Pirkei Avos

A True Friend
a friend is more than just a social companion. They are a person who one can share their in nermost thoughts and problems with, without ,. , being embarrassed. ,

The Hasmonean High School Weekly Sedra Sheet

7th Kislev 3rd December 2011
Dvar Torah

Living Torah
The Power of Dreams

; . One can rely on them that they wont laugh at

Issue No: 386 Shabbos Out: 16:52

Yehoshua the son of Perachia and Nitai the Arbelite received from them. Yehoshua the son of Perachia would say: Assume for yourself a master, acquire for yourself a friend, and judge every man to the side of merit.

you and embarrass you but will rather make your problem, their problem.

I once heard from Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein as follows. In a case when someone shares a problem with you and they sense that their problem is their problem which youre trying to This Mishna explains how a person must acquire solve, then they will close up to you and not for himself a good friend. Rabbeinu Yonah reveal anything more. gives three reasons for this: However, if your posture and attitude conveys to 1) In order to learn words of Torah. As the Gethem that their problem is your problem, they mara in Taanis writes I learned a lot of Torah will open up and tell you all which is necessary. from my teachers and from my friends even This is what a true friend is: one who makes more... your problem their problem and will help in any 2) For mitzvos. Even though your friend may possible way. sin, he does it only to derive benefit for themFriendship is a two way street; I help you and self; they gain from their sin. However, they you help me. dont want you to sin because they gain no benefit from your sins. Therefore, they will rebuke In a true friendship, there will be an expenditure you and you them and this will lead to both of of time, money and emotion. This is the way to you doing teshuva. acquire such a friend. Friends bought cheaply, are not friends at all but are chasing 3) For advice. A friend will only do whats in the superficiality and shallowness. best interests for you (as long as it doesnt affect them) and will offer only good advice. They May we all be zocheh to acquire for ourselves will also keep your secrets and will not disclose a good, true friend and live in achdus together to bring about the speedy rebuilding of the Beis them to others. Hamikdash. Rabbi Berel Wein expands on this by saying that

Leaving Beer Sheva at his father's command, Yaakov spent the night in Bet-el. There, before lying down to sleep on the ground, he davened to HaShem.

"He entreated at the place and stayed overnight, for it suddenly became night." (Bereishis. 28:11) We have two tools for spiritual growth: Torah study and prayer. Abba Binyomin's testimony helps clarify how each tool ennobles a differChazal taught that Yaakov established the ent aspect of the human soul. third prayer of the day Ma'ariv, the evening service. Whilst less obligatory than the morning and afternoon services, Ma'ariv has its When we study Torah, we refine and elevate own spiritual benefits. The Amora Abba Bin- our powers of intellect. The function of prayyomin testified that he took great pains every er, on the other hand, is to uplift our faculty day of his life to recite Ma'ariv before going to of Ratzon. Through prayer and meditation, we sleep (Berachot 5b). What is so special about refine our will and powers of imagination. As the evening prayer? we express our inner needs and aspirations in prayer, our desires are elevated to holier, Refining the Desires and Imagination: more spiritual goals. While we sleep, our cognitive and rational functions cease, and our involuntary bodily processes take over. Only our powers of imagination remain active, guiding our dreams as we slumber. Without the control and regulation of our intellectual faculties, a measure of impurity descends on the body in the night. We remove this impurity by washing our hands when we wake up in the morning. Our imaginative faculties are closer to our physical side than the intellect. Thus they function even as we sleep, in our dreams. Since it is through prayer that we can most effectively direct those faculties still active during sleep, it is logical that prayer before sleep will have the strongest impact on this aspect of life. For this reason, Abba Binyomin stressed the importance of his night-time prayer.

of angels ascending and descending a heaven -bound ladder as he slept in Bet-el. However, only the soul experiences these visions. The body is detached from the soul during sleep, and is not influenced by the soul's uplifting experiences.

For latest updates, online content and a weekly email version of the Living Torah, please subscribe by sending a blank email to hasmolivingtorah@gmail.com Editorial Team: Shmuli Margulies-Mikey Lebrett -Yossi Prager Avraham Grant - Micha Athersych Director: Rabbi D Meyer

Holy individuals may experience sublime visions in their sleep, like Yaakov who dreamt By Avraham Grant Based on Rav Kook

Story

Dvar Torah

The Tightrope Walker

Rabbi Mendel Futerfass spent several years of his life in a Soviet labour camp. He later related that one of the ways that he kept his sanity was to constantly engage his mind in the Chassidic practice, set forth by Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov, that "From everything that a person sees or hears, he should derive a lesson in his service of G-d." Some very profound insights came from some very unusual teachers. climbed up the ladder onto the rope. Reb Mendel was one of the first to get interested, and he explained what happened:

