Beer Torah

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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 utmost 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 European 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 every night and became good friends. When the poor boy became orphaned and had no one to turn to, his wealthy

Editors Chaya Miriam Nimchinsky Clarice Shkedy Rebecca Yoshor

Faculty Editor Rabbi Eliezer Kessler Copy Editors Dr. David Jacobson Lisa Kellerman Robert M. Beren Academy 11333 Cliffwood Drive Houston, Texas 77035 713∙723∙7170 www.berenacademy.org

learning partner begged and pleaded with his parents 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 Israel 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 familiar 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.

The two found each other in the crowd and exclaimed joyously. 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, displayed 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 impact of a true act of selfless love and loyalty both in the realms of out relationship with Hashem and with fellow human beings.

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

son for the person reciting the bracha! The second phrase of the bracha is a lesson in humility. It compliments the first part of the bracha in that it gets a person to think that although he, too, may be lacking in mitzvot and therefore, may be unworthy of God’s goodness,

that God has nevertheless, bestowed goodness upon him as well. This bracha has a very unusual response associated with it. After saying “amen”, the congregation 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 lesson of Ahavat Yisrael, loving a fellow Jew is reinforced. In summary, we see that we, as Jews, must always be aware and appre-

ciative of all the good that God is continuously showering upon us. Whether that good comes in the form of everyday miracles that are hidden within the fabric of our daily lives or whether it comes in the form of supernatural Divine interventions, our rabbis have given us the appropriate vehicles to fulfill our obligation to express our gratitude to our Creator. May the lessons of this bracha and of all our other brachot help us to develop and refine this middah of hakarat hatov within us and may it be the source of much blessing in our lives.

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s another year of Be’er Torah comes to a close, it is a time to reflect on what we have accomplished. Our goal from the beginning was to bring high quality Divrei Torah, in an ascetically pleasing format to the Houston Jewish community. I believe that this was a goal that we have reached. But we have done more than that; this year’s staff was all new. There were many new skills to learn—Judaic,

literary, editorial and technical skills. Our editors worked hard and quickly adapted and bonded to form a successful team. It was a pleasure to work with such talented young ladies and I look forward to working with them again next year. I would like to thank Dr. David Jacobson and Lisa Kellerman without whom the Be’er Torah could not function. Both have busy careers and take time out to edit

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he ending of Parshat Bechukotai lists the curses that will plague the Jewish people if they do not follow the ways of Hashem. After the curses have been listed, the pasuk quotes Hashem saying, “You should remember the first covenant that I took you out of Egypt in front of all the other nations of the world in order to be your God. I am your God.” Many questions can be asked on this pasuk, but one that jumps out is where

our Divrei Torah. Their expertise and dedication is something that I admire. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Jacobson for fine tuning my weekly column. It never ceases to amaze me how he can weave a fine tapestry from the written word. Have a restful summer,

Rabbi Eliezer Kessler

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this covenant that Hashem refers to originates? Where can it be found in the Torah? The Or Hachaim comments on this covenant and points to the pasuk in Yirmiyahu that states, “You should remember the kindness of your youth and when I loved you like a bride. You walked after me in the desert where no plants grew.” This passuk describes how the Jews followed Hashem into the desert, without taking any provisions with them for sur-

vival and, instead, completely trusted Hashem to provide for them. The Or Hachaim links this pasuk to the covenant discussed at the end of Parshat Bechukotai because both begin with the words, “You should remember”. He adds also that this pasuk in itself is considered a covenant. Because the Jews blindly followed Hashem into the desert, they demonstrated the faith they had in Him, as they did it out of complete love for Continued on page 4

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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 ordinances, He will severely punish us. The Torah lists six harsh punishments that Hashem promises to bring upon Bnei Yisrael if they don’t follow the Torah: sickness, famine and hunger 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 punishments that the Torah stipulates, this one is the harshest. Unfortunately, this has happened twice in history. The first Beit Hamikdash was destroyed because of three atrocious sins, namely that Jews entered into marriages forbidden

by the Torah, they murdered, and they worshiped idols. Correspondingly, 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 question 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 Yerushalim, and it is for this reason that Hashem promised to never de-

stroy t h i s wall. The Shechina also accompanied the Jews who left Eretz Yisrael and went into exile in Bavel. But it was not all of the exiled Jews who merited this accompaniment. It wasn’t even the judges of the Sanhedrin, the Kohanim of the Beit Hamikdash, or even the Levim who served the Kohanim, as Hashem was angry at them for their sins. In fact, Hashem 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 nation 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, therefore, 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.

BENTCHING GOMEL: A LESSON I N GRATITUDE RABBI ELIEZER KESSLER

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ne of the greatest character traits that we as Jews need to learn, practice and internalize is the middah of hakarat hatov: acknowledging 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 express our hakarat hatov for the miracle of life itself. The first is the bracha of Modim in the Shemoneh 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 encompass 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 forefathers 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

miracle. The third bracha in this category is the topic of our discussion 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 without experiencing an overt miracle. 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 birchat 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 released 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, “supernatural” 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 human nature and how certain actions by human beings generate within them certain responses. They knew that one of the best ways to arouse feelings of hakarat 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 loving a fellow Jew. We are thanking God for protecting someone who we may not even know and who may not even be deserving of it. What a tremendous lesContinued on page 4

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