mitzwoth. What did they do as a result? They would observe the Shabbath flawlessly, except for a single transgression introduced in order to take into account this confounding uncertainty.
The Bnei Yissachar goes on to explain that the Rabbis all agree that according to the Torah, for a Bnei Noah there is only one valid way to purchase something. There is a disagreement as to what that one way is, but everyone agrees that there is only one way, it is either through meshicha pulling something into your possession, or through kesef, paying money for something. Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam disagree as to which way it is, but everyone agrees that one opinion is right and one wrong.
When HaShem commanded Bnei Yisrael to take the Pesah lamb, He tells Mosheh to tell them, "Pull and Take for you." The word used to Take here is a word that carries the connotation of purchasing with money. From the fact that HaShem, whose knowledge is without limit, commanded them to purchase the Pesah lamb both through pulling it into their possession, AND through paying money for it, Bnei Yisrael finally understood that they were no longer considered Bnei Noah. How so? Well, everyone agrees that Bnei Noah have only one way to purchase, meaning a second way would be irrelevant, and lest you say that they performed both kinds of purchasing just to be sure, there was no need 'to be sure' because HaShem doesn't have any 'doubt' about which kind of purchase is a valid purchase. (The Bnei Yissachar goes on to illustrate this chidush a little further, but this post is already complex enough.)
[To anyone who was brave enough to follow this far and hasn't gotten confused, I just wanted to reflect on this idea:] Stop and think about this. Their whole lives, for as many as five or six generations they had been guarding and keeping the Shabbath in every detail, except at one point each and every Shabbath, because of one uncertainty, they had to break the Shabbath somehow. No matter how small the transgression, it was an acknowledgement that they couldn't keep the Shabbath in its entirety. For more than four hundred years they ALMOST kept Shabbath. (that's more than 20,000 Shabbaths!)Can you imagine what it was like on Shabbath HaGadol, THE GREAT SHABBATH, that Bnei Yisrael kept Shabbath for the first time? Can you imagine the rejoicing and the singing?.. Can you imagine Seudah Shlishit, the third and final meal when they approached the end of Shabbath and they could hardly believe that this was it, this was their first Shabbath ever.
Shabbath is tantamount to the Beit HaMikdash. What Shabbath is to time, the Beit HaMikdash is to space. The Torah speaks about the completion of the Mishkan and the completion of the Beit HaMikdash, but for me this is the first time I ever heard about the completion of Shabbath. And we know, that while we don't have the Mishkan nor the Beit HaMikdash, we still have Shabbath. Shabbath and the Jewish people have celebrated thousands of years together. Wherever there is a Jew, that's where Shabbath will be. Shabbath and the Jewish people are inseparable. We can't begin to imagine the rejoicing of that first union.
That's why it's called The Great Shabbath.
May we all merit to experience A Great Shabbath this week, and may it uplift us into Pesah like we never experienced it before. (This year Shabbath HaGadol runs right into the first night of Pesah, when one ends the other begins.)
8.1.08
the roots of change
I was overjoyed this morning at this new understanding, so bear with me and perhaps you will enjoy it too.
According to the Bnei Yisaschar (Reb Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov) the Torah of Din, which was also the Torah of Beit Shammai, requires building step by step from humble origins to great accomplishments. The Torah of Hesed, which was also the Torah of Beit Hillel, on the other hand can be attained and perceived in a single moment. With this the Bnei Yisaschar explains the difference of opinion regarding the Tree New Year. Both agree that the fullness of the Tree New Year is reached on the 15 of Shvat, but Beit Shammai believes we have to work to get there hence we celebrate it on the 1st of Shvat, while Beit Hillel believes we can receive the fullness all at once on the 15th, so we celebrate then. (See more detail in this earlier post)
Today, Rosh Hodesh Shvat, is the Tree New Year according to Shammai, and I wanted to celebrate it with extra joy so that I could satisfy both opinions. (even though l'halachah we hold like Beit Hillel in this case) I was upset however that for a number of reasons I didn't have the time I wanted to really focus on Rosh Hodesh and the Tree New Year. I was upset until HaShem reminded me of Beit Shammai's opinion, which is that we can't just jump into something, but rather must build towards it. With this knowledge I was able to greatly enjoy the limited celebration that was the oppurtunity available to me, knowing full well that I would build from this starting point until a real crescendo on Tu b'Shvat, the 15th.
From this I was able to understand what a special time Rosh Hodesh Shvat is as well as all the days from now until Tu b'Shvat. They are especially me'sugal, (pertinent) to accomplishing great things through slow and steady growth through devotion.
Now is the time of year when we are encouraged to build gradually, to take on small advances and not big ones, to make minor and lasting changes such that fourteen days from now we will be thoroughly changed and (seemingly) effortlessly new.
This is mirrored in the nature of the awakening of the trees from winter, they don't appear to change at all on the outside, but today the sap begins to flow, and before we know it, 14 days from now there will be new buds, promises of new life, new growth, of another spring.
According to the Bnei Yisaschar (Reb Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov) the Torah of Din, which was also the Torah of Beit Shammai, requires building step by step from humble origins to great accomplishments. The Torah of Hesed, which was also the Torah of Beit Hillel, on the other hand can be attained and perceived in a single moment. With this the Bnei Yisaschar explains the difference of opinion regarding the Tree New Year. Both agree that the fullness of the Tree New Year is reached on the 15 of Shvat, but Beit Shammai believes we have to work to get there hence we celebrate it on the 1st of Shvat, while Beit Hillel believes we can receive the fullness all at once on the 15th, so we celebrate then. (See more detail in this earlier post)
Today, Rosh Hodesh Shvat, is the Tree New Year according to Shammai, and I wanted to celebrate it with extra joy so that I could satisfy both opinions. (even though l'halachah we hold like Beit Hillel in this case) I was upset however that for a number of reasons I didn't have the time I wanted to really focus on Rosh Hodesh and the Tree New Year. I was upset until HaShem reminded me of Beit Shammai's opinion, which is that we can't just jump into something, but rather must build towards it. With this knowledge I was able to greatly enjoy the limited celebration that was the oppurtunity available to me, knowing full well that I would build from this starting point until a real crescendo on Tu b'Shvat, the 15th.
From this I was able to understand what a special time Rosh Hodesh Shvat is as well as all the days from now until Tu b'Shvat. They are especially me'sugal, (pertinent) to accomplishing great things through slow and steady growth through devotion.
Now is the time of year when we are encouraged to build gradually, to take on small advances and not big ones, to make minor and lasting changes such that fourteen days from now we will be thoroughly changed and (seemingly) effortlessly new.
This is mirrored in the nature of the awakening of the trees from winter, they don't appear to change at all on the outside, but today the sap begins to flow, and before we know it, 14 days from now there will be new buds, promises of new life, new growth, of another spring.
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