Shalom Friends;
Our Succot vort is being sponsored by Haim and Danit Kalb and family of Ramat Beit Shemesh Lilui Nishmas for Haim’s Dad, Mordechai Yosef ben R’ Efraim, his Mother, Feigye bat R’ Mordechai and for the Yahrtzeits of Haim’s Grandfathers R’ Efraim ben R’ Mordechai and Mordechai ben David as well as for the Yahrtzeit of Danit’s Father Avraham Avigdor ben Aba Yehuda and for the safety of the Chayalim and the liberation of all remaining hostages and their return home home without experiencing any further harm, as well as for the good health and security of kol Am Yisrael. . To the Kalb family, many thanks for your sponsorship and for your continued kindnesses.
You can celebrate a Simcha — a birth, a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a Chassuna or other Simcha event in your life, or commemorate a Yahrtzeit of a loved one, or for whatever other reason by sponsoring a Parshat HaShavua.
Please forward to your relatives and friends and encourage them to sponsor a Parshat HaShavua. And please be in contact with me with any questions, or for further details.
Best Regards,
Moshe Burt
olehchadash@yahoo.com
Subscribe to the Israel and the Sin of Expulsion blog, to ask questions or to sponsor a Parsha Vort at: olehchadash@yahoo.com
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Having emerged from Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, hopefully all have been inscribed and sealed for a happy, healthy, successful and meaningful year and years ahead, we now find ourselves, after assembling our Succahs and acquiring our Arba Minim (Lulav, Hadassim, Aravot and Etrog), celebrating Succot.
And we all know who the first Ushpizin is, in this author’s parody of that iconic Rowan and Martin’s “Laugh-In” line:
“And now, the man without whom the Jews wouldn’t be the Jews without the Jew — Avraham Aveinu!”
Torah records in Parshat Re’eh;
“You shall rejoice on your festival — you, your son, your daughter, your slave, your maidservant, the Levite who is in your cities, the proselyte, the orphan, and the widow who are in your cities.” (Sefer Devarim, Perek 16, posuk 14 rendered to English in the Artscroll Stone Chumash)
The Manchester Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Yehudah Zev Segal, z”l wrote discussing Succot in his Sefer, “Inspiration and Insight,” Volume ll (pages 98 – 99) :
The joy of Succot can be explained…, the season of soul-searching and introspection which commences with Rosh Chodesh Elul becomes more intense with the advent of Rosh Hashana and reaches its climax with Yom Kippur, when we enumerate our sins… and beg forgiveness. Those who approach this season with the seriousness that it demands might well become dispirited after spending so much time pondering their spiritual failings. R’ Yisrael Salanter writes in a letter that in days past “every man was seized with dread by the voice which proclaimed the month of Elul.” (ibid, citing Ohr Yisrael 14) Forty days and countless tears later, such a man might find it difficult to mend his broken heart.
Yom Tov is a time of special closeness between Hashem and His people: this closeness is the source of the joy that permeates the Yom Tov experience. The Mitzvah of Succot symbolizes this closeness in a most unique way. The Gemara states that the Succah represents the Ananei HaKavod, Clouds of Glory, through which Hashem’s Presence was manifest during the Jews’ sojourn in the Wilderness and which sheltered them from harm. The Vilna Gaon, in Shir HaShirim 1:2, showed how the very date on which Succot commences is related to the Clouds of Glory. Succot is the season of our gladness because its arrival revives our broken spirit and infuses us with joy, both because it is Yom Tov and because its primary Mitzvah (ibid, Primary in the sense that it becomes one’s dwelling throughout the festival) represents the special bond which exists between HaKadosh Borchu and Klal Yisrael.
But it may seem that again this year the joy of Succot may be tempered somewhat by events both within Am Yisrael — in Eretz Yisrael amidst Israel’s continued multi-front war against Iran-sponsored and funded terrorist forces and their so-called “innocent civilian” co-conspirators, as well as the recent terror attack of passengers on the bus at Jerusalem’s Ramot Junction and within world Jewry resulting from the rise in anti-semitism — and the chaos worldwide.
We mourn for the fatalities resulting from the terror attack on the bus in Jerusalem as well as for the fatalities among our Chayalim and pray for the recovery of those injured during the ongoing, nearly two year duration, War of Simchat Torah.
It is in this context that this author once again cites Sefer Shem Mishmuel (written by Rabbi Shmuel Bornstein, the Rebbe of Sochaczev and translated to English by Rabbi Zvi Belovski). Shem Mishmuel writes (pages 442 – 444) :
In his…Kad HaKemach, Rabbeinu Bachya quotes a Midrashic source which explains that the arba minim (four species) correspond to the four exiles which the Am Yisrael will have to [have] endure[d] and their ability to overcome their adversaries each time.
