REACHING OUT

The Tour Guide of

BY GAVRIEL HORAN
Whether its the mitzvah of pidyon peter chamor, redeeming a firstborn donkey; shiluach haken, sending a mother bird away from her nest before taking the eggs; or speaking to nonobservant Jews in the Belz beis medrash in Yerushalayim, Rabbi Yechezkel Friedman is constantly busy bringing Yidden closer to their Father in heaven. As the largest synagogue in the world, the Belzer shul in Yerushalayim receives hundreds of visitors each week. The building is rich in historical significance; it is modeled after the original sanctuary that was built by the first Belzer Rebbe, the Sar Shalom, Harav Shalom Rokeach, zya, which was destroyed by the Nazis. For many people, however, a tour of the synagogue is much more than a religious, cultural, or historic experience; it is their first exposure to Orthodox Jewry. Thanks to Belzs tour guide, Rabbi Yechezkel Friedman, the majority of visitors to this magnificent edifice walk away forever changed.

The impressive Belz edifice stands out across the Jerusalem skyline, visible from every direction.

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Belz

Rabbi Yechezkel Friedman addressing different groups of tourists in the Belzer shul.

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EB YECHEZKEL FRIEDMAN is quite the international citizen a factor that enables him to relate to the diverse Jews he encounters in a days work. Born in the frum community of Melbourne, Australia, he is descended from Belzer chassidim on both sides. After studying in Gateshead, England, and Belz in Jerusalem, Reb Yechezkel was married in America and immediately moved to Kiryas Belz in Yerushalayim to learn in the Rebbes illustrious kollel iyun. That was

seventeen years ago. He learned bhasmadah for the next ten years, until he was summoned by the head of the synagogue committee, Rabbi Yossi Gold, in 2003. By then the magnificent synagogue had been completed and a large number of tour guides approached Rabbi Gold seeking permission to show off the magnificent synagogue to their groups. When Rabbi Gold relayed to the Rebbe how inspired people were after visiting the shul, the Rebbe told him to open up the shul to the

public during off hours to bring them closer to Yiddishkeit and yiras Shamayim rather than as an architectural or historical attraction. To fulfilled the Rebbes directive, appointing an official tour guide of the Belz beis medrash became a necessity. Reb Yechezkels fluency in English, Hebrew, and Yiddish, made him the natural choice.

Chareidi Spokesman
Although visitors to the sanctuary include large numbers of frum tourists

(Right) The main sanctuary holds as many as 5000 people on Shabbos and holidays. Smaller shtieblach host minyanim around the clock.

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from outside of Israel, many secular Israelis and immigrant and visiting Americans come for the tour as well, among them numerous Anglo students who are in Israel on yearabroad study programs. Reb Yechezkel has also hosted ambassadors of many different countries, government officials, and other important people, including the president of Harvard University, who was enthralled by the shuls acoustics. The story of how Belz Chassidus

(Below) Rabbi Friedman provides the Israeli border police with a different view of chareidim and Torah Judaism.

rebuilt itself from the ashes of the Holocaust to its former glory is incredibly inspiring and moving for anyone, Reb Yechezkel said. The destruction of the old shul, the miraculous survival of the previous Rebbe, Rav Aharon Rokeach, zya, and the rise of the present Rebbe [shlita] from an orphaned boy to the leader of an empire is an amazing story of Jewish survival and renewal. In addition to explaining the historical significance of the synagogue, Reb Yechezkel soon realized that he could use the tour as a powerful kiruv tool as well, since many visitors have never had an opportunity to speak to a frum Jew before. At the end of each tour, he spends an hour or so answering questions. He often has to urge his guests to leave once their time is up, even though the questions continue to flow. Topics range from the chareidi approach to the secular state of Israel to army service, the archaic-looking dress code, secular studies, marriage,

Every secular Israeli has preconceived notions about chareidim from the media. I have to dissolve these stereotypes one by one.

