Dip The Apple In Honey

We all eat and make a big deal about the simanim- and say the appropriate yehi ratzons, on the night of Rosh Hashana. The Mishna Breurah quotes a Shlah that one should think of Teshuva and say a tefila- that being the yehi ratzons. R' Shlome Kluger says that the simanim are not a tefilah but rather an expression of emunah that the judgment will be favorable one. When we say "Yehi ratzon that this year shall be a sweet and good one" we are saying that we trust Hashem that in the judgement that he passes on the Yom Hadin we will be given a sweet and happy year. R' S. Kluger goes on to explain that this emunah alone is enough to swing the din in our favor. When Hashem sees that we put our full trust in him he has mercy and gives us what we ask for.
I once heard another nice reason for the simanim from C.K. The word we use is 'siman' which means a sign- something we use to remember something. When we dip the apple in honey we make a sign for ourselves that we want a sweet year- one that's really sweet - with holiness. In a few months when the yomim noraim are a faint memory and we are in the same place we were last year let us remind ourselves that we really wanted to be better this year and that on Rosh Hashana night we asked for a sweet year and we really wanted to change. The sign that we make for ourselves on this night will last through the long winter and we will really achieve what we set out to do.

Parshas Netzavim

הַנִּסְתָּרֹת--לַיהוָה, אֱלֹהֵינוּ; וְהַנִּגְלֹת לָנוּ וּלְבָנֵינוּ, עַד-עוֹלָם--לַעֲשׂוֹת, אֶת-כָּל-דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת

"The hidden is for Hashem, that which is revealed is for us and our children forever, to upkeep all the words of this Torah."

The Chassam Sofer has a few nice peshutim on this posak.

There are many miracles that happen in this world. Most of them are hidden miracels that the human mind can't fathom and the eye cannot see. These are the miracles of everyday life, the things we take for granted. You happened to meet the right person, saw that something you need is on sale etc. and most of all just that we are alive and healthy. These are the 'nistoras' the hidden which only Hashem sees. There is one miracle that is 'niglah'- open for all to see. The fact that Klal Yisroel, after two thousand years of a dark bitter golus, is still around and we are still learning Hashem's Torah. That we survived a churban, Spanish inquisition, forced conversions, pogroms, holocausts and much more and we are still standing tall and Torah and mitzvos are growing is the greatest miracle that us and our children should see - that nothing stands in the way of 'lasos es kol divrie ha'Torah hazos"

A second prashat.
Every mitzva has many reasons why we do them and what consequences they cause in heaven. That is 'nistoras' the hidden part of the Torah. That part we have no need to know- that's for Hashem. What we do have to learn and internalize is the practicalities of the mitzvos and what they mean to us. The 'niglah' of Torah is for us and our childern to learn.
Theres a story told about the students of the Baal Shem Tov. The Baal Shem told them that the world stands on the Shofer blowing of the Noda B'Yehuda. So the students traveled to Prague- were the Noda B'yehuda was Rav, for Rosh hashana, to hear his shofer blowing. The Noda b'Yehuda got up before the tekias and gave a speech. He opened a Gemora Rosh Hashana. The Gemora asks why to we blow shofer on Rosh Hashana? The Gemora quickly interjects 'Why do we blow? The Torah commanded us to blow' The Gemmora then goes on to clarify what the question was. The Noda B'Yehuda just read that passage of 'Why do we blow? The Torah said to blow' closed the Gemora and thus finished his speech and started the tekias. The students were agahst, they traveled all this way just to hear the Gemora? And they asked their rebbi was this realy what kept the world going? The Baal Shem Tov answered that all the reasons that we know about performing any mitzva are called 'tammai hamitzvos' - the reasons of mitzvos. 'Tammai' can also mean just a taste. The highest leval of doing mitzvos is doing them because Hashem told us to do it. He explained to them that those that cannot get the right feeling of the mitzvos by just listening to Hashem - they need all the reasons.

Rosh Hashana Mussef- Tidbits

The Sefer Haikrim categorizes the thirteen ikrim into three basic categories. 1. To believe that Hashem is one 2. the Torah is from heaven 3. that there is reward and punishment. The Marasha says that the three special brochos we add to the Rosh Hashanana Mosef parallels the three ikrim. Malcheus is in lieu with the belief that Hashem is one. Zechronas represents schar and onish we say that Hashem remembers all that transpired since the beginning of time and takes it all into account when he hands out rewards. The third bracha of Shoferis represents Mamod Har Sinai, when the shofer sound was heard as Klal Yisroel was given the Torah.

Did you realise that the brochos of Malcheus and Shoferis have eleven pesukim each?

