Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace August 21 11 ELUL 5770
SHABBAT SHALOM FROM CYBERSPACE
KI TESSE
AUGUST 21, 2010 11 ELUL 5770
Happy Birthday Jay Jerome
DEDICATION : By Stuart Benson in memory of his father, R' Gedalyah Shlomo Ben Baruch Tzvi a"h. Elul 14.
and by David Cain in memory of his mother Sara Cain And in memory of our great aunt Rebecca Maslaton
Bibi. And in memory of those from the community who passed away this week, Yosef Ben Esther – Joe
Tobias, Shelomoh Ben Esther Sol Tawil, and Sarah Bat Leah Sarah (Chera) Weber. Tehi Nafsham Serurat
besror haChaim and may their families be comforted from Heaven.
To subscribe or to unsubscribe, silent. Many were interested in
please reply to reading more of what Rav Yaakov
ShabbatShalomNewsletter@gmail.com Hillel wrote. Some sent me follow
up articles including one entitled,
To subscribe or cancel, please “Rav Yaakov Hillel Outs the
write to us at Charlatans”, By Yitzchok
ShabbatShalomNewsletter@gmai Adlerstein, published back in
l.com November of 2006.
We started posting the notes Rav Yaakov Hillel, one of the
each week to acknowledged masters of
http://sephardiccongregation.blog Kabbalah, spent a few hours on
spot.com Tuesday with the collected
You can go to the site to see rabbinate of Los Angeles.
previous week’s postings Accepted in Israel in the widest
circles – including Lithuanian
EDITORS NOTES yeshiva circles typically far
removed from the (often)
I received a great deal of Sephardic redoubts of Kabbalistic
feedback to last week’s article interest – he is an intriguing
with regard to visiting “kabalists”. mixture of elements not usually
Almost everyone was supportive. seen together. Born in India, he
Sadly I heard many nightmare speaks English effortlessly. He
stories of people going to the runs not one, but several
“holy men” and being given yeshivos of note. He
guarantees for huge donations. demonstrates full grasp of, and
One told of a parent who the appreciation for, the world of
kabalist said would be healed, the chassidus. His shiurim on
parent dies. Another of a child Kabbalah are attended by many
who would find their basheret, but of the stellar names in Torah
who in the end married and excellence. He carries himself
divorced twice. And more than a with the demeanor of classic
few who invested in projects they Sephardic warmth, gentleness,
might have never touched if in humility, and understatement –
their right mind and then lost but he lets you know that he will
millions. All went to these “rabbis” brook no nonsense. He is famous
based on the advice of others in America for his “Faith and
who swore by them. At first they Folly,” an examination of the
were puzzled as to why others got misapplication of Kabbalah, in all
healthy, made millions or seemed its manifestations. We expected
blessed as a result of their visits. him to be devastatingly critical of
But after investigation they the phonies. We were not
discovered that it was the few disappointed.
who reported the miracles and the
vast majority received nothing but He was blunt and unsparing
a tax deduction but remained regarding the plethora of
Kabbalah wannabes, the people
who come to communities
reading mezuzahs, or palms, or
kesuvos. Lamentably, too many
people who should know better,
including Torah figures, flock to
these charlatans for advice.
Besides amounting to nothing
more than hokum, he views them
as fully flouting halacha, which
forbids predicting the future. They
accomplish what they do in some
cases through accomplices who
gather information, and in other
cases through a combination of
intuition and the careful study of
chicanery. Even when this is not
true, we should not be swayed by
their success in knowing things
that others don’t. He cited Derech
Hashem of the Ramchal, that
Hashem sometimes grants
supernatural powers to people
who have failed to get where they
should – not as a reward, but as a
punishment. These powers are
not holy, but the opposite.
Why are people so eager to
suspend their critical thinking and
flock to the quacks? Too many
have succumbed to the need for
instant gratification typical of the
rest of the world. Some people
want instant coffee; frum Jews
often want instant yeshua
(solution of their problems),
especially if it does not demand
real change on their part. A
person suffers a heart attack, and
is triumphantly shown that one of
his mezuzahs had a hole in the
word levavecha – your heart. He
concludes that the mezuzah is
the problem, instead of realizing
that the hole in the mezuzah is
1

the effect, not the cause. The
cause of the problem is the
spiritual defect in this heart, which
is then externalized as the defect
in the mezuzah.
The charlatans, he said, can’t be
real, because they never spent
quality time learning Torah. How
could they? At eighteen, they
became Baba this or Baba that.
(He knows of one who ran a brisk
business stealing tefillin in his
yeshiva days.) The real
mekubalim were different. Baba
Sali was the head of a beis din till
he was seventy. He wrote
important works on Choshen
Mishpat. After a full life of Torah
excellence, he moved on to giving
berachos at the age of ninety.
The best way to deal with those
who come into town and ask to
set up shop is to ask them to stop
at the local kollel first and give a
shiur. It almost always scares
them away, because they are
incapable.
Fooling people has become a
brisk business, through the
manipulation of PR machinery.
People pay to have their photos
printed alongside recognized
greats, in order to increase their
prestige among the populace.
One unworthy candidate paid
$250,000 to be the keynote
speaker at the dinner of a major
Torah institution, just to bolster
his image.
