MISC section - contents:
1. Vebbe Rebbe
2. Rite & Reason
3. Hasidic Wisdom
4. Words of Wisdom; Words of Wit
5. Candle by Day
6. Chizuk V'Idud
7. From the desk of the director

From the virtual desk of the OU VEBBE REBBE
The Orthodox Union – via its website – fields questions of all types in areas of kashrut, Jewish law and values. Some of them are answered by Eretz Hemdah, the Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, founded by HaRav Shaul Yisraeli, zt"l to prepare rabbanim and dayanim to serve the National Religious community in Israel and abroad. Ask the Rabbi is a joint venture of the OU, Yerushalayim Network, Eretz Hemdah... and the Israel Center. The following is a Q&A from Eretz Hemdah...

Q I am confused about how I am to choose the right things to do with my time. I want to do the biggest mitzvot I can, yet it seems that most of one's time is spent on mundane matters. Are things like making a living or caring for a family really the biggest mitzvot one can be doing?
A It is difficult to know what the biggest mitzva is in a given situation. Furthermore, the question of a mitzva's size, while asked with beautiful intentions, is not the right one. The real question is: what does Hashem want us to do?

People spend a large part of their days seeing to such mundane needs as sleeping, eating, etc. These may not be the most uplifting activities, but Hashem created us in such a way that they are necessary and expected. While it is best not to spend more time than necessary on these activities, it is wrong to neglect them significantly over time. One needs to learn how to balance his time.

Just as there are basic, bodily needs, there are also other needs and responsibilities that, as Hashem created man and his society, need to be addressed. Such time-consuming activities such as earning a living and tending to a house and a myriad of family needs have both mundane and spiritual elements to them (much depends on the proper intentions and use of the family's blessings). A husband is required by halacha (see Ketubot 46b) to support his wife in a respectable manner, and should not, under normal circumstances, forsake this obligation, with the excuse that he is too busy doing this or that "bigger mitzva." A wife is usually required to take care of several household needs (see Ketubot 59b), and should not, under normal circumstances, neglect these, with the logical sounding excuse that she was busy with chesed all day and had no time to take care of her familial obligations.

Even when involved in chesed, one does not look only at what the objectively biggest chesed is. One is obligated to give tzedaka to one's needy relatives and neighbors before giving to more distant people (Shulchan Aruch, YD 251:2), even if the distant people are more needy (Shut Chatam Sofer, YD 231). In mitzvot, the mitzva of learning Torah is, on the one hand, the most prominent of all mitzvot, but, on the other hand, is pushed off by "smaller" mitzvot that are incumbent on a person at a given time.

The critical element is proper balance between the "more mundane" activities and even mitzvot that are a person's personal obligation, and the fulfillment of some special chesed or mitzva opportunities that require putting the normal activities on hold. To a great extent, it is halacha's job to instruct a person how to reach a balance between conflicting, positive activities. (For example, Aruch Hashulchan YD 251:5 rules that although relatives have precedence regarding tzedaka, it is clear that one who can afford it must leave funds for unconnected poor people). Halacha cannot address every scenario in a person's life, nor the different abilities and circumstances that apply to and affect the proper advice to different people asking the same question. Therefore, many decisions are left to the individual. One must be aware of the great value of family and professional obligations, as well as the critical importance of limud Torah, chesed, and other mitzvot. Then he has tools to try to implement the sage advice: "It is good that you seize this, but also from that do not release your hand" (Kohelet 7:18).

Ask the Rabbi Q&A is part of Hemdat Yamim, the weekly parsha sheet published by Eretz Hemdah. You can read this section or the entire Hemdat Yamim at www.ou.org or www.eretzhemdah.org. And/or you can receive Hemdat Yamim by email weekly, by sending an email to eretzhem@netvision.net.il with the message: Join Hemdatya –Please leave the subject blank. Ask the Vebbe Rebbe is partially funded by the Jewish Agency for Israel

Rite and Reason by Shmuel Pinchas Gelbard
Some follow the practice that the men prepare the Shabbat candles before their wives light them (Magen Avraham).
Reason: Although the mitzva of lighting Shabbat candles is the woman’s responsi- bility, nevertheless the men are also obligated to participate in lighting the candles. By preparing the candles and wicks, they share in the fulfillment of the mitzva (Bach).
Ed. note: Since the mitzva of Shabbat candles is to have one’s home lit on Leil Shabbat, for the ambiance which is conducive to Oneg Shabbat and Shalom Bayit, it follows that preparing the lighting arrangements for the home, besides the Shabbat candles themselves, is also part of the mitzva of NEIROT SHABBAT. There- fore, whoever (man, woman, older child) turns on the lights that will remain on over Shabbat, sets a Shabbat clock for those lights that will be on Friday night, etc. is also participating in the mitzva. He/she should do so with mitzva-intention.

