Rabbi
Doniel Staum, LMSW
Rabbi,
Kehillat New Hempstead
Social
Worker, Yeshiva Bais Hachinuch/Ashar
STAM
TORAH
PARSHAS
VAYESHEV/CHANUKAH 5773
“YOU
NEVER KNOW[1]”
As a five-year-old child in a Polish
village, Laizer Halberstam violated an unwritten rule by befriending a young
Polish gentile neighbor. The two of them swapped stamps, coins, and one fateful
day, they decided to swap prayers. Their parents would have been mortified had
they known, but the two friends kept it a secret. Laizer taught his Polish
friend a Jewish prayer and the friend taught Laizer a Christian prayer.
Ten years later, Laizer was fleeing the
Nazis, traveling across Europe disguised as a
Christian. One day a Nazi officer boarded a train that Laizer was on and
demanded to see everyone’s documents. Laizer had forged document, which had
helped him get this far, but for some reason this Nazis suspicions were
aroused. The Nazi looked at him contemptuously, “Really? You say you are a good
Christian? Well then why don’t you recite for me a Christian prayer that every
good Christian knows?” Fortuitously, the prayer he was asked to recite was the
same prayer Laizer had been taught by his Polish friend ten years earlier.
Thanks to his good memory, he was able to recite it flawlessly, to the Nazis
satisfaction[2].
The
brothers of Yosef ruled that according to Jewish law, Yosef was deserving of
death! By relating his dreams, Yosef boldly predicted that he would become the
reigning monarch over the family. The tribes viewed the dreams as an affront
and open challenge to the future monarchy of Yehuda.
The punishment for challenging the monarchy of
a Jewish king is death. Therefore, as a valid judicial court they decided that
it was their responsibility to impose the death penalty upon Yosef. The verse
relates that Reuven intervened and sought to save Yosef from their clutches. He
advised them to cast Yosef into a nearby pit and leave him to his fate. Not
realizing that there were venomous snakes and scorpions in the pit Reuven
silently hoped to deter the brothers long enough so that he could return to the
pit and bring Yosef home after the shevotim had left.
Yalkut
Shimoni[3]
makes a fascinating observation: The Torah teaches us appropriate conduct that
when one performs a mitzvah he should do so with pure motives and a happy
heart. Had Reuven realized that G-d would record in the Torah that he had
sought to save Yosef, he would have carried Yosef on his shoulders and
personally delivered him safely to Yaakov.
The
Medrash continues, that if Aharon knew that the Torah would record that he went
out to the desert
of Egypt
What
is the meaning of this Medrash? Is it possible to think that Reuven, Aharon,
and Boaz were selfishly motivated and driven by fanfare and honor? These were
three of the most distinguished personalities in Klal Yisroel whose
righteousness is legendary and stands as a model for us. It is foolish to
entertain the thought that these great men acted out of selfish motives.
Rabbi
Yaakov Kamenetsky zt’l offers the following insight: When Reuven went to save
Yosef he thought he was merely saving his younger brother from harm. He had no
way of realizing the far-reaching implications and consequences of his actions.
By saving Yosef, Reuven prevented an ordeal that would have had catastrophic
consequences. Without Yosef the whole future of Klal Yisroel would be called
into question. On the other hand, had Reuven finished the job and brought Yosef
safely back to Yaakov immediately, the whole tragedy of Yosef’s descent to
Mitzrayim and consequently the descent of Yaakov and all of Klal Yisroel to
Mitzrayim, could have been averted.
When
Aharon came out to greet Moshe he had no way of realizing that he was giving
encouragement to Moshe to fulfill his mission which culminated with the exodus
from Egypt
Had
they realized the extent of the significance of what they were engaged in they
would have left no stone unturned until they completed their mission in the
most glamorous manner possible.
The
Medrash concludes with a poignant message for us. Today Eliyahu and Moshiach
record our actions. This means that our actions, which we wave off with the
back of our hand as insignificant and worthless, may actually be the
foundations and the progenitors for the future redemption. If we knew that
Moshiach was recording our actions we would do them with greater alacrity,
precision, devotion, and enthusiasm.
The
Gemara Shabbos[5],
in its discussion about the holiday and laws of Chanukah, quotes two statements
in the name of Rav Kahana. The first is that one who lights a Menorah more than
twenty cubits off the ground has not fulfilled his obligation. The Gemara
explains that one normally does not strain his eyes to look above twenty
cubits. The purpose of the Chanukah lights is to publicize the miracle and,
therefore, if the candles are beyond the range of the common person’s view the
mitzvah has not been fulfilled.
