Shabbat-B'Shabbato – ParshatKi Teitzei

No 1439: 14Elul 5772 (1September 2012)

AS SHABBAT APPROACHES

"Guard yourself from Every Evil Thing" - by Rabbi Mordechai Greenberg, Rosh Yeshiva, Kerem B'Yavne

This week's Torah portion places strong emphasis on matters pertaining to speech. "Guard yourself from every evil thing" [Devarim 23:10] refers to matters involving slander, taking an oath, Miriam's talking against Moshe, and false witnesses. It is surprising to see that the punishment for a husband who slanders his wife is a hundred Shekels of silver, even though he only committed a sin by talking, while a rapist, who performed a physical act, is only fined fifty Shekels.

The sages considered the sin of slander as the equivalent of the three serious sins which a person is required to give up his life to avoid. "Everybody who slanders another person is doing a sin that can be compared to the three terrible sins of idol worship, illicit sex, and murder. With respect to idol worship, it is written, 'Please, this nation has committed a great sin' [Shemot 32:31]. With respect to illicit sex it is written, 'How can I do this great evil?' [Bereishit 39:9]. And about murder it is written, 'My sin is too great to bear' [4:13]. But for slander the verse is, 'A tongue which speaks of great things' [Tehillim 12:4] – in the plural." [Arachin 15b].

Man was created from the dust of the earth, but the creation was only complete when G-d blew into him "the breath of life" [Bereishit 2:7]. Only after this combination was completed are we taught, "And man became a living soul" [ibid], meaning "a talking spirit" [Targum Onkeles]. The power of speech was only given to mankind after the soul was united with the dust. This is called "peleh" – a wondrous thing. The phrase "When a man makes a vow" [Vayikra 27:2] is based on the same root: "Ish ki yafli neder..."

Mankind is made up of three elements: body, soul, and intellect (or the soul). An idol worshipper sins with his intellect, in essence his soul. A murderer sins with his inner soul, the "nefesh" – "For the blood is the soul" [Devarim 12:23]. One who sins with illicit sex is putting an emphasis on bodily pleasures. However, one who commits the sin of slander sins in speech, which includes all the elements of a human being, from the physical body to the intellect. Therefore each of the three specific sins is great, while slander is"great things" – in plural.

The blessing "Asher Yatzar" ends with the statement, "He who heals all flesh and does wondrous things" – mafli la'asot. The RAMA explains, "He links together spiritual and physical elements," which is a wondrous act. But at first glance this blessing has no spiritual element at all, since it only discusses the physiological activity of the body. The answer is that before the morning prayers we immediately follow this blessing with another one, "My G-d, the soul You gave me is pure." And that is the wondrous thing the sages meant, linking "the healer of all flesh" to "the soul that You gave me."

That is the difference between a rapist and a slanderer. A rapist sins using only his body, which is only half of a human being, but a slanderer sins with speech, which corresponds to a complete human being.

"For the sin of having a foul mouth, many troubles and harsh decrees occur, and young people of Yisrael die" [Shabbat 33a]. This is because the camp of Bnei Yisrael must be kept pure, "Guard yourself from every evil thing."

Being careful about the sanctity of speech refers not only to avoiding foul talk but also to talking in a gentle fashion. "A person should never let improper speech come out of his mouth" [Pesachim 3a]. The Talmud explains that the Torah added several extra letters in order to avoid writing the phrase "an impure animal," and instead wrote, "an animal that is not pure" [Bereishit 7:8]. I remember how careful Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook was in his manner of speech. He never said that something was bad, instead he would say, "If so, then it is good. And if not, the opposite is true."

POINT OF VIEW

To Teach a Youth – A Mission that Can be Accomplished- by Rabbi Yisrael Rozen, Dean of the Zomet Institute

"And they will punish him... His father and mother will take hold of him..." [Devarim 21:18-19].

"Our Labor – This Refers to the Children"[Pesach Hagadda].

More than a million and a half children went back to school this last week, both in grammar school and high school. In addition, more than four hundred thousand children went to study in public kindergartens. These two million pupils are about a quarter of the entire population of the country. And this number does not include higher education, both in Torah and in secular studies. The annual budget of the Ministry of Education is more than 35 million Shekels. This is the second largest ministry budget, after the Ministry of Defense.

Here is the picture from the point of view of specific sectors: About four hundred thousand students are not Jewish (admit it –you were not aware of this number). The distribution among the Jewish sectors is as follows: 57% in government secular education, 24% Chareidi, and only 18% in government religious schools (admit it – you were not aware of these numbers either). Even if there is some statistical rounding in the numbers (for example, "Chardal" – Chareidi Zionist - schools that do not belong to the religious government system, or schoolsbased on a "traditional" approach), this still gives a good general overall view of the situation.

