Shavuot Night Rectification Not For Women Because…
The Women Didn’t Cause Any Damage in the First Place
By Rabbi
Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief
Rabbi of Tzfat (Safed)
Question: How binding is the custom to study all night on
Shavout? Does the nocturnal learning apply to women as well?
Answer: The source for studying all night on Shavuot is the
Zohar, which describes the great value of the custom.
All-night study in the Bet El Yeshiva
But I would like to focus on the angle of Tzfat. The entire
establishment of the city of Tzfat stems from the recital of the Shavuot Tikkun (The Tikkun, or Rectification, is selected passages from multiple Torah texts which are studied Shavuot night
and formulate a kabbalistic “rectification”).It began with Rabbi Yosef Karo who sat and studied in the Diaspora with
Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz (author of Lecha Dodi) on the night of Shavuot. In the
course of reciting the Tikkun, they received a spiritual broadcast from
heaven which declared that the exile of Israel from the Land was over, and they
must make aliyah to Israel.
They indeed left their homes and moved to Tzfat, in the wake
of which the great spiritual blossoming transpired there.
An alley in Tzfat
So, if the city of Tzfat was built from the recital of this
all-night Tikkun, how can we not take part in it? If you will, the entire
Zionist movement started from this Tikkun recited by Rabbi Yosef Karo, which led
to mass aliyah (moving) to Israel, settlement of the Land, and only later the
arrival of Herzl.
The explanation for the custom to study Torah all night on
Shavuot stems from the fatigue which the men of Israel suffered from before the
receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. They fell asleep, and Moshe had to rouse
Israel to receive the Torah, instead of their waiting in anticipation. To
correct this error, we stay awake this night to show our eagerness to receive
the Torah.
But since the women were not a part of this transgression,
the Tikkun (rectification) does not apply to them either.
Throughout the entire redemption process, the women did not
fall spiritually as much as the men, and since they did not err in the first
place, the rectification for them is not obligatory.
In fine, women certainly can study Torah on the night of
Shavuot and should study, but the Tikkun in the sense of a process of amends does
not apply to them, as they didn’t cause any damage from the outset.
Translated and edited by Baruch Gordon
[This Hebrew article originally appeared in the May 24, 2012
edition of BeSheva Magazine, a national weekly for the religious public]
It happens
all the time. I bring tourists and visitors to Yesha (Judea and Samaria) also
known as the West Bank, and they look upon the blossoming Jewish towns with
their jaws wide open: “We didn’t know there are actual towns here. We thought
they were all temporary dwellings just to make a provocation,” they say.
In Bet El with tourists from China
And so too,
Israeli paratrooper Yaniv Blumenfeld, 25, from Greater Tel Aviv recently wrote
the following reflections after finishingIDF reserve duty in the region. The article appeared in the Iyar 5772
edition of Yesha Shelanu.
Thoughts from
My Reserve Duty in Yesha
by Yaniv
Blumenfeld
Last week, I
returned from my month-long stint of reserve duty in Yesha (Judea and Samaria),
also known as the West Bank. It was my first time back in the region since my
regular service in my late teens.
There is no
doubt that the issues take on a different perspective after advancing five
years into adulthood. I view the scenarios and situations with greater clarity and
find myself reaching new conclusions.
Forget everything
you are told about Judea and Samaria: the roadblocks, ruling another people,
oppression, apartheid. It’s simply not the case.
I was
confronted with a completely different reality, and here are my impressions.
For
starters, every person is free to choose what events shock and appall him, in
accordance with his morals, values and world outlook. Some people view an IDF
patrol stopping a Palestinian for a security check as a moral crime. They are outraged
to the depths of their souls.
IDF Soldier inspects car at roadblock
I chose to
be outraged by other sights.
I was outraged
to see that there are Israelis who conduct their routine lives in a shadow
of a constant threat of being murdered.
I was outraged to see that a Jewish
village must be surrounded by a security fence to prevent its civilians from
being slaughtered.
I was outraged when I suddenly realized that I have
to lay in ambush in the mud outside of a Jewish town on Passover Eve,
to ensure that the local Arabs won’t butcher their Jewish neighbors. It is
known that Jewish festivals are prime time for Arab terrorist organizations to
scalp a few Jews.
I was outraged
to see that Jews can’t take a stroll in the valley right below their homes, and
that it is forbidden for them to visit the Arab towns surrounding them because
they won’t make it out alive; their freedom of movement is limited; at certain
hours, they can’t leave their town at all, and they are constantly under threat
of being stoned, shot and publicly lynched.
For years, I
was lied to and told that the Jewish presence in Yesha is an obstacle to peace.
All sorts of odd and twisted reasoning is offered to explain away the murderous
terrorism.
We are not told that Arabs butchered the Jewish
community of Hevron in 1929, a full 38 years before the Israeli conquest of
Judea and Samaria.
We are not told that between 1949 and the Kadesh Operation
of 1956, some 300 Jewish civilians were murdered by “Palestinian” terrorist
operations.
We are not told that the Palestine Liberation
Organization was established in 1964, three years before the West Bank was
conquered under the command of Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin, of blessed memory.
Furthermore,
each time we concede territory to the Palestinians, they use them to create terrorist infrastructures. The most recent example – Israel’s
retreat from Gush Katif – demonstrates this in the most vivid way.
Kassam rocket attack on Israeli home
The Palestinians don’t hate Israel because of an IDF soldier
at a roadblock. That’s my opinion. They derive their hatred of Israel from the
TV broadcasts of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority which compare Jews to apes
and pigs who are to be slaughtered.