Rav Hillel recounted how his own
children proved the gullibility of
their neighbors. They persuaded
the janitor of their school to
accompany them through the
street, walking slowly and
hunched over, with a white sheet
wrapped around him. People –
including many who should have
known better – rushed over to
kiss the hand of the obvious “holy
man.”
Some would counter that the
Kabbalah merchants may not be
Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace August 21
talmidei chachamim, but they are
“hidden tzadikim.” When a friend
of his took this position, Rav Hillel
advised him to pull his children
out of their yeshivot and Bet
Yaakovs. Why bother with the
learning? Let them stew in their
mediocrity, and Hashem will
reward them special powers He
gives to the otherwise
unaccomplished “hidden tzadik,”
who remains hidden by carrying
himself like a pathetic failure. This
is a terrible error. Hashem does
not give such hidden powers to a
person whose external
appearance and conduct is
substandard. The hidden tzadik
carries himself with dignity, but
whose full worth is not
appreciated by others.
Where can we find legitimate
Kabbalah personalities? The first
rule is to avoid those who get any
kind of personal gain from their
knowledge. He spoke of someone
he knew who would never accept
a dime, never a favor for his
learning or his beracha. Someone
whom this giant had touched
positively tried to repay him by
performing a favor without his
knowledge. When he learned of
it, he was so disturbed that he did
not speak to his benefactor for
decades.
When pushed for the identities of
such people, he would not offer a
single name. If you want a
beracha, go to the most
accomplished in Torah – Rav
Chaim Kanievsky, Rav Elyashiv.
People of their caliber are
capable of miracles, but no one of
lesser stature.
He struck me as having the best
of two worlds: the embrace of
serious study of Kabbalah that
was part of the Baghdad from
which came his great-grandfather,
and the focus on the “meat and
potatoes” of traditional Ashkenazi
learning that he picked up in
Gateshead and Ponovezh. He
11 ELUL 5770
would, however, take issue with
such a description, claiming that it
misses the point entirely. The
legitimate master of Kabbalah has
no other option but to be a
serious talmid chacham, the
result of decades of study of
Gemara and Rishonim. There is
no other way. Separating the two
orbits is artificial.
He didn’t enjoy pointing out all
that has gone wrong. There was
pain in his voice. Having seen
Torah and Torah greats in their
full glory, both in nigleh and nistar
(the revealed and hidden parts of
Torah), he is driven to rescue
them from those who would
infantilize or trivialize them.
It must be lonely at the top, but –
to make use of the cliché – boy,
what a view! We were enriched
and uplifted to hear him share it.
We must realize who Rav Yaakov
Hillel is to understand the power
of his statements. I heard from
brilliant and refined scholars that
the Zohar came to explain the
secrets of the Torah. About 500
years ago, the Ari came to explain
the Zohar and without the Ari we
are lost. Then 250 years ago, the
Rashash - Ribbi Shalom Sharabi
came to explain the Ari and it was
through him that the Kabalah
could be understood. Today it is
through Rav Hillel that the Sod
can be understood.
There were others who wrote
telling of miracles they heard
about. I found it interesting that
most who wrote about miracles
rarely wrote in first person. And
how does one explain the first
person miracles, Rav Hillel gives
a number of possibilities, there is
also coincidence and then there
are possibly the times that there
is something there.
I know of a person who was
indicted along with dozens of
others for import fraud some
2

years back. Almost all of them
pleaded out and were sent to jail
for anywhere from one to five
years. This man also pleaded out
and sentencing guidelines
required that he do go to jail for at
least 2 years. The man visited a
certain rabbi and was asked for a
pidyon – an amount of money –
and was guaranteed he would not
go to jail. The mans lawyer told
him that this was ridiculous, but
the man tripled his efforts in
Torah, misvot, and acts of
chesed. At the sentencing
everyone was shocked that he
unlike any of the others was given
home detention.
So I asked another talmid
chacham who knows this rabbi
how it could be. He explained that
at times our blessings are blocked
almost like an artery that is
clogged. Hashem might be
sending down blessing just as the
heart is pumping blood but the
blockage stops it from going
anywhere. Sometimes one can
feel this spiritual blockage. It can
come from unfulfilled vows ( why
we do hatarat nedarim this time of
year) or from a person who did
not give the proscribed amount of
sedakah or charity. Perhaps and
only perhaps, the pidyon being
given to sedakah opened the
artery and allowed the blessing to
flow.
I discussed this with rabbi Abittan
at the time. He agreed that many
of us do things to block the pipe
and that sedakah or charity is
certainly one way of opening the
pipe. We say sedakah saves from
death perhaps as the
interventional cardiologist uses a
balloon on a wire to open the
artery and save the heart patient
from death, giving what we must
can do the same.
This time of year especially, it is
incumbent upon us to give.
Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace August 21
For years as a child I recall the
Rabbi in shul on Rosh Hashanah
reminding the people not to leave
early as the final prayer was a
prayer of parnasah or financial
success. In our synagogue we
sell the honor of opening the ark
for this prayer of financial success
and many people have sworn by
it. Are we paying off Hashem one
person asked the Rabbi.. Chas
VeShalom – Heaven forbid – he
replied. But what we might be
doing is unclogging the pipe by
opening our hands.
So to all those in Cyberspace who
want a blessing of Parnasah – of
financial success – be willing to
open your hand and help open
the pipe. One writer this week
suggested I sell the opening of
the ark on the night of Rosh
Hashana to the highest bidder in
Cyberspace, and have it opend in
their honor and for their blessing.
