Shavuos Compendium

1)                       RIDDLE On the 49th day in the Sefirah  1) This person who counted with a Bracha for the past 48 days does not make a Bracha because it's the 49th day 2) This person who hasn't made a Bracha for the past 48 days makes a Bracha because it's the 49th day   The 49th   Answer: הלכה ולא למעשה 1) The בן איש חי writes, " On the 49th day when saying the לשם יחוד before Sefirah, one should skip the words of "שבע שבתות תמימות". If one said it (on the 49th day) he can't make a Bracha."  2) The משנה ברורה quotes the  שלחן שלמה "women should  not make a Bracha for Sefiras Haomer because, a) They tend to forget to complete the counting  b) They don't understand the פירוש המילים."  If a Bais Yakov graduate (knows פירוש המילים) counted the first 48 days, there is no reason for her not to make a Bracha on the 49th day, אמבצי     ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) RIDDLE My first word is in Egyptian (Arabic) and not in לשון קדש  Yet I have fourteen commandments to observe. ANSWER   The "Ten Commandments" has 14 commandments. (מצוות)   3- מצוות עשה Mitzvos Asei                                                                                                                                                                                  1)  אנכי ה' אלהיך                                                                                                                                                                                   2) זכור/שמור את יום השבת                                                                                                                                                                                 3) כבד את אביך   11- מצוות לא תעשה Mitzvos Lo Sa'asei  1) לא יהיה לך 2 לא תעשה לך 3) לא תשתחווה להם 4) ולא תעבדם 5) לא תשא את שם 6)לא תעשה כל מלאכה 7) לא תרצח 8) לא תנאף 9)לא תגנב 10) לא תענה ברעך 11) לא תחמד בית TOTAL 14 Mitzvos (14 commandments) The  מדרש תנחומא פ' יתרו* says אָמַר רַ' נְחֶמְיָה: מַהוּ אָנֹכִי? לָשׁוֹן מִצְרִי הוּא "I" in לשון קדש, is אני and in לָשׁוֹן מִצְרִי it is אָנֹכִי Hence the first word of the 14 commandments  was in Egyptian and not לשון קדש Now you will understand the קליר for the first day of Shavuos *Also in פסיקתא רבתי & ילקוט שמעוני -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3)  When is the appropriate time to Daven for a nice Esrog? According to the בני יששכר on Tu B'shvat According to the Gemoro on Shavuos (בעצרת נידונים על פירות האילן) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4) 5 מלמד שכפה הקב"ה עליהם את ההר כגיגית  ואמר להם אם אתם מקבלים התורה,   מוטב, ואם לאו שם תהא קבורתכם           The four questions on שבועות 1) Where is there בחירה when a gun is pointed at you and you are forced to accept it.? 2) Why were the other nations not threatened with שם תהא קבורתכם and why was the mountain not dumped on them for refusing to accept the Torah? 3) Why the need to force them to accept the Torah when they already said נעשה ונשמע and were ready to accept it ( תוס' שבת פ"ח ע"א) 4) Why שם תהא קבורתכם "there" why not פה "here" under this mountain? Answer: Perhaps, Hashem wasn't threatening or forcing the בני ישראל to accept the Torah on הר סיני. There was no need to do so, being, a) they had already done so  (נעשה ונשמע) b) no point in forcing to accept the Torah by having a gun pointed at them. Hashem told the בני ישראל after they said נעשה ונשמע that it was a good decision they made by accepting the Torah. The only way for עם ישראל to survive & remain a nation forever is by accepting and keeping the Torah. Otherwise, had they not accepted the Torah then they too would ח"ו end up "שם" over there where the other empires & nations of the world are buried and disappeared from the face of the earth. "  אין אומתינו אומה אלא בתורותיה  Our nation is a nation only by זכות of its Torah" (רב סעדיה גאון) .אמבצי   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5) No Bankess on הושענא רבה & ערב שבועות Shulchan Aruch (O.Ch 468 – 10)  "The minhag is not  to do הקזת דם  (bloodletting)on every Erev Yom Tov.* Bloodletting is done with a cup where no blood is removed from the body. It just gets drawn up to the surface of the skin. (in Yiddish it's called "Bankess " or " Kep Zetzin") The Mishna Verura (sk 38  )writes that Bankess is allowed on Erev Yom Tov except for Hoshana Rabbah (יום הדין) and Erev Shavuos (שד טבוח comes out). *The Gemoro says  on Erev Shavuos a שד called Tabuach came out and said " If the yidden won't be mekabel the Torah I will slaughter their flesh and blood". Chazal were gozer not to do Hakazas Hadam every Erev Yom Tov because of Erev Shavuos. 