3 questions:

How should one achieve simchas hachaim during covid

19 restrictions?

Why is sukkos called "Zman Simchosainu"?

How can I be mikayem my chiyuv d'oiraysa of

"V'samachta B'chagecha"?

WE ARE BEGINNING a very

confusing tkufa. On one hand,

we are going into the sukka

and starting the Yom Tov of

''ושמחת בחגך'' . We know

that Sukkos is THE time

of year when we have a

mitzvah to be

B'simcha. Yet, at the

same time we are

witnessing an עת צרה

in the world where

almost everywhere on

the globe there are

Yidden going through

hard times both in

ruchnios and in gashmios,

physically and emotionally.

However, one thing needs to be –

we NEED to achieve simchas hachaim

in all times.

The Belzer Rebbe RAV AHREL'E M'BELZ was

running away from the Nazis ימ"ש and he stopped the

wagon and got out for a few minutes. Afterwards he

explained, "I lost everything in this war and I started to

feel like I was losing my Yishuv Hadaas. That, I did not

want to lose." This Sukkos, how can we achieve extreme

simcha keep our yishuv hadaas and fulfil our chiyuv min

HaTorah?

We will explain this with the following vort from

Harav Gedalya Shorr who asked the following;1 What

would have been the purpose for Yakov Avinu to reveal

the קץ to his children? What gain would there be for the

s coming thousands of years’משיח to know about שבטים

later?

אור גדליהו עמוד עג 1

Rav Gedalya Shorr says that Yakov Avinu’s כונה was

not to reveal to them the קץ – referring to the end of the

will come – since as we just משיח and of when גלות

mentioned what gain would there be to know this piece

of information of thousands of years later? Rather, what

it means is that just as we understand that all גאולה is

ordained completely by Hashem – לא ע''י(

everything is מלאך ולא ע''י שליח...(

done by Hashem with complete –

so too, says Rav ,השגחה פרטית

Gedalya Shorr we must

understand and realize that

likewise, every single last

thing that happens

within the גלות itself,

[even a seger] is not

government controlled,

but is only and only

orchestrated with השגחה

from Hashem. The פרטית

only difference is that at a

time of the גאולה, there is

more of clear vision in

seeing the 'השגחת ה openly,

whereas during the גלות itself,

many times the 'השגחת ה is more

ר פניםתבהס (hidden). Yakov Avinu

wanted to relate to the שבטים a tremendous

secret. That even when they will be in the dark long גלות,

when they won’t always see 'השגחת ה in an open way, one

can still find " אולה"ג within the גלות itself. Yakov Avinu

wanted to reveal to them, how to find שמחת החיים even

amongst the troubles of the dark long גלות. And even

though Hashem did not allow Yaakov to reveal this to

his sons' ears in words, his message was revealed into

their hearts. As the זוהר says )ללבי גליתי ולאברי )תקון כ"א"

which means that even though it wasn’t – לא גליתי"

actually revealed to them בפה, the message was revealed

to their hearts. The message that every Jew, no matter

what the situation in his life is, they are able to find the

light in the dark galus and they can achieve simchas

Hachaim no matter what no matter when. Says Rav

Gedalya Shorr; this was Yakov Avinu’s message for all

generations, that even though כלל ישראל will have trying

Please read, but not during חזרת הש"ץ or קריאת התורה.

E nglish Weekly

Year 7 Issue #303

times in the גלות where they will not yet be זוכה to the

still, each person in their own personal life ,גאולה כללית

can and must find a גאולה פרטית. Which means that when

people face life situations where they feel, “What good

can there be in this situation? It seems terrible! How can

I be expected to be happy in the situation I am in?" The

answer is that Yaakov Avinu, already placed into the

hearts of his children, for all the years of the exile, that

one has to find the happiness amongst the hardship and

to know that in every "גלות" one can find their private

."גאולה"

