Torah Teasers
Parshas Toldos
1. When did Eisav have his bris? Ans… Never. “VaYeitzi HaRishon Admoni; The first one (Esav) emerged red.” Daas Zekanim MiBaalai HaTosfos says that when Esav was 8 days old, Yitzchok was afraid to give him a Bris Milah since he was red. He was worried that he was not healthy enough to handle the circumcision. A few years passed and Yitzchok realized that this was his natural color. He still did not circumcise him at that point saying, “Let me wait until he is 13 years old, this way he will have a Bris Milah at the same age as Yishmael.” Once Esav reached 13, he did not allow his father to circumcise him!
2. After Yitzchok moved from downtown Grar to the valley because of jealousy of the local people, the Pilishtim continued to harass him and stuff up up his wells. This whole episode is recorded in the Torah, and is one of the few stories we have about Yitzchok. Why is this so significant? Ans… Rabbeinu Bachaye tells us that these Be’er Mayim Chaim refer to the Bais HaMikdash, which is the source of mayim chaim. The first one representing the first Bais HaMikdash, was called Aisek, because it was the subject of a number of wars and attacks until it was finally stuffed up or destroyed and the Shechina no longer flowed through there. The second one was called Sitna, as in Satan or obstruction. Achashveirosh obstructed its building, and there were always fights until it too, was finally destroyed. The third well was called Rechovos, because Hashem gave us room and let us blossom. This refers to the third Bais HaMikdash in which there will be no opposition. In describing this well, the Torah uses Hashem’s name, “Ki Hirchiv Hashem Lanu.” Because unlike the first two that were built by man (Shlomo and Koresh respectively), the third Bais HaMikdash will be built by Hashem.
3. The pasuk says that Yaakov gave Eisav “Lechem U’Nizid Adoshim; Bread and lentil stew.” Eisav only asked for the lentils, why did Yaakov give him bread? Ans…. Rav Chaim Kanievsky answers that since there is a machlokes in the Gemara what bracha to make on beans that were cooked for a long time (either Shehakol or Ha’adama) the best way to avoid any problems is to wash on bread. Therefore, Yaakov gave Eisav the bread so he would wash and not worry about which bracha to make. Rav Chaim was then asked how he could say that Eisav was so concerned about Brachos after coming in from Shefichas Domim, Giluy Aroyos, Kofer Ba’Ikar, and more? Rav Chaim answered that this is not a contradiction. There are many people like that today. (Derech Sicha)
4. Hashem promised Yitzchok that he will be a chain in the link of Bnei Yisrael and would have children. Why did it take so long? Why did his tefilos not bear any fruit for so many years? The Pninim MiShulchan Gavoa says that Rav Yosef Chaim Zonenfeld says that even though Hashem loves to hear the Tefilos of tzaddikim, it should not have taken so long. Ans….Rav Yosef Chaim Zonenfeld answers that Avrohom was supposed to live to be 180 years old. Five years were taken from his life so that he would not see Eisav in his adolescence committing aveiros. Had Hashem answered Yitzchok’s prayers earlier it would have meant further cutting away from Avrohom’s years. These years were too precious to Hashem and therefore, Hashem held back children from Yizchok for many years to spare the life of Avrohom.
5. VaYisrosatzu HaBanim BiKirbah; “And the children pushed within her” Besides Rashi’s two peshotim 1) each child wanted to get to their comfort zone, one the bais medrash and the other an avoda zara and 2) they were fighting over the inheritance of olam hazeh and olam habah, is there another pshat? – Ans….Tur Al HaTorah says the reason for this unusual movement of the twin boys in her womb was caused by the hairiness of Esav. Esav’s hair was causing discomfort for Yaakov. This is the reason for the unusual amount of movement and shifting that was taking place in Rivka’s womb.
6. Chazal tell us that if the voice of Yaakov is strong in Torah, Eisav will not be able to lay his bloody hands on us. However, in the absence of the voice of Torah, Eisav will have free reign to destroy us. Rav Zalman Sorortzkin in Oznayim LaTorah asks that since Hashem punishes Mida K’Neged Mida, how can an aveira committed by our voice be punished with the hands of Eisav? Eisav’s voice should have power to inflict punishment upon us, but not his hands. Ans …He answers that the key to Torah learning is financial support of Torah. Im Ein Kemach Ein Torah, without support, the voice of Torah will become silent, as those learning will slowly leave the Bais Medrash to earn a living. If the voice of Torah is heard, then the hands of Yaakov are obviously very active in supporting Torah. In this Zchus, Eisav’s hands will be neutralized. But when the voice of Torah in not heard, and the hands of Yaakov are folded and are not giving generously to Torah, in that case, the hand of Eisav will be active in making us suffer.
7. When Eisav asked Yaakov to feed him the beans, Yaakov then asked Eisav to sell him the Bechor. What suddenly happened that Yaakov felt this was the opportune moment to extract the Bechor from Eisav? Ans …Rav Eliezer HaGadol Ashkenazi in his classic sefer Maasei Hashem explains as follows: Eisav was asking Yaakov to serve him. Sheim told Rivkah that the older son would serve the younger son. “If so,” said Yaakov to Eisav, “you should sell me the Bechor, and then as the older one, I will be your servant.” The Bechor would suffer in this world but reap the benefits of the next world. So Yaakov was in essence offering his subservience to Eisav in Olam HaZeh, in exchange for the Bechor’s inheritance of Olam HaBah.

