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Volume 40: Number 3

Wed, 12 Jan 2022

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Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Message: 1
From: Prof. L. Levine
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 15:07:11 +0000
Subject:
[Avodah] The value of working hard while relying on the


Today I am getting messages saying, "Our Sages say that reciting ?Parshat
HaMan? on the Tuesday of Parshat Beshalach is a Segula (spiritually
invoking action) for a good income."

What should our approach be toward earning a livelihood?
________________________________


The following is from RSRH's commentary on Shemos 16: 16 - 18.	BTW, RSRH
writes a good deal about earning a parnasa in Parshas Shalach. However, I
did not come across one reference to a segula in his writings on this topic
in this parsha, and I am pretty sure that there is no reference to relying
on segulos for anything in any of his writings! YL

16 This is what God has commanded: Let each man gather of it according to the need of his nourishment; one omer a head, according to the
number of your souls let each one take for the members of his tent.

17 The Children of Israel did so; they gathered, some more and some less.

18 But when they measured it with the omer he who had gathered much had
nothing left over, and he who had gathered little did not have too little;
each one had gathered according to the need of his nourishment.

16?18 They were to gather it, each man according to the needs of his household,
according to the number of souls, one omer for each person. If,
at the time when the manna melted away (below, v. 21), some had
gathered more than the correct amount, and some had gathered less,
nevertheless, when they came to measure it, it was found that he who
had gathered much had no excess, and he who had gathered little had
no deficiency: they had gathered as much as they needed to eat.

However, the intention to gather the appropriate quantity was apparently
an essential, indispensable condition; otherwise, after the first
experience, they need not have bothered to gather more than minimal
amount, since, in any case, everyone would receive what he needed,
and certainly, no more than his share.

In this lay the important lesson on the value of working hard while
relying on the blessing of Providence in seeking a livelihood for oneself
and one?s family.

Yitzchok Levine
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Message: 2
From: Micha Berger
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 17:03:10 -0500
Subject:
Re: [Avodah] The value of working hard while relying on the


On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 03:07:11PM +0000, Prof. L. Levine via Avodah wrote:
> Today I am getting messages saying, "Our Sages say that reciting
> ?Parshat HaMan? on the Tuesday of Parshat Beshalach is a Segula
> (spiritually invoking action) for a good income."

I am not happy with how much attention we pay segulos in general.

The famous quote from Antignos Ish Sokho (Avos 1:3): "Do not be like the
servants who serve their master in order to get reward" is not the most
extreme expression of this idea.

You really get an idea about how off transactional Judaism is from the
gemara (BB 10b):
    A beraisa: Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai said to his students: My children
    what does the verse mean when it says ... "and the lovingkindness of
    nations is sin"? (Mishlei 14:34) All righteousness and lovingkindness
    that the idolatrous nations do is a sin for them. For they do not
    act except to aggrandize themselves with it. Like it says, "That
    they may sacrifice offerings of pleasing aroma to the God of heaven
    and pray for the life of the king and of his sons." (Ezra 6:10)

Aku"m worship their gods to get things in exchange. Thunder is scary,
so make sure your thunder god is well fed and massage his ego, so he
won't smite you. Or rain, the sun, war...

This kind of transactional religion is literally Chazal's defining
feature of idolatry.

It is one thing if we keep segulos to means of acting out tefillah. And
as a minor frill atop the core. But the amount of attention they get in
some circles troubles me.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Despair is the worst of ailments. No worries
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   are justified except: "Why am I so worried?"
Author: Widen Your Tent                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF



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Message: 3
From: Prof. Levine
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2022 18:42:59 -0500
Subject:
[Avodah] The Sad Downfall of a Chabad Rabbi


I am moving this discussion to Avodah,  because I went to give Rav 
Shimon Schwab's views on Chillul Hashem.

