Torah Teasers
SIMCHAS TORAH

Don’t Forget To Cash In Your Petek Our wonderful year full of parnassah, health, and nachas from the kids has been signed and sealed. Succos is over. What do we do now, sit back and wait for the money to start rolling in? That would be a colossal mistake, says Rav Shimshon Pincus. Your good year is given as a coupon. It is the famous “Petek” from Hoshana Rabba. You now need to go to one of the distribution centers to cash it in. Where are those centers? Is there a listing by city or country?It is your local Shul.
Just like all the trees and vegetation were created during the six days of creation yet they waited below ground and did not sprout until Adam davened to Hashem ,so to the abundance of Shefa waiting for us in Shamayim will not come down until we call up to Hashem and ask for it. Every millions upon millions of dollars, good health and lots of nachas are left with the master treasurer in Heaven simply because the people with the winning numbers didn’t bother to pick it up. This year make sure that you are not one of them.

Rain After Succos, Dew After Pesach The difference between rain and dew is that rain originates from the earthbelow. After the vapor condenses in the skies, it then falls back toearth giving life to the world. Dew originates in Shamayim and is not stimulated by the earth below. It is a gift from Shamayim.
This, says the Bnei Yissaschar, is analogous to Pesach and Succos. Pesach isa gift of freedom. It is not something we earn. Each year Hashemrenews and refreshes us with the gift of freedom as we are born anew. Succos is the celebration of our being cleansed after a month of our hard work, as we repair ourselves with Tshuvah. Therefore, Pesach is the time to bless the Tal. It too, is a gift without any input from us. Succos is a time to bless the rain. The rain symbolizes the fruit of our effort that we exerted during Elul andTishrei. After we send our Tshuvah up to Hashem, Hashem resends it back to us down below in the form of life.

The Day The Tefilos Will Finally Arrive Shmini Atzeres is the last day of Yom Tov but it is a Yom Tov by itself. It is different from Succos in six things and the gemara lists them and give an acronym by which to remember them, “Pzar Kshav”. We also know that Shmini Atzeres is a very special day for tefila when all our tefilos are answered. The Sar Shalom of Belz says that we see this in the words spelled out by the acronym of the days uniqueness. “Pzar” means scattered and “Kshav” means to listen. Not only does Hashem listen to all our tefilos on Shmini Atzeres, but it is also the day that He responds to all our previous tefilos that had gone unanswered. “Pzar”, all the tefilos that were scattered and never reached their destination. “Kshav”, Hashem will listen to then as well.

Hoshanos – Teaching The Am HaAretz A Lesson When banging the Aravos we scream out L’Maan Daas Kol Amei HaAretz. The Chaim Sheyesh Bahem brings from the Osem Bosem that he lightheartedly explained the reason for this as follows.
The four minim symbolize four types of Yidden. The Arava which has no smell or taste represents the lowest level, the Am HaAretz. While in the lulav together with its more illustrious neighbors, the arava knows its place. However on Hoshana Rabba we put the other minim down and hold only Aravos which now take center stage.
The limelight makes the arava drunk with pride and he forgets who he really is. “Look I am the King, more special then all the other minim!” Therefore we then put him back in his place by giving him a few good smacks on the floor and declaring, “L’maan Daas Kol Amei HaAretz”, these smack are so that the Am Haratzim should know there true standing in this world, despite their privileged treatment on this special day!

Korbonos of Succos – 70 Dwindling Nations On Succos, for the Korbon Mussaf we bring a total of 70 Parim, oxen. The first day we bring 13 and then each day bring one less until the last day on Hoshana Rabba we bring only 7. This makes a total of 70 oxen (13+12+11+10+9+8+7). The Medrash says that this is in order to merit the 70 nations of the world with plentiful rain since Succos is the time that the water/rain ration for the whole world is judged. In addition we bring 14 Kevasim, lambs each day of Succos. This is for the 12 shevatim and Efraim and Menashe.
The reason the medrash says that we bring the 70 oxen in reduced increments each day is to show us that the 70 nations will eventually disappear. However the 14 Kevasim which represent Klal Yisroel are brought consistently each day to show that Am Yisroel will live on forever!

Succah, Heaven On Earth The Michtav Mei’Eliyahu says that anyone who thinks he can bring his life to the point of perfection and stay that way is kidding himself. Every person knows that all worldly pleasures come and go and cannot be sustained over the long term. Life is constantly evolving. The only pleasure that is eternal is torah and mitzvos. Our challenge in this world is to live in it without becoming its next victim. To live a spiritual life in a physical world. Hashem puts our spiritual neshama in a physical

body and sends it down to a physical world and instructs us to make sure that our Neshama reign supreme despite this completely physical environment, starting with our own bodily desires.
After spending Yom Kippur ridding ourselves of mistaken attitudes and refocusing our goals heavenward, we go into the Succah for seven days before coming back into the world, and testing ourselves once again. The succah is a bare physical existence and the best spiritual habitat we can carve out in this physical world. It has none of the standard luxuries that our earthly homes have, which blur our spiritual vision. It has four walls and barely a roof overhead, allowing you to always see the heavens above you. You remember that someone is watching your every move, and keep in mind where you will spend eternity after this short life is over. These are the baby steps we need to take before jumping back into the “real world” convinced that this year will finally be different.

Created By Avrohom Sherman
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