Audio Shiur: Parshat Chukat 5770 - Unrealized Expectations

Audio Shiur:
Parshat Chukat 5770 - Unrealized Expectations

Unrealized expectations always lead to disappointment - both in our private lives, and in communal life as well. Moreover, how we deal with that disappointment has a great impact on us, on how we fight with each other, and the relationships that we have. Why did the Jewish people complain to Moshe about circumventing Edom? Why did Moshe build a copper snake? How did it help?

Click here to download the shiur, or here to navigate to the shiur on YUTorah.org.

Wearing a Tallit After Bar Mitzvah - Part 1

About a month before my Bar Mitzvah (almost 25 years ago!), my tefillin arrived to my great excitement. The entire Bar Mitzvah process represents a gradual rite of passage that commences at the outset of a boy's twelfth year with the study of trop for the Torah reading, continues with the wearing of the tefillin, and I assume reaches its crescendo at the Bar Mitzvah itself.
I know all of this because we're about to celebrate the Bar Mitzvah of Simcha, my oldest son. (As every parent I'm sure feels, it's difficult to imagine that my child has reached Bar Mitzvah age, but that's a different post entirely.)
I remember that when my tefillin arrived in the United States from Israel, my uncle also purchased a beautiful matching Tallit and Tefillin bag with my name on it, as well as a rather lovely Tallit. I remember this because I wondered why my uncle had purchased the Tallit. Other than at the celebration itself when I led the davening, when else would I wear it? Indeed, the Tallit remained in its special bag for years, languishing in a closet. At my wedding, I rescued the beautiful bag (its Tefillin counterpart had long before frayed from the year of use) to use with my Shabbat Tallit, but the Tallit itself was now too small for regular use.
I think that Tallit still sits on the top shelf in the closet of my mother's den. Just thinking about it kind of makes me sad. I never really used it. In fact, I had no intention of using it, and as far as I can remember, no other kid in my class wore a tallit during davening. In fact, I never even thought about it. Nobody did it, and I didn't really give it a second thought. We are, after all, hardcore Ashkenazim, and we don't wear a Tallit until our wedding. I never really asked – or cared – why.
Except, now that my son's Bar Mitzvah approaches, I'm not sure why I failed to wear a tallit for the ten years following my own Bar Mitzvah. More to the point, I think that I was wrong. This is why my son wore a Tallit during davening when he dons his Tefillin for the first time later this month, and will continue to do so.
If you look in the Shulchan Aruch, you'll find no mention of any custom of children not to wear a tallit. In fact, you find exactly the opposite, in the instruction to specifically teach our children to wear tzitzit from a young age. The Shulchan Aruch writes (Orach Chayyim 17:3),

A minor who knows how to wrap himself – his father must purchase tzitzit for him to educate him.

Rema adds:

This specifically applies to a child old enough to wrap two tzitzit in front and two behind him, and he knows to hold the tzitzit in his hand when reciting the Shema.

Two interesting points stand out in this text. Both Shulchan Aruch and Rema use the term להתעטף, meaning “to wrap oneself,” the ideal manner of wearing tzitzit. More importantly, it’s clear that children begin wearing tzitzit at a very young age. How old do you have to be to know to wear two tzitzit in front and two behind? Not very old.
Moreover, the point seems obvious. We educate our children to perform mitzvoth from a very early age. We teach them to recite the Shema at three, to pray, recite blessings, wave the lulav – ritual acts forms the very fabric of Jewish life as soon as our children can grasp them. Why should donning tzitzit be any different? In fact, Shulchan Aruch specifically emphasizes that teaching our children to wear tzitzit is different in that we educate them about this particular mitzvah before most others, at an earlier age than we might have thought.
If this rule applies to children as young as four or five, it without a doubt applies to “children” above the age of Bar Mitzvah. Technically, they’re certainly not children. Judaism considers young men and women above the age of mitzvoth adults “for every matter,” certainly regarding the wearing of tzitzit as well.
At least you would think.

