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The next scheduled issue is for parshas Bereishis. Gmar chasimah tovah. 
HaRav Shlomo Kanievsky shlita Talks about Tefillah on Yomim Noraim
"The following story was related by a tzaddik from a previous generation who found it necessary to travel to a distant city in the month of Elul to participate in a joyous family occasion." These are the opening words of HaRav Shlomo Kanievsky. He continues:
At first he was reluctant to go but family members pressured him to attend the simcha, and he finally agreed. En route, he saw a young goy beating an elderly man. He stopped and asked him why he was thrashing the poor man and received this answer. "It is harvest time now. Our work supports us for the entire year. I am striking this man, my father, who refuses to go out and work since if we do not harvest the crop, we will suffer hunger for the rest of the year."
We are called upon to integrate the important message from the above parable and internalize it into our lives:
It is not always easy to stand on Rosh Hashonoh or Yom Kippur in prayer for long hours. Sometimes we even feel that it is too much, too difficult a task. ...
It is a battle with almost a foregone conclusion of failure. Antisemitism is ingrained in the blood of millions throughout the world. Perhaps 'millions' diminishes the phenomenon because the actual figure is larger, much larger. From the time that hatred of Jews descended to the world when the Torah was given at Sinai, this hatred has not ceased for even a moment. This is what HaRav Yeruchom, Mashgiach of Mir, noted in the past. And he offered an example:
"Upon taking a walk one time, i encountered a gentile urchin playing with a whip. As i passed by, he lifted it and sent it lashing on my back. I couldn't help but thinking: Just a few moments before, several non-Jews also passed by but it didn't even enter his mind to wield the whip on them. What, then, did he see in me to do such a thing? Whoever taught him that it was alright to whip a Jew?
"The explanation is simple enough: Who taught a cat to pursue mice? Did it have to undergo any 'course' on how to chase mice? Of course not; it is built in, an inborn part of his nature. He inherited his antipathy in his genes. The same applies to gentiles. It is an integral part of their being. Fire and water are opposites, self-exclusive, and will never be peaceful with one another."
There were some who actually believed that once the mask was whipped off the face of the disgusting creatures of Gaza in the dastardly massacre which they perpetrated on that dreaded day three years ago, that the world will recognize with whom we have to deal with in that region of the land. But this was a mere illusion.
Even before the corpses of the dead Jews were gathered, the world became privy to the Gaza Nazi propaganda which hurled the accusation of genocide at us before the ground had even absorbed the Jewish blood which had been shed. This hatred is so unnatural, illogical and unrealistic, that a thousand most sophisticated rebuttals would not make a dent in the world opinion.
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Part 3
This was originally published in 5636.
In the first two parts we learned about the life of HaRav Dovid Oppenheim. This part is about his magnificent library, very large for its day.
The Famous Library
It seems as if nearly every printed sefer in existence could be found R' Dovid Oppenheim's library. Amassing so vast a collection demanded much effort on R' Dovid's part. This project spanned a period of fifty years, during which he spared neither time nor money in order to acquire every sefer available to him. Where seforim were concerned, money was no object to him. Whether at a fair, or on journeys for the needs of the klal, he searched for seforim and manuscripts to enrich his library, recruiting his relatives and paid agents for this purpose too.
These agents were sent to seforim owners who were selling their books. With their satchels of money in their hands, they paid whatever price the owner of the books demanded.
An example of this practice is found in a letter he wrote to R' Meir Katznelbogen, author of Ner LaMaor: "Regarding the seforim which are listed, I spoke with the aluf, R'P, who agreed to sell kvod Toraso all of them together.... and if maalas kvod Toraso wishes, he will give them to him for forty reinisch."
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"Whoever did not see the Simchas Beis Hashoeva never saw joy in his entire life....pious men and men of deeds would dance before them with fiery torches in their hands" (Succa 51).
"Tannu Rabbonon: Some of them would say, "Happy was our youth that has not shamed our old age"—These were the pious men and men of deeds...Tanya: They said of Hillel HaZaken that when he was rejoicing at the Simchas Beis Hashoeva he used to say, "If I am here—everything is here! And if I'm not here—then who is here?"
"He would say, "My feet carry me to where I love. If you visit my house, I will come to your house but if you don't come to my house—I won't come to your house, as it says (Shemos 19) "In every place.." (Succa 53a)
Hillel always serves as the model of humility, as we see in a number of places in the gemora, for example: "A person should always be humble like Hillel, and not severe like Shammai." (Shabbos 30:) "It was Hillel's humility which drew us under Hashem's protection." (Shabbos 31).
The quotation from Hillel, "If I am here, everything is here," which he would say at the Simchas Beis Hashoeva seems especially strange in view of Hillel's humility and patience. We present here eight explanations of Hillel's words collected from the sifrei acharonim. At this time we will present only four.
Where Ruchniyus Is Concerned—Don't Leave It Up To Others!
Rav Tzvi Markovitch, rosh yeshiva of Karlin and member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Degel HaTorah, explains using the following moshol. The mispallelim of a certain shul, who were not men of means, were envious of their well-to-do brethren at another shul nearby who were able to provide all their members with whiskey to drink on Simchas Torah between the hakofos. As a result, the joyous atmosphere in the well-to-do shul was literally out of this world.
