STORY
OF CHANNAH: 8 And Elkanah her husband said unto her: 'Hannah, why weepest
thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to
thee than ten sons?'
QUALITY
OF THOSE THAT STUDY TORAH FOR ITS OWN SAKE: rejoicer of people
TZADIKKIM: the Radbaz (Rabbi
David ben Zimra) and Rabbi Avraham Azulai, author of the Chessed L’Avraham (21st of Cheshvan)
PROVERBS: Chapter
8
Week
8 is the fourth week of Cheshvan. The verse from the story
of Channah once again reflects that of our matriarch Rachel,
whose yahrzeit is in Cheshvan. Here we see Elkanah interfering,
trying to make her happy. The more we leave Tishrei, the more bogged down
we feel in the affairs of the world. This feeling can certainly be overwhelming
at times. It is good to be able to reach out to someone to inspire us, make us
happy.
The Pirkei
Avot adjective associated to this week is exactly that: “rejoice of
people,” making them happy. In Hebrew, it is written “Messame’ach et HaBri’ot,”
which literally one who makes “creatures” happy. Sometimes in order to make
people happy, you have to remind them, first and foremost that they are created
beings, which have the same basic needs as every other, such as eating and
sleeping, etc. (why eatest thou not?); it also important to focus on the
positive (am not I better to thee than ten sons?); and that things may
only look bad from our very limited perspective, but our Creator has a
plan for each one of us, and everything He does is for the very best.
Chapter
6 of the Book of Proverbs encompasses many of the basic ideas of making G-d’s
creatures happy, particularly through the Torah. Much of the chapter is also
about Creation itself:
21. There is substance
to give inheritance to those who love me, and I will fill their treasuries.
22. The Lord acquired
me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old.
23. From the distant
past I was enthroned, from the beginning, of those that preceded the
earth.
24. I was created when
there were yet no deeps, when there were no fountains replete with
water.
25. I was created
before the mountains were sunk, before the hills;
26. when He had not yet
made the land and the outsides and the beginning of the dust of the
earth.
27. When He established
the heavens, there I was, when He drew a circle over the face of the
deep;
28. when He made the
skies above firm, when He strengthened the fountains of the
deep;
29. when He gave the
sea its boundary, and the water shall not transgress His command, when He
established the foundations of the earth.
30. I was a nursling
beside Him, and I was [His] delight every day, playing before Him at all times;
31. playing in the
habitable world of His earth, and [having] my delights with the children of
man.
This
week, on the 21st of Cheshvan, is the yahrzeit of two very
prominent Kabbalists, from the Sefardi tradition: the Radbaz (Rabbi
David ben Zimra) and Rabbi Avraham Azulai, author of the Chessed L’Avraham (some
say his yahrzeit is the 24th).
The
Radbaz was the Chief Rabbi of Egypt from approximately the year 1514 to 1553.
He was the teacher of the Holy Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria) as
well as the Shita Mekubetzetzet, Rabbi Betzalel Ashkenazi. In addition,
the Radbaz was a wealthy businessman.[1]
Rabbi
Avraham Azulai was also a major influence upon the Arizal, and is often
quoted in his works. He was the Chief Rabbi of Hebron, and the great, great,
grandfather of the Chidah (Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai), perhaps
the most prominent of all Sefardi authorities in recent history.[2]
Other yahrzeits this
week include that of the Knesset Yechezkel, the third Rebbe of Radomsk (20th of Cheshvan),
Rabbi Mordechai Sharabi (20th of Cheshvan), and (sometimes)
Rabbi Yissachar Dov ben Rabbi Yehoshua Rokeach, of Belz (22nd of Cheshvan).
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