MISC section - contents:
1. Vebbe Rebbe
2. Words of Wisdom; Words of Wit
3. Candle by Day
4. G'Matriya Match
5. Rosh Chodesh
6. Chizuk V'Idud
7. Torah from Nature
8. 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 When and why are we not to talk in between netilat yadayim and making "hamotzi"?
A There are three different stages to deal with in this context. People are not always aware of the different levels of severity of hefsek between these stages.
The beracha connected to a mitzva usually precedes it. By netilat yadayim, we make the beracha after the action, because sometimes one cannot make the beracha beforehand due to dirty hands (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 158:11). In order not to make a break between the main part of the mitzva and the following beracha, one should not talk once he starts washing.
The second stage, in between the beracha of netilat yadayim and "hamotzi" is actually the most lenient. We are quiet and try to minimize the break between the two because of the gemara's (Berachot 42a) statement that right after washing comes the beracha. However, there are different opinions about which washing the gemara is referring to (see Beit Yosef, Orach Chayim 166). In any case, if one did speak, no berachot were severed from their mitzva, and there is no need to repeat anything (Mishna Berura 66:6). Only if one got so involved in other things that he forgot about keeping his hands clean, does he need to repeat netilat yadayim.
The final stage is the most stringent. The bracha of "hamotzi" must directly precede the eating. Therefore, one should not stop, and certainly not speak, between the beracha and what the beracha refers to, i.e. the eating. If one talks about anything other than needs related to the food, he must repeat the beracha (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 167:6). Since the beracha is related to the main part of the eating process, i.e. swallowing, one should not talk until that point (Mishna Berura 167:34). However, since chewing is the beginning of the eating process and it is usually accompanied by swallowing some of the food's flavor, one does not repeat the beracha if he spoke after beginning to chew (Biur Halacha, ad loc.).
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

ArtScroll Series • Mesorah Publications Ltd.
WORDS OF WISDOM WORDS OF WIT by Shmuel Himelstein
R’ Avraham Abush of Frankfurt was known for his efforts to find a lenient path in cases of great financial loss. Prior to one of the festivals, a question was brought to his Beit Din regarding the slaughtered animal of a very poor man. The other members of the Beit Din ruled that the animal was TREIF on the basis of s clear ruling by the RAMA. But R’ Avraham Abush kept searching for a way to permit the eating of the animal.
Finally, R’ Avraham Abush found a way to permit the use of the animal, but could not convince his fellow judges, who felt that the RAMA’s ruling was the controlling precedent. “The RAMA doesn’t concern me”, R’ Avraham Abush declared. “In the Next World, when the RAMA complains that I ruled against his view, I’m sure I’ll find a way to appease him. What I am afraid of is coming to the Next World and having the poor man who owned the animal complaining against me for having caused him such a large loss.

It would not be so bad if, when pressure was brought to bear upon one, he could regard it as pressure. The trouble is that he regards it as reality. From A Candle by Day by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein

G'MATRIYA MATCH
Therefore... LACHEIN, LAMED-KAF- NUN, 30+20+50 = 100. This word introduces the prophecy of the redemption. Baal HaTurim says that it is a hint to the merits of the Avot — to Avraham, who had a child at age 100, to Yitzchak who established 100 She’arim, to Yaakov whose children were all born by his 100th birthday.

A Special Rosh Chodesh
Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat has at least two special things attached to it.
As mentioned briefly elsewhere in this issue, it is the opinion of Beit Shamai, recorded in the opening Mishna of Rosh HaShana, that the Rosh HaShana for trees should be Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat. Beit Hillel’s opinion of the 15th of the month prevails - TU BiShvat. This particular dispute is a function of the locale that each lived in, and the reality of budding and blossoming in different regions of the country. Although winter (T’kufat Tevet) is only a month old on Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat, we seem to be pointed in the direction of spring already.

