R' Goldstein, right - speaking at the Diaspora
Yeshiva on Mount Zion. Photo credit: Ben Bresky.
My Rebbe and My Mentor...by R' Ephraim Sprecher
It is with great sadness that I write about
the passing of
Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein zz"l, Rosh Yeshiva of the Diaspora
Yeshiva on Mount
Zion in Jerusalem. Despite being extremely ill these past three
and a half
years and being confined to a wheelchair, he continued to give
outstanding
shiurim in the Yeshiva.
An early Talmid of RavAharonKotler in
Lakewood and Rav Henoch Liebowitz at Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim in Queens, Rabbi
Goldstein was the
first pioneer of the contemporary Ba'al Teshuvah movement in Israel. In
1965, before there
was a concept of a Ba'al Teshuvah Yeshiva, Rabbi Goldstein
established the
Diaspora Yeshiva in Jerusalem, which was opened to one and all.
He loved and
accepted all Jews without being judgmental. After the 1967 Six
Day War, the
Diaspora Yeshiva moved to Mount Zion, the site of King David’s
Tomb. The
Lubavitcher Rebbe told Rav Goldstein zz"l how privileged and
fortunate he is to
have King David as a next door neighbor.
I was a student in the Yeshiva in 1970 when I
was twenty
years old. One morning as I lay in bed, Rabbi Goldstein sat down
on my bed and shook
me gently and with love in his eyes told me, "Ephraim, it’s time
for Shacharit,
G-d is waiting for you." When I made Aliyah in 1994, Rav
Goldstein zz"l invited
me to teach in his Yeshiva. He told me that I was to be his
spiritual fireman.
My job was to put out the fires of assimilation and secularism
which are
threatening to consume many lost Jewish souls.
The prophet Malachi states, “The lips of the
Kohen-Rebbe
imparts knowledge, and Torah you shall seek from his mouth,
because he is an
Angel of G-d.” The Talmud in Chagiga explains this verse, that
if your Rebbe is
like an Angel of G-d then study Torah from him, but if not,
don’t study from
him. This is a strange statement because Kohelet teaches “There
is no Tzaddik
on Earth who does only good and never sins.” Every person sins!
So according to
the Talmud we should not study Torah from any Rebbe? But the
explanation is, that
the difference between an Angel and a person is that an Angel
can’t move
forward and cannot progress spiritually. Unlike a person who can
move forward,
grow, advance and progress spiritually. So the Talmud means that
if your Rebbe
is willing to give up his own spiritual growth and progress for
his students,
that’s the type of Rebbe you should seek out.
This was exactly Rav Goldstein zz"l who was
willing to
sacrifice his own spiritual growth and advancement in order to
teach Ba'alei Teshuvah
who were ignorant of Judaism. He loved all his students like his
own children.
Rav Goldstein zz"l knew how to push everyone’s spiritual buttons
to motivate
them to realize their full potential. He was not just my Rebbe
and Mentor but
also my dear friend who helped me through the difficult times in
my life. I
will miss him sorely. May his memory be a blessing to his family
and all of
Israel.
AMEN
***
Blogger's note: Our own Diaspora Yeshiva connection began with R' Mordechai's son, R' Avraham Goldstein, who visited us in our diaspora city and even gave a shiur in our house. R' Avraham became the Rosh Yeshiva of Diaspora when the Rav became ill. After I made aliyah and finished ulpan, I spent almost 2 years learning with the Rav's wife, Rabbanit Mollie Goldstein, at Machon Roni, Diaspora's Torah Seminary for women (también Midreshet-Roni enseña a las mujeres en español. Yo creo que la Yeshiva también enseña a los hombres; pero, a mi pesar, no encontré ninguna página con que enlazar.). My husband began studying with R' Sprecher at Diaspora Yeshiva some six months after our arrival, and is still learning with him more than 9 years later.
***
Normal people place great value on having children. But in our parasha the desire for children and the joy and delight exhibited by our grandmothers Rachel, Leah, Bilha and Zilpa upon the birth of their children go beyond the natural feeling of motherhood.
Their delight was in the knowledge that they were chosen to be a major part in the biggest saga in human history – they were to bring into this world the beginning of the 12 tribes which would comprise Am Yisrael.
Ya’akov, undoubtedly, made them aware of the dream he experienced on the Temple Mount, where HaShem promised that his children would be the chosen of all nations to receive the Torah, inherit the Land and enjoy eternal life. Each child was a world unto himself. The characteristics of Reuven were radically different than those of Shimon; and Levi was a world apart from all the others.
