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B’H

(The following is what I wrote to say at a Siyum for Seder Nashim. It was meant to be spoken and not necessarily to be read on a blog. I am posting it as-is. Please enjoy!)

Siyum on Seder Nashim

10 Elul 5771

Welcome to this Siyum on Seder Nashim. Bezrat Hashem we will all finish this final Mishna together, but first I will speak about the Seder of Nashim, and the final Masechta of Kiddushin.

I will start by mentioning that I started learning one Mishna-a-day several years ago. At that time I remember Rabbi Wolvovsky told us a story of the Ba’al Shem Tov that emphasized the importance of learning Mishnayot – something about how the word Mishna is the same letters as Neshama and the Mishnayot that we learn here in this world stay with the Neshama in the world to come. So it’s good to stock up on Mishnayot here. That was the premise anyway and it made me interested in learning Mishnayot, but still not with the impetus to get started.

Shortly after this Adam Gamzon’s grandfather passed away and Adam told me that he was learning Mishnayot in his Z’chus. I decided to do so as well and I learned Brachos – the first Mishna. Once I finished, I decided it wasn’t too bad – a few minutes a day to for some serious Torah learning. I decided to continue and here I am today, having a Siyum on the third order of Mishnayot – Kiddushin.

The message here is clear: Don’t look at the goal constantly. It’s overwhelming. Know your goals and just concentrate on what you need to do today to keep you on the path to accomplishing them. It really works!

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And, as another note, I will mention that this is technically my second Siyum on Seder Mishnayot. When I opened up the copy of Kiddushin – the last Mishna in this Masechta, I noticed a bookmark in it and on the bookmark it was written: Eshka bas Yoel Leib Pinchas, my grandmother, Alav HaShalom – my mother’s mother. About 4 years ago when she passed away students of the Yeshiva Gedola of Bridgeport each learned part of the Seder and I myself learned Kiddishin at that time. So there is a special connection to my grandmother in that regard.

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And one more thing I’ll mention is that B’H tomorrow the Speter’s are having a Bris – davening starts at 8:30am, right here at Young Israel of Hartford. And it’s a special custom for the father of the child to learn the night before the Bris – it helps keep destructive forces away as I understand. So, this Siyum and the words of Torah discussed this evening mark the start of that for Shaya, so everybody is also taking part of that.

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Ok, so Seder Nashim. Reish Lakish expounds a Possuk from Yeshaya (33:6) that says: “The faith of your times will be the strength of your salvations, wisdom, and knowledge; fear of Hashem – that is [man's] treasure.” (“V’haya Emunas Itecha Chosen Yeshuos Chochmas V’Daas (yiras Hashem hi otzaro)” ) He expounds that each one of those words refers to an order of Mishnayot. Zeraim corresponds to “faith”, Moed to “your times”, Nashim to “strength”, Nezikin to “salvation”, Kodashim to “wisdom”, and Taharot to “knowledge”. (Shabbos 31a)

Just going through them very quickly, the first two I understand. The Seder of Zeraim talks about agricultural laws and tithing and Shemita, etc… These are things that ultimately depend on faith. We’re faithful that if we don’t plant in the seventh year there will still be enough to eat, for instance. And the fact that Moed corresponds to “your times” makes sense since that’s what Seder Moed is all about – the holidays – the different times of the year, etc. And then we get to Nashim, which is “strength”, “Chosen”.

What does Seder Nashim have to do with strength? Well, let’s consider the topics in Seder Nashim:
- Yevamos – Levirate Marraige
- Kesubos – Marriage Contracts
- Nedarim – Oaths and Vows
- Nazir – The specific vow to become a Nazir
- Sotah – A suspected adulteress
- Gittin – Divorce
- Kiddushin – Betrothal and lineage

Most of the topics have to do with marriage (even the topics of oaths and vows consider situations whereby a husband can annul the vows of his wife, etc). And the topic of marriage ultimately involves women and so it seems reasonable to say that the Seder is aptly called “Nashim”.

But what do these topics have to do with “strength”? Specifically, why is “strength” associated with topics concerning women. While we can’t speak for every individual it seems to be in general, the gender associated with “strength” is the male, whereas women are more often associated with concepts such as nurturing.

