what haftarah did you read this week?

Rama paskens in the end of siman 428:

כשקורין שתי פרשיות מפטירין באחרונה (מרדכי פרק בני העיר) ובלבד באחרי מות וקדושים דמפטירין הלא כבני כושיים שהיא הפטרת א"מ

Mishne Berura comments:

פני שההפטרה של פרשה שניה מזכרת מתועבת ירושלים משא"כ כשהן נפרדות שכבר קראו הלוא כבני כושיים בפרשת אחרי בהכרח להפטיר בפרשת קדושים התשפוט. והנה הלבוש חולק על רמ"א ודעתו דגם כשהיא כפולה קוראין הפטרה אחרונה דהיינו של פרשת קדושים אבל הב"ח וש"א כתבו שנתפשט המנהג בכל הקהלות כהרמ"א

I happened to daven in a different minyan than my usual one on shabbos morning and was surprised when the person reading the haftarah read the perek from Yechezkel and not the haftarah of כבני כושיים.  Not only does the Rama say otherwise, but even the posek acharon of shuls in our time, i.e. the Artscroll, says that minhag Ashkenaz is like the Rama.  No one else said anything, and I figured I was not a regular there, so what do I know (the Rabbi of this shul davens at the later minyan, so he was not present). Finally, as the baal koreh was almost finished, someone knowledgeable did walk up to the bimah and ask the gabai what's going on.  Someone else then yelled out that the reader was correct, as that is what the luach says.  Curious, I went over and asked to see the luach.  It's published by Heichal Shlomo and it's available online, so you can see for yourself here on p 64  that this person is indeed correct.  

So do the Rama and Mishne Berura and even the Artscroll have it all wrong?

Here is my conjecture.  R' Y.M. Tukachinsky, author of Gesher haChaim and other works, also wrote a luach of minhagei Eretz Yisrael.  This issue came up, and he was mechadesh that the minhag in Eretz Yisrael is not like the Rama.  This elicited a backlash from the Chazon Ish and others, who disagreed.  The occurrence of Acharei Mos and Kedoshim as separate parshiyos where the potential for this question to arise is fairly infrequent, so it's not you can just ask someone what was done last year.  As luck would have it, you can read about the controversy in this month's edition of HaMaayan, and so you don't need me to spell out the details of the back and forth.  In terms of our story, my hunch is that the luach printed by Heichal Shlomo is built around Rav Tukachinsky's luach of minhagei Eretz Yisrael, and therefore, assumes not like the Rama. (I wish I could find contact info to confirm this.) That's fine and dandy if you live in Eretz Yisrael and think R' Tukachinsky got it right, but it seems to me to be a very questionable stretch to assume this is the minhag Ashkenaz in the US and elsewhere.  

Afterwards, the person who read the haftarah came over to the person who tried to correct him and admitted that in retrospect he thinks he made a mistake, as he found a parsha sheet that said the haftarah should be כבני כושיים. (I learned from this that a random parsha sheet trumps even the heilege Artscroll.)  Assuming like the lishna basra that this was an error, I wonder what this minyan should do next week.  Should they read the haftarah of התשפוט like everyone else reads for Kedoshim?  Or since they already read that haftarah of התשפוט for Achrei Mos, albeit in error, should they read  כבני כושיים for Kedoshim? I hope someone there asks their Rav what to do before next shabbos rolls around.  I also hope I get myself out of bed up on time to get to my normal place of worship so I avoid situations like this : ) 

It's worth mentioning that there is yet a third minhag, minhag Yerushalayim, to read the same haftarah of כבני כושיים for both Acharei Mos and Kedoshim (see here).  The essential background to all this is the last line of the last Mishna in Megillah, which says  רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר אוֹמֵר, אֵין מַפְטִירִין בְּהוֹדַע אֶת יְרוּשָׁלַיִם.  Bartenua comments: משום יקרא דירושלים.  We don't want to read a haftarah that speaks badly of Yerushalayim.  He adds that we don't pasken like R' Eliezer.  Tos Y"T asks: the stam Mishna earlier writes that we do read the maaseh ha'eigel even though the sin is an embarrassment because there is a silver lining to that embarrassment -- suffering the embarrassment enables us to get kaparah.  Why does R' Eliezer agree with the sevara there, but not with respect to reading about the sins of Yerushalayim?  Why not read about the wrongdoing of Yerushalayim to suffer embarrassment and get kaparah?  Furthermore, adds the Tos Y"T, if R' Eliezer is correct, he should have a problem with the haftarah of Kedoshim as well:   וכן הפטרה דקדושים התשפוט התשפוט את עיר הדמים (יחזקאל כ"ב) וכו' He goes on to try to answer this question, but is his answer, which you can look up, really satisfying?  This story speaks for itself:

קרה מקרה בבית הכנסת אשר בבתי ברודא כאשר התחיל הקורא לקרוא בפרשת קדושים את הפטרת הלא כבני כושיים, קרא לעומתו רב גדול אחד מהעולים החדשים אז, – קוראים התשפוט! ירד בעל הקריאה מעל הבימה ואמר: אני אינני מוכן לעמוד בהקפדתו של ר' אליעזר, אם כת"ר רוצה דוקא בהפטרת התשפוט, יעלה כת"ר ויקרא! ולבסוף הכריעו המתפללים והקורא קרא את הפטרת הלא כבני כושיים".

Besmirching  יקרא דירושלים is not something to take lightly.

