MISC section - contents: [1] Vebbe Rebbe [1] 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, headed by Rav Yosef Carmel and Rav Moshe Ehrenreich, 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 heard a discussion between two learned rabbis on the question of shaving before Shacharit. One took a position along the lines you outlined a few months age [Hemdat Yamim, Vayigash 5769] regarding work, in general, that it should not be done before Shacharit, with possible exceptions in sh'at had'chak (pressing circumstances). The other said that it is not work but resembles getting dressed in the morning. We are talking about clean-shaven people, some of whom go straight to work after davening. What is your opinion? A: As we would expect for a debate between learned rabbis, each side has significant basis. Our approach incorporates virtues of each side, hopefully in a balanced manner. The classical sources on this topic discuss haircutting before davening, which, in many areas of halacha, is equivalent to cutting a beard. Haircut- ting is a serious issue, actually, especially before Mincha, because one who gets occupied in it may end up not davening (see Shabbat 9b). The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 89:7) says that there was no formal prohibition on haircutting before Shacharit because it is an uncommon occurrence. However, the Eliyah Rabba (ad loc.:12) says that the Shulchan Aruch refers to the time before alot hashachar (some 72 minutes before sunrise). After that time, when davening is nominally viable, it is forbidden because all work is improper before davening. Only regarding the added stringency of not starting haircutting a half hour before the time of davening is Shacharit more lenient than Mincha, not regarding the regular regulations of activities before Shacharit. [See this week's and last week's Ein Ayah for Rav Kook's view of the philosophical side of these halachot.] Although the Eliyah Rabba cites the Kolbo as saying that it is not the type of activity that is forbidden work, he and the Mishna Berura (89:36) accept the strict opinion. Thus, the first opinion you cited certainly has validity. We must consider, though, that the classical sources dealt with a situation where religious Jewish men were, at least predominantly, bearded. For such people, shaving is a periodic activity, which is seen as a matter of choice at any given time. For many clean-shaven people, daily shaving is a matter of simple hygiene that cannot be pushed off for long. These differences find expression in several areas of halacha, including shaving on Chol Ham'oed, S'fira, and the Three Weeks. Those who are lenient on Chol Hamo'ed, for example, to a great part, based on the halachic approach of Rav Soloveitchik and Rav Moshe Feinstein (Igrot Moshe, OC I, 163), reason that shaving before Yom Tov does not suffice for an entire week as it once did. There are even (disputed or contrary) accounts that Rav Feinstein said that not only may the clean-shaven shave on Chol Hamo'ed but that it is preferable to do so in honor of the holiday. Some apply the same logic to shaving in the morning. The halachic concept of "Hikon Likrat Elokecha" mandates preparing oneself with a clean body and appropriate clothes for davening (see Shulchan Aruch, OC 91-92). One posek who has written that shaving may be a fulfillment of Hikon... is Rav Yosef (Yalkut Yosef 89:32), although he brings it as a legitimate but less preferable stance. Many oral accounts and the practice, especially in segments of society where "needing a shave" has a social stigma and is a physical nuisance, make shaving even a preference. This being said, it is wrong to make a sweeping rule. Those with beards should normally not shave before Shacharit. Those with slow growing or light beards would do better to shave before going to sleep or after davening and if they need to do so in the morning, should do so after saying Shema and some b'rachot (see referenced article). Those who need a morning shave to make themselves presentable to daven should feel free to do so before davening. However, if they are running late, it's hard to justify missing P'sukei D'zimra for it. [2] Candle by Day It is humorous to consider our "respect" for great men. They pass by. We rise, and in doing so, feel that we are honoring them (and that we deserve no small measure of credit for doing so). Yet, if we could somehow discover the true nature of their greatness and see how small we are in relation to them, our rising would present itself as nothing more extraordinary than the rising of a leaf for the sun or the stirring of a branch for the wind. And