I was curious about this so I looked up other places where this word is used in the Tanach. We find this word “strength” – “Chosen” as it says in the Posuk – 5 times in the whole Tanach, 3 places in Nevi’im and 2 places in Kesuvim.

We have our verse:
1) “The faith of your times will be the *strength* of your salvations, wisdom, and knowledge; fear of Hashem – that is [man's] treasure.” (Yeshaya 33:6)

‎”וְהָיָה אֱמוּנַת עִתֶּיךָ חֹסֶן יְשׁוּעֹת חָכְמַת וָדָעַת יִרְאַת ה’ הִיא אוֹצָרוֹ.”

And the others:
2) In Yermiah, where he is apparently prophesying about the destruction of Jerusalem: “And I shall deliver all the *wealth* of this city, all [the fruits of] its labor, and all it’s precious items; all the treasures of the kings of Judah I shall deliver into the hand of their enemies and they will plunder them and take them away, and bring them to Babylonia.” (Yermiah 20:5)

“וְנָתַתִּי אֶת כָּל חֹסֶן הָעִיר הַזֹּאת וְאֶת כָּל יְגִיעָהּ וְאֶת כָּל יְקָרָהּ וְאֵת כָּל אוֹצְרוֹת מַלְכֵי יְהוּדָה אֶתֵּן בְּיַד אֹיְבֵיהֶם וּבְזָזוּם וּלְקָחוּם וֶהֱבִיאוּם בָּבֶלָה.”

There the word “Chosen” refers to wealth as opposed to “strength”. And it must be referring to something tangible (as opposed to strength) because it says “I will deliver”.

3) In Yechezkel, where he is talking about the sins of the land: “There is a conspiracy (Kesher) of her prophets in her midst, like a roaring lion that tears [its] prey; they have devoured souls, they have taken away [Jerusalem's] *treasure* and worth, they have increase her widow in her midst.” (Yechezkel 20:5)

“קֶשֶׁר נְבִיאֶיהָ בְּתוֹכָהּ כַּאֲרִי שׁוֹאֵג טֹרֵף טָרֶף נֶפֶשׁ אָכָלוּ חֹסֶן וִיקָר יִקָּחוּ אַלְמְנוֹתֶיהָ הִרְבּוּ בְתוֹכָהּ.”

Here, once again the word “Chosen” refers to “treasure” – not so much “strength”. Similarly, the verse seems to be talking about something tangible when it says “Chosen”.

The last two references are from Mishlei:

4) “The house of the righteous one is greatly *fortified*, but with the arrival of a wicked one it becomes sullied.” (Mishlei 15:6)

“בֵּית צַדִּיק חֹסֶן רָב וּבִתְבוּאַת רָשָׁע נֶעְכָּרֶת.”

Here the word “Chosen” means “fortified” – not “wealthy” or a “treasure”, but once again referring to strength.

5) And the last reference to “Chosen” is in the Possuk advising to “tend to your business and prepare for the future” (Artscroll): “For *strength* endures not forever. Does the crown [of wealth] last from generation to generation?”

“כִּי לֹא לְעוֹלָם חֹסֶן וְאִם נֵזֶר לְדוֹר דור [וָדוֹר׃]”

Once again, the word is used as “strength”, but also could potentially be referring to “wealth” it seems here.

We also find other conjugations in Possukim such as in Tehillim “Hashem, G-d of Legions, who is like You, *O Strong One*, God?, Your surrounding angels attest to Your faithfulness”

‪…”‬מִי כָמוֹךָ חֲסִין קהּ‪…”‬

So we have a similar word attesting to Hashem’s strength. In that verse we’re certainly not referring to Hashem as “wealthy” and hence we find another case where Chosen must mean “strong”.

It appears that the word Chosen has two distinct meanings with a same general idea for both.

In an Etymological dictionary based on the teachings of Rav Shimshon Rafeal Hirsch, it translates Chosen as a verb to “store strength; hold firmly” and then goes on to give two definitions:
1) storing strength
2) treasury, stored goods

So, at this point we have a much more complete picture of what this word “Chosen” means. And so we can say that Reish Lakish, in the Gemara, is saying that the Seder of Nashim is related to this word Chosen, which refers to either strength or wealth. And by strength we mean fortification or stored strength. Similarly by “wealth” we are referring to stored treasures.

