There is no question this week, just an announcement and an invitation, which we hope will interest our readers. We have been sharing "Ask the Rabbi" questions for more than five years (along with the rest of Hemdat Yamim) and have received very positive reactions from our readers. The questions we have been asked have included many varied and interesting ones. We have tried not only to give answers that instruct people what to do but also to explain the background and give perspective on the halachic process. We have decided to take the opportunity to gather and re-edit some 250 questions and answers into a book. For one, this will make our existing literature more readily accessible. However, we would like to do more than that. We want the sefer to serve as a significant learning tool. We hope that this can be done on different levels and with different styles to broaden the opportunity for readers to gain according to their needs. Of course, in the learning process, the teacher, the student, and the subject matter all contribute to determining the style of teaching. Since our readership differs in orientation, background, and Torah experience but shares intellectual maturity, we now take the opportunity to ask your advice. How can we re-edit our Ask the Rabbi columns into book form and add to it in order to make it a better educational tool for you and your peers? In order to give you a point of reference, we will share some of our own existing ideas. One is to help the relative beginner in the world of halachic scholarship in the following manner. We propose including a simple but significant introduction to the development of halachic literature over the centuries. This can highlight the place of the Talmud, Rishonim, Acharonim, etc. We plan to include a glossary, which highlights key terms. Footnotes in the text of the responses can alert the reader to certain noteworthy phenomena. An extensive bibliography, similar to the one found in our Hebrew series, Bemareh Habazak, can be of service to beginner and advanced learner alike. We have another idea for the more advanced learner, which is a unique idea that modern technology affords us. In order for such a reader/learner to more fully appreciate the topics discussed, it is worthwhile to be able to study the key sources upon which the conclusions are based. This enables the learner to understand the matter better and to draw his own conclusions and compare and contrast them with ours. This writer used this system to study several of these topics with semicha students, and they found the experience very rewarding. How do we do bring whole texts in the context of a book without making it monstrous? The answer is simple. We hope to transcribe several sources per response on an accompanying CD that will be attached. An index system will connect source sheets to a given response. These source sheets cannot only be of value to the individual learner but can be a wonderful resource for group learning. A rabbi can use it for an adult education class, downloading and photocopying for participants. A school- teacher for various ages and levels of students can choose a topic appropriate for his forum. These are a few of our ideas. We invite your reaction to them and your own ideas, as well. You can send them to info@eretzhemdah.org We invite your input in the following matters as well. If you recall an answer with which you had an issue but thought it would not be of value to point it out, you are now invited to do so. This could be a learned comment by those with learning experience. It could also be a report of a custom or a local ruling, to which we did not refer. (Of course, we cannot refer to every, even legitimate, opinion and custom, but we would be happy to hear your reports.) We also would like to hear examples where you feel we did not deal with an issue with the proper sensitivity, even if you have no argument with the ruling and analysis. We thank our readers in advance for their input. Ask the Rabbi Q&A is part of Hemdat Yamim, the
weekly parsha sheet published by Eretz Hemdah. You can read this section or
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Rebbe is partially funded by the Jewish Agency for Israel It is for this reason that R. Yochanan could not understand how there could be people outside the land of Israel who merited long life. He asked his students in disbelief whether it was really true that there were elderly Jews in Chutz La'Aretz. When they answered in the affirmative, he questioned how could that be since the Torah promises long life only to those who live in Eretz Israel. When R. Yochanan heard that the Jews in Chutz La'Aretz wake up early in the morning to go to shul and come home only late at night after having completed their prayers, he understood. R. Yochanan said that these Jews merit long life because they attend shul. Why does living in Eretz Israel lead to long life? Residents of Eretz