OHR SOMAYACH'S ASK THE RABBI
Issue #276 June 3, 2000
Parshat Bamidbar
=====================================
In this issue:
COURAGE & COWARDICE
WHOOPS!
MAN FROM GROUND
WHO KNOWS 16?
PUBLIC DOMAIN
=====================================

COURAGE & COWARDICE

From: Smile <smile1940@aol.com>

  Dear Rabbi,
  In the Torah, where can I find a definition of courage?

Dear Smile,
The best place to go to get an answer to this question is the Mishna 
in Pirkei Avot:  Ben Zoma said:  "Who is a strong person?  Someone who 
subdues his evil inclination, as we find expressed in the verse:  
'Someone who doesn't lose his temper is better than a strong man, and 
someone who controls his spirit is better than someone who conquers a 
city.' "

The Mishna is describing a trait that applies only to people:  
Courage.  Animals exhibit physical strength.  But courage, spiritual 
strength, only applies to people.

Physical talent can be developed, but the potential is basically 
inborn.  Either you have the potential to play professional basketball 
or you don't.  The basic talent must be there.

But when it comes to spiritual strength, everyone has the same 
opportunity to excel.  Wherever you stand spiritually, there is a 
challenge.  Though some people, due to place of birth, education, 
etc., would seem to have it easier, in actuality each person has his 
own tests which are perfect for him.

An amazing story is recorded about Rabbi Chaim Vital (16th century) 
and the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria).  The Arizal was the great 
teacher of Kabbala in modern times.  Rabbi Chaim Vital was his primary 
student, who recorded almost all of the Arizal's teachings.  Once 
Rabbi Vital asked the Arizal the following question:  "If the Talmudic 
Sages with all their greatness and levels of holiness weren't able to 
bring the mashiach (messianic era), then how are we going to be able 
to?"

The Arizal's answer is even more understandable today that it was 
then.  He answered:  "In the time before the mashiach it will be so 
challenging to correctly observe mitzvot that the mitzvot done in 
those times will have more power than they did in the earlier times.  
Even though those mitzvot may not be done as completely, but because 
they will be so difficult they will have the power to bring the 
mashiach."

Sources:
* Tractate Avot 4:1

=====================================

WHOOPS!

From:  Anonymous
<Anonymous@yabbadabbadoo.co.uk>

  Dear Rabbi,
  What is the probability of something going wrong during
  circumcision?

Dear Anonymous,
I spoke with the head doctor of the emergency department at Israel's 
Ma'ayanei Hayashuah Medical Center about your question.  He said that 
complications are very rare.  The most common problem is excessive 
bleeding, which needs sutures.  He classified this as rare.  
Infection, he said is very, very rare, and he has never seen a case.

The danger of the mohel (certified ritual circumcisor) cutting too 
much, which is what most people are worried about, is basically 
unheard of.  Nowadays the mohel uses a protective shield that makes 
this not only unlikely but impossible.

The Jewish people have been circumcising their young for around 3750 
years.  So far so good.

=====================================

MAN FROM GROUND

From:  Andy Keenan in Columbia, South Carolina
<Keenan5@prodigy.net>

  Dear Rabbi,
  Why did G-d fashion man out of the ground?

Dear Keenan,
Because plastic hadn't been invented yet.  (Just kidding.)
There are four layers of existence:  Inanimate objects, plants, 
animals, and humans.  Each level takes the level of life which is 
below it and elevates it.  A plant derives its nutrition from the 
ground, elevating the ground and incorporating it into a higher level 
of existence.  The same is true of all the levels.  One reason we were 
created from the ground is to remind us that we can constantly strive 
to elevate every aspect of existence, even the lowly dirt.

=====================================

WHO KNOWS 16?

In the song at the end of the Pesach Seder we describe the 
significance of the numbers from one to 13 as they relate to Jewish 
life and thought:  "Three are the fathers, Four are the Mothers...12 are 
the Tribes of Israel..." What about the next 13 numbers?  And after 
those?  What significance do they have in Jewish tradition?

This week we challenge you to answer:

"Who knows 16?"

Write to <info@ohr.org.il>

Last time we asked:  Who knows 15?  Here are some reader responses:

Fifteen steps leading up to the Temple.
                              David Goodman
                              <goodman@szmc.org.il>

The 15 Psalms the Levites sang on the 15 stairs in the Temple.
                              Jechezkel Frank, Johannesburg
                              <j.b.frank@attglobal.net>

Rosh Hashana for fruit trees is 15th Shevat (known as Tu B'shevat)
                              Hilary Hurwitz
                              <hila@jerusalem.muni.il>

Fifteen words in the bircat kohanim, the priestly blessings.
                              Laya E Witty, Brighton MA
                              <layawitty@juno.com>

The 15 sections of the Pesach Seder, 15  morning blessings.
                              Shlomo Dovid Freedman, Baltimore
                              <steven_freedman@yahoo.com>

15 cubits that the flood waters covered the mountain tops.
                              Mike Turniansky
                              <turnip@bcpl.net>

15 is the numerical value of G-d's name (yud and hey).
                              Sidney Stern, Highland Park, NJ
                              <Sid.Stern@ProcessPlants.BOC.com>

15 steps in the song "dayenu."
                              Rebecca Feiner
                              <rebeccafeiner@hotmail.com>

Fifteen generations from Abraham to King Solomon; then 15 generations 
from Solomon until the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash (Holy 
Temple).
                              Randall Rowlett MD
                              <Psyetc@compuserve.com>

Fifteen categories of women exempt their rivals from yibum and 
chalitzah.
                              Jacob Florans
                              <jflorans@trebnet.com>

           ==========

The Haggadah only goes up to 13 because the next number, 14, is "dalet 
yud" -- which in Hebrew means "enough!"
                              Efraim Darom
                              <darom@mail.biu.ac.il>

=====================================

THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
Comments, quibbles, and reactions 
concerning previous "Ask-the-Rabbi" features

Re:  WHO IS A BAGEL (http://www.ohr.org.il/ask/ask275.htm#Q3):
Regarding your definition of a bagel:  I've been told that to "sleep a 
bagel" in slang means to sleep a full 12 hours; the shape the hour 
hand of the clock makes during this time would look like a bagel.
                              Rachail Deitsch
                              <rdeitsch@ttec.com>

Another view of the bagel:  To complement the optimist's and the 
pessimist's view of the ubiquitous bagel (the most beneficial 
invention ever invented), permit me to express the following:  As you 
wander through life, Let this be your goal, Keep your eye on the 
bagel, And not on the hole. 
                              Nathan Gold, Delray Beach, Florida
                              <natgold@email.msn.com>

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