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TRANSCRIPT
3 questions:
How should one achieve simchas hachaim during covid
19 restrictions?
Why is sukkos called "Zman Simchosainu"?
How can I be mikayem my chiyuv d'oiraysa of
"V'samachta B'chagecha"?
WE ARE BEGINNING a very
confusing tkufa. On one hand,
we are going into the sukka
and starting the Yom Tov of
''ושמחת בחגך'' . We know
that Sukkos is THE time
of year when we have a
mitzvah to be
B'simcha. Yet, at the
same time we are
witnessing an עת צרה
in the world where
almost everywhere on
the globe there are
Yidden going through
hard times both in
ruchnios and in gashmios,
physically and emotionally.
However, one thing needs to be –
we NEED to achieve simchas hachaim
in all times.
The Belzer Rebbe RAV AHREL'E M'BELZ was
running away from the Nazis ימ"ש and he stopped the
wagon and got out for a few minutes. Afterwards he
explained, "I lost everything in this war and I started to
feel like I was losing my Yishuv Hadaas. That, I did not
want to lose." This Sukkos, how can we achieve extreme
simcha keep our yishuv hadaas and fulfil our chiyuv min
HaTorah?
We will explain this with the following vort from
Harav Gedalya Shorr who asked the following;1 What
would have been the purpose for Yakov Avinu to reveal
the קץ to his children? What gain would there be for the
s coming thousands of years’משיח to know about שבטים
later?
אור גדליהו עמוד עג 1
Rav Gedalya Shorr says that Yakov Avinu’s כונה was
not to reveal to them the קץ – referring to the end of the
will come – since as we just משיח and of when גלות
mentioned what gain would there be to know this piece
of information of thousands of years later? Rather, what
it means is that just as we understand that all גאולה is
ordained completely by Hashem – לא ע''י(
everything is מלאך ולא ע''י שליח...(
done by Hashem with complete –
so too, says Rav ,השגחה פרטית
Gedalya Shorr we must
understand and realize that
likewise, every single last
thing that happens
within the גלות itself,
[even a seger] is not
government controlled,
but is only and only
orchestrated with השגחה
from Hashem. The פרטית
only difference is that at a
time of the גאולה, there is
more of clear vision in
seeing the 'השגחת ה openly,
whereas during the גלות itself,
many times the 'השגחת ה is more
ר פניםתבהס (hidden). Yakov Avinu
wanted to relate to the שבטים a tremendous
secret. That even when they will be in the dark long גלות,
when they won’t always see 'השגחת ה in an open way, one
can still find " אולה"ג within the גלות itself. Yakov Avinu
wanted to reveal to them, how to find שמחת החיים even
amongst the troubles of the dark long גלות. And even
though Hashem did not allow Yaakov to reveal this to
his sons' ears in words, his message was revealed into
their hearts. As the זוהר says )ללבי גליתי ולאברי )תקון כ"א"
which means that even though it wasn’t – לא גליתי"
actually revealed to them בפה, the message was revealed
to their hearts. The message that every Jew, no matter
what the situation in his life is, they are able to find the
light in the dark galus and they can achieve simchas
Hachaim no matter what no matter when. Says Rav
Gedalya Shorr; this was Yakov Avinu’s message for all
generations, that even though כלל ישראל will have trying
Please read, but not during חזרת הש"ץ or קריאת התורה.