Hasidic Wisdom from the book by Simcha Raz (Elkins/Elkins)
Pretending to be amused when a fool (or anyone - Ed. addition) tells a joke is also a kind of charity. — Rabbi Yechiel Michal of Alexander

ArtScroll Series • Mesorah Publications Ltd.
WORDS OF WISDOM WORDS OF WIT by Shmuel Himelstein
R’ Yonassan Eybeschuetz was extremely quick witted, and was often asked by non-Jews for explanations of various Jewish Laws and customs. A gentile official once asked him, “You Jews are so intelligent. Why, then, do you believe in a religion which is so illogical? If a chicken eats a pound of butter and is then slaughtered properly, you will eat it without any qualms. But if a dab of butter falls into a pot in which that same chicken is being cooked, you will not touch it.”
“The truth is,” R’ Yonasan replied, “that you act no differently. If a pig wallows in all the dirt and filth in the world, it can be slaughtered and served at the fanciest of banquets. But let just a little of that filth fall into the pot where the pig is being cooked, and the dish is no longer considered fit for anything.”

There are many excellent traits which we prevent ourselves from achieving by regarding them as hereditary factors and hence unattainable by mere effort. From A Candle by Day by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein

CHIZUK and IDUD (for the Oleh & not-yet-Oleh respectively)
To extend beyond 6 years the servitude of a Jewish slave who had been enslaved in order to pay for a theft, the Torah prescribes the piercing of his ear at the doorpost.

Why the ear? Rav Yochanan ben Zakkai (Kiddushin 22b) explains that it was the ear which heard at Har Sinai the words "do not steal", and in addition it was stated "ki li bnei yisrael avadim" - "unto Me are the Jewish people slaves", "v'lo avadim l'avadim" - "and not slaves to other slaves." In both of these dictums the ear was delinquent of its duties and did not listen.
However, one may still ask: Why the ear? After all, the hand was just as responsible for stealing and taking the goods. Furthermore, if the ear is held accountable, let it be pierced immediately upon being convicted of stealing. Why wait until the end of the six years?

Rav Chaim Yaakov Goldvicht z"l, Rosh Yeshiva of Kerem B'Yavneh, explains by means of a parable: An individual who works hard during the six days of the week, barely finds a moment for Torah studies. When he reaches Shabbat and is entranced by the speakers and shiurim, he is inspired to undertake further delving into Torah. The man sincerely wants to change, leave his job and devote his time to learning Torah. Yet, when Shabbat ebbs away, and the weekly routine begins, his dreams and new commitments are slowly put aside or simply forgotten. With each Shabbat that he experiences, more shiurim and other lectures will accumulate in "his ear", and ultimately will enable him to fulfill his dream and change his lifestyle.

Similarly, it takes a long time for the slave to recognize that what truly lay behind his theft was his loss of shmi’ah - his power to hear and change himself. After the six years he completes as punishment for stealing, the lesson has been learned and he can now become a better person, growing closer to Hashem. However, if he voluntarily extends his servitute, he in essence gives up his hearing power and can only do what he is told to do by his master. This loss of the ability to be inspired, influenced and impressed in order to change his ways, is the tragedy that is memorialized with the pierced ear.

The lesson is clear: we must be careful never to enter situations or lifestyles where our ability to achieve spiritual heights is removed from our hands. Never turn a deaf ear. Listen and take advantage of change to come closer to both Torat Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael. - Rabbi Chanoch Yeres, Jerusalem • TORAH THOUGHTS as contributed by Aloh Naaleh members for publication in the Orthodox Union's 'Torah Insights', a weekly Torah publication on Parshat Ha'Shavuah

From the Desk of the Director
Parshat Mishpatim removes us from momentous events and invites us to look at laws that govern our daily life, including those concerning the Shomer who temporarily uses another's prop- erty. From passages in the parsha, our rabbis deduced that there are four categories of Shomrim who undertake to keep and watch an object that belongs to their neighbor.

Rabbi Mendel Lewittes reminds us that, in a sense, each one of us is a Shomer, recalling the line in our parsha, "Regarding everything that I have said to you, be watchful" (5:13). And each of us can ask, what kind of Shomer am I? First is the Shomer Hinam who guards the Torah without any thought of compensation, and even, perhaps, at great cost to himself.
Second is the Shomer Sachar who expects to be compensated with health, prosperity, or the honor that accrues from his knowledge or contribution to the community. For many, such an approach does give way to Torah observance for its own sake (Pesachim 50b). Third is the ad hoc borrower who calls upon G-d when he is in need; he does not pay but uses the rabbi and synagogue when it is convenient. Even so, the children's education or the oft-said kaddish can stir this individual to take back his Judaism from the shelf.

Last is the Socher who pays for the use of the borrowed object. He does not learn but he supports Torah institutions or givees to charity. In some ways, he is an important trustee. In truth, in one way or another, we are all guardians of G-d's great treasure. Let us all pray that He will reciprocate, as written in the parsha, by sending His "messenger … to guard you on the way."

Shabbat Shalom, Menachem Persoff, Director, Israel Center

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