Torah Teasers
Parshas Bereishes

1. Rashi brings the medrash that asks why the Torah starts with Bireishis, when it should have started with the first mitzva commanded to Bnei Yisroel, the Mitzva of Kiddush HaChodesh. Rav Meir Shapiro asks that both Mila and Gid HaNasheh come before Kiddush HaChodesh, so why does the medrash not ask about those mitzvos? Ans…He answers that we know Bireishis means “Bshvil Yisroel SheNikra Reishis”. The world was made for Bnei Yisroel, who through their actions, control the destiny of the world. If so, asks the Medrash, the Torah could have started with the mitzva of Kiddush HaChodesh since the mitzva of Kiddush HaChodesh also shows that Bnei Yisroel have sovereignty over the world by exercising full authority over the calendar.
2. The first creation to commit an aveira was the fruit tree. Hashem commanded it to produce tasty fruit and the tree itself was also supposed to have the same taste. Chazal tell us that because of this, when Adam was punished for his aveira, the tree was also cursed. What is the connection? Ans….The Chasam Sofer explains that what tempted Chava to indulge in the Eitz HaDaas was the fact that it was different from all the other trees. The tree itself was edible and very appealing. This is seen in the Pasuk that says Chava saw, “Ki Tov HaEitz”, that the tree itself was good. Had all the trees been edible like the Eitz HaDaas, Chava would have never desired to eat from the forbidden tree. However, since all the other trees were not themselves edible, Chava gave in to temptation. This is why when she was punished, so too were all the trees.
3. The gemara Yuma (75a) says that Hashem is not like people. When a person gets angry at his friend, his vengeance causes him to strip his friend of everything he has. Hashem is not like that. When He punished the snake by giving him a diet consisting of dirt, He did him a great service. Wherever he finds himself he has plenty of food. So where is the curse in all this? Ans … Rav Shimon Schwab points out that we say thank you to Hashem in Shmoneh Esrei, “Modim Anachnu Lach.” For what? “SheAta Hu Hashem Elokeinu” – that you are our Hashem. Our relationship with Hashem is the best thing we have and for this we thank Him. Our relationship is borne out of our constant need for His support every step of the way. We work hard to obtain every morsel of food that we eat and every day we beseech Hashem, the creator and supplier of all food, to give us some. This keeps us right where we need to be, constantly basking in His presence. The snake needs nothing. His food is always readily available and he has no reason to be close to Hashem. That is the way Hashem wanted it, and this curse makes the constantly satiated snake the big loser. This, says Rav Schwab, explains the enigmatic gemara that says, he who does not bow by Modim, his spine will turn into a snake after seven years. A person who doesn’t recognize Hashem, and doesn’t thank Him every day for being by our side, is no better than a snake, who also never needs Hashem.
4. When the Torah writes the ten generations from Adam until Noach, it counts the years each person lived. By all of them it says “VaYihiyu” except for Chanoch and Lemech. Why were these two written differently? Ans…Rav Chaim Kanievsky in Taama D’Kra writes that the gemara in Megila (10b) tells us that the word VaYehi is used when there was a painful event. A quick tally of the math shows that each one of the ten generations outlived their father, with the only exceptions being Chanoch and Lemech. The fact that these fathers’ needed to bury their sons was a very painful event, despite that they were hundreds of years old. Therefore, their years were counted using the expression of pain, VaYehi.
5. The pasuk (2:20) tells us that Adam gave names to all the creatures. Chazal tell us that this was a great Chochma on his part. Rav Yehonoson Eibushitz asks why this was such a great accomplishment? Ans …He answers that for each animal, Adam linked, with his deep insight, each animal’s characteristics to its parallel in the heavenly court. Just like there is an “Ari” and “Shor” in the Merkava, he was able to spot the traits of a lion and ox and understand the connection. However, when it came to his own name, he did not link it to something heavenly. He called himself Adam as in adama, the lowly earth. This showed Adam’s great modesty. He wanted to remind himself of his lowly makeup and always remain humble. However, says Rav Yehonoson Eibushitz, the name Adam is in fact a very exalted name. Adam is from the word, “Adameh L’Elyon”- I am compared to the elevated. A person is created B’Tzelem Elokim and is compared to Hashem Himself, and not just the Merkava. Furthermore, the comparison to Adama, the earth, is also very distinguished. Just like the earth never disintegrates and remains forever, similarly a person’s neshama, his Chelek Elokai MiMa’al is also Nitzchi – eternal.
6. Who made the world’s first golem? Ans … The Rosh in his peirush on Chumash tells the story of how the first Golem was created. He says the people of Enosh’s generation asked him, “Who is your father?” He answered that it was Sheis. “And who was Sheis’s father?” He answered, “Adam. Who was Adam’s father, they wanted to know. He told them that Hashem made him out of earth and breathed in him a Neshama. They had a hard time believing this story, so Enosh took earth and created a Golem. Although the Golem did not have a Neshama, it did have a life spirit. The people started worshipping this Golem and it became the world’s first Avodah Zara.