We know that Seder Nashim deals primarily with marriage. Let’s look more close at each Masechta so that it will be clear:
- Yevamos – Deals with the situation of Levirate marriage where marriage is actually compulsory for the man
- Kesubos – Deals with the obligations a husband and wife have towards each other
- Nedarim – Discusses oaths and vows including the vows of a woman which her husband may revoke. Rambam writes that “The entire chapter of Nedarim refers to the vows of women”.
- Nazir – This follows Nedarim and among other things discusses the situation of a man revoking his wife’s vow of Nezirut
- Sotah – Discusses what a husband and wife do when the wife is suspected of adultry
- Gittin – Discuss how a marriage ends, C’vS
- Kiddushin – Methods of betrothal and who is fit to marry who and the resulting status of offspring from certain unions (i.e. lineage)

So, this dual concept of “stored strength” or “fortification” and “stored treasure” somehow relate to this concept of women and marriage.

Perhaps we can suggest that to her husband, a woman is to be described as “Chosen”. Meaning that to her husband a woman is a source of potential strength AND simultaneously she is the one who protects her husband’s wealth. Let’s take those ideas one-by-one.

In one of the Posukim from Mishlei it says the following:
“בֵּית צַדִּיק חֹסֶן רָב וּבִתְבוּאַת רָשָׁע נֶעְכָּרֶת.”

“The house of the righteous is greatly fortified, etc.”

It is known that in the language of the Talmud, one’s wife is known as one’s house. So, we can read the verse like:
“The WIFE of a righteous person is greatly Chosen” If we are referring to the “wife” of somebody as greatly Chosen we can say that the wife is either a great source of potential strength or that the wife is a great protector of her husband’s wealth. In the case of this Possuk, let’s read on.

The verse continues:
“but with the arrival of a wicked one it becomes damaged” – his household – himself become damaged.

Perhaps it’s a stretch, but if we consider this Rasha – “the wicked one” – to be the Yetzer Harah, then we are referring to this righteous person as somebody who merits to be married to someone who is a great “Chosen”. It seems fitting that here Chosen refers to the source of strength (and not wealth). His wife – his source strength and fortification will protect the household when the Yetzer Hara comes and damages it.

We know that a primary purpose of marriage is for one to “cleave to his wife” – to be complete. And it says in Pirke Avos: “Who is strong? One who controls his inculcation.” Perhaps by corresponding to Seder Nashim to this word “Chosen”, we are bringing out this concept that one’s wife serves as a potential strength against the Yetzer Hara and that a man who is married may have low points where “the Rasha comes in” – where he has a negative thought or in some way succumbs to his evil inclination, but as long as he is attached to his wife – his storehouse of strength – he’ll be alright. A wife is a store of strength against the Yetzer Hara.

So that’s a way to understand the “stored strength” definition. What about the definition of Chosen that means “stored treasure” or “wealth”?

Looking in the Gemara in Shabbos 31a, where the word Chosen is related to Seder Nashim, Rashi says the following:
לשון יורשין ועל ידי אשה נולדו יורשין

That “Chosen” is referring to successors and through the woman successors are born to him.

It seems that Rashi is saying that the woman helps store wealth for the man by providing him with children who will eventually inherit this wealth.

So this is referring to procreation.

Hence this term “Chosen” encompasses the two aspects of marriage:
1) Completing the person – as the woman provides fortification and potential strength to her husband
2) Procreation – as the women protects her husband’s wealth through their children

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At this point we will, B’H complete the Mesechata The last Mishna of Kiddushin actually does not directly talk about marriage or lineage. Rather it is a continuation of the previous Mishna which was talking about Issur Yichud, and it ends off talking about professions.

So, it’s Elul. The King is in the field. Now what? Here’s something that I think anybody can do to get in the Elul frame of mind and I’m confident that anybody who does it will find it rewarding.

Phew, that’s some confidence. Tell me if I’m wrong and I’ll update this post.

So… this is the exercise, which is a sort of meditation, but really a very free-form thinking exercise, which as far as I understand is basically what meditation is (see Aryeh Kaplan’s Jewish Meditation).

