Rabbi's Blog

The colloquial term used for someone who holds onto old things and can't throw them away is 'pack rat'. I have a different kind of quirk:I hold on to new things while continuing to use the old.Whenever I buy new things,I put them away and only use them when I am desperate. It's sort of like storing canned goods and bottled water for a war or natural disaster, except instead of storing food I'm storing clothing. New clothing. Lots of it. I have shirts, shoes, socks, underwear, and even suits that I bought over two years ago - still in their original packaging. This little idiosyncrasy of mine isn't limited to clothing; it applies to religious paraphernalia as well. It takes desperate measures or really special occasions for me to break out something new.

I become especially attached to things that I use for religious purposes. It is very difficult for me to 'retire' something, no matter how worn it may be, and replace it with a new one. Thanks to the fact that I always meticulously fold my tallis precisely on the creases, my tallis wore out straight down the middle fold and along all the connecting folds, creating a hole which grew progressively bigger and bigger. Sadly, I had to admit that it was time to lay my worn-out tallis to rest. Parenthetically, there is a tradition for a man to be buried with the tallis that he wore during his life. My problem will be which tallis should I request be used? Should I use my Shabbos or weekday tallis, or should it be the tallis I first put on when I got married... or should the last one I put on be the one to use? I figure that since I get so attached to my talleisim, after one hundred twenty years I want to be buried with ALL of the Talleisim I wore during my life.

Since I always buy any potentially-needed garment long before I will actually have to wear it, I bought a new tallis to wear during the week about six months ago. As it turned out, when I finally decided to break out my new tallis, we had just entered the period of the three weeks before Tisha B'Av. The custom is to make the blessing of Shehecheyanu on a new tallis, but the Shehecheyanu is not made during the three weeks of mourning. So, I put the new tallis away. My old Tallis really started to deteriorate, so again I took out the new one. Last week I brought my old tallis and tefillin bags to Shul along with my new tallis. As I was about to put on the new tallis, I realized I had also taken my old one. How could I possibly use my new tallis in the presence of my old one? It would be wrong to take out the new tallis in the presence of the old one, especially after been worn for so many years. Not wanting to make the old one feel 'old and useless', I decided to wait one more day and use the old one. The next day I only took the new tallis to Shul with me. .

The notion of being sensitive to inanimate objects and ideas is replete in Jewish law and tradition. Many are familiar with the custom of covering the Challah on Friday night and Shabbos morning during Kiddush to avoid embarrassing the bread by reciting the bracha over wine first - which is not the hierarchal order of blessings. As we are now in the midst of Chanuka, I find it appropriate to share some other examples within Halacha and to train ourselves to internalize these lessons and to become more sensitive to the feelings of others.

The three levels of performing the mitzvah of lighting Chanukah candles are: 1) One candle per household per night 2) One candle per person per night in each household or one person adding an additional candle each night 3) Each person adds an additional candle each night. The basic level is the Mitzva while other 'extras' are called Mehadrin and Mehadrin Min Hamihadrin. In addition to these lights we also have another light to serve as the Shamash, to either light the other candles and also to avoid benefitting from the Chanukah candles (we are not allowed to derive benefit from the Chanukah candles). The question is asked why can't we use the Mehadrin -lit candles to benefit from since they are the 'extra' ones above and beyond the Mitzva? The answer is that once a person designates something to be 'the Mitzva 'it also takes on all of the properties of the main Mitzva. If we made the Mehadrin into the Mitzva, we cannot degrade it by treating it as less holy than the one original candle.

Rav Yechiel Michel Epstein, in his work Aruch Hashulchan Orach Chaim 673:6, discusses a case of someone coming home to light, but only found wax candles for lighting the Menorah. He stuck them in the wall (that was the Chanukiyah of the day) and began reciting the Bracha. While reciting the Bracha, olive oil was brought to him. The law is that once the Bracha is begun, we are to continue with the rest of the blessing. So Rav Yechiel Michel Epstein lit the wax candles and did not light with the olive oil, even though it would be a hiddur - enhancement of the demands of the mitzvah beyond the letter of the law. Rav Epstein explains that the Bracha has been begun, even though you didn't say Hashem's name, you are NOT supposed to change it to oil 'the Hiddur Mitzva' because it would be a boosha, an embarrassment, to the wax candle which is acceptable to be used to light the Chanukiyah. If, on the other hand, the person did not begin to say a Bracha, then the oil should be switched for the candle because the wax candles were not sanctified , they were just being set up. It was said in the name of the Shvus Yaakov that even just setting up the wax candles is tantamount to the mitzvah and even that by itself renders the wax candles 'holy' and sanctified. Even though the halacha doesn't follow the Shvus Yaakov, we nevertheless see how far we go to protect the feelings of the wax candles.

The story of Chanukah takes place during the period of the Second Temple, approximately 165 B.C.E.. The Second Beis Hamikdash was destroyed due to the sin of sinas chinam, loosely translated as unwarranted hatred between Jews. Hatred, or Sinas Chinam, didn't appear instantaneously; it began to foment decades earlier. The celebration of Chanukah always coincides with Parshas Mikeitz, which focuses on the unwarranted hatred between Yosaif and his brothers. The seeds of Sinas Chinam could very well have been planted back in the generation of the B'nei Yaakov, lying dormant until the time of Chanukah when Jews fought against Jews, ultimately leading to the destruction of the Second Beis Hamikdash two hundred thirty five years later.

We have the custom of learning Torah while the lights of the Menorah are burning because Torah is compared to light. This year as we peer at the glowing flames of the menorah, let's keep in mind the sayings of the Rabbis: "Derech Eretz Kadma L'Torah". Proper respect is a necessary component of learning Torah. Being sensitive to fellow Jews, and indeed to human beings in general, is a necessary component of Torah learning. Let us work to become more sensitive to the feelings of others, building positive relationships so that our generation will witness the lighting of the actual menorah in the rebuilt Third Beis Hamikdash speedily in our day!

Ah Gut Shabbos/Ah Lichtiga Chanuka