E nglish Weekly
Year 7 Issue #303
times in the גלות where they will not yet be זוכה to the
still, each person in their own personal life ,גאולה כללית
can and must find a גאולה פרטית. Which means that when
people face life situations where they feel, “What good
can there be in this situation? It seems terrible! How can
I be expected to be happy in the situation I am in?" The
answer is that Yaakov Avinu, already placed into the
hearts of his children, for all the years of the exile, that
one has to find the happiness amongst the hardship and
to know that in every "גלות" one can find their private
."גאולה"
MANY YEARS AGO, a group of Askanim couldn’t
bear to see the great צדיק Maran Hagoan HaRav Chaim
Kanievsky שליט''א living in such a small
two-bedroom apartment with his many
young children. Together, they raised the
necessary funds to buy Rav Chaim a larger
apartment. However, there was one
problem; Rav Chaim Kanievsky does not
accept money from anybody, and Rav
Chaim would surely refuse the offer. They
thought of a great idea, they would go to
Rav Chaim’s mother and give her the
money, and they assumed that Rav Chaim would take it
from his mother. They approached Rav Chaim
Kanievsky’s mother and told her, “Here we have money
for your son and your grandchildren to be able to live
a little bit more in comfort.” However, Rav Kanievsky’s
mother refused to take the money and she told them the
following: “There are many families in בני ברק who live
the same way as my son Chaim, the moment my son will
move into a bigger apartment, suddenly, their apartment
will feel crowded. It is not fair to them. As long as Rav
Chaim lives this way they feel its ok for them too.”
WHEN WE WILL DAVEN on Yom Tov we will call
this Yom Tov "Zman Simchasainu".
The question is; out of all the Yomim Toivim is this
really the happiest time of year? Are these seven days
really THE time of the most extreme simcha from the
whole year round? I would understand if Pesach, where
we got cheirus or Shuvuos where we got the Torah, that
these are the days to be the ones to be called "zman
Simchasainu". If anything, on Sukkos we need to sleep
outside of our house, sometimes it could even be
squishier in the sukkah or it could be without air
conditioning or heating depending where you live. If so,
what is pshat that this is the shpitz time of simcha, more
than pesach and more than shvuos that we refer to THIS
yom tov as zman simchasainu?
The answer is; the reason we have this question is
because we live in an oilum Hachoishech. One of the
things that happen when one enters into a dark room is
that they may see an object and think it is something else.
A shoe may be confused to be toy and a toy may be
confused to be your shoe. Why is this world called an
עיין זהר א יד. 2 שמעתי מאת הרה''ג רב נח אייזק אולבאום שליט''א 3
oilum Hachoishech? The reason is because even though
to us things look to be one way, many times it is
completely not as we see it. For example, the world may
respect people because of their wealth and yet not give
too much respect to a student who sits and learns Torah
day and night. Does this make any sense? It is only
because they are being blinded in the oilum Hachoishech
they are seeing life with blurred vision. In fact, who is
the one who is supporting the entire world? It is that
student who studies Torah, as it says כל העולם ניזן בשביל
בני אחנינ , but the velt respect ashirim so that is who we
think is really deserving of honor. Another example is
the virus; it looks to be not good in the oilum
Hachoishech we live in. Yet we know and believe that
Hashem is good and everything He does
is good, even though we don't understand
and we do not always see the light in the
darkness, we can find some geulah within
the galus and we trust in Hashem.
Another cause of the oilum Hachoishuch
is that we have a misconception as to
what brings real simcha and what is really
superficial simcha.
Chazal say טוב is טוב מאד ,חיים is 2.מוות
What do these words mean?
THE GREAT GAON AND TZADDIK, Harav Yosef
Angel זצוק''ל, who was נפטר in the year 1920, explained
as follows: There are people who are happy with the
definition of הקב''ה ,טוב provides them with their needs
and they are happy people, they have חיים. However,
there are those who טוב is not good enough, it has to be
מאדטוב very good. A person who has the idea, that if it’s
not very good he is not happy – that is מוות. Since for
this person, at points in his life the טוב מאד bar will get
raised higher and higher and he will want more and
more, better and better.3 A life like that is not a life – its
.מוותת ְיֹהָוה ֱאֹלקיָך ְבש ְמָחה ּוְבטּוב ֵלָבב ֵמֹרב ֹכל4 ְדָת אֶׁ ר לֹא ָעבַּ ת ֲאשֶׁ חַּ תַּ
When a person becomes depressed (or not בשמחה) it is
because he takes the "רב כל" for granted. רב כל refers to
all the goodness that Hashem gives him day in and day
out. This, our Rabbi’s teach us, is one of the worst acts a
person can perform, for this is considered - lack of
gratitude to Hashem. However, by serving Hashem with
happiness, this shows thankfulness and gratitude to
Hashem for all the incredible gifts that we receive. This,
the Torah tells us is what will prevent us from all the
curses mentioned.
