Restoring the Altar on Chanukah

Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l, once explained the the custom in Israel to eat doughnuts on Chanukah is based on a statement of our sages. “We find that when the Chashmonaim rededicated the beis hamikdash, they found stones of the altar which the Greeks had defiled and were unsure how to purify them. So they were forced to hide the stones away.
“Unlike latkes, doughnuts require an על המחיה. This is preferable, since it includes a prayer that Hashem restore his altar. Each Chanukah we beseech Hashem to rectify the damage done specifically to the altar by the Greeks before they were defeated.
“As far as why we pray about the altar specifically in the brochah mei’ein shalosh, Rav Moshe Leib Shachor, zt”l, explained that this is based on the Mishnah in the end of Sotah. There we find that when the sanctuary was destroyed the taste was taken away from produce. It follows that the blessing on the seven species specifically contains a request to restore the mikdash so that the proper taste will also return to the fruits of the land.”
The Ramah MiPano, zt”l, learns a very powerful lesson from the continuation of the same gemara. “We see in Avodah Zarah that the pritzim came and profaned the sanctuary, literally made it חול. This teaches that even when the non-Jews come to destroy the mikdash, the holiness retreats and ascends on high. It follows that those who hate us do not have any mastery over the essence of the beis hamikdash.”
The Komarna Rebbe expands on this same theme. “This explains why we do not fast on the tenth of Av when the beis hamikdash was actually burned. Once the non-Jews set fire to the structure and the holiness ascended, the main mourning is already finished, since what they actually burned was merely the physical shell. The true tragedy was that the holiness ascended, which allowed the non-Jews to physically burn what remained.”

Honoring One’s Parents

Rav Borodiansky shlit”a (the son-in-law of Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach ztz”l) relates that all of Rav Auerbach’s efforts to clarify the halachos of using electricity on Shabbos were inspired by his desire to fulfill the mitzvah of honoring his mother. She required a hearing aid, and avoided using it on Shabbos because of fear of violating the halachah. When Rav Shlomo Zalman ztz”l saw how pained she was by being cut off from everyone around her, he did his absolute utmost to make this very complex area of halachah more clear.
Rav Shlomo Bloch zt”l once received a letter from an old friend with whom he had learned in Novardok, asking that he bring his question before the Chofetz Chayim zt”l. His friend was an unmarried man of twenty-six, but wore his beard long and it made him look about forty years old. He had received a letter from his father commanding him to shave. He would like to know what he must do—does he have to listen to his father in such a case? The Chofetz Chayim began by asking Rav Shlomo, “Is he normal?” When Rav Shlomo answered in the affirmative, the Chofetz Chayim began to groan, “Such hard things a father puts on his child?!” The Chofetz Chayim then said, “I cannot answer the question, for that he will need to ask Rav Chayim Brisker, but I can give him some advice. He should write to his father that since his whole demand that his son shave is so that he should be marriageable, well, he only wants to marry a girl who is looking for a boy with a beard! And if he shaves, he will not find the kind of girl that he is looking for.” The advice that the Chofetz Chayim gave worked, and not much time passed before the young man got married and became a Rav in a small town.

The Power of Tzedakah

A certain man experienced an absolute miracle and was told that he should consider making a seudas hoda’ah. Since he was unclear what the exact source of this custom is he decided to ask Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l, if this was correct and, if so, for the exact source of this practice.
Rav Shlomo Zalman replied, “There is no real source to do so, but that is the custom. Obviously, you must give thanks and making a meal is one way to do so. But if you give tzedakah instead, this is a much better way to give thanks to Hashem.”
A certain man who had been very sinful and wished to repent his misdeeds consulted with Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach about how to atone for his many wrongs. Although this man was sure that he would be instructed to fast or do some kind of painful penance, what the Rav told him would never have crossed his mind. After giving some very pointed advice to ensure that this man strengthen himself to prevent a relapse to his old ways Rav Shlomo Zalman added, “Give as much tzedakah as you can to poor talmidei chachamim and institutions of Torah and Chessed.”
A certain baal teshuvah would give large sums of money to tzedakah and was very gratified with all the good that he had done throughout his life. As he got older he felt that it would be a good idea to be buried with the many receipts he had received for his generous donations, but he wondered if this was halachically permitted.
When he asked Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach this question, he received an answer that surprised him. “It is permitted to do it, but it would be inane. In heaven, everything is revealed and they have no need of any decomposed receipts!”