the idea of our deserving any commendation for such a rising would appear just as absurd as a similar commendation for the leaf and for the branch. We would not feel that we are "rising" for a great man, but that his presence is pulling us up by the bootstraps. From "A Candle by Day" by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein A Candle by Day - The Antidote - The World of Chazal by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein Now available at 054-209-9200 [3] Wisdom and Wit by Shmuel Himelstein Two Jews in Radin came to blows. This occurrence was unheard of, and at a town meeting it was decided that from then on any Jew who laid hands on another was to be put in cherem - i.e., he was to be excommunicated, and no one was to have any dealings with him or even speak to him. This even meant that he would not be included in minyan and would not be given any Aliyot to the Torah. Some time later, a particularly violent man hit someone. In accordance with the new regulation, he was to be put into cherem, but he let it be known that he would personally cause bodily harm to anyone who tried to do so. As a result, there was no one brave enough to excommunicate him. Seeing what had happened, the Chafetz Chayim went up to the shul bimah and announced: "We are told, 'You shall fear no person" - In accordance with the town regulation, I therefore place the man involved in cherem, and no one may have anything to do with him." The cherem had its effect, and the man apologized and undertook to never lay a hand on another person again. ### If you feel you need to hit your child for educational purposes, you should only hit him once. Hitting a child more than once is only a reflection of one's anger, not an attempt to educate. Shmuel Himelstein has written a wonderful series for ArtScroll: Words of Wisdom, Words of Wit; A Touch of Wisdom, A Touch of Wit; and "Wisdom and Wit" - available at your local Jewish bookstore (or should be). Excerpted with permission [4] CHIZUK and IDUD for Olim & not-yet-Olim respectively Parshat Bamidbar is always read shortly before Shavuot, the anniversary of Kabbalat HaTorah. The Shulchan Aruch offers a mnemonic to illustrate this, NIMNU V'ATZRU, i.e., begin Chumash HaP'kudim (the book of Numbers), Bamidbar, and then celebrate Atzeret, Shavuot. Rav Zevin z"l elaborates as follows: The Torah was given in a midbar, a desert, to allude to how we are to receive and accept Torah. A human being is a receptacle for existential "baggage", preconceptions imprinted upon his mind by environment, family and society, concerning emet and sheker, good and evil, and determining and deciding what is moral and ethical. His mission is to change and rise above all of that! (Bamidbar 19:18), "umidbar matana umimatana nachliel". Chaza"l interpret, "one must make himself as a midbar, a barren wilderness, in order to receive Torah"! (Nedarim 55a, Eruvin 44a and Midrash Rabba Bamidbar 19). He must rid himself of foreign influence, in order to accept the objective morality and ultimate reality of G-d's Law. Rav Zevin then points out a contradiction. Shavuot is Yom HaBikurim, a celebration of harvesting the first fruit. This implies rejuvenation and growth, clearly the opposite of a barren wilderness?! To resolve this, he refers to a "remez gadol", a hint at something extraordinary. In a world devoid of Torah, even Gan Eden can be mere wasteland. With Torah, even the midbar can truly be a paradise! Upon the completion of the six days of creation, the verse relates "vayhi erev vayhi boker yom hashishi" (B'reishit 1:31). The Talmud (Shabbat 88a), troubled by the extra HEI, explains it as an allusion to another sixth day, the sixth of Sivan, on which we are to fulfill the purpose of creation. Hashem warns us ,"what I have now completed and granted you dominion over is only on the following condition! If you accept the Torah on the sixth of Sivan, creation is confirmed and the universe continues to exist. Otherwise, "I return it to "tohu vavohu", primordial nothingness"! "Umimatana nachliel uminachliel bamot" (Bamidbar 19:18) means, say Chaza"l [in paraphrase], "You received Torah in a midbar, as a gift. You are to earn it and internalize it until it becomes nachala, inheritance, a heritage and legacy, and then you will rise to great heights, bamot". Our entire existence is predicated upon fulfilling this mission. The nachala of Eretz Yisrael, combines with the nachala of Torah, to create a "chosen people" who must serve as a model, an "ohr la'goyim", a light unto the nations. We can then be assured we will rise to the heights of what man may accomplish... Rabbi Harry Greenspan, Ramat Beit Shemesh TORAH THOUGHTS as contributed by Aloh Naaleh members for publication in the Orthodox Union's 'Torah Insights', a weekly Torah publication on Parshat HaShavu'a [5] Parsha Points to Ponder - Bamidbar 1) Why is the census of all tribes other than Levi referred to as LIFT UP THE HEAD (S'U ET ROSH) while the census of Levi did not include that terminology? (see 1:2 and 3:15) 2) The Torah describes how the Jews camped, with 2 tribes traveling under the banner of a third tribe in all four directions. Why does the Torah introduce every one of these secondary tribes with the letter VAV meaning AND with the exception of Zevulun (2:7)? 