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and employment. Every secular Israeli has preconceived notions about chareidim from the media. I have to dissolve those stereotypes one by one, he said. The atmosphere in the shul is so amazing and uplifting that theyre much more open and receptive. Baruch Hashem, we have tremendous success. His goal is to break the ice and open up a connection between observant and nonobservant people. Most secular Jews think that were from the Stone Age unintelligent creatures who know nothing of modern civilization. I simply show them that being religious does not mean that youre off the wall. Thats the most important message they can get. I show them that were normal people we work, we converse, were intelligent. Its often their first encounter with a chareidi Jew, especially a Chassidic Jew, and the fact that Im articulate, smile, and can answer their questions changes their

entire outlook on the chareidi world. I feel like Im a spokesman for all chareidi Jewry.

One Step at a Time

Reb Yechezkel is a self-made man, never having attended any kiruv training seminars. I sort of trained myself, he said and then added, Actually, I just say the truth in a sensitive way. You dont need training for the truth but the key is that it has to come from the heart, with total respect for where theyre coming from. From their reactions I see that my answers are the right ones. A tour guide from a secular kibbutz told Reb Yechezkel that his view of chareidim was completely transformed after the tour. Every time I used to see a frum Jew, I would get filled with rage at you bloodsuckers. I now see that chareidim arent so bad. How could I have been so wrong? Youve changed my entire image. After one tour, an eighty-year-old

Its not uncommon for visitors to break down in tears during the tour. They get hit by the beauty of the shul, the power of history, and something touches their neshamah.

A veiw of the inner sancturary and the 39-foot-tall aron kodesh in all its breathtaking beauty.

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secular Jew from Haifa exclaimed, Im chiloni, but from now on Im more Jewish than I was before! Its not uncommon for visitors to break down in tears in the middle of the tour. They get hit by the beauty of the shul, the power of the history, and something touches their neshamah, Reb Yechezkel said. We get that feedback every single day. Often visitors ask Reb Yechezkel what he wants them to do now that they are so inspired. I expect from them the same thing I expect from myself to take one step closer to G-d. With that in mind, he often announces to the crowd that people shouldnt become baalei teshuvah on the spot. Were not trying to convert you, he tells them. Take your time. Everyone has to get closer to G-d one step at a time.

The original shul of Belz, Ukaraine, built by the first Belzer Rebbe and completed in 1843.

Secrets Revealed
According to Belz tradition, the first Belzer Rebbe, Rav Shalom Rokeach, zya, learned all night for one thousand consecutive nights as a young man. On the thousandth night, Eliyahu Hanavi revealed himself to him and learned Torah with him. Among the many secrets Eliyahu Hanavi taught him were the halachos of building a synagogue, based on all the secrets of Kabbalah. Building the synagogue became the Rebbes lifework, and he was personally involved in every aspect of its construction, down to the most minute detail. The Rebbe saw the shul as a gift for all of Klal Yisrael and said that its walls would be a magnet that would draw people to kedushah. During the inauguration ceremony in 1843, he quoted the gemara stating that when Moshiach comes and gathers the Jewish people from the four corners of the earth, their shuls and batei medrash will also be transplanted in the Holy Land. Twelve of the most beautiful synagogues in the world will be relocated in Jerusalem, close to the Beis Hamikdash, the Rebbe added, and mine will be one of them! A peculiarity of the original synagogue was that it was built with a flat roof, even though all buildings in Poland had sloped roofs. The Rebbe explained that this was done so that the shul wouldnt look out of place when it was relocated to Jerusalem. During the German invasion of Poland at the onset of World War II, the Nazis attempted to blow up the synagogue on two different occasions, but it miraculously survived both attempts, forcing them to dismantle it by hand, brick by brick. Horrified onlookers never believed that the synagogue would someday be rebuilt in Jerusalem. In 1966, on the ninth yahrtzeit of the Rebbe Harav Aharon, zya, the current Admor was crowned Rebbe. Immediately after accepting the mantle of leadership, the Rebbe envisioned rebuilding the synagogue. In 1984, he set to work on the construction of the massive Belz World Center in Jerusalem, modeled after the original one in Belz. Sixteen years later, in the year 2000, it was completed. The Rebbe visited the site as often as possible throughout that long process and helped in whatever way he could. All the cement pouring was done by the chassidim who went to the mikveh, gave tzedakah, and recited certain prayers beforehand. Today, with its imposing ramparts and ornamental battlements, the great Belzer synagogue dominates the Jerusalem skyline.