The Importance of Fine Distinctions

Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l, once explained the importance of learning the laws of money to our avodas Hashem. “Our sages teach that if a guarantor obligates himself orally, he is required to repay the debt if the debtor cannot. Although this should by rights be asmachtah and therefore not binding, the pleasure that he receives when the lender gives the borrower a loan based on his word causes him to obligate himself.
“This seems to be the opposite of what simple logic would dictate, and is another example of, ‘He who wishes to become wise should learn the laws of money.’ Through learning the fine distinctions between different monetary cases, one is able to live like a good Jew, since the foundation of being a good Jew is the ability to act on fine distinctions. This is because the difference between light and darkness—and between living like a Jew and like a non-Jew— is merely a hairsbreadth.
He continued, “Fine distinctions are necessary for attaining and maintaining a proper worldview in our times. Although idolatry is practically extinct nowadays, a discerning person will understand that our challenge is whether we attribute the good in our lives to Hashem or to natural causes. For example, does a person who was ill and was healed by doctors understand that Hashem healed him? Or does he attribute his recovery to natural causes alone? Although we live in a physical world and our deliverance comes to us in the guise of the natural order, we must not be fooled. If one is completely focused on the natural world, how is he different from the idolaters in the time of Enosh? The Rambam tells us that they believed that Hashem was the ultimate source but felt that their deliverance came from an idol and not from Hashem. The same is true of money. Those who are preoccupied with the natural means of earning money and never give Hashem a thought worship gold and silver instead of Hashem. It is only through the clear discernment that comes from Torah study that a person can avoid such fallacies and truly worship Hashem.
Rav Shlomo Zalman concluded, “Hashem should help us see that the entire expanse of creation is a vehicle for the revelation of Hashem. As the verse states, ‘The earth will be filled with knowledge of Hashem as water covers the bed of the sea.’”

“I Hated and Abhor Falsehood...”

Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l, was exceedingly careful that his every word or action should never appear false in even the slightest degree. Many times a day, he was heard to repeat to himself the verse from Tehillim: "שקר שנאתי ואתעבה"—“I hated and abhor falsehood.” We can see to what degree Rav Shlomo Zalman fled from untruth from a conversation that he had with a student. The student asked him a question which the Rav did not comprehend, and the Rav used the usual Hebrew equivalent of “I’m sorry” which is, "אני מצטער"—“I am pained.” Rav Shlomo Zalman at first said, “אני מצטער that I did not understand what you are asking.” But then he immediately corrected himself. “סליחה, excuse me. I am not truly pained, but nevertheless I did not understand your question...”
Chazal tell us that eating olives causes one to forget his learning, but since they also say that olive oil is conducive to remembering, the prevalent custom is to put oil on the olives and eat them that way. When Rav Shlomo Zalman saw in one of Rav Chaim Kanievksy’s many seforim that olive oil does not mitigate the ill effects of olives on memory, he stopped eating olives.
However, when he was close to the end of his life and Rav Shlomo Zalman had a difficult time eating most foods, he decided to go back to eating olives with olive oil since they were one of the few foods that still agreed with him. Rav Shlomo Zalman immediately sent a message to Rav Kanievsky, ילט"א, informing him of this change. The moment Rav Shlomo Zalman stopped acting in accordance with this chumrah, it was abhorrent to him that Rav Chaim Kanievsky should believe that he still did.

Go to the Wise Man

Unfortunately, most are familiar with the distress caused by illness hitting a member of the family. One man whose son suddenly became very sick was beside himself since the doctors said that the child’s condition was ominous. After doing what he could at the hospital, the father rushed to his rebbi, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l, for advice and to plead with him to daven for the helpless child. Rav Shlomo Zalman encouraged the father and heaped blessings upon his head. The moment he left, the rav took a sefer Tehillim off the shelf and began to daven in earnest.
The next day the father once again approached Rav Shlomo Zalman but this time he looked much happier. “Boruch Hashem, the doctors say there has been a marked improvement and I just wanted to thank you for davening. I came to tell you since I am sure it was your prayers that made all the difference and caused this remarkable improvement.”
Rav Shlomo Zalman smiled back at the happy father and remarked, “Our sages tell us that if someone has a sick person among the people of his household, he should go to the ‘chochom’ and ask that he beseech Hashem to have mercy on the sufferer.
“The language here seems strange. Why not direct someone to go to a tzaddik? Why a chochom? I once heard a tongue-in-cheek answer from Rav Eliyahu Kletzkin from Lublin. He explained that if a person goes to a tzaddik and the sick man recovers, the tzaddik could mistakenly think he is a baal mofes. For this reason it adjures one to go to a chocham. A wise man understands that this from Hashem and will not think of himself as a baal mofes!”

