STORY OF CHANNAH: 26. And she said,
"Please, my lord! As surely as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman
who was standing here with you, to pray to the Lord.
QUALITY OF PIRKEI AVOT: and as an unceasing river
PROVERBS: Chapter 26
TZADIKKIM: Shlomo Hakohen Rabinowicz (the Tiferes Shlomo, Founding Rebbe
of Radomsk, 29 Adar)
Week 26 is the week of Rosh Chodesh Nissan. Nissan is the “head” of all the months,
and is related to the Tribe of Judah, which stands for kingship. In the verse of
the story of Channah for this week, she makes a request to Eli the Kohen Gadol.
It is unclear from the text what the request is. Rashi clarifies this by interpreting as follows: “Please, my lord -
Take care of him that he become your disciple. And according to the Midrash of
our sages, not to punish him with death.” As noted regarding the previous verse
in Channah’s story, for Week 25, Shmuel had shown great insight, yet in so
doing was guilty of making a ruling in front of his master, which is punishable
by death. This mistake was particularly grievous given Eli’s status as the
Judge, and head of the entire Jewish people. Channah asks Eli to help Shmuel to
connect to him and, alternatively, forgive the boy for his mistake.
This week’s Pirkei Avot
quality is that he becomes “an unceasing river.” Shmuel’s insight into a
certain area of Jewish law is related to the aspect of scholarship connected to
“an ever-increasing wellspring” (an ability to discover “new” rulings by
concentrating on selected areas of the text). However, Shmuel still needed to
obtain a second aspect, that of an unceasing river, someone with comprehensive
knowledge of the entire Torah.[1]
Channah was therefore asking Eli to take Shmuel as a disciple to teach him this
aspect as well.
Chapter 26 of the Book
of Proverbs is primarily about the actions of fools. It also mentions those
that are lazy, quarrelsome, deceptive, and wicked. A general theme of the
chapter, related to the above, is that it describes actions that could potentially
be deemed righteous, in and of themselves. However, given the context (eg.
giving honor to fools or being fearful of potential danger, just as an excuse
not to get out of bed), they are quite ridiculous. One must have a
comprehensive outlook in order to be able to act properly.
This week contains the
yahrzeits of Rav Yitzchak Abuchatzera (the “Baba Chaki,” 25th of Adar) and Rabbi Shlomo Hakohen
Rabinowicz (the “Tiferes Shlomo,” founding Rebbe of Radomsk, 29th of
Adar).
The Baba Chaki was the
brother of the Baba Sali. Like his brother, he was known for his great holiness
and saintly conduct. Also like his brother, he moved from Morocco to Israel,
and became the chief rabbi of Ramla-Lod.
Rabbi Shlomo Hakohen
Rabinowicz was known as the Tiferes Shelomo due to his authorship of a
Chassidic masterpiece under this name. He founded the Radomsk dynasty in 1843. When
Rabbi Moshe Biderman of Lelov made aliyah in 1850, he instructed his followers
to become Chassidim of the Tiferes Shelomo. The Radomsk court then grew
significantly, with thousands upon thousands of followers. Along with his
tremendous Torah scholarship and speaking ability, the Radomsker Rebbe was also
known for his beautiful voice and his composition of new nigunim (melodies).
Other yahrzeits this
week include Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Visiva son of Rabbi Yisroel Hager of
Vizhnitz (25th of Adar)
and Rabbi Elimelech of Grodzensk (author of Divrei
Elimelech and Imrei Elimelech, father
of the Piazeczna Rebbe, 1st of Nissan)