I have three comments to make about religious high school education, even though my "only" link to this topic is through my wonderful grandchildren, who represent a variety of educational options.

The Investment

During the last two years, a loud cry has sprung up about the subject of the high cost of religious high school education. Parents "give everything" to meet the burden of payment, and families with several high school students have a multiple burden to bear. The management of educational networks point to general price increases and specific costs involving religious education which are not covered by the budgets provided by the Ministry of Education. Even such a task as "High School Rosh Yeshiva," an elementary need, is not recognized for budgetary purposes. The reaction of the Ministry is, "Whoever wants a Rosh Yeshiva must foot the bill himself."

The complaints of the parents led to the establishment of a professional committee, set up by MK Zvulun Orlev, in order to analyze this issue of the cost of studying. Representatives of such groups as educational networks, parents, and other interested parties made their case before the members of the committee, which was led by Bentzi Dal. As a former Director General of the Ministry of Education, he can be assumed to be familiar with budgets and how to handle them. The committee published its recommendationstwo weeks ago: NIS 550 per month (for 12 months) in junior high school (grades 8-10) and NIS 650 per month for full high school(grades 10-12). I am not familiar with the payment up to now, but from my knowledge of some of the people who were members of the committee, I am confident that this recommendation is a reasonable one in terms of existing conditions. But will the recommendations be implemented?

However, the problems are not over. The committee did not address any of the problems of the schools with dormitories, which are much more expensive than the regular schools. And so I must add my voice to the bewildered reactions. Where is the "comprehensive solution" to all the problems?

Dormitories

The truth is that a large change has taken place within the last decade (at the very least). Many parents prefer to send their children to schools where the children do not sleep in dormitories but come home every night. This includes places of Torah study too. I fear that the reason for this is not a lack of financial means but an attitude of pampering and egoism, helped along by the children themselves, who are not interested in being regulated and supervised during their free time. This is a pity. I assume that in most of the yeshiva and ulpana dormitories the educational atmosphere is better than that in the average home, including on Shabbat (such as with respect to preparations beforehand and activities afterwards). I am upset that parents and students prefer to view the term "educational institution" in a limited fashion, as a house of study and an information generator and no more.

Aside from the question of cost, I propose (of course) to establish "another committee" that will study how it is possible to bring back the "pride" to the dormitories and to market them as the elite choice for students. And then, the parents will be happy to pay whatever is needed, and it will be possible to find philanthropists to pay for those who cannot afford to pay on their own.

Centralization and Differentiation

With respect to religious high school education, two opposing trends are growing which perhaps balance and complement each other. On one hand, educational networks are "takingover" religious high schools, yeshivot, and ulpanot, and gathering them into the networks from the point of view of centralized control. Examples are Amit, the Center of Bnei Akiva Yeshivot, Noam-Tzvia, and Or Torah (in alphabetical order). Perhaps other networks exist which I missed in this list. I am not familiar with the details of operation of the networks, but in principle it would seem that such centralization is a good thing – not only in terms of efficient management but also with respect to teacher training, educational programs, and additional elements that are best handled in bulk.

The other trend is the establishment of specialized educational institutions based on such factors as religious outlook, approach to the sciences, study programs, educational variety, and specific cultures. At first glance, this trend seems to be contrary to the centralization into super networks, which might work to blur the unique character of a specific institution. In practice, it appears that the two trends can appear simultaneously, as long as the networks will have the wisdom to allow individual institutions to develop their own unique characteristics. In addition, it often happens that multiple educational approaches exist side by side in a single institution, and this too is a good thing.

* * * * * *

The sages discussed the "rebellious son" who appears in this week's Torah portion: "It did not happen in the past and it will never happen in the future. Why then was this written? So that you can study the matter and get a reward." [Sanhedrin 71a]. The reason that this situation is impossible is related to the strict conditions necessary for the judgment to take effect. The mother and father must be equal - "in voice, in appearance, and in height." The Mishna also demands that both mother and father agree in their educational approach. "If the father agrees to the son's demands but the mother does not, or the mother agrees but the father does not, he will not be declared a 'rebellious son'". This shows the great importance of both father and mother having the same educational aspirations.

