The Last of the 613 – Write G-d’s Love Song

24 Elul 5778

by R' Ephraim Sprecher | Links by CDG

The last of the 613 Mitzvot is, “And now, write for yourselves this song, teach it to the Children of Israel. Place it into their mouths”…(Devarim 31:19 | עברית).

According to Sanhedrin 21b | עברית this verse teaches that it is a Mitzva for every Jewish Person to write a Sefer Torah for himself. Why is the Torah referred to by the unusual term “song”? There is no other Mitzva in the Torah which is called a song.

The Aruch Hashulchan (עברית) deals with this question. He states, “Any dispute between Tanaim and Amoraim, or between the Poskim, whose genuine aim is to get to the truth of a Halachic issue, represents the words of the Living G-d and has valid Halachic status. Moreover, these Halachic disputes glorify our Holy and Pure Torah, which is called a SONG. The beauty of the SONG being that the voices are all different. This is why the Torah is so delightful. And whoever learns the Talmud will see different beauty in all the voices that are different from one another.” (Introduction to Aruch Hashulchan – Choshen Hamishpat) (specific link not found - CDG).

The Torah is G-d’s LOVE SONG to the Jewish People. The plurality of opinions, disputes, methods, and styles of understanding the Torah is NOT a fault. It is the incredible symphony of these different voices and opinions that combine to form a beautiful harmony that captures the hearts of all who study the Talmud.

This is the uniqueness and beauty of the Oral Torah. Talmud Yerushalmi, Sanhedrin, Chapter 4 (sorry, no English translation -CDG) makes an incredible statement. “If the Torah had been given clear, and as a finished product, it would NOT have continued to exist!

The Torah was purposely given in a way that allowed various Halachic conclusion to be drawn from it. This is NOT a fault in the Halachic system. G-d gave us the Torah THIS WAY so that it would continue to exist forever.

Therefore, The term SONG was used in reference to the Mitzva to write a Sefer Torah. The writing of the Sefer Torah symbolizes our powerful desire to sing G-d’s Holy Love Song!
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 At the end of this video one of R' Sprecher's students plays and sings an original song in honor of the upcoming Rosh haShana 5779 ה"תשע"ט!

T’SHUVA – Going BACK to the Future!

9 Elul 5778

by Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher
with very light editing and links by CDG | originally published here

There was a cute movie in 1985 with the Jewish actor Michael J. Fox called “Back to the Future”. This is exactly what the T’shuva process is all about. Through T’shuva we can reset the clock by actually changing our sinful past.

The Rambam states that T’shuva consists of a 4 step process where we have the awesome opportunity to erase our sins and wipe away the evil resulting from our past transgressions. This is done through the following procedure.

1)   Cease and desist from our sinful behavior.

2)   Feel deep regret, shame, and remorse over our particular sin.

3)   A verbal confession to G-d describing our sin.

4)   Honestly and truthfully resolve never to commit that particular sin again.

This T’shuva process has the incredible power to totally erase our sin and restore the sinner to his spiritual level prior to the sin. In fact the Talmud in Yoma 86[b] states that if one does T’shuva only because of his love of G-d and not for any ulterior motive then that sin actually and wondrously becomes a Mitzva!

The Talmud Pesachim 54[a] makes an astonishing statement that T’shuva’s creation pre-dates the creation of the universe! The ability to go back in time and rectify one’s sinful past is so outer worldly that its creation preceded the natural order of the universe’s design.

The Holy Ari gives us a Kabalistic understanding of this unusual Talmudic statement. He states the reason the Torah begins with the word “Bereshit” (in the beginning) is because G-d’s first creation was a beginning, the onset of time.

Once G-d created time, there was no way to rewind the clock. This would remove the ability to do T’shuva, by going back to the past to reverse past events.

Thus, Kabbala teaches that G-d had to create T’shuva BEFORE creating time, in order to enable us to go above and beyond the laws of nature and turn back the clock to rectify our pasts sins.

