HaChodesh: A Special Month and its First Day

by Rav Hillel Fendel.

This Shabbat we will read not only the last two portions of the Book of Sh'mot – Vayak'hel and Pekudei – but also an additional passage in honor of the special month of Nissan, which begins next week. In fact, the name of this passage is HaChodesh, meaning "The Month."

Why and wherefore do we read HaChodesh? And is it connected with the curious fact that the Torah, which is not a history book, focus sharply in on the first day (Rosh Chodesh) of Nissan in two consecutive years?

The Book of Sh'mot begins, tells a long story of Israelites and their Exodus from Egypt, ending with the construction and completion of the Tabernacle (Mishkan), Israel's portable Holy Temple. Both of these two events center around Rosh Chodesh Nissan.

Chapter 12 in Sh'mot tells us that, shortly before the Plague of the Firstborns, G-d commanded Moshe and Aharon to tell Israel how to commemorate the coming days. On the first day of Nissan in the year 2448, the Israelites were instructed, first of all, how to relate to Rosh Chodesh Nissan: "This [new moon] shall be the head of the month for you, the first month of the year for you" (Sh'mot 12,1). The second of these two commands tells us to ensure that Nissan retains a prominent place in the Jewish calendar.

As Rav Eliyahu Ki-Tov writes in Sefer HaTodaah (Book of our Heritage), the verse states "the first month for you" – lakhem, in Hebrew -  spelled with the same letters as the word melekh, meaning "king."

The first command in this verse, however, is more specific. It instructs us regarding the laws of determining Rosh Chodesh, and also to set a permanent annual calendar. This command might seem trivial, but in fact it is a central tenet in Judaism in more than one way. For one thing, without knowing what day of the week or month it is, we would not be able to observe many of the Torah's commandment, such as the Sabbath and holidays.

No Jews in the Land of Israel? Impossible!
In addition, Maimonides (in his Book of Mitzvot, positive mitzvah #153) writes that the mitzvah of determining the months and festivals is fulfilled exclusively by the Great Court in the Land of Israel, or by virtue of its calculations. The Rambam continues: "Let us assume, for example, that there would be no Jews in the Land – Heaven forbid that G-d would do this, because He promised that he would never totally erase the signs or vestiges of the Jewish nation… - we would not be able to calculate the calendar…"

This tells us two very basic principles of Judaism. One is that the so-critical calculations regarding the beginning of the months and year are not made by individuals, but only on a national basis, by the Court in Jerusalem. Until the Court is reinstated, the calendar that we use is based directly on its original calculations.

The second point is that the lack of Jews in the Holy Land is something that can simply never happen, because it would mean, Heaven forbid, the end of the Jewish Nation – which is impossible as long as the sun, moon and stars exist (see Yirmiyahu 31,34-35); without a Jewish presence in the Land, there is no Judaism!

Back to the first Rosh Chodesh Nissan: G-d further commanded us on that day how to start preparing for the first Passover celebration, including when to take a Paschal lamb, and not to eat leaven but only matzot for the week of the holiday.

The Ten Firsts

Exactly a year later, on the second Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the Torah tells us exactly what happened on that very special day – and it was quite a list! The first thing that happened, as we read in this week's Torah reading in Sh'mot 40,2 and 17), is that the Mishkan was finally erected – after a few months of construction and a few more months of waiting for the month of Nissan to start!

In addition, the Gemara tells us that no fewer than ten "firsts" happened that day. Given that the sanctification period for the sons of Aharon as priests had just ended, it was the first-ever day that the Cohanim, and not the first-borns, served as Priests; it was the first day that the regular daily Temple service was held; it was the first time that the Priestly Blessing was recited; and more.

Why, Then?
When we speak of the special HaChodesh reading, then, we have to figure out why the first one was chosen, referring to the Rosh Chodesh just before the Exodus – and not the second one, which was a festive day having to do with the Grand Opening of the Mishkan!

According to Rashi, the answer is clear: He says (Tr. Megillah 29a) that the HaChodesh passage is connected to the upcoming holiday of Passover, in that many laws of the holiday are included there. It is therefore logical to read from the Rosh Chodesh passage that deals with Passover.

However, the Jerusalem Talmud (JT) has a different take. Based on a question it asks, we can see that the JT feels that the main thing about HaChodesh is that the Mishkan was erected on that day. Let us explain.

The JT asks why it is that during this period when four special passages are read over the course of a few weeks, the passage of the Red Heifer comes before HaChodesh? It ought to be the opposite, the JT states, because the Red Heifer was prepared for purifying the Israelites on the second day of Nissan – which comes after the construction of the Mishkan on the first day! This tells us that HaChodesh is meant to commemorate the Mishkan – so why, then, is the passage that we read taken from Sh'mot 12 and not from Sh'mot 40 or Vayikra 9, which tell the story of the first days of the Mishkan?

Firstly, let us answer the JT's question: The passage of the Red Heifer precedes that of The Month because it "involves the purification of all of Israel" – reason enough to give it precedence.

Let us now try to answer the question on the JT: It could be that the Sages did not want to choose to read about that second Rosh Chodesh, when the Mishkan was dedicated, because of the terrible tragedy that occurred in the midst of the festivities: the deaths of two of Aharon's sons, Nadav and Avihu, for having offered up a "strange fire." [See Vayikra 10 to learn about this tragic episode.]

Other Possibilities
It could also be that the passage in Sh'mot 12 was chosen because of the critical importance of the mitzvah of having a set calendar, as we explained above. Or it could be because of its relevance to the time of year – Passover; it is as an essential reminder that the month of Nissan is approaching and we must prepare to ascend to Jerusalem in purity.

In any event, even though we read the Passover section for HaChodesh, it is good to have in mind as well that this upcoming day of Rosh Chodesh Nissan marks the anniversary of the Mishkan's presence in Israel – and therefore the beginning of G-d's "dwelling in our midst" (Sh'mot 25,8).

Shekalim: The Half-Shekel – Then and Today

by Rav Netanel Yosifun, Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshivat Orot Netanya, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

This coming Shabbat is known as Shabbat Shekalim, because we will read aloud – as we do very year before Rosh Chodesh Adar – the passage of the Shekalim (Sh'mot 30,11-16), in addition to the regular weekly portion of Mishpatim. The Shekalim passage deals with the half-shekel that every Jew was called upon to donate annually for the Temple service.