“A Kvetch” is one of the worst titles a person can attain
in our Torah Hakdosha, as it says רת ת ֲאשֶׁ ת ח ְדָת אֶׁ לֹא ָעב
יָך ְמָחהְיֹהָוה ֱאֹלהֶׁ ּוְבטּוב ֵלָבב ְבש .
Therefore, we see that it is not abundance that brings
happiness.
כח:מז 4
EVERY SINGLE JEW IN Klal Yisroel when they will
sit in their sukka on the first night they will have extreme
simcha. The question is how is it possible to be so
b'simcha if we are leaving all the comfortable luxuries of
our own home. We are removing a normal roof over our
head and yet we are still so b'simcha? We may not have
heating or air conditioning and we are still
so happy in the sukkah! It may be squishier
than our big dining room and we are still so
joyful! How could this be?
This is the secret of Sukkos and this is why
specifically Sukkos is called Zman
Simchasainu. Since it is the Yom Tov of
Sukkos when we finally come to the
realization that all our luxuries of the year-
round is not what was really making us
happy in life. That was all fake simcha.
What's the proof? We left our diras keva and most of our
luxuries and yet we are still booming with happiness.
The simplicity of less and the simcha of doing the
mitzvah. On sukkos we finally realize that we could be
happy without all our stuff. We are happy to sit with in
the 'צל ה. It is mitzvos and Ma'asim Tovim that generates
within us a true feelings of simcha, not our belongings5.
The מאירי in the הקדמה to his חידושים on ש"ס writes the
following:
A person who went through the יו"ט and did not change
at all is דומה to a חמור. Meaning that he went though all
the actions of doing all of the מצות of the חג, yet he did
not grow or become elevated in any way. What is the
comparisson to a חמור? The מאירי says that just like a חמור
carries wheat in the wheat season, and barley in the
barley season, and does not get effected by what it does,
a person who goes through life without anything (in
פסח" in the מצה taking effect on him – he eats (עבודת ה'
season” and lights the מנורה in the "חנוכה season”, shakes
lulav in the sukkos season is like a donkey.
Therefore the message to be uplifted with on this
Yomtov is to come to the recognision as to what gains us
true simchas Hachaim and to attain it.
RAV AHREL'E M'BELZ once said that if a person
would really understand what it means to be a Yid, when
he says the Brocho of "Sheloi Asani Goy" it is
not Shayech for him to have any form of
depression or sadness that day. The fact that
he appreciates that he recognizes how special
it is to be a Yid, brings to a happiness that will
override all sorrow.
DURING THE WAR, in the death camps,
there were a group of 50 boys that were being
led to the infamous “bath house” i.e. gas
chambers. One youngster turned wittingly
turned to the other boys and said, “Today is Simchas
Torah, when the entire world rejoices upon completing
the Torah and starting anew. As בני תורה we have always
kept the Torah. Now we are celebrating an ending of our
lives on this sinful earth, followed immediately by our
new beginning in שמים, similarly as the Torah says,
את השמיםבראשית ברא אלקים – because, in the beginning
Hashem created the sky.” The boys all danced and they
sang “אשרינו מה טוב חלקינו” and “וטהר ליבנו לעבדך באמת”
just as they would on a usual Simchas Torah. The boys
were all ready to give up their lives קידוש השם על . The
Nazi’s yemach sh’mam were enraged when they heard
the sounds of singing and dancing. One boy told an
officer sardonically that the anticipation for leaving a
world with the Nazi beasts was sufficient cause for
elation. The Nazi then decided to take them out of the
gas chambers and teach them a lesson – to torture them
the following day in the worst ways possible. A
tremendous miracle transpired the following morning,
sending them to other barracks. Knowledgeable
observers have confirmed that every one of those fifty
youngsters survived the war and raised exemplary
families…
נד.דף עירובין ב אנד א -חטוף ואכול ייט""ְְגְרַּ
Shmuel said to Rav Yehudah (shinnina), “Grab and eat, grab and drink for this world that we are leaving from is
like a wedding. Today there is, tomorrow there won’t be6,7
A person can never know when ח"ו he will hit the days
of רעב, when he will not be able to be as active any more.
