Torah Teasers
Parshas Beshalach
1. “V’LoNacham Elokim Derech Eretz Pilishtim Ki Karov Hu; Hashem did not want to take Bnei Yisrael to Eretz Yisrael through the land of the Pilishtim since it was very close.” (Bishalach 13:17) Is that a sign for future golus? Ans… The Gilyon Peninim brings from the Sfas Emes that since Ma’aseh Avos Siman LaBanim, so, too, was the Geulas Mitzrayim a precendent for all future redemptions of Klal Yisrael. Because the future redemptions would not be so easy, and Bnei Yisrael will take a roundabout way, contrary to what seems to be the best way to get there; geulas Mitzrayim also required the Bnei Yisroel to go on the road less traveled and take the long way home. The road to geula goes through scorching heat, barren land, and many tests. To take them the short way was not possible Ki Karov Hu, it was too routine…too fast, too easy. From Galus, that isn’t the right way home.
2. The Mechilta says that at Krias Yam Suf, Har HaMoriah was uprooted from its place. What does this mean? Ans… Rav Meir Shapiro explains that the Yam Suf did not split until Nachshon jumped in to the raging rapids first, and then all of Bnei Yisrael followed behind him, as the Pasuk says in Tehilim, “Haysa Yehuda LiKodsho Yisrael Mamshilosav.” Only after B’nei Yisroel jumped into the Yam, did they rule over it, and it split for them. This was Mesiras Nefesh by an entire nation. Har HaMoriah was also a site of great Mesiras Nefesh for Klal Yisrael as the Avos were Moser Nefesh on the famed mountain. However, the Mesiras Nefesh on Har HaMoriah was only by individuals, whereas the Yam Suf bore witness to Mesiras Nefesh of the masses. Therefore, says the Mechilta, when Bnei Yisrael jumped into the Yam, Har HaMoriah was uprooted and supplanted by the Yam Suf as the greatest place of Mesiras Nefesh of Klal Yisrael.
3. “Vata’an Lahem Miriam Shiru Lashem.” (Bishalach 15:21) Just like Moshe sang Shira for the men, so, too, Miriam sang for the women. However, the word Vata’an means to answer, which connotes talking and not singing. Furthermore, Lahem is a masculine term and not addressed towards women. Ans… The MiShulchan Gavoa brings from Rav Chaim Soloveitchik that Shira to Hashem has a din of Davar SheB’Kdusha that can only be said with ten men. Women are not included in a minyan in this respect. Therefore, the women could not say their own shira. They were only able to say as a continuation of the minyan of men. Therefore, it says Vata’an – they answered on the men. This also explains why it says Lahem, since they answered to the men. The Vilna Gaon answers that the women could not say Shira because Kol B’Isha Erva and it was not Tzanua for them to sing. Miriam answered to the men, “You sing Shira while the women will play the Tupim.”
4. “Ki Ani Hashem Rofecha.” (Bishalach 15:26) Hashem promises that if we keep the Torah He will not bring upon us any of the illnesses that He brought upon Mitzrayim, because He is our doctor. Doctor? Why do we need a doctor if Hashem will not bring upon us any illness? Ans… The Chasam Sofer answers that there are two kinds of doctors. One doctor takes a fee for each visit. He does not care about preventive measures, only about curing, because that is where he makes his money. Another is a family doctor where you pay one price for the whole family for the year. He wants you and your family to stay healthy, since he only loses from each office visit. Hashem is our Rofei Chinam, a doctor that doesn’t charge. “Because of that,” Hashem says, “I will make sure that you never get sick.” This can also answer why the pasuk in Mishpatim (21:19), “V’Rapoh Yirapei,” which teaches us that a person may visit a human doctor, has the double Lashon, Rapoh Yirapei”. When you visit Hashem, he wants to cure you permanently. Whereas a human doctor wants you to come back again and again.
5. Rav Shimshon Pincus points out an interesting phenomenon. Good bread is fresh bread. Once it gets old, even by a day, it becomes stale. Not so with cake or cookies. Why is that? Ans… Bread is the main food that nourishes life. Cake and cookies are not. When it comes to life, it is refreshed by Hashem every moment of every day. The life given today must be put to use today. If we leave it over, so to say, and do not utilize it, we cannot use it tomorrow. Tomorrow is a new day, with its own gift of life granted from Hashem. Yesterday’s unused life is wasted and gone forever. Rav Avigdor Miller once said that killing time is like murder. Life is made up of minutes, hours, and days. Whatever time you kill is like killing a small part of life. It doesn’t make a difference if it is at the end or in the middle.
6. “Lo Sosifu Lirosom Ad Olam”, you will not see the Egyptians again. The Monai HaMitzvos count 3 Issurim which one transgresses if he lives in Mitzrayim. One Lav is this pasuk – “You will not see the Egyptians again”. The other 2 are in Sefer Devarim. The Rambam counts this as one of the Lavim in the Torah. We are forbidden to return to Egypt in order to settle there. However, it is permissible to return to Egypt for business or trade.” How was the Rambam himself allowed to live in Egypt and transgress the negative commandment which he himself lists? Ans… Some answer, the Issur of living in Mitzrayim is only if one travels there following the same route that the Jews used when leaving Mitzrayim. Others answer that the Rambam was an Anus, forced to live there. He had no choice, since he was the Dr. of the Sultan. In Sefer Kaftor VaFerach, it is written, the Rambam used to sign his letters – “Moshe Ben Maimon, the one who transgresses 3 Lavim every day.”