This is the wonderful gift of T’shuva that G-d gives us during these days of Elul. Let us appreciate this wondrous gift to go back in time and to start all over again with a clean slate!

Elul's Mandate: Keep Hope Alive!

How Teshuva Re-JEW-vinates us...and more on the month of Elul

the light of 25 Menahem Av 5778

...and more teachings on the upcoming month of Elul by R' Ephraim Sprecher
originally posted here. UPDATE: See below for permanent links to the additional articles on Elul!

Wikipedia: Repentance in Judaism

According to my Great-Great-Grandfather, Bnei Yisocher, the month before ELUL is called AV, because AV is the acronym for ELUL BA, which means, ready or not, ELUL is coming! Therefore, in this month of AV we already must begin to focus on the Teshuvah Process. So here goes.

The Zohar explains that the word TESHUVA is a compound of the words, TASHUV HEI, "returning the HEI". The HEI that the Zohar is referring to is the HEI of G-d's Name, YUD – KEI – VAV – KEI, known as the SHEM HAVAYA, which has two letters HEI.

The Zohar infers from the two HEIs of G-d's Name that the process of TESHUVA, "of returning the HEI", actually has two levels. There is the higher level of TESHUVA, called "TESHUVA ILAA", which is the process of returning the first HEI of G-d's Name. Then there is the lower level of TESHUVA, called "TESHUVA TATAA", which is the process of returning the second HEI of G-d's Name.

What's in a Name? A Name serves as a means for someone to relate to others. A name is how one presents himself to others. The two HEIs in G-d's Name represent two different ways in which G-d relates to our physical world.

The second HEI of G-d's Name represents G-d as He lowers and extends Himself to be King of the Universe. This HEI follows the letter VAV, a letter that is a straight line, symbolizing the drawing down of G-d's light from its lofty source into our physical world.

On this level G-d is our King, and He desires a loving relationship with us. G-d expects us to build on this relationship by fulfilling His Will, which is done through studying Torah and doing Mitzvot.

When we are lacking in our Torah and Mitzvot observance, we are rebelling against G-d's Kingship. The Baal Hatanya explains that TESHUVA TATAA is the return of the second HEI of G-d's Name, by recommitting to G-d's Kingship by being meticulous in our observance of His Torah. In view of the Baal Hatanya's explanation, it should be remembered that over the course of the year, our commitment to Torah and Mitzvot sometimes weakens, and we find ourselves rebelling against G-d.

The first HEI of G-d's Name represents a level of the Shechinah that is transcendent, spiritually higher than us and of all the physical creation. This HEI of G-d's Name follows the letter YUD – a letter that is just a point and unlike the VAV in G-d's Name does not extend all the way down. This symbolizes G-d as He is for Himself, unaffected by the created world.

There is an amazing verse in the Torah that tells us something incredible about the Jewish People. The verse says, "KI CHELEK HASHEM AMO", "For G-d is a portion of His people" (Devarim 32:9). This means that the source of the Jewish Soul according to the Baal HaTanya is at the ACTUAL level of G-d Himself, removed from the rest of creation. TESHUVA ILAA is returning the upper HEI of G-d's Name, meaning returning our soul to its Source.

How do we reconnect with the G-dly Source of our souls? When we study Torah and perform Mitzvot for the sake of fulfilling G-d's Will, then we are reconnecting to our Source.

This is how we return the higher HEI to the Name of G-d – becoming reunited
with G-d. When we connect to G-d on this level, we have plugged our souls back into their Source, and we have re-JEW-venated ourselves to achieve TESHUVA TATAA by accepting G-d as our personal King.

May we all have the ability to achieve a true, loving, and eternal relationship with G-d!

 Six Rememberances: Why Include Miriam's Shame?

or

What about Miriam do we actually remember? It isn't what you think.

More on Elul:
To Know HIM is to Love HIM | It's NOW or Never!

Parashath Ekev: Use It or Lose It!

