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Pirkei Avos

A lesson in unity - part 1


,
, , .; Rabbon Gamliel used to say: Accept a teacher upon yourself; and remove yourself from uncertainty; and do not give excessive tithes by estimating. The opening phrase of this Mishna in which the author tells us accept a teacher upon yourself and as a result of this remove yourself from doubt, seems at a casual glance to be a very important life lesson; one should have great scholars, or even scholars to whom one can ask important Halachic and personal questions and therefore live a life of Jewish observance unhindered by his own lack of Halachic knowledge. However, if one knows the story behind the authors eventful history, we can arrive at a far more substantial conclusion as to the intention of this Mishna. At the time of his authorship of this Mishna, Rabban Gamliel was the Nasi, the lead rabbinical figure of the city of Yavneh. After the Second Temple was destroyed, Yavneh became the hub of Jewish life and it is there that the majority of Mishnaic sages settled and through their living there, it became the holy city of Yavneh. The Av Bet Din of Yavneh was R Yehoshua who had been there before Rabban Gamliel arrived. All seems well thus far; but we know the phrase two Jews, three opinions. Hashana (2:8) is where two witnesses returned to testify that it was the new month of Tishrei, making Yom Kippur ten days after this. R Yehoshua ruled that these were false witnesses. Rabban Gamliel on the other hand, ruled that these were indeed reliable witnesses and that Yom Kippur was 10 days following their testimonial. R Gamliel then commanded R Yehoshua to come to him on the day that R Yehoshua held was Yom Kippur, with his staff and his money bag. R Gamliel is commanding R Yehoshua to violate his Yom Kippur! Yet, after speaking to his great student R Akiva, R Yehoshua decides that for the sake of the community, which was in dire need of lessons of unity following the destruction of the second temple caused by the disunity of the Jewish people, that he should go to R Gamliel and humble himself for the sake of the community. The story ends with R Gamliel falling on his face in front of R Yehoshua, kissing him and saying Come in peace my teacher and my disciple-my teacher of wisdom and my disciple who accepted my decision.

The Hasmonean High School Weekly Sedra Sheet


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17th March 2012
Dvar Torah

Living Torah
Issue No: Shabbos In: Shabbos Out:

398 17:52 18:59

Priorities for our lives in the Mishkan


The Posuk says in Pekudei: Menorah is on the left. Why is this so?

The lesson R Gamliel is teaching us and the reason he wrote this Mishna is that for the sake of the unity of the Jewish people, one must search for an authoritative figure and remove himself from any doubt in Jewish law. R Gamliel always strove to remove division and disunity from the community and I feel that it is a lesson which our generation, a generation inflicted with pointless and needless division can learn a great deal from. In Part 2 next week, we will discuss to what lengths a leader should go to force this unity and There are three cases mentioned in the Mishna when he must learn not to force his people and which describe incidents where R Gamliel and R allow them to merge together themselves. Yehoshua have disagreed and R Gamliel has exercised his authority commanding R Yehoshua to Shabbat Shalom. agree with him. One instance mentioned in Rosh
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The Beis Halevi answers: When entering the Beis Hamikdosh, above all, a person And he put the Menorah in the tent of has to know that any actions of his day-tomeeting towards the south side of the day life all have to be undertaken Leshem Shomayim. If a person puts learning Torah Mishkon. and Ruchniyes to the left (the least imWe learn that the Menorah hints to wis- portant side) he can still be satisfactory in dom (Ruchniyes). As it says, The wisdom his deeds because of the principle of of a person will light up his face. This is - a persons Torah why the Menorah was on the right side of and Mitzvos will have an outcome of being the Mishkon. The right side is always pre- Leshem Shomayim. However, if one does sented as the sign of wisdom and the most not have the correct Kavonos with Geimportant side. The Shulchan however, shamiyes and mundane matters, one will represented the food and material needs not be able to rectify it and transform it (Gashmiyes) of a person and therefore into something holy. Accordingly, ones was on the left hand side, of lesser im- work of Olam Hazeh will be for the wrong portance. reasons and one will remain striving for The Beis Halevi asks an important ques- Geshamius simply for the sake of Gashtion. When a person entered the Beis mius. Hamikdosh, the Menorah was on the left and the Shulchan was on the right since a person came in at the eastern side, to the north (the right) was the Shulchan and as the Posuk reveals the Menorah was on the south side (the left). Although the Menorah was situated on the right and the Shulchan on the left, as far as a person is concerned when coming in to the Beis Hamikdosh the Shulchan is on the right and the For that reason, when entering the Beis Hamikdosh we try to stress that the Shulchan (Gashmius) has to be Leshem Shomayim on the right as it is far more important to affect the Gashmius as part of serving Hashem. The Ruchnius will follow suit and become Leshem Shomayim by itself. Gut Shabbos.

