Torah and Stories with Rabbi Liff

Erev Shabbos Parshas Vayera 5787, after the elections in Eretz Yisroel and in the week of the yahrzeits of Reb Dovid Feinstein and Reb Nochum Partzovitz. Rabbi Liff learns Avraham Avinu's chesed from the Maharal and Reb Chatzkel Abramsky: why the angel sent to overturn Sedom first had to see Avraham, and why Avraham looked for tzaddikim even in Sedom. He tells of Reb Dovid Feinstein filling the yeshiva's soda machine, and of the peddler whose ma'aser sent two boys to Slabodka, Reb Aharon Kotler and Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky. From the Steipler's message to Rav Shach, v'Avraham shav limkomo: after our hishtadlus we go back to our place.

When Rav Shach was disappointed after an election, the Steipler sent him the pasuk v'Avraham shav limkomo. Avraham davened for Sedom, the negotiations ended, and he went back to his place. We do our hishtadlus and go back to the beis medrash, and we do not know which tefillos will save a Lot, from whom Melech HaMoshiach comes. From the Parshas Vayera 5787 shiur.

A peddler on the Lower East Side who said Tehillim at his fabric stand explains why: in Belarus his ma'aser bought two boys coats and shoes and paid their way to Slabodka. One became Reb Aharon Kotler, and years later, at a Lakewood dinner, he finds out who the other one was. From the Parshas Vayera 5787 shiur.

Erev Shabbos Parshas Lech Lecha 5787, on the yahrtzeit of Rochel Imeinu and Reb Nosson Tzvi Finkel. Rabbi Liff brings the Zohar HaKadosh and the Pnei Yehoshua on Avraham Avinu searching for the kedusha of Eretz Yisroel, tells how Reb Chatzkel Abramsky approached the Kosel, and connects it to this week's elections. From Rashi on "v'heyei brocha" and the teachings of Rav Wolbe he learns what it takes to receive a brocha, and he ends with Reb Chaim Vital, Rav Sternbuch and the Maharal on the koach of Yishmael and how shmiras habris stands against it.

Reb Chaim Vital writes that Yishmael draws his koach from being a ben Avraham and from bris milah. Rav Sternbuch says the defense is shmiras habris and the kedusha of Eretz Yisroel, and brings the Maharal that Malchus Yishmael is joined to Malchus Paras. From the Parshas Lech Lecha 5787 shiur.

A brocha is not a magic formula. Rabbi Liff brings Rav Wolbe and Reb Chaim Kanievsky on becoming a kli to receive a brocha, and tells how Rav Wolbe sent a bochur to a young child who is b'lo cheit, and how close to his passing he would not give a brocha without simcha and lev. From the Parshas Lech Lecha 5787 shiur.

Erev Shabbos Parshas Noach 5787, at the start of Cheshvan. Rabbi Liff brings Reb Michel Zilber on why only Hashem saw how far the dor hamabbul had fallen, and Reb Leib Saras on the measurements of the teivah and the Sheimos HaKodesh that temper the chamas of the world. From Reb Avrohom Shmuelevitz and Reb Yitzchok Ezrachi he learns that Shem's mitzvah, done with exuberance, became part of him, and he shows that exuberance in Reb Nosson Tzvi Finkel and Rav Shach, whose yahrtzeits fall in the coming days.

Why does the pasuk say "vayikach Shem vaYefes" in the singular? Reb Avrohom Shmuelevitz brings from Reb Yitzchok Ezrachi that Shem exerted himself, so he was zocheh to tallis shel tzitzis, while Yefes went along out of kavod. A mitzvah done with exuberance becomes part of the person. From the Parshas Noach 5787 shiur.

For Rav Shach's 25th yahrtzeit, Rabbi Liff tells how he cared for every Yid: the schedule he set for a baal teshuvah yeshiva, half an hour of chizuk for Rabbi Liff's young son who stuttered, an orphan girl he waited up for after a date, and the bochur he walked to Slabodka to see for himself. From the Parshas Noach 5787 shiur.

שיחה בפתיחת זמן חורף תשפ"ז, ביום הראשון בבית המדרש אחרי סוכות, שנפתחת באמירת תהילים לרפואת הפצועים באסון של אתמול. הרב ליף שואל איך אפשר לשיר אחר כך "ושמחת בחגך", ומספר מה שראה אצל רב חיים שמואלביץ בחול המועד, בשנת הפיגוע במעלות. בשם הטאָלנער הוא מביא את דברי הבית ישראל על "וישאר אך נח" ו"והיית אך שמח", ובהמשך את המהלך מיום כיפור לשמחת סוכות, ומסיים בחיזוק לזמן חורף.

בשם הבית ישראל: למה "והיית אך שמח", והרי "אך" לשון מיעוט? בפעם הראשונה שכתוב "אך" בתורה, "וישאר אך נח", נח שנפצע מן הארי נשאר "אך", ועדיין נח. יהיו מצבים שנהיה "אך", ובכל זאת נהיה שמחים. מתוך השיחה לפתיחת זמן חורף תשפ"ז.

הרב ליף מספר מה שראה כבחור בישיבת מיר: בחול המועד התחילו לשיר "ושמחת" אצל רב חיים שמואלביץ, ורב חיים עצר, הראה את הכותרת בעיתון על הפיגוע במעלות, ובכה. ואחר כך אמר: "ובכל זאת, מען דאַרף זינגען ושמחת". היום טוב מחייב את השמחה בכל המצבים. מתוך השיחה לפתיחת זמן חורף תשפ"ז.