The Avnei Nezer, Rav Avrohom Borenstein, was married to the daughter of the Kotzker Rebbe. They lived in dire poverty, yet he never seemed to be concerned with his plight. One day his frustrated wife asked him, “Tell me, why is it that our poverty does not concern you at all?”
The Avnei Nezer answered, “I worry as much as everyone else but there is a big difference. Your great father took me as a son-in-law because of my brilliant mind. What takes others an entire day to think about, I can think through in a few moments. So while other poor people spend their entire day worrying and consumed with their predicament, I spend a few moment every morning thinking everything they can possibly think of the entire day. Then I can get on with the other things on my daily agenda.”
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There was a big raffle for a Menorah in Horodna. After the winning raffle was drawn by the Shamash Rav Eliyahu Meir Zoldan, and the menorah awarded to the winner, some children started playing with the raffles that were not drawn. One of the kids discovered that one of the names in the raffle was mistakenly written twice, although neither were chosen. Rav Yehoshua Leib Diskin who was then a child, declared that the raffle was void and should be done again. A big argument ensued among the children who disagreed with him.
When the adults came to Shul and heard the commotion, they all had their own opinion on the matter. When Rav Yehoshua Leib’s father, Rav Binyomin Diskin, the Rav, walked in, he heard everybody saying the raffle should still be valid while Rav Yehoshua Leib insisted that it is void. His father asked him why he thought so, even if that man was not the winner anyway.
Rav Yehoshua Leib said that had the man with the duplicate ticket won, surely it would have been voided when the mistake was revealed. Therefore, that man had no chance to win. If so, it was as if his raffle ticket was not in the drawing, and since a ticket was missing, the raffle was void. This answer from the young boy amazed his father and Rav Yehoshua Leib’s genius spread quickly throughout the town.
Years later, when Rav Yehoshua Leib was already the Rov of Yerushalayim, Rav Eliyahu Meir Zoldan the Shamash, who was by then over a hundred years old, also lived there. Rav Yehoshua Leib sent someone to call him over. Rav Yehoshua Leib reminded him of the story from many long years ago. He said that surely he caused him grief by causing him to have to go to the winner to take back the menorah in order to hold another raffle. And therefore, now he wants to ask him Mechila. (Gedolei HaDoros)
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Even in his last moments on earth, Rav Yisroel Salanter spent his time thinking about the feelings of others. In his final illness as he lie in bed in Koenigsberg, he had a man attending his needs. On the last day of his life Rav Yisroel turned to this simple man and started talking to him about the fear people have to be alone with a dead body. Rav Yisroel told him that it is a really foolish fear since a dead person cannot do anything.
A few hours later Rav Yisroel was niftar and lo and behold there wasn’t anyone else around at the time, and the attendant was alone. It became clear to the attendant that the strange conversation he had had with the Tzaddik a few hours ago was meant to dispel his fears that would engulf him later that day.
Surely Rav Yisroel who knew his time was near was deep in thought about life and death, tshuvah and torah. Yet he had the presence of mind in his weakened condition to concern himself with the possible fear of another person. (HaMi’oros HaGedolim)

