Torah Teasers
Parshas Mishpatim
1. Rashi says the reason why the Torah write “V’Eileh HaMishpatim”, and these are the laws (Mishpatim 21:1) is to teach us that our system of laws is based on Sinai and these laws are a continuation of the Aseres HaDibros. Rav Elyashiv (Dvrei Aggadah) asks, “What else would we think? Of course, the entire Torah came from Sinai?” Ans… He answers that every society has laws, for without the rule of law there would be chaos. But those laws are not all the same. For example, Sidom also had laws and even ants have laws. The pasuk says that one ant dare not steal from another, but from humans they are happy to steal. The Torah laws come from Sinai and they look different than any other laws with vastly different results. “Midvar Sheker Tirchok”, not to lie, says the Gemara, means that if two people come before the judges and one is dressed in expensive clothing and the other one in cheaper clothing, we make them both wear the same type of clothing so as not to subconsciously favor one over the other. That is Torah truth. Which laws are more effective? In contemporary law someone can be guilty of stealing with only one witness or even no witnesses. His punishment is to sit in a horrible jail with terrible people. Despite these wretched consequences the jails are full of thieves and it doesn’t seem to deter many would- be-thieves. The Torah laws are a bit different. A thief needs to be seen by two people and none of them relatives. His punishment is simply to pay double. If he can’t afford he is sold as a slave, but what kind of slave? One who the owner must treat the same way he treats himself and cannot overwork him. He must also support the thief’s family. Under these conditions it actually sounds pretty okay to get caught. Yet, we see that Bais Din rarely ended up punishing people and hardly ever gave the death penalty. Why is this so? Because our laws come from Sinai. The luchos came in two tablets. The first side said, “Anochi Hashem…” The second side said, “Don’t steal, murder..” etc. When the rules come from Sinai, from the Anochi, from emunah, those laws are kept better than the threat of severe punishment.
2. “Elokim Lo Sikalel V’Nasi B’Amcha Lo Sa’or; Do not revile a judge, and a prince in your nation do not curse.” (Mishpatim 22:27) Chazal explain that the reason it says, “Amcha–In your nation,” is because the issur applies when the Nasi does Maaseh Amcha, he behaves according to the Torah. If he does not, then he is not part of the issur of cursing a Nasi. If so, why does it only say, “Amcha,” by the Nasi and not by the Dayan? Ans… The Shulchan Gavoa brings from the Brisker Rov that a Dayan is appointed based on merit. There is no doubt that he is good Jew and does Maaseh Amcha. The Nesius on the other hand comes through Yerusha, and is not entirely earned by the righteousness of the Nasi. Therefore, it is very possible that he is not a good person, and in that case, the Torah excludes him from the issur.
3. “Lo Sivashel Gdi BaChaleiv Imo; Do not cook a goat with its mother’s milk.” (Mishpatim 23:19) This pasuk is written three times in the Torah. The Mechilta says that this is K’neged the three times Hashem entered into a Bris with Bnei Yisrael: once at Har Sinai, once in Arvos Moav, and once at Har Grizim. Why is the issur of Basar V’Chalav tied to our Bris with Hashem? Ans… Rav Chaim Kanievsky answers that the Pesikta Rabasi says that the Malachim asked Hashem to give them the Torah. Hashem said to them that in the Torah it is written do eat meat and milk together, yet at Avrohom’s house when the three Malachim came to visit him, they ate milk and meat. The Malachim could not answer this charge so Hashem told Moshe to write the Torah for Bnei Yisrael, and He entered into a Bris with us. It was with the issur of basar b’chalav that Hashem gave us the Torah and entered into a Bris. Therefore, the issur is written three times kneged the three brissim.
4. The pasuk in Mishpatim tells us, “Acharei Rabim L’Hatos; To follow the majority.” The famous question asked is, “That since most of the world does not follow Hashem and abide by the laws of the Torah, why aren’t we obligated to follow the majority?” Ans… The Chasam Sofer’s explanation of this pasuk answers this question. “Lo Sihiyeh Acharei Rabim L’Ra’os;” There are things that are absolutely, positively bad. Do not follow the majority in their wickedness and folly.” When do you follow the majority? “L’Hatos,” when there is doubt in which way to turn. Then go with the Rabim. If you understand this, then, “Lo Saaneh Al Riv,” says the pasuk. “You will not be caught up in debate about avodah zara and other bad ways of the world because the guidelines are clear to you.” Reb Elchonon Wasserman answered that it says a few pasukim later (23:8) that bribery blinds the wise. The majority of the world is bribed by their desires, have become blind and cannot be followed.
5. “Im Aneh Si’aneh Oisoi Ki Im Tza’ok Yitz’ak Eilai Shamoa Eshma Tza’akosoi. V’Chara Api…; If you do mistreat him [them], when he cries out to Me, I will indeed hear his cry. My anger will rage… “(Mishpatim 22:22). The Vilna Gaon asks, “Why does it say, ‘Ki Im Tzaok; Because if he screams?’ The word Ki is extra.” Ans… Chazal tell us (Bava Basra 16:1) that Penina would make Chana feel bad about not having children to inspire her to daven more. It was all L’Shem Shamayim. Nevertheless, she was punished and all her children died. The Vilna Gaon says that we see this in the pasuk. “Im Aneh Si’aneh Oisoi; If you pain people. Ki Im Tza’ok Yitz’ak Eilai; for the sole purpose of pushing them to cry out to me,” even L’Shem Shamayim. “Shamoa Eshma Tza’akosoi; I will indeed heed their cries.” But, “V’Chara Api; My anger will rage,” and you, with all your good intentions, will pay a very high price.

