Back from Israel

I just got back from a four days in New York followed by a week in Israel. As usual, in retrospect, I waiver between wondering
"How odd
of God,
to choose
the Jews,"
and amazement at the deep, indomitable and immutable spirituality I that is evident in each and every Jew I met, which reminds me of the rejoinder to that line--
"It's not
so odd:
the Jews
chose God."


I have advice for anyone making a purchase in Mei'ah She'arim. Be tentative. Don't commit yourself too deeply. I wanted some work done on my talis, and I found a hole-in-the-wall store in Meah She'arim. No address, no name, nothing but a pile of tallis bags in the dirty window and a little sign that said "Rekimah." Embroidery. It is located near one of the Yad Sheni'ahs, second hand furniture stores, and approximately across the street from number 65. I stopped in, and asked the elderly man behind the counter if he could embroider my name on a corner of my tallis. He said yes; we agreed to do it in white thread, and when I asked about silver thread, he said "No changes! You decided, and that's it." After arguing for a few minutes, he agreed to do it in silver, and told me to pick it up in two hours. Since I was walking back from Vasikin at the Kosel, I decided to leave my tefillin there too, so I shouldn't have to carry them around.

I came back later that day, at three PM, and the store was locked and dark, like Yerichos, sogeres u'mesugeres. To make a long story short, I waited there for three hours. No exxageration. I waited the first hour because I was told by the neighboring storekeepers that he would open later, after his siesta, or lunch, or whatever it was. But after an hour passed, and he did not show up, I began to fear that he was gone for the day, and that he would not open on the next day, Friday, and I would be stuck without my tefillin for three days. So the next couple of hours were spent running around, with burgeoning anxiety, trying to find out how I could get into the store.
By six PM, I learned the following items:
1. Since the glass was broken next to the door handle, I could put my hand into the store. But the door was locked with a key from the inside, and I couldn't turn the inside handle without a key.
2. His name is Reb Alter Kohen.
3. His father's name was Hillel Kohen. (Later, he verified this fact. But he told it to me in the present tense, "Yah, main tateh's nomen iz Hillel." If his father is alive, he must be around one hundred and fifty years old. I like the idea of referring to his late father in the present tense. His has a father, and his father's name is Hillel; that his father is not alive doesn't change those facts.)
4. He davens Mincha in Shul X, down the street and upstairs.
5. He davens Maariv in Shul Y, also down the street.
6. The two shuls I was in looked like wrecks from the outside but were magnificent on the inside. 7. Ominously, Alter did not show up for Mincha or Ma'ariv.
8. Alter lives in a house off a courtyard not far from the store. (I went to his house, but he wasn't home, either.)
9. His sister sometimes opens the store, and she would have the key.
10. His sister works in a restaurant called Mis'adat Simcha, which is on Rechov Sima, so if I go to Misa'dat Simcha, I could ask her for the key and get my tefillin.
11. Mis'adat Simcha closed two years ago.
12. His grandmother had a dream that the Alteh Rebitzen gave her lekach, and his great-grandfather told her it meant she would find a shidduch. A Lubavitcher bochur came by that day, and she married him.
13. He is a big meyuchas in the Yerushalmi and Lubavitcher pantheon, but the names he told me didn't stick.
14. If you like your bread handled and squeezed by lots of people, among whom are several who haven't washed their hands since scratching places we don't talk about on a family blog, then you should buy it at one of the bakeries with piles of pita outside the store.

Reb Alter came back at six, told me he was in the hospital all day having blood work done and that he has ten heart bypasses, he showed me the bandage on the inside of his elbow, and the tallis was ready, and he had done a fine job.

Silver lining: It was an immersion experience. I learned a great deal about Meah Shearim and its shuls, houses, courtyards and denizens.

While I was wandering around Meah She'arim that day, I bought a silver ring for my wife with the letters gimmel zayin yud, for gahm zeh ya'avor, which she once expressed an interest in. I had to have it custom-made. It came with the letters gimmel daled yud, Gedi, a goat. No, the storekeeper told me, that's not a daled, that's a zayin! So far, I have been able to convince my wife it's a zayin. But it's a daled. Still, a Gedi ring is better than the ugly shmatteh rings a different store showed me, with sloppily written letters, and costing three times as much. While I was looking, one guy asked me whether I wanted the ring in connection with Obama's election.