“His [Netanyahu] policies are self-defeating. Israel doesn’t know what its own interests are and Netanyahu is moving his country down the path toward near-total isolation.” President Obama’s alleged statements to Atlantic columnist Jeffrey Goldberg, as stated in an article for Bloomberg on January 14.

“Yes, Jewish people are living in fear in Europe but this is not 1929, this is 2013” European Parliament President Martin Schultz on Jan. 22 during a speech about anti-Semitism which he delivered at the European Parliament during a ceremony commemorating Holocaust victims.

“The fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest? Or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they’d go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the deadly September attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
“The Hasidics received some books from us from this library [Schneerson] for temporary use, for a couple of months, more than ten years ago, and have yet to return them. This should also be the subject of court action.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, threatening legal action for unreturned books he said Moscow had loaned the Chabad-Lubavitch Chasidic movement over a decade ago, as a response to a US court ordering Russia to hand over about 25,000 pages of manuscripts by Lubavitcher Rebbe Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson which fell into the hands of the Nazis, and were later seized by the Red Army and handed over to the Russian State Military Archive. This part of the Schneerson Library is now kept in a central Moscow library.
≈ Great Sayings By Great People ≈
“When a person finishes learning from his computer, does he give it a kiss after he closes it?” – Rav Binyomin Finkel
“Lowering yourself is the source of all life to a person, however, when it comes to another person, you should not think about this. You must honor him like he is King and not say that by doing this, you are causing him damage.” – Rav Chatzkel Levenstein
“If you have learned a great amount of Torah and performed many mitzvos and good deeds, do not be proud of yourself. This is why you were created. – Avos 2:8
“Before asking HaShem for a good new year, be sure to thank Him for the good year that just passed.” – Rav Avigdor Miller
“If you do not have Emuna, there are no answers. If you have Emuna, there are no questions.” — Chofetz Chayim

