Living Al Kiddush HaShem

BS”D
Parashiot Tazria-Metzorah and Yom Ha’atzma’ut 5781
by HaRav Nachman Kahana

The holy Torah records many blessings of HaShem for His chosen people such as:

Bereishiet 13:16

ושמתי את זרעך כעפר הארץ אשר אם יוכל איש למנות את עפר הארץ גם זרעך ימנה

I will increase your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.


Ibid: 15:18-21

יום ההוא כרת ה’ את אברם ברית לאמר לזרעך נתתי את הארץ הזאת מנהר מצרים עד הנהר הגדל נהר פרת: את הקיני ואת הקנזי ואת הקדמני: ואת החתי ואת הפרזי ואת הרפאים: ואת האמרי ואת הכנעני ואת הגרגשי ואת היבוסי

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Avram and said, “To your descendants I gave this land, from the river of Egypt (Nile) to the great river, the Euphrates; the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites; Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites; Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

Ibid: 22:17

‘כי ברך אברכך והרבה ארבה את זרעך ככוכבי השמים וכחול אשר על שפת הים וירש זרעך את שער איביו

I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,”

Shemot 19:6

שמות יט,ו: ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש אלה הדברים אשר תדבר אל בני ישראל

You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

These, and more, are breathtaking blessings and promises from the ultimate source of blessings – the Creator himself; however there looms a dark cloud over all these blessings – not one has ever come to fruition. For we were never the ultimate righteous nation that HaShem had designated for us:

1) On the fortieth day after receiving the Torah, many of the newly chosen nation worshipped the Golden Calf.

2) Six hundred thousand men died in the desert experience for refusing to enter the Holy Land.

3) When Yehoshua Bin Nun finally conquered and divided the land among the tribes, idolatry raised its ugly head and became part of our national religious life for more than 800 years, until the destruction of the First Temple.

4) The history of the lamentable Second Temple period records periods of civil war, Hellenism, internecine bloodshed, subjugation, and destruction of the Second Temple and exile.

So, the blessing, “You shall be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (as apart from certain individuals)” was never fulfilled.

The verses referring to the geographical expanse of the Holy Land, where we were promised to be sovereign, never was actualized in our long history.

The obvious conclusion is that the promises and blessings of HaShem were not meant to be realized at the time of their being said, but rather in the distant future.

We shall return to this.

Parashat Tazria begins (Vayikra 13:1):

וידבר ה’ אל משה ואל אהרן לאמר: אדם כי יהיה בעור בשרו שאת או ספחת או בהרת והיה בעור בשרו לנגע צרעת והובא אל אהרן הכהן או אל אחד מבניו הכהנים

And HaShem said to Moses and Aaron, “One who has a swelling or a rash or a shiny spot on their skin that may be a defiling disease must be brought to Aaron the Kohen or to one of his Kohanic sons.

Rabbi Yochanan (tractate Arachin 16a) states that there are 7 sins that cause tzara’at:

על לשון הרע, ועל שפיכות דמים, ועל שבועת שוא, ועל גילוי עריות, ועל גסות הרוח, ועל הגזל, ועל צרות העין.

Lashon hara (malicious gossip), shedding of blood (murder or homicide), false oaths, incestuous behavior, vulgarious behavior, theft, and being a miser or hoarder.

Interestingly missing from Rabbis Yochanan’s list are ritualistic sins such as desecration of Shabbat and Festivals, partaking of non-kosher food, inappropriate conduct in the realm of tuma and tahara. In fact, the common denominator between all the sinful acts enumerated by Rabbi Yochanan is that they are all anti-social behaviors.

And the result is obtrusive, appalling, and repelling skin blemishes, with the subsequent banishment from society when the transgressor must leave his home and even his city to live in solitude. He transgressed against society and he is banished from society.

On the above-quoted verses regarding tzara’at –

וידבר ה’ אל משה ואל אהרן לאמר אדם כי יהיה בעור בשרו שאת או ספחת או בהרת והיה בעור בשרו לנגע צרעת והובא אל אהרן הכהן או אל אחד מבניו הכהנים

And HaShem said to Moses and Aaron: “One who has a swelling or a rash or a shiny spot on their skin that may be a defiling disease must be brought to Aaron the Kohen or to one of his Kohanic sons –

The Midrash (Vayikra 15:9) states:

שאת זו בבל… ספחת זו מדי… בהרת זו יון… נגע צרעת זו אדום… והיה בעור בשרו לנגע צרעת לפי שבעולם הזה הכהן רואה את הנגעים אבל לעולם הבא אמר הקב”ה אני מטהר אתכם ההוא דכתיב ‘וזרקתי עליכם מים טהורים וטהרתם מכל טמאותיכם ומכל גלוליכם אטהר אתכם

Se’ait refers to Babylon (destroyers of the first Temple), sapachat refers to Mede (where Achashverosh and Haman planned to destroy the Jewish people), baheret refers to Greece, and negeh tzara’at refers to Rome (destroyers of the Second Temple). In this period of time one who is afflicted with tzara’at must turn to a kohen, but HaShem has said that in the future He will be the purifier of Yisrael, as is stated (by the prophet Yechezkel 36): “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols”.

From this Midrash we learn that when the Jewish people stray from the holy Torah, HaShem – the ultimate Kohen – relates to us as a kohen would relate to a metzorah. And just as a metzorah suffers from skin blemishes, HaShem sent upon our ancestors who sinned the pit bulls of history – Nevuchadnezzer, Achashverosh and Haman, Antiochus, and the Caesars of Rome, and in modern times the czars of Russia, Hitler, Stalin, and the proteges of Muhammad.

We also learn from this Midrash that in future times – our days – many of the Jewish nation will be guilty of anti- social behavior to such an extent that it will be beyond the capacity of a kohen to help the sinners, and HaShem Himself will have to take matters into His own hands, as the Midrash ends with a quote from the prophet Yechezkel: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols”.

In the golden style of Chazal, (our rabbis) whose custom it was to refrain from castigating the Jewish nation in public with specific accusations, the Midrash alludes to our future disparagingly spiritual state by quoting the verse from Yechezkel chapter 36, from whence we can understand wherein lies our social-religious inadequacies.

ויהי דבר ה’ אלי לאמר

…בן אדם בית ישראל ישבים על אדמתם ויטמאו אותה בדרכם ובעלילותם

ואשפך חמתי עליהם על הדם אשר שפכו על הארץ ובגלוליהם טמאוה

ואפיץ אתם בגוים ויזרו בארצות כדרכם וכעלילותם שפטתים

ויבוא אל הגוים אשר באו שם ויחללו את שם קדשי באמר להם עם ה’ אלה ומארצו יצאו


16 Again the word of the LORD came to me:

17 “Son of man, when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by their conduct and their actions…

18 So I poured out my wrath on them because they had shed blood in the land and because they had defiled it with their idols.

19 I dispersed them among the nations, and they were scattered through the countries; I judged them according to their conduct and their actions.

20 And wherever they went among the nations they profaned my holy name, for it was said of them, ‘These are the LORD’s people, and yet they had to leave his land.

21 I had concern for My holy name, which the people of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone.

Verse 20 describes the great chilul HaShem in the future which by necessity will provoke the major nations of the world to be for us as metzorah blemishes, as were Babylon, Medes, Greece, and Rome in the past.

The desecration of HaShem’s holy name will be the ongoing willingness of Jews to remain in the galut, as the prophet says, “And wherever they went among the nations they profaned my holy name, for it was said of them, ‘These are the LORD’s people, and yet they had to leave His land.”

The very presence of a Jew in the galut, when the gates of the Holy Land are open for all Jews to come, is the chilul HaShem. The assimilated Jew in San Francisco, who looks, thinks, and behaves like a goy, is not the ticking time bomb of Jewish life in the galut, it is the one whose outside appearance screams “Jew”. The religious communities and every individual in them are guilty of national tzara’at that Rabbi Yochanan referred to.

1) Lashon hara, because their very presence in the galut is a statement that HaShem did not give us Eretz Yisrael. Because if He did give us the Holy Land what are religious Jews doing in Crown Heights or in Teaneck?

2) The presence of Jews in the galut is an invitation for the anti-Jews to physically harm the Jew – here you have “shedding of blood”.

3) Every mention of Eretz Yisrael, Yerushalayim and Zion in the davening (prayers) is tantamount to a false oath.

4) Incestuous behavior, because those lands were given to the nations of the world and we have no justification to be there.

5) Vulgar behavior when we become part of the gentile cultures, feeling as one of them and demanding equal rights.

6 & 7) Theft and being a miser or hoarding, when Jews dedicate their inherent genius for the good of others and not for the Jewish people.

And the prophet continues:

22 “Therefore, say to the Israelites, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone.

23 I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.

24 ‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land.