One bookstore in Geulah was selling stones from Har Sinai, with brachiate images on them, allegedly looking like branches of a bush, with a reprint from the Arvei Nachal that alludes to these images. Given a choice between that and money falling out of a hole in my pocket, I would go for the hole in the pocket. Better in my pocket than in my head.

A Two Week Disconnection

I am off to the East Coast for Shabbos, and then to Eretz Yisroel for a week. I don't expect to have access to the net during that time.

For Divrei Torah on the two Parshios I will be out of town for, please see

For Parshas Shemos:

Din Oneis by Goyim
http://havolim.blogspot.com/2007/12/shemos-424-maloch-that-attacked-moshe.html

Serving God through Worldly Occupations
http://havolim.blogspot.com/2007/01/shemos-115-shifra-and-puah.html

Why Yisro Took an Escaped Criminal to be His Son-in-Law
http://havolim.blogspot.com/2007/01/moshe-rabbeinus-shidduch.html

Bris Millah and the Geula from Mitzrayim, Bris Millah and Korban Pesach
http://havolim.blogspot.com/2007/01/shemos-424-snake-that-almost-killed.html

For Parshas Va’eira:

Who Names the Baby;" and "Who Pays for a Wedding" and "What Should a Wedding Invitation Look Like" , with pictures of wedding invitations Reb Chaim Brisker and Reb Leizer Yudel sent out for their children's weddings (and two from Klausenberg and Munkatch.)
http://havolim.blogspot.com/2007/12/vaeira-shemos-623-vayikach-aharon-es.html

Lust or Apathy; Which is More Dangerous?
http://havolim.blogspot.com/2007/01/vaeria-shemos-924-fire-and-ice.html


I also recommend http://www.divreichaim.blogspot.com/ and http://nefeshchaim.blogspot.com/ for worthy Torah thoughts, and http://yediah.blogspot.com/ for serious hashkafa thinking. There is also http://www.bcbm.org/ for a great collection of shiurim, and http://www.dafonline.org/ to hear Harav Moshe Brown, a walking, talking Sefer Torah, saying a Daf Yomi Shiur.

Gemilus Chasadim of Gentiles

The Posts on this Website evolve, and the site is, to some extent, participatory.
As I re-read the Post, and as I think about the comments, I will often edit a Post to incorporate, or in response to comments, or so as to anticipate and pre-empt comments. I may also expand or re-write for clarity. So, if you read the comments and find something that doesn't seem to make sense, that may be because I changed the post in response to a comment that exposed an error, a weakness, or an ambiguity.
I very much appreciate your critical reading and thoughtful comments.

This week, the Torah tells us the story of how the daughter of Pharaoh saved Moshe. Apropos of that, I want to point out that we Orthodox Jews tend to develop a parochial, self-congratulatory, hermetically insular resistance to admitting the fact of gentile ba'alei chesed. I think this is embarrasingly juvenile. There are better ways to encourage ethnic and religious pride than to deny middos tovos among the goyim. This morning I had just such an experience, which, though relatively trivial, reminded me about the chesed of Bisya. On another occassion, I bumped someone's rear bumper: there wasn't enough to make real trouble, but there certainly was enough to cause problems if one was so inclined. The fellow whose bumper I hit, a young black man, got out, saw that it was relatively trivial, and said, forget it, let's just be grateful it wasn't worse. Now, it may be that he was was afraid to be late for a meeting with his parole officer; and maybe he had stolen the car. Or it may be that he was just a decent human being, a mentsch. And it may be that Goyim now are, in a sense, like Geirei Toshav, since Torah concepts have been incorporated into Western society. Technically, thay are not Geirei Toshav, since this requires a beis din, and it is a machlokes Rambam and Ra'avad in 14 Isurei Biah whether the concept of Ger Toshav exists now that Yovel is not applicable; but it would be a fine old kulah vis a vis the Rambam in 12 Isurei Biah end of 5.