The
second statement is based on the verse which states that Reuven suggested to
his brothers that they cast Yosef into an empty pit that had no water. Rav
Kahana deduces from the superfluous words “the pit was empty - it had no water”
to mean that although it was devoid of water it was full of scorpions and
snakes.
What
is the connection between these two seemingly unrelated concepts?[6]
My
Rebbe, Rabbi Berel Wein, explained that there is an additional connection
between the story of Yosef and Reuven and Chanukah, based on the aforementioned
Medrash. In a certain sense Reuven came
up short. He did not realize the greatness of the moment and didn’t take
advantage of his opportunity. The heroic epic of Chanukah is the ‘antidote’ for
Reuven’s ‘mistake’. Chanukah is a lesson in seizing the moment and rising to
the occasion. The Syrian-Greeks were an implacable foe with powerful
well-trained armies fighting against a comparatively laughable force of
Maccabees.
In
the third battle of Emmaus, a Greek force of 40,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry
went out to fight a paltry 7,000 Jews who were poorly equipped and untrained
fighters. In the fourth battle at Bais Zur, Antiochus dispatched an army of
60,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry to fight a Jewish force of 10,000. The Jews
were outflanked and hopelessly outnumbered. It’s analogous to Yeshiva students
closing their volumes of Gemarah and bonding together to battle the Syrian
army. Yet, the Chasmonaim prevailed.
When
he was a Rabbi in Miami Beach Miami
On
one occasion, the Rav related to Rabbi Wein the following story: Once, the
Chofetz Chaim was collecting for a particular charity and he arrived at the
home of a wealthy individual. The Chofetz Chaim explained to the man the
worthiness and importance of his cause, but the wealthy man was unmoved. “I’m
sorry, Rebbe. But things are tight right now. Maybe in a few months it will be
easier for me to give. But at the moment I cannot help you. ” The Chofetz Chaim
was forced to move on.
World
War I broke out and the world changed forever. In 1919, soon after the Great
War ended, the Chofetz Chaim walked into a shul where many refugees were
sleeping on benches. The Chofetz Chaim noticed that wealthy man sitting among
the other beggars and he realized that the man had lost his wealth and was now
reduced to a pauper. The Chofetz Chaim quickly looked away so as not to
embarrass the man. However, the man noticed the Chofetz Chaim and approached
him. The man asked the Chofetz Chaim if he recognized him. When the Chofetz
Chaim admitted that he did, the man said, “Rebbe,
ich hub a taynah oiyf dir (Rebbe, I have a complaint against you).” The
Chofetz Chaim looked at him incredulously, “You have a complaint against me?”
The man emphatically replied, “Rebbe, when I had the money you should have
grabbed it out of my hands! Now I have nothing, not even the mitzvah.”
The
Ponovezher Rav looked at Rabbi Wein and concluded with a twinkle in his eye,
“Rabbi Wein, there will be times when you will need to rip the money out of
their hands!”
G-d
sends us unlimited opportunities every day. The question is, what do we do with
those opportunities? Reuven, Aharon, and Boaz, great as they were, were
somewhat remiss because they did not adequately seize the moment. The
Chashmonaim however, stood poised for battle with nothing other than prayer and
belief in G-d. They acted upon their inner feelings of religious zeal and did
not allow their passion to fizzle and fade.
Noted
psychologist Erik Erikson[7]
described old age as the time when one must overcome the crisis of ‘integrity
versus despair’. Tragically, many adults reach their golden years with deep
feelings of regret and despair. “If only I would have” and “Why didn’t I”
abound. Healthy senescence entails a feeling of integrity, stemming from an
inner feeling of accomplishment for a life lived with meaning and purpose; a
life which filled the world with a little more light.
“If
only Reuven had known…”
“If
only we would know… “
[1] The
following is excerpted from my book “STAM TORAH: Perspectives and Reflections
on Chanukah and Purim”. [It was originally Stam Torah for parshas Vayeshev
5766.]
[2] Story
related by Rabbi Laizer’s daughter, Yitta Halberstam, in her introduction to “Small
Miracles of the Holocaust”
[3] Vayikrah
Rabbah, 34:8
[4] Shmuel
who recorded Megillas Rus
[5] 23a
[6] [Many commentators explain that the Gemarah is reinforcing
its ruling that one may not light a Menorah more than twenty cubits high. It is
proving that the naked eye does not focus on sights that are more than a
distance of twenty cubits. If Reuven wanted to save Yosef why did he cast him
in a pit full of venomous snakes? We must conclude that because the pit must
have been more than twenty cubits deep, Reuven was unaware of what was at the
bottom.]