25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.

26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

27 And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws.

28 Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be My people, and I will be your God.

Here HaShem promises to restore the Jewish people in galut to Eretz Yisrael, not because they will do teshuva and want to come back, but for the sake of HaShem’s holy name.

And the prophet continues:

29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful and will not bring famine upon you.

30 I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field, so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine.

31 Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices.

32 I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Sovereign LORD. Be ashamed and disgraced for your conduct, people of Israel!

33 “‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: On the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will resettle your towns, and the ruins will be rebuilt.

34 The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through it.

35 they will say, “This land that was laid waste has become like the garden of Eden; the cities that were lying in ruins, desolate and destroyed, are now fortified and inhabited.”

36 Then the nations around you that remain will know that I the LORD have rebuilt what was destroyed and have replanted what was desolate. I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.’

37 “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Once again I will yield to Israel’s plea and do this for them: I will make their people as numerous as sheep,

38 as numerous as the flocks for offerings at Jerusalem during her appointed festivals. So will the ruined cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

How fortunate we are to live in Medinat Yisrael even though it spans only a fraction of Eretz Yisrael.

We have erased from our bodies and souls the tzara’at of the galut. As we develop every day in the Holy Land, we are a source of Kiddush HaShem (sanctification of the Holy Name). May we merit to witness shortly the final redemption and the fulfillment of all HaShem’s promises for His chosen people.

Order of the day – BE HERE and Remember JLMM – Jewish lives matter most

Shabbat Shalom,
Nachman Kahana
Copyright © 5781/2021 Nachman Kahana

May our eyes see Your return in mercy to Zion–73 Years to the State of Israel

by HaRav Dov Begon
Rosh HaYeshiva, Machon Meir

Sixty-five years ago, in 1956, Rav Tzvi Yehuda HaKohen Kook said:

“We have to be very joyous on Independence Day. We must be joyous over the revelation of the Divine Presence, the return to Zion, and the rebirth of the Jewish People. All the rebuilding, rebirth and survival of the State of Israel is interwoven with great miracles that G-d has shown us... Fifty years ago who could have imagined that the Turks, who ruled triumphantly over our land, would be entirely ousted? Ten years ago, would anyone have thought that mighty England would be forced to give up its rule over our country? Every tractor and tank and plane defending our country has divine holiness. Every aspect and every detail is a revelation of the divine, national content of the holiness of Israel. Even if many lack this awareness that it is Divine Providence which guides what is occurring, that is the reality. It is solid fact that will not go away, whether or not people recognize it...

“True, the entire land has not yet been conquered – even Jerusalem, the sanctuary of our kingdom is not yet entirely in our hands (This was eleven years before the Six Day War). In both quality and quantity, our rule over the Land must be completed and developed. Yet the State’s establishment constitutes the revelation of the Divine Kingdom, and we must be exceedingly joyful on Yom HaAtzma’ut over our having merited to become an independent country...” (Sichot HaRav Tzvi Yehuda Kook, on the 5th Israel Independence Day).

When the State of Israel was at the start of its path we were required to rejoice over the kindness G-d performed for us in establishing a State, all the more so now when over six million Jews live here. Israel is making enormous strides. It is today one of the strongest countries militarily and economically. We see clearly how the words, “May our eyes see [tirena] Your kingdom” are being fulfilled – through our tangible nation state. The day is not far off when we will all merit the fulfillment of the entreaty, “May our eyes see [ve’techezena] Your return in mercy to Zion,” not just the restoration of the kingdom, but the restoration of the soul to the Temple sanctuary. We have merited “tirena”, referring to external vision. Now our eyes are raised to G-d in hopes of “techezena”, a more spiritual vision. (ibid., Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook).

With blessings for a joyous Israel Independence Day,
Looking forward to complete salvation,
Shabbat Shalom.

On Iran, Biden Administration Ready to Undo Former Administration's Work, whether It is Good for the World or Not?

by Majid Rafizadeh

• A basic rule in negotiations is to keep or gain leverage against the other party. The Biden administration, mystifyingly, is doing exactly the opposite in its negotiations with the regime of Iran.
• Iran enriching uranium at any level -- it is a negligibly small step to enrich uranium from "acceptable levels" to "nuclear" levels -- puts the world at risk, especially as other countries in the region might well feel compelled launch their nuclear programs as a deterrent.
• The US and the UN Security Council also would do well to impose sanctions on Tehran for its violation of Resolution 2231, which "calls upon Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology."

A basic rule in negotiations is to keep or gain leverage against the other party. The Biden administration, mystifyingly, is doing exactly the opposite in its negotiations with the regime of Iran. Right before heading to Vienna to negotiate rejoining the disastrous 2015 nuclear deal, US State Department spokesman Ned Price dropped a bombshell when he told reporters that the US is prepared to lift sanctions against Iran. Pictured: Price on February 17, 2021. (Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

A basic rule in negotiations is to keep or gain leverage against the other party. The Biden administration, mystifyingly, is doing exactly the opposite in its negotiations with the regime of Iran.

Right before heading to Vienna to negotiate rejoining the disastrous 2015 nuclear deal, which, incidentally, Iran never signed, US State Department spokesman Ned Price dropped a bombshell when he told reporters that the US is prepared to lift sanctions against Iran:

"We are prepared to take the steps necessary to return to compliance with the JCPOA, including by lifting sanctions that are inconsistent with the JCPOA. I am not in a position here to give you chapter and verse on what those might be".

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Rav Tzvi Yehudah Kook on Mizmor 19 and the State of Israel's Independence/Redemption

On Independence Day, the 5th of Iyar 5727 (1967), a few weeks before the outbreak of the Six-Day War, Rav Tzvi Yehudah Kook, son of Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook,  delivered what would become his most celebrated lecture: “Mizmor 19 for the State of Israel.” For many, it was a prophetic vision heralding the historical events of the coming weeks.

Speaking at the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva, the Rav decried the loss of Jerusalem’s Old City and the ancestral cities of Hebron and Jericho. “My land they have divided!” (Joel 4:2).

But most of his speech stressed the importance of appreciating the establishment of the State of Israel, and its place as a key step in Israel’s redemption. In particular, he spoke of the 19th chapter of Psalms, and its relevance to the 19th year of Israel’s independence. Below are some of the major points.

Is This Redemption?
Some people have difficulty relating our current reality to the biblical prophecies of Israel’s redemption. They ask, “Is this the state that our prophets envisioned?”

Rav Tzvi Yehudah’s response was emphatic: “Yes! This is the state that the prophets envisioned.”

Of course, the State of Israel is not yet perfect. But this is what our prophets and our sages foretold: The descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will return to the Land; they will settle it and establish independent political rule. The prophets did not say whether those who return to the Land will be righteous men and women. The prophet said, “When I will have gathered the House of Israel... they will settle in their own land... They will build houses and plant vineyards.” (Ezek. 28:25-26).

The prophet spoke of real vineyards, not metaphorical ones.

Certainly, as a result of the Jewish people returning to their Land, there will be a subsequent growth in Torah. But the first step is to settle the Jewish people in their Land.

The Process of Redemption
Redemption, Rav Tzvi Yehudah emphasized, is a process. One that is gradual and continuous. Every year of our national independence is a new mizmor, a new celestial song, another link in the chain of redemption. This year, we sing the 19th psalm.

Psalm 19 has two distinct parts. In the first half, the psalmist perceives the wonders of God in nature, sensing God’s manifestation in the universe. “The heavens declare God’s glory, the sky proclaims His handiwork.“ (Ps. 19:2)

The second half, on the other hand, speaks of God’s illuminating Torah and commandments. “God’s Torah is perfect, restoring the soul… God’s precepts are just, rejoicing the heart.” (Ps. 19:8-9)

Both the Kuzari and Maharal expounded upon the connection between these two sections. God’s grandeur is revealed in the majestic world of nature. But, as we ascend in holiness, we perceive the immense power of God’s revelation through the Torah, given to Israel.

This is the primary lesson of Psalm 19. From within our earthly nature, we reach out to the spiritual and the heavenly. “We build with mundane materials, and sanctify it afterward“ (Me'ilah 14a). We are commanded to engage in earthly matters, to be God’s partners work of creation. We assist the Master of the universe as we increase Torah in the sovereign state of Israel.



Seeing the Big Picture
Undoubtedly, there are many problems and challenges in our current situation. There exist evil people in the country and the government. This hurts deeply; it is a Chillul Hashem, desecrating God’s Name. We cannot ignore this.

But the Sages taught that we need to keep things in perspective. The Jerusalem Talmud states: “Kiddush Hashem - sanctifying God’s Name - is greater than Chillul Hashem“ (JT Kiddushin 4:1). What does this mean? Obviously, Kiddush Hashem is better than Chillul Hashem!