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Outstanding Articles From Our Archives
Opinion & Comment
Serving Hashem with Joy
by HaRav Chaim Walkin zt"l
The joy man feels when performing a mitzvah and loving G-d, Who commanded the mitzvos, is a great avodah. Whoever prevents himself from feeling this joy deserves retribution, as the Torah states, "Because you did not serve Hashem your G- d with joy and with gladness of heart! therefore you shall serve your enemies... (Devorim 28:47- 48) (Rambam, Hilchos Lulav 8:15).
The wording Rambam uses here is unusual for him. His treatise Mishneh Torah, where these words were written, is a halachic work. The word "deserves" is too ambiguous -- either the person is punished or not.
Furthermore, where is the basis of this halachic ruling in the verse he quotes?
The Maggid Mishnah explains:
The words of Rabbeinu [Rambam] are explained in the gemora, which states, "I have praised this joy of performing a mitzvah" (Shabbos 30b). The idea here is that it is not fitting for a person to perform a mitzvah only because he is obligated to do so. Rather, he should feel joy in performing the mitzvos, to do what is good simply because it is good. Similarly, he should choose truth for the sake of truth. The burden of the mitzvah will be lightened through his understanding that he was created just for this purpose -- to serve his Master. When he fulfills his purpose, he rejoices, because the joy of other things is dependent upon trivial things and does not last. It is the happiness that comes from performing the mitzvos and the study of Torah and its wisdom that is the true joy.
The joy a person feels when performing the mitzvos and studying Torah is a reflection of his genuine desire to serve Hashem. If that feeling of happiness is not there, it is an indication that he is doing it only because he must, because he is obligated.
Father and Son or Master and Servant?
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Opinion & Comment
"Being Number One"
by Rabbi Pinchas Kantrovitz
"We're number one! We're number one!" In 1969, a tall lanky 10 year old boy sitting in Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York, joined tens of thousands of other ecstatic fans in this chant as the New York Mets won the playoffs.
Had this young man been invited to join in the celebration, he undoubtedly would have began to chant with the team as though intoxicated, "We're number one! We're number one!" One of the players might have asked him, "Hey kid, did you say that `we're number one?' Who's "we?" What position do you play?"
Indeed, the player would have a good point, would he not? How could this young man call himself part of this collective "we"? Is it not the players who wear the uniform, play the games, and work out at the practices who bear the exclusive right to be identified as the "we" of the team?
On the festival of Shemini Atzeres/Simchas Torah, which in Eretz Yisroel is celebrated as a single day, the Jewish nation rejoices. There are several reasons that we rejoice, one is that we are now participating in a siyum, a celebration in honor of completing the annual cycle of studying the Torah. This is the significance of Simchas Torah.
Opinion & Comment
Ushe'avtem Mayim Besoson -- the Saga of Water
by R' Shlome Leitner
What is the reason that prompted Chazal to institute the great simcha of Beis Hasho'eivo in honor of the mitzvah of nisuch hamayim? It was a simcha so great that the Mishna tells us, "Anyone who did not witness the simcha of Simchas Beis Hasho'eivo, has not seen a simcha in his lifetime." Whence this great simcha?
In the sefer Beer Yosef, in parshas Bereishis the mechaber explains the Medrash Rabbo which tells us what happened at the time when Hakodosh Boruch Hu separated the waters and instructed the Mayim Hatachtonim, the waters that were decreed to come down onto this world, to separate themselves from the upper waters in Heaven. The Medrash tells us that the waters destined to come onto this world were crying about their destination.
The Tosafos HaRosh says that the reason the words ki tov are not mentioned on the second day of creation is because the waters argued that they did not want to come down to this world, to a place of tumah. Hakodosh Boruch Hu then informed the waters that the Yidden would be given a mitzvah of nisuch hamayim, using them in the Beis Hamikdash.
This is a mitzvah wherein the Yidden pour water into a hole on the southwest corner of the Mizbeiach. This hole, which Chazal tell us was created during the week of creation too, went down to the Tehom, the waters below the ground.
However, even with this promise the waters were not appeased. The reason stated is because the waters argued that the mitzvah of nisuch hamayim is but once a year.
Hakodosh Boruch Hu therefore informed the waters that the Yidden would have another mitzvah: placing salt on the Mizbeiach each time a korbon was brought. With this, the waters were finally appeased.
The Beer Yosef implies that the reason the waters were reluctant to come onto this world of tumah was because they too wanted to remain in Heaven, to be near the Shechina, just like the Mayim Ho'elyonim, the upper waters, had the privilege of doing.
Now, the fact is that the amount of water in our world is a "drop in the ocean" compared to the waters which are in Heaven. Moreover, the three luggin of water used each time for the mitzvah of nisuch hamayim is again no more than a "drop in the ocean" compared to the waters on earth.
The mitzvah of nisuch hamayim was only performed for six days each year and for just a total of 830 years during the time of the two Botei Mikdosh. So the total amount of water that was ever used for the mitzvah of nisuch hamayim is minute compared to all the waters which are in Heaven and on earth. Yet Hakodosh Boruch Hu informed the Mayim Hatachtonim that the mitzvah of nisuch hamayim will compensate them for all the merits that the Heavenly waters receive by being in Heaven near the Shechina for thousands of years.
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