Final point: a takeaway from the above story to keep in mind not just for this week, but for every week, is that the words of the navi are to be taken seriously and taken to heart.  The haftarah is not just a time to shmooz with a neighbor or go out of shul for a stroll or for some liquid fortification while the person called for maftir struggles to read words that are incomprehensible to him and most of the listeners.  The haftarah is the navi speaking to us from the page, across history.  When you read about to'eivos, you should look at what goes on around you and your eyes should fill with tears.  And when you read about the redemption of Yerushalayim, you should also look around you and fill your heart with joy.

the greater the potential gain, the greater the obstacles to get there

A)  דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם אֲנִי ה׳ אֱלֹקיכֶם

 כְּמַעֲשֵׂה אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם אֲשֶׁר יְשַׁבְתֶּם בָּהּ לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ וּכְמַעֲשֵׂה אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מֵבִיא אֶתְכֶם שָׁמָּה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ וּבְחֻקֹּתֵיהֶם לֹא תֵלֵכוּ

 Rashi comments:

 ר׳ אומר: גלוי וידוע לפניו שסופן לנתק בעריות בימי עזרא, לפיכך בא עליהם בגזירה: אני ה׳ אֱלֹקיכֶם – דעו מי גוזר עליכם, דיין ליפרע ונאמן לשלם שכר.

It sounds like Rashi means that this is a prelude to the parsha of arayos which follows, and Hashem is warning in advance that Bnei Yisrael would succumb to these issurim.  The only problem is that the sin committed in the days of Ezra to which Rashi is referring is the sin of taking a non-Jewish wife.  Look through the parsha of arayos and you will not see this sin mentioned anywhere there!  R' Shteinman raises the question but offers no answer.

Chasam Sofer explains derech derush (d"h dabeir) that Rashi's comment is not a prelude to the parsha of arayos, but rather a prelude to the sin of כְּמַעֲשֵׂה אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם אֲשֶׁר יְשַׁבְתֶּם בָּהּ לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ וּכְמַעֲשֵׂה אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מֵבִיא אֶתְכֶם שָׁמָּה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ, which is not just about who you can or can't marry.  We find in Nac"h the term for relationship between man and woman, בּעילה, is used as a metaphor for our relations to other nations and to Hashem. Yeshayahu (26:13) describes our becoming subservient to the nations as בְּעָל֥וּנוּ אֲדֹנִ֖ים זֽוּלָתֶ֑ךָ.  Similarly, the geulah is described (63:5) as a bride coming to her groom כִּי יִבְעַל בָּחוּר בְּתוּלָה יִבְעָלוּךְ בָּנָיִךְ וּמְשׂוֹשׂ חָתָן עַל כַּלָּה יָשִׂישׂ עָלַיִךְ אֱלֹקיִךְ.  When the Torah tells us כְּמַעֲשֵׂה אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם ***אֲשֶׁר יְשַׁבְתֶּם בָּהּ*** לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ what it means that we should not become subjegated to Mitzrayim and fall into the orbit of Mitzrayim.  The same warning applies when entering Canaan.  Our job there is to setup our own independent society, not become subjects of others or subservient to their whims.  A wife cannot have two husbands; this is arayos.  Klal Yisrael cannot be both subjects of Hashem and subjects of other nations; this is metaphorically arayos.  This was the sin of Erza's days. The marrying of non-Jewish wives was a siman that the people thought of themselves as part of the non-Jewish society at large. 

B) The Toras Cohanim writes on these pesukim: 

מְנַיִן שֶׁלֹּא הָיְתָה אֻמָּה בָּאֻמּוֹת שֶׁהִתְעִיבוּ מַעֲשֵׂיהֶן יָתֵר מִן הַכְּנַעֲנִים?

תִּלְמֹד לוֹמַר ״וּכְמַעֲשֵׂה אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן... לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ״.

מְנַיִן לַדּוֹר הָאַחֲרוֹן שֶׁהִתְעִיבוּ מַעֲשֵׂיהֶן יָתֵר מִכֻּלָּם? תִּלְמֹד לוֹמַר ״וּכְמַעֲשֵׂה אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן... לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ״.

מְנַיִן לַמָּקוֹם שֶׁבָּאוּ בוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל וְכִבֵּשׁוּ, שֶׁהִתְעִיבוּ מַעֲשֵׂיהֶן יָתֵר מִכֻּלָּם?

תִּלְמֹד לוֹמַר ״אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מֵבִיא אֶתְכֶם שָׁמָּה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ״.

מְנַיִן שֶׁבִּיאָתָן שֶׁלְּיִשְׂרָאֵל גָּרְמָה לְכָל הַמַּעֲשִׂים הַלָּלוּ?

תִּלְמֹד לוֹמַר ״אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מֵבִיא אֶתְכֶם שָׁמָּה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ״.

What does that last line -- בִּיאָתָן שֶׁלְּיִשְׂרָאֵל גָּרְמָה לְכָל הַמַּעֲשִׂים הַלָּלוּ -- mean?  How could Bn"Y coming into Eretz Canaan be the cause of the base behavior of the inhabitants?  