An avreich in Lakewood, who as a bochur learned for several years in the Mir in Yerushalayim, told over a story which occurred to him in which he learned the importance of retaining one’s minhagim, while maintaining one’s ahavas habrios. While he was learning in the Mir, he used to travel occasionally to Bnei Brak to see the Steipler, z’tl.

The time had come for the bochur to return to the States, and his flight was scheduled for early in the morning after Yom Kippur. On Motzei Yom Kippur, he traveled to Bnei Brak to buy the Steipler’s sefarim, and receive his bracha for the final time.

When the bochur entered the Steipler’s room, he saw that he was still dressed in his Yom Tov clothing, was wrapped in his kittel, and was reciting tehillim. Quietly, he approached the table, and handed a kvittel to the Steipler, who had problems with his hearing. In the kvittel, he requested to purchase several of his sefarim, and to receive a bracha for success before returning overseas.

The Steipler read the note, and answered, “I’m sorry, but I can’t sell you the sefarim right now. I’m dressed in Shabbos clothing, and I have a minhag not to conduct any business in Shabbos clothes, so that I won’t inadvertently put money in my pocket and be machshil, chalilah, in chillul Shabbos.”

The avreich, however, was not willing to give up his one remaining opportunity to purchase the sefarim. He wrote another note stating that the matter was very urgent since his flight was at five in the morning, and he had no intention of returning to Eretz Yisrael in the near future. He added that he would take responsibility to watch that Rabbeinu would not put any money in his pocket. The Steipler read the second note, and he apologized that he was not prepared to deviate from his minhag for any reason, and offered his brachos to the avreich.

The bochur wrote a third note in which he again promised to stand guard that the Rav would not put the money which he received in his pocket. This time the Gaon looked at the young man, and requested that he wait a few minutes until he returned. When twenty minutes passed, and the Steipler failed to return, the bochur began thinking that there was a misunderstanding, and the Steipler was not intending on returning. He began leaving, when suddenly he saw that the Steipler had returned – dressed in weekday clothes. The Gaon hurried to find the sefarim which the bochur had requested to buy. (Chaim Sheyash Bahem)