The Talmud is teaching: in a situation when there are both Kiddush Hashem and Chillul Hashem, Kiddush Hashem wins out. We have merited the great Kiddush Hashem described by the prophets:

“I will sanctify My great name which has been profaned among the nations... I will take you from among the nations and gather you from all the countries, and I will bring you back to your own land.” (Ezek. 36:23-24).

This wondrous Kiddush Hashem, as Israel returns to its homeland and biblical prophecies are realized, eclipses all specific instances of Chillul Hashem.

(Adapted from LeNetivot Yisrael vol. II, pp. 156-161 by Rav Chanan Morrison)

The Word is Irony

by Rabbi Pinchas Winston

Shabbos Night
THESE TWO PARSHIOS begin the laws regarding spiritual impurity. The first one is that which results from birth, and the second is the impurity that accompanies tzara’as, the “leprosy” God sends a person primarily for speaking loshon hara about another. The entire discussion is clearly about the afflicted, which raises the question why the Torah momentarily deviates to speaking about bris milah:

Speak to the Children of Israel, saying: If a woman conceives and gives birth to a male, she shall be unclean for seven days; as [in] the days of her menstrual flow, she shall be unclean. And on the eighth day, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. (Vayikra 12:2-3)

It’s not as if there are no other places to talk about the all-important mitzvah of bris milah. And even if the first time it was commanded by God to Avraham Avinu at the age of 99, it was pre-Torah, could it not have been repeated post-Torah in a “purer” discussion. It just seems to be incidental here.

To begin with, spiritual impurity is a chok, a statute. The rest of the world understands the idea of physical filth, and knows to avoid it. They do not have laws of spiritual impurity because there is nothing about life, from their perspective, that seems to necessitate such rules. We can see the negative impact of physical impurities, and work to avoid them. We do not see the impact of spiritual impurity, and therefore we have to be told to avoid becoming tainted by it.

But, as is the case with most chukim, once we have a chok we can figure out, somewhat, why it exists. Knowing it tells us something about Creation that we were not aware of. Investigating the mitzvah and its details provides additional insights. It’s like using an answer to figure out a question you otherwise wouldn’t have had, but should have.

Take birth, for example. If anything represents life, it is birth. Physically it is exhausting, and can even be dangerous for both the mother and the child. But why should a woman who has just given birth become spiritually impure, and why for only seven days after a son and 14 days after a daughter?

The parah adumah—red heifer—is the best example of this. It is not that hard to find a sacrifice fitting to offer to God. But the specifics of a kosher red heifer for the mitzvah are so particular that there will only be 10 altogether throughout history. We’re still looking for the tenth, and finding it means that Moshiach is here.

One particularly confusing aspect of the parah adumah is how it is used to purify someone who has come into contact with the dead, and yet, it makes the kohen who performs the procedure impure in the process. That’s like two people using the exact same water from different taps simultaneously, and one becoming clean while the other becomes dirty. How does that work?

Shabbos Day
HAVE YOU EVER learned something new that completely upended your idea of reality, or a certain aspect of it? Only the brave learn how to adjust to the new reality, the rest of the people choosing cognitive dissonance instead to comfortably perpetuate the “lie” they are used to.

There are at least two amazing and scary aspects to this. The first is how long a person can live with the wrong idea about something as if it is correct, and make life “work.” The second is how many people would rather fight than switch, arguing a point that to everyone else is clearly outdated or completely wrong.

Take reality itself, for example. Mankind grew up believing that reality was exactly as it appeared, objectively. It took millennia to discover that it appears to everyone differently, and that it doesn’t really take definite shape until the person observing it takes note. Some of the ideas about the fabric of reality are so bizarre that even a mind as great Albert Einstein had difficulty accepting them as true at first, or at all.

The average person takes so much for granted, but every so often we find out the hard way that is unsafe to rely on all of our assumptions about people and things. It is not that uncommon to find out that something we thought was impossible was in fact the reality, and vice-versa. Most of the inventions we enjoy today as matter of course, were the product of what were once assumed to be overly active imaginations.

Since then, there have been books written and movies made that have explored some of the possibilities, calling into question what we call reality. Once relegated to only the Sci-Fi department, many things have since been proven to have been ahead of their time, and closer versions of the truth than what the average person lives according to.

This is the underlying meaning of the following account in the Talmud:

Once on a Friday night [Rebi Chanina ben Dosa] noticed that his daughter was sad and asked her, “My daughter, why are you sad?”

She answered, “My oil container got mixed up with my vinegar container and I lit Shabbos candles with it.”

He told her, “My daughter, why should this trouble you? He Who commanded the oil to burn will also command the vinegar to burn!”

A Tanna taught: The light continued to burn the whole day until they used its light for Havdalah. (Ta’anis 25a)

Clearly there was a natural difference between vinegar and oil for the daughter of Rebi Chanina, as there is for us today. This fact of life had been born out countless times every time someone tried to treat them the same. They do not taste the same, smell the same, or function in the same manner. So why, Rebi Chanina’s daughter complained, was the vinegar burning like oil?

Her father's answer was short and to the point, and yet extremely profound. Interjecting “He Who commanded” into the discussion smashed the mirror of physical illusion to reveal that reality only seems fixed. In truth, it is quite flexible, able to change completely at a moment’s notice if God tells it to.

It was a powerfully spiritual insight about the physical world. If something tastes terrible, it can’t taste good to a person bound by the Laws of Physics. You can’t go up and down at the same time in the physical realm, it seems. Unless, of course, the physical realm is not as physical as it has convinced us it is.

Shalosh Sedudos
WE HAVE A word for it: irony. It’s what we call things that technically speaking should not occur together but do anyhow. Ironically, it can be the bad thing that leads to the good thing, or vice-versa. Ironically, something positive can come out of something very negative.

Take the splitting of the sea, for example. On the surface of it, the Jewish people needed a big miracle to escape the pursuing Egyptian army, so God split the sea to make a path to freedom for them. The sea split, the Jews crossed it on dry land, and the Egyptians who followed them drowned in its waters instead. Then we sang a song of praise to God, and moved on.

Kabbalah begs to differ about the simplicity of it all. On the contrary, it was quite complicated. The spiritual scenario necessary to save the Jewish people did not match the one on the ground. It was going to take a lot of Divine light to save them, but they lacked the merit to access it and draw it down. They should have either drowned or have been wiped out by Pharaoh’s army.

Obviously neither happened. Then what did?

Redemption, but at a cost.

Without significant background in kabbalah, it is hard to understand the technical details. But simply put, in this imperfect period of history of ours, you have to give a little to get a lot. You have to go a little backwards to go forwards. Good happens, but sometimes against a backdrop of not-so-good. The Jewish people were saved, but not without the reality of impurity benefitting from the light that came down, making it stronger as the Jewish people went free…for now.

This is, ultimately, the difference between the two types of redemption described in the Talmud, achishenah—early, and b’ittah—in its time (Sanhedrin 98a). Both result in redemption, except the early one is earned through sufficient good deeds, and the second one is carried out by God because it is necessary at a time the Jewish people haven’t deserved it.

Achishenah is a redemption the Jewish people pay for in advance, through their own self-sacrifice to serve God, like used to happen in the days of the Judges. B’ittah is a redemption the Jewish people “pay” for along the way, mostly through imposed difficulty, such as war.

Bris Milah, the symbol of our eternal covenant with God and a tremendous source of celebration, happens against a backdrop of spiritual impurity. It’s not an impossible reality, but a likely one until Moshiach comes. Knowing this is a great asset, and a redeeming perspective on history.

Melave Malkah
THIS WAS NOT the reason for this week’s dvar Torah, but ironically, it does fit in. This week Jews around the world will celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel Independence Day. But it will occur, as it does each year, against a backdrop of death and mourning. It is also the time when we recall the deaths of the 24,000 students of Rebi Akiva, even observing some laws of mourning as a result.

What does that say about Yom Ha’atzmaut in the end, many who oppose the day ask, and they use this as “proof” that it is not a God-sanctioned day. They need only look, however, at this week’s parsha, as well many other similar historical “contradictions,” to see that the overlap of the happy and the sad does not negate either, when it comes to Jewish history. Quite the contrary: that is often the way so many good things in Jewish history have occurred.

It obviously does not mean that halachos can be broken to observe or celebrate the day, even rabbinic ones. But it also doesn’t mean that negaters of one of the most significant days in modern Jewish history should be treated as just the opposite; both viewpoints over-simply the issues and Jewish history. Tragically, so many people do.

We say in Hallel, “The stone that the builders rejected was the cornerstone.” Dovid Hamelech wrote this about himself, and his life was a perfect example of all of it. Rejected by just about everyone in his generation, including his own father and Gadol Hador, as the opposite of royalty, God had him in mind to be king from the beginning.