Know Your Gedolim…

Talk the Talk — Walk the Walk
There was a Rav who presided over a young boy’s Bar Mitzvah who was known for his lack of concern for learning Torah and frumkeit. The Rav was not about to let this go unnoticed. The boy performed his Bar Mitzvah, and rose to the occasion as best he could, with the minimal preparation. When it came time to hand out the gifts to the young man, he received the usual Kiddush Cup, and chumash from the congregation. But then the Rav, added a special gift. He said, “You have received many gifts today, many treasures of Judaism in book form that will enrich your life and adorn your bookshelf. And now for my own special gift to you”!
With that, he pulled out an umbrella from behind the lectern, and told the boy, “I present you with this umbrella, because, I want to give you a gift that I know you will open!”
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A visitor to Israel attended a recital and concert at the Moscovitz Auditorium. He was quite impressed with the architecture and the acoustics. He inquired of the tour guide, “Is this magnificent auditorium named after Rav Chaim Moscovitz, the famous Talmudic scholar?” “No,” replied the guide. “It is named after Morris Moscovitz, the writer.”
“Never heard of him. What did he write?”
“A check”, replied the guide.
The Geula — What to Expect
The Donkey… The Navi Zechariah describes Moshiach as “a pauper, riding on a donkey.” The simple meaning of the verse is that Moshiach — whom the Midrash describes as “greater than Avrohom, higher than Moshe, and loftier than the supernal angels” (Yalkut Shimoni – is the epitome of self-effacement. On a deeper level, Moshiach’s donkey represents the essence of the messianic process: a process that began with the beginning of time and which constitutes the very soul of history.
Moshiach’s donkey first appears in the year 2084 from creation, as Avrohom heads for Akeidas Yitzchok, his tenth and greatest reiteration of his faith in Hashem. “Avohom rose early in the morning and readied his donkey,” the Torah relates (Genesis 22:3), and loaded it with supplies for the Akeidah (the wood, the fire, and the knife) for the three-day trek from Chevron to Har Moriah.
Seven generations later, Moses was also dispatched on a mission by Hashem: to take the Jewish people out of Egypt and bring them to Har Sinai, where I shall communicate to them their mission in life as My chosen people. So “Moshe took his wife and children, set them upon the donkey, and set out for Egypt.” The donkey, stresses the Torah — the very same donkey, our chazal explain, that served Avrohom Oveinu and that will bear Moshiach.
Avrohom, Moshe and Moshiach — three who employ this erstwhile donkey in their fulfillment of Hashem’s will. But the extent to which the donkey is involved in their mission differs. With Abraham, it carries his supplies; with Moses, his wife and children; while Moshiach is described as himself riding the donkey.
The spiritual is greater than the physical, the ethereal more lofty than the material. Hashem desired that we refine and elevate the material existence; that the physical reality, whose concreteness and self-centeredness obscure our inner vision and distort our true priorities, be redirected as a positive force in our lives; that we bring to light the goodness and perfection inherent in all of His creation, including — and especially — the lowliest of His works, the material world. The Hebrew word for donkey is chamor from the word chomer, material. Moshiach’s donkey is the material beast harnessed, the physical directed to higher and loftier ends.
So Moshiach, who represents the ultimate fulfillment of Torah, himself rides the donkey of the material. For he heralds a world in which the material is no longer the lower or secondary element, but an utterly refined resource, no less central and significant a force for good than the most spiritual creation. Im Kol Zeh Achakeh Lo B’Chol Yom SheYavo!

Halacha Trivia ­ Are We Allowed to Donate Blood For Money?
There is an issur for a person to injure himself. Although it is a Machlokes in the Gemara, the Rishonim pasken that a person is not the owner of his own body with a right to cause it harm. What about donating blood? If there is someone in need, then there is no question. But what if a person wants to donate it to a blood bank in return for money, may he do so?
Rav Moshe Feinstein (Igros Moshe CM 1:103) says that he may and we should not try to stop him. The reason is that even though you may not harm yourself in order to profit, when it comes to bloodletting it is a different story. In times long gone by, bloodletting was a common therapy to cure people of their ills. The gemara talks about the ins and outs of bloodletting in great detail.
Rav Moshe says that even though our physiology has changed and bloodletting is no longer considered therapeutic, nevertheless, it has not changed that much and there still must be some sort of hidden benefit involved. Furthermore, says Rav Moshe, the procedure had become so simple and pain free that it is possible that it would not be considered harming yourself. Rav Moshe does not condone this but ends by saying that if someone chooses to donate blood to a bank, we should not protest because there is great logic behind the heter.

This Week in History….
14 Shvat: Yahrtzeit of Rav Yaakov Yehoshua Falk (1680-1756), better known as the “Pnei Yehoshua. Shevat 14 is also the yahrtzeit of Rav Aryeh Kaplan (1934-1983),
15 Shvat: Tu B’Shvat, the New Year for the Trees. This is technically the day when trees stop absorbing water from the ground, and instead draw nourishment from their sap.
16 Shvat: Yahrtzeit of Rav Shalom Mordechai Shwadron (1835-1911), also known by the acronym of his name, Maharsham.
18 Shvat: In 1980, following its peace treaty with Israel, the Egyptian parliament voted to end its economic boycott of Israel.
19 Shvat: In 1349, Jews in Basle, Switzerland were burned alive in a wooden house, erected specifically for that purpose.

This week’s Torah is B’Zchus: All those with the courage and emunah of Nachshon ben Aminodov,
who are ready to take the plunge for Klal Yisroel.

Distributed by the Chevre Marbitz Torah D’NMB

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