22 Menahem Av 5776

This post is in honor of my husband's 69th Hebrew birthday, which occurs tomorrow, Shabbat Ekev. He was also born on Shabbat! Happy birthday, ahuv sheli!

"For if you shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your G-d, to walk all in His ways, and to hold fast to Him, then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves. Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours: From the wilderness to the Levanon, from the river, the river P'rat, to the uttermost sea shall be your border. There shall no man be able to stand against you: for the LORD your G-d shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that you shall tread upon, as He has spoken to you. -D'varim  11:22-25, my husband's birth parashah, aliyath mashlim (7th aliyah, which completes the parashah).

The lime-green overlay is everything HaShem promised Am Yisrael in the future. From Ahavat Eretz Israel

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Use it or lose it

BS”D Parashat Aikev 5776
Rabbi Nachman Kahana

An orthopedist will tell you “use it or lose it” – exercise or the limb will eventually undergo necrosis (death of the cells).

So the title of this week’s message is “Use it or Lose it”.

The great traumatic crisis that faces Am Yisrael today is the mass departure, retreat, and abandonment, of millions of US Jews from their religious-historical-national ties to Judaism via intermarriage and related avenues leading to the golden gate of assimilation.
Why is this happening just now when the Jewish people are free to serve HaShem and fulfill our religious responsibilities as in no previous time in the past 2000 years?

I submit:

Friday of last week, we commemorated the festive day of the 15th of Menachem Av, which as stated in the Mishna (Ta’anit) as one of the two happiest days in the Jewish calendar year, the other being Yom Kippur.

The Talmud Yerushalmi in Ta’anit states that the 15th of Av is a joyous day for several positive things that occurred on it, one of them being the edict proclaimed by King Hoshea ben Elah of the ten northern tribes. The Gemara explains that on this day King Hoshea ben Elah rescinded a decree prohibiting the Jews of the northern tribes to go up to Yerushalayim.

In order to fully appreciate what this meant we have to return 300 years prior to the time of Hoshea ben Elah. The arch-rasha (evil-doer), Yeravam ben Nevat incited the people of the northern tribes to secede from the union which was under the monarchy of Rechav’am son of King Shlomo. In order to complete the secession, Yeravam began interpreting the Torah in his own way, but the formal act of secession was accomplished by closing the roads to Yerushalayim and creating two substitute spiritual centers, one in Bet El and the other at Dan in the north.

Yeravam knew that as long as the connection to Yerushalayim existed his break away nation would not endure. Yeravam imposed a harsh prohibition on going to Yerushalayim and in order to maintain this rule he placed police and soldiers along the entire border. This situation continued for over 300 years, during which time the Jews of the north were severed from Yerushalayim and the Bet Hamikdash.

Hoshea ben Elah ascended the throne and withdrew the border guards opening the way to Yerushalayim; this occurred on the 15th of Av. Indeed, a day to parallel Yom Kippur for now the Jews would be able to offer korbanot in the Mikdash and achieve kappara for their sins.

After this explanation in the Talmud, a rabbi whose name was Rav Kahana asked that if Hoshea ben Elah was such a great man, why then in his time did HaShem permit Shalmanesser King of Assyria to invade the northern tribes and exile all the Jews?

To this the Talmud answers that Hoshea ben Elah indeed opened the way to Yerushalayim – BUT NO ONE CAME. And the king was held personally responsible, although he opened the way, because he did not use his authority to coerce his citizens to renew their connection with the holy city.

The Gemara explains that in the 300 years when pilgrimage to the holy city was prohibited by the evil kings, the heavenly bet din (court) could not accuse the northerners of neglecting their responsibilities to Yerushalayim. But now that the government permitted the free movement of people to the holy city there was no longer an excuse for not going. It was as if HaShem was saying, “You did not come to my house, so I will eject you from your houses”, or “Use it or Lose it” – and exiled the Jews to the far fling lands to the east.