To this day, every halachically born Jewish child brings with him and her a holy soul from the upper realms of the spiritual world (converts are pure Jewish souls who for reasons unknown to us had to go through the conversion process).
My grandmother Leah (being a Kohen, I am from the tribe of Levi, Leah’s third son) was overwhelmed with joy when her sixth son Naftali was born, because with his birth she brought forth half of the tribes of Am Yisrael.
Rachel was devastated when Ya’akov’s other three wives gave birth to children while she was barren, until HaShem blessed her with the 11th and 12th tribes – Yosef and Binyamin. Rachel had the unique privilege of giving birth to Binyamin in Eretz Yisrael; the only one of the tribes born in the Holy Land. And while Binyamin’s soul was descending from heaven, his mother’s soul was ascending to the highest realm of the shamayim, as she passed away just after naming the boy.
Bringing Jewish Children into the World
The Jewish nation has the questionable distinction of being one of the numerically smallest in the family of nations. To number around 10 million (halachic Jews) after being in the world close to four thousand years tells the whole story of the price we have paid to survive in a world that rejected HaShem’s Torah in search of more “user friendly” religions which permit the hedonistic desires of the human race to sin and yet feel holy about it.
A Jewish child is a perfection that passed the inspection of the Almighty Himself. The Gemara (Nida) reveals that every Jewish child while being conceived is given an angel who teaches the soon to be born soul the entire Torah. At birth the knowledge of Torah is deposited in the inner recesses of the child’s consciousness – but it is not forgotten. So that in effect when we learn Torah we are not attaining new information but retrieving what we already knew from the recesses of our inner selves.
This answers a question regarding the lovely song at the end of the Pesach Seder – echad mi yodai’ah (Who is aware of the “One”).
The song contains 13 stanzas, each dealing with a number beginning with one till 13.
1 is our God
2 are the Holy Tablets
3 our fathers: Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov
4 our mothers: Sarah, Rivka, Rachel and Leah
5 books of the Torah
6 books of the Mishna
7 days of the week
8 days until a brit mila
9 months of conception
10 Commandments
11 stars in Yosef’s dream
12 tribes
13 attributes of HaShem
All the numbers in the song relate to issues which are totally Jewish except for number 9 which is universal: The nine months of conception. Why?
In fact, there is no exception. Because the author was referring to the nine months of conception of a Jewish child, which as stated above is different than all others of the human race. These are the 9 months of Torah study from an angel – one on one.
To be blessed with a Jewish child is to expand the boundaries of Gan Eden to make room for one more holy soul.
(Judaism and the concepts stated above have nothing in common with what is commonly called racism. Race is a situation one is born into and cannot change. Just as a mouse cannot turn into an elephant, a member of the black race can never turn into a Caucasian and visa versa. However, one who was born a gentile can become a Jew and attain a Jewish neshama as if he were a newborn, hence Judaism is not racist.)
An ugly practice has entered into the mainstream of many Jewish communities in the galut and has started to trickle into our holy land. People are getting married later in life – into their thirties, rather than in their early twenties, as was the norm when I was a young man. Without going into the many negative aspects from a halachic and moral viewpoint, these individuals will in the best case bring but 2 or 3 children into the world.
Sexual perverts not only sin against HaShem, for which they will be severely punished, despite all the rhetoric justifying their right and need to be accepted; they betray the future of our nation. For any such couple will not bring a Jewish child into the world.
Late marriages, perverted sexual preferences and just regular non-orthodox families who have two children (and a dog) will eventually disappear, and the Jewish nation will be comprised of orthodox God-fearing families who fulfill the first mitzva in the Torah “pru u’re’vu” – multiply and be fruitful.
Part Two
The Settlement of Amona
[UPDATES BELOW]
In the parasha, Ya’akov rests for the night on Mount Moriah, the future Temple Mount. There he sees the dramatic vision of the angels who guarded him in Eretz Yisrael ascending the ladder to return to heaven, to be replaced by lesser angels who were sent to guard him in the profane galut.
And HaShem appears to Ya’akov saying:
הארץ אשר אתה שוכב עליה לך אתננה ולזרעך
The ground you are lying on I will give to you and to your descendants
The Gemara (Chulin 91b) records the explanation of this phrase by Rabbi Yitzchak:
מלמד שקפלה הקדוש ברוך הוא לכל ארץ ישראל והניחה תחת יעקב אבינו, שתהא נוחה ליכבש לבניו
This comes to teach that HaShem folded (as it would be) all
the land of Yisrael placing it under Yaakov, so that it would be easy to
liberate and settle the land in its time.
Rabbi Yitzchak was expressing the idea metaphorically, that in the future Yehoshua Bin Nun at the head of the Jewish army would liberate the Land without sacrifice.