We may explain the connection between exile and these species in the following manner. In the admonitions of Parshat Ki Tavo, the Torah warns that exile will befall Am Yisrael;
“because you did not serve the Lord, your G’d with happiness and a glad heart, with abundance of everything.” (Shem Mishmuel cites and renders to English a portion of Sefer Devarim, Perek 28, posuk 47)
For a broader context of posuk 47, with a view toward our current matzav, the Artscroll Stone Chumash renders to English Sefer Devarim, Perek 28, posukim 45 – 47) :
“All of these curses will come upon you and pursue you and overtake you, …because you have not hearkened to the voice of Hashem, your G’d, to observe His Commandments and Decrees that He Commanded you. They will be a sign and a wonder, in you and your offspring, forever, because you did not serve Hashem, your G’d, amid gladness and goodness of heart, when everything was abundant.”
These posukim and commentaries above seem to be saying to this author that there are, and have been, factions of our people, through the generations and through today who have not properly rejoiced in our festivals in that they have not hearkened to Hashem in observing His Commandments, constituting a fifth column on multiple levels. These levels include nixing efforts to reform the judicial system which would have brought the system to be representative of the people and more righteous in judgement, military high command echelons disregarding, for agenda and politics, Halachot in a Melchemet Shel Torah for the Land of Israel during much of the ongoing war in Gaza — the War of Simchat Torah, attempts by certain factions of the people and their political backers to topple the current government amidst this Melchemet Shel Torah, discrimination in schooling by one sector of Jews against another, as well as the deprecation (noun: the act or process of belittling or disparaging) by factions of the people and their political backers of Torah Scholars and their spiritual roles contributing toward winning such a Melchemet Shel Torah for the Land of Israel and more.
It would seem that the War of Simchat Torah, with its myriad of intelligence and strategic misreadings and miscalculations are a wake up call to Am Yisrael, in Israel and worldwide, regarding improving ourselves, coming near to, and restoring emunah in Hashem, and justifying His continued love for, and trust in us. Will we, shall we say, “smell the coffee?”
Israel’s current victory-oriented strategies in Gaza and attacks in Iran which demolished much of their nuclear facilities, scientists, military leadership, ballistic missiles and ballistic missile manufacturing facilities exemplify positive changes resulting from the appointments of a new defense minister and foreign minister. The pre-emptive actions against Iran are nothing short of miraculous, B’Yad Hashem.
May our government and military bring total and complete, Final and Decisive victory over Hamas, their 7 October so-called “civilians(sic)” collaborators and the entire terror cabal, B’Yad Hashem, and become Totally self-sufficient as to manufacture of military equipment and aircraft, weaponry, munitions — heavy munitions, as well as showing independence of actions responding to any threat, regardless of so-called “super powers.”
May we see, from here on, that border guard personnel at all points of possible danger are listened to and treated with respect and dignity. May we see our Chayalim totally eradicate Hamas, Islamic Jihad, those so-called “civilians(sic)” who collaborated on 7 October, as well as Hezbollah, the Houthies, the Mullahs of Iran and all their terror accomplices while liberating all remaining hostages, B’Yad Hashem and mandated by a government secure in it’s foremost service of, and emunah in HaKadosh Borchu, B’Ezrat Hashem! And may we see the restoration of true unity within Am Yisrael. May these words come to fruition B’Esrat Hashem.
May we, the B’nei Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif e permanently re-settled in Gush Katif, once the IDF, by the Yad Hashem, destructs and eradicates the wild beasts of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, all other terror entities, and if necessary Iran, and that our brethren be made totally whole — be totally restituted for all that was stolen from them, that the thrice expelled families of Amona be restored to their rebuilt homes and the oft-destroyed Yeshiva buildings in Homesh be rebuilt, as well as the buildings of Yishuv Elchanan, all at total government expense. May our Chayalim return from battle unharmed — physically, mentally and spiritually and may all of the remaining hostages brutally taken by the wild beasts of Hamas be liberated and brought home to their families. Baruch Hashem that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard is now in his fifth year at home in Eretz Yisrael and continues in a new chapter in his life. May Esther Yocheved bat Yechiel Avraham have an aliyah in Shemayim and may her spirit and memory continue to lift Jonathan to at least 120 years. May the MIAs be liberated alive and returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem — as with the return in April, 2019, via Russia, of the remains of Zachariah Baumel, the recent recovery of the remains of Tzvi Feldman as well as the recovery of the remains of Oron Shaul as should the remains of the other chayal from the Gaza War of ten years ago. May we have the courage and strength to stand up and physically prevent the possibility of Chas V’Challila any future eviction of Jews from their homes and prevent Chas V’Challila the handing of Jewish land over to anyone, let alone to enemies sworn to Israel’s and Judaism’s destruction and eradication. May we see, in 5785, the REAL Jews from the Ukraine and Russia as well as the US and Canada, the real Jews via matrilineal descent, make Aliyah enmass — via thorough review by Misrad HaPanim. And may we soon and finally see the total end to the Communist Chinese Wuhan Lab corona virus pandemic and all like viruses and variants. May we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nei Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Ki Karov Yom Hashem Al’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bimhayrah b’yamainu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
Good Yom Tov and Good Shabbos! May You, All of My Brothers and Sisters, be Inscribed and Sealed for another Year of Life… Now and always! L’Shana Tova!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of
The Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
Moshe is available for editing of English language documents, articles, manuscripts and more. Please be in contact with him at olehchadash@yahoo.com for your English language needs.
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