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שבת שלום - פרשת שמיני
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Video Shiur
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Click play to watch the
video shiur by Rav Meir Goldvitch
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News and Notes
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The yeshiva celebrated Purim in grand fashion last week with our annual Purim Mesiba, highlighted by dancing to the music of the yeshiva band, and shpiels - both live and on video - presented by the rabbeim and the students. On Friday, the students attended Seudot Purim at their rabbeim's houses; this was followed by the entire yeshiva reconvening for dessert at the home of Rav Wolicki and family. Shabbat was an in-Shabbat, hosted by Rav Lichtman, and was followed by students visiting Yerushalayim on Sunday for Shushan Purim celebrations.
Last week, we were pleased to host two special guest speakers. On Sunday night, Rav Yosef Kaminetsky shlit"a spoke in the yeshiva on the topic of Parashat Zachor. During his talk, he presented an original idea of his grandfather's, Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky ZT"L, that has not yet been published. On Monday afternoon, Rav Mendi Gopin spoke about his relationship with Rav Soloveitchik ZT"L. Rabbi Gopin was the baal koreh in the Rav's minyan for several years, sat next to him during davening when he was a boy, and received semicha from him. Both talks were fascinating and engrossing, and were an important reminder of the greatness of the gedolim of the last generation.
We wish a big mazal tov to three students, each of whom individually celebrated a siyum on Masechet Megilah: our madrich, Avishai Gebler, who finished the masechet on Purim; Avi Weinstein, who completed it on Monday; and Ben Shai, who had his siyum on Tuesday. We look forward to all our students continuing to learn independently, making siyumim throughout Shas.
Everyone in the yeshiva is eagerly anticipating this Sunday night, when Rav Avraham Sutton, a well-known expositor of Kabbalah and the editor of R. Aryeh Kaplan's classic work Innerspace, will be presenting a Meditation/Davening workshop in the Beit Midrash. This will be an especially meaningful exercize as our students work to improve their davening before bein hazmanim and Pesach.
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Parsha Insights
By Rabbi Scott Kahn
"Hashem spoke to Moshe and Aharon, saying to them, Speak to the Children of Israel, saying, the following are the types of animals that you may eat, among all the beasts that are on the earth." (Vayikra 11:1-2)
Why, when introducing the idea of kashrut - the laws of permitted and forbidden foods - does the Torah utilize the seemingly superfluous phrase, "saying to them"? What does this add to our understanding of kashrut?
Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, in his Kedushat Levi, offers an interesting insight into the meaning behind these words. He cites the incident in which Moshe's sister Miriam, after witnessing Pharaoh's daughter rescue Moshe from the Nile River, suggests that she find a nursemaid from among the Hebrews. According to Chazal, Pharaoh's daughter tried to find an Egyptian woman to nurse the baby, but Moshe refused to nurse: "The Holy One, Blessed be He, said, the mouth which will ultimately speak with the Divine Presence should nurse something impure?!" (Sotah 12b) Rashi explains, "The [nursing] woman... ate impure food, and the baby tastes in the milk everything that she eats." In other words, Moshe needed to nurse from someone who only ate kosher food, in order to prepare him for his future role as a prophet. Indeed, the Ramban explains that impure food creates a degree of cruelty in a person's nature; Am Yisrael, the holy nation, should always be drawn toward the attribute of kindness, and must accordingly avoid any impure foods. The prophet's role demands that he be diligent in ensuring that his character is perfect, even to the point of avoiding foods which can have a subtly negative effect upon him.
Rav Levi Yitzchak thus concludes that since, in the ultimate future, all of Bnei Yisrael will be prophets - as Yoel HaNavi said, "Your sons and daughters will prophesy" (Yoel 3:1) - every member of Israel must prepare himself for his future prophecy by only eating kosher food. A reason that Am Yisrael must observe the laws of kashrut involves the fact that Hashem will one day speak to them. Accordingly, the phrase "saying to them" hints at the reality that G-d will speak to each and every one of us, and we should therefore be exceedingly diligent in maintaining proper standards of kashrut.
A fascinating idea emerges from Rav Levi Yitzchak's interpretation: despite the reality that 3300 years have passed since the Torah was given, and we have yet to experience a world in which every Jewish individual can prophesy, every person is nevertheless instructed to prepare himself for such an experience. It may not have occurred yet, but the Torah expects us to anticipate this ultimate future by actively expecting its imminent arrival.
The same attitude of active anticipation of the ultimate redemption is seen in Masechet Sukkah. The Torah prohibits the consumption of Chadash - that is, new grain - until the sacrifice of the Omer on the second day of Pesach. In the absence of the Beit HaMikdash, however, Chadash is permitted by Torah law as soon as the morning of the second day of Pesach arrives. Nonetheless, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai decreed that Chadash would remain prohibited throughout the entire day, and would only be allowed at nightfall. The Gemara explains his reasoning:
"May the Beit HaMikdash be speedily rebuilt [thereby again making Chadash prohibited until the bringing of the Omer on the second day of Pesach, rather than first thing in the morning], and people will then say, 'Last year did we not eat [Chadash] at the first light of morning in the East? So now we should also be able to eat [right away]!' Yet they don't realize that last year, when there was no Beit HaMikdash, the first light of morning in the East permitted [Chadash]; now, when there is a Beit HaMikdash, the Omer offering permits it." (Sukkah 41a)
Although the likelihood of a mistake would appear ridiculously remote - for the Beit HaMikdash has not been rebuilt for 1900 years, and the Omer was always brought in the morning, in any case - Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai still demanded that we act as thought the Temple's rebuilding were imminent. We must take precautions every year to ensure that no one eats Chadash several hours too early, for the Beit HaMikdash will surely be rebuilt soon, and we must already begin to anticipate mistakes that the common folk will make.
In his introduction to Perek Chelek, the Rambam states that the twelfth foundation of Jewish faith is the belief in the ultimate redemption: "And that is to believe and certify that the Mashiach will come, and not to think that he will tarry; and if he is delayed, wait for him!" The message of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, echoed by Rav Levi Yitzchak, is that the belief in Mashiach's arrival is not sufficient. Rather, we must actively anticipate and prepare for the Geulah Shleima. This means a candid recognition that our lives as Jews are incomplete, and an equivalent realization that much of what we do today is setting the groundwork for the future.
By seeing the world as imperfect, we begin to realize how things actually should be. And by understanding that much of what we do today is preparation for the ultimate future, we genuinely fulfill the Rambam's dictum: "If he is delayed, wait for him!"
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