3) Why does the Torah emphasize that the Leviyim were separated FROM AMIDST THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL? (see 3:9 and 3:12) What would be lacking without those words? Suggested Answers Ponder the questions first, then read here 1) The Chasam Sofer teaches that LIFT UP THE HEAD means to give a boost to the ego of those being counted. Each person counted individually indicated that they were important and this lifted their self-esteem. The tribe of Levi served as the leaders of the nation. Leaders have to be so careful about becoming conceited and haughty in their lofty positions and, therefore, the notion of how special it was to be counted individually was downplayed with regards to the census of Levi. 2) The Baal HaTurim answers that since Yissachar and Zevulun functioned as one unit with Yissachar learning Torah while being supported by Zevulun, there was no room for separation between the two as would have been implied by a VAV. Their spiritual closeness was captured by the lack of a physical separation between their encampments. 3) Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld explains that there was a danger in the tribe of Levi being designated as the leaders of the nation. They could begin to identify themselves as a different people and the rest of the nation could feel distant and a lack of brotherhood. Thus, when the they were distinguished for their special service, the Torah emphasizes that they were a part of a broader nation and should work to insure that it remains that way. Parsha Points to Ponder is prepared by Rabbi Dov Lipman, who teaches at Reishit Yerushalayim, Tiferet, and Machon Maayan in Beit Shemesh and RBS and is the author of "DISCOVER: Answers for Teenagers (and adults) to Questions about the Jewish Faith",just re-published by Feldheim, ppp@ouisrael.org [6] Portion from the Portion by Rakel Berenbaum FEEDback to berenbau@actcom.net.il FLAGS Blue and white flags have been flying over the capital since before Yom HaAtzma'ut. They will continue to wave till Yom Yerushalayim when so many young people will descend on the City of Gold carrying or wearing their white and blue striped banners. It is such a moving experience to see the rows of kids marching up Betzalel street on their way to the Kotel with all the flags fluttering in the wind. But what is the significance of a flag? Is it just a nice thing to look at or is there something deeper that we should be seeing? This week is appropriate to ponder these questions when we read the portion of BAMIDBAR. Here we are told how our nation encamped in the desert under the four DEGALIM - flags. What was the meaning, so many hundreds of years ago, of these flags? In normal life, the purpose of a flag is to join all the members of a particular group. Everyone comes running for a communal purpose when the banner is raised. In a battle, the flag serves the purpose of acting as a sign for scattered troops so they can all find their way back to their fellow soldiers. The SHEM MiSHMUEL sees the flags of the desert as a sign of the Jewish nation's expression of love toward Hashem and a desire to get closer to Him. He brings a Midrash from BAMIDBAR RABBA describing how when Hashem gave the Torah, many angels came down with Him to Har Sinai and they arranged themselves by DEGALIM (flags). When Israel saw this they also wanted to be arranged by DEGALIM. G-d liked this idea and hence the verses in our portion where G-d instructs the nation to arrange themselves by flags. Just as the flags of an earthly nation serve the purpose of rallying all the members of the group, the DEGALIM of the MIDBAR had a similar purpose but on a spiritual plane. They refer to the attachment and bond of love with Hashem. When Israel asked to have DEGALIM like the angels they wanted to be like them on a spiritual level. Angles are not influenced by the distractions of this earthly world and are therefore able to enjoy a continuous, high-level relationship with Hashem. Israel