One day a Maskil walked into the Bais Medrash of Yeshivas Telz in Lita. He started ranting and raving about the progress and revolution going on in the outside world, while the Yeshiva Bochurim sit idling away their time discussing stone age matters in the Bais Medrash.
One of the legendary brilliant talmidim of Telz got up and asked the Maskil, “Tell me, if I were to tell you about a genius who locked himself away in his attic for three years and last week finally emerged proudly and victoriously with a new invention that gives off light from electricity, what would you say?”
“Is this a new kind of bulb” asked the Maskil? “Is it more efficient than the old ones?”
“No” said Rav Mordechai. “It is identical to what Thomas Edison himself invented.”
“I would say that he is brilliant but pathetic”, said the Maskil. “The poor guy spent three years inventing something that someone already invented years ago!”
“Exactly!” agreed Rav Mordechai. “Therefore, you will surely agree with me that you are wasting your time. Whatever your “Haskala” has invented, the Torah spoke about thousands of years before. Now you can surely understand what we think about you, sad and pathetic.”
“I am not a Rosh Yeshiva, nor am I from the Gedolei HaDor” said Rav Mordechai. “But I challenge you to tell me any and all of the enlightening scientific inventions and I will tell you where the Torah alludes to them.”
Suddenly the two were surrounded by a large circle of curious Talmidim, including the son of Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank who retold this eyewitness account. For the next hour and a quarter the Maskil bombarded Rav Mordechai with the latest and greatest invention, to which Rav Mordechai calmly pointed them all out from the Torah. The Maskil finally gave up and started to walk out in defeat. “Where are you going?” called out Rav Mordechai. “If you want to invent the light bulb, join us here in the Bais Medrash and learn Torah!”(Maayan HaEmuna)
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Rav Ephraim Zalman learned Torah day and night and his business dealing were conducted by his partner, Rav Shimon Dizeh. His wife also took care of his business and would only ask his advice on important matters at designated times.
Rav Ephraim Zalman lent a great deal of money, with a Heter Iska, as part of his business dealings. One day, a Ben Torah who was a very poor young man asked for a large sum of money for six months. Rav Ephraim Zalman was skeptical of his ability to pay it back. He gave him a form to fill out and one of the requirements was to have an Areiv, a guarantor sign. The young man was desperate and had no one who would sign as a guarantor, so he wrote on the line for the Areiv the pasuk, “Li HaKesef Li HaZahav Ni’um Hashem”, to Me belongs the silver and gold, says Hashem.
Upon seeing the form, Rav Ephraim Zalman’s heart swayed him to pity the young man and give him the money, although he had no hope of ever having it repaid. A half year later, on the day the loan was due, Rav Ephraim Zalman was not feeling well and his wife took over his “Bank” for the day. That evening, she reported the day’s activity and she told him that a nobleman took a loan for a very large sum of money.
Rav Ephraim Zalman was baffled where the money came from since he knew he did not have that amount of money that day. His wife said that someone came to pay back a half year old loan. Rav Ephraim Zalman was not aware of any loans that he expected to be paid back that day so he went to check the records. Lo and behold, he saw it was the day that the young man’s loan was due. He asked his wife if this Ben Torah was the person who brought the money. She said that it was someone else who paid it for him.
Rav Ephraim Zalman then told his wife that he suspected that she was zocheh to see Eliyahu HaNavi who was probably the one who repaid it since the young man made Hashem his guarantor. Rav Ephraim Zalman wondered why he missed the opportunity to see Eliyahu and got sick specifically on that day. He decided it was because he pressured the young man and insisted on a guarantor.
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The Satmar Rov Rav Yoel Teitelbaum was famous for giving out huge sums of money to people who came to ask him for help. One day a man came from Eretz Yisroel and asked him for money to marry off his daughter. The Satmar Rov asked him how much he needed. The man quickly calculated the cost of an apartment, the wedding, and all the other expenses and said that he needed 30,000.
The Satmar Rov then left the room and came back with a stack of bills. The man counted it and saw that it was 29,000. His happiness knew no bounds. He went out literally dancing in the streets.
One of the people with the Satmar Rov asked him why he left him 1,000 short and he didn’t already finish off the entire amount. The Satmar Rov answered that had I given him the full amount he would have initially been ecstatic. However a few minuted later he would have been upset at himself for not asking for more. I wanted the man to be happy. By giving him 29,000 the man was ecstatic that he got as much as he could have ever dreamed for.