But what if we make it a group
effort? Lets see if a few of us can
share opening the ark collectively.
Lets say we donate $501 or more
each into the partnership and
when we open the ark we will say
a special tefilah for parnasah in
the merit of all the partners who
joined in. If you would like to
share in this misvah, email me
back at
sephardiccongregation@gmail.co
m and we’ll include you. Look you
need to give your charity for the
year anyway. We’ll guarantee it
goes to a good cause and it might
just be what the heavenly doctor
ordered. Join me. And may you
be blessed with a year of health,
happiness, peace and prosperity.
Shabbat Shalom,
David Bibi
11 ELUL 5770
Israelis Don't Need the
Lectures
George F. Will
JERUSALEM -- In the intifada
that began in 2000, Palestinian
terrorism killed more than 1,000
Israelis. As a portion of U.S.
population, that would be 42,000,
approaching the toll of America's
eight years in Vietnam. During the
onslaught, which began 10
Septembers ago, Israeli parents
sending two children to a school
would put them on separate
buses to decrease the chance
that neither would return for
dinner. Surely most Americans
can imagine, even if their tone-
deaf leaders can not, how grating
it is when those leaders lecture
Israel on the need to take "risks
for peace."
During Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu's July visit to
Washington, Barack Obama
praised him as "willing to take
risks for peace." There was a time
when that meant swapping "land
for peace" -- Israel sacrificing
something tangible and
irrecoverable, strategic depth, in
exchange for something
intangible and perishable,
promises of diplomatic normality.
Strategic depth matters in a
nation where almost everyone is
a soldier, so society cannot
function for long with the nation
fully mobilized. Also, before the
1967 Six-Day War, Israel within
the borders established by the
1949 armistice was in one place
just nine miles wide, a fact that
moved George W. Bush to say: In
Texas we have driveways that
long. Israel exchanged a lot of
land to achieve a chilly peace
with Egypt, yielding the Sinai,
which is almost three times larger
than Israel and was 89 percent of
the land captured in the process
of repelling the 1967 aggression.
3

The intifada was launched by the
late Yasser Arafat -- terrorist and
Nobel Peace Prize winner -- after
the July 2000 Camp David
meeting, during which then-Prime
Minister Ehud Barak offered to
cede control of all of Gaza and
more than 90 percent of the West
Bank, with small swaps of land to
accommodate the growth of
Jerusalem suburbs just across
the 1949 armistice line.
Israelis are famously fractious,
but the intifada produced among
them a consensus that the most
any government of theirs could
offer without forfeiting domestic
support is less than any
Palestinian interlocutor would
demand. Furthermore, the intifada
was part of a pattern. As in 1936
and 1947, talk about partition
prompted Arab violence.
In 1936, when the British
administered Palestine, the Peel
Commission concluded that there
was "an irrepressible conflict" -- a
phrase coined by an American
historian to describe the U.S. Civil
War -- "between two national
communities within the narrow
bounds of one small country."
And: "Neither of the two national
ideals permits" a combination "in
the service of a single state." The
commission recommended "a
surgical operation" -- partition.
What followed was the Arab
Revolt of 1936 to 1939.
On Nov. 29, 1947, the U.N.
recommended a partition plan.
Israel accepted the
recommendation. On Nov. 30,
Israel was attacked.
Palestine has a seemingly
limitless capacity for eliciting
nonsense from afar, as it did
recently when Britain's Prime
Minister David Cameron referred
to Gaza as a "prison camp." In a
sense it is, but not in the sense
Cameron intended. His
implication was that Israel is the
Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace August 21
cruel imprisoner. Gaza's actual
misfortune is to be under the iron
fist of Hamas, a terrorist
organization.
In May, a flotilla launched from
Turkey approached Gaza in order
to provoke a confrontation with
Israel, which, like Egypt,
administers a blockade to prevent
arms from reaching Hamas. The
flotilla's pretense was
humanitarian relief for Gaza --
where the infant mortality rate is
lower and life expectancy is
higher than in Turkey.
Israelis less than 50 years old
have no memory of their nation
within the 1967 borders set by the
1949 armistice that ended the
War of Independence. The rest of
the world seems to have no
memory at all concerning the
intersecting histories of Palestine
and the Jewish people.
The creation of Israel did not
involve the destruction of a
Palestinian state, there having
been no such state since the
Romans arrived. And if the
Jewish percentage of the world's
population were today what it was
when the Romans ruled
Palestine, there would be 200
million Jews. After a uniquely
hazardous passage through two
millennia without a homeland,
there are 13 million Jews.
In the 62 years since this
homeland was founded on one-
sixth of 1 percent of the land of
what is carelessly and
inaccurately called "the Arab
world," Israelis have never known
an hour of real peace. Patronizing
American lectures on the reality of
risks and the desirableness of
peace, which once were merely
fatuous, are now obscene.
11 ELUL 5770
The Weekly Torah Reading:
By Rabbi Aron Tendler
In the course of history mankind's
most ignoble times have been
during war and conflict. It is
almost as if we suspend our
humanity and regress to our
lowest common denominator; that
of the wild beast. Murder, rape,
and plunder accompany the
soldier as he is given license to
destroy that which should be most
precious. It confirms, as the Torah
teaches, that all morals and
values rest upon the sanctity of
human life. Devalue the
pricelessness of life, and you
undermine the foundation upon
which all values and morals rest.
