STORY OF CHANNAH: 5 but unto Hannah
he gave a double portion; for he loved Hannah, but the LORD had shut up her
womb.
QUALITY OF ONE WHO LEARNS TORAH FOR
ITS OWN SAKE: Loves G-d
BOOK PROVERBS: Chapter 5
TZADIKIM: Rav Menachem Mendel of
Vizhnitz and Rabbi Yisrael Spira of Bluzhev (29th of Tishrei)
Week 5 is the week of Rosh
Chodesh Cheshvan. The verse from the story of Channah is about how
Elkanah would give her a double portion, but that she could not become
pregnant. This aspect of Channah runs parallel to the story of our matriarch
Rachel. Jacob loved Rachel dearly, yet G-d had also not graced her with
children. Today, one of the few dates of Cheshvan that we do commemorate is the
anniversary of the passing (yahrzeit) of Rachel, on the 11th of Cheshvan.
The Pirkei Avot adjective
associated to this week is also associated with love: “loves G-d.” In Hebrew,
it is written “Ohev et HaMakom,” which literally means loves “the Place.” In
various texts, G-d is called “the Place,” because He is not placed within the
world, rather the world is placed within Him. There is no place devoid of G-d.[1] That means that even when we go outside our comfort
zone, outside the “Garden of Eden” that is Tishrei and holiday observance, and
into the “danger zone” that is Cheshvan and world involvement, G-d is always
with us. We are always within Him.
Chapter 5 of the Book of Proverbs
encompasses many of the basic ideas of loving G-d (reminiscent also of the love
between Jacob and Rachel), and being aware of the pitfalls that exist once we
engage with the world around us:
3. For the lips of a strange woman
drip honey, and her palate is smoother than oil.
4. But her end is as bitter as
wormwood, as sharp as a two-edged sword. (...)
15. Drink water from your own cistern
and running water from your own spring.
16. May your springs spread out
rivulets of water in the squares.
(…)
19. [The wife of your youth] is a
lovely hind and a graceful mountain goat, her breasts will satisfy you at all
times; you shall always be intoxicated with her love.
Rashi explains that the “strange
woman” is a reference to foreign gods and apostasy, while the “wife of your
youth” and “your own cistern” is the Torah. The references to water are also
appropriate for the month of Cheshvan, the month of the Flood.
This week, yahrzeits continue to be
related to the Rizhin dynasty. The 29th of Tishrei is the yahrzeit of Rav
Menachem Mendel of Vizhnitz, the son-in-law of the Rizhiner, and the founder of
the Vizhnitz chassidic dynasty. Also (often) this week, is the yahrzeit of the
Rizhiner himself, Rabbi Yisrael Friedman, on the 3rd of Cheshvan. An
interesting story is told of an interaction between these two tzadikim, which
very much exemplifies what was mentioned in the previous week, of how the
spiritual path of Rizhin is about elevating the physical world yet also
remaining above and beyond its limitations and pleasures:
One day when the Tzemach Tzaddik and the Rizhiner were
engaged in a meal, the Rizhiner put his fork down after he was only half way
through with his meal. When the Tzemach Tzaddik questioned him the Rizhiner
said that before he was born, he had made a deal with his neshomo (soul), only
to eat enough to get by, and not a morsel more. The Tzemach Tzaddik then
commented that he just realized something. "All my life there was
something that bothered me, and I just figured out the answer," he said.
"On Friday night we sing shalom aleichem, welcoming the the angels that
accompany us home from shul into our homes. But then, just a short while later,
we sing tzeischem lesholom, bidding them farewell. Why do we send them away so
soon? Now I realize why. It's because angels can't partake in earthly
pleasures. They can't taste food. We don't want to show them disrespect by
eating in front of them, so way say goodbye before we begin our meal," at
which point the Tzemach Tzaddik put down his fork, indicating that he was in
the presence of a maloch at that moment, the Rizhiner himself.[2]
Also usually this week, is the yahrzeit of
Rabbi Yisrael Spira, the Bluzhover Rebbe. Rabbi Yisrael survived the Holocaust,
having himself experienced the agony and suffering of the concentration camps
and having lost his wife and children. There are many stories of his miraculous
survival, righteousness and dedication during this time and afterwards. The
Bluzhever Rebbe was able to find G-d literally in the gates of hell on earth:
During the days of Chanukah, the Rebbe lit candles in the
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Once when he recited the blessings, a Jew
asked him a question: “Rabbi, even if you stubbornly lit the Chanukah candles
and said Lehadlik Ner and She’asa Nissim [the blessings of lighting candles and
remembering the miracles], what justification do you have in saying Sheheheyanu
Vekiyemanu Vehigi’yanu Lazman Hazeh [“Who has kept us alive and preserved us
and enabled us to reach this time”]? During a time in which thousands of Jews
are dying terrible deaths, why would you say Sheheheyanu?”
“I too asked myself this question,” the Rebbe replied. “I
looked for an answer and found one: When I recited the blessing, I saw that a
large crowd had gathered – risking their own lives in so doing – to watch the
lighting of the candles. By the very fact that G-d has such loyal Jews –
prepared to give their lives for the lighting of the candles – by that very
fact alone we may recite Sheheheyanu.”[3]
Other yahrzeits this week
include Shimon HaTzadik (29th of Tishrei), Rabbi Shmuel Tzvi son of Rabbi
Yechiel Danziger of Alexander, the Tiferes Shmuel (29th of Tishrei), and
(sometimes) Rabbi David ou-Moshe (1st of Cheshvan), Rabbi Baruch
son of Rabbi Yisrael Hager, the Seret-Vizhnitz Rebbe, the Makor Boruch (2nd of Cheshvan),
Rabbi Eliezer of Dzikov son of Rabbi Naftali Tzvi of Ropshitz (3rd of Cheshvan),
Rabbi Yehudah Leib of Kopust (elder brother of Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch, 3rd
of Cheshvan), and Rabbi Klonimus Kalman Shapiro of Piazetsna, the Aish Kodesh
(4th of Cheshvan).
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