Rav Yisroel Salanter - כה שבט

Yahrtzeit Yomi #938!! כה שבט Rav Yisroel Salanter הרב ישראל ב״ר זאב וואלף ליפקין (1809 - 1883) ------------------------------ Today’s edition of Yahrtzeit Yomi featuring HaRav Yisroel Salanter ZTL has been anonymously dedicated in honor of Rabbi Wartelsky Shlita and his daily Yahrtzeit Yomi broadcast, for inspiring me and the lives of so many in Klal Yisroel!! (Thank you so very much, you-know-who!!) ---------------------------------------------------------- Today (Sunday, 25 Shvat) marks the 141st Yahrtzeit of Rav Yisroel Salanter ZTL (Rav Yisroel Lipkin), founder and leader of the Mussar renaissance. Rav Yisroel would champion and promulgate the principle that the inter-personal laws of the Torah (בין אדם לחבירו) bear as much weight as those obligations which are strictly Divine (בין אדם למקום). Rav Yisroel would teach that adhering to the ritual aspects of Judaism without developing one's relationships with others and with oneself, is an error of extreme magnitude. Additionally, the innovative concept of “subconscious motivation” appears in Rav Yisroel’s writings, already in the mid-1800s (well before a toddler named Sigmund Freud from Austria imagined that his baby bottle was nothing other than a living deputy for his mother, and his toy rattle an anthropomorphic embodiment of his noisy older sister). Rav Yisroel wrote that it is critical for a person to identify what his subconscious motivations (known as “negios”) are, and to work on understanding their roots. Our Rebbi, The Blurigeh Rav Shlita, has been promulgating the teachings and ideals of Rav Yisroel to hundreds of talmidim for over 2 decades, unabated. Rav Yisroel provides an absolutely stunning explanation to a difficult question, which showcases his profound understanding of the human condition, while also demonstrating his signature philosophy that the Torah is replete with endless insight into human nature, thereby providing a lifetime’s worth of opportunity for character refinement: In Parashas Shoftim (דברים יט:טז-יט), the Torah presents the issue of עדים זוממין - false witnesses. If a pair of witnesses bear false testimony on another individual, the Torah prescribes that the very same penalty which the witnesses conspired to have imposed on their intended victim should be imposed on the witnesses themselves: “וַעֲשִׂ֣יתֶם ל֔וֹ כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר זָמַ֖ם לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת לְאָחִ֑יו” - “And you shall do to him as he schemed to do to his fellow”. So, witnesses that had testified falsely are punished with the same consequence which they had attempted to inflict on their intended victim: if they had schemed to cause a man to be killed, they get killed; if they schemed for a man to get whipped, they get whipped; and if they schemed for a man to pay money, they pay money. In the latter case, Halacha dictates that the money that the false witnesses pay, they must pay to their intended victim. The question has been asked (עיין ספר יראים, סימן קעח): Why do the witnesses pay their victim?? What is the source that the victim is entitled to payment?? This is not a consolation prize for the defendant, it’s a penalty imposed on the lying witnesses!!? Why should it be any different from the penalty of getting killed or whipped, from which the intended victim has no benefit?? Perhaps the witnesses should pay directly to Beis Din, but why should they pay the victim?? (This issue was discussed, and an answer was provided, in a previous Yahrtzeit Yomi edition; on 7 Shvat, YY #918, עיין שם.) SAYS RAV YISROEL SALANTER, CLASSIC!! (Rabboisai, check this out; it was worthwhile to be born just to learn this priceless understanding of Rav Yisroel): The Torah says וַעֲשִׂ֣יתֶם ל֔וֹ כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר זָמַ֖ם לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת לְאָחִ֑יו - you shall do to him as he schemed to do to his fellow. Well, says Rav Yisroel... [REMAINDER - SEE WHATSAPP] יהי זכרו ברוך!! ---------------------------------- To dedicate or sponsor, please contact 917-841-5059 Share: https://chat.whatsapp.com/JimbwNtBaX31vmRDdnO3yk