The private domain of person and
property then becomes subject to
the unleashed amorality of the
human animal.
Following the instructions at the
end of last weeks Parsha as to
how the Jew is to wage war,
Moshe, in Parshas Ki Seitsei,
presented 74 Mitzvos which
highlight the value that the Torah
places on the private domain of
person and property.
1st Aliya: In an illuminating
sequence of emotional and legal
circumstances,Moshe forewarned
us of the moral and familial
dangers of warfare. A
soldierbrings home a non-Jewish
female captive. Disregarding
rational and obvious differences,
he marries her, has his 1st son
with her, and eventually resents
the discord he has fostered upon
himself, his "captive wife", and his
extended family. Attempting to
deny his responsibility in the
"resentment turned to hatred"
breaking apart his family, he
attempts to deny his 1st born
son's rights. This is illegal.
This can Produce the "Rebellious
Son"; a child who does not value
the private rights of person or
property and will eventually be
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executed for his crimes against
society. It's a tragedy that begs us
to consider the long range
consequences of our actions
before giving legal license to the
wild beast within each of us.
2nd Aliya: The laws regarding:
hanging and burial; returning lost
articles; the fallen animal;
transvestitism; and the birds nest
are detailed.
3rd Aliya: The laws regarding:
guard rails; mixed agriculture;
forbidden combinations; Tzitzit;
the defamed wife; if the
accusations against the wife are
true; the penalty for adultery; the
rape of a betrothed or unmarried
girl; the prohibition against
marrying a father's wife; the
Mamzer; and the prohibition
against marrying an Ammonite or
Moabite are detailed.
4th Aliya: The laws regarding:
marriage to Edomites or
Egyptians; the sanctity of the
army camp; sheltering run away
slaves; prostitution; deducted
interest; and keeping vows are
commanded.
5th and 6th Aliyot:The laws
regarding: workers eating while
they harvest;divorce and
remarriage; military exemptions
for a new husband; taking a
millstone as security for a loan;
the punishment for kidnapping;
leprosy; general laws regarding
security for loans, are detailed.
7th Aliya: The laws regarding
paying wages on time; the
testimony of close relatives;
concern for the widowed and
orphaned; forgotten sheaves of
grain; leftover fruit from the
harvest; Malkos - flogging; the
childless sister-in- law; the
assailant and the wife who comes
to the rescue; honest weights and
measures; and remembering
Amalek are commanded.
Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace August 21
Isaiah 54:1-10 : The Haftorah for
this week's Parsha, Ki Sietzei,
was taken from chapter 54 in
Yishayuhu. It describes Israel as
afflicted barren, and inconsolable
in the aftermath of the Temple's
destruction. The Navi assured the
People that Hashem's kindness
and love for them is ever present,
protecting and sustaining them at
all times.
EXCERPTS FROM THE JERSEY
SHORE TORAH BULLETIN
Rabbi Reuven Semah
“A perfect and honest weight
shall you have…For an
abomination of Hashem, your G-
d, are all who do this, all who act
corruptly.” (Debarim 25:15-16)
Our perashah speaks about
the importance of honesty and
integrity. Rabbi S.R. Hirsch
writes: A Jew becomes “an
abomination of G-d, his G-d,” if he
calls himself a Jew and does not
keep what is right and fair in his
dealings with his fellow man. If
Hashem despises those who act
corruptly it follows that Hashem
loves those who act honestly.
A true story is told by an
administrator in a Brooklyn
yeshivah. The city provided
busing for the students. One year
the city sent a bus driver named
Richie. Richie was tall and strong
and quickly became the leader of
all the drivers. The administrator
relates that he kept Richie happy
by giving him a cup of coffee
every afternoon before he drove
the children home. One day
Richie tells the Rabbi that he isn’t
a holy Rabbi. The Rabbi was
surprised, so he asked Richie
how he defined a holy Rabbi. He
explained that he used to drive for
Rabbi Mandel of Yeshivah of
Brooklyn on Ocean Parkway and
Avenue O. Rabbi Mandel used to
give him coffee, but the Rabbi
used to drink from a different milk.
Richie thought that the Rabbi’s
11 ELUL 5770
milk was kosher milk, so he told
the Rabbi he wanted kosher milk
also. The Rabbi laughed and
replied, “Richie, your coffee is just
as kosher as mine. You see, the
milk we have in school is provided
by the government. It’s for
students, teachers, and bus
drivers like you. But it’s not for
administration people like me.
That’s why I bring milk from home
for my coffee.”
“Yes, Rabbi Mandel is a holy
Rabbi.”
Rabbi Shmuel Choueka
"Hashem shouldn't see your
nakedness so that He should turn
away from you." (Debarim 23:15)
If we wonder why the Divine
Presence is so hidden in our
times, this verse provides the
answer. When G-d sees that the
Jewish People are not conducting
themselves in a modest way, He
turns away from us, leaving us in
the dark. Although it says in
another place in the Torah that G-
d dwells amongst us even if we
are impure, this refers to other
kinds of improper behavior.
When it comes to dressing
immodestly, Hashem chooses not
to be revealed amongst us. In
these days, when the whole
society is overwhelmingly
encouraging this kind of dress
code, everyone who makes an
attempt to dress properly will be
truly bringing blessings on
themselves and on their families.