Seventy years ago the gates to Eretz Yisrael were thrown open to all Jews. The call was sounded to return home and receive immediate citizenship under the “The Law of Return”.  Very few came home from the Western countries; in fact, the year that we came on aliya in 1962, a mere 677 people came from the millions of Jew in the US.

2500 years ago, HaShem exiled the Jews from Eretz Yisrael for not going up to Yerushalayim. And although this dire sin is being repeated daily by the Jews in Western countries, HaShem cannot use the same punishment today as he did with the ten tribes. And this for the simple reason that they are already in exile.

So the question is: Anything short of a repeat Shoah, what is a fitting punishment for a people already in exile?

Answer: It is exile not only from the Jewish homeland – it is absolute banishment from the Jewish nation through assimilation.

The unaffiliated and “liberal” streams of Judaism are left to inter-marry as their punishment, and they will forever be lost to the Jewish nation.

For the religious Jew who does not come on aliya, there is a similar punishment. He is provided for with religious leaders who fortify and uphold the rejection, prohibition, alienation and exclusion of their adherents from the Holy Land which they blindly base on so-called halachic reasons; like “wait for the Mashiach” or “there is chillul shabbat in Israel.” Thereby insuring that their adherents will remain in the galut until their children, grandchildren or great grandchildren will eventually inter-marry and disappear.

Use it or lose it

The Olympic games are over. The winners proudly display their medals around their necks, gold, silver and bronze and wait for the big company sponsors competing for their endorsements. Because when such illustrious people who can run so fast and jump so high endorse a product how can the teeming millions of “plain” people not put their hands in the pockets to purchase the product!

The payments to the lucky winners are in the millions of dollars, just for saying that he prefers a particular pair of sneakers or shaves with a certain razor blade.
Adidas would pay many many millions for the president of the US to endorse their running shoes, and tens of millions to the Pope for his endorsement.

How much would they theoretically pay for the Creator of heaven and earth to endorse an earthly product?

We find in the Tanach (24 books of the Bible) an endorsement of Eretz Yisrael which is called “ha’eretz ha’tova” – the good land, repeated 7 times: once by HaShem (Devarim 1,35); four times by Moshe (Devarim 3,25; 4,21; 4,22; 9,6); and Yehoshua in his book (23,15) and in Chronicles 1 (28,8).

The term “eretz tova” – a good land, stated by HaShem in Shmot 3,8 and by Moshe in Devarim 8,7.

Birkat hamazon (grace after meals of bread) and the closing blessing over cake, wine and those fruits which are indigenous to the holy land (al hamichya) are replete with praises for Eretz Yisrael.

We in Eretz Yisrael are spectators in the “Theatre of the Absurd”. For despite all the above and more, when I speak to most American yeshiva students visiting or learning here all I get is negativism and criticism of HaShem’s holy land and holy people. I get the feeling that something in their Jewish souls has died or was extinguished by their spiritual leaders, as my mentors attempted to do to me, before I escaped.

Tradition states that at some future time the Twelve Tribes will return to Eretz Yisrael.

I have the feeling that we shall see their return a lot sooner than the return of the American orthodox Jew.

Shabbat Shalom,
Nachman Kahana
Copyright © 5776/2016 Nachman Kahana

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Forced Self-Incrimination: Just Plain Wrong

8 Shevat 5776

Credit here.

דברים י"ז, ט"ו		Deuteronomy 19:15
טו  לֹא-יָקוּם עֵד אֶחָד בְּאִישׁ, לְכָל-עָו‍ֹן וּלְכָל-חַטָּאת, בְּכָל-חֵטְא, אֲשֶׁר יֶחֱטָא:  עַל-פִּי שְׁנֵי עֵדִים, אוֹ עַל-פִּי שְׁלֹשָׁה-עֵדִים--יָקוּם דָּבָר.		15 One witness shall not rise up against any person for any iniquity or for any sin, regarding any sin that he will sin. By the mouth of two witnesses, or by the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be confirmed.
מקור: מכון ממרי		Source: Chabad
ואין אדם משים עצמו רשע...		And a person may not incriminate himself…
מקור: סנהדרין ט, ב, תלמוד בבלי		Source: Sanhedrin 9b, Babylonian Talmud