MANY YEARS AGO, a group of Askanim couldn’t

bear to see the great צדיק Maran Hagoan HaRav Chaim

Kanievsky שליט''א living in such a small

two-bedroom apartment with his many

young children. Together, they raised the

necessary funds to buy Rav Chaim a larger

apartment. However, there was one

problem; Rav Chaim Kanievsky does not

accept money from anybody, and Rav

Chaim would surely refuse the offer. They

thought of a great idea, they would go to

Rav Chaim’s mother and give her the

money, and they assumed that Rav Chaim would take it

from his mother. They approached Rav Chaim

Kanievsky’s mother and told her, “Here we have money

for your son and your grandchildren to be able to live

a little bit more in comfort.” However, Rav Kanievsky’s

mother refused to take the money and she told them the

following: “There are many families in בני ברק who live

the same way as my son Chaim, the moment my son will

move into a bigger apartment, suddenly, their apartment

will feel crowded. It is not fair to them. As long as Rav

Chaim lives this way they feel its ok for them too.”

WHEN WE WILL DAVEN on Yom Tov we will call

this Yom Tov "Zman Simchasainu".

The question is; out of all the Yomim Toivim is this

really the happiest time of year? Are these seven days

really THE time of the most extreme simcha from the

whole year round? I would understand if Pesach, where

we got cheirus or Shuvuos where we got the Torah, that

these are the days to be the ones to be called "zman

Simchasainu". If anything, on Sukkos we need to sleep

outside of our house, sometimes it could even be

squishier in the sukkah or it could be without air

conditioning or heating depending where you live. If so,

what is pshat that this is the shpitz time of simcha, more

than pesach and more than shvuos that we refer to THIS

yom tov as zman simchasainu?

The answer is; the reason we have this question is

because we live in an oilum Hachoishech. One of the

things that happen when one enters into a dark room is

that they may see an object and think it is something else.

A shoe may be confused to be toy and a toy may be

confused to be your shoe. Why is this world called an

עיין זהר א יד. 2 שמעתי מאת הרה''ג רב נח אייזק אולבאום שליט''א 3

oilum Hachoishech? The reason is because even though

to us things look to be one way, many times it is

completely not as we see it. For example, the world may

respect people because of their wealth and yet not give

too much respect to a student who sits and learns Torah

day and night. Does this make any sense? It is only

because they are being blinded in the oilum Hachoishech

they are seeing life with blurred vision. In fact, who is

the one who is supporting the entire world? It is that

student who studies Torah, as it says כל העולם ניזן בשביל

בני אחנינ , but the velt respect ashirim so that is who we

think is really deserving of honor. Another example is

the virus; it looks to be not good in the oilum

Hachoishech we live in. Yet we know and believe that

Hashem is good and everything He does

is good, even though we don't understand

and we do not always see the light in the

darkness, we can find some geulah within

the galus and we trust in Hashem.

Another cause of the oilum Hachoishuch

is that we have a misconception as to

what brings real simcha and what is really

superficial simcha.

Chazal say טוב is טוב מאד ,חיים is 2.מוות

What do these words mean?

THE GREAT GAON AND TZADDIK, Harav Yosef

Angel זצוק''ל, who was נפטר in the year 1920, explained

as follows: There are people who are happy with the

definition of הקב''ה ,טוב provides them with their needs

and they are happy people, they have חיים. However,

there are those who טוב is not good enough, it has to be

מאדטוב very good. A person who has the idea, that if it’s

not very good he is not happy – that is מוות. Since for

this person, at points in his life the טוב מאד bar will get

raised higher and higher and he will want more and

more, better and better.3 A life like that is not a life – its

.מוותת ְיֹהָוה ֱאֹלקיָך ְבש ְמָחה ּוְבטּוב ֵלָבב ֵמֹרב ֹכל4 ְדָת אֶׁ ר לֹא ָעבַּ ת ֲאשֶׁ חַּ תַּ

When a person becomes depressed (or not בשמחה) it is

because he takes the "רב כל" for granted. רב כל refers to

all the goodness that Hashem gives him day in and day

out. This, our Rabbi’s teach us, is one of the worst acts a

person can perform, for this is considered - lack of

gratitude to Hashem. However, by serving Hashem with

happiness, this shows thankfulness and gratitude to

Hashem for all the incredible gifts that we receive. This,

the Torah tells us is what will prevent us from all the

curses mentioned.