I submit that the phrase is telling us that just as a human being comprises a single indivisible entity, so too will the holy land be from this moment on an indivisible entity belonging exclusively to Ya’akov’s descendants.
International law has classified the State of Israel as a “military occupier” of the West bank and the Golan. Six UN committees have taken an even larger step towards the muck and mire of political insanity when they declared that the Jewish people have no historic or religious connections to the Temple Mount or to the Kotel.
The Israeli High Court ordered the destruction of the Amona settlement after being in place for 20 years. The court sees itself as being subordinate to international law rather than to Jewish, tradition and history.
One cannot be an occupier in one’s own land. Yehuda and Shomron are the heartland of Eretz Yisrael which was presented to the Jewish people by the Creator. However, when one denies the Torah, it is just a short ideological distance to adopting a gentile orientation and the desire to be accepted by the gentile world.
To uproot the Amona, just as was the uprooting of Gush Katif and giving the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt by Menachem Begin, is a “slap in the face” of the Creator and a denial of our own history.
The highest goal of this generation is the return of our people to the holy land. It overrides any claim to private property some gentile might have, as in the words of Eliyahu the prophet to King Achav when he murdered Naot in order to attain his vineyard:
רצחת וגם ירשת
You have murdered and then taken possession of the victim’s property.
The Romans murdered our people 2000 years ago and the gentiles who came in their wake stole our land.
Amona will be taken down, because of the High Court’s coercive police power. But let it be recorded in the protocols of the Medina, that just as we today have to accept the court’s judicial order, that when the time comes and the law of the land will be the Torah, all people in the Medina will have to comply.
Let us have the active emunah (אמונה) to support the villagers of Amona (עמונה) this time, however we can! HaShem is with us, especially when the world is not!
This post is dedicated l'iluy nishmat my safta, Nazira Cohen Mizrahi, z"l. Unfortunately, I didn't know her - she passed when I was 2 years old and we were on the other side of the country from her (the US, not Israel...) - and I don't know her parents' names. She was born in Haifa in June 1900 as far as I know, and passed on 3 Kislev 5718. I still have relatives in Haifa, but I have not had a chance to reach out for, or to, them. If anyone can help me put this puzzle together, please comment.
***
R' Berland in court in South Africa, from the Randburg Sun. The article I linked to notes that while the charges against him are severe, he is not listed on Interpol. Hmmm.
The injustice continues in Israel at the behest of the nations, whose aim it is to destroy her, no matter how. One of their favorite targets is rabbis who manage to win secular Jews to observance. Rivka at Emunaroma.comthrew down the gauntlet: "...when one of the leading Gedolei HaDor [R' Dov Kook of Tiveria] puts out a public statement clearly linking Rav Berland’s persecution by the Israeli government to these fires - no-one quoted it. No-one mentioned it."
Well, in my last post I linked to it, and now I will mention it, as fully as I can.
For the past several years the sweeping hand of Erev Rav injustice has come against Rav Eliezer Berland, loaded with invective, slander and libel (If the legal system here had proof, it would have been presented by now. They aren't known for hesitation, particularly when it comes to religious Jews. Apparently the "proof" they had previously hasn't held up to serious scrutiny; in fact, it hadn't met the burden expected of it in Holland and other places. It has gotten to the point that someone is trying to take all the Rav's videos down from YouTube based on false accusations of copyright violation. Shuvu Banim Yeshiva vouches for them on its Web site.). The news here (the voice of the Israeli government, or should I say "system"?) says one thing; some rabbis say another and other rabbis say yet other things (see this search for example). Along with all this, too many people trust the news above all else and haven't kept in mind that every report is hearsay. And a lot of people want to see him jailed until he dies, from the accusatory commentary I'm reading — which I won't link to. I would rather see real legal proceedings...if there are going to be any.
Torah basically commands that a judge not favor either a rich person or a poor one. It doesn't matter whether he is a rabbi, the prime minister or a garbage collector (and even though he could be much more): If he (whoever he is) is innocent, he shouldn't be in jail, and he shouldn't be harassed. The principle is that an innocent person should not be in prison, no matter if he (or she) is the simplest or the greatest; and there is no excuse good enough. The only way to find out is through a real trial, if there are real charges to be brought. Case closed.
The following people bear witness to the Rav's character, wholeheartedly believe he is innocent and that he should be permanently freed immediately. (I'm sorry only because I cannot compile a complete, comprehensive list.)
Apparently the government also does, since he has been freedseveral times, only to be put back into prison!
Absurd, right?