I recommend doing this for a half-hour but you can do it for 10 minutes of 3 minutes or 3 hours. Just be sure to set a time for yourself and stick to it.

Go somewhere where you can think – maybe somewhere a little “uncomfortable”, specifically where you’re away from distractions. In the woods, or just in a room where you’re not distracted by other people or the internet or anything else.

And consider the three basic relationships that you have and the following things (I recommend reading this before the exercise so you’re not restricted to reading this stuff while your trying to just think. And feel free to arrange the structure however you see fit. This is just my recommendation and something that worked for me.):

Think about the relationship you have with yourself. How do you take care of your health? Do you get enough sleep, eat healthy, and exercise? Is there anything practical that you think you might be able to do differently in the coming year? (Take note of it, either mentally or with a pen-and-paper – whatever works for you)

Are you overly-harsh with yourself, not making time for things you truly enjoy? Or do you indulge in things excessively to the point that you see it as a concern? Find some balance between these things and once again take note of even just one practical thing you’d like to try in the coming year to remedy, if you see a need for such a remedy.

Also consider smiling more. Even if you already smile often, it doesn’t hurt to do more.

Now, think about your relationship with others. Do you appreciate your friends and family? Are you ever frustrated with loved ones? Consider taking time to meditate on your appreciation of them on a regular, even daily basis for just 3 minutes a day as a practical remedy for any issues you find in lack of feelings of appreciation that you know are really there.

Think about your relationship with your parents. If you communicate with them regularly, do you show them proper respect? Do you interrupt them when they speak? Do you call them enough? Simple respect – not necessarily agreeing with them, but just respecting them – should be a practical goal if you find any issue with this area.

Now think about how you keep commitments with others. Things like being on time and whatnot. Once again, note any practical solutions that you come up with. The idea is practical – meaning things that you can really conceivably do. The purpose of this exercise is not to leave feeling overwhelmed, but to have a clear goal in mind.

Finally, consider you relationship with the Creator. Do you love and fear G-d? Practically this would seem to translate to being careful to keep the Mitzvot in the best way possible at whatever your current level of observance is and a desire get better and better. That’s my understanding anyway. What does this mean to you? Think about it.

Other practical considerations regarding our relationship with G-d is when we daven to focus on what we’re saying. I learned and have found to be true, that by simply keeping a finger under the word that you’re reading from the Siddur, greatly improves concentration and pulls more of the body in the experience of davening (the eyes and the hand/finger). We need to remember when davening that we’re standing before a King. Think of simple practical things you can do in this regard.

And certainly learning Torah in a set time on a regular basis.

And that’s it. Ultimately the goal is that we know why we’re going into the new year. It’s definitely not to keep doing the same things. We need to always bring about some change for the better.

If at the end of this exercise you have a huge list and it’s overwhelming then take just one or two items from the list and see what you can devote to them in the coming year. The key is practical. The point is NOT to make some lofty goals that you can’t keep.

You should be able start whatever you’ve resolved today. If you can’t do it today, you’re probably not going to be able to do it next year, which starts in 20-something days from now. Small change leads to huge change, whereas huge change usually fails.

Chasiva v’Chasima Tova – May you be written and inscribed for Good!

I asked my Rav (Rabbi Tzvi Fischer of the Portland Kolel) for a P’sak on Davening late – something that’s a bad habit for me and I want to ultimately change, but at least conform to Halacha while in the process of rectifying.

I want to write out what he said. Before I do, please understand the following things:

1. This was his P’sak for me. Please ask your Rav/Rabbi what to do. If you do not have a Rav, go find one! I’m providing this here as a benefit for anybody interested in the Halachah.
2. I am writing this out to best of my understanding of what I was instructed to do. I am not a rabbi. You’ll note I wrote everything below in the first-person, not saying what you should do, but rather what I should do.
3. This is b’Dieved. We need to daven on time. I’m saying this as Mussar to myself and that it should be hopefully heeded by anybody reading this. Chazal clearly laid out the times when we are to daven. Check myzmanim.com for the correct time to daven where you live.
4. It is Halachah that we need to daven in the morning before engaging in other activities. Check with your rabbi as to what this entails, but please understand that it is VERY important to make davening in the morning consistently a priority and not to rely on a Heter. I can say personally that it’s very difficult for me, but I’ve heard a concept (in the name of Rabbi Abba Wagensburg) that working on your greatest challenges bring you to the greatest of heights in Torah and Judaism so I wish us to have strength, Bezrat Hashem, in overcoming our obstacles and reaching our goals.