Malbim says you have to flip the phrase around and read it as the behavior of the inhabitants of Canaan rubbing off on Bn"Y and the acting as the cause of their going astray:

שמצד שישבו שם יהיה גרמה לישראל שיעשו התועבות האלה כי למדום מן המצריים, וכן מצד שיבואו לכנען יהיה זה גרם לישראל לעשות כן כמ״ש ״כי אתם ידעתם את אשר ישבנו בארץ מצרים ואת אשר עברנו בקרב הגוים...ותראו את שקוציהם...פן יש בכם איש או אשה וכולי״. וז״ש ומנין למקום... ומנין שישיבתם של ישראל גרמה להם (פירוש: שהוא יהיה גרם לישראל בעתיד 

Sefas Emes (5648) reads the phrase to mean just what it says.  In order to understand his approach, two points of introduction are needed:

1) The Midrash (Braishis 34) writes:

ר' שמעון בן לקיש היה יושב ויגע בתורה באלסיס זו של טבריה. יצאו שתי נשים משם. אמרה אחת לחברתה: ברוך שהוציאנו מן האוויר הרע הזה. צווח ואמר להן: מהיכן אתן? אמרו לו: ממזגא; אמר: אני מכיר את מזגא ואין בה אלא שתי דירות. אמר: ברוך שנתן חן מקום על יושביו. תלמיד אחד משל ר' יוסי היה יושב לפניו, היה (ר' יוסי) מסביר לו ולא סבר. אמר לו: למה אין אתה סובר? אמר לו: מפני שאני גולה ממקומי. אמר לו: מהיכן אתה? אמר לו: מגובת שמאי. אמר לו: ומה הן האוירות של שם? אמר לו: כשתינוק נולד, אנו גובלים לו אדמדמנים7 וטשים את מוחו, שלא יאכלוהו היתושים. אמר: ברוך שנתן חן מקום בעיני יושביו.

People can live in the most ugly places, but to them it is home, and they can't function outside their "natural habitat."  חן מקום על יושביו.  You can put a polar bear in Hawaii, and no matter how delightful it is sitting under a tree on the beach, it won't be happy because it's home is the Arctic.  There were many stories written about Gus, the famous polar bear of the Central Park Zoo, suffering depression.  I don't blame him; anyone stuck living in NY would and should be depressed.  Yet there are NYers who would not trade their home in the Big Apple for anything in the world.  

Sefas Emes explains that it's not just a matter of becoming acclimated to a place.  A polar bear born in Hawaii would still feel out of place.  What makes a person feel at home in the innate connection his/her soul has with that place.  

We all belong somewhere.  Where all have a place that we feel is home.  What that place is is determined by our neshoma.  

What is true of individuals is true of nations. The soul of Frenchmen causes them to feel at home in France.  The soul of Italians makes them long for Italy.  The soul of a Jew tells him that only Eretz Yisrael is home.

2) Sukkah 52a:

כִּדְדָרֵשׁ רַבִּי יְהוּדָה: לֶעָתִיד לָבֹא, מְבִיאוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְיֵצֶר הָרָע, וְשׁוֹחֲטוֹ בִּפְנֵי הַצַּדִּיקִים וּבִפְנֵי הָרְשָׁעִים. צַדִּיקִים נִדְמֶה לָהֶם כְּהַר גָּבוֹהַּ, וּרְשָׁעִים נִדְמֶה לָהֶם כְּחוּט הַשַּׂעֲרָה. הַלָּלוּ בּוֹכִין וְהַלָּלוּ בּוֹכִין. צַדִּיקִים בּוֹכִין וְאוֹמְרִים: הֵיאַךְ יָכוֹלְנוּ לִכְבּוֹשׁ הַר גָּבוֹהַּ כָּזֶה! וּרְשָׁעִים בּוֹכִין וְאוֹמְרִים: הֵיאַךְ לֹא יָכוֹלְנוּ לִכְבּוֹשׁ אֶת חוּט הַשַּׂעֲרָה הַזֶּה! וְאַף הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא תָּמֵהַּ עִמָּהֶם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״כֹּה אָמַר ה׳ צְבָאוֹת כִּי יִפָּלֵא בְּעֵינֵי שְׁאֵרִית הָעָם הַזֶּה בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם גַּם בְּעֵינַי יִפָּלֵא״.

The yetzer ha'ra doesn't waste effort.  If a person has his sights set only on little things, then there is no point in the yetzer putting up much of a fight.  However, when there are big things at stake, he pulls out all the stops.  

Sefas Emes puts the two ideas together.  

It's because Eretz Yisrael is destined specifically for Am Yisrael -- it is a place of greatness destined for great people -- that the yetzer ha'ra pulls out all the stops there and unleashes defilement, temptation, confusion, and all sorts of difficulties there.  Yes, בִּיאָתָן שֶׁלְּיִשְׂרָאֵל גָּרְמָה לְכָל הַמַּעֲשִׂים הַלָּלוּ.  

The war in Eretz Yisrael, the challenges that exist there, the secular and even anti-religious environment in certain places, this is the yetzer ha'ra pulling out all the stops.  This greater the ohr, the greater the hester trying to get us to turn away. 

תְּבִאֵמוֹ וְתִטָּעֵמוֹ בְּ**הַר** נַחֲלָתְךָ -- this is צַדִּיקִים נִדְמֶה לָהֶם כְּהַר גָּבוֹהַּ 

כֹּה אָמַר ה׳ צְבָאוֹת כִּי יִפָּלֵא בְּעֵינֵי שְׁאֵרִית הָעָם הַזֶּה בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם גַּם בְּעֵינַי יִפָּלֵא 

Did Bnei Ephraim try to leave Egypt early?

