Rav Machlis and Family - Parshas Beshalach

Excellent message on the parsha as well as an excellent post-message message by the Stollel's very own
Moshe Chaim ben R' Yaakov Mordechai

Chaim Fischel ben Fayge

I posted last year about my uncle's brother who needed tefillot because of a brain tumor. After that round of tefillot and chemo and radiation, he had much improved, but lately he is not doing well and is in a very bad state. I feel badly I should have really sent this email out earlier - he does not look like he is going to make it much longer - but tefilla has amazing powers, even if it can just ease the pain he is in.

I am asking if you can consider saying tehillim again. If you had signed up to the spreadsheet last year, you can say the same prakim again, if you don't have time for that or you didn't sign up before, please take out even just two minutes of your time to daven for CHAIM FISCHEL BEN FAYGE, whatever amount you can say is important.

Thanks so much, we should have only good news.

Here is the link to the spreadsheet

click here to check what you where signed up for or to add yourself to the list

Thanks, and Yasher Koach

Yosef Newman

Public Service Announcement

Shalom to all...

I have been busy doing things and have not had a chance to check the blog, to update the blog, or read it's comments until recently. I noticed a bit of commotion in the previous post and took the liberty to remove it.

From now on the comments will return to the old fashion Stollel comments.

How do I know you ask?

As follows: We will see if comments get out of hand again. If they do we will make a member system where only official members will be able to comment. Or I will moderate comments. Not sure yet.

Who will be granted membership you ask?

Basically anybody who is not a jerk.

So no cursing or posting under anyone elses names (shevatim not included).

Rav Machlis - Parshas Va'eira

This week's video is sponsored by the Stollel in honor of our dear hosts:
Dr. and Mrs. Friedman

Shiurim from Stollel 5770

All shiurim from the Stollel 5770 should be available on the Rosh Stollel's downloading website.
FOUND HERE

You Best Bring Your A-Game...

STARTING THIS SUNDAY
Extra points if you guess who is behind the curtain.

Better late than never...Teves 20-R' Moshe ben Maimon

I meant to write this up yesterday for the Rambam's yahrtzeit (Teves 20) but I got caught up in things and never got around to it. I felt it was still a worthwhile read even a day late...

From Rav Soloveitchik's U'vikashtem MiSham (pg. 143 in English version)

"I would like to relate a personal experience to illustrate the idea of the masorah that we are discussing.

I remember myself as a child, a lonely, forlorn boy. I was afraid of the world. It seemed cold and alien. I felt as if everyone were mocking me. But I had one friend, and he was - please don't laugh at me - Maimonides, the Rambam. How did we become friends? We simply met!

The Rambam was a regular guest in our house. Those were the day when my father, my mentor, was still living in the home of my grandfather, the great and piour Rabbi Elijah Feinstein of Pruzhna. Father sat and studied Torah day and night. A rather small group of outstanding young Torah scholars gathered around him and imbibed his word thirstily.

Father's lectures were given in my grandfather's living room, where my bed was placed. I used to sit up in bed and listen to my father talk. My father always spoke about the Rambam. This is how he would proceed: He would open a volume of the Talmud and read a passage. Then he would say, "This is the interpretation of Rabbi Isaac [R"i] and the other Tosafists; now let us see how the Rambam interpreted the passage." Father would always find that the Rambam had offered a different interpretation and had deviated from the simple way. My father would say, almost as a complaint against the Rambam, "We don't understand our Master's reasoning or the way he explains the passage." It was as if he were complaining to the Rambam directly. "Rabbenu Mosheh, why did you do this?"

My father would then say that, prima facie, the criticisms and objections of the Rabad are actually correct. The members of the group would jump up and each of them would suggest an idea. Father would listen and rebut their ideas, and then repeat, "Our Master's words are as hard to crack as iron." But he would not despair; he would rest his head on his fist and sink into deep thought. The group was quiet and did not disturb his reflections. After a long while he would lift his head very slowly and begin, "Rabbosai, let's see..." and then he would start to talk. Sometimes he would say a great deal, other times only a little. I would strain my ears and listen to what he was saying.

I did not understand anything at all about the issue under discussion, but two impressions were formed in my young, innocent mind: (1) the Rambam was surrounded by opponents and "enemies" who want to harm him; and (2) his only defender was my father. If not for my father, who knew what would happen to the Rambam? I felt that the Rambam himself was present in the living room, listening to why my father was saying. The Rambam was sitting with me on my bed. What did he look like? I didn't know exactly, but his countenance resembled my father's good and beautiful face. He had the same name as my father - Moses. Father would speak; the students, their eyes fixed on him, would listen intently to what he was saying. Slowly, slowly, the tension ebbed; Father strode boldly and bravely. New arguments emerged; halakhic rules were formulated and defined with wondrous precision. A new light shone. The difficulties were resolved, the passage was explained. The Rambam emerged the winner. Father's face shone with joy. He had defended his "friend," Rabbenu Mosheh the son of Maimon. A smile of satisfaction appeared on the Rambam's lips. I too participated in this joy. I was happy and excited. I would jump out of bed and run to my mother's room to tell her the joyful news, "Mother, Mother, the Rambam is right, he defeated the Rabad. Father came to his aid. How wonderful Father is!"

But occasionally the Rambam's luck did not hold - his "enemies" attacked him on all sides; the difficulties were as hard as iron. Father was unable to follow the logic of his position. He tried with all his might to defend him, but he was unsuccessful. Father would sink into musings with his head leaning on his fist. The students and I, and even the Rambam himself, would tensely wait for Father's answer. But Father would pick up his head and say sadly, "The answer will have to wait for the prophet Elijah; what the Rambam says is extremely difficult. There is no expert who can explain it. The issue remains in need of clarification." The whole group, my father inclueded, were sad to the point of tears. A silent agony expressed itself on each face. Tears came from my eyes, too. I would even see bright teardrops in the Rambam's eyes.

