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שבת שלום - פרשת כי תשא
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Video Shiur
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Click play to watch
Rav Herschel Shechter's shiur about Ahavat Hashem and Yirat Hashem |
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News and Notes
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The yeshiva Purim celebrations
were exciting, fun, and
memorable for all of
Yesodei HaTorah's students
and teachers. After
megillah reading on Motzaei
Shabbat, the yeshiva's
annual Mesibat Purim
kicked off with the yeshiva
band playing in the West
Gardens Lounge on campus,
with wild and spirited
dancing taking place
at the same time. This
was followed by the yeshiva's
two Purim shpiels, put
on by groups of shana
alef and shana bet students.
The next day, our students
visited many of their
rabbeim's houses, and
joined together in the
late morning for a pre-seudah
at the home of our menahel
ruchani, Rav Simkovich.
In the afternoon, everyone
had their seudot at the
homes of their morning
seder rabbeim, and the
yeshiva reconvened at
Rav Wolicki's house for
a post-seudah and dessert
party. On Shushan Purim,
almost every student
visited Jerusalem in
order to enjoy a second
day of Purim. The entire
experience will undoubtedly
be something our students
remember for the rest
of their lives.
During
kiddush on Shabbat morning,
Shmuly Reece made a siyum
on Seder Zera'im - his
fourth siyum since Sukkot.
He will IY"H be finishing
Shas Mishnayot by the
end of the year. At
seudah shlishit, Michael
Alweis and Ian Weinberger
made a siyum on Masechet
Megillah. On Thursday
night, immediately before
the weekly mishmar cholent,
kugel, and cake, Dov
Adler and Dovi Muchnick
made a siyum on Masechet
Makot. Mazal tov to
everyone, and we look
forward to more of our
students completing masechtot
and sedarim as the year
continues.
Rav
Ariel Greenberg gave
the weekly sicha ruchanit
on Thursday night; he
spoke about the Purim
Personality and the Pesach
Personality, discussed
the importance of discovering
spirituality within the
intellectual sphere,
and the need to continue
our religious advancement
during the upcoming bein
hazmanim. During Mishmar,
Rav Kahn offered a shiur
entitled, "22 Insights
of Rav Soloveitchik into
the Haggadah", and Rav
Arram discussed the ideas
of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov
regarding Pesach.
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Prophecy Begins at Home
By Rabbi Pesach Wolicki
In the aftermath of the sin of the Golden Calf, Moshe experiences what is considered to be the highest moment of prophecy by the greatest of all prophets (see Rambam Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah ch. 1). In the course of the cryptic dialogue that the Torah records to describe this unfathomable experience, Moshe asks god to see G-d's "ways". The Gemara in Masechet Berachot (6a) embellishes Moshe's question.
"'Show me, please, Your ways.' (Shemot 33:13) Moshe said to G-d:
'Master of the Universe, why is there a righteous person who has it good and a righteous person who has it bad? Why is there a wicked person who has it good and a wicked person who has it bad?"
Throughout the Midrashic and Aggadic texts of Chazal, there are countless embellishments such as this. Chazal read information, dialogue, and events into the context of the narratives of the Torah.
There are obviously deep lessons in these Midrashim. In this instance, the choice of context is peculiar. If Chazal wished to teach us that Moshe asked G-d the powerful theological question of Divine Justice - why are there righteous people who suffer and wicked people who prosper? - why did they inject this question into this specific prophecy? On the surface, there seems to be nothing in the events of the story or the dialogue between G-d and Moshe that has anything to do with this question. Furthermore, there is a much more appropriate location for just such an idea.
In Shemot 5:1-19 Moshe first goes to Pharaoh to ask for the freedom of Israel and Pharaoh responds by increasing the burden of suffering on the slaves. In Shemot 5:22-23 Moshe then makes an impassioned prayer to G-d and questions why G-d sent him if it only caused the suffering of the people to get worse. This would have been an ideal context for Chazal to interject that Moshe asked G-d the question of the righteous who suffer unjustly. Why is it here in Shemot 33?
The Gemara in the first chapter of Bava Batra discusses the authorship of the various books of the Tanach. One opinion in the discussion is that Moshe is the author of the book of Iyov (Job). It is important to point out that Chazal's primary concern is not history. There is always a deeper lesson underlying message in such statements. Why would they attribute Iyov to Moshe?
Iyov is a book that is entirely devoted to the theological problem of a righteous person who is unjustly suffering. If we put the two sources together it is interesting. Moshe is the author of Iyov as well as the one to whom Chazal attribute the question of divine justice. Apparently, Chazal chose to teach us that Moshe, the greatest of all prophets, was consumed by the question of divine justice.
In the Guide for the Perplexed, Rambam devotes a number of chapters to prophecy. In section II chapter 45, Rambam describes twelve levels of prophetic experience. The twelfth and highest is that of Moshe's prophecy face to face with G-d. The first level describes an experience that most of us would not readily identify as prophecy.
However, as Rambam describes it, it is from this level that prophecy begins.
"The first of the the degrees of prophecy consists in the fact that an individual receives a divine help that moves and activates him to a great, righteous, and important action - such as the deliverance of a community of virtuous people from a community of wicked people, or the deliverance of a virtuous and great man... Know that such a force did not abandon Moses our Master from the moment he reached adulthood. It was because of this that he was moved to slay the Egyptian and to reprove the one who was in the wrong among the two men that struggled.
The strength of this force in him shown in the fact that when he came to Midian as a stranger full of fear and saw some wrong that was done, he could not refrain from putting an end to it..."
The entry point of prophecy, teaches Rambam, is a burning concern for social justice. Right must not be overcome by wrong. This was Moshe's primary trait as we see him in his early life. On the other end of the spectrum of prophecy, the Gemara tells us that at the highest moment of prophecy, Moshe's concern was the question of Divine Justice.
I would like to suggest that Chazal are teaching us a powerful lesson.
Prophecy fundamentally involves an understanding of how the world ought to be. Good ought to be rewarded, not evil. Evil ought to be punished, not good. The concern for how the world ought to be leads to action on behalf of those who are wrongly mistreated as well as to the penetrating search for answers when G-d's justice seems questionable.
Prophecy is not - as many perceive it - a retreat from the world. At its core, it is driven by the necessity to perfect the world through justice and acts of kindness. It is the prophet who "sees" the world as it ought to be and leads us to that vision.
May we all learn from Moshe and develop the traits that lead to a better world.
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