“The fact that some people devote most of their lives to Torah study is worthy of praise, and I even think we should include the Talmud as part of the national education in secular schools.” Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid responded to various statements given by Charedi parties Shas and United Torah Judaism, insisting that Lapid intends to act in anti-religious and anti-Charedi ways.

“The trip reflects a desire to connect with the Israeli public at a time when he can go and not have high expectations about having to produce something.” Dennis Ross, a former Middle East adviser to President Obama on Obama’s planned trip to Israel.

“Just think about it, a Polish Jew, in an Episcopalian Churchyard, in a largely Dominican neighborhood.” Mayor Bloomberg on former NY Mayor Ed Koch’s remains being buried in a plot outside the Episcopalian Trinity Church in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City.

“The outcome was in keeping with English law, whilst achieved by a process rooted in Jewish culture to which the families belong”. Justice Baker, of the London-based High Court of Justice last month, adopted the rulings of a New York Beis Din on a case involving a British Orthodox man and woman.

Talk the Talk — Walk the Walk
Talk the Talk….Walk the Walk

Sholom visits Ari and sees a dog in the house. “So what kind of dog is this?” asks Sholom.
“It’s a Jewish dog. His name is Irving,” says Ari. “Watch this,” continues Ari as he points to the dog.
“Irving, Fetch!”
Irving walks slowly to the door, then turns around and says, “So why are you talking to me like that? You always order me around like I’m nothing. And then you make me sleep on the floor, with my arthritis… You give me this fashtunkene food with all the salt and fat, and you tell me it’s a special diet… It tastes terrible! YOU should eat it yourself!… And do you ever take me for a decent walk? NO, it’s out of the house and right back home. Maybe if I could stretch out a little, the sciatica wouldn’t kill me so much!”
Sholom, amazed, tells Ari how remarkable this is, to which Ari answers,
“I don’t know, I think Irving has a hearing problem. I said fetch, and he thought I said kvetch.”
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When a young boy was asked by his father to say Maariv, he realized he didn’t have his yarmulke…so he asked his little brother, Moishele, to rest a hand on his head until Maariv was over. Moishele grew impatient after a few minutes and removed his hand.
The father said, “This is important Moishele…put your hand back on Dovid’s head!”
To which Moishele exclaimed: “What, am I my brother’s kipah?