In sefer Tehillim (78:9) there is an allusion to a battle fought and lost by Bnei Ephraim, בְּנֵי אֶפְרַיִם נוֹשְׁקֵי רוֹמֵי קָשֶׁת הָפְכוּ בְּיוֹם קְרָב.  Rashi quotes from Chazal that the Bnei Ephraim tried to leave Egypt early and were attacked and killed:

בני אפרים – שיצאו ממצרים בזרוע לפני הקץ ובטחו בגבורתם ובחציהם וסופם הפכו לנוס ביום קרב, כדמפורש בדברי הימים

I think that this Chazal is fairly well known, but less well known is the fact that al pi peshuto, it is not accepted by all.  In Divei haYamim I 7:21 we read:

 וְזָבָד בְּנוֹ וְשׁוּתֶלַח בְּנוֹ וְעֵזֶר וְאֶלְעָד וַהֲרָגוּם אַנְשֵׁי⁠ גַת הַנּוֹלָדִים בָּאָרֶץ כִּי יָרְדוּ לָקַחַת אֶת⁠ מִקְנֵיהֶם

Radak comments:

ולפי דעתי כי ״הנולדים בארץ״ שב לבני אפרים; ולפי שזכר בבני אפרים הנולדים במצרים, והם בניו ובני בניו כמו שאמ׳ ״וירא יוסף לאפרים בני שלשים״ (בראשית נ׳:כ״ג), אמ׳ כי בני אפרים הנולדים בארץ – שהוליד הוא בארץ – ירדו לארץ גת לקחת מקניהם והרגום אנשי גת. וזה היה במדבר; כי בארץ ישראל לא יכול להיות, לפי שאמ׳ ״ויתאבל אפרים אביהם ימים רבים״ (להלן פס׳ כב), ואפרים לא נכנס לארץ, כי לא נכנסו מיוצאי מצרים מבן עשרים שנה ומעלה כי אם יהושע וכלב (במדבר י״ד:כ״ט-ל׳). לפיכך אני אומר כי המעשה הזה היה במדבר או בארץ הגלעד, ועדין אפרים חי; כי זה יכול להיות, כי מכיר בן מנשה היה מכובשי ארץ גלעד (יהושע י״ז:א׳), והנה בני מכיר בן מנשה ילדו על ברכי יוסף (בראשית נ׳:כ״ג). ומה שמוכיח הפיר׳ הזה, כי תמצא מספר בני אפרים בצאתם ממצרים כשנמנו במדבר סיני בשנה השנית ארבעים אלף וחמש מאות (במדבר א׳:ל״ג), וכשנמנו בכניסתן לארץ בערבות מואב בשנת הארבעים לא היו אלא שנים ושלשים אלף וחמש מאות (במדבר כ״ו:ל״ז); ואלו שמונת אלפים שחסרו במדבר הם שהרגו בני גת.

According to Radak, this episode of Bnei Ephraim being killed took place after yetzi'as Mitzrayim while Bn"Y were wandering in the desert.  Interestingly, according to Radak, Ephraim himself was alive still and mourned the death of his grandchildren. This stands in contrast to the Chazal that teaches that the shibud in Egypt started only after all the shevatim died.

The Daat Mikra (ibid) quotes a fascinating comment of R"Y haChassid on the pasuk  כִּי תִקְרֶאנָה מִלְחָמָה וְנוֹסַף גַּם הוּא עַל שֹׂנְאֵינוּ וְנִלְחַם בָּנוּ וְעָלָה מִן הָאָרֶץ.  According to R"Y haChassid, there were members of Bn"Y that stayed behind in Eretz Yisrael while the rest of the family went down to Egypt.  These stragglers worked the land, raised crops, and helped support their brethern in Egypt.  At some point the Bnei Ephraim attempted to build up communities on the border between Egypt and Israel to join these two communities together, and it was the fear of the internal Jewish community uniting with the community outside the borders of Egypt that concerned Pharoah.  R"Y haChassid then quotes a R' Yitzchak mi'Russia who explained that the community in Israel paid a tax to their brothers in Egypt, and the conflict with Pharoah started when Pharoah tried to divert this tax to his own treasury. In either case, it is the failed attempt to link the community in Egypt with that in Eretz Yisrael which the pesukim are referring to. 

why spill off wine when reading the 10 makkos

Why dip your finger in wine and spill off a it when you read the makkos in the haggadah?  My wife suggested that it is not because we feel bad for the Egyptians; it's because we feel bad for our fellow Jews who witnessed the makkos and yet many of whom still wanted to stay behind in Egypt.  

Parenthetically, we tell the ben ha'rasha that had he been in Egypt he would not have experienced geulah, but in fact, we know that there were resha'im who did leave Egypt with Klal Yisrael, e.g. Dasam and Aviram.  The Nesivos in his haggadah Maaseh Nissim explains that a person can be a mechalel shabbos, for example, but still believe in geulah and by virtue of that belief, earn geulah.  I would add that I assume the flipside of the coin is also true -- one can be shomer shabbos 100% but fall short in one's belief in the potential redemption of Klal Yisrael.

seeing Hashem's goodness

 המאכילך מן במדבר למען ענותך  What kind of suffering could there be in having mon to eat?  The gemara in Yoma (74b) comments  אמר אינו דומה מי שרואה ואוכל למי שאינו רואה ואוכל אמר רב יוסף מכאן רמז לסומין שאוכלין ואין שבעין If you thought of steak when eating the mon, you tasted steak, but the food still looked like mon; therefore, a person was never fully satiated or satisfied.  From here, says the gemara, we learn that a blind person who cannot ever see his food never really feels satiated either.