The Tosfos Yomtov in Avos 3:14 says that Chaviv Adam she'nivra be'tzelem refers to all of mankind. Others, brought there, vigorously debate this universalist perspective, and I certainly can see how one might be uncomfortable applying that term to the sicarii and anthropophagi of the Congo. But when you see it happen, I don't think there's a converse of "havei dan es kol adam lekaf zechus" for gentiles.

I recently got a letter that was intended for an Arabic family that lives down the street. So, one would assume that the issur of "leman sefos harava es hatzmei'a" and/or lo sechanem would apply (see CM 266, and Beis Yosef Tur ChM 249, end of D'H Assur). On the other hand, Tosfos in Avoda Zara 20 says that there is no issur of lo sechanem on neighbors or people who know you, and so we pasken: see YD 151:11, and there is certainly no issur of lo sechaneim when what you do generates a Kiddush Hashem. But then I would have to make sure to re-deliver the letter davka when they are home, and while wearing a big old yarmulkeh. But how would I want my neighbors to behave if an important letter of mine came to their house? Doesn't knowing that some stranger re-delivered their mail encourage them to behave in a more civilized manner in general? What do we do to society if our altruism is limited to our narrow group like the Chasidah, the Of Tamei that is "osah chesed im chavrose'ha," and we refuse to assist others absent some personal benefit? When I need a Shabbas Goy to turn on the heat, or to turn off the alarm system, or whatever, do I need to be ruefully grateful that they don't have the lo sechaneim on us that we have on them?

On the other hand: respect leads to understanding, understanding leads to empathy, and empathy leads to ta'aruvos. the safest thing to do is to take an absolutely rejectionist stance. It is very difficult to categorically deplore someone's religious beliefs while appreciating and respecting his positive traits. "Hatzileini na miyad achi, miyad Eisav" is a very narrow path we have to walk.

Another point: I have been batting this question back and forth for years.
Issue:
Is there a din of lo sechanem when you reciprocate a favor where there is no possiblity of being repaid and there is no Kiddush Hashem.
Of course, as I said from Tosfos and the Mechaber, favors to neighbors are legally viewed as investments. But if there is no possibility of being repaid; if there is no Kiddush Hashem; is the simple concept of hakaras hatov mattir lo sechanem?
Discussion:
Pashtus, I would think it is. It's not chinam! I'm doing it because I want to show my gratitude for a favor he did for me. In a sense, I owe him the reciprocation. It may not be legally enforceable, but it seems to be a moral debt. After all, the chiyuv of Hakaras Hatov is a Meta-Mitzvah: Adam Harishon, when he said "Ha'isha asher nasata imadi," was severely punished for failing to be makir tov.
Application:
Expanding this proposal, let us say that we have a chiyuv of hakaras hatov to the United States, for taking so many Jews in, and for supporting Israel, and for, in general, not only being a medina shel chesed, but also for not killing us. And what is the United States? It is no more than the term we use for the democratic will of its citizens. If so, a concommitant of hakaras hatov to the United States would be a chiyuv hakaras hatov to its citizens!
Conclusion:
So there would be no din of lo sechaneim on any citizen of the United States.

However:
In Gittin, in the sugya of Le'olam Bahem Ta'avodu, according to the Rashba that this is tied to the din of Lo Sechanem, the lashon of the rishonim seems to indicate that mere hakaras hatov is not a mattir. There has to be some legal obligation that you are fulfilling, or the likelihood that the favor will be returned.

Parshas Vayechi: Mummies, Revenge, and the Limitations of Teshuva

You can find my earlier postings on Parshas Vayechi
here.

Siyum Hashas

August, twenty two and a half years ago, our Daf Yomi shiur began with Perek Asara Yuchsin. We just had the third Siyum Hashas celebration in my house. Yes, we're around twenty blatt behind, and, as I mentioned at the Siyum, I just got a call from Reb Meir Shapiro that if we don't catch up, he's going to pull the franchise.

As with the other two siyumim, there was a real siyata dishmaya and ru'ach that generated a real warmth and friendship among everyone that attended. We had fifty one people in the living room/dining room, every one associated with the shiur, including substitute magidei shiur and, of course, spouses.