In the coming days, we will certainly be flooded with advertisements and announcements calling on all of us to fulfill the "remembrance of the half-shekel” – zekher l'machtzit hashekel – by donating to various important institutions. Undoubtedly this will provide us with opportunities to fulfill the important mitzvah of charity. Let us first, however, recall the original mitzvah and what it involved.

When the Holy Temple stood, the communal offerings, such as the daily Tamid and Musaf sacrifices, were purchased with communal funds. The half-shekalim were donated during the course of the month of Adar, and each year, from Nissan through Adar, only the shekalim of that year were used; the funds were not carried over from one year's communal offerings to the next, but were rather used for other Temple needs. As the Mishna teaches, announcements were made throughout the land to remind everyone to fulfill the mitzvah of donating their share. Today, in commemoration of those proclamations, we read the shekalim passage from the Torah.

Even from distant lands, almost wherever Jews lived, they would contribute the half-shekels to the Holy Temple. With great self-sacrifice, Jews from all over the world would send, or bring, the sacred funds. Sometimes they had to cross deserts and hostile territories, where bandits would attack their caravans in an attempt to seize the chests of money, and the pilgrims would have to fight fiercely to protect the Temple funds.

Several centuries ago, half-shekel coins of pure silver somehow spread throughout the Jewish world, and it was claimed that these were coins from the Temple period. Many Jews, with great longing for the rebuilding of the Temple, spent large sums of money to obtain such a coin. It was later discovered, however, that the coins were forgeries; their value dropped, of course, but the inner yearning for the great and holy Beit Mikdash remained unchanged.

In the last generation, several half-shekel coins were discovered in archaeological excavations in the area of the Temple Mount. More recently, a half-shekel was even found in soil that had been removed by the Muslim Waqf from the Temple Mount in its attempts to destroy any vestiges of the Holy Temple. The discovered coin was minted during the time of the great Jewish revolt against the Romans that led up the exile and destruction some 1,950 years ago.

The Torah states in the Shekalim passage that G-d told Moshe, "This they shall bring: a half-shekel of the sanctuary standard." Rashi explains that the word "this" indicates as if Hashem was pointing out to Moshe a coin of fire and saying, "This is what they shall give."

We know of another Sanctuary vessel that G-d pointed out to Moshe in this manner, and that was the Menorah. This was because the Menorah was very complex, and G-d had to make it Himself for him. But a coin is not so difficult to fashion; why did G-d have to point it out to Moshe - and in a format of fire, to boot?

The answer is that this is precisely the profundity of the mitzvah of the half-shekel. It is a mitzvah based on silver, which is the basis for all physical and material human existence – but when it is donated to the Holy Temple, it becomes a spiritual fire that ascends and raises up.

During this period of the year, when we read about the half-shekel and remember it with charitable donations, let us pray that will be privileged – this very year! – to fulfill this mitzvah not only in "memorial" form, but in actual practice: giving a half-shekel to our genuine Beit HaMikdash, in all its glory upon its speedy rebuilding, Amen!

Shavuot: The Absolute Bonds Between Israel and Torah

by Rav Zalman Baruch Melamed, Rosh Yeshivat Beit El, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel. (part of a talk delivered last year in Yeshivat Beit El)

The Sages of the Talmud asked: In the Torah's account of Creation, the sixth day is termed Yom HaShishi, as if to say "The Friday" – as opposed to the other days, which do not have "the" in their names. Why is this? And the answer is that this alludes to the "special" sixth day – the sixth day of the month of Sivan, on which the Torah was given at Mt. Sinai. The lesson is that Creation was made contingent upon Israel accepting the Torah: "G-d said to His creations: If Israel accepts the Torah [given on The Sixth Day], fine, but if not, I will return you to your original state of tohu vavohu, nothingness (B'reshit 1,2)."

That is to say, the essential aim and intent of the world is that it must have Torah and that G-d's light must illuminate the world – and therefore, it must be that the Nation of Israel will be in the world to accept the Torah. Israel is the nation imbued with the natural Divine unique spark suitable for the Torah. Just like it is totally inconceivable that the world will not have Torah, so too it must be that there will be people who are worthy of accepting it and via whom the Torah will appear in the world. This is Am Yisrael.

When we approach the Torah with this understanding, that Israel is innately harmonized with Torah – all of our Torah study will take on valuable significance. There is a great difference if it is our nature to study the Torah and fulfill its mitzvot, or if we just choose to do so on our own. If the latter, it means that there is no permanence to our connection with Torah; our choice could conceivably change. But if this is a matter of nature – nature does not change. Without our unique innate Divine spark, our acceptance of the Torah would not have been absolute – leaving the fate of the entire world in doubt, as we saw above.

… The Talmud also teaches that G-d forced upon us the acceptance of the Torah, by symbolically turning Mt. Sinai upon us and threatening not to remove it if we did not agree to receive the Torah (Shabbat 88a). Why is this? The Maharal of Prague explains that this signifies the permanence and absoluteness of the bonds between Israel and Torah and that they can never change. They are not dependent upon our behavior, or our consent; they are simply there, rock-solid and unchangeable. True, Israel said, "We will do and we will listen" (Sh'mot 24,7), and this is correct: Israel has a fundamental desire to keep the Torah. But G-d wished to inform us that this is not just a voluntary matter, but is something much more intrinsic and eternal than we thought; it is bigger than just our consent.

With this introduction and preparation, we can correctly approach our renewed acceptance of Torah on this upcoming Shavuot festival. Just before the Stand at Mt. Sinai, G-d told us that we were to be a "kingdom of priests and a holy nation" and a "treasure to Me among all the nations" (Sh'mot 19) – and with this understanding, we were given the Torah and instructed, "I am the Lord your G-d Who took you out of Egypt" (Sh'mot 20).

May we merit, with G-d's help, to renew our covenant with G-d and deepen it, and may G-d help us to celebrate Shavuot in the Beit HaMikdash in the most complete and full manner, together with all of Am Yisrael – and then the Divine Presence will appear in the greatest and most sublime manner, in the rebuilt Holy Temple, speedily in our days!