saw this relationship, admired it and desired the same. Although as humans they had to work in the physical world, they wanted to always be close to G-d. G-d answered their request and gave them flags like the angels, as the verse in SHIR HASHIRIM (2:4) states - "and his DEGEL upon me was love". When seeing all the flags around us we should remember the significance of the flags of the desert and try to raise ourselves to an even higher level of closeness to G-d. In honor of Jerusalem day, this week's recipe calls for Jerusalem artichokes. These have nothing to do with Jerusalem and are not really artichokes but rather a tuber vegetable (growing underground), from the sunflower family, native of North America that tastes a bit like artichoke. In Hebrew, it is called TAPUACH ADAMA YERUSHALMI or Jerusalem potato. If you can't find them, experiment with another tuber instead. ROASTED CHICKEN WITH JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES 1 1/2 - 2 lb. Jerusalem artichokes 1 chicken 3 cloves garlic olive oil Paprika salt and pepper to taste Peel artichokes, or leave unpeeled. Slice about 1/2 inch thick. Brush chicken with oil. Season chicken and roast at 350F (175C)). An hour before chicken will finish roasting, place artichoke slices around the pan. Baste and turn occasionally and remove when golden brown. Serve around the meat. [7] from Machon Puah Multi-Fetal Pregnancy In the past few weeks we have discussed the halachic status of the unborn fetus, and we saw that there is a difference of opinion as to whether it is considered alive or not. This is the basis for the discussion as to whether one is allowed to terminate a pregnancy in a case where there is a serious birth defect. This week we would like to examine the case of multi-fetal pregnancy, where a woman is pregnant with several children and the doctors decide that she cannot carry all of the embryos. The fear is that since the uterus cannot expand indefinitely, the woman will lose one of the babies and then a chain reaction can be initiated which can end with losing the entire pregnancy. Is it permitted to reduce some of the embryos in order to leave a smaller number that can end in a viable pregnancy? Is this similar to the previous case? Rav Yitzchak Zilberstein, a renowned posek in Bnei Brak and the son-in-law of Rav Elyashiv, wrote on this subject in the halachic medical journal, Assia. Rav Zilberstein brought as a proof case the Gemara's description of the gentiles coming and threatening a group of Jews. "If the gentiles say - Give us one of you and we will kill him, otherwise we will kill all of you, then we are not allowed to give them one person, unless they singled him out." (Yerushalmi, Terumot chapter 8, and see Rambam, Yesodei HaTorah 5, and Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 157:1). In cases where we cannot single out one individual as guilty of pursuing another we are not allowed to kill anyone. This is like the final words of the Mishna that permitted saving the mother's life by killing the unborn fetus but that once the child's head has come out we cannot interfere since we cannot determine who is pursuing whom. From this we can draw an analogy to our case. All of the fetus are endangering the others, but we cannot point to one who is endangering them more or one who is less "guilty". Therefore it would appear that we cannot reduce any of the embryos, unless it is a case where one of them clearly endangers another. However, in the case of Yonah that is exactly what the sailors did. There was a storm that threatened to kill all of them and in order to save the lives of all the other sailors they sacrificed the life of one of them, Yonah, by throwing him into the sea. (Of course they did not know that he would be swallowed by a fish and would be saved.) Yet we never see that the sailors were punished for this, and so it appears that they were allowed to do so. So is it permitted or forbidden to kill one person to save another? More on this next week. The Puah Institute for Fertility and Gynecology in Accordance with Halacha is based in Jerusalem and helps couples from all over the world who are experiencing fertility problems. Puah offers free counseling in five languages, halachic supervision, and educational programs. Puah has offices in New York, Los Angeles and Paris. To contact the Puah Institute please call 1-800-071111 in Israel or in the US 718-336-0603. website: www.puahonline.org [8] Pirkei Avot Perek 6 Masechet Avot consists of five chapters, not six, as we find in Pirkei Avot. A custom developed "way back when" to read/ study one chapter a week during the period of