To be continued.

A Great Email Tool, Made in Israel

Pretty much the entire world uses gmail. Or if you don't, at some point your probably will.
And while gmail offers an incredible array of options and capabilities, for some reason gmail does not offer the ability to create sophisticated email signatures, including html, links, colors, etc. I've been looking for a while for this type of capability, and came across a great little tool called WiseStamp.
In my old emails, my signature was:

For free divrei Torah, articles and audio, surf on over to www.spolter.net!
Also, we've updated our US number. It's now 248-809-1048

But with Wisestamp, my emails now end with;

Rabbi Reuven Spolter
Cell: 054-220-4347
Home Phone in Israel: 077-501-1327
US Phone Number: 248-809-1048
rspolter@gmail.com For Torah articles and shiurim, visit my website, spolter.net or my blog, Chopping Wood

It's more visually appealing, useful and informative. You can also add feeds and other information. (I'm thinking of trying to add my shiur feed from YU Torah. But it might be too much.)
Anyway, Google has a habit of buying companies that improve its products and then incorporating them into the googlesphere. What a great investment opportunity, I thought. But it's not a publicly traded company. No, Wisestamp was created by a small group of programmers from, you guessed it, Israel.
I always find it exciting to learn that a new exciting product or service emanated from the Holy Land. It's the side of Israel that the world never really sees (or just doesn't appreciate) - Israelis making great things to make the world a better place.

Can Tefillin Have Values?

The popular Beit El Tefillin company has been running this ad in a few of the Shabbat journals. (I got this one from Tzohar's Shabbat Sheets.)


Loosely translated it means: Tefillin, With Your Values: Torah, Zionism, Settlement (of the Land), Army, Faith.

I have a very simple question: Can Tefillin have values? How is serving in the army a value that you can imbue into Tefillin? Sure, I believe in each of these values, and feel that they're intrinsic to Judaism itself. But I still don't see what they have to do with the Tefillin that I wear.
To me, the best value that Tefillin can have is that they're kosher. After that, they should just be a good value. And if you've seen their prices, I'm not sure that Tefillin Beit El can make that particular claim.

Audio Shiur: Parshat Korach 5770 - Community Responsiblity: Drilling a Hole in the Boat

Audio Shiur:
Parshat Korach 5770 - Community Responsiblity: Drilling a Hole in the Boat

Following the flotilla fiasco in Israel, many Israelis have been left to wonder: where is everyone? Where were all the Jews? This question raises the larger issue of communal responsibility and obligation: to what degree are we required to act on behalf of one another? How much of the burden do we bear for the sin of others? All this - and the Midrash's explanation for why the world believes CNN, and not Israel.

Click here to download the shiur, or here to navigate to the shiur on YUTorah.org.

Korach and Hamas: Sharing PR Tactics

Following the recent flotilla fiasco facing the IDF last week, Israelis are wondering: Is Everyone Crazy? How is it that only we can appreciate the missiles raining down from Gaza, even today? How can the world watch Hamas continue to vow to destroy Israel, send terrorists to attack civilians, holds Gilad Shalit hostage – and still consider us to be the villain. In the words of Yossi Klein Halevi in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, "Has the World Lost its Mind?"
No, it hasn't lost its mind. Rather, to our great dismay, the Palestinians have long last learned the media savvy and publicity techniques of Korach.

Click here to download a pdf version of the full Dvar Torah.

Surrogate Triplets. With Rabbinic Supervision!

Yediot Achronot, one of the main Israeli newspapers, carried a beautiful story about a couple that just had triplets - through a surrogate mother. The article appears in full in Hebrew, along with a short explanation of some of the halachic issues here. The process took place with the guidance of Machon Puah - a very well-known institute that deals with issues related to fertility and halachah. This is the first example of Orthodox triplets born through surrogate parenthood, and raises a number of fascinating halachic issues.