≈ The Geula — What to Expect ≈
Who Is GOG…..Who is MOGOG?
In mesechtas Sanhedrin (94,a) the gemara reveals: “Hokodosh Boruch Hu wished to appoint Chezekiah (King of Judah in 562 BCE) as Moshiach, and Sanncherev (King of the Assyrian Empire) as Gog and Magog”. The gemara goes on to explain why this plan did not materialize.
It is clear from the gemara that Magog is not a specific nation. At the time of redemption, whenever that may be, a given nation will take on the identity of Magog, regardless of its particular name or local. So how do we identify Gog and Magog in our day?
The key to this secret was revealed by the great and holy mystic, Rav Yitchok Luria, zs’l, (Safed, Israel 1534-1572), the most eminent of all kabbalists. He is said to have studied with the prophet Elijah on a daily basis. He is known as “The Holy Ari of Blessed Memory.”
The Ari revealed the following: The words “GogUMagog” have the numeric value of 70 [3+6+3+6+40+3+6+3]. Seventy is the number of nations mentioned in the Torah (Bereshes). Throughout the Torah, reference is frequently made to the 70 non-Jewish nations of the world. (The fact that there are close to 200 independent nations today is not relevant, as a group of politically independent countries may be considered one nation. For example, 21 Arab countries are only one nation). This alludes to the fact that Gog from Magog is the head of the super power which dominates the 70 nations of the world.
The AriZal has thus clearly and unequivocally identified Magog as the super-power of the world. Magog may be this country of ours, the United States of America, and “Gog” its president.
The location of the Land of Israel at the centre of the world is based on another tradition, namely that the creation of the earth began from the Even Hashisiya, the Foundation Stone located in the holiest part of the Bayis (Yoma 54b, Midrash Tanchuma, Pekudei 3).
This is the stone that is presently under The Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. (According to the Kabbalists, the Foundation Stone is not only the center of this planet, but it is the center of all reality. See Sefer Yetzira 4:4. This will be developed at length when we discuss the secret of Jerusalem.
In fact, in the very place where Ezekiel shares his vision about Gog and his armies coming from “the distant north” (Ezekiel 38:6, 39:2), he also places Israel at “the navel,” i.e., the center, of the earth (ibid. 38:12). Thus, the Navi himself gives us the “key” to locate the region he considers “the distant north.”
However, the question begs to be asked. Why are we designating either the entire U.S.A., or the State of Alaska as being north of Jerusalem and not west? Here we find another amazing phenomenon. Logic would dictate that in determining the relationship between two areas on a globe, we would set the direction based on the shortest distance.
The distance between Yerushalayim and northern Alaska (the furthest northern state of America) is practically identical to the distance between Yerushalayim and eastern Main (the furthest eastern state of America). They are both 5,300 miles away! Hence, from a physical perspective, the U.S. is both north and west of Yerushalayim.
However, from a metaphysical perspective, America’s role as Magog corresponds to its northern character. (In the Kabbalah, the link between Esav/Edom and the Left/North is extensively developed. In fact, in the Bahir, one of the oldest and most important of all classical kabbalah texts (written in the first century by Rav Nechuniah ben HaKana), “north” is identified as the source of all evil. For this reason, the Navi as well, focuses on the northern connection of Magog.
We find a similar phenomenon regarding ancient Bavel.
Bavel was about 500 miles east of Yerushalayim, but only about 50 miles north. Clearly, we would consider Bavel east of Yerushalayim, not north. Indeed, throughout the Talmud Bavel, Chazal refer to Eretz Yisroel as “Ma’arava”, the “West.” Yet when Hashem informed Yermiyahu about the impending destruction of Eretz Yisroel by the hands of Bavel, the Navi is told (Yermiyahu 1:14), “Out of the north, the evil shall come forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.” (Bava Basra 25b).
From a geographic perspective, Bavel is essentially east of Yerushalayim. From an inner spiritual perspective, it is its northern dimension which is the primary source of its destructive power against Eretz Yisroel. Im Kol Zeh Achakeh Lo B’Chol Yom SheYavo!
Halacha Trivia ­ Do You Sit At The Head of The Table When Your Father Comes To Visit?
TheShulchan Aruch paskens (YD 240:2) that one may not sit in his father’s place at the table. The Aruch HaShulchan writes (11) that this only applies in his own house, however if a father comes to eat in his son’s house, the son may sit at the head with his father beside him.
The She’arim HaMetzuyanim B’Halacha writes (143:2) that the Aruch HaShulchan is only coming to explain the Minhag why sons sit at the head of their own table, but the general minhag is not like that, and one should let his father sit at the head, even in his own home. Either way, the Aruch HaShulchan says that one’s father washes his hands first and gets served his portion first.
This Week in History….
26 Shvat: Yahrtzeit of Rabbi David HaLevi Segal (1586-1667), better known as the Taz, an acronym of his famous work of Jewish law, Turei Zahav.
27 Shvat: In 1583, a convert to Judaism named Joseph Sanalbo was burned at the stake in Rome.
28 Shvat: In 1624 the Jamestown City (Virginia) Census demonstrated that 38 year old Elias Legardo, a Jew, came to America in 1621 on the ship Abigall.
. 29 Shvat: Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Noson Tzvi Finkel (1849-1927), better known as the Alter of Slobodka.
30 Shvat: In 1943, the first armed struggle between Jews and Nazis took place in the Warsaw ghetto.

This week’s Torah is B’Zchus: The NMB Kollel and their new home.
Distributed by the Chevre Marbitz Torah D’NMB

Created By Rov Allen Sherman
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