Indeed, we have seen some
people accept upon themselves
to be more modestly attired, with
the merit going to bring a speedy
recovery for those who are
stricken with difficult illnesses.
This is a remarkable zechut. It is
written that if a person has a
temptation to see someone
immodestly dressed and
overcomes it, he should, at that
very moment, pray to Hashem for
whatever he wishes, because he
has created such a magnificent
zechut by overcoming his
5

temptations. Therefore, it
becomes an opportune moment
to pray. We see how much
Hashem rewards those who make
modest dress part of their lives
because they are bringing
Hashem back to the Jewish
People. Let us merit to be those
fortunate ones.
NO PRICE TAG
When someone wants to
pursue an education with the goal
of acquiring a profession, the two
most frequently asked questions
are, “How long is the course of
study?” and “How mush is the
tuition expense?” The answers
will help the interested individual
determine whether the investment
of time and money will be worth
the anticipated payback over
time.
Similar calculations must be
made when buying a home. Is it
prudent to make a long-term
commitment to a twenty- or thirty-
year mortgage? Is it wise to use
most of a monthly paycheck to
cover the mortgage expense?
People will usually decide to
proceed with their plans for home-
buying and career-oriented
education. The value of these
long term investments is
determined by how essential the
end products may be to life.
Choosing a home and profession
are both very important life
decisions.
Now, take the “investment vs.
benefits” thought process one
step further and consider physical
well-being. What value can be
placed on a heart or kidney
transplant? How far is it worth
traveling to get a healthy body to
replace one whose failure might
endanger life itself?
People are usually willing to
expend much time and effort on
improving the material and
Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace August 21
physical aspects of their lives.
But what is most real and lasting
in life is not the temporal side, but
the spiritual pursuit of Torah and
misvot in a quest to reach
perfection. The amount of
acceptable sacrifice – both in
terms of finances and time –
should be unlimited, because it
stands to earn eternal reward.
Eternity is a long, long time, and it
is priceless as well. It is wise to
apply long-term effort to where it
will produce priceless results.
(One Minute With Yourself –
Rabbi Raymond Beyda)
RABBI ELI MANSOUR
Beyond the Letter of the Law
Parashat Ki-Teseh begins with
some Halachot relevant to
warfare, opening with the words,
“When you go out to war against
your foes…” Many Sages noted
that these verses allude as well to
a different kind of war, the war
that we must each wage on a
constant basis against our Yeser
Hara, our sinful instincts. Studying
these verses can thus offer some
insight into the way we should go
about the constant struggle
against our evil inclinations.
Rashi, commenting on the first
verse of the Parasha, writes that
the Torah speaks here about a
“Milhemet Reshut,” or “optional
war.” According to the simple
meaning, Rashi refers to a war
that the nation decided to wage
for the purpose of expanding its
borders and the like. The
Halachot presented in this
section, which outline the
procedure whereby a man may
marry a woman captured during
battle, apply only in wars that are
not mandated by the Torah, but
not in obligatory wars, such as the
battle waged against Amalek. On
a deeper level, however, Rashi’s
comments allude to the fact that
our “war” against the Yeser Hara
must be fought in the domain of
“Reshut,” of the “permissible.”
11 ELUL 5770
Let us consider a simple example
of a father walking with his young
son, and he instructs him to walk
only on the sidewalk, and not on
the street. The boy decides at
one point during the trip to walk
on the curb, just inches away
from high speed traffic. The father
grows angry with the son and
shouts at him for endangering
himself, but the son innocently
defends himself, noting that he
obeyed the father’s command not
to walk in the street.
Clearly, the father is correct.
Staying out of the street also
means staying a couple of feet or
so away from the street. Walking
along the edge is risky.
Pedestrians are advised to not
simply avoid the street, but also to
avoid the area immediately next
to the street.
Similarly, our Sages throughout
the generations enacted “fences”
to safeguard the Torah. They
understood how fragile people
are and how easily the Yeser
Hara can push us a couple of feet
over into the “street,” to wrongful
behavior. There are countless
examples of Halachot and
customs that we observe for this
purpose, refraining from actions
which the Torah technically
permits, in order to protect
against Torah violations.
Rabbis will sometimes warn
against certain modes of behavior
even though they are, technically
speaking, permissible according
to Torah law. And people might
be tempted to object, wondering
why the Rabbis are being so
strict, why they disallow that
which the Torah permits. We
must recognize the importance of
fighting a “Milhemet Reshut,”
waging the battle against the
Yeser Hara in the permissible
domain, in the middle of the
sidewalk, and not near the edge.
The time to fight the Yeser Hara
6

that seeks to dissuade us from
attending Shaharit in the morning
is not at 5:30am when the alarm
rings. This fight must be fought
the night before, by resisting the
temptation to stay up late. We
should not be putting ourselves in
inherently “permissible” situations
if they bring us to the “curb,” too
close to danger. We must instead
steer clear of spiritual risks, and
fight the Yeser Hara before he
gets too close.
Rabbi Wein
Moshe's Final Oration to the
Jewish People
The parsha of Ki Teitzei contains
the second most numerous count
of mitzvoth in the Torah, topped
only by the count of mitzvoth in
the parsha of Kdoshim in
Chumash Vayikra. The
commentators to the Torah
discuss why these mitzvoth that
first appear in Ki Teitzei, all of
whom are ultimately derived from
the granting of the Torah at
Mount Sinai almost forty years
earlier, find their place in the
Torah here in Moshe’s final
oration to the Jewish people.