That said, here is what I understand:

• I need to say the Shema before Z’man Kria Shema and say the Shemona Esrai before Z’man Tefillah and it is better make the correct times, even if it means davening quickly, than to daven late but potentially more drawn out.
• If I miss Z’man Kria Shema, but still have time before Z’man Tefillah, I should still daven the regular Seder of Davening, including Birchas Kria Shema and all.
• If I miss Z’man Tefillah but still have time before Chatzos, I should do a regular seder of davening, BUT EXCLUDE the Brachos of Kria Shema
• If I miss Chatzos I should either put on Talis/Tefillin and just say the Shema, or put on Talis/Tefillin and daven Mincha. I would say two Shemona Esrai’s at Mincha “if [I] didn’t have a chance to daven”.
• On Shabbos morning, where my Tzibor davens late, I should daven Shacharis at home, make Kiddush and eat, and then go to Shul for Krias HaTorah and Mussaf.

We recently experienced the horrifying news that a Jewish boy from Brooklyn – Leibby Kletzky, A’hS was kidnapped and murdered, R”L. After he was was reported missing, over 7000 Jews came to Brooklyn to search. Jews came on busses from all over, some even leaving in the middle of vacationing in the Catskill Mountains specifically to come back and take part in the search. From what I read, the police and Hatzolah passed out maps with grids and instructed people to search certain areas for clues. The overwhelming response from the Jewish community (and even some non-Jewish friends including a group of Pakistanis) made for an equally overwhelming response from the NYPD and the FBI.

For those who did not make it out to search – myself included, we turned to twitter for up-to-date news and otherwise said Tehillim and prayed for Leiby’s wellbeing. One twitter user even advised everybody to stop refreshing their twitter feed every second and say some Tehillim instead. The Chovetz Chaim Heritage Foundation had an Emergency Tehillim Conference call which I tried several times, but could not get through because of the overwhelming response.

Basically, there was a major effort going on throughout the Jewish community in terms of physical action and prayer, and a sense of unity that some twitter users even described as “beautiful” – that the entire Jewish community (at least those who heard the news) were reacting to this as if Leiby was our own child.

And seeing one post after another, tagged #bpboy, and seeing the pictures of the thousands and thousands scouring the streets, hearing about the Yeshiva bochurim who went to sleep without pillows that night and the many who vowed to not sleep at all until Leibby is found, and all of the Tehillim that was said, we can safely say that the Jewish unity was there.

And what happened? The police found Leiby’s body and the caught the person who did the horrible act of kidnapping and murdering this child. Where did the prayers go?

And they found him using surveillance cameras, so it’s hard to say if the thousands who volunteered their time searching the streets actually led to even finding the suspect. Even more disturbing is that this murderer told the police that the reason that he did what he did is because he heard about the search going on and “panicked”. Which implies that if the efforts to find Leiby had been quieter, he may have actually not murdered. All of this amazing positive effort – people coming from all over devoting themselves to nothing but finding this boy – What was the point of all this effort?

The intention of the kidnapper is not clear, but based on the information that we have available to us it feels like our efforts in Jewish Unity did not help and may have even acted against our hopes of this boy coming back alive and well.

Further, we are taught that a reason we are in exile and Moshiach has not taken us out of this mess is due to baseless hatred and that when we express unity, and love of a fellow Jew – in this case the Kletzky family – we reverse the process of exile. Why didn’t all this Jewish Unity open the door for Blessings to come in and this boy to be miraculously saved from harm?

