MISC section - contents:
1. Vebbe Rebbe
2. Rite & Reason
3. Hasidic Wisdom
4. Words of Wisdom; Words of Wit
5. Candle by Day
6. Hebrew Words
7. Torah from Nature
8. ITIM - Jewish Life Information Center
9 Chizuk V'Idud
10. 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... 
(Due to the nature of this important question, this week we will only present the first part of the correspondence between an architect and us to clarify the issues. Our final response will come next week. Read the question well, as it is as important as any answer. Please save this page, as we will only summarize the question briefly next week). 

Q I am an architect, who routinely hires consultants (structural engi- neers, etc.) in order to draw up safe, complete plans. I did a rather small plan on a structure that required, as stated in the client's contract, consultation with engineers. It happened that the engi- neers' work, which turned out to be crucial, cost close to my own charge for the plans. The client has refused to pay for their work, saying that he doesn't accept that a simple job should require such elaborate consultation and that he suspects we are "sticking him" unjustifiably. 

Usually, an architect does not pay his consultants until the money comes in, a practice about which I have some qualms. Should I pay the engineers out of my own pocket? They (devout, ethical non-Jews) have kindly told me that they want me to get paid before they do, but I want to do the right thing. On the other hand, at this stage in my career, the loss I would incur by paying would be a sizable chunk of my earnings, money I can use for family needs.
A We salute you in the most enthusi- astic terms for your resolve to do the right thing. According to halacha, you certainly are not required to pay some- one who is willing to forgo payment, at least in the meantime. But business ethics is a matter that needs strength- ening, and it is proper to do the right thing even when one has an excuse not to, including that the money can be used for good things. If more people would think like you (hopefully, many already do and/or will), then we can look forward to people referring to Jewish business- men as "the devout, ethical, Jewish type". We trust Hashem to enable us to support our families, while not working on Shabbat, paying for Jewish education, etc. So too we should sanctify His name by doing the morally right thing and trust Him to enable us to survive and even prosper in this world and to pay our reward in the world to come. Practically speaking, as well, a reputation for integrity is a good investment, and you deserve one.

We need to clarify the following before answering. 
Do you serve as a trusted middleman between clients and consultants, or do you hire the consultants on your own and use their charges to justify your total charge?
Do you make any stipulations with your consultants on conditions? Are there clear standards among architects and engineers regarding questions of partial or non-payments?
Do you feel you were at all negligent in your handling of the work done by the engineers and the preparation of the client for the possibility of a larger than expected payment? If so, how? To be continued...

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 of covering their eyes with the tips of their fingers (as opposed to the palm of their hand) when reciting the first pasuk of K’ri’at Sh’ma and then kissing them (prevelant among s’faradim) (Keter Shem Tov).

Reason: Flexing the three fingers - forefinger, middle finger, and ring finger - onto the forehead, forms the letter SHIN. Bending the thumb forms the letter DALET and the little finger symbolizes the letter YUD. Hence, all five fingers form the image of the Divine Name, SHAKAI. (Thumb and pinky tips usually touch the corners of the closed eyes.)

[The G’matriya of BOHEN (57) + ETZBA (163) + AMA (46) + K’MITZA (245) + ZERET (607) = 1118, which is the G’matriya of the first pasuk of Sh’ma.]

Hasidic Wisdom from the book by Simcha Raz (Elkins/Elkins)
How easy and simple this world of ours can be if only we do not give in to idleness.
And how dark and difficult it can be if we do. — Rabbi Baruch of Medzibuz
ArtScroll Series • Mesorah Publications Ltd. 

WORDS OF WISDOM WORDS OF WIT by Shmuel Himelstein

When a noted Rumanian Rabbi to settle in Eretz Yisrael, he was asked why he did not wait for Mashiach to bring all Jews to Eretz Yisrael.
“When Mashiach arrives,” answered the Rav, “I’d rather he found me immediately in Jerusalem rather than have to look for me in Bucharest.”

Some of us are under the erroneous impression that a thought does not have to be recharged, that if it is an effective thought, it will, upon being summoned up, linger on in the mind and do its job. This is as false as assuming that if a boxer’s punch is effective, his first blow will achieve the knockout.