Clarifying the Obvious

Rav Avraham Chaim Naeh, zt”l, used to publish important halachic rulings in a certain Torah journal. Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l, took great pleasure in perusing the halachic opinions whenever they came out in the journal. But one time Rav Shlomo Zalman noticed an exceedingly obvious halachah which didn’t seem to belong in the journal at all. The article mentioned that it is clearly forbidden from the Torah to squeeze grapes for any reason on Shabbos. Since this is clear from the gemara to the halachah it seemed absolutely superfluous and out of place among the many novel issues discussed in the journal.
Rav Shlomo Zalman wondered what it was doing there and at his first meeting with Rav Naeh he politely requested that he explain why it was there at all.
“I am glad you asked,” said Rav Naeh. “Unfortunately, I have found that to some this halachah is anything but simple. Not too long ago I was very pained that a certain talmid chacham who is involved in the difficult mesechtos of nezikin but has not really learned much Orach Chaim was confused on this point. When we finished praying on Shabbos night we had a delightful conversation which ended with a shock. The man declared joyously, ‘And now I will go home to fulfill Rava’s statement in Bava Basra 97: “a person can squeeze a cluster of grapes and say kiddush on it...”’
Rav Naeh continued painfully, “I learned from this man that this halahcah is by no means straightforward to all. I felt that I had to teach those that he may have mislead, so I included this halachah in the journal. We both know that Rava squeezed the grapes on Erev Shabbos, but sadly this man erred in this and we need to make a clear statement so people will know that his ‘interpretation’ is a violation of a Torah prohibition!”

Rav Shlomo Zalman's Humility

The humility of Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l, was legendary and was complimented by his insightful ability to avoid getting involved in conflicts. To this aim, he would often sidestep answering questions regarding thorny public issues. One time, someone pestered him to give an opinion in a certain public dispute. Rav Shlomo Zalman dodged the question brilliantly, as was his wont. He demurred, “Since you live in Bnei Brak, where the altercation is taking place, you can ask a local rav. Why must I rule when there are so many competent authorities in your city?”

When the neutralized askan finally went on his way, Rav Shlomo Zalman said to the person accompanying him, “Am I a rav at all, then? Over which community or neighborhood do I preside? I am just an old man. I don’t understand why people ask me…”

When he saw how astonished his companion was by this statement. He amended it. “Nu... So you can say that I teach young men.”[1]

On another occasion, the elderly posek was accosted by an American tourist who had just come to town. The tourist did not know the times for davening and decided to ask the kindly looking elderly gentleman just leaving the shul. Rav Shlomo Zalman began to enumerate all the many times for prayer in the shul. After he completed the list he repeated himself until the tourist had a clear grasp of when the times were.

The tourist felt a great appreciation to the kind gentleman and asked for his name. “Avuhah d’Shmuel,” replied the Rav with a smile.[2]

Expressing Gratitude

Even a borrower who blesses someone who lends him money is in clear violation of rabbinic interest.
It is very normal for people to borrow money to cover the expense of printing a sefer. Naturally, the author wishes to give some kind of thanks or bless the lender in his book, since without his generosity there would be no publication.
Yet the Erech Shai, zt”l, prohibits this. Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, suggests a simple way around this prohibition. One can certainly write that “the lender will be blessed from heaven.” The reason this is permitted is because the borrower is not blessing the lender, he is merely writing what will be as a result of his generosity.
Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l, pointed out that although people know that one may not thank another, they say, “Tizku l’mitzvos.” He continued, “This is not a halachically permitted alternative, since Tosefos in Kiddushin 8 says clearly that tizku l’mitzvos is rivis. It seems to me that they would be better off saying thank you, since this in not a blessing and may be different from giving a brachah which is clearly prohibited.”
But when someone showed him that the Shulchan Aruch HaRav Baal HaTanya explicitly prohibits saying “thank you,” Rav Shlomo Zalman backtracked. “I thought that the rabbis only prohibited giving a blessing or praising the lender since he has pleasure from this. But thank you is no brachah at all, and how can one take a loan and act as though the lender did him no kindness? This is surely a contradiction to derech eretz and is presumably prohibited. But when I was shown the Shulchan Aruch HaRav I changed my mind.”