Who is the Mother?
Generally, while some rabbis prohibit surrogacy completely, many (including Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and others) permit it. Yet, the question is: who is the "real" mother: the genetic mother, or the birth mother? It's not a simple matter. Some rabbis feel that the genetic mother is the halachic mother, while others feel that we should be strict and rule that perhaps the birth mother is the "real" mother as well. (Yes, it gets complicated.)

What Religion Makes the Best Surrogate?
Is it better for the surrogate to be non-Jewish, so that there is never a possible complication regarding marriage? (What if the child didn't know he was a surrogate, and then later fell in love with a child of his surrogate mother? Scary.) Yet, if one chooses a non-Jewish surrogate, then the opinions which feel that the birth mother is the "real" mother would require that the parents then convert their "own" children - which is troubling for many. On the other hand, if the surrogate is Jewish, how do we account for the possible complications that may arise later on? Who keeps the records? Who ensures the sanctity of the Jewish family?

What about Multiple Fetuses?
Many cases of artificial insemination result in the challenging halachic issue of multiple fetuses: if there are too many, doctors recommend terminating some to raise the probability of viability among the others. In this case, the doctors were not happy with triplets, but in this case neither the Orthodox parents nor the Orthodox divorcee who served as the surrogate wanted to terminate the pregnancy. Thank God, she gave birth to three healthy children.

This fascinating story highlights to me the amazing convergence of technology and halachic development taking place here in Israel. This miracle has brought three more beautiful Jewish children into the world, ended to misery of two parents struggling to have children, and demonstrated yet again how the struggle to merge the worlds of modern life and Jewish tradition sometimes produces fantastic results.

Feeling Quite Alone following the Flotilla. Where was Everybody?

Following the disturbing events on the boat "flotilla" last week, I've been feeling quite alone - not personally, but nationally. I really have to wonder: where is everyone? And I'm not sure that I like the answer.
Everyone watched the videos; everyone saw the protests in countries (mostly Arab) around the world - and even in the United States. But what no one saw was any counter protest. The Israeli press - both on Arutz Sheva and even the Jerusalem Post, carried the video of the lone young man waving an Israeli flag in the face of an pro-Palestinian protest. That kid's got guts - that's for sure. But I wonder something different: why was he alone? Where was everyone else? (As of today, the video's been watched by half a million people - a testament to the power of even one person in today's internet connected world!)
Listening to liberal pundits on my podcasts recently (see here and here), it has become increasingly clear that liberal Jews are uncomfortable with the notion of Jewish power. Israel was great when it was a plucky little state, fighting for its existence. But as soon as Israel asserts its right to exist, and demonstrates a willingness to bring the fight to the enemy instead of waiting for its citizens to be slaughtered like cattle, everyone gets a little jittery. Hey wait - that's not the Jewish state that I know?
I got an email from a major Jewish organization last week (right after the flotilla incident) with the subject line: "Secure your institution", cautioning community leaders vigilance in making sure that their buildings, staff, etc. are safe. It seems that there hadn't really been any threats at all made against any Jewish institutions, but nonetheless Jews were warned to be "vigilant."
I'm all for vigilance; it's clearly important to be aware of what's going on around you. But I find it fascinating that when something happens related to Israel, Jews immediately feel threatened, but don't feel the need to take positive action.
Where were the pro-Israel protests? Why didn't more Americans speak out?
I wrote back to the email sender, that perhaps instead of hunkering down, she should be organizing a counter-protest. She responded politely, but clearly making public statements in support of Israel was a no-go. Why? I can think of two reasons:

1. American Jews really are queasy about Israeli displays of power, no matter how justified they may be. They buy into the liberal mindset that the weak must always be in the right, and he who suffers on TV must necessarily be on the side of morality and justice. They didn't put together a protest, because they weren't sure that anyone would come.
2. The sha-shtill mentality still reigns supreme. Here in Israel, when we're quiet and complacent, our enemies use the lull as an opportunity to build their arsenals for the next attack. Jews living in the Diaspora still maintain the stance that if they don't stir the pot then things will remain quiet.

