BS"D Parshas Eikev 5781

By Rabbi Dovid Caro

Candle Motzaei Rabbeinu
lighting Shabbos Tam

Atlanta, GA 8:21pm 9:20pm 9:51pm There is a Sifri on this week’s Parsha (Eikev 12), Rabbi Shimon bar
Boca Racon, FL. 7:50pm 8:45pm 9:20pm Yochai gives a parable of two brothers were working, one earned a
golden Dinar and used it, and the other earned a Dinar and put aside
Brooklyn, NY 7:54pm 8:58pm 9:24pm into savings. In the long term, the one who used his money remained
Chicago, IL 7:50pm 8:57pm 9:22pm with nothing, whereas the one who saved up became wealthy. The
same is with a Talmid Chacham, he learns two or three Halachos a
Lakewood, NJ 7:54pm 8:58pm 9:24pm
day, two or three chapters a week, and with time accumulates a
Leeds, UK 8:48pm 10:14pm 10:18pm wealth of knowledge.
Liverpool, UK 8:52pm 10:16pm 10:22pm Rabbi Yankel Galinsky told over the following.
A man came over to Rav Galinsky and introduced himself as a Rabbi
London, UK 8:36pm 9:52pm 10:02pm
in a Shul in Ramat Gan near Bnei Brak. The Rabbi invited Rav
Los Angeles, CA 7:37pm 8:36pm 9:07pm Galinsky to a Siyum Masechta that will be taking place the following
Manchester, UK 8:53pm 10:14pm 10:19pm Tuesday, accompanied by music and followed by a dinner.
“Which Masechta are you finishing,” asked Rav Galinsky?
Melbourne, AU 5:13pm 6:14pm 6:45pm
“Maseches Taanis,” the Rabbi replied.
Miami, FL 7:49pm 8:45pm 9:20pm
‘Nu,’ Rav Galinsky thought to himself, ‘I could understand if they
Montreal, QC 8:06pm 9:15pm 9:36pm finished Shabbos that has over 150 daf, with the difficult Halochos
of Shabbos, or Yevomos and all its calculations, one of the hard
New York, NY 7:55pm 8:59pm 9:25pm
Masechtos in Kodshim. That would deserve a party, music,
Panama City, PA 6:22pm 7:13pm 7:52pm speeches. But Taanis is only 30 daf, and an easy Masechte, whats the
Seattle, WA 8:27pm 9:40pm 9:57pm
big fuss?’
“And how long did it take to study?”
Sydney, AU 4:56pm 5:54pm 6:27pm
“Seven years,” replied the Rabbi.
Toronto, ON 8:24pm 9:31pm 9:54pm “You had a class once a month,” asked Rav Galinsky?
Yerushalaim, EY 7:02pm 8:17pm 8:54pm “No, it was a weekly Shiur.”
“Seven years, that’s over 350 weeks for thirty pages, that’s 5 weeks
per Amud (page)!”
“Ah,” replied the Rabbi, “every week after prayers Shabbos morning
For questions, comments, or to sponsor,
dedicate or subscribe please email to: we had a Shiur for ten minutes a week and over seven years we
tiferetzvi13@gmail.com covered the whole Masechte Taanis.”
 Now he understood. People come to Shul to daven
every week. They’ve heard the weekly Parsha and
finished Mussaf. They’re ready to go home, make
2 Kiddush, enjoy Shabbos lunch, have a good hot
plate of cholent and then go to have a nap. Or at
least have a grand Kiddush in Shul with cakes,
herring, and kugel. After all it’s Shabbos, the day of
rest after a hard week’s work. But no, they stay on
for another ten minutes to listen to a few lines of
Gemarah, between five and seven lines a week,
week after week, month after month, year after
year until they finished a whole Masechte.
Rav Galinsky agreed to attend the Siyum and give
a speech.
He walked in and was taken aback from the joyous
crowd filling up many laid tables, and the
orchestra. The Rabbi made the Siyum and Rav
Galinsky got up to speak.
The Gemarah finishes the Masechte with the two
following things. The last Mishna speaks about
that on the 15th of Av and on Yom Kippur the girls
of Yerushalaim would go out and dance in the
vineyards in a circle. The Gemarah explains that
whoever didn’t have a wife would go out there. The
Gemarah continues that our Rabbis learnt, the
cute girls would say look at our beauty, the ones
that had great lineage would say look at our family
background (yichus), the girls who weren’t pretty
would say take your wife ‘leshem shamayim’ – for
the sake of Heaven, i.e, to fulfill the Mitzva of
getting married.