Slowly I would go to Mother and tell her with a broken heart, "Mother, Father can't resolve the Rambam - what should we do?"

"Don't be said," Mother would answer, "Father will find a solution for the Rambam. And if he doesn't find one, then maybe when you grow up you'll resolve his words. The main thing is to learn Torah with joy and excitement."

This experience belongs to my childhood. Still, it is not the golden fantasy of a little boy; the feeling in it is not mystical. It is a completely historical, psychological reality that is alive even now in the depths of my soul. When I sit down to learn Torah, I find myself immediately in the company of the sages of the masorah. The relations between us are personal. The Rambam is at my right, Rabbenu Tam at my left, Rashi sits up front and interprets, Rabbenu Tam disputes him; the Rambam issues a ruling, and the Rabad objects. They are all in my little room, sitting around my table. They look at me affectionately, enjoy arguing and studying the Talmud with me, encourage and support me the way a father does. Torah study is not solely an educational activity. It is not a merely formal, technical matter embodied in the discovery and exchange of facts. It is a powerful experience of becoming friends with many generations of Torah scholars, the joining of one spirit with another, the union of souls. Those who transmitted the Torah and those who received it come together in one historical way-station.

Stollel 5770 - Tentative Schedule

Now that the Stollel was (accidentally) thrown into the virtual Jewish limelight (Shmadt even informed me the bachurim in Ohr Reuven were talking about it) due to a bunch of its members prancing around like birds in a library, we can begin to retreat back into our cave and focus on more important things...

This is the tentative schedule of Frollel 5770 which G-d willing begins this Sunday.
Nothing is set in stone (speakers or times) and if anybody wants to say a shiur, a chabura, an idea, etc. there is time reserved for that as well. As was with last year, the times are obviously flexible and people come and go as they please. This is just what the general seder will look like...

~

The Frollel

1626 Buckingham Road

Teanek, NJ 07666

Enter through the basement door on the left side of the house.

~

Sunday - Teves 24/Jan.10
7:30 - Pre-Shacharis Chassidus
8:00 - Shacharis
9:00 - Breakfast
9:30 - Opening Meseches Middos Remarks (for those learning Middos)
Morning Seder (for all others)
12:00 - Middos Chabura #1
1:00 - Mincha/Lunch/Break
3:30 - Afternoon Seder
6:00 - Dinner
10:00 - Ma'ariv

* Because of various weddings people may have, Sunday's schedule is going to be more open in the afternoon

Monday - Teves 25/Jan. 11
7:30 - Pre-Shacharis Chassidus
8:00 - Shacharis
9:00 - Breakfast
9:30 - Morning Seder
12:00 - Middos Chabura #2
1:00 - Lunch/Break
3:15 - Mincha
3:40 - Mussar Seder
4:00 - Afternoon Seder
6:00 - Dinner
7:00 - Night Seder (Part 1)
8:00 - HaRav Eli Roberts - Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Gedolah of Teaneck
9:00 - Night Seder (Part 2)
10:00 - Ma'ariv
11:15 - (Shneur Zalman's) Seder Niggunim

12:07 - Chatzos

Tuesday - Teves 26/Jan. 12
7:30 - Pre-Shacharis Chassidus
8:00 - Shacharis
9:00 - Breakfast
9:30 - Morning Seder
11:00 – HaRav Zev Reichman – Mora D’Asra East Hill Congregation of Englewood

12:00 - Middos Chabura #3
1:00 - Lunch/Break
3:15 - Mincha
3:40 - Mussar Seder
4:00 - Afternoon Seder
6:30 - Dinner
7:30 - Night Seder
10:00 - Ma'ariv
10:30 - HaRav Shmuel Skaist - Tuli's Dad and Much More
12:08 - Chatzos

Wednesday - Teves 27/Jan. 13
7:30 - Pre-Shacharis Chassidus
8:00 - Shacharis
9:00 - Breakfast
9:30 - Morning Seder
12:00 - Middos Chabura #4
1:00 - Lunch/Break
3:15 - Mincha
3:40 - Mussar Seder
4:00 - Afternoon Seder
6:30 - Dinner
7:30 - Night Seder
9:00 - HaRav Chaim Marcus - Mora D'Asra Congregation Israel of Springfield
10:00 - Ma'ariv
12:08 - Chatzos

Thursday – Teves 28/Jan. 14
7:30 - Pre-Shacharis Chassidus
8:00 - Shacharis
9:00 - Breakfast
9:30 - Morning Seder
12:00 - Middos Chabura #5
1:00 - Lunch/Break
3:15 - Mincha
3:40 - Mussar Seder
4:00 - Afternoon Seder
6:30 - Dinner
7:45 - Night Seder
9:00 - (Possibly) HaRav Naftali Citron - Mora D'Asra of The Carlebach Shul
10:00 - Ma'ariv
12:08 - Tikkun Chatzos
12:30 - HaRav Judah Mischel - Mora D'Asra of Kehillas Bnei Heichala (RBS)

Friday, Erev Shabbos – Teves 29/Jan. 15
7:15 - Pre-Shacharis Chassidus
7:45 - Shacharis
8:45 - Breakfast
9:15 - Morning Seder
10:00 - Middos Chabura #6
10:50 - Tikkun Klali
11:15 - Something Erev Shabbos Related
4:20 - Mincha

Shabbos Kodesh, Parshas Va'eira - Rosh Chodesh Shevat
TBD