Libi BaMizrach

Tisha B'Av is now behind us.  Despite all the hopes when Corona first hit that Mashiach was right around the corner, we mourned once again on Tisha B’Av.  We certainly have – once again – determined to do something about the primary cause of the destruction of the second Bais HaMikdash, i.e., שנאת חינם  Sinat Chinam (SC), usually translated as “baseless hatred”.  And yet, I must conclude that the problem of SC is worse than ever. What is SC?  Why would someone hate another baselessly?  Surely that is something only a psychopath would do. Ordinary people do not hate someone for no reason at all.  Three incidents that our Sages point to help us to understand. The first occurred about 100 years before the Churban, in 63 BCE.  The evil Hasmonean king ינאי ( Alexander Jannaeus )was gone. Righteous Queen Shlomzion Hamalka succeeded him and appointed her eldest son Hyrcanus II to succeed her.  This did not sit well with her younger son Aristobulus I...

This Lag B'Omer eve, I reflect on how different this night is from all other Lag B'Omer nights, as so many things are different these days.  You see, while Lag B'Omer is special all over the world, here in the Galilee, less than ten miles from Meron, things usually go to a different level.   For at least a week before, and a few days after, there are enormous traffic jams as hundreds of thousands come to be near the grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.  In standard years, cars cannot get anywhere near Meron.  Down the road from where I live, in Karmiel, a huge parking lot is created on an empty field, and busses run from there to Meron every five minutes, 24 hours a day, for about three days.  Additional busses run from a makeshift large bus terminal all over the country. Personally, I never wanted to be anywhere near Meron on that day.  I generally hate huge crowds and pushing and shoving and standing for hours, craning my neck to maybe see something...

The odds are very high that there will not be any sermons delivered in shuls this coming Shabbat.  However, if sermons were to be delivered, the odds are even higher that they would center around the quarantine that is imposed on a Metzora, the central topic of this week’s double sedra . Given the unusual immediacy that this topic has for us, perhaps it would be instructive to think about what they might mean for us in the world of social distancing.  I will follow the masterful treatment of Rav Samson R Hirsch, who provides a compelling discussion of what Tzara’at , and all forms of Tumaah (spiritual defilement). As you may have noticed, I did not translate Tzara’at as Leprosy, because, as Rav Hirsch conclusively proves from the details of the halachot; it has NOTHING to do with that awful contagious disease. To cite one example, a person who is a metzora on their entire body from head to toe is tahor and NOT subject to quarantine, which makes no sense at all if the purp...

What an unusual Pesach! As I wrote on Erev Pesach , although there was much about the impending Pesach that was negative, there was much room for hope as well.  Unfortunately, despite the hopes of many, it does not look like Mashiach will arrive before the end of Yom Tov. And yet more people passed away, and more were reported sick, although we are told that the curve is flattening.  I was once again disappointed by our leadership – with PM Netanyahu, President Rivlin (and gadfly Liberman who was hypocritically true to form) all violating the rules against having family that they enforced on everyone else. But Pesach was undoubtedly much better than in Bergen Belsen.  And while we did not have a Chol HaMoed Tiyul, just going to the meadow near our home in Lavon was glorious.  And there were many online activities and chances to be together, from Shiurim to concerts, museum tours, and virtual hikes, and best of all family Zoomzitzes!   And...

The last time that I would normally be sitting down to write is Erev Pesach afternoon – usually the busiest day of the year.  So, I will keep it brief, but I've got to get this out. Baruch Hashem, the news in Eretz Yisroel is terrible, but not awful.  There are at this moment 72 deaths so far in the Holy Land, and many are sick.  But compared to what is going on in the communities that I lived in for a long time in America, … what can one say?  I just got off the phone with my sister, whose brother in law passed this morning.  His wife is in the ICU and does not yet know רח"ל.  The funeral of the Novominsker Rebbe this morning, three friends last week, including a husband and wife to whom I was very close.  I have several very sick relatives, I could go on, but those in America know of the carnage far better than me. Yet, tonight we are to celebrate ליל שימורים, the Night of Special Protection, when Hashem watched over us like no other time, while ...