The next statement says that Hakadosh Baruch Hu
will make a circle for all the Tzaddikim and He will
be in the middle of the circle in Gan Eden. And
every one will point with their finger and say the
Passuk, “Ve’amar bayom hahu’ and he will say on
that day, ‘hinei elokeinu ze’ this is our G-d, ‘kivinu
lo ve’yoshieinu’ we waited for him that he should
save us, ‘ze Hashem kivinu lo’ this is Hashem, we
waited for Him, ‘nagila venismaecha bey’shuaso’
we will rejoice and be happy with His salvation.
“What is the connection between these two
statements,” asked Rav Galinsky? “it can’t be just
that both are talking about a circle.”
There was a religious Doctor who lived in
Germany. He was particular on every Halacha in
the Shulchan Aruch, he had his daily Shiurei Torah
and truly made a Kiddush Hashem with his fine
behavior.
One day he took off vacation and decided to visit
the Yeshivos in Lithuainia. He was enthralled by
what he saw. Teenagers and young men sitting all
day in the Beis Hamedrash completely immersed
in their studies. They were studying Masechtos he
had never learned. Slabodka, Mir, Telz, Kaminetz,
Grodno, Kletzk, Ponevez and Radin.
He was very disturbed and decided to go and speak
to the Chafetz Chaim.
“Rebbi,” he asked, “will I merit Olam Haba?”
“Every Jew has a place in Olam Haba,” answered
the Chafetz Chaim.
“But what sort of place will I have,” he asked. “Until
now I was happy with my life. I was sure I had done
my best. A religious Jew, a doctor, keeping Mitzvos
properly, and helping people as best as I could. I
attend Shiurei Torah, give time and energy for
community affairs, I was sure I had a front row in
Olam haba. But now when I see the world of the
Yeshivos, those that have given everything they
have to be able to study day and night, I’m not sure
if I’ll make it to one of the back rows. I feel like a
dwarf against those giants.”
The Chafetz Chaim looked at him and said, “you
know, its possible you’ll be my neighbor in Gan
Eden!”
Him, the neighbor of the Chafetz Chaim? But the
Chafetz Chaim wasn’t a comedian; the Chafetz
Chaim was a person who spoke the truth! How, the
Chafetz Chaim, with his vast Torah knowledge, the
Chafetz Chaim with his great charity and kindness,
the Chafetz Chaim with so many Sefarim he
authored. How?
“Let me explain,” said the Chafetz Chaim. “the
source of what I am saying is in the Torah. The
Passuk in Bereishis tells us that the Etz Hachaim
the tree of life was in the center of Gan Eden. The
tree of life refers to the eternal life of Olam Haba.
 What difference does it make if it was in the center
or the side? The answer is, the center of a circle is
3 unique, no matter which point of the circle you are,
you are always exactly the same distance from the
center point. Your journey to Gan Eden isn’t a
longer journey then mine. I was born in Lithuainia,
educated in Vilna, had the opportunity to meet
Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, Hashem gave me the idea
to write many Sefarim on Halacha and Mussar, He
gave me the tools, the potential, the talent and the
opportunities, so I grew to be the Chafetz Chaim.”
“You were born in Germany and was educated
with the education of ‘Torah im Derech Eretz’ _
Torah with working, and you grew to be a religious
Doctor, particular to keep all Mitzvos properly,
spend your time doing Chessed and attending
Shiurei Torah. Everyone is expected to maximize
his talents and his potentials.”
So as long as we have maximized our potential, we
have ultimately reached our eternal goal. If so, in
Olam Habba we can be equal and possibly
neighbors.
“Now we can understand the connection between
the two statements in the Gemarah,” said Rav
Galinsky.
The girls were in a circle dancing in the vineyards.