They derive their hatred of Israel from the incitement in
the mosques and schools, and from the pictures of martyrs which decorate every
wall and plaza throughout all of Judea and Samaria. They nurture their
motivation to hate from Palestinian cultural heroes like mass murderers Yasser
Arafat and Marwan Barghouti. They are inspired by the fact that town plazas and soccer
stadiums are named after terrorists.
Years of incitement against and
de-humanization of Israel has taken its toll on Arab society.
Unfortunately, a clear and simple formula became very apparent:
without an Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria, we would be witness to a mass
slaughter of Jews by Arabs that would make the 1929 riots look like a child’s
game.
Undoubtedly, IDF soldiers serve in complex and difficult
situations in Judea and Samaria. My friends and I, who were called up for
reserve duty in the territories, didn’t come to see blood at all, or insult or trample
the honor of the Palestinians. Quite to the contrary, all of us, regardless of
political orientation, were educated on Zionist values, tolerance, and a
yearning for peace.
Just normal guys defending the Jewish State
If we put aside for a moment the political differences, there
is a feeling of pride to serve in Judea and Samaria. Because of my comrades and
I, civilians in the region celebrated Passover without being murdered.
5 members of the Fogel family murdered on a Friday night in Itamar
I am proud that at my roadblock, we prevented an explosions
belt and an Arab with a long knife from passing through. My unit prevented blocks
and rocks from being hurled at Jewish motorists.
In summary, I am proud to have fulfilled these duties,
thereby preventing murder and harm to human beings.
I was giving tours over Pesach in Shiloh,
just north of Bet El, and saw busloads of Israelis being exposed to the Jewish
towns of Judea and Samaria via an organization called Mishkefet, which means
binoculars.
A Guide for Mishkefet
This is an organization that began
operations about a year ago, and appears to be doing great work. So I decided to share it
with you.
Somebody had a vision that said, no
amount of explanations and Israel advocacy can be as compelling as seeing the disputed
Judea and Samaria heartland of Israel with one’s own eyes. So they founded a
group to bring tens of thousands of Israelis to see the Jewish towns and
gorgeous landscapes of Judea and Samaria (AKA the West Bank). I think one of
the people behind it is the brother of Finance Minister Silvan Shalom. I asked
them what its about and their answer is in my own amateur video below:
Now if you know some Hebrew or just want to get more of a
feel for what Mishkefet is doing, here is the video that they produced – in Hebrew –
about themselves with some beautiful footage:
My father is an accomplished tax attorney and takes care of income tax for my brother Robert and myself. The letter below represents what is, in my opinion, one of his most creative and hilarious responses to the IRS in the wake of an outrageous case of mistaken identity (or just plain absurdity) in a letter sent to my brother. No further commentary is necessary.
Enjoy the holiday laugh. Happy Passover and please sign up for the Bet El Rocks newsletter in the right column-----> for some insights and reports from Israel, sprinkled with Jewish Spirituality.
April, 2012
To: Internal Revenue Service
Attn: Ms. L RE: Robert J. Gordon Taxpayer Identification Number: XXXXXXXXX
Dear Ms. L:
My son, Robert J. Gordon, lives at XXXXXXXX Memphis, Tennessee, being the address to which
you sent two Certified letters seeking the collection of$57,000.00 on taxes owed on Form T30 and an
additional $1958.33 for taxes owed on Form 11C.
For your ease of reference, I am enclosing a copy of each of
the letters you sent which were dated March 28, 2012.
My son, who has developed a career as an author, playwright,
director and film critic , has no connection with any gambling enterprise
anywhere, and particularly in Nashville at the address indicated in the
material you sent.
You may learn more about my son, if you wish to, by simply Googlinq
his name on your computer and you will see his accomplishments, including a Grammy
Award a year ago, as well as his authorship of a number of books, articles,
etc..
My son has no idea of the activities in the sporting world such
as football and other exhibitions described in the charges contained in the
proceedings which you forwarded to him.
It is unfortunate that your office did not bother to look further
into the matter before sending this letter which caused a great shock to my
son, his wife and their children.
In fact, I do not know if you have funds available, but it would
be very kind if you were to replace the trousers that he wore on the day he
received and opened your communications. The trousers were a light, beige color,
tailor-made from fine linen, and absolutely ruined by the consequences of the
shock you imposed upon him.
For your information, the trousers were purchased at James Davis
Clothing Store on Poplar Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, in February, 2012, for a
price of $125.00.
I will let you be the judge of what additional sums you feel
you should pay for the shock and the impact on relatively sensitive feelings of
a writer, director and editor.
At any rate, l will be most appreciative if you will forward
to my son or to me on his behalf, a letter acknowledging your mistake along
with a check for such amount as you feel is reasonable for the injury you have
caused.
I am sure you will agree with me that the mistake should never
have happened and would not have happened if anybody had simply performed the
most basic investigation by calling my son's home or Googling him on the
internet.
You were very gracious to allow Mr. Robert J. Gordon until April
30, 2012, to respond to your letter dated March 28, 2012.
In the same sense of fairness, I will appreciate your seeing
to it that I hear from you or my son hears from you no later than one month
from the date of this letter.
I am taking the liberty of sending a copy of this letter to my
Representative in Congress because I feel a great many of my taxpayer dollars
were squandered as a result of this mistake.
Thank you for your early attention.
Yours very truly,
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