At 04:16 PM 1/10/2022, Harry Maryles wrote on Areivim:
>That other organizations to did this doesn?t make it any better. It 
>was wrong from the start. It is Gneiva plain and simple. And a 
>Chilul HaShem no matter who does it.
>
>This is the result of a mentality that holds that one can cheat 
>Goyim if they can get away with it. A mentality that stems from 
>European antisemitism that was so strong that Jews had to pull these 
>shenanigans just to survive. Add to that the concept of Elisabeth 
>Sonei  L?Yakov- and that?s all you need to do something like this if 
>you can get away with it.

Please see Rav Schwab's essay on Chillul Hashem
<http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/chillul_hashem_r_schwab.pdf>

On page 214 he writes "If one steals from a non-Jew, swears falsely 
and dies, his death is no atonement for his sin because of Chillul Hashem"

Please see the rest of this essay for more.

Clearly what Goldstein did and others who did the similar things is a 
most serious aveirah.


[Email #2. -micha]

The following is from Rav Schwab on Chumash pages 191 to 193. Note his
message to the embezzler!

Living in Galus America, the malchus shel chessed, only strengthens
the Jew's obligation to create a kiddush Hashem. The Rav taught that
every form of chillul Hashem decreases awareness of the Divine presence
in this world. If the perpetrator is supposedly an observant Jew or,
worse, a so-called Torah scholar, then the offense is that much greater.
He would ask: "How can a person who has cheated his neighbor or defrauded
the government have the audacity to stand in front of the congregation
and recite Kaddish, a prayer for sanctifying G-d's Name in the world?"

The Rav's greatest fear was of a chillul Hashem. On his checks, he
never used the title "Rabbi." He told me that he was always concerned
that if, G-d forbid, a check were to bounce, "Rabbi" would add to the
chillul Hashem.

Many years ago, a shameful scandal erupted around a Jewish businessman
who was tried for embezzlement. Influential members of the embezzler's
community approached Rav Schwab with a plea that he do what he could to
save the man from prison. Rav Schwab became extremely agitated. He pointed
out that the man's behavior, widely publicized in the media through the
printed word and the television screen, had caused a tremendous chillul
Hashem; the man had become .a virtual rodef of Kial Yisrael, because
Jews everywhere would suffer aniti-Semitism due to his actions. He
forthrightly told the visitors that the embezzler deserved to sit in
prison for a long time.

But he pleaded with them to give the embezzler a message: The m;111
should shave off his beard and take off his yarmulke when appearing i11
court or on television, because by wearing these religious accoutremenh,
he would be creating a new chillul Hashem every day and would be a living
disgrace for the Jewish People.

In Selected Writings, Rav Schwab wrote extensively on the topic of
chilul Hashem:
    "If one steals from a non-Jew, swears falsely and dies, his death
    does not atone for his sin because of chillul Hashem (Tosefta Bava
    Kamma 10). Let us repeat. The profaners and desecrators give
    us all a rotten name, aiding and abetting our many adversaries
    and antagonizing our few friends. Therefore, no white-washing, no
    condoning, no apologizing on behalf of the desecrators. Let us make
    it clear that anyone who besmirches the sacred Name ceases to be our
    friend. He has unwittingly defected from our ranks and has joined our
    antagonists, to make us suffer in his wake. And -noblesse oblige- the
    more prominent a man in Orthodox Jewish circles, the more obligated
    he must feel to observe the most painstaking scrupulousness in his
    dealings with the outside world."

I have posted an essay by Rav Shimon Schwab that appears in his book
Selected Writings that is titled Chillul Hashem. In it he writes:

    "All this comes to mind at this time since some perpetrators
    of Chillul Hashem are making the headlines of our daily
    newspapers. Certainly we are not sitting in judgment of the
    persons who are publicly accused and we have to wait whether the
    indictments will be borne out by irrefutable evidence. However, be
    it as it may, the Chillul Hashem is there in the worst possible way.
    "Rabbi" so and so, who sits in court with his velvet Yarmulka in
    full view of a television audience composed of millions of viewers,
    is accused of having ruthlessly enriched himself at the expense of
    others, flaunting the laws of G-d and man, exploiting, conniving
    and manipulating ? in short, desecrating all the fundamentals of
    Torah Judaism. And this sorry onslaught on our Jewish sensitiveness
    is repeated by similar allegations, proven or unproven, involving
    more prominent men who are stigmatized as orthodox Jews, sometimes
    even with so-called rabbinic diplomas."