They all borrowed their clothing in order not to
embarrass the ones that couldn’t afford it. Each
one announced their qualities Hashem gave them,
beauty, family and even the ones that had nothing
Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin zt"l
Known as The Netziv
Rosh Yeshivas Volozhin
Author: Haamek Davar, Haamek She’ela, Meromei Sadeh
29 Cheshvan 5577 (1816) - 28 Av 5653 (1893)
The Netziv wrote commentaries on all parts of
the Torah, and once when he published a
particularly difficult work, called "Haamek
She’ela," he made a special celebration, where he
told them the following story:
to offer announced, “we’re who we are, that’s how
Hashem created us and we’re looking for the
person who will take us for Hashem’s sake.
The same with every person’s Olam Haba. Hashem
will make a circle, and be in the center. Each person
will have his share in Olam Haba, the Chafetz
Chaim with his place for maximizing his potential
and the doctor with his place for maximizing his
potential.
As long as we truly maximized our potential with
the tools Hashem gave us we will all have our place
in Gan Eden. We will all be on the circle. But the
condition is, as the Chafetz Chaim said, we did our
best.
But we must remember, whether we are from those
that spend our days and nights in the Beis
Hamedrash or whether we are from those that
spend our day working and attending Shiurei
Torah. All of us have those air bubbles, five
minutes here and five minutes there, weekends
and vacation. Do we utilize our time to the utmost
or do we let those time bubbles evaporate and go to
waste.
Ten minutes a week can make a Siyum Mesechte.
It may take seven years but so what, its maximizing
our time and filling it up with eternity.
As we approach the month of Ellul, let us try and
find some of those wasted five minutes and use
them for Torah and Mitzvos.
"When I was a child, I never paid attention in
school. I was lazy and did not want to concentrate.
Then one day when I was 11 years old, I came
home from school and heard my parents
 talking. My father was explaining how he'd spoken
to my Rebbi and together they'd concluded that I'd
4 never amount to anything in terms of scholarship.
So, my father explained, he was arranging to enroll
me as an apprentice shoemaker as soon as I
became Bar Mitzvah.
"I was so shocked by this conversation that I ran
to my parents and exclaimed: 'I'm sorry I've been
so negligent with my studies. Please give me one
more chance to prove that I'm a good student.' And
from that day onward, I applied myself to the study
of Torah with tremendous vigor and dedication.
Since then I have not wasted a moment and it is
that devotion which has enabled me to write the
commentary which we are celebrating today."
Then the Netziv continued: "But just imagine
what would have happened had I not overheard
my parents' conversation. I'd probably have ended
up as a shoemaker. And I'd have been a pretty good
shoemaker besides! But think of what would have
happened at the end of my life when I'd get up to
the Heavenly Court and they'd ask me: 'Naftali,
show us what you've done with your life.' And I'd
proudly show them my beautiful shoes: the fine
workmanship, the quality leather and the exquisite
design.
"And then they'd ask me: 'But Naftali, where are
all the books you were to publish? Where are your
10,000 students?'"
The Netziv continued: "And what would I
possibly respond??"
(Of course there is nothing wrong with being a
good shoemaker. But in this case the Netziv had a
different set of skills that made him fitting for great
scholarship.)
Every human being was created with a unique
set of skills and talents - and a unique set of life
circumstances. Hashem created each of us with a
special role to fulfill, a special problem to fix, a
spiritual greatness to achieve. The task of life is to
figure out what is our specific unique purpose in
life - and then embark on a path to achieve that
purpose.
Rabbi Shimon Shkop, one of the great talmidim
of Volozhin, related an amazing fact. He once
found it difficult to understand the Rashbam in
Maseches Bava Basra and went to ask his Rebbe,
the Netziv, to reveal to him the explanation. When
he showed the Rashbam to the Netziv, the latter
told him, "My dear Shimon — do you know, how
many times I threw myself on the grave of Rabbi
Chaim of Volozhin, begging Hashem to enlighten
my eyes so that I should understand this
Rashbam? And as yet I have not merited an
answer!"
The Manchester Rosh Yeshiva — Reb Yehuda
Zev Segal, zt"l — used to repeat this in his mussar
shmuess and would ask rhetorically, "When are we
accustomed to go and daven at the graves of
Tzaddikim? When there is someone sick in the
family or a person has some other problem.
However, here we see a new chapter in the way
Torah study — we learn from the Netziv that when
one doesn't understand the words of the Rashbam
it's as great a tragedy, as having a sick member of
the family, as the Netziv immediately went to
daven that the harsh decree be removed and he
may understand clearly."