א History of Greatness ב
Writing of the Gemara….During the centuries following the completion of the Mishnah, the chain of transmission of the Oral law was further weakened by a number of factors: Economic hardship and increased persecution of the Jewish community in Israel caused many Jews, including many rabbonim, to flee the country. Many of these teachers of Torah emigrated to Bavel in the Persian Empire. The role of the rabbonim of Eretz Yisroel as the sole central authority of the Jewish people was coming to an end.
This decentralization of Torah authority and lack of consensus among the teachers of Torah led to further weakening of the transmission process. It became clear to the chachomim of this period that the Mishnah alone was no longer clear enough to fully explain the Oral Law. It was written in shorthand fashion and in many places was cryptic. This is because it was very concise, written on the assumption that the person reading it was already well-acquainted with the subject matter. So they began to have discussions about it and to write down the substance of these discussions.
Since at this time, a significant portion of the Jewish population was living in Babylon, which was outside the bounds of the Roman Empire, the rabbonim there put together their discussions, the end product of which was called Talmud Bavli or the Babylonian Talmud. Even before this process had begun in Babylon, in Eretz Yisroel, another set of discussions took place and the end result was Talmud Yerushalmi or the Jerusalem Talmud. (Incidentally, the Jerusalem Talmud was not written in Jerusalem; it was written in Tiberias, the last place where the Sanhedrin sat, but was called the Jerusalem Talmud in deference to the Sanhedrin’s rightful home.)
Due to persecution of the Jewish community in Israel, the Jerusalem Talmud, completed in the mid-4th century C.E., was never completed or fully edited. The Jerusalem Talmud is much shorter (it contains only four of the six sections of the Mishnah) and is more cryptic and harder to understand than the Babylonian Talmud. The situation of the Jews in Babylon was much more stable and the rabbonim in Babylon had considerably more time to edit and explain the subject matter.
The Gemara contains a lot of agadata. These “stories” contain a wealth of information on a huge range of topics. This information was vital to the Jewish people because Jewish law was never applied by reading a sentence in the Torah and executing it to the letter. Take for example, “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.” It was never Jewish law that if someone blinded you, that you should go and blind him. What is the good of having two blind people? It was always understood on two levels: 1) that justice must be proportional – it’s not a life for an eye – and 2) that it means the value of an eye for the value of the eye, referring to monetary damages. Thus, the Gemara presented the written and oral mesorah together.
Who Knows One
Q. What possuk in the Torah contains the entire alef bais?
Answer: יְהוָ֔ה לִקְט֣וּ מִמֶּ֔נּוּ אִ֖ישׁ לְפִ֣י אָכְלֹ֑ו עֹ֣מֶר לַגֻּלְגֹּ֗לֶת מִסְפַּר֙ נַפְשֹׁ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם אִ֛ישׁ לַאֲשֶׁ֥ר בְּאָהֳלֹ֖ו תִּקָּֽחו צִוָּ֣ה אֲשֶׁ֣רהַדָּבָר֙ זֶ֤ה . This is from Parshas HaMon to teach that if you keep the entire Torah from Alef to Tof, you will always have sustenance from Hashem. (Bal Haturim)
Q. When would you have to make at least 20 berachos because you drank one cup of orange juice?
Answer: On motzei Shabbos, if one forgets to say the added “ata chonantanu” paragraph in shemone esrei, he need not repeat it unless he eats or drinks before saying havdalah. However, if he forgets ata chonantanu and then eats or drinks before havdalah, then he must repeat the entire shemone esrei (19 blessings plus the blessing after the orange juice).
Source: Shulchan Aruch 294:1, Mishna Berurah 4
Q. What letter from theAleph Beis is missing from the Bircas Hamazon and why?
Answer: “Pey sophit” – final pey. The reason being, that whoever says the brocha after bread properly will be saved from “aph, shetseph and ketseph;” all of these words are expressions of Hashem’s anger and they all end with the letter “pey sophit.”

Know Your Gedolim…
Who Is This?

For Sale: Olam Habah — The organization “Oneg Shabbos” has been distributing food every week to poor families in our NMB community for years and they have graciously decided to let the community in on this great mitzvah. For $36 you can feed a poor family for Shabbos. No one knows who the recipients are – it may be your friends, neighbors or someone you sit next to in shul. The economy is bad, the world is in chaos and now is the time to show your ahavas yisroel. Do the right thing and (after Shabbos) contact Rabbi Singer, the Rosh Kollel, personally or by email (www.nmbkollel.org) and click on the “Oneg Shabbos” button or email to [email protected]. Buy a Shabbos meal for a family — and buy Olam Habah for yourself.

Talk the Talk — Walk the Walk
If you are considering buying a “kosher” computer, you should know that there are some new changes, such as: You have to have two hard drives, one for fleishek business software and one for milchig games. Instead of getting a “General Protection Fault Error”, the PC now says “Geshtopt”. The screen savers include flying dreidels, a simulation of the bais hamikdosh being built and a depiction of the UN after an earthquake. The PC also shuts down automatically at Chatzos on Friday. The “Start” button has been replaced with a “Let’s go, I’m not getting any younger” button. The multimedia player has been renamed to “The Tanse Track” Clicking on the “Internet Explorer” sends you to a page in Mesilas Yeshorim. Microsoft Office now includes: a little byte of this, and a little byte of that. When running Scandisk, you are prompted with a “You want I should fix this?” message. When your PC is working too hard, you occasionally hear a loud “Gevalt!” There is a monitor cleaning solution from Manischewitz that advertises that it gets rid of the “schmutz and drek” on your monitor. After 20 minutes of no activity, your PC recites Krias Shema and goes to sleep. Computer viruses can now be cured by typing various posukim of Tehillim. You don’t get a mouse…you get a yad, which makes sense because you’re not allowed to touch the Scroll bar. When you open your email, you are notified that “All Loshon Harah Has Been Deleted”. When you press Delete or Trash, you get a Dialogue Box which says “Listen, you never know, you might need this someday”. When you click on “Windows”, it tells you it doesn’t do windows. For an additional $29.95, it’s accompanied by a Cholent CD-ROM….that slowly surfs the Internet during Shabbos, amassing an assortment of Facebook and Twitter accounts and messages your children may have written and permanently deletes them from the hard drive after Shabbos. Gevaldik.
The Geula — What to Expect
The Safety of Snake Pits in Eretz Yisroel
The Torah tells us that Eretz Yisroel is protected by a special hashgachas pratis. “Eretz Asher Hashem Elokecha Doireish Oisah, Tamid Einei Hashem Elokecha Ba”; a land which Hashem your G-d seeks, His eyes are always on it” (Devarim 11:12).

