B E C H U K O TA I ● I YA R 1 9 ● 5 7 6 8
M AY 2 4 ● 2 0 0 8
E D I T O R D V A R TO R A H ► R E B E C C A YO S H O R
Continued from page 1
God. God viewed this display
of kindness and trust on the
part of the Jewish nation as
a pact and decided to always
treat them that same way in
return. Such acts are of ut-
most significance and should
never be underestimated.
Another example of
how kindness and trust does
not go unrecognized can be
seen in the story of two Eu-
ropean children living in the
pre-World War One era. One
child came from a wealthy
family while the other came
from a poor one. They
learned Torah together ev-
ery night and became good
friends. When the poor boy
became orphaned and had
no one to turn to, his wealthy
Editors
Chaya Miriam Nimchinsky EVE R WO N D E R WHY ? ► R A B B I E L I E ZE R K E S S L E R
Continued from page 3
Clarice Shkedy son for the person reciting
Rebecca Yoshor the bracha! The second
phrase of the bracha is
a lesson in humility. It
compliments the first
Faculty Editor part of the bracha in
Rabbi Eliezer Kessler that it gets a per-
son to think that
although he, too,
Copy Editors may be lacking
Dr. David Jacobson in mitzvot and
therefore,
Lisa Kellerman may be un-
worthy of
God’s
Robert M. Beren Academy good-
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►GRADE 10
learning partner begged
and pleaded with his par-
ents until they allowed the
poor boy to come live with
them. When World War One
devastated Europe the boys
were separated. The poor
boy moved to South Africa,
started his own business, and
became a very wealthy man.
The wealthy boy moved to Is-
rael and started a family. Life
in Israel was hard and the Six
Day War left him financially
bankrupt. One day, as he was
praying to God at the kotel
for guidance, he heard a fa-
miliar voice and recognized
it as the friend he’d helped
years ago back in Europe.
He looked around frantically,
calling out his friend’s name.
that God has nevertheless,
bestowed goodness upon
him as well.
This bracha has a
very unusual response as-
sociated with it. After say-
ing “amen”, the congrega-
tion adds a prayer which
expresses the idea that just
as God bestowed goodness
on the beneficiary when
he needed it in his time of
peril, so too, may He bestow
every goodness upon him
forever. Once again, the les-
son of Ahavat Yisrael, loving
a fellow Jew is reinforced.
In summary, we
see that we, as Jews, must
always be aware and appre-
The two found each other in
be’ertorah
the crowd and exclaimed joy-
ously. The now wealthy man
was able to help his friend
financially; the selfless deed
of the past was repaid. Just
like the Jewish people who,
as Yirmiyahu points out, dis-
wellspringoftorah
played their faith and trust in
Hashem in an uncertain time,
Hashem forever rewarded
them with an everlasting
covenant. From the concepts
gathered from the story and
from the commentary of the
Or Hachaim, we can gather
the importance and im-
pact of a true act of selfless
A s another year of Be’er
Torah comes to a close,
it is a time to reflect on what we
literary, editorial and technical skills.
Our editors worked hard and quickly
adapted and bonded to form a
our Divrei Torah. Their expertise and
dedication is something that I admire.
In particular, I would like to thank Dr.
love and loyalty both in the
have accomplished. Our goal from successful team. It was a pleasure to Jacobson for fine tuning my weekly
realms of out relationship
the beginning was to bring high work with such talented young ladies column. It never ceases to amaze me
with Hashem and with fellow
quality Divrei Torah, in an ascetically and I look forward to working with how he can weave a fine tapestry
human beings.
pleasing format to the Houston them again next year. from the written word.