    "Therefore, no white-washing, no condoning, no apologizing on behalf
    of the desecrators. Let us make it clear that anyone who besmirches
    the sacred Name ceases to be our friend. He has unwittingly defected
    from our ranks and has joined our antagonists, to make us all suffer
    in his wake. And ? noblesse oblige ? the more prominent a man has
    become in orthodox Jewish circles the more obligated he must feel
    to observe the most painstaking scrupulousness in his dealings with
    the outside world."

The entire essay may be read at
<http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/chillul_hashem_r_schwab.pdf>

Yitzchok Levine




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Message: 4
From: Micha Berger
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 17:54:15 -0500
Subject:
Re: [Avodah] The Sad Downfall of a ... Rabbi


(I deleted a word from the title because it's not like the movement the
rabbi was affiliated with makes this particular sin more or less likely.
Why drag them through the mud?)

On Mon, Jan 10, 2022 at 06:42:59PM -0500, Prof. Levine wrote:
> At 04:16 PM 1/10/2022, Harry Maryles wrote on Areivim:
> >This is the result of a mentality that holds that one can cheat 
> >Goyim if they can get away with it. A mentality that stems from 
> >European antisemitism that was so strong that Jews had to pull these 
> >shenanigans just to survive. Add to that the concept of [Eisav] 
> >Sonei  L'Yakov- and that's all you need to do something like this if 
> >you can get away with it.

Here is a digression the Semag makes when discussion the mitzvah of
hashavas aveidah (aside #74) and the fact that it only applies to Jews'
aveidos.

    I already expounded to the exiled from Jerusalem who are in Spain and
    the other Roman exiles that now that the exile has gone on far too
    long, it is appropriate for Israel to separate from the vanities of
    the world and grab onto the signet of the Holy One, blessed be He,
    which is truth, and not to lie neither to Jew nor to gentile. Not
    to mislead them in any way. To sanctify themselves even in what
    is permitted to them, as it says, "The remnant of Israel do not
    commit sin, do not speak lies, and one won't find a false tongue in
    their mouths." (Tzefaniah 3:13) And when Hashem comes to save them,
    the nations will say, "It was done justly, for they are a people
    of truth and the Torah of truth is in their mouths." But if they
    act with the gentiles with trickery, they will say, "See what the
    Holy One, blessed be He did, that chose for His portion thieves
    and con-men." Also, it says, "I will plant her [the Jewish People]
    for myself in the land..." (Hosheia 2:25) A person doesn't plant a
    kur [of seed] but to produce numerous kurim. So too the Holy One,
    blessed be He, planted Israel among the lands so that converts will
    join them (Pesachim 87b) and every time that they conduct themselves
    with trickery, who will attach to them?

To elaborate on his perspective...

The central problem isn't the chilul hasheim. It's the lack of vehalakhta
bidrakhav. The chilul hasheim is a consequence.

And if we keep our culture in a place where we only worry about bein adam
laMaqom, including the message that robbing others is only as big of a
problem as the BALM fallout, there is no way we will be strong enough
to resist temptation BALC.

(Aside from recently experiencing people who think that minimizing chillul
hasheim is a valid reason to let serious harm to individuals go on for
decades rather than risk public exposure.)

Theft is evil because it's theft. Full stop. People don't internalize
this, none of the rest will make a roshem.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 If you won't be better tomorrow
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   than you were today,
Author: Widen Your Tent      then what need do you have for tomorrow?
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF            - Rebbe Nachman of Breslov


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