Their approach to the issue
differs. Some are of the opinion
since many of these mitzvoth are
related to war, settling the land,
domesticated human life and the
like they appear here because of
the impending life altering change
for the Jewish people from a
miraculous existence in the desert
to a more natural and normal
society living. They were now in
their own land with all of the
changes and problems that such
a radical shift of circumstances
implies.
Others merely say that this is an
example of the Talmudic dictum
that the Torah is not bound in its
teachings and text to any
narrative time line; there is no
chronological order to the Torah.
Even though these mitzvoth
Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace August 21
appear to us in writing here for
the first time in the Torah text,
they were essentially already
taught to the Jewish people in the
desert long before by Moshe.
There are other explanations to
the placement of these mitzvoth
here in our parsha advanced by
many of the great commentators
to the Torah. All possible
explanations are valid and they
are not mutually exclusive.
If I may be bold enough to add
my insight to this matter as well, I
would say as follows: The Jewish
people are now about to become
a nation and to establish their
own government in the Land of
Israel. They will have to fight
many battles, bloody and painful,
to establish their right to the Land
of Israel and to establish their
sovereignty over the territory that
it encompasses.
They will need an army, a civil
government, a judicial system, an
economy and labor force and all
of the other necessary trappings
that accompany nation building
and establishing a territorial entity
and effective government. In the
face of these demands it will be
likely that they will think that they
may discard the spiritual yoke of
the mitzvoth imposed upon them
at Sinai.
It will be easy to say that mitzvoth
were necessary in the Sinai
desert where no other demands
on our time, energy and service
existed for us. But now we have
more pressing business at hand
and therefore the punctilious
observance of mitzvoth is no
longer required of us.
Moshe comes in this parsha, in
the midst of his valedictory oration
to the Jewish people, to remind
them that mitzvoth and Torah are
the only effective guarantee of
Jewish success and survival even
while engaged in building and
11 ELUL 5770
defending Jewish sovereignty in
the Land of Israel.
Moshe in effect says to them:
“Here are some more mitzvoth
that will help you succeed in
building the land and your
sovereignty over it.” Moshe’s
message is as germane to our
time as it was to the first Jews
who arrived en masse to settle in
the Land of Israel thirty-three
centuries ago.
Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky -
Parsha Parables
A Tale of Two Pities
Did you ever cry out as a victim of
injustice? To whom did you cry?
In Parshas Ki Saytzay, the Torah
talks to employers about their
dealings with employees. "You
shall not withhold the wages of a
poor or destitute hired worker, of
your brothers or of your strangers
who are in your land within your
cities. You shall give him his
wage on his day and not let the
sun set over it, for he is poor, and
to it he sets his soul, and he will
not cry out to the Lord against
you, and that there should be sin
upon you" (Deuteronomy 24:15).
The Torah chides us "don't hold
back one's wages, as one "sets
his soul" or as the Sifri explains,
"he often risks his life", for those
wages. But the end of the posuk,
"and he will not cry to the Lord
against you" needs clarification.
What does it mean that the poor
worker will not cry out to G-d.
Why not? And what is the point
whether he cries out or not? In
the actual Hebrew the words are
"vlo yikra eilecha el Hashem"
simply translated the words mean
"and he will not cry out against
you to Hashem." However, the
commentators explain the verse
meaning, not that he will not cry,
but rather, "Pay the man so that
he will not cry out to Hashem."
Whereupon Rashi comments, "in
any case, (whether he cries or not
to G-d) there will be sin upon you.
7

However, punishment is meted
out faster by virtue of one who
cries out."
It is fascinating. Back in Parshas
Re'eh there is another story of a
poor man suffering injustice:
"Beware, lest there be in your
heart an unfaithful thought,
saying, 'The seventh year, the
year of release has approached,'
and you will begrudge your needy
brother and not give him, and he
will cry out to the Lord against
you, and it will be a sin to you"
(Deuteronomy 15:6).
There the Torah tells us that the
man indeed does cry out. In
either case there is sin. Why
does that man poor cry to G-d
while this employee does not?
The Story: Here's an age-old tale
that I heard from many
prospective father-in-laws: The
wealthy father sat smugly as the
young suitor, a fine scholar,
asked for his daughter's hand in
marriage.
"That is very nice," he said. "But
how, may I ask, will you feed my
daughter?"
"Do not worry," said the aspiring
groom, "G-d will provide!"
"And how will you clothe her?"
Again the aspiring groom
declared, "Do not worry. G-d will
provide!"
And when you will have a family
how will you house them!
With a confident smile the scholar
beamed, "Do not worry! G-d will
provide!"
The match was accepted and the
festivities planned. The father-in-
laws friends approached him and
asked, "What did you see in the
young man that led you to accept
his proposal?"
Why shouldn't I have accepted,"
said the wealthy man. "He thinks
I'm G-d!"
The Message: I think the Torah
addresses two types of people.
The poor man who relies solely
on G-d, and the worker who looks
to his employer and his work as
Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace August 21
the source of his income. The
poor man with perfect faith, when
humiliated or scorned, will indeed
cry out to G-d. In this week's
portion the Torah tells us about
the other man, the one who looks
not to G-d for support but rather
to his company, his boss and his
wages. He may not cry out to G-
d. He cries to the Unions.