I saw quoted in the name of the Damesk Eliezer that this is why we daven on Yom Tov שׂבּענו מטובך.  We don't just want Hashem to give us טובה, all that is good for us.  He does that all the time.  The problem is that we don't see His goodness for what it is, as we live in a world of hester.  שׂבּענו מטובך -- we want to be able to see the goodness, not just believe in it, as only then will we feel satiated from Hashem's blessing.

הפּסח נאכל על השׂובע.  The korban pesach was eaten only after one was satiated and full, as a desert.  We have to be satiated and full from Hashem's goodness to truly take away the message of Pesach with us.

teeth and our spiritual DNA; why I don't like vegetables, haseiba and chipazon; the seder as a re-enactment of Yakov receiving his father's blessing

1) The scariest thing about what is going on at Columbia, Yale, MIT,  et al, is that the radical Jew hater students of today are the professors, business leaders, and politicians of tomorrow.  There is little future for Jews in America, and I've been writing that for years.  

My hunch (I would love to see if anyone has done a study on this) is that had you taken a poll before events of the past few months of 12th graders in your average Jewish day school high school, you would have found more students aspiring for a spot in an ivy league college than students aspiring to make aliya. 

Hashem has forced us the hard way to reassess our values.  

2) For some reason someone in my house last night mentioned using teeth to identify a body through DNA (don't ask).  I said that I thought teeth were usable if there were dental records like X-rays or impressions of the teeth, but not for DNA.  Turns out I was wrong.  Punkt fahrkert -- the first hit in my google search says, "DNA is an excellent means for identification of unidentified human remains. As dental pulp is surrounded by dentin and enamel, which forms dental armor, it offers the best source of DNA for reliable genetic type in forensic science."  

My wife heard this and immediately chimed in that this is the pshat in הקהה את שיניו.  The rasha wants to eliminate his spiritual DNA, his connection to Klal Yisrael.  It's the teeth that are the best means of preserving DNA, so that's what we point to when we reply to him.  I think it's a great pshat.

3) The gemara in Eiruvin (4a) quotes a Mishna in Negaim:

הנכנס לבית המנוגע וכליו על כתיפיו וסנדליו וטבעותיו בידיו הוא והם טמאין מיד היה לבוש כליו וסנדליו ברגליו וטבעותיו באצבעותיו הוא טמא מיד והן טהורין עד שישהא בכדי אכילת פרס פת חיטין ולא פת שעורין מיסב ואוכל בליפתן

Why does is the eating davka  מיסב ואוכל, b'haseiba?  Rashi writes:   מיסב. שהייה זו בהסיבה שיערוהו ולא בנאכלת בעמידה והולך ובא שהוא שוהה באכילתו יותר  When you recline and are engaged in doing nothing but eating, the eating goes faster than when you are walking around with your plate (hence the reason people linger at smorgasbords).

Maybe another reason to do haseiba on Pesach night is as a sign of chipazon, because when you eat that way you eat faster.

4) R' Tzadok haKohen writes that the reason we start the seder with karpas, a vegetable, is because Adam haRishon, in response to his eating eitz ha'daas, was cursed וְאָכַלְתָּ֖ אֶת־עֵ֥שֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶֽה.  (Adam complained that he cannot be so degraded as to eat like an animal of the field,  so Hashem softened the blow a bit and allowed him to eat bread, בְּזֵעַ֤ת אַפֶּ֙יךָ֙ תֹּ֣אכַל לֶ֔חֶם. )  Pesach is not just about the release from Egypt, but is about the tikun of man's earliest sin as well.  That is the ultimate goal of geulah, which is still in process.  

I don't like eating vegetables.  Most parents have to twist their kids' arms to get them to eat veggies.  I think this may be a remnant deep in our psyche of Adam haRishon's reaction.   Either that, or vegetables just don't taste very good.  

5) R' Noson Gestetner points out that there are a number of parallels between what we do on Pesach night and the events surrounding Yaakov getting the bracha from Yitzchak.  Yaakov wore special clothes; on leil ha'seder we wear a kittel.  The  שְׁנֵ֛י גְּדָיֵ֥י עִזִּ֖ים טֹבִ֑ים are an allusion to the korban pesach and the korban chagiga.  Yaakov said to his father קֽוּם־נָ֣א שְׁבָ֗ה וְאׇכְלָה֙ מִצֵּידִ֔י upon which Rashi comments שבה – לשון מיסב על השלחן, that this means haseiba.  Yakov brings wine,  וַיָּ֧בֵא ל֦וֹ יַ֖יִן וַיֵּֽשְׁתְּ, which may be an allusion to the 4 kosos.  Rashi comments on  וַיָּ֛רַח אֶת⁠־רֵ֥יחַ בְּגָדָ֖יו וַֽיְבָרְכֵ֑הוּ וַיֹּ֗אמֶר רְאֵה֙ רֵ֣יחַ בְּנִ֔י כְּרֵ֣יחַ שָׂדֶ֔ה  that  שנתן בו ריח טוב, וזהו שדה תפוחים.  Rashbam adds  את השדה שהוא מלא נרד וכרכום קנה וקנמון.  These are the basic ingredients of our charoset.  

Why do we have this strange minhag of stealing the afikoman?  It all harkens back to Yaakov "stealing" the brachos, which we re-enact this night of leil ha'seder.  