I am not speaking to people who uncritically believe every word out of a newspaper or TV presentation, no matter where it comes from in the world, even here in Israel. It is clear that they frequently, if not always, lie; furthermore, no matter what kind of society they live in, they mostly serve the government and ultimately the United Nations. And we know how much they love Israel, right?
***
I could go on....but I think the point has been made. There's more if you care to search for it. Meanwhile, please pray for R' Eliezer ben Etya and that he, and we, will live to see justice done.
By the way, it seems to me that the Rav's parents' names, Hayim and Etya (עטיה) mean "Life" and "Pen of G-d" in Hebrew. Hmmm. May these meanings stand him in good stead.
11 Aug 2016: R' Dovid Chaim Stern testifies of R' Berland's character from a personal conversation with the Steipler Ga'on (Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, zz"l), with whom the middle-aged R' Berland was a Torah-learning partner.
I want to thank Rivka Levy (emunaroma and other sites) for her help with my research for this post.
A number of people have been arrested because they are suspect. This does not mean the problem is solved. Note the order of just a couple of related events from the Times of Israel:
A fire was also reported close to the Israel
Electric Corporation’s huge coal-fired power station in coastal Hadera.
Firefighters said the outbreak was under control.
The IEC has since declared a national emergency due to the large number of fires across the country.
This is serious; HaShem is waking us up from our complacency. We cannot keep holding back our voices from crying out. Fire literally means HOLOCAUST, people. Our enemies won't wait until concentration camps and ovens are built — our trees, our cities, and the physical sources of our modern lives ARE the ovens, unless we act NOW, with emunah that haShem is with us. All the firefighting from the air from all over the world is appreciated, but will not help. We cannot assume that this will be able to be stopped soon.
According to the BBC, the leader of Israel's Labor party, Yitzhak Herzog, "also urged restraint, warning of the dangers of rhetoric that could 'add to the flames'."
Why would that be, if no one is responding to what we say?! If the fires are lighting themselves, as is claimed about half of them are, then why bother objecting to how we speak about them?
It seems that we don't fully know what is going on. I'm not live-blogging this one, since people with more time are already doing that; but I will keep my eyes open. There may be other things happening for which the fires of Israel are, literally, a smoke screen.
We don't believe haShem is punishing us because He enjoys our pain. We need to learn our lessons. There may be many spiritual reasons this extreme trial is upon us. Some suggestions are linked to in the "more reading" below.
Abba sh'baShamayim, please Give Blessed Rain on ALL the Face of Our Land! אבא שבשמים, נא תן טל ומטר לברכה על כל פני האדמה!
All this, as the month of Kislev, a month of signs, wonders and victory for the Jewish People, stands ready to begin later this week, may haShem cause it to live up to its name.
The Gemara (Shabbat 89b) records that at some unspecified time in history HaShem related or will relate to Avraham Avienu “banecha chatu’li” – your sons have sinned against me. And Avraham replied (or will reply) that they should be severely punished. HaShem is not satisfied by this reply and repeats to Ya’akov that his sons have sinned. Ya’akov, like his grandfather Avraham, replied that they should be severely punished for their sins.
HaShem is now displeased with Ya’akov.
He then informed Yitzchak of the low spiritual state of his children, to which Yitzchak defends the Jewish nation, with the major thrust of his defense being the claim that the episode of the Akeida (the binding and near sacrifice of Yitzchak) is sufficient reason for HaShem to forgive the transgressions of Am Yisrael.
What makes the episode of Akeidat Yitzchak, recorded in our parasha, so essential in our requests for forgiveness.
I submit:
The call to sacrifice Yitzchak was made by HaShem to Avraham – not to Yitzchak. So, in fact, Yitzchak had the prerogative to refuse. And had he done so, Avraham would have been exempted from his obligation due to causes beyond his control, and Yitzchak could not have been held liable, because as stated he was not commanded.
Yet Yitzchak agreed to be the sacrifice demanded by HaShem of his father Avraham, for one reason. Despite the fact that HaShem did not command Yitzchak to give up his life, Yitzchak knew that it was HaShem’s will that he be sacrificed on the altar on what was to become the Temple Mount, in Yerushalayim.
By Yitzchak bringing up the episode of the Akeida, to counter HaShem’s implicit warnings that He has taken notice of our dire sins, Yitzchak is saying to HaShem: “You did not command me to relinquish my life at 37 years old under my father’s knife. Yet I agreed for one reason – I knew that that was your wish. We, the Jewish people, also have a wish – it is to be loyal sons to You, our Father-in- Heaven. But we are human beings, make of flesh and blood, distracted and bombarded by the yetzer hara (our corporeal instincts) which seeks to drive us away from the holy Torah. So just as I yielded to what I knew was your desire, so too listen to the wishes of Your People Am Yisrael and forgive them for their sins.