Perhaps he has forgotten the real
Source of his fare.
My Uncle Rav Hirshel Zacks was
a grandson of the saintly Chofetz
Chaim. He once related to me
how as a youngster he saw an
elderly woman burst into the room
of the holy Tzaddik and beg for a
blessing. The Chofetz Chaim
responded, "The Ribbono Shel
Olam should..." The woman
stopped him abruptly. "Genuk mit
der Ribono Shel Olam! Ich vill fun
deer a bracha! Enough already
with the Almighty! I want a
blessing from you!"
Some of us direct our tears
toward the Almighty, other vent to
their employers, shareholders,
investors. Hashem says, "I don't
care. I know right from wrong.
And the fact that this man will not
cry to me, rather he may cry to
you does not make a difference. I
will enact my punishment
nevertheless. He may think that
his wages are G-d. He may give
his life for his job. He may not cry
out to me because he thinks you
are G-d. That does not get you
off the hook. And thus it tells us:
"He will not cry out to the Lord
against you, but there should be
sin upon you."
I remember during the Madoff
fiasco, a man who was terribly
duped and saw his wealth
disappear through Madoff's
machinations, asked me, "Why
did G-d let this happen?"
I answered to the best of my
ability. "Maybe it's because when
you were making fortunes, you
thought Madoff was G-d!"
11 ELUL 5770
Yes, there are people who forget
that G-d is the Provider. So they
do not cry to him. This week the
Torah says, that is no excuse to
forsake or cheat them either. You
have no right to be a "holier than
thou" employer who does not
worry as the man does not cry out
to G-d. Just the opposite! You
must be more vigilant in paying,
as the worker relies on you! And
thus G-d says, "he will not cry out
to the L-rd, but there should be
sin upon the withholder of those
wages!" The worker may have
forgotten me, he may not cry out
to me, but I will not forget or
forgive the injustice" of his boss
Sir Jonathan Sacks
Chief Rabbi of the United
Hebrew Congregations
of the Commonwealth
Rehabilitation of Offenders
This week's sedra provides us
with a fine example of the
humanity of Jewish law - as well
as the way the sages interpreted
the Torah. Our point of departure
is this passage:
When men have a dispute, they
are to take it to court and the
judges will decide the case,
acquitting the innocent and
condemning the guilty. If the
guilty man deserves to be beaten,
the judge shall make him lie down
and have him flogged in his
presence with the number of
lashes his crime deserves, but he
must not give him more than forty
lashes. If he is flogged more than
that, your brother will be
degraded in your eyes. (Deut. 25:
1-3)
The passage is not
straightforward, since in Jewish
law lashes are not a form of
punishment in civil cases as the
verse seems to imply. However,
our focus will be on the last
8

phrase: "your brother will be
degraded in your eyes".
The sages derived from this a
fundamental principle, namely the
rehabilitation of an offender once
he has served his punishment. In
the earlier part of the passage the
offender is called ha-rasha,
translated here as "the guilty" but
which literally means "the
wicked". At the end, however, he
is called "your brother". From this,
the sages (Sifre ad loc.) drew the
conclusion that "once he has
been beaten, he becomes [again]
your brother".
This has both a specific and more
general application. The specific
rule applies to offences that
carried with them the severe
punishment of karet, literally
"being cut off" from one's people.
In many cases this was
interpreted as a divine rather than
human punishment; the human
punishment was to receive
lashes. The principle that "once
he has been beaten, he becomes
[again] your brother" was taken to
mean that the human punishment
cancels the divine punishment.
Once the offender has been
beaten, there is no residual guilt
(Mishnah, Makkot 3: 15).
In addition, however, the sages
inferred the far wider principle that
when the guilty has received the
punishment his offence deserved,
he is restored to his earlier status.
For example, he is permitted to
be a witness, and his testimony is
not invalidated by the fact that
previously he had been found
guilty of an offence. The stain on
his character is temporary, not
permanent.
Offenders are to be rehabilitated.
This led to a specific enactment
by the sages, known as takkanat
ha-shavim, a rule designed to
remove obstacles to penitence.
The Mishnah (Gittin 5:5) teaches
that "If a beam which was
Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace August 21
acquired by robbery has been
built into a building, restitution for
it may be made in money so as
not to put obstacles in the way of
penitents."
The rule is that in the case of
robbery, the guilty party must
return what he has taken to its
rightful owner ("He shall restore
that which he took by robbery",
Lev. 5: 23). This makes obvious
sense. If a robber were allowed
merely to make monetary
compensation rather than return
the stolen object, the law would,
in effect, allow someone to
acquire an object - albeit at a
price - by violence. That must be
wrong.
Yet this rule was suspended in a
case where returning the object
would involve massive loss on the
part of the robber. The situation
envisaged by the Mishnah is one
where, having stolen a beam, the
robber has used it to build a
house. Restoring the beam would
involve tearing down the house. A
sense of guilt at the original crime
might induce remorse in the
robber and an effort on his part to
return objects he has wrongly
taken. If, however, this would
involve disproportionate loss on
his part - not just returning the
stolen object, but also having to
dismantle what he has built using
it - he might decide that restitution
was just too costly, and decide
against giving the object back.
