Rabbi Machlis, Yerushalayim, and Shavuos...

My feet and thighs are still throbbing days later from all the walking around but as a certain rabbi pointed out, “Walking is what Yerushalayim is all about,” סובו ציון והקיפוה.

My adventure began Tuesday night with a trip into Yerushalayim to attend Rabbi/Professor Mordechai Machlis’ Torah class. I didn’t get off at the tachana because I figured staying on the bus would get me closer to his home. When I finally did get off I was unsure of where I was and so I just kept walking until I found a place I recognized. It wasn’t until I neared Kikar Shabbos that I realized I had been walking the wrong way. I arrived about twenty minutes early to the Torah class and so I waited outside in the courtyard area. When the rabbi finally arrived I entered with him, his son, and daughter. He had been coming from a special tefillah service that had taken place at Mercaz HaRav.

The rabbi had gone to the back of the house and so I spoke to the rebbetzin while she cooked. She asked me how Moishe was and asked what he was still doing in America. We spoke about Lag BiOmer at Sawn Lake and she had already heard about it. I had also been sent on a mission to return a certain “Call the Shabbos a delight” sign and so I told her I came bearing gifts from RBS. She told me I should just hang it back on the wall where it had originally been and so I did. The rabbi returned and the Torah class began. I noticed that about midway through the class he looked up and noticed that the sign had mysteriously returned but didn't mention anything. The class continued on as per usual and at the end of the class he asked me if I could do him a favor. He tried to explain, as he took the sign of the wall, that there are different opinions in the commentators as to why one does not make a beracha on mishloah manot, but one reason is because maybe the person who you send it to may not accept you mishloah manot. Somehow that turned into a request that I return the sign to its rightful owner. When I tired to tell him that the owner had accepted the mishloah manot but now wished to give it to the rav as a matanah, he wouldn’t hear it and kept telling me, “This sign has no place in this home, this sign has no place in this home.” He said I should give it back to the owner as mishloah manot for Shavuot. We had a kosher seudah with pita’s from Eretz Yisrael and soup from Jerusalem in honor of Yom Yerushalayim and then prayed the evening service.

I left Maalot Daphna a little after 12 and headed to my next destination, the Old City of Jerusalem. I went derech Yaffo and found that it was surprisingly quiet at that hour.

I stayed there for a while until Mercaz HaRav finally came dancing through at a late hour. With a little bit of time until Vasikin I went to the inside tunnel entrance and conveniently found a chair in a corner. I put my head against the wall and tried to fall asleep. As I nearly drifted away, I felt someone pinch my cheek. “Sorry to wake you but I had to say hello,” said Shirel Danielli. It was great to see him and we spoke for a while until he went off to say Tehillim with the rest of his yeshiva, Mercaz HaRav. The dawn began to break and we prayed the morning service with the sounds of tefillah and hallel coming from all directions.

I stayed there for a while after and then started to make my way back towards Beit HaRav where Shlomo Katz was to lead a service for the yeshiva.

K...in shorthand, other highlights from the day include:

1) Excellent hallel service with Shlomo Katz

2) Rav Simcha's East Jerusalem walking tour

3) Praying Mincha at the Kotel HaKattan - a first for me.

4) Bumped into Elisha on my way out of the Old City and got to speak to him for a little bit.

5) Got a new sefer and skullcap on my way back to Shmuel HaNavi to catch a bus

The rest of the day you can see in our special Stollel Edition: Yom Yerushalayim video. I don’t know if these videos are going to be the new derech of reporting such lofty events but it certainly is possible.

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Enjoy the Frollel Shabuot experience. I’m sure it will be grand.

A Torah thought I was thinking of the other day to part ways. Interestingly it is about Rabbi Machlis, Jersualem, and Shavuot…

I was reviewing a passage in the Talmud Kiddushin that teaches that when the nations of the world heard Hakadosh Baruch Hu say the first two dibros, “Anochi Hashem” and “Lo Yihiyeh Lecha,” they said that He was saying these dibros for his own honor, that He wanted everyone to only focus on Him – you should have only one G-d and that you should not have two G-d’s etc. However, once they heard that one of the dibros was “kabeid es avicha vi’es imecha” they retracted their original sentiments since they saw that He also has commandments centered around others as well

Aside from the simple understanding of the Gemara itself, I realized that the implication of the Gemara is that at the time of mattan Torah, specifically at the time when the first two dibros were heard around the world mi’pi ha’gevurah, an experience that Chazal tell us caused the neshamos of Klal Yisrael to fly out of their bodies and cling to their heavenly source, the nations of the world survived and were unfazed. How could it be that at such an awesome experience, only Klal Yisrael had such a drastic reaction?