You know what makes fairytale endings so enjoyable? They come after a non-fairytale beginning. The eventual hero or heroine usually starts off as just the opposite before unexpected events turn the situation on its head. And they will again, and very soon, b”H. You can be sure that once the redemption comes, there will be plenty of surprises and unexpected endings.

But as Dovid Hamelech also wrote, “The secrets of God to those who fear Him” (Tehillim 25:14). This means that if you don’t want to be one of the surprised and shocked, fear Him now, and learn the secrets of God in advance of their revelation. It opens important doors to being His partner in redemption, not just another obstacle to it.

Who is the Person who Wants Life

by HaRav Mordechai Greenberg
Nasi HaYeshiva, Kerem B'Yavneh

The Midrash comments on the pasuk, "This shall be the law of the metzora" (Vayikra 14:2):

This is what it says, "Who is the man who desires life." (Tehillim 34:14) There once was a peddler who traveled around the villages near Zipori, and would declare, "Who wants to buy the elixir of life!" ... R. Yanai was sitting ... He imposed upon [the peddler], and he went up to him. He took out a book of Tehillim, and showed him the pasuk, "Who is the man who desires life." What does it say afterwards? "Guard your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit." (34:15) ... R. Yanai said: My whole life I read this pasuk, and I did not realize how simple it is, until this peddler came and told me, "Who is the man who wants life." Therefore, Moshe warns Israel and says to them, "This shall be the law of the metzora" - the law of the motzi shem ra (slanderer).

This passage is baffling. What novel idea did this peddler reveal to R. Yanai that he did not know beforehand?

In the sefer Be'er Moshe, the Admor of Ozrov points to a similar Gemara in Masechet Avoda Zara (19b):

R. Alexandri declared: "Who wants life? Who wants life?" Everybody gathered and came to him. They said to him. "Give us life!" He said to them: "Who is the man who desires life ... Guard your tongue from evil." Perhaps a person will say, I guarded my tongue from evil, and my lips from speaking deceit, I will now go and indulge in sleep." The pasuk teaches, "Turn from evil and do good." (34:16) Good is none other than Torah, as it says, "For I have given you a good purchase, do not forsake my Torah."

From the pasuk, "Who is the person who desires life...," one could understand that turning away from evil is enough to grant life. This could be the conclusion of the Gemara, "Perhaps a person will say, I guarded my tongue from evil, and my lips from speaking deceit, I will now go and indulge in sleep." In other words, since he guards his mouth and tongue from speaking evil, this is the perfection of the attribute of speech. To this comes the continuation of the pasuk: "Turn from evil and do good," that it is not enough to guard the tongue from speaking evil, but rather it should be used for positive purposes, for good, and "Good is none other than Torah, as it says, 'For I have given you a good purchase, do not forsake my Torah.'"

"Life" does not mean simply the lack of death, but rather a life of positive value. Thus, for one who desires life, it is not enough to avoid evil, but there is need to do good.

This is what the peddler asked, "Who is the man who desires life" – inherent life. To this the answer is: "Guard your tongue from evil ... and do good!"

To this the Torah says, "See- I have placed before you the life and the good." (Devarim 30:15) Life is linked with good. Therefore, the answer to the question, "Who is the man who desires life?" ­– is: "Guard your tongue from evil ... and do good."

Parshas Tazria and Metzora are usually read during the sefira period, which are days of preparation to receive the Torah. As we say in the prayer after the sefira counting, they are days that are special "To purify us from our imperfections and contaminations," i.e., to free ourselves from all evil that sticks to us. However, this is not enough, and we ask, "I should be purified and sanctified with a holiness of Above."

The Torah portions are also arranged in this manner. Tazria and metzora deal with removing all evil and contamination, and afterwards come the portions Acharei Mot and Kedoshim, which deal with the sanctity of Shabbat and the festivals, which elevate man and sanctify him with the holiness.

Therefore, the sefira days are begun with the korban of the omer, which is from barley – animal food, and conclude with Shavuot, when we offer the two loaves from wheat, which is human food. This teaches that before spiritual ascent, a person first has to distance himself from animalistic actions, and only afterwards can he pursue human activities and sanctify himself with a Divine holiness. – "Be holy!"

Purity and Impurity: A Direct Function of the Greatness of the People of Israel

by HaRav Zalman Baruch Melamed
Rosh HaYeshiva, Beit El

Dedicated to the memory of R. Avraham ben-tziyon ben shabtai

"UNPLEASANT" LAWS
Rav Shmuel Bar Yitchak once noted that certain laws of the Torah, even though they seem to be disgusting and therefore inappropriate to discuss in public, are "sweet to God." Some examples of this area of law: halachot governing impure emissions from the body, the menstrual impurity of a woman, etc. According to the prophet Malachi, "the offerings of Judea and Jerusalem will be sweet to Hashem as in former days..." is a reference to the Torah portions of the male and female who each have impure bodily emissions; they could have been written in one unit, but they were not. They were to be discussed, "savored" separately by God.

The laws of ritual purity and impurity, though they seem unpleasant, are a direct function of the greatness of the people of Israel. Only Israel, a nation mandated to continually rise to higher spiritual levels, is required to distance itself from impurity to such a great extent. Today, these Torah portions don’t speak to us so much. We cannot truly imagine what it must have been like to live in such a reality, with complex laws of purity and impurity governing our lives, what it must have involved to sacrifice the Pesach offering in purity. We lack a sense of Kedusha, or holiness. We do not have the Beit Hamikdash, the Torah-mandated holiness of the Teruma offering, etc. Thus, no laws of impurity are practically applicable. In the meantime, when we discuss matters of ritual purity and impurity, we "darshen" try to get a peek into the internal mechanisms of purity and impurity.

Tza'raat is the leprosy-like illness mentioned in our portion. Our sages explain that "Metzora," the Hebrew term for the person stricken with this illness, is an acronym for "Motzi Shem Ra" - someone who is a purveyor of slander against others. When we deal with Tz’araat, we discuss the mitzvah of guarding one’s tongue and the like. In other words, as opposed to studying the illness itself, we examine the factors that bring it about. All of the various types of impurity mentioned in this week’s Torah portion are impurities that emanate from, and become evident on, the surface of the human body. Only after a sore manifests itself in the case of Metzora - or blood in the case of a Zav or Zava, does the impurity appear - on the skin, clothing, vessels... Once the respective impurities appear the process of healing can begin. When the impurity manifests itself, it "escapes," and the person is freed from the turmoil that was brewing inside of him...

Speech also helps bring out that which was bound up inside the person. If talk is positive and productive, it brings in its wake all sorts of positive results. But, if God forbid, one speaks slanderously of another, one thereby emits all sorts of unhealthy forces that spread and impact on him as a person: on his skin, hair, clothing and home.

RAV KOOK'S ANALYSIS
Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook of blessed Memory discusses three different levels on which man expresses his connection to money and material possessions: in reference to Tz’araat sores, in reference to our father Ya’akov and regarding the great sage, Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai.

In reference to Tz’araat sores, our Torah portion says: "When you arrive in the Land of Cana’an that I will give you as an inheritance, and I will provide the blemish of Tz’araat in the homes of the Land of your inheritance." To this, the Tosefta responds: "There never was and never will be a home smitten with Tz’ara’at. If so why was it written? To teach you that it is a value to elucidate the law and thereby receive merit." All of the laws and sundry details were given so that we learn these mitzvot and thereby receive merit.

Rav Meir notes that in reference to the illness of Tzaraat, the Torah commands the Cohen, the Priest, to remove even minor clay vessels from the smitten home, lest they become defiled. He adds that the people generally smitten by the illness are those of a low moral stature, people who have been guilty of speaking slanderously and improperly. Therefore, concludes R. Meir, the Torah is concerned with even the most minor vessels of wicked people!

A similar theme is evident in the life of our forefather, Ya'akov. "And Ya’akov remained alone." Said R. Elazar: he remained back in order to collect small clay pottery. After Ya’akov had guided his family across the river, and even though only minor possessions were left back at the camp, he went back to get them. He would not even forfeit the smallest clay vessels...

This midrash is quite perplexing. Ya’akov Avinu, we are taught, remained alone because he went back to retrieve tiny clay jars? He seems to be a real miser! This aloneness, however, that characterized Ya’akov gives our forefather a quality otherwise reserved for God - Who is also "alone".

When Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai fell ill, his students came to visit him. At the moment of his death, he said: Take the vessels out of this room due to the impurity [of my body once I am dead.] Prepare the throne for King Hezekiah the King of Judea..." Even if one can explain the eventual arrival of Hezekiah as preoccupying R. Yochanan before he dies, why should this great sage be worried about clay pottery and be worried that they be taken out of the building lest they be disposed of due to impurity?

Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook offers an explanation as to the linkage between the above elements. We live in a world of separation, between light and darkness, Israel and the other nations, between the Shabbat day and the other days of the week. When the world was initially created, however, light and darkness were unified, and only thereafter are we told that God separated between light and darkness. In the future, the prophet Yeshaya tells us, the distinction between the light of the sun and the moon will disappear. In other words, at the foundation of all existence - all levels of the world are united. Only when they emanate into physical reality do they become divided; we thus experience darkness vs. light as well as various gradations of darkness vs. light. But in the future, these phenomenon will all unite. So, too, the distinction between Israel and the nations will become blurred, as the prophet Zephaniah teaches us: "Then, [says God], I will provide all of the nations with one mouth, to call in the name of God and to worship Him jointly".

ULTIMATE ONENESS
In the future, all days of the week will be melded into one grand day that is completely Shabbat. The mundane will unite with the holy, forging one united reality of holiness. The distinction between the holy and profane is not an intrinsic, absolute division; it came to the world as a result of the sin of the Garden of Eden, which resulted in a split between the physical and spiritual worlds. But when the world is ultimately rectified and perfected, when all creatures call out in the name of God, then these divisions will dissolve. In the meantime, the light must impact on the darkness, the holy on the mundane, Israel on the gentile nations, etc.

This unity is characteristic of our forefather Ya'akov. Ya'akov, like God, remained "alone." In the end of days, as well, God will be "alone," in that no other gods will be worshipped aside from Him. The clay jugs were important to Ya'akov not because he was miserly, God forbid, spending his time on trite matters, but because he saw the jugs as part of an entirety of existence, a reality that encompasses all things big and small. Clay jugs also have their purpose!

Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai - before his encounter with the World to Come, mentioned the throne of King Hezekiah and called for the removal of vessels so that they would not be contaminated with the ritual impurity his dead body would create. At that moment, like Ya'akov our father, R. Yochanan understood the unity of all existence and the function of the most seemingly insignificant of objects:

Our sages teach that Hezekiah could have been the Mashiach, the Messiah; why then was he not allowed to be? Because he did not recite the Hallel on the great miracle that benefited him, when God killed in one night the entirety of the Ashur army. It was not Hezekiah, but the land, that then opened its mouth, so to speak, and sang. Rav Kook explains that although in Hezekiah’s day, Jews found themselves on a high level relative to both Torah study and spirituality in general, Hezekiah failed to translate that strength into an earthly holiness. It was not he who sang, but the earth itself that had to sing! Rav Yochanan ben Zakkai thus called for the preparation of a place for Hezekiah the King of Judea, as well as calling for the removal of vessels lest they become impure. These two approaches, though they represent opposite relationships and sensitivities to the fusion of physical and spiritual realities, are part of the same process. And R. Yochanan ben Zakkai understood that the process of redemption must engage and apply all matters, however contradictory...

The Mysteriousness of Parshiot Tazria – Metzora

by Rabbi Dov Berel Wein

This week’s double parsha presents to us a difficult set of rituals regarding a type of physical disease that evinced physical manifestations. The rabbis associated this disease with the sin of improper speech and personal slander. We no longer have any true knowledge of the disease, its true appearances and effects, its quarantine period and the healing process that restored the person to one’s community and society. The ritual laws of purity and impurity are no longer applicable in our post-Temple society and since there is no comments on these laws in a specific manner in the Babylonian Talmud these ritual laws are not subject to the usual intensive scholarship and study that pertain for instance to the laws of money and torts in the Talmud. In the nineteenth century a great Chasidic rebbe and scholar composed a "Talmud" regarding the laws of purity and impurity. This feat of scholarship however met with criticism from other scholars and has remained controversial and relatively ignored in the modern yeshiva and scholarly world. So in effect the entire topic of this week’s double parsha remains mysterious and unclear to us. After all of the attempted explanations and reasons for these ritual laws of purity and impurity, they nevertheless remain mysterious and relatively inexplicable to us. Especially when these two parshiyot occur, as they do this year and in most years, in tandem together, the question of their relevance becomes even more acute and perplexing. The Torah which always challenges us to understand it here retains its inscrutability.

Perhaps this is the message of the Torah itself to us. There is a world that is beyond our earthly eyes and rational vision. Modern man always dreams about space aliens and different universes than the one we inhabit. There is an almost innate sense that pervades us that there is more to creation than what we sense and feel. It fuels our individual drive to immortality, our dreams and imaginations, and it allows us to imagine and invent. There is a popular belief that necessity is the mother of invention. But in reality I do not feel that this is accurate. Imagination is the mother of invention. There was no real necessity for the unbelievable advances in technology that our past century has witnessed. But people lived in a world beyond our present real world and imagined the computer the wireless phone and the internet. This capacity of human imagination and of being able to deal with an unseen world that nevertheless truly exists is one of the great traits of the human mind. The Torah indicates to us the existence of such another world, a world of purity and impurity, a special world of holiness and of the human quest for attachment to the Creator of all worlds. Therefore even though we do not quite relate to that world with our finite mentality, the Torah wishes us to realize that such a world does exist beyond our limited human vision. And that is a very important and essential lesson in life.

The Place of Tumah in the Human Experience

by HaRav Shaul Yisraeli, zt"l
Rosh HaYeshiva, Mercaz HaRav
Rosh Kollel, Eretz Hemda
Chaver, Beit Din HaGadol Yerushalaim

Sefer Vayikra through Parashat Shemini deals with a description of the divine service and the inauguration of the Mishkan. Parashat Acharei Mot contains a detailed account of the service of Yom Kippur. In our two parshiyot, Tazria and Metzora, a different topic "interrupts": the various causes of tumah (ritual impurity) that affect man. These can be broken into two categories: those that affect men or women without being a response to wrongdoing, such as tumot related to the reproductive cycle; those that can be attributed to man’s wrongdoing, i.e., tzara’at afflicting the body, garments, or structures.

Rashi (Vayikra 12:2) tells us that the laws of man are specified after those of animals, just as man was created after animals. Man, unlike animals, wavers greatly between greatness and lowliness. "If he has merit, he precedes the ministering angels; if he lacks merit, a mosquito precedes him" (Bereishit Rabba 8:1). Since creation was made with man in mind, he has a great obligation to improve the world and not spoil it. He has two opposite sides: he is made of earth and has the spirit of life that Hashem breathed into him. Man stands between his animalistic side and his divine side, between impurity and sanctity. Both elements follow him throughout his life; he should not be naïve and ignore the danger that lurks around his spiritual state.

A child is born, and at the same time there is tumah (Vayikra 12:2). On the eighth day, a Jewish baby boy is circumcised (ibid. 3). Only a baby whose mother has tumah at birth can have his brit on the eighth day even on Shabbat. The connection is that the brit mila is made to fight tumah, for if man does not fight the tumah, it will overtake him spiritually and he will be liable and deserving of the various forms of tzara’at.

Hashem acknowledges that He created evil and attached it to man (see Micha 4:6; Berachot 32a). But it was created so that we should fight and overcome it. We use special "spices" such as Torah (Kiddushin 30b), thus called because like spices change a food’s taste, so Torah turns a person from bad to good.

Sometimes a person errs by being too far away from Hashem, and sometimes he sins by approaching Hashem in the wrong way (see Vayikra 16:1). The latter can come out of arrogance of a type that can lead to lashon hara and tzara’at. Tzara’at comes to signal man about his problem. Fortunate is the one who responds properly to the sign. On a national level as well, there are forces of good and of bad: when one goes up, the other goes down (Megilla 6a).

Why do we tell man that if he is successful, he is greater than the angels? For a similar reason that we tell him he could be lowlier than a fly. Lack of recognition of the dangers in both directions need to be countered. Therefore, we should tell the "Levites" of all generations, i.e., Torah scholars in our times, the power they possess and what they need to do. In such a confusing world, we need to concentrate on logic and a clear head and win the battle over the direction of our lives.

The Purity of the Mikvah

by HaRav Eliezer Melamed
Rosh HaYeshiva, Har Bracha

A mikvah must be attached to the ground specifically and not in a receptacle, and if one wants to prepare a mikvah in a vessel, he must invalidate it by making a hole, and connect it to the ground * The sea has the halachic status of a natural spring, therefore, even though its waters sway, it is kosher for immersion * A mikvah from rainwater must be from stagnant water and not flowing, however, an unnoticeable flow does not invalidate the mikvah * The Achronim ruled: A mikvah with no crack found in it, even though its water level drops from time to time, is not disqualified by flowing water

In last week’s Torah portion, ​​Shemini, we learned the foundation of purity in the waters of the mikvah, which is water that “gathers” in the ground naturally, as the Torah says: “The only thing that shall always remain ritually clean is a mikvah of water” (Leviticus 11: 36), and this is a good opportunity to clarify the mitzvah of immersion in a mikvah.