LET YOUR WELLSPRINGS BURST FORTH

"If we had not Delayed" - by Rabbi Moshe Shilat, Director of "The Torah of Chabad for Yeshiva Students"

With respect to the verse, "For if we had not delayed we could have returned from Egypt two times," [Bereishit 43:10], the Baal Shem Tov notes that the letters of the word "lulai" are the reverse of the name of the month Elul. If a person delays and lengthens his self reckoning during Elul, then "he can return twice" – referring to repentance. Two types of repentance are relevant for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. The first is general repentance and acceptance of the yoke of the heavenly kingdom on Rosh Hashana, and the second is personal repentance on Yom Kippur: listing his sins in detail, cleaning up, and becoming pure. Both types of repentance depend on the self reckoning that a person does during this month.

Twice a day during the month of Elul, we read Chapter 27 of Tehillim, "A song of David: G-d is my light and my salvation." It is a good idea to pause while reading this chapter, since it is full of enlightening pearls of wisdom about the labor of repentance. The following discussion is one of these points.

G-d is My Light and My Salvation, Whom shall I fear?

We exist in a dark world where we need the light of G-d along our way so that we will be able to tell the difference between good and evil and in order that He will help us to show the light – "G-d is my light." There are times, however, when it is not enough just to light the pathway. The world is full of temptation, and even when we know the proper path we might fail in our efforts. And that is why we make a declaration and ask for G-d's help: "G-d is my salvation!" You, G-d, help rescue us from the evil inclination which rises up against us, You help us defeat it, and help us follow the good and well-lit path.

When G-d is my light, "Whom shall I fear?" [ibid]. There is no reason to be afraid. We can continue securely in this world and serve G-d.

G-d is the Fortress of my Life, Who can Frighten me?

And here the evil inclination tells the Jew: This matter that "G-d is my light and my salvation" will only help you not to sin in the future. But you already sinned in the past, and you are therefore lost!

We therefore respond, "G-d is the fortress of my life, who can frighten me?" [ibid]. The second time G-d's name is mentioned in this verse corresponds to the statement of the sages about the double mention of G-d in the Thirteen Traits of G-d – "One is before a person sins and the other is after he sins and repents" [Rashi, Shemot 34:6].

G-d is revealed to us twice, once before our sin and once afterwards. The goal of the revelation before the sin is to do everything possible to block the sin, it lights the way and gives us the strength to avoid failure. But even if we do fail in the end, G-d does not disappear from our lives. He is revealed a second time, and with great force! "G-d is the fortress of my life!" This is the power of repentance. G-d is the strongest force in our lives, even after a sin He is our true strength. And therefore even after our fall we can return to Him, become stronger, and cling to Him again.

When we return to G-d after a sin we once again do not have any fear – "Who can frighten me?" [ibid]. The verse begins with fear and ends with fright. The difference between fright and fear is that fright refers to those who are close by, while fear is relevant to those who are further away." [Rashi, end of the Torah portion of Eikev]. At first, sin was far away from us – "Whom shall I fear?" But even when the sin was quite close to us and we had already fallen, we have no fright from sin, because we returned with the help of G-d, who gives us strength. "Who can frighten me?" The sin is no longer connected to us and we are no longer frightened.

I ask for One Thing

Further on in the chapter there is a cry by King David: "I ask for one thing from G-d, and I request it. Let me sit in the House of G-d all the days of my life." [27:4]. Even though a Jew may feel that G-d is his light, his salvation, and his fortress, he might perhaps fear that because this world is so full of spiritual shells and the Other Side a person might sink down and follow the desire for greater luxury and forbidden lusts. This might happen even though he knows that it will disconnect him from contact with the Divine. And therefore we pray, "I ask for one thing... Let me sit in the House of G-d all the days of my life." We pray that for our entire lives we will manage to remain deep within one place – the House of G-d. We ask that all the labor in this world should never distract us from our true position, and that we will succeed in living within the peace and calm that G-d can provide for us, and we will return to G-d with complete repentance.

A WOMAN'S ANGLE

The Mitzva (?) of Divorce - by Yogli Roichman, Midreshet Alumah, Ariel

A few years ago, we visited a congregation in America for the Shavuot holiday. At night, the men read the list of 613 mitzvot, and one man came to my husband with a declaration: "I observed one mitzva that you did not!" My husband asked him, "What do you mean?" The man responded, "Have you observed the mitzva of divorce? I have done it three times already..." And the man continued with great pride, "And I even observed the mitzva of remarrying a former wife."

Was the man right?

The Mitzva

This week's Torah portion lists a large variety of mitzvot. One of them indeed is – to divorce one's wife.

"If a man takes a wife and lives with her, and if it happens that she does not find favor in his eyes for he found something immoral, let him write a divorce for her and give it to her in her hand. And he should send her away from his house..." [Devarim 24:1].