The siyum was, for me, a very emotional event. To clear space, I had moved the sofa, the recliner, side tables, and carpet to other rooms, and, after moving the piano into the corner, brought in long tables and folding chairs. After the Siyum, my friends, unbidden and unexpectedly, rolled up their sleeves and brought back all the furniture, and took home the chairs they had delivered. The women cleaned up the kitchen, so that there was barely a sign of all the food that was cooked and the salads and deserts and appetizers that had come out of that small space. But I insisted that they not take out the folded tables and remaining chairs and put them in the garage. I want to spend time in the next few days looking at the room and seeing signs of the siyum. I prefer to leave the room disorganized for a while so that the echoes of the sights and sounds of the siyum continue for as long as possible. Those dear, beloved, beautiful people, who take time every day to learn, and who all came to the siyum for one and only one reason-- to give kavod hatorah and to be makir tov for the shiur-- I want to see them in the room for as long as possible.

Seven and a half years ago, I and the boys had been on a fishing charter, and we came back with massive lake trout, brown trout, and salmon. As soon as we came home, sunburned and tired, my wife said that we were going to make a gala siyum the next day and serve the fish. These were not fillets that we had caught; they were real fish that had been swimming that morning. They were fish that were big enough to swallow small pets. But to work we went, and we called everyone to tell them about the siyum, and the next day, I was still in the back yard cleaning the last of the fish, and washing scales off of my forearms with the garden hose, while guests in bigdei yomtov were arriving. My wife put slices of the fish into the oven with some kind of sauce, and afterwards, everyone said that the fish was the best they had ever tasted. It was just extraordinarily moist and flavorful.

Our experience last night was the same. Everything we served was made either in our kitchen or brought over by friends who had made dishes; the entre was mushroom stuffed chicken breasts, Bodek broccolli, little carrots, and brown rice/wild rice. At the end of the evening, there was nothing left on the plates; everyone, even the junk-food junkies, said, once again, that it was just so flavorful and tasty, they couldn't believe it all came out of our kitchen. No caterer could have done as good a job.

I really believe that we were eating kodshim in the Azara of the Beis Hamikdash. I think that there was a special siyata dishmaya, a ruach of chein ve'chesed in the air, a grace that permeated the whole evening, that elevated the food to be the Mahn in the Midbar. The Tzintzenes Hamahn has never been emptied; I think that last night we all tasted it.

The effort my wife and her friends put into the Siyum, and the amazing results of their efforts, reminded me of the Chasam Sofer. I had heard for years that women might have a greater schar than men from limud hatorah, because the women encourage and are mechazeik their men to go and learn, and for this they have schar as if they themselves had learned Torah. But why would their schar be greater than the men's? Someone told me that a darshan said that if the man went to seder and wasted his time, then he gets no schar; what he gets is the onesh for bittul Torah. But his wife, or his mother, who encouraged him to go out to learn, her schar is just as if he had done what she sent him out to do, and had learned with absolute hasmada and concentration. Therefore, the woman's schar might be greater than that of the man. I said this made no sense. The schar for a machshir can't be any greater than the schar for the mitzvah itself. If you help someone, your schar is talui in what he ultimately does, and if he battels, too bad for both of them. You pick your horse, you hitch your wagon, and good luck.

Surprise! I found that the Chasam Sofer says this. In Parshas Nitzavim, it says "Tapchem ne'sheichem." The Chasam Sofer ahl haTorah brings the Gemara in Brachos 17a that the havtacha to women is greater than that made to men, and he explains exactly as above: the men might doze off or just waste their time instead of learning. But "schar ha'isha lo yekupach, ke'ilu hee megadeles baal uben tzadikim gemurim."

The Chasam Sofer says exactly fahrkehrt from what I was sure was true. Once again, Daas Baal Habayis Hepech Midaas Torah. This is not helping for my self-esteem issues. Should I laugh or cry? But I console myself by saying that the Gemara is a raya that my seichel, at least, is on the right track. The Gemara in Brachos needs a passuk for this concept, so maybe that proves that lulei the drasha, the pashtus, the seichel hayashar, would be like me.

I hope, over the next days, to post the main divrei torah that were said at the siyum. But not too fast: I want to make this last for a while.

