Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
All of the above are excellent responses to your very thoughtful questions.
I learned what I think is a wonderful reason as to why women are exempt from מצוות עשה שהזמן גרמא while men are obligated. It is because we women have our own INTERNAL clock reminding us of the time. Men are lacking an internal clock, so they have to do these EXTERNAL מצוות to remind them.
Women DO have a time of growing and maturing. It is done internally, within ourselves. Men need the external trappings, while women don’t. That is the idea of כל כבודה בת מלך פנימה.
I had the same questions you have when I was growing up, along with many others. It took me years to find answers that satisfied me, and I still have other questions. Just keep asking and searching for your answers and eventually you will find them. And if not, save them. When I was a child, on the advice of my father OB”M, I kept a notebook in which I wrote all my questions so I could ask משיח when he comes.
גמר חתימה טובה!
There is a story about the Tzemach Tzaddik that some of his chassidim were preparing to visit him and they were discussing whether they should do teshuva before seeing him or let the Rebbe see them as they are and let him help them do teshuva. When they got to the Tzemach Tzaddik, they were astonished when he told them (without them mentioning their discussion) that they have to do teshuva, but their Rebbe has to be able to see what they were like even before.
Reb Elimelech of Lizensk said that when a yid puts his hand on the doorknob at his home as he leaves to visit his Rebbe, if the Rebbe doesn’t know he is coming – then he isn’t a Rebbe.
The Tnuos are a way to help you concentrate before the tefila. Sort of like meditation.
RR44 is a little mistaken in the order of the Rebbes of Viznitz. I am going to list them:
R’ Yaakov Koppel Chossid – the Baal Tefila of the Baal Shem Tov
His son, Menachem Mendel, the Ahavas Sholom was Kossov Rebbe
His son, Chaim, the Toras Chaim took over as Kossov RebbeThe Toras Chaim had two sons, Boruch Shamson who took over in Kossov and
Menachem Mendel, the Tzemach Tzaddik who was Rav in Viznitz while his father was living, then became the Viznitz Rebbe.The Tzemach Tzaddik’s son, the Imrei Boruch was Rebbe in Viznitz after his father, but he was niftar after only 8 years.
The Imrei Boruch had two sons, R’ Chaim the Antoniya Rebbe and
R’ Yisroel, the Ahavas Yisroel. was Rebbe in Viznitz and moved to Grossvardein (he kept the name of Viznitz Rebbe)The Ahavas Yisroel (who was niftar right before the war) had a number of sons:
Damesek Eliezer, started the Viznitz Yeshiva in Tel Aviv
R’ Boruch, the Serret Rebbe, moved to Chaifa
R’ Menachem Mendel, the Vishover Rebbe
R’ Chaim Mayer, the Imrei Chaim of Viznitz. He was Rav in Vilchovitz until his father passed away and then he became Viznitz Rebbe. He moved to Bnai Brak.The Imrei Chaim had two sons:
R’ Moshe Yehoshua, the Yeshuos Moshe who lived in Bnai Brak. His daughters are married to:
The Skvere Rebbe, R’ Aharon, the Satmar Rebbe, the Belzer Rebbe and R’ Menachem Ernster, the Viznitz Rosh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak.
R’ Mordechai, the Ohr Mordechai, who lived first in Williamsburg and then in Monsey, NY.The Yeshuos Moshe has two sons:
R’ Yisroel and R” Menachem Mendel, both Viznitz Rebbes in Bnai BrakThe Ohr Mordechai has eight sons, I already listed them in my previous post.
Tnuos is sort of a mumbling tune – like oy vey vey vey or bu bu bu bum, sung at various times before certain tefillos.
Mishpacha Magazine wrote an article about the Monsey Viznitz Rebbe zt”l after his petira. I believe it was the March 21, 2018 issue. You can find an excerpt on their website and you can request the entire article.
Learning was very, very important to him. He had his chassidim send him monthly lists of the times they learned each day.
He asked that if anyone wants to do a “toivah” for his neshama, they should learn a blatt gemora every day.
To expand a bit on the current Monsey Viznitz Rebbes:
The Monsey Viznitz Rebbe, Rabbi Mordechai Hager zt”l had 8 sons, all of whom he appointed as Rav in different communities during his lifetime.
The oldest, HaRav Pinchas Shulem zt”l, was Rav in Boro Park. He predeceased his father and his son, HaRav Yaakov Yosef is now the Rebbe in Boro Park.
The second, HaRav Yisroel, is now the Rebbe in Monsey, NY.
The third son, HaRav Mendel, is now the Rebbe in Kiamesha, NY.
The fourth son, HaRav Yitzchok Yochanan is now the Rebbe in Williamsburg.
The fifth son, HaRav Eliezer, is the Rebbe in Yerushalayim and has a new community being built in Lakewood, NJ.
The sixth son, HaRav Dovid is the Rebbe in London.
The seventh son, HaRav Aharon is the Rebbe in Montreal.
The eighth son, HaRav Boruch Shamshon, is the Rebbe in Beit Shemesh.Shabbos in Vitznitz is very important. They start earlier than anyone else, a half hour before shkiya, and the Imrei Chaim said that there is a special olam habah for people who start 40 minutes before shkiya,
As previously mentioned, Vitznitz has their own nussach of davening that comes from HaRav Koppel Chossid, who was the Baal Tefila of the Baal Shem Tov.
Actually, a rock was found in Mystery Mountain, Los Lunas, New Mexico that has the Aseres Hadibros inscribed in an ancient Hebrew script. The interesting thing is that the Hebrew script that was used is from before Churban Bayis Rishon.
We know from Divrei Hayomim that Shlomo HaMelech had a navy that traveled from Tarshish – which had access to the Atlantic – on a 3 year journey and returned with gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks. So it is entirely possible that they traveled to the Americas.
Of course, this is assuming that all the land masses were not connected at the time, (forming a giant super-continent known as Pangea) and they just walked over.
As to the Native Americans descending from Jews, I recall reading somewhere that the Cherokee Nation has an oral tradition that they were descended from some Jews who escaped Masada during the Roman siege. They believe in a very similar version to our Brias HaOlam ie. the world was created in 7 days by one creator and the first Cherokee Woman was bitten by an evil snake and brought death to the world.
More recently, I read somewhere that their DNA markers show that they come from the Middle East region.
Not sure what any of this proves, or if it matters, but it is interesting.