To the daf — because the study of Torah commands creation and dictates the mission and destiny of every being.

Living Higher

The story of Rav Chaim Kanievsky once learning the halachos of a certain grasshopper and struggling to understand its precise anatomy is well-known. The very grasshopper he was studying suddenly appeared in the room where he was learning. Rav Chaim analyzed the creature and it then flew off. A short while later another question arose and the grasshopper promptly returned.

It may not be this degree of revelation, but in what certainly seemed like a Divine message, a Daf Yomi chaburah in Cincinnati, led by Rabbi Yisrael Kaufman, experienced something similar. This past Sunday was a beautiful, sunny morning, so they moved the chaburah outdoors to the patio of Congregation Zichron Eliezer and opened their Gemaras to Shevuos daf yud. There the Gemara discusses various se’irim — goat korbanos that are offered for the stated purpose of kapparah (atonement). The Gemara cites the opinion of Rabi Meir that there are three se’irim of kapparah  — one brought on Yom Tov, one brought on Rosh Chodesh, and one se’ir brought as part of the Mussaf on Yom Kippur (whose blood is sprinkled on the Mizbeiach Hachitzoni).

Suddenly, members of the chaburah sensed that they weren’t alone. They looked up to see — three goats! Apparently, someone living not far away had purchased goats and they ran loose. And while they appeared to be roaming aimlessly, it seems they knew exactly where they were going.

To the daf — because the study of Torah commands creation and dictates the mission and destiny of every being.

HAPPENING In Częstochowa, Poland

Rav Pinchas Menachem Elazar Yustman (1848-1920) was a grandson of the Chiddushei HaRim, heir to the brilliant legacy of Gur. He is widely referred to by the name of his magnum opus, Sifsei Tzaddik, a sefer that is widely popular in many chassidic communities. He is buried in Częstochowa, a city in southern Poland on the Warta River, and many visit his gravesite to pray for salvation in merit of this great tzaddik. But a recent visit yielded an emotion other than inspiration. The kever had been violated by local hooligans, who broke the roof of the candle holder attached to it and discarded it. Fragments of stones, debris, branches, and beer bottles were thrown into the tomb structure and the walls of the tomb complex were stained with paint.

The sight of such desecration to the resting place of this towering tzaddik was heartrending.

Unfortunately, it was not the first time this had happened, but multiple petitions to the township of Częstochowa requesting the implementation of basic security measures went unanswered.

So many have visited this gravesite and have seen miraculous deliverance from their difficulties.

Now that the Rebbe himself is confronted with “difficulty” it is our turn to pray on his behalf.

May the honor due to such a great man soon be assured, and may his memory continue to be a blessing and a merit for the Jewish People.

The Lens

When Major General Borys Kremenetsky, the Defense Attache for the Embassy of Ukraine to the United States of America, arrived in Bal Harbour, Florida to speak at an Aleph Conference (founded by Rabbi Shalom Lipskar, who passed away two weeks ago at age 78), Chaplain Chaim Roome (stationed at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa), approached him, asking him if he wanted to don tefillin. The Jewish general had never fulfilled the mitzvah before and gratefully removed his tailored military dress suit jacket, rolled up the sleeve of his starched white shirt and laid the tefillin, binding a soldier’s strength to his spirit.