A Ritually Pure Mikvah – Water in the Ground
Mikvah tahara (a ritually pure mikvah) is water that is “gathered” in the ground, i.e., groundwater that came from a spring or rainwater that accumulated in the ground. For as long as they are in the ground naturally, they are pure and cannot receive tumah (ritual impurity), as the Torah says, “The only thing that shall always remain ritually clean is a mikvah of water” (Leviticus 11: 36). However, water that has been disconnected from the ground by man or by vessels can receive tumah, and consequently, when a ritually impure person touches them, the water becomes tameh (impure), and are no longer able to purify him (Chatam Sofer, Y.D. 213).

Pool, Ship and Vessel
Any place on the ground where water can “gather” is kosher as a mikvah, including a spring, ocean, or a pit dug in the ground.

A pool built of bricks and concrete inside of a building or on its roof, or even on the 100th floor of the building, is also kosher as a mikvah, because, seeing as the structure of the building is connected to the ground, the pool built above it is also considered connected to the ground.

However, water collected inside a vessel, even if the vessel is huge, such as a plastic pool or a ship, can receive tumah because they are not collected in a place that is attached to the ground, and consequently, are unfit for a mikvah.

Someone who wants to make a mikvah by use of a large vessel, such as a plastic or metal container, must first cancel it from being considered a vessel by perforating a hole in its bottom about eight inches in diameter. In addition, he must connect the perforated vessel to the ground using concrete and the like, or by inserting it into a deep pit in the ground. After connecting the perforated vessel to the ground, the hole is plugged, and can be sealed with any material (Rambam, S.A. 201: 7).

Ritual Purity and Impurity
In order to clarify why tahara (purity) is achieved by means of water from the ground, we must first clarify the entire matter of tahara and tumah (impurity).

It is a mitzvah from the Torah that all matters of kedusha (holiness) in the service of the Beit HaMikdash(Holy Temple), as well as contact with the flesh of the korbanot (sacrifices), challah, and the fruits of terumot, ma’aser, and ma’aser sheni (tithes) and their consumption – is fulfilled by ritually pure people. In general, impurity is associated with death, consequently the most severe impurity is the impurity of the dead, which is called “avi avot ha’tumah” (lit., ‘the grandfather of impurity’ – the highest level of tumah). Less severe impurity is the impurity caused by secretions that could have produced life but were lost, such as the impurity of niddah, the discharge of semen, or secretions that express damage to the system that effects life, such as the impurity of zav and zavah (abnormal bodily discharges).

The order of the purification process is according to the severity of the tumah: someone who became tameh from the dead, needs to wait seven days, on the third and seventh day he needs to be sprinkled with the ashes of the Para Adumah (Red Heifer), and on the seventh day, immerse in a mikvah and at the end of the day, he is purified. A zav or zavah needs to wait seven clean days and immerse, without requiring the sprinkling of the ashes of the Para Adumah. A man or woman who is tameh from the discharge of semen, as well as those who touch the carcass of an animal, beast, or a swarming animal, are impure until the end of the day, and are purified by immersion. The laws of purity are exceedingly numerous – an entire order out of the six orders of the Mishnah is dedicated to them – nevertheless, one rule applies to all those who are impure, namely, their purity is incomplete without immersion in water.

Water is the Foundation of Life
It is possible to say that the reason of the mitzvah to purify oneself in water is that water preceded the appearance of life, as written in the Torah: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth. The earth was without form and empty, with darkness on the face of the depths, but God’s spirit moved on the water’s surface” (Genesis 1: 1-2). On the first day, God created light, in order to give the world direction, and yet, the world was still full and flooded by water. On the second day: “God said, ‘There shall be a sky in the middle of the water, and it shall divide between water and water. God thus made the sky, and it separated the water below the sky from the water above the sky. It remained that way” (ibid. 6-7). Still, the world was flooded with water. On the third day: “God said, ‘The waters under the heaven shall be gathered to one place, and dry land shall be seen.’ It happened. God named the dry land ‘Earth,’ and the gatherings of water, He named ‘Seas.’ God saw that it was good” (ibid.9-10). Thus, we see that water is the foundation from which life in the world began, and the impure person who became distanced from the Source of Life, immerses himself entirely in water, and as a result, returns to the root of his life, as if created a new, and purified.

After the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed and Israel was exiled from their land, tahara was cancelled from the Jewish nation, but we still have an important and sacred tahara, namely, tahara from the impurity of niddah, because the impurity of niddah does not only concern entering the Beit HaMikdash and eating in purity, but also the intimacy between husband and wife. Indeed, the essence of purity and holiness remaining in the Nation of Israel, is in the sacred relationship between husband and wife.
Spring and Mikvah

There are two types of “gathered” water from the ground: 1) A spring whose source stems naturally from groundwater. 2) A pit filled with rainwater, called a mikvah.

Spring waters are kosher for immersion even when they are flowing, but mikvah water is kosher only in “ashburen“, in other words, while they are standing still, because water is kosher as they exist in their natural state. Rainwater falls from the sky, and as long as they flow, their state is transient and not stable, and only when they gather in one place are they stable, and may be used. On the other hand, a spring constantly issues and flows, and since this is its natural state and how it is sourced, even when its waters are flowing, it is kosher for immersion (Mishnah Mikvaot 1: 7-8; S.A. 201:2).
A Flowing River

A river that originates from a flowing spring has the same halachic status as that of a spring, and is kosher for immersion even while its waters are zochalim [Lit.: “creeping”] (the meaning of “creeping” is, continually flowing and moving and are not gathered together). On the other hand, a river that dries up on occasion (nahar achzav), i.e., it flows in the wake of the rains and then stops flowing, is considered a mikvah, and is kosher only when its waters accumulate and stand still (‘ashburen’).

In a river that originates from a spring, but during the rainy season and after the snow melts, its waters increase – we go according to the majority. When the majority of its water is from the spring, it is kosher for immersion, even though its waters flow (zochalim), but when the majority of its water is from rainwater or thawing snow (notfim), it is considered a mikvah, but while it is flowing, it is invalid for immersion.

However, it is possible to immerse in such a river by encircling the place of immersion, creating a partition with a reed barrier in such a way that the flow of the river will not be noticeable inside the partition, and thus the water inside the partition is kosher for immersion (S.A.201:2).

The Virtue of the Purity of a Spring
The waters of a spring, which are called “mayim chaim” (‘living water’) possess a greater degree of purity, for all individuals impure from the Torah can be purified by immersion in a mikvah or a spring, except for a zav, who can be purified only in a spring, as the Torah says: “When the man is healed of his discharge, he must count seven days for his purification. He shall then immerse his clothing and his body in a mikvah of running spring water” (Leviticus 15:13; Mishnah Mikvaot 1: 8).

Moreover, a mikvah is kosher only if it contains forty se’ah, while a spring is kosher for immersing utensils even when it does not contain forty se’ah, and some authorities say it is also kosher for the immersion of a man without forty se’ah (Rambam, Ravad). Other authorities say that even in a spring, there must be forty se’ah in order for it to be kosher for someone to immerse (Tosafot, Rabbeinu Tam, Rabbeinu Yitzchak, Rabbeinu Shimon).

This is in addition to the fact that spring water purifies even when it is flowing, which is not the case with rainwater, which purifies only when it is “gathered” and not flowing.

Seas are Kosher as a Mikvah
All seas, large and small, are kosher for the immersion of people and utensils. And although sea water moves back and forth because of the wind that creates waves, or flows because of rivers that enter them, this does not invalidate them, rather, just as a spring is kosher even when its waters flow naturally, likewise, the sea is kosher when its waters flow or sway as they naturally do (Rashi, Tosfot, Shabbat 109a).

Leaking (Zechila) Invalidates a Mikvah
As we have learned, a mikvah whose waters zochalim (run, or flow) is invalidated from being used as a mikvah. Therefore, care must be taken there is no leakage from the mikvah, for if there is a leak, although the mikvah contains forty se’ah, since as a result of the leak there will eventually be less than forty se’ah, the mikvah is already invalid.

The Rishonim wrote that only a noticeable flow from a leakage invalidates a mikvah, but not an unnoticeable one, for if we do not say so, no mikvah would be kosher, because if a mikvah has a crack and its water drips out very slowly, or it is being absorbed into the ground very slowly, it is still kosher, because the flow is not recognizable (Eshkol, Rashba, Rabbeinu Yerucham, Meiri and Tashbetz).
What is a Noticeable Zechila

The question is what is a noticeable zechila? In the opinion of most poskim (Jewish law arbitrators), only a zechila that creates movement in the water invalidates the mikvah (Sho’el U’Meyshiv Tanina, Vol.4, 178; Maharsham 3: 367; Divrei Malkiel 3: 64; Marcheshet 1, 39:1, Chazon Ish). It may be inferred from their opinion that as long as the zechila does not create movement in the water, even if it is noticeable from the outside as a leak, it does not invalidate, and this is what Maharsham (3: 367) and Ein Yitzchak (22) wrote. However, in the opinion of Maran Rabbi Kook, if the leak is noticeable on the outer walls of the mikvah, it invalidates it (Da’at Kohen 103).