Memories
The Steipler, z”tl, was known for his refusal to accept any type of gift, and in fact, this was so well known that it was rare for anyone to attempt to give him a present. Rav Dovid Frankel told the story of how his father, who owned a textile factory, was one of the rare people who succeeded in giving the Steipler a present.
His father had noticed on one of his visits to the Steipler that he was wearing a torn faded coat, and he greatly desired to bring him a new coat. All his relatives expressed their opinion that there was no hope that the Steipler would accept a new coat, but he decided to try his luck.
He designed and stitched a new coat for the Steipler with great care to each detail, and when he was finished, he sat down to devise a plan on how to present it to him. He knew that if he didn’t prepare carefully, he had no hope in succeeding. As soon as the Steipler would see the new coat in the hand of his guest, he would instruct him to remove the present from the house.
He thought and thought, until he came up with an excellent idea. It was the month of Adar and Purim was quickly approaching. The father turned to his son, Rav Dovid, and said to him, “I’ll send shloach manos with you to the Gaon, and I’ll wrap the wine and the cake with the new coat.” The plan was that when the Steipler would open the shloach manos and see the coat, he would keep it because of his love for the mitzvah.
On Purim, R’ Dovid took the shloach manos to the Steipler and left before the Gaon opened it. It remained to be seen whether the Steipler would actually use the coat.
On the first night of Pesach, a member of the “Lederman” shul where the Steipler davened, suddenly broke out with a beaming smile. It was the father of Rav Dovid Frankel, who had suddenly glimpsed Maran, zt’l enter into the Beis Midrash wearing the new coat he had been given on Purim. Rav Frankel could barely contain his excitement and joy.
Apparently, the Steipler decided that since the coat served as a mitzvah, as it wrapped the shloach manos, it contained extra kedusha, and could even be considered as a garment that was given to him through Hakodash Boruch Hu, and it wasn’t an option to return it. (AleinuLeshabeach)
*****************
When the son-in-law of the Chofetz Chaim, Rav Aharon Cohen, was a young avreich, he searched for a position in Rabbanus. Once, an opportunity for a position in a nearby town arose, but despite all his efforts, he didn’t receive the position, and he was very disappointed.

The Chofetz Chaim sensed his son in law’s distress, and he comforted him, “Don’t worry, if you weren’t appointed as a Rav, it’s a sign that you don’t need to serve in Rabbanus. When I was a young man, I had a position as a Rav, and I resigned. I’ll tell you why.”

“In the town where I served as a Rav, one of the butchers was caught selling treifus. I summoned him and rebuked him, and I forbade him from continuing to serve as a butcher. A few days later, the butcher’s wife and relatives came to me crying, and promised that the butcher had done teshuvah, and that he promised not to repeat his mistakes. They begged me to let him continue serving as a butcher so he would have a means of earning a living. I called to the butcher and I saw that he regretted what he did. I fined him and I restored him to his position, as it’s written in the Shulchan Aruch.”

“A few years passed, and the butcher passed away. One night, I was sitting in the ezras nashim and learning, and I fell asleep. While I was sleeping I dreamt that I saw three men whose faces shone like the sun. I was frightened from their appearance, but they told me not to be afraid. ‘We came from Shamayim and we want to ask you a question. When you fined the butcher who sold treifus, was the fine because of teshuvah, or you simply fined him, without taking his teshuvah into account?'”

The Chofetz Chaim continued, “I strained my memory and I answered, ‘No, I only fined him according to what’s written in the Shulchan Aruch. I didn’t make a cheshbon that the fine would cause him to be a baal teshuvah.’ After I answered, the three men disappeared.”