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Story

Dvar Torah

Unbound generosity
Every man and woman who had the generosity of heart to contribute to all the work that God had commanded to be done through Moshe, the Children of Israel brought their donations to God" - Shemos 35:29 Anyone who has learnt Gemara in depth will be familiar with the Maharsha. When the Maharsha, R' Shmuel Eidels, served as the Rabbi in the Polish city of Ostrog, he established a Yeshiva there. Due to the popularity of the Yeshiva and the high levels of learning it entailed, students flocked to Ostrog from far and wide in order to be a part of the Maharsha's Yeshiva. This meant that there was not enough room for everyone as the number of students quickly outgrew the building's capacity. The heads of the community decided it was to time to fundraise in order to be able to build a larger building and accommodate all the students. Shortly after announcing the fundraising campaign, a humble and righteous man came to the man in charge of the building campaign and asked to be able to donate the cornerstone for the new Yeshiva, and handed over a generous sum of 500 roubles. There was one condition that not a living soul should come to know of his donation. The Maharsha was very impressed with the donation and especially at the manner in which it was given. The Maharsha wanted to known what prompted the man to give such a large donation, and thus asked the man what his motivation was. Answered the man, "I am not a rich man by any means. But I have no children to take my place. Therefore I thought it would be appropriate to give over most of what I presently have in order to build the Yeshiva and enable many young men to learn Torah. The Maharsha listened to the man and then quoted the Gemara in Moed Katan which tells us that during the dedication of the Mishkan, every Jewish housewife conceived and gave birth to a son. Therefore the Maharsha gave the man his blessing that his wife should also be blessed and give birth to a son, who will be able to study in the Yeshiva that his father donated the cornerstone for. The blessing of the Maharsha was fulfilled and the man's wife gave birth to a baby boy. Several years passed and the man wanted his son to learn in the Yeshiva. However, the child was too young, so the Yeshiva's administrators automatically denied the boy a place in the Yeshiva.

The hidden prohibition


In Parshas Vayakel, we learn that it is prohibited to make a fire on Shabbos. Rabbi Isaiah ben Avraham Ha-Levi Horowitz, known as the Shlah, tells us that this is not only meant in the literal sense, but also serves as a warning to not light the fire of anger. A person should be especially careful not to lose their temper on Shabbos and avoid any arguments. Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian wrote in a list of regulations for his Yeshiva that everyone should be careful not to speak angrily on Friday and Shabbos. He added that ideally a person should never feel angry; someone who nonetheless feels angry should at least not speak out of anger. On Friday, in the rush to finish the Shabbos preparations on time, a person may become short-tempered. Also, on Shabbos when the entire family sits at the table together, parents might become frustrated with their children for not behaving properly and siblings may fight and argue. Therefore, special care should be taken to control ones anger. A story is told of two men who made a bet to see who could make Hillel angry. Whoever won would receive 400 zuz from the other. On a Friday afternoon, Hillel was washing himself for Shabbos, when one of the men stood outside his home shouting Where is Hillel? Where is Hillel? round heads? said the man. You ask a very important question, said Hillel, the reason is that their midwives were not very clever. The man left and Hillel continued to prepare for Shabbos. Again the man shouted Where is Hillel? and again Hillel patiently went to answer another ridiculous question. The man left and he then returned and again shouted Where is Hillel? Once again Hillel patiently answered the man. The man then said I have many questions to ask but I think that I will not be able to provoke your anger. Hillel replied that the man could ask as many questions as he wanted. The man said that Hillel had lost him 400 zuz as he had made a bet that he would be able to make Hillel angry. Hillel replied It is better for you to have lost 400 Zuz and 400 more than for me to lose my temper! It says in Mishlei, "He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he who rules his spirit [is better] than he who takes a city". "Slow to anger" refers to one who avoids entering anger to begin with; "he who rules his spirit" refers to one who has become angry but overcomes it.

Thus, when the auction for the various parts of the building began, the man instructed the campaign man- When the Maharsha heard what had happened, he ager to purchase the cornerstone for him for 500 rou- immediately told the man that his son had a place in bles, a large sum that no one would top. the Yeshiva and he was welcome to start learning there; fulfilling his promise to the boy's father many The large donation sparked the community's curiosity years prior. as they demanded to know who was the man that contributed towards a crucial part of the Yeshiva. Thus the boy learned at the Maharsha's Yeshiva and When the time for laying the cornerstone came, the grew up to be a big Talmid Chacham. man instructed the Maharsha to lay the cornerstone for him, thus keeping the man's concealed identity intact.

Shabbos is a day of rest and by losing ones temper Hillel wrapped himself in a robe and went to see one is damaging the sanctity of the day. what the man wanted. My son, what do you Chazak Chazak Venizchazeik seek? he asked. I have a question to ask said the man. Please ask me whatever you want! I wish to know why the Babylonians have such Good Shabbos. Mazal Tov to the author on his Bar-Mitzvah.

Gematria:
This weeks Sedro begins with a brief insight into the holy day of Shabbos. The Baal Haturim, in his usual, insightful manner explains the short series of Pesukim in a much deeper fashion. The Posuk begins, Eileh hadvorim asher tzivoh Hashem laasois oisom. The Pesukim then describe the issur of kindling fire during Shabbos. How can we see from here that there are, not one, but 39 melochos that are forbidden on Shabbos? The Baal Haturim points out several remarkable ways. Firstly, the word eileh has the gematriah of 39, a familiar number. Secondly, the letters of the word laasois can be split into lamed teisha, again the familiar 39. The Baal Haturim points out a third remarkable remez to the 39 melochos of Shabbos. In the first Peirek of Breishis, until ...boroh eloikim laasois a group of shorshim, roots, are used often. Words involving the roots of osoh, boroh, melocho, havayoh, hoitzoh and havdoloh are used a total of 39 times.

Riddle:
The Black and the White, the Man and the Woman, the long and the short. What are we?

Answer to Last Weeks Riddle:


When can a person be called to the Torah for 3 successive aliyos on the same day? A kohen is called to the Torah for maftir, which is the last aliya on Shabbos morning. He then goes to mincha where he is called up first for the kohen aliya. There is no levi, so he receives the next aliya in place of a levi.

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