Jewish community. I believe that this I would like to thank Dr.
was a goal that we have reached. But David Jacobson and Lisa Kellerman Have a restful summer,
we have done more than that; this without whom the Be’er Torah
ciative of all the good that year’s staff was all new. There were could not function. Both have busy
God is continuously shower- many new skills to learn—Judaic, careers and take time out to edit Rabbi Eliezer Kessler
ing upon us. Whether that
good comes in the form of
everyday miracles that are E D I T O R D V A R TO R A H ► R E B E C C A YO S H O R ►GRADE 10
hidden within the fabric of
our daily lives or whether
it comes in the form of su-
pernatural Divine interven-
T he ending of Parshat
Bechukotai lists the curs-
es that will plague the Jewish people
this covenant that Hashem refers to
originates? Where can it be found
in the Torah? The Or Hachaim com-
vival and, instead, completely trusted
Hashem to provide for them.
The Or Hachaim links this pa-
tions, our rabbis have given if they do not follow the ways of Hash- ments on this covenant and points suk to the covenant discussed at the
em. After the curses have been listed, to the pasuk in Yirmiyahu that states, end of Parshat Bechukotai because
us the appropriate vehicles
the pasuk quotes Hashem saying, “You “You should remember the kindness both begin with the words, “You should
to fulfill our obligation to
express our gratitude to our should remember the first covenant of your youth and when I loved you remember”. He adds also that this pa-
Creator. May the lessons of that I took you out of Egypt in front like a bride. You walked after me in the suk in itself is considered a covenant.
this bracha and of all our of all the other nations of the world in desert where no plants grew.” This pas- Because the Jews blindly followed
other brachot help us to de- order to be your God. I am your God.” suk describes how the Jews followed Hashem into the desert, they demon-
velop and refine this middah Many questions can be asked on this Hashem into the desert, without tak- strated the faith they had in Him, as
of hakarat hatov within us pasuk, but one that jumps out is where ing any provisions with them for sur- they did it out of complete love for
and may it be the source of Continued on page 4
much blessing in our lives.
A Torah publication of the students, faculty and alumni of the Robert M. Beren Academy.
S T U D E N T D V A R TO R A H ► M A T T H E W S A R A F Z A D E H
T his week’s Parsha,
Parshat Bechukotai,
is crammed with both gracious
blessings and firm punishments,
all directed towards the Nation of
Israel. It is written that if the Jews
do keep the Torah and follow the
proper way of serving Hashem,
He will bring wonderful blessings
to the Nation of Israel; however,
if we fail to follow Hashem’s ordi-
nances, He will severely punish us.
The Torah lists six harsh punish-
ments that Hashem promises
to bring upon Bnei Yisrael if
they don’t follow the Torah:
sickness, famine and hun-
ger in Eretz Yisrael, wild
animals that will destroy
many Jews, enemies
who are bound to kill
many Jews, a plague,
and the destruction
of the Beit Hamikdash
and exile of Bnei Yisrael.
I would like to focus on
the sixth punishment,
the destruction of the Beit
Hamikdash.
Hashem promised
that “If all Bnei Yisrael keeps
the Torah, [Hashem] will put an
everlasting Beit Hamikdash in
their midst.” Conversely, it is also
written that if His Children sin,
[Hashem’s] Shechina will leave
the Beit Hamikdash and [He] will
destroy it.” Out of all the punish-
ments that the Torah stipulates,
this one is the harshest. Unfortu-
nately, this has happened twice in
history. The first Beit Hamikdash
was destroyed because of three
atrocious sins, namely that Jews
entered into marriages forbidden
BE’ER TORAH BECHUKOTAI
by the Torah, they murdered, and
they worshiped idols. Correspond-
ingly, the second Beit Hamikdash
was destroyed mainly because the
Jews were full of hate towards one
another, and they spoke lashon
hara about each other. The ques-
tion arises, if the Jews sinned and
the Shechina left the Temple so
that it could be destroyed, where
did the Shechina go?
After the Jews sinned, the
Shechina departed to Heaven and
left this world. A less concentrated
form of Hashem’s Holy Shechina,
however, remained on Earth in
two very important locations. The
Shechina settled forever at the
Kotel, the Western Wall of Yerush-
alim, and it is for this reason that
Hashem promised to never de-
stroy
t h i s
wall. The
Shechina
also accom-
panied
Jews who left
the
Eretz Yisrael and
went into exile in
Bavel. But it was not
all of the exiled Jews
who merited this ac-
companiment. It wasn’t
even the judges of the
Sanhedrin, the Koha-
nim of the Beit Ha-
mikdash, or even the
Levim who served the
Kohanim, as Hashem
was angry at them for
their sins. In fact, Hash-
em showed His special
love specifically for the
Jewish children because
they were free from sin.