A Mikdash Meat
At fourteen stories, the Belzer synagogue is the largest one in the world. The majestic interior of the main beis medrash, with its nine ornate chandeliers imported from Czechoslovakia and its imposing aron kodesh, transports a person to another world. Each chandelier weighs 3,388 pounds, somewhat less than two tons, and has 112 globes. The aron kodesh took fifteen months to carve and was made by Jewish artisans. Weighing twentythree tons and standing thirty-nine feet high, it is the tallest aron kodesh in the world and has room inside for seventy sifrei Torah. Religious audiences are often moved when they are told that the Beis Hamikdash was three times the height of the Belz synagogue and the entrance leading to the Ulam, was twice the size of the Belz aron kodesh (over seventy-eight feet, or forty amos). The sanctuary seats five thousand people, and work is under way to add eight hundred more. The shul really is a mikdash meat compared to what we are waiting for when Moshiach comes, Reb Yechezkel said. Many secular Jewish visitors have toured the world and visited countless historic churches and temples. They often wonder aloud why we dont have many

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shuls that are as beautiful as the Muslim, Christian, and Hindu sanctuaries throughout the world, Reb Yechezkel related. The Belzer shul gives them a sense of pride, knowing that we also have beautiful houses of worship. He pointed out that the synagogue has also changed religious Jews view of how a shul should look. Function, and not beauty, was often the primary goal in constructing a synagogue. Since the completion of the Belzer synagogue in 2000, it set a new precedent in the frum world. Now many shuls in the chareidi community are beautiful and well-kept, and many communities come to visit Belz before designing their own. Nonobservant Jews often question how

so much money could be spent on a building when it could have been used to feed the poor or support other charities. Reb Yechezkel explains to them that in Jewish history money was always invested in shuls to show our children whats important to us. The shul is the mainstay of our lives, and our survival depends on the eternal message of Torah and tefillah, he said. He also points out to them that if the cost is divided among all the generations who will benefit from the shul in the years to come, iyH, its a small price to pay.

A Bird in the Hand

Reb Yechezkel is a man of many talents. Ever since he was a young boy in

Rabbi Friedman was successful in fulfilling the mitzvah of shiluach haken in the middle of the night.

Reb Yechezkel explains to nonobservant Jews that in Jewish history money was always invested in shuls to show our children whats important to us. The shul is the mainstay of our lives, he says.

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Australia, he has always enjoyed looking for birds nests. Later on, in Eretz Yisrael, he grew close to Rav Dan Schwartz, the author of Ken Tzipor, a practical halachic guide to the mitzvah of shiluach haken, sending away the mother bird before taking the eggs from the nest. Reb Yechezkel has performed this mitzvah dozens of times. In the process he became known as the shiluach haken rabbi and started getting daily phone calls from people all over the world seeking guidance in performing this mitzvah, and he has also provided hundreds of people with birds nests with which to perform the mitzvah themselves. He explained that one of the main complications in fulfilling the mitzvah is that there is only a short window of opportunity when it can be performed. The mitzvah must take place within a few days after the eggs have been laid. Afterward, the chicks begin to develop and the eggs become treif, and therefore invalid. According to many poskim, the mitzvah only applies if you want to eat the eggs, so he encourages people to eat them after they send away the mother bird otherwise it could be a transgression of tzaar baalei chaim, cruelty to animals. It requires a lot of hours of birdwatching to catch them just as they are building their nest. Wherever I go, I look for nests, he added. Since most of the nests he finds are those of rock doves or pigeons, whose eggs are very small, he recommends that people mix the egg with a regular omelet and eat it at a seudas mitzvah. There are many special segulos associated with this mitzvah, such as building or buying a house, getting married, having children, and living a long life. The Zohar says that it helps hasten the redemption since the mother birds cries for her children arouse Hashems compassion for the Jewish people, who were also taken away from their Father in heaven. The Arizal

Shiluach haken must take place within a few days after the eggs have been laid. It requires a lot of hours of birdwatching to catch them just as they are building their nest. Wherever I go, I look for nests.
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therefore writes that one should go out of his way to fulfill this mitzvah during his lifetime. Many of the people who have done so through Reb Yechezkel have had success in business deals or purchased houses, and almost all have had children, but he added, Even if some peoples tefillos have not been answered, we still believe that what Chazal say is true.