The second claim to fame of Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat is that it is identified as the date that Moshe Rabeinu began the major review of Torah and Mitzvot with the “new generation” poised on the threshold of Eretz Yisrael. The book of D’varim begins with the date and place (Arvot Moav) of Moshe’s farewell address to the people. The 37 days from Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat until his death on the 7th of Adar were a time of recommitment to G-d and Torah.
As such, Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat joins two other illustrious dates on the calendar as ZMAN MATAN TORATEINU - the time of receiving of the Torah. The original date, of course is the 6th (or 7th) of Sivan, the day we celebrate as Shavuot.

Forty days later, the people sins with the Golden Calf and Moshe smashed the Luchot that he had just brought down from Mount Sinai. We can look at these events as a partial breaking of the Covenant of Sinai.

The first “repair” of the Sin of the Calf came on the following Yom Kippur, when Moshe descended the mountain with G-d’s message of forgiveness, with instructions for the construction of the Mishkan, and with the second set of Luchot. That makes Yom Kippur, not just the Day of Atonement, but also a second date of Matan Torah.

And at the end of the 40 years of wandering, we have the third date that solidifies the acceptance of the Torah and our commitment to Mitzvot – Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat.

Rabbi Eliyahu Ki Tov, in his Sefer HaToda’ah, recommends that we take the opportunity of Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat to re-experience this recommit- ment to Torah and Mitzvot, by accepting upon ourselves – each of us on our individual level – something new and extra to learn and a mitzva to be more meticulous about fulfilling.

For some it can be another shiur a week (maybe at the Israel Center) or an additional 10-15 minutes of Mishna review, Shulchan Aruch, a Mussar Sefer...

It can mean a deeper commitment to giving Tzedaka or avoiding Lashon HaRa or davening with more kavana or making brachot more carefully.
The main idea is to bring the Torah and the Jewish Calendar alive for ourselves. It isn’t a “once upon a time” book. We are supposed to relive and internalize and personalize the experi- ence the events that occurred to Bnei Yisrael. This is the secret of the eternal nature of the Jewish People.

Rosh Chodesh is Shabbat either twice or three times a year. Average is 2.42 times a year. This includes a Shabbat-only Rosh Chodesh, as well as Friday- Shabbat and Shabbat-Sunday.

5763 began on a Shabbat (we don’t count that as a Rosh Chodesh). Aside from Sh’vat (Shabbat only), Rosh Chodesh IYAR will be Friday & Shabbat. And that’s it for this year - Rosh HaShana of 5764 will be a Shabbat.

Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat would have been Rosh HaShana La-Ilanot had Beit Shamai’s opinion prevailed.But then we couldn’t sing TU BiShvat higi’a...

CHIZUK and IDUD (for the Oleh & not-yet-Oleh respectively)
At a crucial point in the fateful struggle to liberate Bnei Yisrael from Egyptian bondage, Hashem tells Moshe that He was not known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by the Tetragrammaton Name (Ex. 6:3). In this passage and in the next four verses that follow, God reveals to Moshe His purpose in bringing Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. But what is the significance of the different names by which God may appear and by which we may call upon Him?

In truth, each name refers to a different aspect or attribute of Hashem. According to Rashi, Hashem is explaining to Moshe the religious significance of this entirely new period in Jewish history which is now beginning with the Exodus. The Patriarchs experienced God primarily as a God (El Shaddai) who appears in visions and who makes long term promises which are not fulfilled in their lifetime (HIVTACHTI V'LO KIYAMTI), Now, however, begins a new era of fulfillment, of keeping promises, of carrying out the terms of the Covenant. This is signified by the Tetragrammaton which denotes His attribute of “faithfulness” (MIDAT AMI'T'YUT SHELI), a God who can be "trusted to verify His words" (NE'EMAN L'EMET D'VARI).

Rashi implies that one whose entire relationship with God is based solely on Divine promises but who has never witnessed the fulfillment of these promises is lacking in his religious maturity. For he has not experienced an essential aspect of God which is His AMI'T'YUT, His "faithfulness." How fortunate then were the generation of the Exodus and those who entered and settled the Land! Not merely because they were now "free" or because they became "property owners", but because they had now experienced the
"faithful" God, the God who fulfills His promises.