“A Kvetch” is one of the worst titles a person can attain

in our Torah Hakdosha, as it says רת ת ֲאשֶׁ ת ח ְדָת אֶׁ לֹא ָעב

יָך ְמָחהְיֹהָוה ֱאֹלהֶׁ ּוְבטּוב ֵלָבב ְבש .

Therefore, we see that it is not abundance that brings

happiness.

כח:מז 4

EVERY SINGLE JEW IN Klal Yisroel when they will

sit in their sukka on the first night they will have extreme

simcha. The question is how is it possible to be so

b'simcha if we are leaving all the comfortable luxuries of

our own home. We are removing a normal roof over our

head and yet we are still so b'simcha? We may not have

heating or air conditioning and we are still

so happy in the sukkah! It may be squishier

than our big dining room and we are still so

joyful! How could this be?

This is the secret of Sukkos and this is why

specifically Sukkos is called Zman

Simchasainu. Since it is the Yom Tov of

Sukkos when we finally come to the

realization that all our luxuries of the year-

round is not what was really making us

happy in life. That was all fake simcha.

What's the proof? We left our diras keva and most of our

luxuries and yet we are still booming with happiness.

The simplicity of less and the simcha of doing the

mitzvah. On sukkos we finally realize that we could be

happy without all our stuff. We are happy to sit with in

the 'צל ה. It is mitzvos and Ma'asim Tovim that generates

within us a true feelings of simcha, not our belongings5.

The מאירי in the הקדמה to his חידושים on ש"ס writes the

following:

A person who went through the יו"ט and did not change

at all is דומה to a חמור. Meaning that he went though all

the actions of doing all of the מצות of the חג, yet he did

not grow or become elevated in any way. What is the

comparisson to a חמור? The מאירי says that just like a חמור

carries wheat in the wheat season, and barley in the

barley season, and does not get effected by what it does,

a person who goes through life without anything (in

פסח" in the מצה taking effect on him – he eats (עבודת ה'

season” and lights the מנורה in the "חנוכה season”, shakes

lulav in the sukkos season is like a donkey.

Therefore the message to be uplifted with on this

Yomtov is to come to the recognision as to what gains us

true simchas Hachaim and to attain it.

RAV AHREL'E M'BELZ once said that if a person

would really understand what it means to be a Yid, when

he says the Brocho of "Sheloi Asani Goy" it is

not Shayech for him to have any form of

depression or sadness that day. The fact that

he appreciates that he recognizes how special

it is to be a Yid, brings to a happiness that will

override all sorrow.

DURING THE WAR, in the death camps,

there were a group of 50 boys that were being

led to the infamous “bath house” i.e. gas

chambers. One youngster turned wittingly

turned to the other boys and said, “Today is Simchas

Torah, when the entire world rejoices upon completing

the Torah and starting anew. As בני תורה we have always

kept the Torah. Now we are celebrating an ending of our

lives on this sinful earth, followed immediately by our

new beginning in שמים, similarly as the Torah says,

את השמיםבראשית ברא אלקים – because, in the beginning

Hashem created the sky.” The boys all danced and they

sang “אשרינו מה טוב חלקינו” and “וטהר ליבנו לעבדך באמת”