The Paschal Offering

by Rav Moshe Leib HaCohen Halbershtadt, Founder and Director of YORU Jewish Leadership, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

When the Children of Israel left Egypt, G-d commanded them to take lambs, one for each household, on the 10^th day of the month of Nissan, and slaughter them for the Paschal sacrifice. (See Sh'mot 12). Specifically, Moshe told the elders of Israel, "Pull forth or buy for yourselves sheep for your families and slaughter the Passover sacrifice" (verse 21).

Elaborating on the word Mish'chu, "Pull forth," the Medrash (Sh'mot Rabba 16,3) states:

When the Holy One, Blessed be He, told Moshe to slaughter the Passover lamb, Moshe said: "Master of the world, how can I do this thing? Do You not know that the sheep is Egypt's god [and they will stone us; see Sh'mot 8,22]?!"

G-d answered: "By your life that Israel will not leave Egypt before they slaughter the gods of the Egyptians' before their very eyes, and thus I will show them that their gods are worthless.”

And in fact that very night He smote the firstborns of Egypt, and that night Israel slaughtered their Passover lambs and consumed them. And the Egyptians saw their firstborns killed and their gods slaughtered and they could do nothing, as is written, "And the Egyptians were burying all their firstborns that G-d had smitten, and G-d had destroyed their idols" (Bamidbar 33,4). This is a fulfillment of the verse, "All worshippers of graven images will be humiliated" (Psalms 97,7).

Why did G-d test Israel with such a difficult test? Why did He command them to do something that was liable to provoke the Egyptians to stone them? Why did G-d not simply continue to smite the Egyptians with miraculous plagues?

Israel's Idol Worship

Sh'mot 12 also tells us that Israel was commanded to take the lambs on the 10^th of the month, and to hold them in safekeeping until the 14^th of the month, when they were to perform the slaughter. The Medrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Sh'mot 195) asks why Israel was told to take the lambs such a long time before they were to be slaughtered. It answers:

Israel was awash with idol-worship – a sin that we are commanded against in a mitzvah that is equivalent to all the mitzvot of the Torah … If one violates just the one mitzvah of idol-worship, he is like one who violates all the mitzvot of the Torah, throws off the yoke of Torah, and comes out brazenly and mockingly against the words of Torah… Therefore G-d commanded us here to "pull out" – mishchu u'kchu – and draw away from idol worship, and adhere to the mitzvot.

As the Zayit Raanan (a commentary on the Yalkut Shimoni by the famed Magen Avraham) explained, the Israelites also fulfilled other mitzvot at the time, but by killing the gods of the Egyptians – and the object of their own idolatry as well – they were truly abolishing idol worship.

How to Escape the Deep Pit of Egyptian Impurity

It appears that the message of the holy Torah here is how to avoid impurity. It was telling the Hebrews who left Egypt how they could climb the stairs of spirituality all the way to the summit: the acceptance of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. The way to do this is firstly to totally leave all evil. As written in Psalms, "Forsake evil and do good" - precisely in that order. The first prerequisite before quitting Egypt was to "leave all sin." They must depart from the gods of Egypt by slaughtering them before their eyes, and only afterwards would they be able to begin the process of "do good," of leaving Egypt and its impurities, and then climbing the spiritual ladder, step by step until they receive the Torah.

For a person cannot become ritually clean when immersing in a ritual bath if he is holding a reptile in his hand… They could not have left Egypt and expected to become pure if they were still involved in idol worship; they had to first destroy all vestiges thereof, with great sacrifice and at significant risk to themselves – and only then could they begin the climb upwards to the greatest spiritual revelation in history: the Giving of the Torah by the Holy One, Blessed be He.

The Recipe for Spiritual Ascent

This is in fact a very fundamental principle in the service of G-d: One cannot climb the ladder of spirituality merely by doing good deeds, without first ridding himself of corrupt ideology. To try to improve spirituality while still holding on to bad deeds is a contradiction in terms. First the Paschal lamb must be destroyed and slaughtered, the ideological reptile must be cast aside - and only then can we embark upon a journey of spiritual ascent, of "do good," of mikveh, purification, of rising spiritually, and coming close to G-d.

May it be G-d's will that we merit to see His return to Zion, and the reestablishment of His Temple on the Mount, to where we will go up and bring the Pesach offering at its right time!

The Positive Side of Pesach Preparations

by Rav Netanel Yosifun, Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshivat Orot Netanya, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

I once invited over some people for a Tu B'Shvat seder, exactly two months before Passover. One of the women said she couldn't make it: "I'm too busy cleaning for Pesach…"

Fulfilling the Torah's mitzvot often takes time – some more, some less. But for Pesach, we all expend much effort and time in preparations. We clean, scrub, search and destroy every crumb of chametz (and even some that are not chametz…) that we can find. Not everyone starts quite as early as Tu B'shvat, but the idea is clear.

There are Halakhic sources for the manifold preparations for Pesach. The Gemara (Megillah 4a) tells us: "Moshe instituted that Israel should ask and study about the [current] festival: the laws of Pesach on Pesach, of Shavuot on Shavuot, and of Sukkot on Sukkot." That is, the time for this study is on the holiday itself.

But we learn in another Gemara (Pesachim 6a) that for Pesach, the time for asking and studying is 30 days before the holiday! Why is this night of Pesach different than all others?

The Beit Yosef, author of the Shulchan Arukh, answers that the laws of Pesach are very many and detailed, more than the other holidays. He also notes that many of the laws must be fulfilled even before Pesach, such as burning the chametz and the like.

In the times of the Holy Temple, the Paschal sacrifice was offered, as the Torah mandates, on the day before the holiday, and could then be eaten that night, again as the Torah mandates, at what we now call the Passover Seder. In fact, sometimes the Bible itself uses the word "Pesach" to refer to "Passover eve," the time of the sacrifice (see Rosh HaShanah 13a, Tosafot s.v. d'akrivu). Here again, we see an emphasis on the time before Pesach, the time of preparation for the holiday.

Let us delve further into the nature and importance of these preparations. To this end, let us ask the following: We know that there is a mitzvah to tell and retell the story of the Exodus on Passover. In the Haggadah we see that it must be told beginning with the g'nut, the difficult and painful parts, and ending with the shevach, the positive parts of the Redemption from the house of bondage. Why must we tell about the "preparatory" stage of the subjugation and the hardships, instead of sufficing with the happy ending?

