Parshas Tazria-Metzora

" I don't think that I ever felt so uncomfortable in my whole life, but
it was very important to visit her in the hospice."

"The priest shall examine the mark on (the leper's) hand... "(Vayikra
13:3) The Medrash Vayikra Rabba 15:8, tells us that Moshe felt very bad for
the indignities that his brother Aaron, the Kohen Gadol-High Priest of the
Tabernacle/Temple would go through checking the lepers. G-d consoled Moshe
by reminding him that this was a very small price to pay for being the Kohen
Gadol.

How valuable are your mitzvos??

Have a great Shabbos !!

Rabbi Chaim Flom

Dear Rabbi Flom,
I love this Midrash!!! I totally agree that when a person is doing something that is seemingly mundane and/or difficult to do---as long as it is a mitzvah he is doing the right thing. But even deeper---this really means that a person really needs to be able to feel happy with everything that he does because you are doing exactly what Hashem wants at this very second AND Hashem is very happy with you right then!!! In my extremely humble opinion I think that this is the biggest reason why people feel depressed regarding religion because they are not able to feel happy about the Mitzvos. For example, "everyone" talks about the importance of davening with Kavanah and the "blahness" of not doing so. So when people are not able to have kavanah they end up not wanting to daven because they feel like it is a waste to mumble words. But what they don't realize is that "Mitzvos Ainah Tzrichus Kavanah". If a person even mumbles he is still fulfilling the mitzvoh of davening (albeit at the basic level) because Hashem told him so i.e., to say the words of Tefillah. So at the very least Hashem is happy with you. At the basic level we are all an Eved...If we do what we are told, even though it is not the best or proper way it is still good in the eyes of Hashem and you are most definitly not wasting your time. Hashem is happy with you. And if a person says this over and over he wiil start building a relationship with Hashem ultimately leading to seconds and then minutes of kavanah during davaning, etc, etc, etc.
Thanks for listening.
Mark

Dear mark,
I agree with what you wrote, but would like to add a two sided point.
We must have the perspective that (1)mitzvos are real and that if G-d commanded me to do them, (2)my actions are valuable.
We don't always realize the importance of doing Mitzvos. If I do it, fine--if not, also fine. For a variety of reasons, even frum people don't realize that mitzvos are REAL. In other words. If you think that mitzvos are cultural, then if your Tefillin are not Kosher, you'll feel that at least you put them on daily. If Mitzvos are real, you'll say, that you didn't fulfill the Mitzva of tefillin and you made Brochos in vain. An appropriate example: If a person was a hypochondriac, and instead of taking a Vitamin A pill that the doctor said, he took Vitamin B, he'll be fine, because it is all psychological. But if a person has a heart disease and by accident took the wrong medicine, he could die!!

quote:

An appropriate example: If a person was a hypochondriac, and instead of taking a Vitamin A pill that the doctor said, he took Vitamin B, he'll be fine, because it is all psychological. But if a person has a heart disease and by accident took the wrong medicine, he could die!!

Is it also a valid view of the reality of how healing works (paraphrasing "Wings to the Sun") that Rebbi Nachman of Breslov's teachings indicate that real medicinal healing from Hashem can come from anything ingested?

And thus the B vitamin might in fact be just as good as the A vitamin, particularly when properly performing the mitzvah of davening for refuah?

quote:

In other words. If you think that mitzvos are cultural, then if your Tefillin are not Kosher, you'll feel that at least you put them on daily. If Mitzvos are real, you'll say, that you didn't fulfill the Mitzva of tefillin and you made Brochos in vain.

How much in vain are the brachos said on putting on tefillin (which were seen to not be kosher upon removal) in each of the following 2 cases:

1) Tefillin were perfectly kosher when the first bracha was said on putting on the arm tefillin, and in the middle of putting on the head tefillin, relying on the one bracha for both, a huge piece of black laquor flakes off?

(And when this actually happened to me, no spare tefillin anywhere near by! oh what a funny story it was when I finally found someone with black-out -- the discomfort of not feeling free to speak while in the midst of that "atomic" operation also rather interesting)

2) Tefillin are slightly warped but were still arguably square, but hypothetically, the person who was made for himself his rabbi for this question didn't measure as precisely as other authorities might require, and declared them square. Brachos were made, and that night they are re-measured with a precise tool and found to be too far out of squareness specification.

...

In my case 1, can we say that since the tefillin were kosher at the time the mitzvah was started, he still gets the mitzvah completing the task with failed tefillin?

And in my case 2, assuming the halachic process was properly used, do we declare the warped tefillin to be kosher for him because he got a psak which turned out to be technically not right?

Or is that 1 or 2 or more aveiros because the brachos were in vain, coupled with the lacking of not having properly fulfilled the mitzvah that day within its appointed time?

