STORY OF CHANNAH: 21. And the man, Elkanah and his
entire household, went up to slaughter to the Lord, the sacrifice of the days
and his vow.
QUALITY OF PIRKEI AVOT: The Torah grants him sovereignty (kingship)
PROVERBS: Chapter 21
TZADDIKIM: Rav Menachem Mendel of
Kotzk (22nd of Shevat) and Rav Yehoshua Rokeach (23rd of
Shevat)
Week 21 is the last week of Shevat, and includes the yahrzeit of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, the wife of the Rebbe. The
verse from the story of Channah describes Elkanah’s annual pilgrimage to the
Tabernacle. The term “household,” Beitoh,
in the Torah, is usually a reference to someone’s wife. This verse comes to
preface the fact that Channah chooses to stay behind to nurse Shmuel, and bring
him to the Tabernacle, to live there, only once he is weaned.
This week’s Pirkei
Avot quality is that the Torah grants kingship, Malchut. Malchut, as previously
explained, is a feminine sefirah
(Divine attribute). (See Book 1, Week 21) Malchut receives its
energy from the other sefirot. Here,
too, the verse states that the Torah gives (Notenet)
kingship. It is up to us to know how to receive it. In the above verse, Elkanah
ascends to the Tabernacle as an act of gratitude.
Chapter 21 of the Book of Proverbs begins
by speaking about kingship, and also contains reference to the central role of
a wife (in this case, for the bad):
1. A king's heart is like rivulets
of water in the Lord's hand; wherever He wishes, He turns it. (…)
9. It is better to sit on the
corner of a roof than with a quarrelsome wife and the house of a friend. (…)
19. It is better to dwell in a
desert land than [with] a quarrelsome and vexatious wife.
Besides Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka’s yahrzeit (22nd of Shevat), this week also contains the yahrzeits
of Rebbe Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (also the 22nd of Shevat) and Rebbe Yehoshua Rokeach (the
Second Rebbe of Belz, son of the Sar Shalom, 23rd of Shevat).
Rebbe Menachem Mendel of Kotzk was
known for his immense Torah knowledge, already achieved at a very young age,
and for his uncompromising pursuit of truth. His often sharp and penetrating
sayings cut through people’s ego and fantasies. Among his students were the first
two leaders of the dynasty of of Ger, the largest Chassidic group in all of
Poland.
The 22nd of Shevat is also the yahrzeit of one of the Kotzker’s closest disciples, Rabbi Yehuda
Leib (Leibel) Eiger of Lublin, grandson of Rabbi Akiva Eiger. The 21st
of Shevat is the yahrzeit of another
disciple of the Kotzker, R. Yechiel Meir Lifschitz of Gostynin (Der Tilim Yid).
Rebbe Yehoshua Rokeach expanded the
Belz dynasty begun by his father into the largest in Galicia. He was known for
his vigorous battle against the Haskalah, the Jewish secularist “enlightenment”
movement. Rav Yehoshua was a tremendous Torah scholar, who was also known for
common sense in his leadership. He inspired his followers to study Torah with
great devotion, and set up programs for newly married men to continue to study in
Yeshiva.
Other yahrzeits this
week include (sometimes) Rav David HaLevi
Segal (author of the “Taz,” the Turei
Zahav, 26th of Shevat)
and Rabbi
Mordechai Yosef Elazar Leiner (the "Tiferes
Yosef," Radziner Rebbe, 26th of Shevat)
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