The answer, of course, is that the difficult period during which we were enslaved in Egypt has great importance. G-d specifically, in the Covenant Between the Pieces that He forged with Avraham Avinu, assigned us to a torturous period of enslavement – and He had good reason. The purpose was that we experience the crucible of Egypt, which would strengthen and forge us into a great nation of G-d, and would also leave us with r'chush gadol, massive material possessions. In short, we would become a nation wealthy both materially and spiritually.

The emerging nation of Israel in Egypt can be likened to a fetus in its mother's womb. The fetus grows there in a phenomenal manner – proportionately much more than it will develop at any time after its birth. It begins as a solitary cell, weighing nothing, and ends up being born with a weight of several pounds! Israel, too, began in Egypt with 70 souls, and ended up numbering a few million (over 600,000 men aged 20-60, plus the other males, and women and children). This is a huge population growth, and it took place precisely during their period of subjugation. In fact, the members of the Tribe of Levy, which did not experience slavery in Egypt, multiplied less than the other tribes!

Egypt in Hebrew is Mitzrayim, similar to the word meitzarim, "narrow straits." It is thus like a pressure cooker, which amasses more and more steam inside until it finally bursts forth with tremendous power. The same happened with Israel: Its strengths and abilities increasingly grew in Egypt, finally bursting forth with tremendous power.

This is what is meant by "beginning with g'nut" – and is also the idea of the days of hard preparations before Pesach. The very engagement with Pesach and its preparations forms within us an inner process of filling ourselves with the ideas and lessons of the holiday, which, with G-d's help, will burst forth with great vigor at the Seder table and in the festival days afterwards.

And perhaps this is yet another explanation for the name of the Sabbath before Pesach, which is known as Shabbat HaGadol – because on these days we "grow" (from the root ligdol).

May we merit this year to commemorate Pesach with gadlut (greatness), in our glorious and holy Beit Mikdash!

The Message of the Red Cow, Despite All

by Rav Chaim Navon, rabbi, philosopher, writer, and publicist, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

Rabban Yochanan's explanation of an incomprehensible statute – and the students' response

Our Torah reading this week includes the section called Parashat Parah. It deals with the laws of the Red Heifer (Parah Adumah), via which one who has been defiled by contact with a corpse can be purified (when the Holy Temple in Jerusalem stood and functioned). The laws of the Red Heifer are the archetype of laws that cannot be explained with mortal logic.

A woman who was in the process of becoming religiously observant once approached our late saintly Rosh Yeshiva [of Yeshivat Har Etzion], Rabbi Yehuda Amital, with a question. She said she would like to be able to observe all the commandments, but it would be hard for her to accept all of them all at once. Her question was: "What mitzvot should I start with?"

Rabbi Amital opened a book and showed her the following Midrashic teaching of our Sages. In Marah, somewhere in the Sinai Desert, the newly-freed Children of Israel accepted upon themselves, even before receiving the Torah at Sinai, three individual mitzvot. Rashi to Sh'mot 15,25 says that the three were Shabbat, the Red Heifer, and monetary laws.

Rav Amital added that what makes this set of mitzvot unique is that one of the three, Shabbat, is "between man and G-d;" another one, monetary law, is "between man and man;" and the third, the Red Heifer, has no rational explanation. "And you, too," Rav Amital said to the woman, "should take upon yourself three mitzvot: one between man and G-d, one between man and man, and one that you don't understand and don't expect to understand – and in this way you will learn from the get-go that Judaism demands both understanding and obedience."

In the eyes of our Sages, the passage of the Parah Adumah is the classic representative of all mitzvot that we cannot comprehend. Even King Solomon, the wisest of man, gave up trying to understand it: "Shlomo said, I left no teaching in the world not-understood, but when I got to Parah Adumah – I said, 'I will become wise, but it was too far from me'" (Proverbs 7,23).

The Ramban [to D'varim 22,6] emphasizes, however, that this does not mean that the mitzvah of Parah Adumah has no justification or explanation at all, and that it is simply arbitrary and exists just for the sake of blind obedience. Heaven forbid to even say such a possibility. Rather, every mitzvah has both rhyme and reason – even if they are sometimes not accessible to us.

The Talmud tells of a gentile who once challenged Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai regarding the illogic in the mitzvah of Parah Adumah. He claimed that mixing the cow's ashes with hyssop and the like in order to purify people was mere superstition. Rabban Yochanan countered by asking him, "Have you ever seen a man possessed by an evil spirit?" The gentile said yes. "What do you do in such circumstances?" The gentile replied, "We perform an exorcism. We light a fire, bring roots, make smoke, sprinkle water on the affected person, and the spirit flees." "Let your ears hear what you are saying!" exclaimed Rabban Yochanan. "Our Red Heifer ceremony is also a form of exorcism for one possessed by an unclean spirit."

The gentile accepted the answer, but Rabban Yocḥanan’s students did not: "You drove him away with mere straw,” they said, “but what will you answer us?” That is, they knew that this was not the true answer. They wanted to know the logic of the ceremony in terms of Judaism itself!

R. Yocḥanan answered directly: “By your lives! A dead body does not defile, and the waters of the Red Heifer do not purify. Rather, G-d simply says: 'I have ordained a decree, I have issued a statute, and you have no permission to transgress it. As is written, This is the statute of the Torah.'" (Medrash Badmidbar Rabba 19,8)

Contrary to what some academic circles believe, this Medrash is not saying that there is actually no logic at all to the Torah's commands. Rather, when Rabban Yochanan says that a corpse does not defile, he means that impurity and purity do not reflect reality as we perceive it. These states are rather a halakhic abstraction. It could be, for example, that G-d wants us to stay away from the dead, and therefore decreed that one who touches a corpse becomes halakhically tamei, impure – just as on the Sabbath, certain items are muktzeh and may not be moved. Neither the tamei person nor the muktzeh item has changed in any real way; only their halakhic status has changed.

There are those who lean towards explaining the Torah's mitzvot in "realistic" terms: Unkosher meat is "not healthful," impurity is "transparent dirt," and the like. The danger in this approach is that the Torah becomes merely a tool to serve us, and then leads us to think in terms of black magic and the like. To counter this, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai states clearly: Parah Adumah is not a "real" phenomenon, but rather represents G-d's infinite and eternal wisdom.