Just as the fighter must punch again and again to achieve victory, so must a thought be constantly regenerated if it is to achieve the desired result. From A Candle by Day by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein

The Hebrew words that have appeared over the last several weeks (none in the last issue) are from a deck of cards bought at the headquarters of the Academiya L’Lashon HaIvrit. Here’s another.The set of five horizontal lines on which music is written. What’s it called in English? Staff or stave. In Hebrew? CHAMSHA 

MA RABU MA'ASECHA HASHEM KULAM B'CHOCHMA ASITA MAL'A HA'ARETZ KINYANECHA •
Among the materials for the construction of the Mishkan were red-dyed ram skins and OROT T’CHASHIM.
What is a TACHASH?

Rav Aryeh Kalpan z”l in The Living Torah brings several opinions in his footnotes, the first of which is that we are not talking about an animal, but rather a dyeing processes or special kind of leather work. In the text, he renders Orot T’chashim as “blue- processed skins”. He sites R’ Yehuda in Talmud Yerushalmi and several other sources.

He then says that “other sources identify TACHASH as a species of animal. Some say that it is the ermine ...a member of the weasel family. Others state that it is a member of the badger family. Others say that it is a colorful one-horned animal known as a keresh. Some say that this is a species of wild ram, possibly an antelope, okapi, or giraffe. Some see the one-horned creature as the narwhal which has its left tooth developed into a single long horn-like appendage. This animal, which can grow to be over 16 feet long, is ocassionally found on the Southern Sinai shores... the sea cow or dugong, an aquatic mammal which is found on the shores of the Sinai. Some thus say that the tachash is a type of seal, since its skins were used for the Tabernacle’s roof, and sealskins were often used for this purpose.”
Prof. Yehuda Feliks in “The Animal World of the Bible” writes: “...The number of animals that scholars tried to identify with the Tachash, is quite considerable. Some say, that it is not an animal, but merely the name of a special kind of skin... ‘Rabbi Meir used to say, that the Tachash, which existed in the time of Moses, was a creature of its own kind, and the Sages could not decide whether it belonged to the genus of the beasts or to the domestic animals; it had one horn on the forehead and it was temporarily utilized by Moshe and then it vanished’ ... its skin was many colored and it possessed the distinguishing marks of ritual cleanness... Aquatic mammals: some take it to be the Dugong... others identify it with the Monodon, an aquatic mammal of many colored skin which has a long horn-tooth. Its distinguishing marks tally with those mentioned by Rabbi Meir... Land mammals: some scholars identify it with the swift-legged Antelope and derive its name Tachash, from the Hebrew word ‘chish’ - speed... Giraffe on account of the horn on the forehead, the colored skin, and the signs of ritual cleanness.

Type of leather, skin of an aquatic mammal, a land mammal, kosher, non-kosher, miraculous one-time crea- tion to provide for the Mishkan. ?????
Without taking sides, let’s have a look at a narwhal. THE TOOTH All narwhals have two teeth in their upper jaw. After the first year of a male narwhal's life, its left tooth grows outward, spirally. This long, single tooth projects from its upper jaw and can grow to be 7-10 feet long... Narwhals can grow to be about 16 feet long (not counting the tooth), and weigh about 1.8 tons... Narwhal means "corpse whale" in Old Norse; this is perhaps a description of their skin, which is bluish- gray with white blotches...cylindrical body (no dorsal fin) and a round head with a small mouth...
In reference to the TACHASH the NARWHAL and MONODON are the same animal

ITIM - The Jewish Life Information Center • The Whats, Whys and Hows of the Jewish Lifecycle in Israel
The grandparents (from both sides) are on the way. Your second cousin's neighbor has juggled around his busy schedule to be able to come. Great. But let's not forget what the main point of this all is. Your son is going to enter into a covenant with Hashem, in a simple procedure, but one that can have serious implications if not done properly. The first and most important decision you have to make is deciding on the mohel.

According to Jewish tradition, every father is obligated to circumcise his child. Since the majority of us prefer not to personally circumcise our own children, we choose a mohel to serve as our shaliach, our agent in performing the brit milah. 

In Israel, there are three types of mohalim: Certified, uncertified, and physicians who also perform circumcisions.