This is what I said at the siyum:
I spoke about the din of Seudas Mitzvah. I brought the Mechaber in YD 246 25-26 who talks about the schar of limud hatorah and the onesh for one who could be learning but doesn't, and the Rama in 26 that says that a Siyum Masechta is a Seudas Mitzvah. The Shach there in sk 27 says that it is a Seudas Mitzva even for people who did not learn the Masechta.

Then I said over the Chavos Yair brought in the Pischei Teshuva YD 217 who tries to define the parameters of Seudas Mitzva. He discusses Chanukas Habayis parties, Seventieth Birthday parties, and so on, and then says that of course, a siyum is s seudas mitzvah, and even the seuda the day after, and two days after, if made to celebrate the siyum, are seudos mitzva. (This can be a very convenient shitta to remember during the Nine Days.) I mentioned that a past member of the shiur, Yosef Zev ben Chaya Alteh, may he have a refuah shleima besoch she'or cholei yisroel, told me that in Kelm, where he grew up, when the Rov made a siyum, all the businesses closed for the day, everyone put on bigdei yomtov, and they made seudos to celebrate the siyum-- it was mamesh ah yomtov.

Anyway, I mentioned that I didn't see any discussion of Hachnasas Sefer Torah. I suggested that although it does not fit into the rules of Seudas Mitzva, which celebrates the finishing of a mitzva, it might be a seudas mitzva because it is a mitzva to celebrate the bringing in of a Davar Shebikedusha into a community, like the Chanukas Habayis of Shlomo Hamelech. Of course, if you also finish the writing of the sefer, that is a mitzva, and that itself would give the din of seudas mitzva. So there are two dinim by a Hachnasas Sefer Torah: the writing of the sefer, and the bringing of the sefer to the community.

I say that both of these dinim are present by a Siyum Masechta. In Torah Shebaal Peh, there is no klaf to write on. The only way to 'write' a sefer torah shebaal peh is to learn it. The Klaf is our heart-- Kasveim ahl lu'ach libecha. When we finish a masechta, we celebrate the 'writing' of a sefer torah sheba'al peh. And we also celebrate the bringing of a davar shebikedusha into the community: When Moshe finished learning the Torah on Har Sinai, Hashem passed the Kolmus over his forehead, because, as the Beis Halevi says, Moshe Rabbeinu became the true repository of the Torah. Unlike Torah shebiksav, which belongs and whose primary place is on a klaf, Torah shebaal peh belongs only in the mind of the ben Torah, and therefore one who learns Torah shebaal peh is not just tashmishei kedusha, he is kedusha atzma. Just like we celebrate Hachnasas Sefer Torah Shebiksav, so too we celebrate Hachnasas Sefer Torah SheBaal Peh; the Masechta of Torah we learn resides in us, and the community now has a beautiful new davar shebikedusha within it. The difference is that we merely house a Sefer Torah Shebiksav, while with a Sefer Torah Shebaal Peh, we don't house it, we incorporate it. We have met the Sefer Torah, and it is us.

Vayigash, Breishis 45:28. Rav! Ohd Yosef Beni Chai.

On the word Rav: See Medrash here- Yakov said "When I suffered, I sinned by saying that I was out of Hashem’s vision, but my son Yosef is greater than I, and had never said any such thing."

How did Yakov know that Yosef never said such a thing? The Sheim Mishmuel says (5672) that Yakov held that if Yosef had even a tiny flaw in emunah, his sufferings would have taken him off the path; Yosef's sufferings were so terrible that if there were any imperfection in his faith, he would have rejected Judaism entirely.

In what sense is that true? What sufferings of Yosef were worse than those of Yakov, who said "me'aht ve'ra'im" to Pharaoh? And how did Yaakov know that these experiences would have destroyed anything less than a perfect faith?

Here’s what I think.
Yaakov's tribulations pit him against enemies of his faith. Yosef, on the other hand, had to survive the hatred of his fellow Jews, his brothers, who believed in all the same things he believed in. One can remain faithful despite feeling that God has turned His back on His people. It is far more traumatic when your own faith has created antagonists who attempt to destroy you because of what you believe. Yaakov knew that if Yosef had ever had a crisis of faith, or even a small flaw in his faith, then if he were faced with this challenge, he couldn't have survived it.