This can be proven from the Torah's command regarding "leprosy of a house" (Vayikra 14,36). When the priest comes to possibly declare a house "impure," he first orders the house cleared of all items – just in case he will have to declare the house impure, which would then render everything in it impure as well. If we view impurity as some kind of metaphysical dirt in the real world, what good does it do to remove the items from the house after they were already "infected?"

Rather, as we said: Impurity is not physically real, but rather Halakhic; the Torah does not come to tell us the reality, but rather comes to shape it.

What primarily amazes me in this Medrash is the reaction of the students. They catch on right away that the "magic" answer has nothing to it; what satisfies them is rather the idea that we cannot understand G-d's ways. It appears to me, unfortunately, that today's students would respond the opposite. The mature, developed answer regarding the limitations of mortal logic would appear to them to be a weak, "straw" answer, while the "magical" explanation would appeal to today's generation. And I fear that this slightly childish approach attracts not only our younger students.

This is another proof that the spiritual world of our Sages of blessed memory, 2,000 years ago, was richer and more mature than ours today.

The Month of Adar: Clearing the Table

by Rav Aviad Gadot, an IDF Captain (reserves) and former Head of the Combat Engineering Training Base, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

A little-known tractate in the Talmud is Shekalim, right after the tractate of Pesachim (though in the Jerusalem Talmud it follows Megillah). It begins by discussing all the tasks that must be done in the public space in the month of Adar:

"On the first day of Adar, the Beit Din (court) announces regarding the collection of shekels [the annual half-shekel obligatory contribution to the Temple treasury], and also regarding the obligation to uproot kil'ayim [forbidden mixtures of crops in gardens and fields]. And on the 15^th of Adar, the Scroll of Esther is read in the cities [that had been surrounded by walls from the time of Joshua bin Nun]. They also repair the roads and streets that were damaged in the winter, and the cisterns, and they do whatever is needed for the public welfare, and they mark the Jewish gravesites anew; and the court's agents would even go out regarding kil'ayim [see explanation below]."

The obligation to give half-shekalim to the Holy Temple is of Biblical origin, as we read in the Torah this past Shabbat from a passage in Parashat Ki Tisa. The Torah does not note, however, the exact time for the collection of the coins.

The Rambam writes: "It is a Torah commandment for every Israelite man to donate a half-shekel every year. This includes even a poor man who is supported by charity… The Torah states, 'The wealthy shall not give more [than a half-shekel] and the poor shall not give less' … It shall be given all at once, and not in installments."

The mitzvah is a personal one upon each individual. This is why initially, the Beit Din simply "announces" this law, as a reminder that each person must fulfill his obligation to give a half-shekel.

The Gemara in Tractate Megillah explains that the purpose of this mitzvah has to do with an additional, general obligation to offer "new" sacrifices on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, right after Adar. That is, on this day we start to purchase the public sacrifices from the new annual collection of shekalim, and therefore the court announces the obligation a month earlier to give enough time to collect the contributions. As the new year [of months] begins in Nissan, the service of G-d in the Temple will be performed on the basis of a renewed national dedication.

The second mitzvah that we recall on Rosh Chodesh Adar is the prohibition to mix certain type of grain and fruit, known as kil'ayim. This is a Biblical obligation in the Land of Israel.

That is, at this time we direct not only our hearts and minds to the Holy Mount in Jerusalem via the half-shekalim, but also to our careful fulfillment of the details of the law regarding what we raise in the fields of the Holy Land in general. The land has awakened from its winter sleep, when weeds and other growths proliferated wildly, and we now begin to plant in an intentional, mindful manner.

Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) explains in his commentary on the Torah: "On the first of Adar the Court would announce regarding kil'ayim; this is the time when the grains have sprouted all over, and emissaries of the Beit Din would even go out to warn the field-owners to clean their fields of kil'ayim. They would say: 'Keep in mind that this is the land of the Torah, and the rules of G-d's Torah apply here.'"

This helps us understand the continuation of the Mishna, which states that in Adar the emissaries of the Sages and the Beit Din also begin to take care of "all the needs of the many." This includes the preparations for the masses of Israelites who are about to fulfill the Biblical obligation to ascend to Jerusalem to "see the face of G-d" [based on Sh'mot 23,15 and other verses]. The roads are widened, and the mikvaot are refurbished so that they can purify themselves as required. What else is included in "all the needs of the many?"

The Jerusalem Talmud elaborates (Shekalim 1,1): "Judging monetary cases, and cases that involve capital punishment and lashes, and receiving dedicated donations to the Temple, and dealing with the Sotah, and burning the Red Heifer, and judging eglah arufah, eved ivri, metzora…"

Essentially, what we see is that when the month of Adar begins, the courts are very busy with cases that may have piled up over the year, in a drive to "clear the table," on both the communal and individual planes. These important "fixes" are of course not limited to Adar or Nissan. Rather, the Mishna is apparently telling us that these Biblical mitzvot of Shekalim and kil'ayim are stepping-stones to a rectification of all aspects of life. It can be likened to the pulses of the heart that send the blood streaming to the entire body.  

Perhaps this explains why when we give our half-shekalim on the day before Purim nowadays, the money is not used only for the needs of the poor, but towards any cause that helps increase the proliferation of Torah in the Jewish community (see Rav Ovadiah Yosef's responsum in Yechaveh Daat I, 86).

May G-d bless us that we see the rebuilding of the Holy Temple, with Priests serving there, Levites making music, and the other Israelites at their stations as well.

Tu B'Shvat: How the Fruits of the Land of Israel Comforted Rabbi Berlin

by Rav Netanel Yosifun, Rosh Yeshivat Orot Netanya, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

At the end of his life, the great Netziv of Volozhin – Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin, Rosh Yeshivat Volozhin – was weak and ill, both physically and otherwise. The Russian authorities had ordered that secular studies be taught in the renowned Yeshiva for six hours a day (!), which was of course unacceptable to the Netziv, and so he closed down the institution. In addition, he and the other Yeshiva teachers were expelled from the area, and he was forced to wander from place to place.

The Netziv thereupon decided that he would move to Eretz Yisrael, his love for which was evident in all his many writings. This in fact gave him hope and happiness. However, his doctors ultimately forbade him from making the difficult trip, and he died in eastern Europe in August 1893.