time between Pesach and Sukkot. There are six Shabbatot during the Omer, and a sixth chapter was compiled from various mishna-like writings. The main five chapters of Avot contain many recipes for living a Torah Life. The theme of the sixth chapter is pure Torah. It speaks of learning Torah for its own sake, of acquiring Torah. The priceless value of studying and living Torah. How appropriate to have such a text to read and study on the Shabbat before we relive the experience of Matan Torah. The Shabbat before Shavuot is poetically called the Auf Ruf Shabbat of the People of Israel. Interesting to note that haftara that we don't read this Shabbat (because of Machar Chodesh) ends with these two verses that symbolize the love between G-d and his people. (Hoshei'a 2:21-22) And I will betroth you to me for ever; I will betroth you to me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in grace, and in mercies. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know G-d. Hoshei'a uses the term of EIRUSIN, bethrothal or engagement. How appropriate for the Shabbat before we stand at Sinai to become wed (so to speak) to G-d and His Torah. [9] Guest Article by Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher, Dean of Students, Diaspora Yeshiva Why the Pope came to the Diaspora Yeshiva Is it a coincidence that the Pope came to Mt Zion, the site of the Diaspora Yeshiva, on Lag B'Omer? He came to pray in the room of the Last Supper, which is located directly on top of King David's Tomb, where the Yeshiva holds lectures and shiurim. We had a platoon of IDF soldiers stationed in our Yeshiva. We asked them to put on Tefillin and pray with us. Every soldier did so, with some of them telling us that it was the first time in their lives that they had donned Tefillin. G-d works in mysterious ways. The IDF thought they had come to our Yeshiva to guard and protect the Pope during his visit on Mt. Zion. But G-d's plan was to bring these soldiers to us to give them the opportunity to perform and fulfill the great Mitzva of Tefillin. But why did this encounter with the Pope happen on Lag B'Omer, the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who, according to Jewish tradition, revealed The Zohar, Judaism's central mystical text of Kabbala. Rabbi Haim Vital [a 16th century Master of Kabbala] expounded the verse D'varim 13:7 "If your brother, the son of your mother... entices you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' which you have not known... your hand should be first upon him to put him to death and afterward the hand of all the people." This verse is talking about Jesus, who was born, said Rabbi Vital, to a Jewish mother and a non-Jewish father. "Your hand should be first," refers to the Sanhedrin that sentenced Jesus to death, while the "hand of the people" refers to the Romans who carried out the death sentence. Also, "first" refers to Pesach, the first of the 3 pilgrimage festivals. Rabbi Haim Vital states that the Last Supper was the Seder. Perhaps, the most central Jewish text on Judaism's view of Christianity was written by Rambam at the end of his Mishna Torah in midst of a discussion on the Messianic Age. In most editions of Rambam's work published in Christian Europe in the past 500 years, this part was censored, due to the critical position he took against Christianity. But Rambam's approach to Chrisiantiy was not totally negative for non-Jews. He saw in the Christian and Muslim faiths a positive, though false, step in the development of humanity toward the Messsianic Era. As more and more people in the world embraced these two monotheistic faiths and abandoned direct idol worship, humanity's "path is straightened and the world is perfected to the point where all humans can serve G-d together." (Laws of Kings 11). This will happen, according to Rambam, in the Messianic Era, after Muslims and Christians realize that their religions are false and distorted. The Rambam closes with a quote from the Haftara of B'chukotai that all non-Jews will say in the Messianic Era, "Only lies and falsehoods have our fathers passed on to us. And how could we be so foolish as to make a human being into a god." (Jeremiah 16). Is it a coincidence that this Haftara was read on the very week that the Pope paid us a visit? [10] MicroUlpan Bilingual lesson in honor of Parshat Bamidbar. Flags (DEGEL) are generally rectangular, sometimes, square. Pennants (NEIS) are usually triangular. This is a double pennant. In Hebrew: NES-NUTZA. A flagpole is a TOREN The decorative top of the pole is called the finial - in Hebrew, ITUR ROSH HATOREN The string/cord/rope that connects the corners of