So what, one might say. The man
is a robber. What matters is the
right of the innocent - the original
owner of the beam - not the right
of the guilty. Surely the robber, by
breaking the law, has forfeited
any claim on the court's
clemency. Yet Jewish law ruled
otherwise. To be sure, the owner
must be compensated for his
loss. Without this, he will have
suffered an injustice. But we must
have concern for the offender
also, in the sense that we must
11 ELUL 5770
clear away any obstacles in the
path of his return to law-
abidingness. The sages fully
understood that this was not part
of Torah law. It required a positive
enactment, takkanat ha-shavim,
on their part. But the sages would
not have made this enactment if
they did not feel that it was in the
spirit of Torah law.
They went further still. We find in
the Talmud (Baba Kamma 94b)
this remarkable principle: "If
robbers or usurers [repent, and of
their own accord] are prepared to
restore what they have wrongly
taken, it is not right to accept it
from them, and one who does so
is not acting with the approval of
the sages." The Talmud explains
how this teaching emerged from
an actual case.
In the time of Rabbi Judah ha-
Nasi, head of the Jewish
community in the early third
century, a robber decided to end
his life of crime and restore
everything he had wrongly taken
to its owners. His wife said to him:
"Fool. If you give back everything
you have taken, you will not be
left with even the belt you are
wearing." The rule was then
instituted those who had been
robbed should not insist on the
return of their property.
Needless to say, this does not
apply to a robber who has been
brought to court - only to one who
has, without any prompting other
than his own conscience, decided
to confess his guilt and make
amends. Nor does it apply if the
robber still has the stolen objects
in his possession. Nor is it a legal
requirement. The rightful owner
may still take the robber to court if
he so chooses. Some go so far as
to say that this was never
intended as a permanent
enactment, for it is all too easily
exploitable: robbers could steal
and then pretend to be penitent
(see Maggid Mishneh to
9

Rambam, Hilkhot Gezelah 1: 13).
Yet despite all this, Maimonides
writes: "Even though robbing
someone is like taking their life . .
. we must help [a robber who
repents of his own accord] and
pardon him in order to bring him
back to the right path of
penitents" (Hilkhot Gezelah 1:
13).
Another principle the sages
articulated - this time on the basis
of a biblical command - was that
one should not make reference to
a penitent's past. One should not
say to someone who committed a
crime, but has now served his
sentence and expressed remorse,
"Remember the crime you
committed". To do so is to be
guilty to "verbal oppression",
which is forbidden by the verse,
"You shall not oppress one
another, but you shall fear your
God; I am the Lord your G-d"
(Lev. 25: 17; Rambam, Hilkhot
Teshuvah 7: 8). In the tenth
century, Rabbenu Gershom
instituted a rule that one who
made public mention of a
penitent's earlier deeds was to be
excommunicated (Teshuvot
Chakhmei Tzorfat, 21).
The rules of rehabilitation are
complex, and I make no attempt
to summarise them here. Yet it is
clear that from earliest times the
sages tempered their concern for
justice with a desire to help
criminals and wrongdoers find
their way back to honesty and
society. What mandated them to
do so was the teaching of the
prophet Ezekiel:
"Son of man, say to the house of
Israel: This is what you have been
saying, 'Our offenses and sins
weigh heavily on us, and we are
sick at heart because of them.
How can we survive?' Say to
them, 'As surely as I live, declares
the Sovereign Lord, I take no
pleasure in the death of the
wicked, but rather that they turn
Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace August 21
from their ways and live. Turn
back, turn back from your evil
ways, that you may not die, O
house of Israel." (Ezekiel 33: 10-
12)
Not only were these teachings
many centuries ahead of their
time. They also have much to
teach us today. Retributive justice
is not incompatible with a sense
of human dignity and freedom. To
the contrary, it is based on them.
Jewish law is concerned not only
to protect the rights of those who
have been wronged, but also to
help wrongdoers rebuild their
future. Guilt, in Judaism, is about
acts, not persons. It is the act, not
the person, that is condemned.
Once the criminal has served his
punishment and repented of his
crime, he becomes, once more,
"your brother".
AS HEARD FROM RABBI
AVIGDOR MILLER Z'TL
“For it is an abomination to
Hashem your G-d all that do
these.” (25:16)
Deceit in money matters, even if
done by error such as by incorrect
measuring vessels, is impossible
of restitution because the sinner
does not know how many persons
he has wronged. “The
punishment for (wrong) measures
is worse than the punishment for
incest” (Baba Batra 88B). Not
because incest is less serious.
Although very severe penalties
result from incest, yet with heavy
penance and suffering it can be
atoned.
But thievery can never be fully
atoned unless full restitution is
made to each victim, even if
cheated for a penny. This is
therefore an abomination.
Aside from the impossibility of full
restitution, this verse states that
“anyone that does injustice” to a
fellow man is an abomination. To
11 ELUL 5770
wrong your brother in money
matters is thus extremely
displeasing to Hashem. But, to
wrong him with hurtful words is
even worse (Baba Metzia 58B).
We see how very important is
Repentance. Teshuba is not
possible for a sin against a fellow
man (whether deceit in money or
hurtful words), unless he forgives
you.
However, an extremely heinous
crime of Ervah/immorality
requires only that Hashem should
forgive. Therefore it is less
fearsome than sins against our
fellow man whose forgiveness is
not always available. Quoted
from “Fortunate Nation” by R’
Miller
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