September 19, 2011
by Digital Maggid
Since Rosh Hashanah is coming up next week, I will be offering up some commentaries from the masters concerning the Holy Day. This first one is both a commentary on the Parsha and a commentary on Rosh Hashanah, from R’ Asher Horowitz.
אַתֶּם נִצָּבִים הַיּוֹם כֻּלְּכֶם לִפְנֵי יְ־הֹוָ־ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם רָאשֵׁיכֶם שִׁבְטֵיכֶם זִקְנֵיכֶם וְשֹׁטְרֵיכֶם
atem nitzavim hayom kulekhem lifnei Hashem elokeikhem rosheikhem shivteikhem, zikneikhem v’shot’reikhem
You are all standing this day before the Lord, your God the leaders of your tribes, your elders and your officers
(D’varim 29:9)
ראש השנה ווערן צוערשט גע’משפּ’ט די ראשי העדה, די עלטסטע, די מנהיגים. ווייל אויב דאס פאלק איז זינדיג זיין די מנהיגימ פאראנטווארטליך, וואס זיי האבען דאס פאלק ניט בעסער געלעהרענט און געפירט.
Intially, Rosh Hashana was to judge the heads of community, the elders and the leaders. Because if the people were sinful, the leaders were responsible that they had not taught and led the people better.
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August 30, 2011
by Digital Maggid
מִקֶּרֶב אַחֶיךָ תָּשִׂים עָלֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ
mikerev acheicha tasim aleicha melech
from among your brothers you shall set a King over yourselves
(D’varim 17:15)
און ווען די תורה וואָלט ניט פארזאגט אז אייגענעם ברודער זאָל אויפ’ן רעיון אז אידען זאָלן באשטימען איבער זיך א מלך א פרעמדען און ניט מזרע ישראל?
די תורה וואָרענט געגען באשטימען אן עלטסטען, א מלך א איד, וואס האלט זיך גרויס און איז דערווייטערט פון די אידען מאסן און זייער טאָג טעגליך לעבען איז אים פרעמד. אזא אידישער מנהיג, אזא אידישער מלך איז גלייך ווי א פרעמדער פון א פרעמד פאָלק. ער פיהלט זיך פרעמד צו זיינע שוועסתער און ברידער און פרעמדקייט הערשט צווישען אים אונ זיין פאלק.
And when would the Torah not direct that their own brother, from the seed of Israel, and not a foreigner, should be appointed over them as king?
The Torah warns against appointing an elder, a Jewish king, who considers himself great and is distanced from the Jewish masses and their day-to-day life is foreign to him. Such a Jewish leader, such a Jewish king, is the same as an alien from a foreign nation. He feels foreign to his sisters and brothers and foreignness reigns between him and his people. (R’ Asher Hurvitz)
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July 29, 2011
by Digital Maggid
על־פי־רוב טרעפת, ווען א איד פאָרט ארויס אונטערוועגענס, ענדערט ער זיין התנהגות,אז ער ניט אזא זהיר און מדקדק במיצוות ווי ער איז אין דער העיים. ווען ער קומט צוריק פון אונטערוועגענס, פיהרט הער זיך צוריק אויף ווי פאר דער נסיעה. האָט דאָס מעש פארשריבען: אז די „מוצאיהעם“ די התנהגות און אויפפירהרונג אין דאס צוריק אהיים קומען דארף איין גלייך על־פי־ה’. (ר’ אשר הורוויץ)
For the most part, we find that when Jew goes abroad, he changes his conduct, and he is not as carful or punctilious about his mitzvas as he is at home. But when he comes back from his travels, he is guided back as before they journey. This is what Moshe wrote about: That “In their goings out” and ‘in their journeys” their behavior and conduct along the way, as well as in the home, must be equally “el pi Hashem” — before Sashem.
There is a convention of language at work here. The passage begins with a Hebrew phrase: El pi rov , which is translated as an expression: “For the most part.” However, this literally means: “By the mouths of many.”(Near to the many.) The teaching ends “before Hashem” but this literally means “by the mouth of Hashem.” So the Master is saying in a subtle way: We may get lax in the presence of many — when we are travelling and we have some measure of anonymity. But when we are at home, we behave ourselves because we are in the presence of Gd. The master urges us, however, to remain on our good behavior even while traveling because the reality is that we are always in the presence of Gd.
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Posted in Massei, Master of the Week, R' Asher Hurvitz, Right Action |
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July 26, 2011
by Digital Maggid
וַיִּסְעוּ, מִמִּדְבַּר סִינָי; וַיַּחֲנוּ, בְּקִבְרֹת הַתַּאֲוָה
vayas’u mimidbar sinai, vayachanu b’kivrot hata’avah
and they journeyed from the wilderness of Sinai
and pitched in Kivrot Hata’avah (Numbers 33:16)
נאָך דעם ווי די אידען האָבען פארלאָזען דעם מדבאר סיני, זיי אויפ’ן וועג זיך אָפּגעשטעלט מקבר צו זיין זייער תאוות. (ר’ אשר הורוויץ)
After that, as the Jews left the wilderness of Sinai behind, they paused along the way to bury their passions. (R’ Asher Hurvitz)
The place name Kivrot Hata’avah literally means “buried passions” in Hebrew.
What were the passions they buried there, and why? Is passion a klippah (obstacle state)? It appears these particular passions were, or else why bury them?
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July 26, 2011
by Digital Maggid
R’ Asher Hurvitz (Horowitz)
The illusive Rabbi Asher has been identified for us by Melamed Garry, who offers this bio:
Rabbi Asher Yishayahu Horowitz was the youngest son of the Rabbi of Dzikow. In 1905, he moved to Krakow and established a congregation of Hassidim of Rymanow. He was an ardent Zionist, which was not the standard for Chassidic rabbis at that time.
I wish to add parenthetically that the name “Horowitz” is actually spelled Hurvitz in Yiddish. There are numerous transliterations for most Yiddish spellings. Some common variants of this name are Hurvitch, Horowitz and Horovitz. A lack of standardized spelling in Yiddish (whether in transliteration or not) is one of the great challenges in this work.
Thanks, Garry.
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July 24, 2011
by Digital Maggid
This is an intriguing little teitsh (teaching) from our would-be Master-of-the-Week, R’ Asher Hurvitz.
אֵלֶה מַסְעֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׁרָאֵל
eileh massei b’nei yisroel
these are the journeys of the Children of Israel
(Numbers 33:1)
„אלה מסעי בני ישראל“ — דערפאר וואס די אידען האבען בעת דעם עגל געיובלט און געשריען „אלה אלקיך ישראל“ זײַנען זיי דערפאר געשטראָפט געוואָרען מיט „אלה מסיע בני ישראל.“ (ר’ אשר הורוויץ)
“These are the journeys of the Children of Yisroel” — on account of the Jews having celebrated the calf, as it is written “eileh elokeicha Yisroel” (“This is your Gd, O Israel” — Exodus 32:4), they were sentenced with “eileh massei b’nei yisroel” (“these are the journeys of the Children of Israel”). (R’ Asher Hurvitz)
So far this makes no sense, does it. Well, as we have seen before, the masters often taught from the remez level — the level of hints and clues (winks, more literally) — and based many of their teachings on word associations and puns. But in this case, he is being so subtle he doesn’t even bother to state it, he only points in the general direction of it. (But don’t worry, I’m not subtle. I will state it for him.)
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Digital Maggid
