Yeshivat Nesher Hagadol

                      Parshas Bereishis Tishrei 5780 Based on the Torah of our Rosh HaYeshiva HaRav Yochanan Zweig Weekly Insights Printer Friendly Format   Click Here This week's Insights is dedicated in memory of in loving memory of R' Moshe Chaim Berkowitz z'l - the visionary for whom our Yeshiva is named. "May his Neshama have an Aliya!"   To Sponsor an Issue of Insights  Click Here    Death Becomes Us "Hashem Elokim created man from the soil of the earth" (2:7). Rashi (ad loc) quotes the Midrash ( Tanchuma ,  Pekudei : 3), which explains that Hashem gathered soil from all four corners of the earth to create man so that, regardless of where a person should die, the earth would absorb him in burial. This is a highly perplexing statement. Ostensibly, one of the functions of the ear...

COURTESY OF MATZAV.COM October 24, 2019 Rav Moshe Sofer – the Chasam Sofer – was born in 1766 to Rav Shmuel and Gittel Sofer of Frankfurt Am Mein. Rav Shmuel was an outstanding talmid chacham who traced his yichus back to the Yalkut Shimoni.  At the age of three, he turned to his melamed in puzzlement and asked, “Why does the verse repeat itself in the expression ‘afar min ha’adama?'” The melamed tried to hurry on to the next verse, but the young Moshe would not be put off and demanded an answer straight away. Astounded by the child’s grasp, the melamed told Rav Shmuel what had happened. When Rav Shmuel repeated the incident to Rav Nasan Adler, one of the greatest gedolim of the generation, he insisted that Rav Shmuel teach the boy himself. Rav Shmuel understood that he was grooming a future leader of klal Yisroel and invested all his energies into the boy’s chinuch, both of the intellect and of the character. Judging by the following anecdote, his efforts obviously had a...

Dvar Torah By Rav Shimshon Nadel The Kotzker Rebbe on Simchat Torah One Simchat Torah, Rav Menachem Mendel of Kotzk saw a jew standing by the sidelines during the Hakafot. When the Kotzker inquired as to why this jew was not dancing, he replied that he felt inadequate dancing and celebrating with the Torah, as he was not learned, and had not learned much during the past year. The Kotzker responded that on Simchat Torah there are two Chatanim: Chatan Torah and Chatan Bereishit. The Chatan Torah represents one who has accomplished much in his learning over the past year. But Bereishit is about beginnings. The Chatan Bereishit celebrates one who is going to devote this new year to the study of Torah. In his Shem Mi-Shmuel, Rav Shmuel Borensztain quotes his grandfather, the Kotzker, as having said that on Simchat Torah we do not celebrate the completion of the Torah, for who can say that he has studied the entire Torah? Instead, Simchat Torah is a celebration of what we will ac...

Dvar Torah Sefas Emes AL Chag Hasukkos By Dr. Nosson Chayim Leff  5634 Let’s work with the first ma’amar of 5634. A central feature of the sukka — indeed, the feature that gives the sukka its name — is the sekhach (the materials used to make the roof of the sukka). The Sfas Emes begins by showing us something that is totally obvious once he has pointed it out; but was totally non-obvious until he did so. Thus, the Sfas Emes notes that the sukka resembles a chupa (wedding canopy). And just as the wedding ceremony under the chupa completes the binding of a wife and her husband together, so, too, the sukka completed the sanctification (the kiddushin) of our special relationship with HaShem. For, continues the Sfas Emes, HaShem’s taking us out of Egypt was in the nature of a marriage. Thus, HaShem says (Vayikra, 22:32-33): “Ani HaShem me’kadish’chem, ha’motzi es’chem meiEretz Mitzrayim … “. (ArtScroll: “I am HaShem Who sanctifies you, Who took you out of the land of Egypt …”...

A Fresh Start Sukkos A Dvar Torah By Rabbi Yochanan Zweig  “You shall take for yourselves on the first day…” (23:40) The Tur records a custom among Ashkenazim to fast on the eve of Rosh Hashana. 1  As the source for this custom, he cites a Midrash which questions why the Torah identifies the time for taking the lulav as “the first day” – “bayom harishon”; should the day not be identified as the fifteenth of the month? The Midrash concludes that the first day of Sukkos is “rishon l’cheshbon avonos” – “the first day for the accounting of our sins” and therefore Sukkos is identified as “yom harishon”. The Midrash offers the following parable: There was once a city that owed the king a large sum of money in taxes. As a result of the residents’ failure to pay, the king marched against the city with an armed garrison. Prior to reaching the city, a delegation consisting of the elders of the community was sent to appease the king. After meeting with the delegation the ...

Rabbi Ben Tzion Shafier       Reprinted with permission from  TheShmuz.com . The Rambam defines emunah as the knowledge that Hashem created and continues to run all of Creation. In Shemoneh Perakima, he delineates the first of the Thirteen Principles of Faith: “The Creator, blessed be He, created and orchestrates all activities, and He alone did, does and will do all actions.” Simply put, nothing can exist and no activity can occur without Hashem. There is no such thing as happenstance. There are no random occurrences. Hashem is intricately involved in the running of the world. Emunah is the understanding that Hashem is involved in the big picture issues. Life and death. War and famine. Disease and disaster. Which countries will go to war? Which will enjoy peace? Which economies will expand? Which will collapse? But even more significantly, emunah is the knowledge that Hashem is involved in the minutiae of my daily life. Hashem is ther...