a flag to the flagpole and are used to raise and lower the flag are called HALYARD. In Hebrew, NEIF [11] Yom Yerushalayim - Letter to the World from Jerusalem We are doing it again (we don't do it every year). We've included in the Yom Yerushalayim issue of Torah Tidbits, the Letter to the World from Jerusalem. Hard to believe that this "letter" is 40 years old! It was written during the summer of 1969 and first published in a now-defunct English language newspaper called the Times of Israel. It was written by Eliezer Whartman under the name Eliezer Ben Yisrael. This letter is like a booster shot. Read it if you live in Jerusalem. Read it if you don't. Read it anywhere in the world. Read it at your Shabbat table. And don't forget to tell your children and grand children what it was like in the weeks before the Six Day War. And what it was like after it. Sadly, we are still faced with the threats of dividing the City. With taking away parts of the City. The nations of the world - and a couple of major world religions have been trying to take our City - our heart - away from us. We must believe that it is ours completely and we must be ready to deserve to keep it ours. A Letter to the World from Jerusalem by Eliezer Ben Yisrael I am not a creature from another planet, as you seem to believe. I am a Jerusalemite - like yourselves, a man of flesh and blood. I am a citizen of my city, an integral part of my people. I have a few things to get off my chest. Because I am not a diplomat, I do not have to mince words. I do not have to please you, or even persuade you. I owe you nothing. You did not build this city; you did not live in it; you did not defend it when they came to destroy it. And we will be damned if we will let you take it away. There was a Jerusalem before there was a New York. When Berlin, Moscow, London, and Paris were miasmal forest and swamp, there was a thriving Jewish community here. It gave something to the world which you nations have rejected ever since you established yourselves - a humane moral code. Here the prophets walked, their words flashing like forked lightning. Here a people who wanted nothing more than to be left alone, fought off waves of heathen would-be conquerors, bled and died on the battlements, hurled themselves into the flames of their burning Temple rather than surrender, and when finally overwhelmed by sheer numbers and led away into captivity, swore that before they forgot Jerusalem, they would see their tongues cleave to their palates, their right arms wither. For two pain-filled millennia, while we were your unwelcome guests, we prayed daily to return to this city. Three times a day we petitioned the Almighty: "Gather us from the four corners of the world, bring us upright to our land; return in mercy to Jerusalem, Thy city, and dwell in it as Thou promised." On every Yom Kippur and Passover, we fervently voice the hope that next year would find us in Jerusalem. Your inquisitions, pogroms, expulsions, the ghettos into which you jammed us, your forced baptisms, your quota systems, your genteel anti-Semitism, and the final unspeakable horror, the holocaust (and worse, your terrifying disinterest in it) - all these have not broken us. They may have sapped what little moral strength you still possessed, but they forged us into steel. Do you think that you can break us now after all we have been through? Do you really believe that after Dachau and Auschwitz we are frightened by your threats of blockades and sanctions? We have been to Hell and back - a Hell of your making. What more could you possibly have in your arsenal that could scare us? I have watched this city bombarded twice by nations calling themselves civilized. In 1948, while you looked on apathetically, I saw women and children blown to smithereens, after we agreed to your request to internationalize the city. It was a deadly combination that did the job. British officers, Arab gunners, and American-made cannons. And then the savage sacking of the Old City; the willful slaughter, the wanton destruction of every synagogue and religious school; the desecration of Jewish cemeteries; the sale by a ghoulish government of tombstones for building materials, for poultry runs, army camps - even latrines. And you never said a word. You never breathed the slightest protest when the Jordanians shut off the holiest of our places, the Western Wall, in violation of the pledges they had made after the war - a war they waged, incidentally, against the decision of the UN. Not a murmur came from you whenever the legionnaires in their spiked helmets casually opened fire upon our citizens from behind the