But behold, several months before his death, a final ray of light and joy shined down upon him – directly from our Holy Land. His son Rabbi Meir Bar-Ilan, president of the American Mizrachi movement, described this event as follows:

"It happened just before Pesach of 1893. The 'Carmel' store selling wine made in the Land of Israel had just opened. When my father came to Warsaw, Yaakov Brody [a founder of Rechovot and co-owner of Carmel] and the directors of Carmel sent him some bottles of wine. Despite his physical and spiritual suffering, his face shined with joy when he received the wine, and he said, 'Thanks to G-d that we have merited to have wine from Eretz Yisrael, from a vineyard planted by Jews in the Land of Israel. It is a great privilege for all of us to 'eat of its fruits and be satiated from its goodness' [as we recite in the blessing after grains and Land of Israel fruits]. Blessed is He Who has brought us to this day!

"He did not stop expressing his bliss at the fact that we were able to enjoy the fruits of Eretz Yisrael for several days, until it was no longer a novelty. And even though he was told that the wine was too strong for his physical state, he insisted on drinking the Land of Israel wine on both Seder nights. With every blessing that he recited over the Four Cups, his tremendous happiness was evident to all."

This coming week we will commemorate Tu B'Shvat (the 15^th day of the month of Shvat, commonly known as the Jewish New Year for Trees). This was the day that the students of the Arizal (Rav Yitzchak Luria of 16^th-century Tzfat) instituted as the day in which we connect with the special qualities of the Holy Land and its holy fruits. The Netziv was in fact one of a long line of great Torah giants who extolled at length of the virtues of the fruits of Eretz Yisrael.

The Ben Ish Chai (R. Yosef Chaim of Baghdad, master of Jewish Law and Kabbalah, d. 1909) wrote that enjoying the fruits of Eretz Yisrael is an aspect of the mitzvah of showing love for the Land. He was once asked whether it might be considered gluttonous to make a special trip of a few days simply to eat tasty fruits in a certain place in Eretz Yisrael. He answered by citing the Talmud (Eruvin 30a) that recounts the following incident by one of the rabbis:

"When we would follow R. Yochanan to eat of the [famously sweet] fruits of Ginosar [near Tiberias] – if we were 100 [people], each of us would take ten fruits, and if we were ten, each of us would take 100 – and each hundred of these fruits could not fit into a basket holding three se'ahs."

The Ben Ish Chai then concluded: "It is thus clearly stated that R. Yochanan and 100 sages did this, and this was the entire purpose of their trek, and certainly their intentions were for their love of the Land and for the sake of Heaven, to eat of its sweet and important fruits, and they were all righteous and holy … and since your intentions are the same, for the love of the Land and to thank G-d for the Land and its good fruits – go and eat in happiness.."

Lessons from the Manna

The Chessed L'Avraham wrote that the manna fell for the Israelites in the desert but not when they arrived in the Holy Land – because the Land had its own holy fruits which, like the manna, had the holiness of the Divine Presence. In other ways, too, the fruits of the Land are like the manna: Just like the manna changed forms in accordance with G-d's will, so too the fruits of the Land. Let us elaborate.

The manna was supposed to be eaten and not saved for the next day – and if it was left over until the morning, it would become wormy and foul-smelling. On the Sabbath, however, it would remain fresh and tasty, just as the manna which G-d commanded us to save in a jar in the Holy of Holies for future generations. In addition, on weekdays, the manna maintained a fixed dosage of an omer per person, whereas on Shabbat, the manna doubled its quantity, even for those who gathered less.

During the week, everything is contracted, both in time (shorter "shelf life" for the manna) and in quantity. This is in contrast with the holy day of Sabbath, when the time for eating manna is increased, as is the quantity – just as spirituality expands infinitely, in contrast with the limitations of materialism. The manna thus taught that one receives in proportion to his ties with G-d's word and with sanctity.

The same is true in Eretz Yisrael, and particularly regarding its holy fruits. The Torah promises us abundance and long life in the Land if we adhere to G-d's word, for that is what the Land of Israel is all about: the manifestation of G-d's word in our material reality, and that following His word brings economic and practical success. As we read in the second paragraph of Kriat Shma: "If you adhere to My commandments… You will gather in your grain, oil and wine [in abundance]… [all this] so that you and your children will live long on the Land that G-d swore to give your ancestors" (D'varim 11, 13-21).

How fortunate are we that we have merited to live in the Holy Land, and that we can eat of its fruits. This Tu B'Shvat - and every Tu B'Shvat - let us eat from the holy fruits of this Land, let us thank G-d for all the goodness He showers upon us, and with this we will merit to rise up and connect with the holiness of the Divine Presence that is being revealed in our Land!

Emuna: History of a Calendrical Dispute – and its Resolution

by Rav Shlomo Hecht, Beit Hillel rabbi, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

The Jewish calendar marks the epitome of Jewish unity; the same one is used in every single Jewish community around the world. But for a few years over a millennium ago, it wasn't quite so uniform, and if the dispute hadn't been resolved, this year we would have had a problem…

This week's Torah portion of Bo features the commandment to fix an annual lunar calendar and sanctify each new month (new moon) as it begins. As such, now is an appropriate time to recall a major Rabbinic dispute of more than 1,100 years ago, which, most fortunately, was resolved "just in time."

The issue was: When certain specific events happen, how do they affect the determination as to which days of the week the festivals are to occur? This of course has major ramifications, and especially in a year like this one, in which according to one of the opinions, this coming Passover, which is set to fall out on Saturday night, would actually be on Sunday night.

On the one hand, R. Aharon ben Meir was the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Geon Yaakov in Eretz Yisrael, a direct descendant of Hillel the Elder and R. Yehuda HaNasi, and the leading scholar in the Land of Israel. On the other side stood a younger Torah scholar in Babylonia, a promising scholar named Saadia ben Yosef – soon to be R. Saadia Gaon.