Another incident comes to mind. Not too long ago, there was a Jew by the name of Martin Grossman who was on deathrow. He was accused of committing murder many many years earlier while under the influence of drugs, and at that time was sentenced to death. The governor of Florida wanted to make a point that he’s “tough” on the death penalty in the hope of gaining respect in his run for senate and decided to execute this Jewish man. Shortly before all of this however, Martin Grossman started the process of Teshuvah, and became what we would describe as a real “Ba’al Teshuva”. When it was announced that he was going to be executed two things happened: A major legal campaign commenced with the intention of getting him another trial. And a major Tehillim campaign also commenced with the intention of influencing the Heavenly Court. There was a worldwide support for Martin Grossman, and even the critics who generally support the death penalty were calling, emailing, writing, and praying, that Martin be spared. There was a definite sense of Jewish Unity here. And what happened? The governor sent everybody who had been emailing for days an response a day before the sentence basically telling everybody that their efforts were pointless. The next day they executed Martin, Michoel Yechiel ben Avrohom A”H:

The Chabad Shaliach to Jacksonville Florida, Rabbi Nachum Kurinsky was with Martin.

“I would like to extend my heartfelt remorse to the victim’s family,” Grossman said. I fully regret everything that happened that night, everything that was done, whether I remember everything or not, I accept responsibility.”

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Martin Grossman then began to recite Shema Yisroel with “deep concentration” – moving Rabbi Kurinsky to tears.

When he finished Shema, he paused, and his last two words were “Ahavas Yisroel”.

(http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/archive/48617/YWN+EXCLUSIVE:+Martin+Grossman’s+Last+Words+Were+’Ahavas+Yisroel’.html)

It seems like once again we had a case of strong Jewish unity and no positive effect in this world, except for the momentary feeling like something good is really going to come from this.

While we are all still in shock and horror of what happened to Leibby Kletzky and we have nothing that can excuse or explain the horrible event, we can perhaps make a commitment to continue this level of unity.

As it says in Pirkei Avos that a love that is based on something is not everlasting, but a love that’s not based on anything is everlasting. While we are very good at uniting on a common issue, we also have many issues that we disagree on, and while it seems to be OK to disagree, if this causes us to feel any less love for our fellow Jews than we felt when the search was on for this boy, then we have work to do.

It seems the murderer did not expect such a major response from the Jews around him and abroad, and when he saw the response that’s when he “panicked”. I think if we were living a lifestyle of real baseless love for one-another, this Rasha would have noticed that there is no way he could get away with this and maybe would have thought twice.

While nobody is to blame for the murder except for the murderer, I think this is time to introspect and find out how good we are at really loving every Jew – even and especially somebody who you completely disagree with. It is easy to unite when we are searching a missing boy, but it’s not so easy to unite when nothing bad is happening and you happen to disagree with somebody’s political views.

That said, I don’t really know what else to take from this. In the 30 hours since Leibby went missing, thousands of Jews adopted Leiby in their hearts as if he was their own child and after hearing this morning’s news we feel the loss and pain as if we’re the parents. And while no amount of empathy can compare to what Leiby’s parents must feel, it is still difficult to bare.

What makes this most tragic is the feeling of abandonment that all of our collective efforts did not work. But we are all still alive today and reading this and able to do our job to keep on bettering ourselves and the world around us through the performance of Mitzvot and really working hard on trying to love everybody with the hope that the Moshiach will come and we will be reunited with Leiby and all others who were taken from us for no apparent reason.

I think, and have come to thought this with the help of talking to my wife, that this murderer tried to incriminate all of us when he said that he panicked due to the search efforts. No normal person would panic and then do such a horrible thing and I think we need to remember that our efforts, whether you were out searching all night, or just said a small prayer and went to sleep, are NOT in vein and that Hashem DOES hear us even now as we feel horrible and dejected. And that we need to stay hopeful that even, and especially right now and pull together our inner strength to remember that our efforts mean something and we should never ever doubt that.

We see from this how the world has crazy people in it who do horrible things, but we also see from the huge response how much good there really is in the world – that there are thousands and thousands of us who really care about a child who we’ve never met like he’s our own, and there is this one sicko who murdered. And while we were incapable of stopping him from murdering, he’s incapable of stopping us from continuing to be good and appreciate those who are in our lives and continuing to love.

And of course, a clear thing that comes from this and I definitely need to write and hope to spread is: Parents, please warn your children that if anybody ever asks them to go with them somewhere, even a trusted family friend but without explicit instructions from a parent, that they should scream and yell until somebody comes and helps them. Please warn them now, or today when you see them. Do not put this off even if you live in a safe neighborhood.