walls. Your hearts bled when Berlin came under siege. You rushed your airlift "to save the gallant Berliners". But you did not send one ounce of food when Jews starved in besieged Jerusalem. You thundered against the wall which the East Germans ran through the middle of the German capital - but not one peep out of you about that other wall, the one that tore through the heart of Jerusalem. And when that same thing happened 20 years later, and the Arabs unleashed a savage, unprovoked bombardment of the Holy City again, did any of you do anything? The only time you came to life was when the city was at last reunited. Then you wrung your hands and spoke loftily of "justice" and need for the "Christian" quality of turning the other cheek. The truth is - and you know it deep inside your gut - you would prefer the city to be destroyed rather than have it governed by Jews. No matter how diplomatically you phrase it, the age old prejudices seep out of every word. If our return to the city has tied your theology in knots, perhaps you had better reexamine your catechisms. After what we have been through, we are not passively going to accommodate ourselves to the twisted idea that we are to suffer eternal homelessness until we accept your savior. For the first time since the year 70 there is now complete religious freedom for all in Jerusalem. For the first time since the Romans put a torch to the Temple, everyone has equal rights. (You prefer to have some more equal than others.) We loathe the sword - but it was you who forced us to take it up. We crave peace - but we are not going back to the peace of 1948 as you would like us to. We are home. It has a lovely sound for a nation you have willed to wander over the face of the globe. We are not leaving. We are redeeming the pledge made by our forefathers: Jerusalem is being rebuilt. "Next year" and the year after, and after, and after, until the end of time - "in Jerusalem!" [12] Torah from Nature Lemurs This was going to be about some of the "21st century mammals", those discovered or declared separate species, since the year 2000. Among the new mammals are two species of lemur discovered in 2005. Let's look at lemurs, in general. Mammals are one class of vertebrates (backboned animals). There are between 4000-4500 species of mammals, subdivided into 19 orders. One order of mammals is Primates. Humans, apes, and monkeys are considered the higher primates and the term for the lower forms is prosimian. Prominent among the prosimians are the families of lemur. There are close to 50 species of lemur... found only on Madagascar and adjacent islands... monkeylike bodies and limbs, and most have bushy tails about as long as the body. They have pointed muzzles and large eyes... arboreal (tree-dwelling)... vary in size from the lesser mouse lemur about 20cm long including the tail, to some species of common woolly lemur that reach about 120cm... most are active both by day and by night... they eat leaves, fruits, eggs, and insects and other small animals... variations among lemur include species that are strictly vegetarian, others that are ground-dwelling, one with no tail at all. (The so-called flying lemur is not a lemur or even a a primate.) Lemur "society" is female dominant - a rare phenomenon among mammals... Many species of lemur are endangered... have an almost musical range of sounds for different occasions... they also communicate with each other via smell. [13] Divrei Menachem As a preamble to a census of the people, we are told that, "Hashem spoke to Moshe in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after the Exodus from the Land of Egypt" (Bamidbar 1:1). Regarding the timing of this event, we learn first of the exact date and then of the month when the census took place. Concerning the setting of this narrative, however, we are introduced first to the wide desert and then to the specific location, the Tent of Meeting. This anomaly occurs as Hashem, as it were, is about to search the whereabouts of every Jew, and when, we could surmise, each Jew might correspondingly seek G-d. To reconcile the discrepancy, the Or HaChayim explains that in line with the precision of the timing of this event, the wilderness can also be considered as a specific location. For following Rashi on the verse, "Behold the place is with Me!" (Sh'mot 33:21), the desert, as any place, is the explicit abode of Hashem. So, the individual Jew, the "pintele Yid", does not really have to go far to seek G-d. For He is everywhere. You just have to look. Shabbat Shalom, Menachem Persoff [The Parshat Bamidbar Homepage]
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