Dear Rob,
Thanks for the comments. I just need some clarification. What does this mean?

quote:

2) the person who was made for himself his rabbi for this question

Was he a Rav?

[quote] and that night they are re-measured with a precise tool and found to be too far out of squareness specification.[quote]Did someone tell you that there are poskim that say if it isn't square according to a "precise tool" it isn't good? I don't know who says that, but you can certainly rely on a decent pair of eyes.
In case 1 didn't you only put on Kosher Tefillin, albeit with a wait in the middle, but that was certainly "letzorech" and not a hefsek (interruption).
In cae 2 assuming you bought meat and relied on the best Hashgacha, and afterwards the meat was found out to be trief--true you were an "onus", but it is trief.Similarly, if the Tefillin are really posul, they are posul, even if a Rav told you they were good. (As I said earlier, in your case 2 I don't think they were posul.)

As far as Rav Nachman's ideas, I certainly can't help you.
Take care,
Chaim Flom

quote:

What does this mean?

quote:
2) the person who was made for himself his rabbi for this question

Was he a Rav?

My rabbi taught us about the halachic process and fulfilling the pasuk of "make for your self a rabbi, and acquire for yourself a friend" that there is a guarantee from Hashem that anyone using this process, unless one is intentionally asking a fool for guidance, that asking any Jew for advice, there is a guarantee that Hashem will cause the right answer to be given.

The other person need not be a world-renowned posek with universal acceptance in all matters of halacha, they need not even be an installed rabbi of a shul.

So for example, even if there were noone with smicha around, if two well-intentioned Yidden were learning and davening together, even with noone else around, and a shaila came up, that the guarantee of the halachic process would apply if one asked his peer what to do.

That this matches the intent of the passuk - if someone asks a shaila to the best source the have for an answer. Perhaps the best answer they can get is, I have no idea, better to ask a rabbi, that is find. Many real rabbis give the same response when asked a question they do not feel confident to answer.

And asking one person one question one time does not result in that person forever more being that person's personal rabbi.

I trust this clarifies what I meant when I used the phrase to make someone his rabbi, and apologize for the ambiguity.

quote:

[quote] and that night they are re-measured with a precise tool and found to be too far out of squareness specification.[quote]Did someone tell you that there are poskim that say if it isn't square according to a "precise tool" it isn't good? I don't know who says that, but you can certainly rely on a decent pair of eyes.
In case 1 didn't you only put on Kosher Tefillin, albeit with a wait in the middle, but that was certainly "letzorech" and not a hefsek (interruption).

I believe that all frum yidden strive for truth.

I have been taught that in truth a pair of tefillin must be square in order to be kosher.

I recognize that there can be ambiguity in subjective viewing with eyes, and there could be a pair of tefillin which one posek would rule kosher, that another posek would rule not kosher.

And therefore there must exist a precise measuring tool which could be used to resolve any doubt if there were such a conflict.

Assuming then that despite all the wonderful training to a G-d-fearing Jew who might determine it sufficiently square, it is possible that an optical illusion could have resulted in a minor oversight.

One could take the initial posting to heart in such a way that they might feel worried about whether they fulfilled the mitzvah at all if despite having gotten an informed opinion that tefillin were kosher by one who knows the halacha, that there was actually a flaw which might not have been hidden from another's pair of eyes, but once shown by a measuring tool, would be recognized as significant by the first one's eyes.

If you agree that such a situation could arise, what would be the result?

That he followed the halachic process, put on tefillin, and after the time limit for that day's performance of the mitzvah of tefillin, he learns that there actually was a flaw?

Did he fulfill his mitzvah?

Or more specifically, did he make his brachos in vain?

Dear Rob,
As I mentioned previously, "a decent pair of eyes" is all that is needed for checking a pair of Tefillin . If it looks square, but with "precise measuring device" you see it isn't exactly square, it is Kosher.If afterwards you want to make it squarer, fine, but certainly it was Kosher.
Certainly every Posek davens that he should have the Siyata Dishmaya (Heavenly help) not to make mistakes. But certainly there is no guarantee. And to assume that any 2 people learning and one gives an answer, that there is a Siyata Dishmaya that he is right?!! I never heard of that.
If you buy a pair of Tefillin from a great sofer, and it turns out that a letter was missing, it is posul. To be blunt, even though all the people who relied on a good hechsher, certainly had the rovs & chazakas to rely on,but when it turned out that the meat was treif,that means that they ate treif !!
Take care.
Rabbi Flom

quote:

As far as Rav Nachman's ideas, I certainly can't help you.

The author of Wings of the Sun has provided me with this as Rav Nachman's source:

Exodus 23:25: "And you shall serve HaShem your God and He will bless your bread and your water and I shall remove illness from within you".

This verse is discussed in relation to healing by Rabbi Nachman in Likutey Moharan Part II Torah 1

Shalom AG