Just reading the Parsha without commentary I find so many new interesting things in Bereishis every year.

There was somebody named Lemech who accidentally killed Kain and his own son Tuval-Kain. (ok I looked in Rashi to find that out). He says that if Kain who intentionally killed suffered vengeance at seven generations then he would suffer at seventy seven for unintentionally killing. Later it says the days of his life were seven hundred an seventy seven.

I have many questions about all that including what Lemech’s reasoning must have been and how long is a generation and of course am interested in the 7 77 777 thing.

7=7×1
77=7×11
777=7×111 = 3x7x37

3x7x37 … That’s particularly interesting.

?

Some things to think about over the three day Yom Tov…

I was wondering what the Bracha on a granola bar might be so I googled it and found this:
http://www.mevaseret.org/mmy/searchshiurim.php?shiur=269

At the end of the article there are two opinions.

Just a few days ago I wanted to look up what the Bracha might be something that I made by crumbling left-over Challah, mixing with a little bit of flour and spices, and frying. I found an in-depth article by the Kof-K talking all about the different times to make Mezonos v.s. HaMotzie. I ended up just washing on some real Challah just to be safe and while eating this read from our Brachos book which appeared to say the opposite as the Kof-K article in some cases.

The point of this post is that I’m not sure what one does in such a situation. I don’t think it’s correct to call my Rav every time I have a question on what Bracha to make, but I’m not really sure what one does in such a situation.

Is it OK to just pick one opinion and stick to it? It make sense to always do what it says in our Brachos book and treat that as the final authority. My understanding is that it’s most important to be consistent.

Anyone reading this who wants to shed some insight, please do.

This past sunday evening I went with my wife and 1-month old son to Crown Heights to see Rav Ginsburgh give over a three-part Shiur relating the number 137.  I was blown away by the talk and these amazing new ideas in understanding Torah through math – things that I wonder if Chazal even knew about, or if this Chasidut is literally new Torah, as Chazal tell us כי לעתיד לבוא, “תורה חדשה מאתי תצא -  that sitting in this room we were truly getting a taste of the times of Moshiach.

I have read some of Rav Ginsburgh’s books and even went to a Shiur last year, all of which have taught some really amazing things in amazing ways, but there was something particular about sunday evening – probably sparked by my interest in the mathematics combined with the topics  – that made the experience somewhat exhilarating.

At the Shiur I took notes, which are rather scattered, but I want to try to convey what I learned from the notes and memory as best as I can.  You can probably access a video of the shiur in a couple weeks from now on http://www.inner.org.

Ok, so I mentioned that the shiur is on the number 137.  Here’s a wikipedia link about this constant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine-structure_constant.  (Regarding the number being actually fractional/irrational, see here: http://www.inner.org/responsa/leter1/RESP13.HTM)  The number 137 is also the Gematria of Kabbalah (קבלה) and I as continue through the notes we will Bezrat Hashem find some other amazing significance in Torah.

The first topic of the Shiur was called “The Jewish Nation of Womanhood”.  I arrived during the end of this one, but here’s what I have:

In the Torah there are only two places where חוה (Chava – Eve) is mentioned by name.  By contrast אדם – the first man – is mentioned numerous times.   The first Chava in the Torah is Bereishis 3:20 – “The man called his wife Eve, because she had become the mother of all the living”.  The next place is four verses later at 4:1 – “Now the man had known his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain saying, ‘I have acquired a man with Hashem’”.  Rav Ginsburgh pointed out that the two places that the Torah refers to Chava relates to Leah and Rochel.  He also pointed out that the number 137 has to do with a going from one to two (my notes are not very clear).

Kabbalah is a feminine concept.  We already said the Gematria of קבלה (Kabbala) is 137, but it’s value by taking the sum of it’s ordinal numbers (ק=19, ב=2,ל=12,ה=5) is 38, which is 19+19.  We also find the Gematria of חוה (Chava) is 19 and since it appears twice in the Torah is also 19+19=38.  Here is already an association between Chava and 137 as well as Kabbala relating to Womanhood.