During the Gulf War in 1991, R’ Menachem Tzvi Berlin, the Rosh Yeshivah of Rabbeinu Chayim Ozer brought up a question which the Vilna Goan addressed in his Kol Eliyahu. Why doesn’t the Gemara ask where the nes of Chanukah is found in the Torah like it does regarding the nes of Purim? The Gra answers that it’s not necessary to inquire about the nes of Chanukah, because the nissim that the Maccabim experienced occurred in Eretz Yisroel, where nissim are not unusual occurrences. The nes of Purim, however, occurred outside Eretz Yisroel, and that invokes a question. (Aleineu Leshabeach)

When the shevatim sought to kill Yosef, Reuven tried to save him by suggesting that they throw him into a pit instead. However, the pit was full of snakes and scorpions, and under natural circumstances would have been an immediate death sentence. Despite, this fact, Reuven was credited with saving Yosef’s life. Yehudah who initiated removing Yosef from the pit to sell him as a slave was not praised for what he did. In fact, the Gemara says that one who praises Yehudah for what he did angers Hashem. Rav Chaim of Volozhin explains that despite the fact that the pit was a potential deathtrap, it was located in Eretz Yisroel. Yehudah may have saved Yosef from the pit, but he caused him to leave Eretz Yisroel. Rav Chaim of Volzhin concludes that it’s far better to stay in Eretz Yisroel in a pit full of snakes and scorpions that to live of outside Eretz Yisroel. Eretz Yisroel is the safest place in the world, even when surrounded by swarming poisonous snakes!
Superhuman Strength In Extraordinary Times

We’ve all have heard so many remarkable stories of incredible courage and mesiras nefesh during the Holocaust by people who were at best ordinary before it all started. From where did these people get this strength? The Medrash tells us on the pasuk “Vayisha’er Ach Noach” (Noach 7:23), that Noach came limping out of the teiva because he was bitten by the lion for arriving late with his food one day. Rav Elyashiv says that the Medrash implies that this was a punishment to Noach for his tardiness in feeding the lion.
How could this be asks Rav Elyashiv? The Medrash relates how Shem the son of Noach described to Eliezer Eved Avrohom how they didn’t sleep a wink during their year in the teiva because they spent their days and nights tending to the multitude of animals and catering to each one’s individual diet. Under these circumstances, Noach was a hero for his superhuman effort. How could he be blamed for being a few moments late on one occasion to the lion?
Rav Elyashiv answers that we see from here that during critical times the bar is raised, and far more is demanded of us than in regular times. Right before we greet Moshiach, rising to the occasion is not optional, it is mandatory. Even if it takes effort that we don’t have, and if we don’t, we will be punished.
If so, then surely Hashem gives us the strength to rise to the occasion and pass the difficult test facing us before Moshiach comes. So, to be superhuman in tough times is not superhuman after all, it is the new you, supercharged for the occasion. Forget what you used to be capable of and don’t let it go to waste in your shock. Im Kol Zeh Achakeh Lo B’Chol Yom SheYavo!

­ Halacha Trivia ­
Why Doesn’t the Sandak Become Rich?
The Rema (YD 265:11) says that being a Sandak by a Bris is like being Makriv Kitores. Just like we know that bringing Kitores in the Bais HaMikdah makes you rich, so too does being a Sandak. If so, why don’t we see today that when a person is Sandak he becomes rich?
Rav Moshe Shternbuch (4:224) says that there are a few things a Sandak must do to be called a real Sandak that we don’t do today. He brings a Rebbi Akiva Eiger who says that a Sandak means holding the baby also during the Brachos and drinking the wine, not only just holding the baby during the cutting. Rav Shternbuch says that some say the Sandak must make the Brachos as well.
Additionally, says Rav Shternbuch, the Sandak is called the Ba’al Bris, meaning he pays for the Seudah, as well as the Mohel (if the Mohel is paid). He also quotes Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky who says that the Sandak pays for the Seudah. Others go further and say that the Sandak must buy the clothing or at least give a nice gift to the baby in order to be a true Baal Bris and Sandak.
Rav Shternbuch ends with one last point. He says that the Sandak should ask the father of the child to be Motzi him with the bracha of L’Hachniso B’Briso since the Sandak is also considered a Baal Bris. If you cover all your bases and do all this, says Rav Shternbuch, you will see wonders from the promise of Chazal. Father-in-laws beware.

This week’s Torah is B’Zchus: NMB teenagers – who strive to do the right thing, so they too
can receive worthy brochos from their fathers.
Distributed by the Chevre Marbitz Torah D’NMB

Created By Allen Sherman