What then shall we say of our generation that has seen a most astounding and unambiguous fulfillment of the Prophetic promise: (Deut. 30:3) in the reality of a Jewish State in Eretz Yisrael populated by over five million Jews? For close to 2000 years our people lived on promises of a Return. Now that the era of fulfillment is well underway, shouldn't every Jew alive today wish to be part of this spectacular revelation of God's "faithfulness" by coming to live in Israel? - Rabbi Shubert Spero, Jerusalem
TORAH THOUGHTS as contributed by Aloh Naaleh members for publication in theOrthodox Union's 'Torah Insights', a weekly Torah publication on Parshat Ha'Shavuah

MA RABU MA'ASECHA HASHEM KULAM B'CHOCHMA ASITA MAL'A HA'ARETZ KINYANECHA • Amphibians; In Hebrew: DU-CHAI
As mentioned in the Sedra Summary, the sequence of the first three plagues include the attack on the waters of Egypt (most prominently, their precious Nile), the land itself, and the emergence from the water to a land attack. That second plague was perfectly assigned to one of the animals of this world that begin their life in the water, breathing through gills, and undergoes a metamorphosis to become a lung- breathing legged creature. We refer, of course, to the frog. But let’s back up a bit.

Amphibians include salamanders and newts (newts are generally considered to be a type of salamander, characterized by having a third stage of development between the aquatic “tadpole” stage and the lung-breathing adult. Newts in this “in between” stage are called efts - how’s that for a trivial piece of knowledge!) that resemble some lizards, and frogs and toads.

Among amphibians, there are over 400 known species of caudates (those with tails, salamanders & newts), and over 4000 species of anura (frogs & toads).

Toads generally have dry skin and shorter legs than frogs, with smoother, moist skin (and longer legs). Toads hop; frogs jump. Frogs usually live closer to water than toads. Whatever differences that can be described, there is a blurring of the distinction because so many species vary from each other in many characteristics.

There are amphibians, for example, that never fully develop lungs. Most do. Reproduction is of a certain type, but not without its exceptions. Etc.

DK commented that Rashi says that TANIN is a NACHASH. Previously, Rashi had clearly stated that the three signs G-d gave Moshe at the Bush were to be shown to the people of Israel. The signs for Par’o were apparently different. Nonetheless, we presented a piece on crocodillians in last week’s MRM”H column. Thank you, DK.

The largest frog in the world is the Goliath frog, weighing over 3 kilo and measuring more than 30cm long. (6½ lbs. and more than a foot long.) There are many species of very tiny frogs, measuring about 1 cm. They’d fit on a shekel coin with room to spare

From the Desk of the Director
Parshat Va'erah introduces us to the "Morasha" aspect of our relationship to Eretz Yisrael: Says Hashem to Moshe: "I will bring you to the Land …and I will give it you for a heritage -'Morasha' - I am the Lord" (Shmot 6:8).
This sentence calls to mind that, especially in this day and age, it is always profitable to remember the Source of our connection to the Land of Israel, and not to waver. Yet, when we contemplate the term "Morasha", we are forced to ask why the Torah did not use the word "Yerusha" - 'Inheritance' - to better express the essence of this relationship.

Perhaps this is because when Hashem says: "Ki Li Ha'aretz" - "For the Land is Mine" (Vayikra 25:23), it means that the Land is but entrusted to us. We are its keepers, not its owners. We do not really inherit the Land; we pass it on as a heritage to our children. Just as we teach our children the Torah which is called "Morasha Kehilat Ya'akov", so we are to educate future generations about the quintessential nature of the Land of Israel (Rav Bechiya).

The Emek Davar likens our link to Eretz Yisrael to that of the distant landlord, always longing to return. However, the process by which Hashem "brings" us to the Land is conditional on our creating a society where "I am the Lord" is the focal point. That too is something to remember.
Shabbat Shalom, Menachem Persoff, Director, Israel Center

[The Parshat Va'eira Homepage]
[The TORAH tidbits Homepage] [How to use TORAH tidbits]
[About The OU/NCSY Israel Center] [About TORAH tidbits]