STORY OF CHANNAH: 22. Now,
Eli had become very old, and he heard all that his sons were doing to all
Israel, and that they would lie with the women who congregated at the entrance
of the tent of meeting.
PIRKEI AVOT QUALITIES BECOMING
TO THE RIGHTEOUS: sageness / old age
SONG OF SONGS: Chapter 6
TZADIKKIM: Rabbi Avraham Sternhartz
(20th of Elul) and Rabbi Yonasan Eibeshitz (21st of Elul)
Week 50 is the fourth week of Elul. We have completed the
counting of the “Annual Omer,” and this week, along with 51 and 52, correspond
to Shavuot and the three intellectual sefirot, Chochmah (wisdom), Binah (understanding)
and Da’at (knowledge). This is the week of Chai Elul, the birthday of the Ba’al
Shem Tov and the Alter Rebbe of Chabad (Rabbeinu HaZaken in Hebrew) Our sages
teach us that Zaken stands for “Zeh SheKanah Chochmah,” he who has acquired
wisdom. The verse from the story of Channah speaks of how Eli had become very
old (Zaken Meod). His sons, on the other hand, completely lacked this
characteristic, and used their unwise “youthfulness” to “sleep” with women
bringing sacrifices.[1]
This week’s Pirkei Avot quality that is “becoming to the
righteous and becoming to the world” is the very same word as above, Ziknah,
usually translated as sageness, old age.
Chapter 6 of the Song of Songs describes a relationship
between G-d and the Jewish people that is considerably different than the one
described in previous chapters. It contains the famous verse that is an acronym
for the month of Elul (Ani LeDodi veDodi Li):
3. I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine, who grazes
among the roses."
Rashi - who grazes among the roses: who pastures his flocks
in a calm and goodly pasture.
The relationship is somewhat more subdued and also somewhat
“wiser.” Rashi notes throughout that the relationship described is that of the
Jewish people in the times of the Second Temple. It is a love that comes with the wisdom acquired after a period of
brief betrayal and a sense of abandonment. Yet, the love
is slowly rebuilt until it reaches its apex once more:
10. Who is this who looks forth like the dawn, fair as the
moon, clear as the sun, awesome as the bannered legions?"
Rashi - like the dawn: which progressively lights up little
by little; so were the Israelites in the Second Temple. In the beginning,
Zerubbabel was the governor of Judah, but not a king, and they were subjugated
to Persia and to Greece, and afterwards, the house of the Hasmoneans defeated
them and they became kings.
This week contains the yahrzeits of two great Torah sages,
who also happened to live until an advanced age: Rabbi Avraham Sternhartz (20th of Elul) and Rabbi
Yonasan Eibeshitz (21st of Elul).
From Breslov.com:
Sternhartz (Kokhav Lev), Reb Avraham (1862-1955). Reb Avraham
was Reb Noson's great-grandson and a grandson of the Tcheriner Rav. Orphaned at
a young age, he was raised by his illustrious grandfather whose influence upon
him was unmistakable. Even as a child, Reb Avraham showed great diligence in
Torah study, a trait for which his grandfather was known. After the morning
prayers he would seclude himself in the attic where he would study Rebbe
Nachman's Likutey Moharan, not interrupting his studies until he knew the
lesson of the day by heart. After completing the entire Talmud at the age of
sixteen, he married. He was a scribe in Tcherin and at age nineteen was
accepted as Rav in Kremenchug. At twenty-two he was appointed prayer leader for
the Rosh HaShannah kibutz, a post which he also held after coming to the Holy
Land, for a total of seventy years.
Reb Avraham arrived in Jerusalem's Old City in 1936, where he
was received and recognized as the outstanding Breslover elder of his
generation. In 1940 he established the kibutz in Meron for Rosh HaShannah.
Exiled from the Old City during the War of Independence in 1948, he was
resettled in Katamon together with many other Breslover Chassidim. Among his
disciples were a number of the major Breslover leaders of the past few decades,
including: Reb Moshe and Reb Nachman Burstein, Reb Michel Dorfman, Reb Shmuel
Horowitz (d.1973), Reb Gedaliah Aharon Koenig, Reb Zvi Aryeh Lippel
(1903-1979), Reb Zvi Aryeh Rosenfeld, Reb Shmuel Shapiro and Reb Yaakov Meir
Shechter.
It was said of Reb Avraham that he was a "living"
Likutey Moharan. Just by looking at him, one could see that his every action
was based on some statement in Rebbe Nachman's teachings. When giving a lesson
in Likutey Moharan, he would begin by reading from the text, divert to
complementary material for an hour or two, and then pick up again from the
exact word where he'd left off. What was amazing about this was that it was all
done entirely by memory, without Reb Avraham's ever having to look into the
written text! And what's more, he did this up until he passed away at age
ninety-three and a half.
From Ascent.org:
Rabbi Yonasan Eibeshitz (1660 - 21 Elul 1764) was chief rabbi
of many cities, including Posen, Prague and Altuna. He died in Metz at over one
hundred years old. He authored many important books on Jewish law, scripture
and thought.
This week also contains the yahrzeits of Rabbi Yaakov Koppel
Chassid (15th of Elul), Rabbi Yehudah Loew (the Maharal, 18th of Elul), Chacham
Abdallah Somech (18th of Elul), and Rabbi Ze’ev Nachum Bornstein (19th of Elul)
[1] The Talmud
states that they did not actually have relations with these women, but rather
they delayed in bringing Zava sacrifices. This made certain women have to stay
overnight in proximity to the Tabernacle, thereby impeding them from being with
their husbands. See Talmud Yoma 9a, Shabbat 55b.
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