Israel who experience the Shechina every moment find it easier to maximize their spiritual potential. One who maximizes spiritual potential merits longevity. People living outside Eretz Israel who want long life must also strive to live a spiritual existence. This is much more difficult outside the land of Israel where the Divine Presence is not felt as strongly. Only by going to shul twice a day are they able to boost their spiritual existence and merit long life. Rav Chayim Soloveichik, Ramat Beit Shemesh That sequence of p'sukim is about the Land that G-d is about to bring the people to. "For G-d is bringing you to a good land, a land of flowing streams and underground springs, flowing from valley and mountains. A land of wheat and barley... A land where you will not eat bread in poverty (different understandings of this phrase), and you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron... When you eat and are satisfied, you must therefore (Rav Aryeh Kaplan's wording in The Living Torah) bless G-d for the good land which He has given you." The command is NOT to bless G-d for the food He has given you, even though eating is the specific experience to which the blessing is attached. We do call it Birkat HaMazon - the blessing of the food - but it should be clear from the pasuk - and from the text of the "benching" that our blessing of G-d and our acknowledge of Him goes way beyond food. The first bracha of Birkat HaMazon does a very good job of thanking G-d for the food which He provides for us. The second bracha - no less a part of Birkat HaMazon than the first - continues the fulfillment of the command of D'varim 8:10 by acknowledging and thanking G-d for the Land of Israel and for Torah and Mitzvot. The third bracha focuses on Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash. The fourth bracha - officially a Rabbinic addition to the Torah-required three brachot - extends the scope of acknowledging an thanking G-d to just about EVERYTHING. U-VEI-RACH-TA (and you shall bless) is not restricted to the ERETZ CHITA US-ORA pasuk (8:8) and the reference to not eating bread B'MIS-KEINUT (8:9), but for the good land with streams and springs described in 8:7 and the iron and copper of 8:9. Furthermore, the p'sukim that follow our selection contain a variation of the now familiar phrase, but couched in a warning - PEN TOCHAL V'SAVATA... perhaps you will eat and be satisfied and build and live in good houses, and herds and flocks will proliferate, and gold and silver will increase... and this will lead to a haughtiness that will cause you to forget G-d and forget to acknowledge Him as the source of all blessing. Food does not stand alone. The promise of a good land mentions grain and fruit and bread, but goes way beyond that. Birkat HaMazon is specifically linked to eating a satisfying meal (by Rabbinic decree, we even say it for less), but includes so much more. A good meal has a context. That context is a comfortable life, Torah and Mitzvot, and Eretz Yisrael. All of this is part of the mitzva of UVEIRACHTA. [The invitation in the box on page 32 is still
open. If you find other explanations for the inclusion of iron and copper in
the "food sequence", please let us know (tt@ou.org)
and we will share your find with our TTreaders.] 2) The Kli Yakar explains that the first part of the verse is, in fact, addressed to even one person and the last part of the verse is specifically in the plural. This teaches us that just one righteous person choosing to do the right thing has the power to provide sustenance and merit for the entire world. 3) The Ktav Sofer explains that many think they
can transgress aspects of the Torah but the large sums of charity they give
will save the day in their final judgment. This is the bribery which does
not work in G-d's court. And they inform us clearly that there is ultimately only one authority to whom the Jew owes allegiance. "For Hashem, your G-d, He is the G-d of the powers and the Lord of lords, the great, mighty and awesome G-d - Who does not show favor and who does not accept a bribe" (ibid 10:17). From everything written in this week's parsha we can be sure that if we maintain the relationship of subject to King and take heed of these concepts then the nations will be driven from us. However, if we declare that, "My strength and the strength of my hand made me all this wealth," and follow a trend that puts us in league with the nations, the opposite is true. Like recent events, this week's haftara forces us to confront these notions head on. We can but take solace from the words of the prophet: "For Hashem shall comfort Zion, He shall comfort all her ruins. He shall make her wilderness like Eden and her wasteland like a garden of Hashem. Joy and gladness shall be found there, thanksgiving and the sound of music" (Isaiah 54:11). Shabbat Shalom, Menachem Persoff [The Parshat Eikev Homepage]
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