just as they would on a usual Simchas Torah. The boys

were all ready to give up their lives קידוש השם על . The

Nazi’s yemach sh’mam were enraged when they heard

the sounds of singing and dancing. One boy told an

officer sardonically that the anticipation for leaving a

world with the Nazi beasts was sufficient cause for

elation. The Nazi then decided to take them out of the

gas chambers and teach them a lesson – to torture them

the following day in the worst ways possible. A

tremendous miracle transpired the following morning,

sending them to other barracks. Knowledgeable

observers have confirmed that every one of those fifty

youngsters survived the war and raised exemplary

families…

נד.דף עירובין ב אנד א -חטוף ואכול ייט""ְְגְרַּ

Shmuel said to Rav Yehudah (shinnina), “Grab and eat, grab and drink for this world that we are leaving from is

like a wedding. Today there is, tomorrow there won’t be6,7

A person can never know when ח"ו he will hit the days

of רעב, when he will not be able to be as active any more.

The nature of man is that he contemplates that he will

live infinitely.

The Ponoviche’ Rav used to say; “Everyone wants to

finish Shas in one night – and only start tomorrow.”

5 This was very much realized over the last tkufa where we

were forced to make smaller chasunas etc.

SHORTLY BEFORE THE FIRST world war broke out,

a man approached the ןגאו רסטייפל , who was a bochur at

the time, and asked him if he could send a letter with him

to his son who was learning in his Yeshiva. The Steipler

willingly agreed to take the letter, however, immediately

thereafter, the war broke out and the Steipler was unable

עירובין נד. 6 רש''י 7

Living The Daf – Grab and eat!

to return to Yeshiva. After eight years of holding on to

the letter safely (without even opening it to see what it

said), the Steipler finally met this boy and told him that

he had a letter for him from his father. This boy’s father

was no longer alive, and he got the shivers up his spine

together with feelings of great emotion with the fact that

he was receiving a letter from his late father. His body

shook while opening the letter dated eight years earlier.

It read as follows: “To my dear

son. How are you? How’s the

learning?... I wanted to ask you,

that when you return home from

Yeshiva, to remember to bring us a

few pieces of salted fish (herring).

Signed with great love, your father

who loves you forever.”

This was the story that the Steipler

said over.

I am not sure as to why the Steipler

said over this story and how he

explained it. However, it is clear that there is a lesson and

everyone can take out the lesson from the story as they

wish. Reb Sholzinger added that a wise man told him that

he took out from this story that it is possible that a person

can live through his entire life and look back and say,

“What did I spend my life doing? What was I busy

with?” Sometimes he can feel that he can be comparable

to this letter the boy received salted fish.

There was a yid who told me (Rav Sholzinger) that he

was learning in Yeshiva for many years and that he

learned the usual 30-40 blatt a זמןthat his yeshiva

learned, but even those blatt, he did not feel that he had

clarity in them. He said, “One day, as I was walking

on רחוב פרס in ירושלים and I saw the Brisker Rov on his

porch. I thought to myself, I have the opportunity to ask

the Brisker Rov a question. I gathered up the courage and

walked up the steps.” He continued, “At first it was hard

for me even to speak but then I managed, בס"ד, to open

my mouth and ask the Rov the following question: “I

want to ask the Rov a question that I have in the שיטמ"ק

in ...ב"מ דף.” The man continued,

“Until this very day, when I

remember this story I have a vivid

picture in front of my eyes of what

transpired. The Brisker Rov

responded, " און אלע גמרות אין מסכתא

מיט די רש"י מיט די תוס' וויסט אבבא מציע

"איר , Translation: “And all

the גמרות in אבבא מציע with all the

you already ,תוספות s and’רשי

know?!” This Yid told me, “I ran

away so fast, until finally I stopped

myself and thought about what the Brisker Rov said to

me, and how badly I needed to hear those words.” His

life and attitude in learning completely changed after that

encounter with the Brisker Rov.

The חזון איש writes; in later years, a common thought

goes into a person’s mind as follows; “What am I? How

much Torah do I have? Where is my suitcase that I will

take with me? What does it look like?” He then gets a

feeling of embarrassment…

However, the חזון איש writes in אמונה ובטחון פ"ג אות כ"ז -

גדולי עולם התחילו ללמוד מאוחר'' א''שהרב

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