Out of all K’lal Yisrael,
only the children were
accompanied by Hashem’s
Shechina, which protected
them.
We can learn a powerful
message from this, namely that
children have a unique power
that no other part of the na-
tion has. This power is the key to
their relationship with God. We
are taught that a child’s prayer
is so pure and holy and is, there-
fore, on a different plane than
anyone else’s prayer. Hashem
has a special connection with
the children, which will never
be broken, because His Presence
is always with them, protecting
them.
Page 2
ever wonder why..
BENTCHING GOMEL: A LESSON I N GRATITUDE
RABBI ELIEZER KESSLER
O ne of the greatest
character
that we as Jews need to learn,
traits
practice and internalize is the
middah of hakarat hatov: ac-
knowledging the good that we
have received and expressing
our appreciation and gratitude
for it. Our rabbis understood
this and gave us the perfect way
to practice this trait daily - the
saying of brachot.
Aside from the brachot
we say over food, there are three
other brachot that help us ex-
press our hakarat hatov for the
miracle of life itself. The first is
the bracha of Modim in the Sh-
emoneh Esrei prayer. In Modim
we thank God for the hidden
miracles that are sometimes
overlooked because they are
part and parcel of the natural
order of the world. These en-
compass every aspect of life,
from the simplicity of taking our
next breath to the complexity
of earning a living. The second
is the bracha of Sh’asa Nissim
which praises God for the
open miracles that he has
performed for our forefa-
thers historically and also
for us personally. This
is the bracha we say
on Chanukah and
Purim and when
applicable, at the
place where we
experienced
a personal
Page 3
miracle. The third bracha in this
category is the topic of our dis-
cussion today. In a way, it’s a
combination of the other two
in that it applies when someone
has come through a dangerous
situation but has done so with-
out experiencing an overt mir-
acle. This is the bracha we say
when we “bentch gomel”.
The Gemara tells us that
there are four classes of people
who are required to recite bir-
chat hagomel: a person who
has safely crossed the ocean, a
person who has safely crossed
the desert, a person who has
recovered from a serious illness,
and a person who has been re-
leased from jail. The common
denominator here is that the
individual’s outcome could be
viewed as either, “natural” and
“un-miraculous” or, depending
on the circumstances, “super-
natural” and “miraculous”.
For example, take the
person who crosses the ocean
by ship. If the crossing takes its
normal course and everything
runs smoothly as planned then
the person has no perception
of the dangerous situation he
has just “sailed” through. If,
however, the ship encounters a
storm where the high winds and
waves make it difficult to keep
the ship on course, afloat and
out of danger then the person is
acutely aware of the danger he’s
in and often feels that he was
saved by a miracle . . . perhaps
not an open miracle, but rather
a miracle that was disguised to
look as if it occurred through
natural means.
As we’ve noted before,
our rabbis have always had a
profound understanding of hu-
man nature and how certain ac-
tions by human beings generate
within them certain responses.
They knew that one of the best
ways to arouse feelings of ha-
karat hatov in an individual is to
take a person who experienced
this type of Divine intervention
and have him go through the
physical act of being called up
to the Torah to publicly recite
this special bracha of birchat
hagomel.
We also learn a great
deal from the language of the
bracha itself. The bracha states:
“…Who bestows good things on
the guilty, Who has bestowed
every goodness upon me.” The
commentators explain that the
first part of the bracha means
that we are thankful to God for
doing good things for people
who may not be worthy of good
because they are lacking in their
mitzvot. This first phrase of the
bracha helps us to internalize the
lesson of Ahavat Yisrael, of lov-
ing a fellow Jew. We are thank-
ing God for protecting someone
who we may not even know and
who may not even be deserving
of it. What a tremendous les-
Continued on page 4
BE’ER TORAH BECHUKOTAI