Rav Moshe Weinberger still holds tight to his father’s tefillin and simple faith
Photos: Naftoli Goldgrab, Family archives
One Shabbos about a year ago, I joined Seudah Shlishis at Yeshiva Ateres Shimon in Far Rockaway, an extraordinary place bursting with young men who maybe didn’t have an easy time of it, who’d fallen or been nudged out of the system. The yeshivah has welcomed them, reassured them, restored them, and there, in a darkened room, the Rosh Yeshivah, Rav Mordechai Yehuda Groner, was speaking to the boys lining both sides of a long table.
He was talking about the eternity of the neshamah, of its essential purity, and he suddenly cried out, “You guys saw the tefillin. You saw them. You know that those are your tefillin too.”
Allow me to share with you an important family secret about the tefillah of Nishmas.
That Nishmas is one of the most powerful and significant tefillos is not a secret. That this tefillah is traced back to the generation of the Tannaim is also no secret. It is also well known that the tefillah has been recommended by many gedolim throughout the generations as a powerful segulah.
So then what is this “important family secret” about Nishmas I am about to share? First, let me offer some important background.
There are various opinions as to who composed this important tefillah. The first letters of four of the primary pesukim spell the name “Shimon” (backward), a hint that this is the author’s name. But which Shimon is it? Some hold that it was the Tanna Rabi Shimon ben Shetach. Others say it was Rav Shimon ben Pazi. A third opinion has it that the famed Rabi Shimon bar Yochai composed it while he and his son Rabi Elazar were in the cave for 13 years. Rabi Shimon wanted
INTRODUCTION
Tu B’Shvat is the New Year for the Trees ראש השנה לאילנות. As in all other points in the Jewish calendar, Tu B’Shvat ט”ו בשבט offers a unique opportunity for insight into our lives and personal growth. Throughout the centuries,
Kabbalists have used “the tree” as a metaphor to understand G-d’s relationship to the spiritual and physical worlds. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, in his 18th century classic The Way of God דרך ה’, teaches that the higher spiritual realms חלקי הבריאה are roots that ultimately manifest their influence through branches and leaves in the lower realms.
In the 16th century, the
Kabbalists of Tzfat compiled a Tu B’Shvat seder, somewhat similar to the seder for Pesach. It involves enjoying the fruits of the tree, especially those that are native to the Land of Israel (שבעת המינים), and discusses philosophical and Kabbalistic concepts associated with the day. Among other things, the seder