Chesapeake Torah

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Baltimore Mourns the passing of Ann Cohen
the Nice Lady from the Chanuka House
Grandmother and Mother to Many

Affiliate of the Baltimore Community Kollel
Affiliate of the Lancaster Yeshiva Vocational Center

In Kee Seesa we find the Jews making a mistake for which they would pay back forever: the Golden Calf. The Torah repeatedly goes out of its way to admonish us about the evils of idolatry and all of its offshoots; even the distant ones. When the issue of Mordechai bowing to Homon arose, the calf had to have weighed heavily in his decision. Earlier in time when the Jews were commanded to come bow to the idol of Nevuchadnezzar, the calf issue was awakened again. That idol was not an official deity like others, but more of a statue honoring the king. The Jews were in a terrible quandary as to what to do. Should they bow or go a little beyond the Halachic call? The Gemara in Megilla (12) says that their decision to bow was a serious mistake. It was even the main cause of the almost tragedy of Homon.

Let’s revisit both the issues of going beyond the law, as well as Mordechai’s refusal to bow.

How far does lifnim/going beyond go?

At what point do I say that this is more than I can be moichel/forgive or overlook? (Sdei Chemed-Rav Chayim Chezkiyahu Medini)
In Gemara Bava Kamma 9B,we find the monetary guideline for Hiddur/Beautifying of a mitzva. That number is 1/3. This may be a possible guideline for lifnim too. There are Rishonim who hold that a person should pressure their finances to comply with this 1/3 guideline. They opine that if we have some unexpected G-d graced income, then we should be willing to do better than a 1/3. The Yam Shel Shlomo vehemently protests this opinion. He teaches that if you are having tight times, not only are you excused from the 1/3, but sometimes even the basic mitzva itself.

Purim-Lifnim M’Shuras Hadin-Mordechai
An opposite view from last week
Based on Rav Yehonasson Eibeschutz’s Yaaros Hadvash
Last week we spoke about the Gemara/Rashi/Tosfos in Sanhedrin regarding if Mordechai really was permitted to bow to Homon. We found out that according to some, his refusal was beyond/above the letter of the law.
We quoted sources who viewed his actions as a mistake endangering the entire Jewish people.
Today we will see the opposite.Completely!!!
Mordechai was a man with a history of Kiddush Hashem especially when it came to idolatry. The core sin, which caused Purim, was not the participation in Achashveyrosh’s feast. It was the mass bowing to Nevuchadnezzar’s statue years before. Mordechai stayed in Shushan during that incident and exhorted his congregants of Shushan to remain with him. He was more successful with this than he was later with stopping the attendance of the feast. This stood Shushan in good stead though, because had they been involved in both incidents, they very well may have lost the Shushan Purim battles.
When the issue with Homon arose, Mordechai was determined against bowing, but not to do any act that would mislead his flock.

Homon was unsure of Mordechai’s true intentions for his refusal to bow. Was Mordechai refusing to bow because of religious reasons or
personal dislike of Homon? Homon was counseled that there was a way for him to find out Mordechai’s true thoughts. Homon’s friends had a simple solution for him. That was, to remove his necklace with the idol and just walk through the courtyard. If Mordechai bows, then he honors Homon but was avoiding the idol. If he still refuses to bow, then it’s a personal offense.
So the test was on. Homon went out one day without the necklace. He awaited the reaction of Mordechai. Mordechai noticed the change but was in a dilemma. Halachically he knew he COULD bow down, but he feared. Would the Jews who heard/saw this understand what had happened differently this time?
Or would this be misconstrued into a new permissive action .One that people would take as license to do whatever and whenever. Mordechai chose to continue not bowing. He decided that this would be a kiddush Hashem.Kiddush Hashem’s definition here being, not to do anything that would mislead the Jews with idolatry, this most heinous of sins.
According to Rav Eibeschutz, Mordechai went beyond and was correct. The kiddush Hashem he facilitated stood as a protective merit rather than to our detriment.
If you examine the tefilla of Mordechai regarding this (I saw it in Sefer Hatodaa),Mordechai pleads with Hashem that he only did what he did out of honor for Hashem. He just could not envision bowing to anyone but HE.

Going Beyond in American Jewish History
Chief Rabbi Jacob Joseph(1843-1902)
Rav Yaakov Yosef zt”l was brought to these shores in 1888. He was brought over to unite the Jewish community, supervise kashrus and rabbinical appointments of all kinds. He would expand his activities to the entire realm of Torah Judaism. That included but was not limited to, education, matzo production and improving work conditions for shochtim (He founded the Meleches HaKodesh society for that purpose, together with Rav Hillel HaCohen Klein).
He was a man who gave far more than he received. I say this because his official position was whittled down by several factors:

dissention within the community
selfishness for profit
lack of kavod haTorah

He would die penniless and paralyzed at age 59.
Despite the aggravation he was made to suffer, his tolerance and kindness went beyond one’s endurance. There were even rabbis who undermined his kashrus authority. When the chief rabbi was approached to take action to discredit these men, he refused. Rav Yaakov Yoseph’s supporters reminded him that he had every right to declare the other hashgachos as treif. That would not have been unreasonable in consideration of the guidelines that had been set up. The Chief Rabbi refused with great protest. He insisted that despite what these other rabbis were doing to his office, they still needed parnassa.
Sadly, the continued dissention would lead to the end of the Chief Rabbi’s own parnassa.
In his life he saw sadness but his name lives on with institutions bearing his name.

Historic Source:
Rav Shmuel Singer’s articles in “The Torah Personality” published by the Jewish Observer

Good Shabbos from all of the Karps and Goldmans

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