A true Jew is one who not only fulfills the implicit mitzvot of the Written and Oral Torah, but carries out even the implied, tacit and silent wishes of Hashem.
The principle of doing HaShem’s silent wishes is upon us every moment. A Jew who lives only according to the letter of the Halacha while ignoring the spirit of Halacha, is an halachic robot who does not come even close to what a Jew must be. The taking of that “one more step” which we call “lifnim mei’shurat hadin” (beyond the requirements of the law) is what defines a Jew as being God fearing. The Torah says we must give tzedakah (charity). So, one can give money to a needy person like you throw a bone to a dog, or he can speak to the person and give him hope that things in life have a way of turning around.
The Zohar states that there are two kinds of Gehennom – one of fire and the other of ice.
I believe that the fire is for those who have committed a sin in heated passion and the Gehennom of ice awaits those who have fulfilled a mitzva with lack of passion.
Stairway to Heaven
I am fully aware of the pilpulistic contortions and meandering taken by some Halachic “authorities” in the galut to prove that there is no mitzva today to live in Eretz Yisrael.
Open a Chumash to any parsha – you will not be able to escape Eretz Yisrael. Most learned Jews know that it is a Torah mitzva in every generation for every Jew to live in Eretz Yisrael when the gates to the Holy land are open.
But even if you believe that the official mitzva is only when the Mashiach comes, stand in front of a mirror and ask yourself, “Is it HaShem’s desire that a Jew live in Pittsburgh or in His Holy Land of Eretz Yisrael? HaShem indeed wants every Jew to be in the Land that He chose over all others to house His holy Temple and declared the Temple Mount to be the “Stairway to Heaven”.
It is HaShem’s desire that His children be in Eretz Yisrael. Even if your learned rabbi told you that it is not an official mitzva today, it was Yitzchak’s decision to give his life because he knew that it was HaShem’s wish.
Part Two: The Savior of Yisrael
The third chapter of Birkat Hamazon (grace after meals) was authored by Kings David and Shlomo, and deals with Yerushalayim and the Bet Hamikdash (the holy temple). The Gemara (Brachot 49a) discusses the wording of its closing blessing with the conclusion that one may say “Blessed are You… the re-builder of Yerushalayim”, or “Blessed are You… the savior of Yisrael”.
Rashi explains that the phrase “the savior of Yisrael” is equivalent to saying “the re-builder of Yerushalayim” because the salvation of Am Yisrael is dependent on the re-building of Yerushalayim.
My Friend the Yerushalayim Dust-man
Where I live in the Old City of Yerushalayim, there is a dust-man (sanitation worker) who cares for our streets and plazas.
Aharon and I are friends and speak almost every day. He once told me that his wealthy grandfather came from Iran to Eretz Yisrael and established a chain of carpet stores. He gave a store to each of his sons except to Aharon’s father who preferred to be a construction worker to build up Yerushalayim with his own hands.
Aharon followed in his father’s way until he was hurt on a site and could no longer work in construction and became the dust-man of the Jewish Quarter.
A while back, Aharon and I had a heated argument. Aharon claimed that he was a simple Jew in Yerushalayim working hard to support his family. I argued that he, like his father, is a tzadik (righteous one) whose real value in heaven one cannot fathom. In order to emphasis my case, I said to Aharon: “You are, in the eyes of HaShem, more important than the most illustrious spiritual leader in the galut, for you are advancing the advent of the Mashiach, whereas the spiritual leaders in the galut with every shiur, drasha, new shul, yeshiva and mikveh repulse the Mashiach as they strengthen Jewish communities in the gentile galut.
The Perigee
Our rabbis have likened the Jewish people to the moon, because we both wane and nearly vanish but always re-appear.
The moon’s orbit has an elliptical shape, sometimes it is closer to Earth than other times. Astronomers call the closest-to-the-Earth moment the perigee. This week on November 14 the moon became full within about two hours of perigee making it an extra-supermoon, and the Earth was bathed in 30% more moonlight (learn more about this rarity of such a supermoon at NASA and EarthSky.org).
This is a good omen for our nation. What is interesting is the fact that the last time such a super-supermoon occurred was in the year 1948 – when Medinat Yisrael was established.
In conclusion: It is HaShem’s desire that His children be in Eretz Yisrael, even if your learned rabbi tells you that it is not a mitzva today. Remember, it was Yitzchak’s decision to give his life because he knew that it was HaShem’s wish. It is HaShem’s wish that the Jews leave the galut and return to the Holy Land.
