Parshas Chukas
By Rabbi Dovid Zauderer
Many of you are familiar with the beautiful Midrash about the two brothers:
Once there were two brothers, each with a farm on the opposite side of the same hill. The first had a family - wife, sons, daughters. The second lived by himself.
It came to be that, during the harvest, the first brother said to himself, "I have a wife, sons, and daughters to help during the harvest while my brother has no one to help." So late at night, he would sneak over the hill to his brother's farm and leave bags of grain.
Now, at about the same time, the second brother said to himself, "I live by myself whereas my brother has so many mouths to feed." So, late at night, he would sneak over the hill to his brother's farm and leave bags of grain.
One night, they happened to run into each other and each saw what the other was doing. They instantly realized what was happening and hugged and kissed each other.
And it is on that hill that the Beis HaMikdash (Holy Temple) was built.
However, you might not have heard the updated version:
Once there were two brothers, each with a farm on the opposite side of the same hill. The first had a family - wife, sons, daughters. The second lived by himself.
It came to be that, during the harvest, the first brother said to himself, "We have so many mouths to feed whereas my brother has only but himself." So late at night, he would sneak over the hill to his brother's farm and take bags of grain.
Now, at about the same time, the second brother said to himself, "My brother has a wife, sons, and daughters to help during the harvest while I have no one to help." So late at night, he would sneak over the hill to his brother's farm and take bags of grain.
One night, they happened to run into each other and each saw what the other was doing. They instantly realized what was happening and yelled at each other and beat each other up.
And it is on that hill that the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) was built.
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This might be a funny joke, but if ever you saw what goes on at a typical session of the Knesset, you’ll realize that it’s really no joke at all. Everyone is shouting at each other, each Member of Knesset loudly representing his parties’ view on a given issue. It really is quite entertaining to watch.
And especially now after the recent Israeli elections in which a strange combination of right-wing, left-wing, moderate, Arab, and anti-Haredi political parties formed a coalition by narrow majority (some have called this “unholy” alliance “theological sha’atnez”) in which all they really have in common is their extreme dislike for the Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu … things are really going to heat up.
[In case you’re wondering what a Haredi (or Charedi) is….a Haredi is a member of any of various Orthodox Jewish sects characterized by strict adherence to the traditional form of Jewish law and rejection of modern secular culture, many of whom do not recognize the modern state of Israel as a spiritual authority.]
And things have already heated up. Here’s just one example:
In previous years, around election time, the more religious parties were able to secure – through political maneuvering and coalition bargaining – significant funding and support for Yeshivos, Kollelim (Yeshivos for married men), and other institutions of Torah study all across the Holy Land.
However, there now stands a very good possibility that the left-wing parties in the coalition government will carry through with their threat to drastically cut the budgets of the Haredi Torah institutions. This would place the future of Torah learning at all levels in great danger.
Or so we think …
Let me share with you the amazing response of the beloved Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein shlit”a - member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah (“Council of Torah Sages”) and Rabbi of Ramat Elchanan in Israel - to this “existential threat”.
“I’m not afraid that a left-wing government will cut the budgets for Yeshivos and Kollelim,” said Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein, as quoted by the Haredi newspaper Yated Ne’eman on Sunday.
Rabbi Zilberstein explained that G-d made a promise with the Jewish people guaranteeing the continued existence of the Torah and those who study it, and therefore if the funds don’t come from the government, they’ll come from another source.
“My main concern is the fate of the Jewish nation, the fate of our lost brothers, who after all are our brothers, our flesh, who will no longer have the great privilege of supporting Torah study,” Rabbi Zilberstein said. “Since the establishment of the State, all its residents who pay taxes have the zechus (merit) of supporting the budgets for Yeshivos and Kollelim.”
“This tremendous zechus of personally supporting Toras Yisrael “The Torah of Israel”) has protected all residents and the entire Jewish nation. But now that they’re declaring that they’ll stop this support, all the residents of the state, the taxpayers, will lose the zechus of upholding the Torah, and of this, I’m very afraid.”
This is how a great tzaddik thinks! He’s not worried about the future of the Torah in the Land of Israel. That’s virtually guaranteed by G-d. He’s more concerned about the lost merit of those Jews who had previously supported Torah study in Israel through paying taxes and who now might lose that mitzvah opportunity if the budgets are cut.
And Rabbi Zilberstein knows of what he speaks. Supporting Torah study (known in Hebrew as Hachzokas HaTorah), whether by directly paying those who are studying Torah full-time, or by supporting Yeshivos and other Torah institutions and keeping them financially afloat, or by purchasing Hebrew books for the students, or by paying the Jewish school tuitions of those who can’t afford to pay them, is a great mitzvah.
As the Rem”a writes in Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 246:1, one who supports Torah study, it is considered as if he learned that Torah himself. And the Kabbalists write that even if a person was an ignoramus during his entire time in this world, by supporting Torah scholars he will merit to study and know in the Next World all that Torah that he supported.
When it comes to the mitzvah of Tzedakah (charity), there is actually a “priority list” for which Tzedakah to give to first, and the mitzvah to support Torah is virtually on top of that list (as explained in Shulchan Aruch Y.D.249:15-16):
The order of the list is as follows:
1) Any situation of pikuach nefesh (where life is endangered).
2) To support the study of Torah.
3) To pay for the medical needs of the poor.
4) The building or maintenance of a community shul.
So we see how great is the zechus of supporting Torah study! Who knew?
http://www.torchweb.org/torah_detail.php?id=670