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The whole world (or maybe just the United Nations) is still in an uproar over the burning of a house in the Arab village of Duma in Israel about six months ago. “Beginning the morning after the murders, as the investigation was just beginning, Israeli officials and media began claiming that the perpetrators were “Jewish terrorists.”” (Abu Yehuda summarizes the background well here.) “The firebombing was quickly attributed to the movement Israelis call “price tag,” in which extremist Jews attack Palestinian holy places or property in retribution for their own government’s actions regarding settlements,” said the New York Times shortly afterwards, on 1 August 2015. Here is more background on the story from a Jew who participated in a condolence call on the community (Arutz 7).

I deliberately linked to early accounts, so that we can recall how it was then, before young Jews — both men and underage boys — were formally accused, taken into custody and, by some accounts, treated worse than Arabs in their place would be. None of this would have happened if self-incrimination and forced confessions were not allowed air time or print space in any medium in Israel — never mind in a court of law.

The Jewish Division of the Shaba"k (Israeli Security Agency) claimed that there was a need to take young, even underage Jews into administrative detention due to a “ticking time bomb” situation (possibly to be discussed in a separate post – to read the full article, I suggest the search phrase “jewish ticking time bomb” if you don’t subscribe to HaAretz. Here’s another article where the ISA admits to treating “Jewish extremists” as ticking time bombs.).

Everyone knows that the American Constitution has what is famously known as the Fifth Amendment:

"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

How many have internalized what the Torah and Talmud say on the matter? It is not a matter of amendment — or a tacking on, if you will — to the law for these works of Jewish law, but part of its central body: It starts with the 9^th commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” and goes on to say, “At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses…” The repetition of the Hebrew word edim there is deliberate; there is no unnecessary word in the Torah. Could witnesses be so important that the Torah appears not to even consider not having them in a case where the accused’s life or future is at stake?

Here's a potential hiddush: Could one say, in easy legalese, that the Torah and Talmud together imply that a person of whom a confession is demanded or required is automatically considered to be in a conflict of interest and is therefore automatically recused?

The Talmud puts it more concisely and understandably for modern readers, with the exception of the phrase mesim atzmo, which I have translated as “impute on oneself” due to its (as I perceive it) mixed verb-direct reflexive object relationship¹.

A lot of people, especially women, long ago stopped considering Torah law and governance a viable alternative to what we have now because of issues such as the plight of the agunah. I hope that now, considering the environment we live in, where the entry of Muslim men en masse all over the world is creating far worse conditions for a much greater number of women (who were accustomed to going out freely to attend to their errands, visit friends and so on virtually without concern, but now must go out, if at all, in groups, always with an eye out for trouble and, if this occurs, no help from authorities), we in Israel can look at other problems where Torah clearly shines for everyone, such as the abolishing of self-incrimination and the requiring of witnesses to acts that could land a person in jail for life or dead, whether male or female. (In fact, since there seems to be no support at all from the feminists on issues where rape and other misogynistic acts by Muslims are concerned, they have rendered themselves and their philosophy irrelevant – this news story took 20 years to break.)

There is a lot more to be discussed, which is why I have collected many Torah sites on this blog and plan to add more as I find them. In the meantime, though, it seems that making Arabs and Jews "equal" is having the effect of making Arabs "more equal" than Jews. It might be time for the pendulum to swing strongly towards advocating, and achieving, Torah governance in Israel. Until then, if the Israeli government has any sense of true democratic justice — let alone Torah justice — the case against Amiram ben Uliel should be thrown out due to his inadmissible confession.

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¹ the phrase masim atzmo (משים עצמו) in my eyes combines a hif’il (causative) verb form with a reflexive object (refers to oneself; nay, means “oneself”). Impute means to attribute or ascribe, as to a person, or in its obsolete meaning, to charge (a person) with fault. If you still have questions about this, please, feel free to go to the native Hebrew/English speaker-scholar of Talmudic Hebrew, of your choice. 