The mitzvah of redeeming a peter chamor is usually very difficult to come by because one must be certain that the mother never had any previous offspring.

Donkey Business
As if Belz and birds werent enough, Reb Yechezkel recently became involved in another unusual mitzvah, that of pidyon peter chamor. This is the mitzvah of redeeming a firstborn male donkey by giving a sheep to a kohen. There is also an important segulah mentioned in connection with this mitzvah; Rashi explains that anyone who gives gifts to a kohen will merit great wealth (Bamidbar

5:10). The mitzvah of redeeming a peter chamor is usually very difficult to come by because one must be absolutely certain that the mother never had any previous offspring viable or otherwise. Unless the donkey has been in the possession of a frum Jew from birth, theres no reliable way to know whether this is the case. Although the mitzvah is performed from time to time, the donkeys are often bought from Bedouins who cant provide valid testimony as to the donkeys status, and are therefore not mehudar. I always wondered if it was possible to fulfill this mitzvah in the most mehadrin fashion, Reb Yechezkel recalled. He set out to find a young female donkey owned by a reliable religious Jew. After searching for quite some time, he recently heard about a frum farmer living in Modiin by the name

Rabbi Friedman performs kinyan meshichah, acquiring full halachic ownership of the donkey. Next to him is Rabbi Shlomo Bineth, the Rosh Kollel of one of the Belzer kollellim and author of a soon-tobe-released sefer on the laws of peter chamor.

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There are so many opportunities to fulfill mitzvos in this world we just have to keep our eyes open, Reb Yechezkel says.

Rabbi Friedman with Reb Dovid Elimelech, the G-d-fearing farmer who raised the donkeys from birth, all for the sake of the mitzvah.

of Dovid Elimelech, who happened to own two young female donkeys, both born on his farm. Reb Yechezkel found him with the help of a frum veterinarian, Dani Zivotofsky, the brother of well-known brain surgeon and explorer Dr. Ari Zivotofsky. We have a very good chance that we will be able to fulfill the mitzvah in the most mehadrin fashion, with a brachah, he said. One donkey is due to give birth after Pesach, the other in the summer. As the Daf Yomi cycle just completed Bechoros this winter, it will be a very timely mitzvah indeed. To buy a donkey and raise it from birth for up to four years until it gives birth is incredibly expensive as much as $7,000 so often only groups can afford it. People from all over the world have been lining up to buy a share in the partnership that owns the expecting donkeys, giving them all a good chance to fulfill this rare mitzvah. Whoever joins in the partnership becomes a halachic owner and can fulfill

the mitzvah exactly as if he were the sole owner. A number of prominent Belzer Rabbanim are supervising the process, along with the Beis Din Hayoshor Vehatov of Jerusalem. Any major sheeilos that arise go to Harav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, shlita. Since there are partners all over the world, the animal must be prevented from working on Shabbos as soon as sunset arrives in Australia Friday morning Israel time until Motzoei Shabbos in the United States, which is early Sunday morning in Israel. It is also essential to ensure that none of the partners are Leviim or kohanim, who would exempt the entire group from performing the mitzvah. Therefore, the contract which all partners must sign was written to exclude a kohen or a Levi even if they joined inadvertently. Rabbi Moshe HeChassid of Prague, ztl,* quotes the Sefer Hagilgulim, which states that a soul must return to this world even for a single mitzvah it failed to fulfill

in its lifetime. How many mitzvos are there that we dont even remember to fulfill at all, like shiluach haken? he writes. I was told about a certain Gadol who raised a female donkey in his home in order to fulfill the mitzvah of peter chamor. See how much he troubled himself for the mere chance that it would give birth to a male! There are so many opportunities to fulfill mitzvos in this world we just have to keep our eyes open, Reb Yechezkel said. If someone had told me that I would someday be a tour guide in Belz, I wouldnt have believed him. So too with the mitzvos of shiluach haken and pidyon peter chamor. I Only Hashem knows whats next!
* Kuntres 3, ch. 6. For more info on how to fulfill the mitzvah of pidyon peter chamor l'hidur, call Rabbi Friedman at: (972) 57-319-6018 or email: info@pidyon-peter.com. To book a tour of the Belz synagogue contact: belz013@gmail.com.

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