There is a Midrash Pli'ah on the words  בָּ֥א אָחִ֖יךָ בְּמִרְמָ֑ה וַיִּקַּ֖ח בִּרְכָתֶֽךָ that that says that Yitzchak showed Eisav the afikoman.  The Sheivet haMussar quotes that the word בְּמִרְמָ֑ה is equal to the gemastriya of afikoman -- pretty incredible.  

This explains, says R' Gestetner, why Yitzchak told Eisav that he already ate from the meal brought to him earlier and so there was nothing he could do for Eisav.  Why not eat again?!  There's always room for desert!  The answer is that Yitzchak had already eaten afikoman, and אין מפטירין אחר הפּסח אפיקומן.

Chag kasher v'sameich!  

paskening tzaraas al tnai

If you're still a reader here you know in the past few weeks we've been doing some of R' Shteinman's torah on the parsha.  It's shabbos ha'gadol and everyone is into inyanei Pesach, but at this point I feel bad skipping a week.  

R' Shteinman raises the question of whether a kohen can be metaheir a metzora al tnai.  Tos (Kesubos 74) holds that you can only make a tnai in a matter that lends itself to shlichus (see this post).  The ability to appoint a shliach to take care of something indicates that you have control over the outcome, and that is the key ingredient necessary in order to be able to make a tnai that will effect the outcome.  In the case of tzaraas, the kohen has to personally declare whether something in tamei or tahor -- he cannot appoint a shliach to do so on his behalf.  It would seem, therefore, that he cannot make a tnai either.

There seem to be exceptions to the above rule, e.g. you can make a tnai in nezirus (see Tos Nazir 11), or in nedarim.  R Akiva Eiger writes that someone who is afraid that they will miss zman krias shema should read shema before davening al tnai that if they make the zman during birchos krias shema, they want to be yotzei only with the later recitation with the brachos. You can't have a shliach read k"s for you, so this sounds like yet another exception to the rule.  A number of Achronim hold that Tos rule is limited to cases where an action is being done.  However, when it comes to dibur -- the case of neder, nezirus, etc. -- a tnai can be made to undo dibur even if a case where a shliach cannot be appointed.  This would seem to cover the declaration of the kohen as well.

The reason R' Shteinman has this on his radar is because Rashi at the beginning of the parsha quotes a din ביום טהרתו – מלמד שאין מטהרין אותו בלילה.  What would happen if the kohen saw the nega during the day, and declared it tamei or tahor al tnai that the psak goes into effect after dark?  Is it the maaseh of psak at night which is barred, or is it the chalos of the psak?  Would such a tnai even work?  (This is reminiscent of R' Akiva Eiger's safeik with regards to the issur of mekach u'memkar on shabbos -- is it the act of buying/selling which is prohibited, or is it the chalos of the sale?  What if you made a sale on Friday which is chal on Shabbos?)  

Later on in the parsha (14:36) by nigei batim there is a din  וְצִוָּ֨ה הַכֹּהֵ֜ן וּפִנּ֣וּ אֶת־הַבַּ֗יִת בְּטֶ֨רֶם יָבֹ֤א הַכֹּהֵן֙ לִרְא֣וֹת אֶת־הַנֶּ֔גַע to clear out the house before the kohen comes to pasken on the nega afflicting it so that the kelim inside do not become tamei.  If it is possible to pasken on a nega al tnai, why couldn't the kohen give his psak al tnai that it does not take effect for another hour or however long so that the house can be cleared?  It seems from here that tnai does not work.

R' Shteinman rejects this proof.  Forget about tnai; one can ask more fundamentally why the house needs to be cleared before the kohen gets there -- let the kohen just hold off on paskening until the kelim are removed?  It must be (as Ohr haChaim spells out) that the kohen is obligated to pasken as soon as he sees the nega and put the house in a state of hesger, if required.  By that same token, tnai cannot work either because of that same obligation to enforce hesger as soon as the nega is seen.

2) Rashi comments that nigei batim is a gift from Hashem.   וְנָתַתִּי֙ נֶ֣גַע צָרַ֔עַת בְּבֵ֖ית אֶ֥רֶץ אֲחֻזַּתְכֶֽם Rashi writes 

בשורה היא להם שהנגעים באים עליהם, לפי שהטמינו אמוריים מטמוניות של זהב בקירות בתיהם כל ארבעים שנה שהיו ישראל במדבר, ועל ידי הנגע נותץ הבית ומוצאן.

R' Shteinman points out that the gemara implies that negaim come as punishment for sin.  How then can Rashi tell us that Hashem did this in order to give a person a rewrd and allow them to find buried treasure?

He answers that there is no contradiction.  A person might need to receive a punishment, but at the same time, Hashem can bless them with a buried treasure.  Had they not sinned, they might have gotten that treasure without having to destroy their house, but given the circumstances, this is how it had to work out.

what our response should have been this week

The day after the Iran attack, I thought we should say hallel.  Whether the "we" should be everyone, or those living in Eretz Yisrael alone, I don't know.  But what I do know is that it is incredible that over 300 drones and missiles should be fired and cause just about no damage.  I don't care how good you think the IDF is, and how good the cooperation is with other forces, it's still incredible.  Just like the Rambam says in Hil Taanis (1:3)

אבל אם לא יזעקו ולא יריעו אלא יאמרו דבר זה ממנהג העולם אירע לנו וצרה זו נקרה נקרית. הרי זו דרך אכזריות וגורמת להם להדבק במעשיהם הרעים. ותוסיף הצרה צרות אחרות.