I remember talking to Rav Machlis last summer one Shabbos and he was telling me that though he had met a lot of great rabbis and had studied under great rabbis throughout his life, the ones who he personally held highest were those who had extreme levels of sensitivity to others. He described a scene he witnessed when he was in Torah ViDath, that a certain man who had an issue that when he spoke a lot of spit would often come out of his mouth, came to speak to Rav Pam. Rav Machlis remembered watching Rav Pam talk to this man, face to face, as this guy would basically spit all over Rav Pam’s face. He said that Rav Pam would never back up or lift his hand to wipe of the spit from his face lest he come to insult the man and hurt his feelings. He would just stand there and talk to him as if everything were normal. Rav Machlis told me another story he had experienced with Rav Moshe, also which showed his extreme sensitivity to others. These were the people who he held with highest esteem, not necessarily for their genius in Torah knowledge and study, but for their sensitivity.

The teaching is famously said from Rav Kook, though I have heard similar teachings in the name of other great people, that when the Gemara says that those who see Yerushalayim bi’churbana will be zocheh to see it bi’vinyana - it’s not that only that those who experienced it's churban will live to see it rebuilt but that only a person with the sensitivity and the eyes to recognize and feel Yerushalayim in it’s destroyed state will recognize the greatness when it is rebuilt. Everyone will see it be rebuilt, but those who never learned or worked on the sensitivity will be confused as to why everyone is crying and celebrating over another building in Yerushalayim. They’ll be in the center of everything, they’ll see it all happening, but they just won’t get it.

To my understanding, it’s the same thing with all areas of kedusha. A person has to learn and work on their sensitivity in all areas holy. A person who is sensitive to Shabbos and the kedushas ha’zman can have the highest and most elevated experience while another person experiencing a Yom Tov will be bored to death. The same is true with Torah and tefillah and Eretz Yisrael and everything. If you are working on trying to “get it” and you are sensitive to it than you can feel it even if everyone else around you doesn’t. Everyone is doing the same thing, they’re all sitting at the same seder, or in a shul on Shabbos, or learning the same sefer, but if you create the prior context and create the background then you can tap into it.

Every Jew at his core essence is sensitive to all areas of kedusha. When you come from tachas ha’kisei ha’kavod, kedusha is the only existence you know. If a person sometimes meets a Jew who seemingly doesn’t “get it” or is bored with it all, it’s not that they don't have the keilim to be sensitive to it but its that they just never learned or they covered it up. The Rosh Frollel likes to note that words kefirah and kofer are first seen in the Torah in the context of the tar that was used to cover up the teivah. When a Jew espouses teachings of kefirah, whatever level it may be, they are just covering up that inner sensitivity. He has put layer on top of layer of cover up on and so it's hard for them to feel sensitive towards that which should be their natural pull.

Standing at the foot of Har Sinai, Am Yisrael was cleansed from all kefirah, all coverings, everything that had built up in Mitzrayim and since the beginning of time. When they heard the voice of Hakadosh Baruch Hu declaring the first two dibros, their now pristine neshamos flew out of their bodies to connect to their source. The level of connectivity at Har Sinai was so high and pure.

The nations of the world, however, who never had that internal sensitivity and certainly were not cleansed from their zuhama, heard the same dibros and could only react by saying, “This G-d is self-centered.” They totally missed the point. They were there but just couldn’t see it and couldn’t feel it. They experienced the same kol, the same revelation, but had no sensitivity towards its greatness.

There's more to say but we'll stop here and bless all that we merit to work towards the highest levels of sensitivity on all planes of existence - within our relationships with our Creator, in relationships between one another, and even to be sensitive to ourselves and our own needs.

A gut Yom Tov to one and all. Send my regards to the doctors talking parrot.