Some poskim are machmir (rule strictly) even in the case of a leak that is absorbed into the ground and is not noticeable from the outside. In their opinion, the indication is when the mikvah decreases in an amount of continuous leakage, but a leak in the amount of dripping does not invalidate (Responsa Beit Shlomo 2: 82; Imri Yosher 1: 127).

When the Decline Mikvah Water Does Not Invalidate
According to all opinions if the mikvah was inspected and no crack was found, if after a number of hours a slight drop in the water level is noticed, it should not be cause for concern (Shiurei Bracha 201:4; Darchei Teshuvah 282; Divrei Malkiel 3:64). And as Knesset Ha’Gedolah wrote in his book ‘Ba‘ei Chayei’ (paragraph 198): “If the mikvah is carefully inspected, and no crack is found, small or large, and the water inside the ashburen (the pool) is calm and tranquil and not restless and shifting to run off, rather, on its own continuously diminishes, or because it is absorbed in the ground, or because of the warmth of the bath the water slowly dwindles, and there is no noticeable leakage…it is kosher le-chatchila for immersion according to all opinions, even if the waters lessen by two or three fingers everyday”.

Irrational, Dangerous Iran Policy is No Accident

by Victor Rosenthal

Joe Biden’s people say that his move to return to Barack Obama’s JCPOA, the nuclear agreement with Iran, is the only reasonable path. After all, they argue that Donald Trump’s policy of “maximum pressure” failed, as evidenced by Iran’s signing a 25-year agreement to cooperate economically and strategically with China. They also note that Iran responded by ramping up their violations of the agreement.

Although Biden initially talked tough, saying that the US would not weaken sanctions until Iran returned to compliance with the original agreement by ending enrichment of uranium to 20%, reducing its stockpile of enriched material, and other items, American resolve seems to be slipping in the face of Iranian stubbornness. The person he put in charge of the negotiations, Robert Malley, has said that he prefers to return more or less to the original deal first, and then try to negotiate a new, better one later. On the face of it, this is silly. If the US gives up leverage by removing sanctions, why would the Iranians want to renegotiate later, just to obtain a deal that is worse for them?

The original deal was simply a disaster. It removed the restrictions placed on Iran by the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that it had signed and ending international sanctions enforcing several Security Council resolutions intended to deter it from its nuclear ambitions. It granted Iran an unprecedented “right to enrich” uranium that the NPT denied, with limits that would be removed in a decade. That decade ends soon, in 2025, after which there will be no limits on Iran’s nuclear program.

Even those temporary limits were technically inadequate, as was the inspection routine, which had holes big enough to drive numerous large trucks through. As a side benefit to Iran, Security Council resolutions that forbade Iran from developing ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear weapons were replaced with one that only “called upon” Iran to eschew such technology (Iran has since developed such missiles). It is not an exaggeration to say, as PM Netanyahu did in 2019, that the deal “paved Iran’s path” to nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them rather than blocking it.

The icing on the cake was the infusion of cash the JCPOA provided, which Iran promptly used to pay for its intervention in the Syrian civil war, the arming of Shiite militias in Iraq, support for the Houthi rebels in Yemen and their attacks on Saudi Arabia, and of course the continued buildup of Hezbollah’s and Hamas’ missile arsenals – which the Iranian regime intends as the main weapon in its campaign to wipe Israel off the map (its nuclear-tipped missiles will provide a deterrent umbrella against Israeli retaliation).

Trump reversed Obama’s policy, exited the deal, and re-imposed sanctions to pressure Iran economically. Either the regime would collapse, or Iran would be forced to accept real restrictions on its nuclear and missile programs. The sanctions crushed the Iranian economy, and combined with the Covid epidemic and the domestic Iranian opposition, pushed the regime onto the ropes. The regime clearly understood this, and even tried to influence the 2020 American election against Trump.

The contention that Trump’s program didn’t work is false – the regime simply was able to hold out until he left office. Something that the NY Times et al don’t mention is that the agreement with China, the enrichment to 20%, and the introduction of new-generation centrifuges prohibited by the JCPOA didn’t occur until 2021, when Trump was either already gone or about to be. The Chinese undoubtedly knew that Trump would retaliate economically if they made their agreement with Iran during his term. And the Iranian regime clearly feared the US president, who had eliminated Qasem Soleimani, the single most dangerous terrorist operative in decades.

Biden’s policy – or that of whoever is making decisions for him – will empower the Iranian regime in reaching its objectives. And those objectives are quite ambitious: the establishment of a Shiite caliphate in the region, the replacement of various regimes (e.g., in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain), the destruction of the Jewish state, the control of all Middle Eastern fossil fuel resources, and so on. Iranian expansionism has already turned Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen into failed states whose populations are suffering enormously as a result.

If Iran continues with its nuclear program past Israel’s redlines, or if it orders its proxies to attack Israel, the result will be regional war. Such a war would be disastrous, especially for Lebanon, whose southern part has been turned by Iran’s Hezbollah proxy into one big launching pad for an estimated 130,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel. Israel’s defensive capabilities, although the most advanced in the world, could not deal with the number of weapons that would be fired at it, and so it would be necessary to respond by bombing southern Lebanon. That would cause thousands of casualties in a country already suffering from disease and total economic collapse.

The regime in Iran has made it clear that America, “the Great Satan,” is its most important enemy. It and its proxies have killed Americans in Lebanon and of course Iraq. It will work together with other enemies of the USA to harm it in any way it can. It even played a role in the 9/11 attacks. It isn’t unthinkable that it will provide nuclear material to terrorists in order to attack her in a “plausibly deniable” way.

Is enabling this regime’s regional takeover and nuclear project in America’s national interest? I don’t think so. The best way to forestall its plans is for the US to return to the policy of maximum pressure: to squeeze it economically until either it has no option but to retreat from its aggression, or it falls and is replaced by the more moderate government that most of the Iranian people would prefer.

Having said that, I am certain that this will not occur. What is going on is more than just a repudiation of Trump. Whoever is behind the project of strengthening the Iranian regime and enabling it to obtain its objectives knows what they are doing, and must share those objectives. The ideology of appointed officials is too consistent, the historical precedents too clear, and the functioning of the PR echo chamber too slick for it to be anything but deliberate.

Israel can only defend herself. It’s up to Americans to do whatever is necessary to move their country off this dangerous path.

Biden’s Anti-Israel 'Point Man' Behind Plan to Fund Terrorists

by Daniel Greenfield

“I was inspired by the Palestinian intifada,” Hady Amr wrote a year after September 11 while working with an anti-Israel group.

A few years later, the Beirut-born extremist had become an advisor on Muslim relations to the World Economic Forum before heading up Brookings' Doha Center for Qatar. The tiny Islamic tyranny is allied with Iran, Al Qaeda, and the Muslim Brotherhood. It’s a backer of Hamas.

The Obama administration appointed Amr as the Deputy Head of USAID's Middle East Bureau which put him in a key position to direct taxpayer money from an organization already notorious for funding pro-terrorist and anti-Israel groups.

A decade after Amr had responded to the death of a Hamas leader by ranting that "there will be thousands who will seek to avenge these brutal murders of innocents", the Obama administration made him a Deputy to its Special Envoy for Israeli Palestinian negotiations. 

Amr decamped back to Brookings during the Trump administration, becoming one of Biden’s big bundlers, joining his transition team and getting picked as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. Within two decades of praising the intifada against Israel and a decade of working for a think-tank deeply compromised by its pro-Hamas regime sponsor, the foreign radical had climbed to a pole position in setting the Biden administration’s policy on Israel.

Politico described Amr as “the key U.S. official dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian issue.” The Times of Israel called him, “Biden’s point-man on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Biden’s point man didn’t waste much time.

On February 1st, it was reported that Amr had spoken with Minister Hussein al-Sheikh of the Palestinian Authority. Al-Sheikh, a member of the PLO Central Council and of the Central Committee of the Fatah Party, had praised the top terrorist Hmeid family as a "fighting family" whose members had murdered at least 10 Israelis, and promised aid to it.

In response to efforts to get the PLO to stop rewarding terrorists, Al-Sheikh had declared that, “If we have one dollar, we will spend it on the families of our martyrs and prisoners.”