[7] Eriskon
is most famous for his theory that different stages of life present a person
with different ‘crises’ that he must traverse
________________________________________________________________________
“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh Parshas Vayeshev
23 Kislev 5773/December 7, 2012
What a delightful Holiday Chanukah is; a holiday of light and a celebration of the divine. The customs and traditions of Chanukah add to the joy of the day, as we play dreidel and then eat latkes and donuts until we ourselves feel like an unbalanced dreidel.
But I would like to call your attention to the week before Chanukah when there is an extraordinary series of days which most of us hardly think to associate together:
The nineteenth of Kislev is a day of great celebration for Chabad Chassidim. It is the anniversary of the release of the first Lubavitcher Rebbe, the holy Ba’al HaTanya, Rav Schneur Zalman of Liadi, from jail in 1798. Lubavitcher Chassidim consider the day the ‘Rosh Hashana of Chassidus’ and celebrate it with great fanfare. [In addition it is the yahrtzeit of the Maggid of Mezritch, one of the greatest students of the Ba’al Shem Tov, who died on 19 Kislev 26 years before the Ba’al Hatanya’s release from prison.]
The twentieth of Kislev is the yahrtzeit of Rav Yitzchok Hutner zt’l, the legendary Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Chaim Berlin. Rav Hutner was a deep and profound thinker who inspired thousands of students through his unique and penetrating analysis of many ideas contained in the Torah, specifically connected to the holidays. Rav Hutner possessed a regal bearing and exuded the majesty of Torah.
The commemoration of his yahrtzeit is not only observed in Yeshiva Chaim Berlin but also has connection with other yeshivos founded by Rav Hutner’s disciples, such as Yeshiva Sha’ar Yoshuv in Far Rockaway, founded by his student Rav Shlomo Freifeld zt’l, and Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem, founded by his student Rav Noach Weinberg zt’l.
The twenty first of Kislev is a day of celebration for Satmar Chassidim. It is the anniversary of the day of the release of the Satmar Rebbe, Rav Yoel Teitelbaum zt’l, from the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp on December 4, 1944. The Rebbe was one of 1,685 people who were part of the famed ‘Kastner train’ which Dr. Rudolph Kastner arranged through clandestine negotiations (bribing) with the infamous Nazi, Adolph Eichmann.
[On a more humorous note, this year the night of December 4th coincided with 21 Kislev. In ma’ariv prayers of that night we began reciting ‘V’sayn Tal Umatar’ during Shemoneh esrei, an addition of two words. It has been said that on that night Yekkishe Jews1 tell their wives that they will return home from ma’ariv late due to the insertion of two added words…]
For some time my Zaydei, Rav Yaakov Meir Kohn zt’l, was the Rav of the Slonimer Shul in New York’s Lower East Side. On one occasion he was invited to speak at a sheva berachos of a most unique marriage. The groom’s side was of Satmar Chassidic descent, while the Bride’s side was a blend of Litvishe and Chabad descent.
My Zaydei noted that their marriage granted him a new insight into the great dream of Yaakov Avinu (recorded in Parshas Vayetzei, Bereishis 28:12-17). The verse states that in his dream Yaakov envisioned a"סלם" (‘sulam’ - ladder) that was implanted in the ground with its head reaching the heavens. My Zaydei explained that he noticed that the first letters of the word sulam are an acronym for “Satmar, Lubavitch, Misnaged2”. In his dream Yaakov envisioned the unity of these three groups, and that was at the root of the ladder which leads to the heavens.
In the week before Chanukah there are consecutive days of celebration/observance for these three groups. Each of these groups, along with every other sect of Torah-Jewry are a lamp upon G-d’s Menorah. It is incumbent upon us to respect the light of each of those candles. We may not agree with each other nor do we observe each other’s customs, but we have to respect the light they add to G-d’s Menorah.
That indeed is the ladder that leads to heaven, and the key to the ethereal light hidden in the Chanukah candles.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos
Lichtige Chanukah/Orot Samyach,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum
720 Union Road • New Hempstead, NY 10977 • (845) 362-2425
1 i.e. Jews of German descent known for their exactness and punctiliousness2 The Jews of Lithuanian descent were often called Misnagdim – ‘opposers’, because of their early opposition to the Chassidic movement during its early years.
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