Taking this further (and where for me is very exciting), if you take all of the letters from the first mention of Chava to the second mention of Chava, you will find that there are 256 letters:

256 Letters From Chava to Chava

The very fact that there are 256 letters is something significant since that is 16².  In Kabbalah, square numbers have a particular significance.  Since it is a square number, it is possible to lay out the letters in 16 rows of 16 letters each as in the above picture.  Keep in mind this picture is of all of the letters in the Torah from the first mention of Chava to the last mention of Chava so this is Hashem’s word telling us something about the essence of Womanhood.  Taking the 16 letters from the top-right corner to the bottom-left and adding up the values of the letters (חילםויחשעלוהמהה), we get 613 – the number of Mitzvos in the Torah.  Now, where’s 137?  Taking each corner letter (חיהל) as well as each middle letter (אהחחםיוו – there are two middle letters for each row/column since there are an even number of letters in each), we find that the sum of the Gematrios of these letters is 137.

I wish I could say more about the concept of Leah and Rochel relating to all this, but I am not remembering the complete concept.  I think when the video is posted on inner.org the interested reader of this blog post should find it.

The next topic was titled “Marital Harmony & Peace in the Home” and Rav Ginsburgh spoke about Shidduchim (marriage matches) and the Isha Maskelet (intelligent woman).  He introduced the topic saying that there are three places in the Tanach where there is a mention of a Shidduch that was explicitly stated to be through the hands of Heaven.  He pointed out that while we understand that Hashem is control of everything, an area where it is particularly visible is in the case of marriage matches.

The three places in Tanach are:

• Torah – the marriage of Yitzchak and Rivkah – a kosher marriage
• Nevi’im (Prophets) – the marriage of Shimshon (Samson) and the Philistine woman – not a kosher marriage, but still from Hashem (as a means of taking revenge on the Philishtim)
• Ketuvim (Writings) – a match regarding an Intellectual Woman from Hashem (ומה’ אשה משכלת) – even better than the 1st (Yitzchak and Rivkah) – an Intellectual Woman is a gift from Hashem – you cannot inherit an intelligent woman – The Posuk in Mishlei 19:14 says “A house and wealth are an inheritance from fathers, but an intelligent woman comes from Hashem”.

First of all, what does it mean “Intelligent Woman”?  Rav Ginsburgh explains: What more is there to Intelligence than Torah and Mitzvos?  The answer is: To be able to convert every mundane act into service of HaKadosh Baruch Hu.  There is no more secular.  To see Hashem is in everything and is everything.  A marriage includes some mundane activities, but the Intelligent Woman views everything as service of Hashem.

Let’s examine the term describing an ideal marriage – אשה משכלת.  First of all אשה (woman) has a Gematria of 306, which is divisible by 3, so 306=102*3.  The number 102 is the Gematria of אמונה (faith) as woman is related to “three pillars of faith”.  The whole phrase אשה משכלת is 1096, which is divisible by 8.  1096/8 = 137.  So there is 137 again – relating to the intelligent woman and the concept of the ideal marriage.  Once again this concept of a spectral line split into two as two partners in marriage are considered two parts of a whole.

At this point he began to discuss more about the number 137.  He pointed that that 137 is the 34th prime (counting 1 as the first prime).  He pointed out that there is no way to know the specific number of a prime (i.e. the 34th) from the prime itself.  He then went on to explain a fascinating idea: An electron can be a particle that is in orbit around the nucleus of an atom.  The nature of an electron can be best described by the Hebrew word אופנים(Ofanim – literally “wheel” as in the wheels of the Divine Chariot).  The Gematria here is once again 137 (Although my notes do not say, I assume this is referring to the singular אופנ).  He then talked about the word אגל to refer to something that is both a “drop” and a “wave” – alluding the the particle/wave duality concerning photons – and so אגל can refer to a photon.  The Gematria of אגל is 34 – as in 137 being the 34th prime.

I have in my notes that the Rav talked about how “There is no absolute zero…” and although I would like to elaborate on that, I do not remember what he said specifically.

I have four more pages of notes where things get very interesting using the digits of 137 as a series, and the expanding universe, and how 137 relates to the concept of a king…  I am going to stop for now and Bezrat Hashem continue some time.

In the meantime, there are some very nice articles at the link below:

http://www.inner.org/torah_and_science/mathematics/index.php