I have already taken my advice and asked Reb Yehudah B. Ilan of Forthodoxy about my explanation. If and when I should receive a reply, be"H I will post it here as an update.

UPDATE: Reb Yehudah replies:

Your translation is okay, but I think that you may be over-thinking this a bit and analyzing a passage from the Gemara using the intricacies of Hebrew grammar is not usually the correct method of study. The reasons for this are that (a) the language of the Gemara is a mixture of Mishnaic Hebrew and Babylonian Jewish Aramaic – which do not follow the grammatical rules of either Biblical or Modern Hebrew, (b) most of the Talmudic text is written in scholarly turns of phrase which are not meant to be taken literally but rather have a particular legal meaning and/or a dialectal significance. This being the case, translating the Gemara is almost never a word-for-word exercise. If someone cannot interpret the text on their own, I suggest employing a standard translation of the Talmud, such as the edition published by Koren or one of the many Steinsaltz editions (I do NOT promote the use of Artscroll).

Without knowing the intent or essential message of your post, I can only explain this particular phrase as it appears in the context of b.Sanhedrin 9b.

As for the meaning of the words “mesiym `assmo rasha` – משים עצמו רשע” it can be translated here as “…place himself [in the category of] a wicked one (i.e. incriminate himself through his own testimony in court).” The phrase “mesiym `assmo” is made up of two words: [1] השים which has the simple meaning of “to place” or “to put” and [2] עצם which in Biblical Hebrew means “bone” and came to be used to signify “self.” This phrase only means “incriminate himself” in context of the discussion here in the Gemara.

On Rava’s statement, Rashi comments: “Rava says: A person cannot become invalid to testify by way of admitting his own guilt, for a person is considered to have the status of a ‘close relative’ in relation to himself. Therefore ‘a person is not able to implicate himself (lit. ‘to place himself [in the category of] a rasha`‘), that is to say on the basis of testimony about himself one is not convicted (lit. ‘made a rasha`‘) for behold the Torah invalidates a ‘close relative’ to testify. Yet the rova` (i.e. the penetrating participant in male homosexual relations – referring to a case mentioned earlier in the discussion) is put to death on the basis of such testimony since we divide his statement (i.e. ‘so-and-so penetrated me during homosexual relations and I was complicit in the act.’) and while we consider his testimony reliable with regard to the actions of his fellow, we do not consider him reliable with regard to his own actions – which would otherwise invalidate him to testify.”

Essentially, this passage is explaining that if one testified in court that he and another person willingly engaged in forbidden sexual relations together (for example – other similar cases exist as well), three things take place legally: [1] His incriminating testimony about his own behavior is not accepted as valid, [2] his testimony about the actions of the other person is accepted as valid (and may be combined with the testimony of another valid witness to effect a death penalty in the case), and [3] whereas such behavior – when attested to about him by others – would invalidate him to testify in the first place, the fact that he said it about himself does not invalidate him and he remains an acceptable witness.
This, however, only holds in capital and corporal cases – it does not count in monetary cases (see Musaf Rashi there). In other words, a person cannot incriminate himself to endanger his life, but he can incriminate himself to endanger his money. This is important to note as it means that אין אדם משים עצמו רשע is not a general, over-arching principle in halakhah, but rather has specifically-defined parameters of application.

I hope that this helps.

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So do I.

More reading:

Dani Dayan and the Threat to Israeli Democracy | B’Tselem Provocation, 2008 | Why French Jews are Lobsters (and why American Jews are next –no, that’s not really part of the title. But it is true.) | Breaking the Silence Spokesperson’s Lies Refuted by His Former Army Mates | We are Descendants of the 20% | The Plight of the French Jew | While Jews are Murdered by Muslim Terrorists the Jerusalem Post says the real threat to Jews is "Jewish Terrorists" |