Their dispute revolved around the question of a certain type of molad that comes out on Rosh HaShanah after midday. The molad is essentially the "birth" of the new moon, when it can first be seen after having disappeared from sight at the end of the previous month. The new month is generally declared a short time after the molad is, or could be, observed. However, one of the exceptions to this rule is that a molad zaken – a molad that occurs after midday on Rosh HaShanah – the holiday of Rosh HaShanah is pushed down one day, as are, consequently, all the succeeding festivals up to and including Sukkot. That is, if Rosh HaShanah was supposed to be on Monday, it would actually be on Tuesday instead – so as to ensure that the new moon is seen on the first day of the year and not afterwards.

Other considerations that must be taken into account when scheduling the year are 1) that Yom Kippur must not fall out on either Friday or Sunday, because of Shabbat considerations, and 2) that no year must be more than two days longer than another (not including the leap month of Adar Sheni).

The process of determining the calendar, briefly, depends on the determination as to whether the year is a leap year or not. Based on this, we calculate when the molad of the month of Tishrei will occur in the upcoming year and in the year following it. The theoretical date for Rosh Hashanah is established, and then the days of Rosh Hashanah for the two years are adjusted so that the length of the year does not require more than seven full months of 30 days or fewer than five.

The dispute between R. Aharon ben Meir and R. Saadiah in the fateful year concerned whether the slight gap between midday and the molad of Tishrei constituted enough of a delay. The molad was actually some 13 minutes after midday, and R. Aharon said that anything less than 35 minutes did not require pushing off Rosh HaShanah. The next year there was to be a similar discrepancy. According to the calculations, this dispute meant a gap of one to two days between when the holidays were to be scheduled for the coming years.

This year, 5785, similar circumstances apply, meaning that according to R. Aharon ben Meir, Rosh HaShanah next year should be on Monday, whereas according to our calendar, which follows R. Saadiah Gaon's approach, it is "pushed off" to Tuesday.

In addition to the High Holidays of 5786, the ramifications of such a dispute would also have determined how many days were supposed to be in the month of Cheshvan (it varies each year between 29 and 30), and when Pesach falls, etc. In 5789 and 5790, as well, there would be discrepancies between the two approaches, affecting, for instance, Passover of both 5788 and 5789 and the High Holidays and Sukkot of 5789 and 5790. However, once Cheshvan and Kislev come around and can be adjusted according to necessity, and given that most of the time the molad of Tishrei does not fall in the controversial time period, both approaches equal out by Chanukah, and peace and harmony are restored.

How did this dispute, which put the entire Jewish world of the time into a tizzy, begin? We do not have all the details, although much information was garnered when the Cairo Genizah was discovered. It was universally known that a molad zaken pushes off Rosh Hashanah – but R. Aharon ben Meir claimed that it was an Eretz Yisrael tradition that if the molad was less than 35 minutes after midday, Rosh HaShanah need not be pushed off.

R. Aharon further claimed, with Talmudic justification, that the Jewish world must follow the Land of Israel in these matters. What was Rav Saadiah's response to this claim? His principle response was that 600 years earlier, one of R. Aharon's predecessors and ancestors, Hillel the Elder, instituted the calendar, including the sanctification of all the months, from then on until the coming of the Messiah. As such, the Sages of Eretz Yisrael no longer have an advantage in determining the months and year.

Ultimately, the dispute was settled in that the Jewish world accepted Rav Saadiah's position, while R. Aharon's followers diminished in numbers.

Even though the dispute spread out over five years, under the same circumstances as these years, the dispute had already faded away by the last two years. Ever since then, the principles and rules for the Jewish calendar have remained uniform in all Jewish communities throughout the world, and we all follow the same exact calendar.

The unity of the Jewish People that is expressed, inter alia, in our uniform Jewish calendar is what brought about, with G-d's help, our ingathering from all corners of the world to the Land of Israel.

May G-d implant in our hearts, and in the hearts of all of Israel, love and brotherhood, peace and harmony.

Emuna: A Holocaust Kaddish for All

by Rav Ehud Achituv, Rabbi of Bnei Dekalim, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

Today, the Tenth of Tevet, is one of the five minor fast days instituted by the Sages of old, and it has received extra significance in modern times.

On this day some 2,500 years ago, shortly before the destruction of the First Holy Temple, the Babylonian siege on Jerusalem began. As the Prophet Yechezkel wrote (24,1-2): "G-d's word came to me in the ninth year [of King Tzidkiyah's reign], in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, saying: 'Son of man, write for yourself the name of the day, this very day; the king of Babylon has besieged Jerusalem on this very day.'"

The beginning of this siege that led to destruction and exile marks the start of the "hiding of G-d's countenance" from Israel. This is as the Talmud tells us (B'rachot 32b):

"From the day that the Temple was destroyed, an iron wall divided between Israel and their Father in Heaven, as G-d said to Yechezkel (2,4): 'Take for yourself an iron skillet and make it an iron wall between you and the city.'"

G-d continued to hide His countenance from us, in varying degrees, not only with the destruction of the First Temple, but even during the period of the Second Temple, to a certain extent – and of course very notably throughout all the tribulations of our long bitter national exile since then. The climax was reached during the devastating Shoah of the past century. The famous words of the Piaseczna Rebbe, R. Kalonymus Kalman Shapira of Poland - who himself was murdered al Kiddush Hashem, sanctifying G-d's Name, during the Shoah -  speak for themselves regarding how historically catastrophic was this period. In one of his inspiring talks during the height of the horrific years of the Holocaust, he said:

"The unprecedented tribulations and terrible methods of death innovated by the evil murderers upon us, the House of Israel, from the end of 5642 (summer 1942) – according to my knowledge of the words of our Sages and of the general history of Israel, they have no precedent in the chronicles of Israel. May G-d have mercy upon us and save us from them in the blink of an eye."

So too did Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook, Rosh Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav, relate to the terrors of the Holocaust. It was his custom to recite the Av HaRachamim prayer, which was composed in memory of the victims of the Crusades, every single Shabbat, even on those when it is not customary to say it.

This is why the Chief Rabbinate instituted the 10^th Day of Tevet every year as the General Day of Kaddish, for the holy martyrs of the Shoah – because the "hiding of G-d's countenance" that began on this day reached its climax with the liquidation of a third of our nation by the accursed Nazis and their accomplices.

The Kaddish for All

It is commonly and mistakenly believed that the Day of General Kaddish is a memorial day only for those whose date of death in the Holocaust is unknown, so that they will have a day on which their relatives can say Kaddish and observe all mourning customs for them.

