Q Sometimes your published responses
end off without clear guidelines as to how one should act but offer a few
possibilities. Why is that? As in most areas of scholarship, the answers to pertinent halachic issues classically fall into different categories. Some cases are clearly forbidden. Some cases are clearly permitted. There is almost always a gray area where it is difficult to give an unequivocal answer. This can occur for two main reasons. The various opinions and/or indications for one ruling or another may be very similar in strength, making the options almost equivalent in the eyes of the respondent. In other cases, a myriad of subjective factors can affect the advisability of various approaches in subtle, complex and sometimes unanticipated ways. Almost all of our responses include elements that fall into each of these categories, and we try to briefly explain the rationale behind each. By doing so, we hope to present a clearer picture of the issue as a whole than one would get if we rendered guidelines in the form of ABC. But what is one to do in regard to those cases where no conclusion is given? Firstly, it is important for all to have a personal halachic authority with whom to discuss such questions. Such a rav will be aware of some of the subjective factors that relate to the person and his circumstances, and he can inquire about additional factors he needs in order to pasken. There are times that we ourselves gave the questioner a more specific answer, based on information specific to him, but published the question in a more general form with a more general answer. Furthermore, there are times that the person who receives the halachic information has to choose for himself. We try to describe the gray areas carefully, as they contain different shades and patches of gray. We often use carefully chosen language to indicate we lean in a certain direction even when we don't close the door on another approach. Whether one wants to take the more lenient or stricter approach can legitimately be the reader's decision. The wise decision may depend on certain factors that change according to his setting or circumstances. (How many times does the Rama end off that something is permitted only in a case of significant loss, and who can give an absolute dollar sum for such a loss?) If we would always give a clear decision, we would deprive the serious reader of the legitimacy of sometimes deciding for himself. We also are well aware that those who read our publications make up a broad spectrum of society from many perspectives, including community, personal background and philosophy. This makes it prudent to at times report the various legitimate approaches taken. Why should someone who is legitimately lenient feel deficient because the respondent favors the more stringent opinion? Why should we tempt one from a family or community where the approach is stricter or just different to use us as an excuse to change his minhag because, when pushed to the wall to decide, we prefer a different minhag? One of the main purposes we intend to achieve by bringing contradictory opinions and approaches as (equally) viable options is to promote harmony within and between communities. Human nature causes some to look down on those who are more lenient than they are. Others are hostile to those who are stricter than they. Most of us have a tendency to do both, depending on the issue. We hope to educate as many people as possible that often "these and those are the words of the living G-d." We unrepentantly apologize for any frustration this may at times cause. Ask the Rabbi Q&A is part of Hemdat
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Hemdatya –Please leave the subject blank. Ask the Vebbe Rebbe is partially
funded by the Jewish Agency for Israel R’ Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye would say: If a person does not appreciate himself, how can he possibly appreciate others? If you’ve enjoyed these stories, look
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bookstore - an entirely new collection. Folding schedule for volunteers stays the same as usual. This issue, TT #586 (in honor of Frank Robinson, no. 5 on the all-time MLB home run list with 586 career homers) contains some special material for Rosh HaShana. TT #587, the Rosh HaShana issue, will also have some pull-outs for you. (If you receive any of these RH items in the mailing, please pass the duplicates from Torah Tidbits to someone else.) TT #588 will be for Shabbat Shuva and Yom Kippur. TT #589 will be a double issue, covering Sukkot and Simchat Torah. We especially request volunteers for Wednesday and Thursday between Yom Kippur and Sukkot to help us out with this issue. We know it is a very hectic period with Sukka building, 4-Minim buying, and many kinds of preparation for Yom Tov. TT #590 will IY”H be the B’reishit issue. Deadline for ads is MONDAY, October 20 (this is a day earlier than usual, but you have an extra week to get ads in). Production and distribution of Torah
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be reading these words. In this week's parsha, we find a continuation and conclusion to the covenant of blessings and curses presented by Moshe to the people of Israel in Parshat Ki-Tavo (ch.28). The striking element in this covenant is the role Eretz Israel plays as the medium and barometer of mitzva observance. After Moshe warns of the inevitable exile from the Land, he adds an element of hope. Even when the curses materialize, there is a possibility of repentance and restoration. In the first 10 verses in ch.30, the verb shav ("return") appears seven times, highlighting the entire process of teshuva. The first stage begins with "V'HASH'EIVOTA EL L'VAV'ECHA", "you shall call them to mind" - ironically, when in galut, you will undergo introspection. This leads to the next stage - "V'SHAVTA AD HASHEM ELOKECHA", "you shall return to the Lord your God" - return to mitzva observance. These two stages of return are reciprocated by God: "V'SHAV HASHEM WLOKECHA ET SHVUTCHA V'RACHAMECHA V'SHAV V'KIBZACH MIKOL H'AMIM", "then the Lord your God will return your captivity, and have compassion upon you, and will return and gather you from all the nations" - God responds to our initiative of teshuva/repentance, with teshuva/restoration in two stages as well-return of the exiled and dispersed. The process culminates only after we are once again in Eretz Israel wherein our hearts are "circumcised" to properly love God, and from where God will seek vengeance against our foes. At that point teshuva is again employed - returning to full mitzva observance, for now we can fulfill the mitzvot that can only be performed in the Land of Israel. This final stage of our repentance evokes a response from God, the restoration of the blessings in bounty. The unit ends with a reminder as to how the process is set in motion -"KI TASHUV EL HASHEM ELOKECHA B'CHOL L'VAVCHA U'V'CHOL NAFSHECHA, "if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul" - we have to initiate. The intention here is not only to
inspire hope following exile, but also to teach us what teshuva is all
about. It is a two-part process played out in three stages - returning to
ourselves, returning to mitzva observance, and only once in Eretz Yisrael
(i.e. part two), full repentance through the mitzvot of the land. It is
also a process reciprocated by God - our return catalyzes His restoration
and redemption through the land. On a national level, complete teshuva can
only be fulfilled in Eretz Yisrael. Return to Eretz Yisrael is an
expression of God's returning to us (see Megilat Ruth 1). What are these hidden mysteries? Are they - as Rashi and Ramban declare - the distorted conceptions of ourselves and of our sins of which we are unaware? Or the sins of others that we choose to ignore? The hiddenness that we feel these days, however, seems to go deeper. Our sense of foreboding tends to echo the verse in Vayelech wherein we blame our calamities on the lack of G-d in our midst (ibid 31:17). And despite this acknowledgment Hashem reiterates that, "I will surely have concealed my face on that day" (v.18). Ramban explains that declaration of guilt is not enough: The question is: are we ready to repent for the sins that caused this hiddenness? Ramban offers a note of conciliation,
however, for all of us to consider. It is written, "Despite all this… I
will not have rejected them" (Vayikra 26:44). G-d thus conceals himself
only in the sense that He will not reveal the impending redemption. It
appears therefore that we, Israel, can begin the process of reconstruction
by first revealing our hidden strength - our powerful faith that Hashem
will never forsake us entirely. [The Parshat Nitzavim-Vayeilech Homepage]
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