6)                Masks & Haman Taschen. a) The שו"ת דבר שמואל  (ר' ש' אבוהב) ס' רמ"ז has a Teshuva re the  the face masks worn on Shavuos for  דרך שמחה b) The Sefer מנהגי ישורון writes of the Minhag to eat (b) 3 cornered Kreplach (Haman Taschen) to commemmerate Matan Torah דיהיב אוריאן תליתאי לעם תליתאי ע"י תליתאי ביום תליתאי בירחא תליתאי  7)              Segulah from an איש הלכה Chazal tell us, at מתן תורה all the sick were healed.  Harav Hagaon R.Y.S. Eliyashiv zt"l said, "This same השפעה comes down to the world every year on  שבועות  On שבועות, it is the opportune time to daven for רפואות.  There is a special סגולה for Hashem to heal the sick.  The best time to daven for רפואה is, during the  קריאה of עשרת הדברות." Yehi Ratzon , The אל מלך רופא נאמן ורחמן should send  to all, רפואות וישועות. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8)                  Did you know?   There is only one הפטרה in the entire year where one should be standing while it's being read. On the first day of Shavuos, we read the הפטרה of the מעשה מרכבה. The חק יעקב & באר היטב, מ"ב say, it is prefable to stand when the הפטרה of the מעשה מרכבה is being read. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   9) Harav Hagaon R. Nota Schiller ZT"L, Rosh Yeshivas Ohr Someach Yerushalayim. t  told me this beautiful Vort of his.  We find non-committed Yidden have little or no connection to the Yom Tov of Shavuos, especially when compared to other Yomim Tovim. The reason for this is. all other Yomim Tovim have a חפצא של מצוה (tangible object eg: Shofar, Lulav, Matzah, Menorah Megillah etc.) The Yom Tov of Shavuos- זמן מתן תורתינו has no חפצא של מצוה. Torah has no boundaries and no limitations. It is infinite. Objects, on the other hand, are finite. They come in sizes, weights boundaries and are limited. When celebrating the infinite Torah, we can't do it with a חפצא, which is finite and has boundaries. In place of having a חפצא של מצוה, we stay awake all night to learn. We learn without limitations, no boundaries between night & day.  This is what Shlomo Hamelech meant (Drush) when he said in Shir Hashirim (2:7) :                                                                               אם תעירו ואם  תעוררו את האהבה עד שתחפץ אם תעירו  Staying awake at night and learning Torah עד שתחפץ  turns it into חפצא של מצוה without boundaries. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10)                    קוגל בגמטריה שבת There is an old joke where a speaker got up and said קוגל בגמטריה שבת. The listening audience immediately interrupted him that it is not true. The גמטריה of קוגל is 139 and the גמטריה of שבת is 702 way more than 139. The speaker answered back, that this is not a problem, all you have to do is eat more Kugel until it adds up. The  הגהות ר' אברהם אזולאי on the לבוש (grandfather of the Chida) writes, דבש- חלב- קמחא-דסמידא (foods eaten on Shavuos) is the Gematria of 613 (תרי"ג ) R.A.A. continues that it is not exactly correct since the Gematria is 614. His solution is, not to eat the whole amount but leave over one so the Gematria will be correct.  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11) Harav Hagaon R.Y.S. Eliyashiv zt"l said, Those who go to sleep before עלות השחר not having davened Shachris should make sure to do so, at least a half an hour  before עלות השחר otherwise, it would have been better had he not stayed up for the night altogether. Staying up the night of Shavuos is only a Minhag Not going to sleep before עלות is a Halacha. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12)              MY STORY - HER STORY- HISTORY                       פטירת בעל שם טוב ​                  In a כתב יד (manuscript) from the son of the תולדות it is written The Besht was Niftar on the first day of Shavuos 6th of Sivan on a Wednesday. Many other Seforim follow this מסורה (tradition) and agree he was Niftar on the first day YomTov. ​ ​T​he ספר מליצי אש and some other Seforim claim The Besht was Niftar the second day of Shavuos. (can't be on a Wednesday) The previous Skolye Rebbe zt"l said There is a מסורה that the Besht said  " At my יציאת נשמה all clocks in Medzhybizh will stop". The Besht was Niftar the second night Shavuos at midnight and all the clocks in Medzhybizh stopped exactly at 12.00 (I wonder if even the local church in  Medzhybizh had a clock?) The דרכי חיים ושלום (Minchas Elozor) writes The Besht was Niftar on the first day Yom Tov and the Chasidim followed the Halacha יתעסקו בו עממין to have Goyim take care of the body and the Kevura. The ספר שמועות וסיפורים writes " R. L. Y. Schneerson zt"l asked from The Lubavitcher Rebbe The מהרש"ב zt"l (R. Sholem Ber)  Who took care of the body of the Besht ?" (YomTov) The מהרש"ב answered" the body of the Besht didn't require others to take care of it. A different version of his answer "The Besht buried himself.after his פטירה, no grave diggers were needed."   ============================================= 13) Weird Minhag (according to  Haman)   In תרגום שני on מגילת אסתר, it says, Haman told  Achashveirosh about the Yidden that they  are different and have weird  Minhagim.  The  תרגום שני lists all  the Minhagim, Haman  complained about.  One of them was, "On שבועות, they go on top of the Shul's  roof and  throw down תפוחים. ---------------------------------------------------------------------   14) The אבן עזרא -רות ג:ג writes וסכת. שמן שיש לו ריח טוב כי כן מנהג גדולי ישראל אנשים ונשים. The Minhag of Gedolei Yisrael both male & female is to wear nice-smelling perfumes. Perhaps, they had Esrog perfume and wanted to smell like גן עדן אמבצי ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15) *The Alexander Rebbe זצ"ל is quoted as having said there were two groups at the levaya of בועז, one saying to look at the lifetime of צדקות and even he was נכשל at the end by marrying a מואבית. The second group saying to note the Hashgacha that he was kept alive to a very ripe old age in order to marry רות and bring forth the progeny that would result in דוד המלך and משיח.  Who was right? Said the Rebbe, We cannot use the Hashgacha to interpret the Halacha, what we must do is use the Halacha to interpret the Hashgacha and as the Beis Din of שמואל decided "מואבי and not מואבית" then we understand that Hashgacha kept בועז alive to fulfill that Mitzvah and linkage to משיח שמעתי מהרב הגאון ר' נטע שיללר זצ"ל ראש ישיבת אור שמח ירושלים* ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16)   Mori V'Rabi Harav Hagaon R. Shlomo Miller Shlita told us once during Shiur,  "Someone asked him a שאלה and he answered to the שואל (questioner) to be מקיל The שואל wasn't satisfied with the answer. He felt to be מחמיר (stringent) would be more appropriate. He tried to convince R.S.M. to change his mind and agree to be מחמיר R.S.M. told him,  " (פלוני אלמוני (טוב because he wanted to be מחמיר not to marry רות, missed the opportunity of  becoming the grandfather of דוד המלך and מלך המשיח There are times when being מחמיר is not the most  prefable thing to do." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 17)                                      ר"י)  בז' בסיון נתנה תורה)   The מגן אברהם תצ"ד asks, How can we say on the first day  of שבועות (the sixth day of Sivan) " יום מתן תורתינו", we Pasken like R. Yosi who holds, the Torah was given, on  the seventh of Sivan.                                         פליאה גדולה Numerous פוסקים quote the  מגן אברהם and none of them mention that there was never such a נוסח of יום מתן תורתינו but the נוסח has always been "זמן מתן"  The word זמן can also be said on the day before מתן תורה. The דרשות ר"י אבן שועיב *  claims this to be the exact reason why we say זמן and not יום . ומצוה ליישב ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18)   HOLY REJECTS There was a Yeshivah Bachur who was a שנה ופירש, (went off the Derech) because he was rejected in the Yeshiva he attended. He ended up on the streets of Tel Aviv. R.Shlomo Carlebach zt"l somehow met up with him.  R. Shlomo tried to fix this broken נשמה by explaining to him that there are two types of holy Yidden. One is the "מתן תורה Yid", the Yeshiva man, the Ben Torah the מיוחס etc. and then there is the"מגילת רות Yid", the גיורת, the outsider, the reject, etc. Both of them are very holy Yidden, but the משיח will come from the מגילת רות Yid. Because of his conversation with R.Shlomo he returned back to his roots. Sometimes it takes one reject to fix another reject. This מגילת רות Yid not only brings the משיח but was also the מחיה המתים. He made him alive again by bringing him back to the fold". Perhaps this is the connection of the Holy Bal Shem Tov (reject) and שבועות. It was the Bal Shem who was מקרב all the holy מגילת רות Yidden.