Vayeishev-Bridge to the World to Come

Torah's sobriquets of greatness and commoners are criticized and we learn lessons. Avraham shouldn't have exited Eretz Yisrael during the famine. (Ramban, B'reishis 12:10) Yaakov shouldn't have engaged Esav upon his return(B'reshis Rabbah 75:2) or played favorites among his children. (Shabbos 10b) The brothers shouldn't have contrived to rid themselves of their brother Yosef. (Yom Kippur Machzor, Mussaf) 

Aren't such mundane improprieties common to all people? Fratricide, sibling rivalry, favoring one's children, spousal strife, familial discord, and miscalculated enemy engagement, are the building blocks of historical progression and intriguing novels. How could such tales constitute a spiritual engagement which propels us to the World to Come?

Maharal(Tiferes Yisrael, 11) answers that the difference between Hashem and the rest of Creation is that He is perfect and they are not. Therefore, any secular wisdom such as math, science, or psychology is study of imperfection. Engagement in such study can only yield achievement commensurate with its own identity which, ultimately, is imperfection. In contrast Torah study is Hashem's decrees upon Creation. By definition, since Hashem is perfect, His interface with Creation is the essential expression of that perfection. Therefore, when one studies a topic of insignificance and triviality in the Torah it is transformed into the most lofty of insights elucidating Hashem's perfection. 

Torah study is really a discernment of Hashem's thoughts. Insight into Hashem's thoughts forges a connection with Him. Connection to Hashem hoists one beyond the temporal Universe of their sojourning. Thus, the Torah is the only device by which to achieve Olam Habah. It is our pathway beyond our own corporeal existence. 

In With All My Heart, With All My Soul by B.D. Da'Ehu the author writes that the Greeks worshiped humans. This worship promulgated them to oppose davening because it necessitated dependence on others. Dependence engenders weakness. This, he explains, is a fallacious argument because davening allows one to connect with something beyond oneself which makes one greater. 

With this insight we may understand Nedarim (39b) and Shabbos (88b) that the Torah's creation preceded the Universe's. The difficulty of this proclamation is striking. How can the Torah which contains stories of people's decisions that were commenced in the future exist before creation? Doesn't the Torah's existence at that point in time presuppose determinism and retard the free will of those individuals recounted in its record. Isn't that the question that the Ramban( Hilchos Teshuva 5:5) poses? Knowledges of the future is determinism of that future? 

According to Maharal this query isn't an issue. The Torah existed before the Universe in the form of Hashem's perfection but not necessarily in its current expression. At Har Sinai Hashem choose to form the Torah's lessons and teachings with the past experiences of those that lived following the Universe's creation. 

Thank You Speech

Thank You Speech

delivered at the Phoenix Communtiy Kollel’s Tenth Anniversery

Lag B’Omer 5770 May 4, 2010


Esther and I would like to express our feelings and thoughts at this time.

This moment of achievement is bigger then any one individual as it says in Brachos ( 58a). The great Ben Azai’s succees was dependent on the a multitude of people’s support.

Within all the Jewish souls in the past and present in the Valley there is lava of spiritual energy yearning to be a proper Jew that sanctifies G-d’s name as is hinted to in Niddah (30b) that the angel taught us the Torah before we were born.

This molten rock erupts beyond the surface of mediocrity creating an organization such as the Phoenix Community Kollel to teach and connect us to the inner recesses of our souls.

Therefore, this moment is about all of us, the entire Jewish Community even beyond the walls of this room.
It is because the people are the ones that make the leader. The people are the ones that make the teacher as it says in Taanis (7a). “From my students (I have learned) more then anyone.

Thank you to the Kollel for recognizing our efforts.

Thank you to our founding colleagues especially Rabbi and Rebbitzen Holland and their leadership for helping us together achieve what we celebrate tonight.

Thank you to Rabbi Chaim and Rebbitzin Silver, Dr. Steve and Lynn Kanner, Mitzi and Lbcl’’c Abe Friedman ob”m whose vision and fortitude have realized this reality.

More then a decade ago they wisely looked into the future as it says in Tamid (32a), ‘who is wise one who sees the future’, and refused to rest on the inviting cushions of complacency as Rashi says in Parshas Vayeishev that one should never seek tranquility.

Tonight with this celebration we look back so that we can move forward. As we did then we say now, Yes we can…I mean we will succeed!

This festivity is a resounding statement that as a community we want to touch as many of the Valley’s 100,000 Jews as we can.