Al-Sheikh described his conversation with Amr as "positive."

In late February, Al-Sheikh wrote a letter to Hady Amr claiming that all the terrorists, including Hamas, had committed to "peaceful popular resistance" against Israel. A Hamas official however boasted that, “the Palestinian voter will vote for those who trampled the Zionists' heads underfoot, and wrote the loftiest verses of victory with their blood and body parts.”

On March 1, Hady Amr and his team delivered their memo, The US Palestinian Reset and the Path Forward, which called for resuming aid to the terrorists, abandoning pro-Israel moves by the Trump administration, and doubling down on building a terrorist state inside Israel.

A militant anti-Israel activist from Beirut was not only defining an anti-Israel foreign policy, but, as foreign policy expert Elliot Abrams noted, the memo repeatedly used British spellings for words like "programmes", “normalise”, and “emphasise”, driving home the point that Americans were no no longer in charge of their own foreign policy even on a simple linguistic level.

The memo's reset "with the Palestinian people and leadership” was advanced by Amr's contacts with figures in the PLO and Fatah terrorist movements, and called for an immediate resumption of the foreign aid pipeline to the terrorist territories, including UNRWA, which has served as a front for Hamas operations, beginning in late March or early April”.

The timing held up perfectly with the State Department announcing approximately $250 million in aid to the terrorist territories in early April closely following the timetable of Amr’s memo.

“Israel strongly opposes renewing funding for UNRWA, an anti-Semitic agency that incites against Israel,” Ambassador Gilad Erdan, Israel’s representative to the UN, tweeted.

Ambassador Erdan was understating the case. UNRWA schools are routinely staffed by Hamas supporters who preach the murder of Jews and Americans, and has produced top terrorists. Members of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group working for UNRWA have used its facilities and signage to transport weapons, and terrorists, and to store and fire rockets at Israel.

The funding is “consistent with who we are as a people. It also happens to be what's consistent with what's in our interest,” Ned Price, Biden’s State Department spokesman, falsely claimed.

The $150 million for UNRWA is crucial to the strategy of restoring funding to the terrorist areas without violating the Taylor Force Act. The law, named after an American veteran murdered in Israel by an Islamic terrorist funded and celebrated by the PLO, banned further foreign aid to the terrorist entity until it stopped funding terrorists. The PLO, including Abbas and his pal, Al-Sheikh, have vehemently refused to stop funding further terrorist attacks.

The Biden administration is claiming that its funding is indirect and therefore not in violation of the Taylor Force Act even though it blatantly violates its intent. But this is an administration packed full of Obama vets who oversaw shipments of foreign currency to Iran on unmarked cargo planes in order to dodge the law against providing money to Iran’s terrorists.

Aside from UNRWA, much of the remaining cash will be funneled through USAID.

“Given the absence of USAID activity in recent years, engaging civil society actors will be critical to regaining trust and goodwill with Palestinian society,” a congressional notification argued.

Why does the United States have to pay to regain the “trust and goodwill” of terrorists?

When Price was asked about a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that showed that USAID had not vetted the second level of grants for terrorist connections, he retorted that it “found no cases of U.S. funding going to parties, providers on the ground who failed vetting."

Of course that’s the point. There was no vetting and therefore there were no findings.

The Biden administration has made it clear that it intends to violate the Taylor Force Act up and down while claiming ignorance, and insisting that it’s not in violation because it claims it isn’t.

And the result will be more terrorism.

According to Adam Kredo of the Washington Free Beacon, a non-public State Department report admitted that the PLO had spent $342 million on subsidies for terrorists and their families. In this non-public report, the State Department admitted that the PLO was funding terrorists, that it had not ended calls for violence, and was not committed to peace, but that the aid would come anyway.

The cash began flowing even before Biden officially took office. The $2.3 trillion omnibus bill Congress passed in December which was sold as coronavirus relief for small businesses, also included $250 million in funding for "Palestinian dialogue and business" over 5 years.

The Alliance for Middle East Peace was the heaviest lobbyist for the pigout. ALLMEP is an alliance of many anti-Israel organizations, some strongly supportive of BDS.

The $250 million will be administered by USAID which already funds anti-Israel groups.

All those millions are a down payment on a bigger set of Biden administration anti-Israel goals.

The Amr memo had also called for, “rolling back certain steps by the prior administration that bring into question our commitment or pose real barriers to a two-state solution, such as country of origin labelling”. These are euphemisms for reversing the Trump administration’s pro-Israel measures such as ending the punitive restrictions on Israeli agriculture and villages.

The ban on labeling products imported to the United States as ‘Made in Israel’ that are grown by Jewish farmers in those parts of Israel claimed by the Islamic terrorists is likely next on the agenda. The Amr memo had also implicitly called for reopening the PLO office in Washington D.C. and a diplomatic mission to the PLO in Jerusalem. Those are also likely to come.

The Trump administration had created pro-Israel facts on the ground, while the Biden administration intends to restore the anti-Israel status quo in foreign policy one step at a time.

After first emphasizing coronavirus relief, the cash spigot has been turned on for UNRWA and USAID. The money and the political support that comes with it will bolster the PLO and advance anti-Israel narratives, including BDS, in Israel and around the world at taxpayer expense.

But the worst is yet to come.

And the Al-Sheikh letter falsely claiming that Hamas is ready to be peaceful is the next step.

In 2019, Amr had co-written an article arguing that the United States should lay "out the terms of a three-way Hamas-Israel-PA/PLO deal now" and "build an international consensus around it."

That would mean the Biden administration and its point man developing a plan to legitimize Hamas, gaining the support of the Europeans and the Russians, and then imposing it on Israel.

Hamas, according to Amr and his co-authors, would offer Israel nothing more than a cease-fire, while Israel would have to “incentivize” by “offering a significant move” on peace.

That means more territorial concessions, including Jerusalem, and freeing more terrorists.

A year after 9/11, Hady Amr, Biden’s future “point man”, wrote that he was “inspired by the Palestinian intifada.” And through him the Biden administration is also inspired by the intifada and its war to destroy Israel and turn it into another Islamic territory ruled by the terrorists.

Rav Kook's Igrot Hare’aya: The Need to Be Connected to our Past, part IV

Letter #18 – part IV
Date and Place: Adar 5665 (1905), the holy city of Yafo
Recipient: An open letter

Summary of previous parts: We are in the midst of Rav Kook’s public rebuke of the editor of the Hashkafa periodical (Eliezer Ben Yehuda). He had written that the Zionists for Zion who accused the Ugandists of turning their back on their pasts were hypocrites because all Jews, except the extreme religious, turned their backs on their past, and he is proud of that.

Body: Let me return to my purpose. Although I love to learn and teach the foundations of our beliefs, it is far from me to demand control over the opinions of any person. In our days, this is something that is not accepted. If the editor of “Hashkafa” had presented his ideas in his own name, it would not occur to me to argue with him. But now he emerged as speaking in the name of the whole community, and he refers primarily to the young people here in Eretz Yisrael. Therefore, it is impossible to let the matter pass quietly.

This event should remind us of the following story, found in the aggadic section of the last chapter of Berachot (63a-b). At the moment that Rabbi Chanina the nephew of Rabbi Yehoshua desired to set leap years and to set the monthly calendar in the Diaspora, messengers from Eretz Yisrael announced to the whole nation: “If you do not listen to us [to stop Rabbi Chanina from usurping the authority of the community of Eretz Yisrael], you will all be committing blasphemy and be saying that you do not have a portion in the G-d of Israel.” They answered back: “Heaven forbid! We have a portion in the G-d of Israel.”

So I hope that all of you will answer in open protest of this lowly accusation that the editor of Hashkafa made against you. He spoke for you about what is within your conscience without knowing the soul of the people in whose name he spoke. You shall answer and say: “Heaven forbid that we should turn our back on our past, in whose shadow we have lived and continue to live.” In the face of those who blaspheme the ranks of the living G-d (like Goliat did), you will say with full conviction before the whole world that you do have a portion in the G-d of Israel.

With pride and a bold spirit, my dear brothers, let us carry the flag of our Torah and of our nation, and let us support (nidgol - using a play on the word for flag) the Name of our G-d and our nation. “The Eternal One of Israel will not lie and will not regret, and His good word will not come back empty.” “You will not now be embarrassed, Yaakov, nor will your face turn white when seeing his children whom he produced within his midst. They will sanctify Hashem’s Name and they will sanctify the Holy One of Yaakov, and the G-d of Israel they will extol” (Yeshayahu 29:22-23).

Sign Off: I am the servant (of the nation) who looks forward to the joy of our nation as we will rejoice with the Land of our Heritage, Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook, a servant of the holy nation in the Holy Land, here in the holy city of Yafo and the surrounding settlements, may they be built up speedily in our times, Amen.