The nature of man is that he contemplates that he will
live infinitely.
The Ponoviche’ Rav used to say; “Everyone wants to
finish Shas in one night – and only start tomorrow.”
5 This was very much realized over the last tkufa where we
were forced to make smaller chasunas etc.
SHORTLY BEFORE THE FIRST world war broke out,
a man approached the ןגאו רסטייפל , who was a bochur at
the time, and asked him if he could send a letter with him
to his son who was learning in his Yeshiva. The Steipler
willingly agreed to take the letter, however, immediately
thereafter, the war broke out and the Steipler was unable
עירובין נד. 6 רש''י 7
Living The Daf – Grab and eat!
to return to Yeshiva. After eight years of holding on to
the letter safely (without even opening it to see what it
said), the Steipler finally met this boy and told him that
he had a letter for him from his father. This boy’s father
was no longer alive, and he got the shivers up his spine
together with feelings of great emotion with the fact that
he was receiving a letter from his late father. His body
shook while opening the letter dated eight years earlier.
It read as follows: “To my dear
son. How are you? How’s the
learning?... I wanted to ask you,
that when you return home from
Yeshiva, to remember to bring us a
few pieces of salted fish (herring).
Signed with great love, your father
who loves you forever.”
This was the story that the Steipler
said over.
I am not sure as to why the Steipler
said over this story and how he
explained it. However, it is clear that there is a lesson and
everyone can take out the lesson from the story as they
wish. Reb Sholzinger added that a wise man told him that
he took out from this story that it is possible that a person
can live through his entire life and look back and say,
“What did I spend my life doing? What was I busy
with?” Sometimes he can feel that he can be comparable
to this letter the boy received salted fish.
There was a yid who told me (Rav Sholzinger) that he
was learning in Yeshiva for many years and that he
learned the usual 30-40 blatt a זמןthat his yeshiva
learned, but even those blatt, he did not feel that he had
clarity in them. He said, “One day, as I was walking
on רחוב פרס in ירושלים and I saw the Brisker Rov on his
porch. I thought to myself, I have the opportunity to ask
the Brisker Rov a question. I gathered up the courage and
walked up the steps.” He continued, “At first it was hard
for me even to speak but then I managed, בס"ד, to open
my mouth and ask the Rov the following question: “I
want to ask the Rov a question that I have in the שיטמ"ק
in ...ב"מ דף.” The man continued,
“Until this very day, when I
remember this story I have a vivid
picture in front of my eyes of what
transpired. The Brisker Rov
responded, " און אלע גמרות אין מסכתא
מיט די רש"י מיט די תוס' וויסט אבבא מציע
"איר , Translation: “And all
the גמרות in אבבא מציע with all the
you already ,תוספות s and’רשי
know?!” This Yid told me, “I ran
away so fast, until finally I stopped
myself and thought about what the Brisker Rov said to
me, and how badly I needed to hear those words.” His
life and attitude in learning completely changed after that
encounter with the Brisker Rov.
The חזון איש writes; in later years, a common thought
goes into a person’s mind as follows; “What am I? How
much Torah do I have? Where is my suitcase that I will
take with me? What does it look like?” He then gets a
feeling of embarrassment…
However, the חזון איש writes in אמונה ובטחון פ"ג אות כ"ז -
גדולי עולם התחילו ללמוד מאוחר'' א''שהרב
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