I hope that they're right. But I doubt it.

Audio Shiur: Parshat Shelach 5770 - Swimming Against the Tide

Audio Shiur:
Parshat Shelach 5770 - Swimming Against the Tide

Standing up for what's right, especially in the face of challenging pressure, presents a difficult challenge. How do we make the proper choice when it seems like everyone else is going in the opposite direction? Kalev ben Yefuneh faced precisely this challenge in rejecting the report of the Meraglim. How did he do it? And how do we?

Click here to download the shiur, or here to navigate to the shiur on YUTorah.org.

Summer Grillin' Season Begins. Too Bad You Can't Find a Decent Steak.

Upon my arrival in Detroit, one of my first stops was a meeting with a man named Moshe Flatt. If you're from Detroit, you know Reb Moshe. Among his many other accomplishments, Reb Moshe founded and created the Cornbelt Beef Processing plant, a vehicle from which he supported pretty much every Orthodox Jewish institution in Detroit, including the Young Israel of Oak Park.
When I got there, Reb Moshe still went to work every day, although he was well into his eighties. He invited me to join him once, and I went to watch him buy cows. To kill. For food.
We drove out for a couple hours to somewhere in the middle of Michigan where they were holding a cattle auction. We sat on concrete bleachers, as the farmers brought out one cow after the next, while the announcer threw numbers around. I had no idea what anything meant; just that every now and then Reb Moshe would twitch his hand just a little bit, which I think meant that he bought the cow. Truth is, they all looked like cows to me - I couldn't tell any difference between them, which made sense. I had no training whatsoever. But Reb Moshe knew exactly what he was looking for. And he only bought what he wanted.
(Reb Moshe was a "fleish" man through and through. If you're curious, you can email me and ask me what he had one of canes made out of.)
Cornbelt was one of the last independent kosher slaughter houses in the United States. I don't even know if any exist anymore. Everything has become so centralized and commercialized, that it's difficult to run a small meat-packing plant, much less a kosher one. But back then, the Flatts' business killed several hundred head of meat a week, many for kosher (at least as many as the shochet deemed kosher).
I mention this short story because Reb Moshe (and his son Sam) were in the habit of sharing with the rabbi meat for the holidays, both on Rosh Hashanah and Pesach. And, by sharing his meat with me, he spoiled me on any other meat or steak, probably for the rest of my life. Never before tasting his meat, nor since, have I ever eaten meat that tasted as good.
I thought of Reb Moshe and my trip to the cattle auction when I saw an article in the Wall Street Journal about the quality - or lack thereof - of meat in America. A short excerpt:

Today, four big companies—Cargill, JBS Swift, National and Tyson Foods—dominate beef packing. Feedlots and slaughterhouses have gotten enormous. At every level, the chain of beef production has been tweaked to get cattle fat cheaply. But mass production is not without its drawbacks. Cheap beef doesn't taste good. What we have gained in yield and efficiency, we've lost in flavor.

Reading the article, I instantly understood the article precisely. If you've never tasted what a real steak should taste like, then you'd never know the difference. If all you can remember eating is Rubashkin or Empire, bought and killed in lots of hundreds, if not thousands, how would you know the quality of the cow from which the meat came? You would not - and you'd never know that the steak lacked any discernible natural sweetness and taste. You wouldn't know, because you'd have nothing to compare it to.
When other people talk about a great steak that they had, or look forward to an "all you can eat meat restaurant" or a great steakhouse, I find myself unmoved. Cornbelt meat was the best meat I have ever tasted in my life, without exaggeration. And I'm fairly certain that I might never taste as good a steak again.
The factory burned down about five years back - maybe more, and while Sam still produces kosher lamb, he doesn't do kosher beef anymore. It's too expensive, too risky, and too difficult.
But it's not his loss as much as our loss. Except that by this point, no one really can tell the difference anymore.