The same is true of salvation.  We should not say דבר זה ממנהג העולם because it absolutely is not.  

Unfortunately I only saw this video now otherwise I would have posted it earlier.  Baruch she'kivanti, R' Ouri Cherki said to say hallel shaleim without a bracha:

When things are bad, everyone pulls out a Tehillim and we cry to Hashem, as it should be.  

But when thing are good, you have to remember to also pull out a Tehillim, to sing shirah and say thank you.  

Kozhiglover on why this shabbos is called shabbos ha'gadol

My son quotes a letter of the L Rebbe in which he writes that it's not by accident that Pesach comes in chodesh ha'aviv.  During the long winter months it looks like nothing is alive, nothing can grow, but then suddenly the weather changes, the trees are blossoming and we can say birkat ha'ilanot, and the flowers and grass start sprouting again.  These winter months were a necessary preparatory step to allow things to bloom again; just because nothing was visible on the surface does not mean nothing was taking place.  So too in life, there are periods when we feel like we are stagnating and in a funk and not progressing, but these are just passing winters, and a new spring will eventually arrive.  This is the lesson of galus Mitzrayim, where it seemed we had sunk to irredeemable levels, but suddenly geulah happened and we blossomed forth as a nation. 

I would add the words of the Midrash Rabbah (Braishis 10:6):

 אָמַר רַבִּי סִימוֹן אֵין לְךָ כָּל עֵשֶׂב וְעֵשֶׂב, שֶׁאֵין לוֹ מַזָּל בָּרָקִיעַ שֶׁמַּכֶּה אוֹתוֹ, וְאוֹמֵר לוֹ גְּדַל

It is Shabbos haGadol.  Throughout the year we may be unaware of that malach standing above and may not hear the whisper commanding  גְּדַל.  This Shabbos, this time of year, all of us hear it's call.

But it is not just a whisper.  מַּכֶּה אוֹתוֹ**, וְאוֹמֵר לוֹ גְּדַל**.  Growth is hard and growth can be painful.  That is true for us as individuals and true for us as a nation.  But grow we must.

Why is this shabbos called Shabbos haGadol?

In Parshas Braishis we read (1:16) that Hashem made אֶת⁠־שְׁנֵ֥י הַמְּאֹרֹ֖ת הַגְּדֹלִ֑ים, but then the pasuk continues and tells us  that there is    אֶת־הַמָּא֤וֹר הַגָּדֹל֙ לְמֶמְשֶׁ֣לֶת הַיּ֔וֹם וְאֶת־הַמָּא֤וֹר הַקָּטֹן֙ לְמֶמְשֶׁ֣לֶת הַלַּ֔יְלָה.  Rashi comments:

  שוים נבראו, ונתמעטה הלבנה על ידי שקיטרגה ואמרה: אי איפשר לשני מלכים שישתמשו בכתר אחד.  

The Kozhiglover explains that the difference between the sun and the moon is not merely a matter of size, but rather lies in the fact that the sun gives light, but the moon merely reflects light.  The gemara in Bava Metziya (12b) tells us  גדול וסמוך על שלחן אביו זהו קטן קטן ואינו סמוך על שלחן אביו זהו גדול  A gadol gives; a katan receives.  Similarly the gemara in Nedarim (24a) writes that a neder made to force someone to reciprocate a gift is taken seriously because the noder might be thinking  לאו מלכא אנא דמהנינא לך ואת לא מהנית לי .  I don't want to be like a melech, as a melech gives without taking in return.  The moon argued that there could not be two melachim, two gedolim, two bodies that give off light independent of each other.  As a result, it became a katan.  It no longer is able to give off light, only to receive and reflect it.

The masechta in shas dedicated to the laws of chol ha'moed is called Moed Katan.  Chol haMoed receives its kedusha from the days of Y"T that precede and come after it.  These days are the sibah for its issurim; chol ha'moed merely reflects their light.  The Kozhiglover explains that the machlokes whether to put in tefillin on chol ha'moed revolves around this point: do we look at the fact that it has no independent kedusha apart from that which comes from the days of Y"T that surround it and therefore treat it like chol, or do we say that sof sof the fact that it reflects that light of Y"T is enough to push of tefillin. 

This is also the difference between Eretz Yisrael and chutz la'aretz.  Ramban famously writes in P Acharei Mos that mitzvos should in theory only apply in Eretz Yisrael, but in chu"l we do them in order to keep in practice.  Eretz Yisrael is the source of light; chu"l merely reflects what Hashem channels through Eretz Yisrael.

Pesach is the first of the regalim and is called a day of shabbos (the omer is brought "mi'macharas ha'shabbos"), but there is a source of light even greater than itself.  Shabbos is תחילה למקראי קודשׁ, it is the primal source, the source from which springs the kedusha of all the other Moadim of the year, the first of which is Chag haPesach.  This is why our shabbos is called Shabbos haGadol.  It is the well from which Pesach and the other Moadim all draw, the source of the kedusha that we will IY"H receive and grow from in the upcoming week.

the override switch

1)  Just to make it a chazakah of 3 weeks in a row with R' Shteinman's torah: R' Shteinman has a safeik whether the kohen who rules whether a nega is tamei or tahor recites a bracha, something like, "v'tzivanu liros v'lifsok ha'nega."  Beis din does not recite a bracha when they pasken, so why should this case be any different?  