A Stony Message of Unity

Yaakov is on the run. Hes taken the brachos that were due to his brother and, on his mothers instructions, legged it as far away from Beer Sheva as possible, on a mission to find refuge with Rivkas brother, Lavan. Yet the Midrash tells us that he spent 14 years in Yeshivas Shem VEiver first. So, as the Parsha opens, we find Yaakov taking the first proper nap hes had in 14 years. He places 12 stones under him head and, lo and behold, theres only one when he wakes up. Again, the Midrash is an invaluable source in understanding this; it explains that the stones were all fighting to be under the great Tzaddiks head, so G-D merged them into one. Well, now the whole story makes sense, doesnt it? Or am I the only one who finds this still a tad peculiar, to say the least? Amongst others, Rav Amital ztl suggests an answer to this confusion. Both Avraham and Yitzchak made the mistake of believing both of their sons would form the basis for the future Jewish nation. Indeed, Avraham found it terribly difficult to understand that G-D wanted him to sacrifice Yitzchak, as he considered both Yitzchak AND Yishmael to be his only sons. Similarly, he feels awkward taking Sarahs advice to send Hagar and Yishmael away. The same applies to Yiztchak; he wanted to give Eisav the material brachos and Yaakov the spiritual ones (see Sforno), so that together they could start to build the Jewish nation. Yaakov too lived with the same question: Would his children form the basis of the nation or would they go their own ways, as had been the case the previously? Indeed, this is precisely the concern of the brothers when Yaakov appears to be favouring him; perhaps the Jewish nation would only come through Yosef, they reasoned. However, G-D answers Yaakov this question here. The 12 stones fighting symbolises a potential disaster; if Yaakovs sons would fight, the future of the Jewish people could not come from all of them. However, G-d forms them all into one stone symbolising the fact that his children would eventually come together and form the solid pillar on which the Jewish nation would be founded. This message is of upmost importance. We see that we can only succeed as a people if we all come together, united for a common cause. There are many types of Jews, but that is precisely the point: we are ALL Jews. Only when we come together in Avodas Hashem can G-Ds message to Yaakov be realised in our age, the fact that as a people we have a great future ahead of us but only if we work together for it. May Moshiach come speedily in our days Good Shabbos

"First he climbed up onto the rope, took a few steps, lost his balance and fell. But he knew how to fall, like a cat. He waited a few seconds and climbed up again and fell again the same way. But eventually he started walking, and then dancing from one foot to the other to the rhythm of the clapping onlookers. For instance, one of the prisoners claimed to "Then he got to the end, turned around, be a tightrope walker. danced back to where he started, and climbed down amidst the applause and cheering of the Reb Mendel didn't believe him because he crowd. couldn't imagine why a person would waste his time walking on a rope and risk falling on "After shaking everyone's hand he walked his head, when he could just walk on the over to me and said with a satisfied smile on ground like everyone else. But when Stalin his face. 'Well Rabbi, what do you think now?' died and the government eased up the pressure on the camps, some of the inmates decided to make a celebration and the tightrope "I told him I was impressed, but I couldn't walker saw his chance to prove himself. help wondering how he did it. How could he walk on such a thin rope without falling off? He found a long thick rope somewhere in the After much prompting he finally revealed his camp, attached it to the side of a building secret. 'I fix my eye on where I'm going,' he about ten feet above the ground, stretched it said, 'and never even think about falling'. to another building about fifteen yards away and tied it there at the same height. For a long time he was up on a ladder pulling, test- "He waited a few seconds for me to digest the ing and fastening until everything was finally answer, and then said: 'Do you know what the ready. hardest part was? Turning around! When you turn around you lose sight of your goal for a A crowd gathered around. The man removed second. It takes a long time to learn to turn his shoes and gingerly but unceremoniously around!'"

Gematria of the Week:

And he took Leah (29:23) Yaakov lived in Charan for twenty years. Before this, he spent fourteen years learning in Yeshivas Sheim VEiver. Including two years spent travelling after leaving Lavans home, Yaakov spent a total of 36 years away from his fathers home. Yaakov had, upon his parents instruction, left to go and find a righteous woman to marry. His first wife was Leah. The gematria of Leah is 36.

Riddle of the Week: Who in the Torah used golden mice? Answer to Last Weeks Riddle:
Who in the Torah was a king without a nation? A person named Melech who is mentioned in Divrei Hayomim 1 8:36 1