However, there is even more to the General Day of Kaddish. The Rabbinate's 10^th of Tevet regulation continues:

"This day is a memorial day for the myriads of families that were totally wiped out without a trace, leaving no survivors to say Kaddish for them. For these people, the entire House of Israel is their redeemer. Each person must therefore light, on the night of the 10^th of Tevet, a memorial candle in his home. In addition, one whose parents are not alive should take part in the recitation of Kaddish for all those families who have no one else to say Kaddish for them."

In this spirit also wrote one of the members of the Chief Rabbinate Council in those days, Rabbi Mordechai Fogelman, Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Motzkin, north of Haifa. He wrote in his work of responsa: "The 10^th of Tevet was declared by the Chief Rabbinate to be a date for reciting the General Kaddish. We say the Kaddish all together in the synagogues in memory of the millions of brothers and sisters who were killed and destroyed in the Holocaust years of the European exile."

Similar sentiments were expressed by Rav Katriel Fishel Tchurash, another member of the Chief Rabbinate Council at the time. He wrote: "It is clear that even one who does not have relatives who were killed in the Holocaust, but is only an observer taking part in the communal sorrow, should try to do something on behalf of the victims' souls and say Kaddish for them."

The Vizhnizer Rebbe agreed, saying that on this day, "the entire congregation recites the Mourner's Kaddish."

For this reason, the current Chief Rabbi of the city of Ramat Gan wrote to arouse the public: "We must try and try again to have the public not forget that which the Amalek of our generation did to us. Everyone should say Kaddish on this day… and at least those whose parents are not alive should derive a kal vachomer [an a-fortiori argument] for themselves and join in as well for the communal Kaddish."

May it be G-d's will that we merit to see the fulfillment of the Prophet's words: "The fast of the fourth and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the tenth [month, Asarah B'Tevet] will be for the House of Judah rejoicing and happiness, and may you [plural] love truth and peace" (Zechariah 8,19).

Holidays: The Days of Awe and Sukkot: Parallel Lines

by Rav Shlomo Yosef Veitzen, Rabbi of Psagot, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

We are about to embark on the High Holidays, also known as the Days of Awe: the New Year day of judgement, and the Yom Kippur day of atonement. Five days after that, a week of joy begins, with the holidays of Sukkot and Simchat Torah, the Rejoicing of the Law. How do we make sense of this progression from solemnity to joy?

The days of happiness that follow the Days of Awe fill the pockets of emptiness that were left in our souls during the process of teshuvah (repentance). What is interesting, though, is that when we had the Holy Temple and were able to bring offerings to G-d, this long-awaited joy was not so evident. On Sukkot we were commanded not to finally engage in our happiness – but rather to bring a long series of 70 sacrifices. And the sacrifices weren't even for us! Instead, they were for the 70 nations of the world. Only on the day after the week-long holiday did G-d say to us: "Please remain for another day, so that you and I can rejoice just us together" – and we bring one extra offering for the occasion. Why just one little feast for us to be alone with our Creator and Redeemer?

Perhaps we can explain that the days of joy correspond to the days of awe that precede them. Rosh HaShanah is the new year for the entire world, whose entire population is judged in the Divine court – "all of mankind passes before Him" in judgement, as we say in the prayers of the day. But Yom Kippur is a day that is totally "Israelite," a special day that atones for the Jewish Nation. 

Sukkot follows the same pattern: The week begins with days in which we bring sacrifices for the world and analyze our relationship to the other peoples, and only at its end is revealed our private aspect of "a nation that will dwell alone, and will not be reckoned among the nations" (Bamidbar 23,9). These are the two ways in which we perceive Am Yisrael: sometimes as the heart of the universal human body, and sometimes as the independent nation standing alone.

How then can we define the relationship between Israel and the nations? On Rosh HaShanah, all the nations, including Israel, begin on an even keel – but our entire job on that day is to begin a process of disengagement. We must show in every way possible that we are different than them. We recite on this day a special prayer of Malchuyot, Zikhronot, and Shofarot – enthroning G-d over us, beseeching Him to remember us for good, and recalling the historic national occasions of His majestic presence on which the shofar was and will be sounded (at the Giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai, when the Exiles return, when the Holy Temple is rebuilt, etc.).

The paragraphs of this prayer begin with the nations and continue with Israel. In Malchuyot we begin with, "Place Your awe over all Your creations," but we quickly move to, "Bring honor to Your nation" and "the righteous will see and rejoice." 

In Zikhronot, we begin with the covenant that G-d forged with the children of Noach, and then continue with, "Please remember the Binding of Yitzchak for the merit of Yaakov's descendants."

And Shofarot begins with a prayer for "all the inhabitants of the world," quickly changing over to "He hears the shofar blasts of His nation Israel with mercy."

But on Sukkot, we change the program and we begin to "re-engage" and offer up 70 sacrificial bulls to atone for the nations. The great Sukkot joy that follows the Days of Awe is not the joy of individuals, nor is it egotistical happiness, but rather rejoicing for all, a happiness stemming from the desire to be good to all. 

The 70 bulls that we bring decrease in number each day: 13 on the first day, 12 on the next, and so on, until the seventh day, when we bring seven. This is an expression of the fact that the nations of the world are diminishing. But we are clearly not rejoicing over this, for we are bringing sacrifices precisely to atone for them! What then is the significance of the decreasing number of bulls? 

The answer lies in a profound distinction between Israel and the nations. For the Jewish People, it is precisely the disengaging and the inward-looking that makes us into a better nation, of higher quality. But for the nations of the world, the process works in reverse: The more the nations are invested deeply into themselves and only themselves, the more they harm their environment. On the other hand, the more they diminish their own national character and engage more in contributing to the world as a whole, the more they can refine their individual coarse strengths.

This is why the rectification of the nations is not when they disappear from the face of the earth, but rather when they reduce their specific national focus. The goal of the 70 nations must be to "de-nationalize," to strive for the entire world to be, spiritually, "one nation, one language." We pray for a time when "everyone who has breath in his nostrils will say that the G-d of Israel is King, and His Kingship rules over all." 

We conclude by noting that the Zohar, too, makes this point. It explains that the "way of holiness is to begin with separation and end with connection; the way of impurity begins with connection, but ends with separation."