Parshas Ki Savoh- 5767

All over the world Yidden on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur shed thousands of tears when we say the tefilah of “Unisaneh tokef”. If we think about it it seems as if we don’t understand what is the important part of the davening. All that tefilah is just a mussar shmooze, just telling us what happens on these exalted days. It’s not at that moment that we are being judged and it’s not the highlight of the tefilos. If anything we should be crying when we crown Hashem by saying Malchios, zichronos and shofros or when we blow the shofar. What is it about this small tefilah before Kedusha that became the highlight of our Mussaf?
Ezra implemented the reading of Parshas Ki Savoh- the Parsha that contains 98 curses, before Rosh Hashanah because “Tichlah shanah v’kililosehuh” the year and it’s curses shall come to an end. What does that mean just because we read the Parsha how does that translate into a year of blessing?
The Rma”z (one of the big chachmai kabola) writes that if one reads the curses with yiras shamaim it’s as if he lived through them. The Beer Moshe (Ozlevah Rebbah) explains, that the point of bad things befalling Klal Yisroel is that we should come to fear Hashem. To come to the realization that everything we get or don’t get, the good and the bad all come from our father in heaven. We say on Yom Kipper “Ki atah tzadik al kol haboh aleinu” For you are righteous on all that befalls us. We can translate this to mean that we put our full faith in Hashem that anything that will happen to us is coming from Hashem and is just. Standing less then two weeks away from the day of judgment, we read about curses and what can happen to us if we don’t listen to Hashem. What we have to believe is that the only thing that keeps us removed from all those terrible things stated in the Parsha, is Hashem’s loving kindness. That on our own standing we don’t deserve anything that we have or the good we ask Hashem to send us in the new year. “Whatever Hashem sends our way is righteous”. Ezra told us a deep secret, if we read the curses before Rosh Hashanah and picture ourselves going through all of it and then believing that Hashem is the one that’s saving us from every curse and in his infinite kindness gives us all the good, then there is no need to live through it.
This special gift of being able to come to Yiras Hashem just through visualizing the potential calamities was put into our Rosh Hashana mussaf by Reb. Amnon. When we say the beautiful yet frightening words of Unesanah Tokef the point is to experience the words “who will live and who will die,…who with water and who with fire….” To realize that on the day of judgment we stand there in front of Hashem deserving nothing and that anything we get is overflowing with his kindness.

Based on a shmooze given by, Reb Elyah Brudny Shlit"a.

Shesh Zechronas Tidbits

In most sidurim after shachris there are the 'shesh zechronos'- six remembrances (some recite ten of them) that should be recited everyday. The six things we are to remember every day are 1. Shabbbos 2. the story of the eigal 3. the story of Amalek (this week's parsha) 4. The story of Miriam who spoke loshen horah about Moshe (also in this week's Parsha) 5. Matan Torah 6. Yitzias Mitzraim.
The Magen Avraham says the you should think about these six at the end of the tefilah of Ahavas Olam/Rabbah of shachris. The words 'uvanu vachartah' you have chosen us, represents Matan Torah. 'Vekairavtonu' brought us closer is the opposite of what Amalek wanted to do. 'Lehodos lecha' to thank you, to use our mouths for thanking Hashem and not forbidden speech. 'B'ahavah' with love, and not like we acted when we sinned with the eigal. The last two are in the last Parsha of shema. 'Uzchartem es kol mitzvos' remember all the mitzvos, by remembering Shabbos which is equal to all the mitzvos. 'Asher hotzaise eschem meretz mitzraim' that took us out of Mitzraim is quite obvious- remember yitzias Mitzraim.
There is talk amongst the reshonim which ones are a deoraisah. We all know that reading about Amalak is a mitzva deoraisah- we do it every year before Purim. the same is true of yitzias Mitzraim. The Even Ezrah says that we can fulfill the mitzva of remembering the Shabbos every day. When we say "today is yom rishon l'shabbos" when we say the shir shel yom, the counting towards Shabbos is the way to remember it. The Ramban holds that there is a mitzva- in fact he counts it as part of the 613 mitzvas, to remember in your heart and recite by mouth, what Hashem did to Miriam. The Rambam doesn't count this as a mitzva. The Minchas Chinuch stays undecided what the Ramban holds about remembering the sin of the eigal.
The question remaining is according to the Ramban how often do we hav to remember the story of Miriam? Is it like Amalak which we do once a year or like Shabbos which we could do everyday?

A special Mazel tov to B.E. and A.C.!

Parshas Shoftim

When a new king is appointed there's a mitzva for him to write himself a new Sefer Torah. Just like everyone else, there is a mitzva for him to own a Sefer Torah, in addition to this he is to write a new one that he is to carry with him, at all times. The meforshim explain that this is the source of our minhag that a chosson gets an aliyah to the Torah the week before and the week after his wedding. The significance of this is that while a king has a upbringing that was vital in forming the person that he is, at the same time he has to realize that only he himself can form his life. He has a Sefer Torah and a rich mesorah handed down from his father and the previous generations. His new Sefer Torah- the one that he is to keep close at all times- is there to ingrain in him that all that was handed down to him by the previous generations is just a backdrop to which to base his decisions that he'll make on his own to which he himself will be responsible for. We try to teach the same lesson to a chosson, to take everything he was taught and experienced in his parents house along with him, but to realize that he's beginning a new stage in life and it's up to him to make sure it's an upstanding Torahdik home.
Thanks to my Father-in-law for this lesson.

Point to ponder- Yomim Noraim

During our weekday Shemona Esrah we have one brocha where we daven for the abolishing of the wicked- 'velamalshienim'. And one brocha asking for the welfare of the righteous 'al hatzadikim'. In the shemona esrah of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, both of these tefillos are found in the brocha of 'Ata Kodosh'. We say 'U'vechain Tzadikim'- where we ask that the Tzadikim should live to and enjoy the times of Moshiach. Then we ask 'Vechol haresha kula kason techleh'- the evil in the world should disintegrate.
Why is it that during the year we first ask for the abolishment of evil- sur m'rah and then the asai tov- the longevity of the righteous, while on the Yomim Noraim we switch the order to first aseh tov and then sur m'rah?