Certified mohels are mohels who were licensed by the inter-ministry committee that supervises circumcision, a joint committee of the Health Ministry, Ministry of Religious Affairs, and the Chief Rabbinate. This committee monitors the training of the mohels - in both the practical-surgical aspects and the halachic- theoretical ones, their apprenticeship to certified mohels, and their practical and theoretical exams. 

Uncertified mohels are found in Israel and around the world. They are not included in the official list of mohalim and they are unsupervised. According to the regulations of the Ministry of Health, hospitals may not employ uncertified mohels or permit them to advertise on their premises.
In addition to professional mohels, there are physicians who specialize in other fields who also perform circumcisions. Though the knowledge that a mohel is also a physician reassures many parents, medical training does not fully qualify a person to be a mohel. If you, therefore, choose a physician-mohel, you must make certain that he also has significant experience performing circumcisions and that he is knowledgeable in the specifically Jewish laws of circumcision (which will prevent him from using some of the tools which he normally uses in medical procedures).

Whichever type of mohel you choose to use, make sure to meet with him before and that you feel comfortable with him. You can't argue with parental instincts.

Want more information today? Visit our website: www.itim.org.il, e-mail us at itim@itim.org.il, or call us at 02-6482205 • ITIM: The Jewish-Life Information Center • Empower yourself

CHIZUK and IDUD (for the Oleh & not-yet-Oleh respectively)

Parshat Terumah opens a series of five parshiot that deal with the construction of the Mishkan. This was the structure in which Divine service was performed on a daily basis in the desert, and which was the forerunner of the Beit Hamikdash. Since the Mishkan was to last less than forty years, it seems out of all proportion for the Torah, where every word is measured, to devote so much space to teaching and repeating the details of its construction.

The Midrash teaches us that when G-d created the world He yearned to have a dwelling place in man's material world, to complement the one He has in the spiritual world. To that end, G-d commanded "And make for me a mikdash and I will dwell among them." The commentators are bothered by the deviation from the expected "and I will dwell in it" referring to the mishkan. They explain that G-d's intention was that every Jew should create an environment in the material world that would be conducive to housing the Divine Presence. The Mishkan, and after it the Beit Hamikdash, housed this presence on an ongoing basis. The environment that is conducive to housing the Divine Presence is one where material possessions and mundane activities are sanctified by their focus on the service of G-d.

This sanctification can be replicated both in time and place. Shabbat Kodesh is the time when physical activities and pleasures can be transformed into holy acts. Eretz Yisrael is the place where every Jew can sanctify worldly activities. The exile has deprived us of the Beit Hamikdash. But G-d is now providing us with the opportunity to sanctify our daily activities, by doing them in Eretz Yisrael. The Torah teaches us that every Jew is called upon to satisfy G-d's desire for a dwelling place in the physical world. This can be done most effectively in Eretz Yisrael. - Rabbi Shaya Karlinsky, 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 Terumah describes the process of the building of the Mishkan, a pivot- al theme that occupies a major portion of the Book of Shemot. This portable sanctuary was, of course, the precursor of the more permanent Temple in Eretz Yisrael, which later played a critical role in the relationship of the People of Israel to G-d.

Why, the rabbis ask, was it necessary for Hashem to proclaim, "They shall make a Sanctuary for Me so that I may dwell among them" (25:8)? Ideally, argues the Sforno, since the entire nation reached the level of prophecy at Har Sinai, there was no need for such a sanctuary. However, it appears that Israel's lapse into virtual idolatry at the incident of the Golden Calf made its construction necessary (cf. Rashi 31:18).

For Ramban, the Mishkan anchored into the hearts of the people that pinnacle of spirituality achieved temporarily at Sinai. Just as Hashem spoke to Moshe from atop the mount, so now Hashem spoke to him from the Holy Ark of the Mishkan. The Sanctuary thus became the central rallying point of the nation, ringed by the tribes and topped by the cloud of G-d's presence.
Today the Mishkan Me'at (Yehezkiel 11:16) or Bet Knesset is the place where we seek Hashem. Unlike Moshe, we cannot ascend to great heights, so we pray to Hashem to descend to us. Perhaps, then, we should also recall Rabbi Hirsch's comment that the command to make a "sanctuary" applies beyond the synagogue to every facet of life. Then if we conduct ourselves accordingly, we can trust in Hashem to dwell among us.