Or to put it in Yeshivish, once the roiv of the Shvotim paskened that he was chayev misseh, that became the halocheh. But Yosef knew it was wrong, and the greatest beis din cannot make what’s wrong right (see the first mishneh in Hoiryois, not like Rebbi Eliezer). So the bottom line was that the halocheh of Klal Yisroel, the psak of Sanhedrin, was wrong, and Yoisef was right. He would be justified in withdrawing from Klal Yisroyel, deciding there was an essential flaw in the religious beliefs of the Shvotim, and that his job was to create an alternative and better Klal Yisroel. Either he was disenfranchised from Klal Yisroel, or Klal Yisroel was disenfranchised from him. The great gevura of Yoisef was accepting in his heart and in his mind that despite the behavior and beliefs of the Jews, Judaism, the mesoireh of Yaakov, is absolutely true.

The private wound is deepest. O time most accurst, 'Mongst all foes that a friend should be the worst!
-William Shakespeare The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Sometimes we see fellow Jews doing, in the name of our religion, things that are abhorrent to us. This was Yosef's experience as well. And it is hurtful and confusing to us. But the proper response is to accept that we are human, and humans make mistakes. This is why Chazal say in the beginning of Bava Kamma that Mav'eh is Man, because to avoid errors, one must pray to Hashem to help us. The Diplomat and Writer George Kennan wrote an article in 1968, in which he makes the following point:
....it lies within the power as well as the duty of all of us to recognize not only the possibility that we might be wrong but the virtual certainty that on some occasions we are bound to be. The fact that this is so does not absolve us from the duty of having views and putting them forward. But it does make it incumbent upon us to recognize the element of doubt that still surrounds the correctness of these views. And if we do that, we will not be able to lose ourselves in the transports of moral indignation against those who are of opposite opinion and follow a different line, we will put our views forward only with a prayer for forgiveness for the event that we prove to be mistaken."

The only thing I would add to Mr. Kennan's thought is this: One must bear in mind that he may be mistaken, and additionally, one must bear in mind that his opponent may be right, that even if I am right, my opponent may be right as well. That I am right does not necessarily mean that my opponent is wrong. There are many ways of looking at life, and of making complex decisions. Truth is admissive of variety. As Chazal say, Shivim panim laTorah, all of which are emes. Sometimes, Reuven's emes is that Yosef is Chayav Missah, while Yosef's emes is that Reuven is a Rodef who is attempting murder.

Have you ever thought about the difference between Rav Kook and the Satmerer Rov? How one felt that the creation of Medinas Yisrael was a tanchumin for the Holocaust, which was Chevlei Mashiach, while the other felt that the Holocaust was caused by the Zionist movement, that the creation of the Medinah was the cause of the Holocaust? That is a big difference of opinion, and it tends to make all of our talk of ACHDUS! and AHAVAS CHINAM! kind of foolish, doesn't it? Each side accuses the other of either aiding and abetting murder or of spitting at the great gift given by the Ribono shel Olam to His people.

The fact, not the hope, is that the Jews are hopelessly splintered. Does anyone really think that Satmar and Mercaz Harav have much in common? I'm not talking about Neturei Karta. Everyone hates them, and with good reason. A traitor deserves contempt and earns hatred, no matter how well-meaning he might be. But Satmar is a functional group with a heritage of talmidei chachamim and long history. Do members of the two sects/groups/camps have anything to do with each other? Would they feel comfortable walking in to the other's shul to daven? And what about the Satmar Dayan in Antwerp who publicly and vociferously railed against a community-wide tehillim gathering for the safety of the soldiers of Tzahal during the Gaza war? And, speaking of the Satmarers, it is not easy to like a group that proclaims that Zionism and the movement to found the State of Israel was the proximate cause of the Holocaust. Did the endless Inquisitions and pogroms escape their attention?