“A few minutes passed, and the butcher himself appeared in my dream, and he was black as night. He was crying and pulling at his hair. He cried out, ‘What does the Rav want from me? They sent me to the seventh level of Gehenom, to the depth of the depths. When they brought me to din, they claimed that I sold treifus, but I claimed that I did teshuvah and the proof was that Rav Yisrael Meir Hakohen fined me and restored me to my position. However, the prosecutor claimed that the fine was only for its sake alone, and not for the purpose of teshuvah. The Beis Din Shel Maalah ruled that they needed to ask the Rav himself what his cheshbon was when he gave the fine. And then they came to the Rav to ask, and if the Rav had said that the fine was for the sake of teshuvah, they wouldn’t have sent me to the depth of depths!'”

The Chofetz Chaim finished his story, “I woke up from the dream, and I then left the Rabbanus. It’s true that there were other reasons, but this was the main reason. If I was capable of causing a neshama to descend to the depth of Gehenum – what did I need to stay in Rabbanus for?” (Shaal Avicha Yegadcha)

Who Knows One
Q. What blessing can’t you say if you are on the moon?
Answer: Kiddush Levana – the blessing on seeing the New Moon. The blessing said when sighting the New Moon can be recited only at night when you can benefit from the moon’s light. Even at night, if it’s cloudy and you see only a vague image of the moon you don’t say the blessing, since you don’t benefit from its rays. So too, if you were actually standing on the moon you wouldn’t be able to say the blessing of Kiddush Levana, because you wouldn’t be deriving benefit from the moon’s rays! (Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 426:1 Rema Ibid. Magen Avraham 1)
Q. How can you have a mixture which is dairy, and when meat accidentally falls in, the mixture becomes parve (neither meat nor dairy)?
Answer: Milk or meat which falls into a food is considered ‘nullified’ if the food contains 60 times the amount of the milk or meat. But if the food contains only 59 times the amount of milk or meat, then the milk or meat is not nullified. Therefore, if a mixture contains a ratio of 59 parts of parve food and one part milk, it is dairy. If one part of meat then falls in, the meat becomes nullified because the other food is 60 times greater than it. At this point, the milk also becomes nullified because now there are also 60 units of food more than it (59 parve plus one of meat). Thus the entire mixture becomes parve. (Yoreh De’ah 98:9)
Q. What yom tov addition to ‘benching’ is it that most people don’t say and hope they never have to?
Answer: Ya’aleh Veyavo for Yom Kippur. If a sick person needs to eat on Yom Kippur, he adds the ya’aleh veyavo insertion into the ‘grace after meals’ and mentions Yom Kippur. Even sick people rarely say this, because – if they can – they always try to eat small amounts which don’t require ‘grace after meals.’ Good health to everyone! (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 618:10)

Know Your Gedolim…
Who Is This?

Talk the Talk — Walk the Walk
Rav Vosner was asked (Shevet HaLevi 10:114:1) about an animal eaten in America that seems to be from the Buffalo family and clearly has the required Simanei Kashrus but it is unclear whether it qualifies as a beheima or chaya. It also has no Mesora. May you eat it?

This question revolves around a Shach and Pri Megadim. There are differences in halacha with regard to eating the fat of an animal, whether it is a Chaya or Beheima. The Shach says that when there is a question whether an animal is a beheima or chaya, we should not rely on the simanim without a mesora.

The Pri Megadim holds that even according to the Shach the chumra of mesora only applies to the question of whether you treat it like a chaya or beheima, but in any event you can assur the fat like a beheima and eat it without any mesora since the simanei kashrus are very clear. Only by birds do we require mesora and not rely on simanim.

However, the Chazon Ish says that the Shach is to be taken literally and one may not eat any animal even if it clearly qualifies as kosher without a mesora. He bases this on Chochmas Adam and says that this was the minhag in Lithuania.

Rav Vosner says that adding all this up, in America there is no problem to eat this new kind of Buffalo since; a) the minhag of mesora was only in Lithuania, b) the Pri Megadim holds the Shach didn’t require a mesora except for birds, c) this new Buffalo is close to the Buffalo family that has a mesora.

The Geula — What to Expect
Will Moshiach Wreck A Hot Economy?
The No’am Megadim in Parshas Mishpatim says that good business is often not so good for Moshiach. Recessions are usually better. When things are not going well, we cry Moshiach, Moshiach. When real tzorus happen we are even ready to make a special Kinus to bring Moshiach as soon as possible. When things are going really well, we are less anxious to entertain any disruptive visitors.

