vayakhel-p'kudei 5778

"שֵׁ֣שֶׁת יָמִים֘ תֵּעָשֶׂ֣ה מְלָאכָה֒ וּבַיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗י יִהְיֶ֨ה לָכֶ֥ם קֹ֛דֶשׁ" - 

אמר רבי יוחנן משום רבי יוסי: כל המענג את השבת נותנין לו נחלה בלי מצרים.
(שבת דף קיח עמוד א)

The Promise of a Tzaddik

Rabbi Eliyahu Broide z”l was a rabbi in a Tel Aviv neighborhood and was very involved in “kiruv”(bringing Jews closer to Hashem).

One day he met Yossi, a well-known barber in the neighborhood. Rabbi Broide tried to persuade Yossi to close his barbershop on Shabbat. After some discussion, Yossi turned to Rabbi Broide and said: "Rabbi, I would very much like to keep Shabbat but there is no chance in the world that I can do it!"

"Why?" asked the Rabbi.

"You see Rabbi, I'm a barber and my busiest day is on Friday night; there are many pilots living in the neighborhood, who only come to get a haircut on Friday night. Probably more than 50 percent of my business is from my working on Shabbat”, Yossi explained.

Rabbi Broide heard this and was not convinced of his reason. He countered-"Dear Yossi, I promise you without a shadow of a doubt that if you close your barbershop on the holy Shabbat, Hashem will reward you with an income of 30% more than you have earned so far."

Yossi considered this quid pro quo and then on Friday afternoon hung a sign on the door of his shop that read: "The barbershop is closed on Shabbat."

Yossi was gratified by newly observing Shabbat. Nevertheless, he was still worried about his livelihood suffering because of it.

After a month of observing Shabbat, Yossi reviewed his income for that month. After a further calculation, Yossi determined that not only did his income not drop as he feared - on the contrary, it actually grew by 50%!

After this unexpected miracle, Yossi was even more encouraged to continue observing Shabbat and, under the guidance of Rabbi Broide, to learn Torah and keep the mitzvot.

Was it permissible for Rabbi Broide to invoke Hashem to perform this miracle (since it is said: “The miracle cannot be relied upon”- אין סומכין על הנס)?

Answer:

Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein Shlit"a: It seems that a tzaddik such as Rabbi Broide who has dedicated his life and whose primary intention is to sanctify the name of Hashem (in addition to prayers), MAY do so.

When I asked my brother-in-law, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky Shlit”a, he provided a source to prove that it is permissible to do so; In the book of Daniel (Chapter 1) it is written that the king’s minister provided Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaria with non-kosher food and non-kosher wine. Daniel, at great peril, requested that the minister provide him with kosher (but less nutritious and sustaining) seeds for ten days.  Indeed, Hashem performed a miracle in that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah looked (and were) stronger and healthier than the others who ate of the non-kosher foods.

Therefore, tzadikim, such as Daniel, (and Rav Broide) may take the liberty of asking Hashem to deliver a miracle.

*****

"ויקהל משה את כל עדת בני ישראל" - 

יכלול "כל עדת בני ישראל" האנשים והנשים, כי כלם התנדבו במלאכת המשכן"
(רמב"ן שמות פרק לה)

The poor kids with the best toys

 The Levy and Cohen families lived in the same building in Jerusalem for many years. The families were very close and the two men, Shmuel (Levy) and Avi (Cohen) saw and spoke to each other every day as they walked to and from shul. Shmuel noticed lately that his friend and neighbor, Avi, seemed sullen and “down”. Shmuel eventually gained the courage to inquire if Avi was ok.

Avi confided that he was recently given reduced hours at work, and has been struggling to pay the bills and buy groceries. In fact, he continued, with great shame and sorrow, he even had to tell his hungry child that there was no chicken to eat.  Shmuel tried in vain to comfort Avi.

  Later that day, Shmuel was troubled and thought to himself "I cannot sit here comfortably knowing that my neighbor is tossing and turning in bed at night worrying how he will feed his children the next day."  Shmuel finally came up with an idea-the next morning he zealously, yet secretly, began collecting money for the Cohen family. After a few days he managed to collect a very handsome sum for his friend - 10,000 shekels.

Shmuel reasoned this would be enough to help the family with their basic needs until Avi can find a full-time job.

  When Shmuel handed Avi the money he had collected, Avi was very relieved and overjoyed. He embraced Shmuel and blessed him from the bottom of his heart.

Two weeks later, Chaya Levy, Shmuel's wife, met Rivka Cohen, Avi’s wife, in a toy store. While Chaya was pondering whether to buy a few items, she glanced over at Rivka who was selecting many expensive toys and was adding them into her shopping cart. The two women walked home together and chatted a bit until Chaya (unable to control herself) asked as delicately as she possibly could “How do you allow yourself to buy so many expensive toys?”  Rivka blushed a bit but then explained to Chaya – “We give the children any toys and games that they want... When I passed by the toy store, I remembered that the children asked for a lot of games so I bought for them…"

  Should Shmuel continue to raise funds for the Cohen family or should he discontinue as long as the Cohen family is spending the money for necessities AND luxuries as well?

Answer:

Rabbi Yaakov Ariel Shlit”a: There is no justification for continuing to give this family money if they are extravagant, but it is necessary to check how much money they spend on games compared to the money they spend for food and essentials. If, for example, they spend two hundred shekels on toys, (a relatively small percentage of the money) that is not significant; but if they spend much more, then it would have to be limited - the money collected was intended for food and essentials.

There is an exception, though, (Shulchan Aruch 2: 1) -that if a family which was once wealthy and then became poor-- one must give them according to what they have become accustomed to.

Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein, on the other hand, believes that he must continue to give them charity.

It is written (In the Gemara in Tractate Ketubot, page 67) that a poor person came to Rava (an oft-cited sage in the Talmud) and asked that Rava feed him a fat hen and old wine. Rava challenged him by asking him about "דוחק הציבור" (the burden on the public who support the poor). At that moment, Rava's sister, who had not seen him for thirteen years, brought her brother… a fat hen and old wine!  Rava understood from this that the heavens were hinting to him that, indeed, he should give the poor man what he had requested.

The Meiri (another sage and Talmudist) also comments on that story -that it is a known phenomenon that a poor person may often buy luxuries in an attempt to compensate for, or to conceal his state of poverty.

Summary:

 In the opinion of Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, the sums given to them should be reduced (unless it is known  that they were accustomed to this higher standard of living before they became poor).

 In the opinion of Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein, we must continue giving them.

***** 

Compiled by Rabbi Daniel Kirsch

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