Recorded on Erev Shabbos Kodesh Parshas Bereishis 5787, Erev Rosh Chodesh Marcheshvan, Rabbi Liff begins the Torah again and brings from the parsha three yesodos in the creation of the universe. He opens with the Vilna Gaon's remez to pidyon haben in the first word of the Torah, tells over how Rav Chatzkel Abramsky was kept alive through six years in Siberia, and draws from the first shidduch and from the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur. He closes with the Gaon's remez to the Menorah in the opening words of each Chumash and Reb Akiva Eiger on the lamed and the beis.

Chapters:
00:03 Opening, Sukkos and the miracle of Hoshana Rabbah
01:37 Starting the Torah again: every word is holy
03:30 A bris in the family
04:16 The Vilna Gaon: pidyon haben in the word Bereishis
05:53 The hostages' release, a year ago
08:03 Rav Shach: the purpose of life is emunah
09:34 Rav Chatzkel Abramsky in Siberia
14:12 The second vort: to be meitiv, the first shidduch and the Kohen Gadol
17:09 The Gaon: the first pasuk of each Chumash and the Menorah
19:03 Vayehi ohr: the light of the Torah in a dark world
21:12 Reb Akiva Eiger: lamed, beis and the lev
22:39 Closing berachah

Why must the Kohen Gadol have a wife to do the avodah lifnai v'lifnim on Yom Kippur? From the Ramchal and "lo tov heyos ha'adam l'vado", Rabbi Liff explains that a person is created to be meitiv to others, and one who has not learned to give to a wife cannot be mechaper for all Klal Yisrael. From the Parshas Bereishis 5787 shiur.

The Communists sent Rav Chatzkel Abramsky to Siberia: 45 below, little food, no tallis, tefillin or sefarim. For six years he never fell sick, because he told the Ribono Shel Olam "here it's hakol bidei shamayim", and he could still say Modeh Ani with nothing. Released on Erev Yom Kippur, the station head asks mechilah and swaps his ticket for a heated car. From the Parshas Bereishis 5787 shiur.

Rabbi Liff records on Erev Shabbos, Erev Sukkos 5787, as the podcast for the whole Yom Tov, on how the teshuvah of Yom Kippur brings the simchah of Sukkos. He brings Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky's answer to why the mitzvah of simchah is written about Sukkos: after the mechilas avonos of Yom Kippur there is no greater simchah. From the Yehi Ratzon said before entering the sukkah and from Rav Moshe Wolfson, he shows how the sukkah is galus and Eretz Yisrael together, the tzila d'mehemnusa where a Yid can sleep calmly under the protection of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. He tells over, from the Tolna Rebbe, how the Beis Yisrael of Ger explained "v'hayisa ach sameach" to his nephew Noachl at the first Sukkos tisch after the war, and how Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz stopped the singing of V'samachta after the Ma'alot massacre in 1974, then said it must be sung nevertheless.

Chapters:
00:03 Opening, dedication and a family simchah
03:50 V'Zos HaBerachah
04:55 Why the mitzvah of simchah is on Sukkos — Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky
08:27 The sukkah as tzila d'mehemnusa
09:30 The Yehi Ratzon: galus, kaparah and Eretz Yisrael
12:54 Sleeping in the sukkah — Rav Moshe Wolfson
15:23 The ushpizin and the ananei hakavod
17:37 The Beis Yisrael and Noachl: "V'hayisa ach sameach"
22:33 Hakafos with half a Gemara in Siberia
24:24 Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz and Ma'alot, 1974
26:17 Closing brachos

Why is “v’samachta b’chagecha” written about Sukkos? Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky answers that the mechilas avonos of Yom Kippur brings a simchah like no other, as a chassan is forgiven on the day of his chuppah; Rabbi Liff remembers Reb Chaim Fasman weeping at his own chasunah. From the Sukkos 5787 shiur.

Rabbi Liff tells over, from the Tolna Rebbe, how the Beis Yisrael received his nephew Noachl after the war with only “take a Gemara and go into the beis medrash.” At the first Sukkos tisch he stopped the singing at “ach sameach” and explained it from “Vayishaer ach Noach”: a Yid can be wounded and still be Noach, still b’simchah. From the Sukkos 5787 shiur.

Rabbi Liff records on Erev Shabbos Parshas Haazinu, Shabbos Shuva, two days before Yom Kippur. He asks why the Midrash counts Haazinu among the highest shiros when its pesukim speak of failure rather than nissim veniflaos, and answers with Rav Shimshon Pincus's mashal of the man who broke his leg and found a treasure only because he was bent low enough to see it — the nefilah is the tekumah. He also explains "Haazinu hashamayim va'adabeirah" against "vesishma ha'aretz imrei fi," learns "Kchu imachem devarim" from the haftarah of Shuvah Yisrael, and brings the sefarim hakedoshim that even a ratzon to have a ratzon is nichlal in the ikar. The episode closes with the story of a Gerer chassid in Tel Aviv who refused to cancel an empty shiur on a stormy night, and saved a man's life.

The Midrash counts Haazinu among the highest shiros, yet its pesukim speak of "Am naval velo chacham" and "Vayishman Yeshurun vayiv'at" rather than the nissim veniflaos of the other shiros. Rabbi Liff answers with Rav Shimshon Pincus zt"l's mashal of the man who broke his leg and found a treasure only because the limp brought him low enough to see it. The nefilah is the tekumah, and that is the history of Klal Yisrael that Haazinu sets to song. From Parshas Haazinu, Shabbos Shuva 5787.