This is not a new problem. Our history tells us of men who were great scholars and talmidei chachamim whose behavior was horrifying. Think about what the Shvatim wanted to happen to Yosef. Think about Shimi ben Geira and Avner, about other tzadikim gemurim, as the Chassam Sofer says in Parshas Shmos, who murdered Jews because they paskened that this was the halacha, but who, we are told, were wrong. Of course, who are we to judge? We are not even chamorim compared to these great men. Even Korach, compared to us, was a malach. Remember what Menasheh said to Rav Ashi in a dream, as brought in Sanhedrin 102b?
But all that does not matter at all. The point I'm making is this; you can have a great talmid chacham, a great tzadik, even what the Chasam Sofer calls a tzadik gamur. And this person is capable of paskening that someone is chayav misah: he is capable of personally killing a person; and we, the rest of Klal Yisrael, the ones who follow other poskim, hold that they are wrong. That means that there can be a tzadik gamur on one side who holds that we should go out and kill a certain Jew, and other poskim hold that whoever kills that Jew is a Rotzei'ach and is chayav missah. So what you have is a tzadik gamur and talmid chacham - who is a rotzei'ach.

So if being a talmid chacham is not proof against being a murderer, what kind of a farce is it to say that Klal Yisrael has to aspire to achdus. This is not an exercise. It is a very good question. When there is nothing in the sincere study of Torah and the honest adherence to our mesorah that prevents the rise of absolutely incompatible groups, what do we mean when we say we need achdus? What on earth does achdus mean when we are at each other's throats?

Don't tell me that such extreme polarization is rare. It isn't. It happens all the time and every day.

As far as I can tell, achdus is only possible in a secular democracy with strict division between religion and the state. Obviously, this is not a guarantee of peace. Conflict about the form and direction and purpose of government can be as bloody as religious wars, as evidenced by most of the wars of the twentieth century, both hot and cold. But it seems to me that this kind of arrangement holds the most promise, while religion is fundamentally incompatible with compromise and mutual respect.

So what is this constant talk about achdus? Are we so naive that we think it's possible, or, as is more likely, are we just saying it when we know, in our hearts, that it's impossible? Are we just going through the motions because we think that it's a religious obligation to hahk a tchainik about achdus?

To accept that eilu ve'eilu applies even when the two sides are diametrically opposed is hard to do, and this was indeed the great achievement of Yosef.

The Yekkishe Shir Hamaalos

German Jews have a very beautiful melody for Shir Hamaalos Ashrei Kol Ye’rei Hashem, (Tehillim 128) which they sing every Mowtsei Shabbose (sic) and at weddings. To get a Yekke’s attention, just hum a bar from this song and it will stop him in his tracks.

Here are four renditions.

(By the way, if you have a Yekke listen to one of these with you, he or she will inevitably comment "Not exactly....)


I
This clip is by Cantor Malovany.This and other recordings are available for purchase.


II
(This one is by Cantor Lawrence Eliezer Kepecs. Double-click on the second song on the list.)

Here is a working update. Thank you!

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III
(This one is by the KAJ Choir. It is done without accompaniment, by non-professionals, but it will bring a tear to your eye anyway.
http://www.divshare.com/download/7363409-503
It is also on TorahMedia, which requires that you sign up for a free listening membership.) http://www.torahmedia.com/filelink.php?sid=91md4uoyveoyu54&cid=&fid=23769&bw=high&lnk=d


IV
Here is the KAJ choir again, even better.


V
(This one is of a young man at a friend's wedding.)

For the benefit of friends and bands that have to sing this at a wedding, and are desperately searching the net for samples, this is also called Shir Hama'alot or Hama'alos, and it is sung


VI.

Thank you very much to an anonymous contributor, who directed us to the original score by Israel Meir Japhet.  It can be found here (at the Harvard Library.)  Click on 'how to read'. Click "read on your browser". When the document appears, our contributor says you should put 120 into the page search box on the bottom right.  On my browser, I don't get a search box on the bottom.  There's a line across the bottom with a circle on the line, and you slide the circle along the line until it says page 120, which will then appear above the line.

Or here, (at the Bibliothèque de l'Alliance israélite universelle) on page 144 according to the sliding marker on the right side, which corresponds to page 126 in the song book.  But you will have to download the entire book to see that page.