He darshans the words of the pasuk (Shemos 22:24) to allude to this. “Im Kesef Talveh Es Ami Es HaAni Imoch Lo Sihiyeh Lo KiNosheh” literally, when you lend money to My people, to the poor person who is with you, do not act toward him as a creditor. B’Derech Drush he says, “Im Kesef Talveh Es Ami” if money and good fortune accompany my nation in the Galus. “Es HaAni Imoch”, the poor among you, meaning Moshiach who Chazal say is an “Ani V’Rocheiv Al Chamor”, a poor person riding on a donkey. “Lo Sihiyeh Lo KiNosheh”, do not forget about him.

Moshiach does not need to come through Tzorus and Yisurim. We should be Zocheh to be Mikabel Pnei Moshiach by asking and begging for him, MiToch Osher V’Osher, from a position of good fortune and wealth, purely L’Shem Shamayim. It is up to us – because he will come only when we really want him.
Only Native Sons Of Eretz Yisroel Will Be Buried There
Yosef lamented to the Sar HaMashkin that he was stolen from his homeland of Eretz Yisroel. The Medrash says that whoever acknowldeges his homeland will be buried there, like Yosef, who was eventually brought to burial in Eretz Yisroel. Moshe, on the other hand, who heard Yisro’s daughters refer to him as a Mitzri and said nothing, was not zocheh to Kvuras Eretz Yisroel.

The comparison between Yosef and Moshe seems odd. Yosef was actually born in Eretz Yisroel while Moshe in fact was born and raised in Mitzrayim. Why is Moshe condemned for not denying that he was a Mitzri? The Iturei Torah brings from Rav Meir Yechiel of Ostrovtza that from the time Hashem promised Avrohom Avinu that his children will receive Eretz Yisroel, every Jew should consider himself a native son and citizen, no matter where he was born, raised, or lives. Only those will be zocheh to Kvuras Eretz Yisroel!

Upon coming to the Bais HaMikdash with Bikurim, we tell the Kohen (Ki Savo 26:3), “Higaditi Hayom Lashem Elokecha Ki Basi El HaAretz”, I affirm today before Hashem, that I have arrived in the land. The Ponevezher Rov once asked when addressing a large crowd, “Is it only new immigrants who are commanded to bring Bikurim and not native born sons?”

He answered that we see from here that even people born and bred in Eretz Yisroel, or those that have been here for a very long time, must have the same excitement as a person who has newly arrived home from the galus. The feeling of coming home to Hashem’s land must not dull over time. I myself, said the Ponevezher Rov, every time I return to Eretz Yisroel from abroad, it is brand new to me as if I have never been here before. (Shalal Rov)

For those of us to have made our way home, keep appreciating it and don’t take it for granted. Wake up every morning and look outside and say, “Wow, I can’t believe I am lucky enough to live here!”
Eretz Yisroel Is a Gift, France Is An Identity
Why by the Mitzva of Shmitta does it say that “Hashem commanded it at Har Sinai”? Rashi brings the famous answer and the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh offers a different answer. The Ohr HaChaim says that the mitzva of Shmitta begins, “when you come to the land I give to you”. Since it is assur to give a Matnas Chinam to a non-Jew, the Torah tells us that Hashem only gave us the land after Matan Torah and a Matnas Chinam was no longer assur.
Rav Shimshon Pincus asks, if so, how did Hashem give land, gratis, to all the other nations? He answers that the land the other nations have was not a gift to a group of people. It is the land itself that created that identity. The Italian people did not get a gift of Italy. They become Italian by living there. On the other hand, Bnei Yisroel’s identity is not drawn from an association with any land. Our identity is that of the people who left Mitzrayim and stood at Har Sinai. Eretz Yisroel? That is a gift that the Jewish nation received from Hashem and not a cause of our being. Im Kol Zeh Achakeh Lo B’Chol Yom SheYavo!
We Are All Olim Chadashim In Eretz Yisroel

This week’s Torah is B’Zchus: Klal Yisroel – who danced with the Torah despite their troubles,
and who are Reishes among the nations.
Distributed by the Chevre Marbitz Torah D’NMB

Created By Rov Allen Sherman