The difference is that the role of beis din is birur -- they are just there to clarify the facts, and m'meila what the din should be is clarified.  The kohen's psak is not birur.  The facts on the ground -- whether the afflication in question is a nega -- might be perfectly clear before the kohen says anything.  However, until the kohen declares something to be a nega, it's like it does not exist.  The kohen's psak does not merely clarify; it creates a new reality.

My 2 cents: whether b"d's function is just a matter of birur may not be so simple.  The Rashba (B"K 90) writes that lo te'hey shmiya gedolah m'reiya only works for a beis din of three, but not a yachid mumcheh.  From the perspective of ascertaining the facts, there is no difference between the re'iya of the mumcheh and the re'iya of a b"d of three.  It would therefore seem that there is some extra ingredient involved in the mix.  See Sharei Yosher 7:1    For a different approach, see also R' Amiel in his Darkei Kinyanim.  

2) There is a derasha (Nida 41) on the second pasuk of our parsha, אִשָּׁה֙ כִּ֣י תַזְרִ֔יעַ וְיָלְדָ֖ה זָכָ֑ר:  

א״ר יצחק א״ר אמי, אשה מזרעת תחלה יולדת זכר, איש מזריע תחלה יולדת נקבה, שנאמר אשה כי תזריע וילדה זכר.

The gemara at the end of Brachos (60) raises the possibility of a person davening for their child to be a boy, at least within 40 days from conception, and asks how this is possible given that everything is determined already at the moment of conception, by whether אשה מזרעת תחלה or איש מזריע תחלה: 

 והא"ר יצחק בריה דרב אמי איש מזריע תחלה יולדת נקבה אשה מזרעת תחלה יולדת זכר שנאמר אשה כי תזריע וילדה זכר הכא במאי עסקינן כגון שהזריעו שניהם בבת אחת 

The dochak seems evident. The Zohar raises the same issue in a slightly different way, but the answer is unclear (to me at least):

אִשָּׁה כִּי תַזְרִיעַ. תָּנֵינָן, אִשָּׁה מַזְרַעַת תְּחִלָּה יוֹלֶדֶת זָכָר. רִבִּי אֲחָא אָמַר, הָא תָּנֵינָן, דְּקוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא גָּזַר עַל הַהִיא טִפָּה, אִי אִיהוּ דְּכַר אִי אִיהִי נוּקְבָּא, וְאַתְּ אַמְרַת אִשָׁה מַזְרַעַת תְּחִלָּה יוֹלֶדֶת זָכָר. אָמַר רִבִּי יוֹסֵי, וַדַּאי קוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא אַבְחִין בֵּין טִפָּה דִּדְכוּרָא וּבֵין טִפָּה דְּנוּקְבָּא, וּבְגִין דְּאַבְחִין לֵיהּ, גָּזַר עָלֵיהּ, אִי לִהֱוִי דְּכַר אוֹ נוּקְבָּא.

The difference between the Zohar and the gemara is that the gemara seems like a "G-d of the gaps" type argument.  Most things are determined by the teva of whether אשה מזרעת תחלה or איש מזריע תחל, but where that's not possible, G-d steps in to take over.  The Zohar sees G-d as taking a hand in everything and somehow ironing out there being a need for that alongside how teva works.

In short, we are left with this tension between whether the determining factor of things is G-d or teva, which the Chasam Sofer encapsulates nicely with the following question: We thank Hashem every morning שׁלא עשׂני אשׂה.  What are we thanking Hashem for?  אשה מזרעת תחלה יולדת זכר, איש מזריע תחלה יולדת נקבה, it's determined by nature?

Chasam Sofer answers that there is in effect a two track system.  There is the derech ha'teva system of  אשה מזרעת תחלה יולדת זכר, איש מזריע תחלה יולדת נקבה.  On top of that, there is the system that Klal Yisrael operates under, the system that transcends teva, that allows for Hashem to step in and direct things.

He then reads this into the pesukim.  The parsha starts  אִשָּׁה כִּי תַזְרִיעַ וְיָלְדָה זָכָר, which is the normal progression of teva. The continuation  וְאִם נְקֵבָה תֵלֵד וְטָמְאָה שְׁבֻעַיִם כְּנִדָּתָהּ is not the flipside case of איש מזריע תחלה and having a girl.  Were that the case, ikkar chaseir, why not say אישׁ כּי תזריע...?   Rather, the continuation is this second track, the l'maalah min ha'teva track.  Even though al pi teva אשה מזרעת תחלה יולדת זכר, sometimes Hashem will redirect things.  Even though it's a case of אשה מזרעת תחלה, it can still come out that וְאִם נְקֵבָה תֵלֵד... In such a case you might have thought that the dinei tumah should be like a  זָכָר, like the case of אשה מזרעת תחלה, which is what happened, kah mashma lan that it doesn't work that way.

The lesson here does not just apply to our parsha.  Al pi derech ha'teva all kinds of things are determined -- how much $ you will make, how good you will do in school, etc. -- but there is an override switch to everything.  Only Hashem has the final say.

Maybe that's why this parsha of tumas leida appears as an introduction to the rest of our parsha, which deals with the issue of negaim.  A nega can come as a result of disease; it can be the result of teva.  But that does not make a person tamei.  Without the declaration of the kohen, the nega is meaningless.  There is the override switch that determines the true reality of what is and what will be.