בראשית רבה ,וישלח יעקב מלאכים .
The final thought of the drush is:
והנה כבר נחלקו (םגהדרין צ״ז ב,) אם הגאולה תהיה אף אם אין עושין
תשובה והארכגו בזה בדרוש לשה״ג ולזה גתחזק בטחון הגאולה שיעשה ה׳ למען ציון
אף אם לא יגיעו זכיותיו לזה יעשה ד׳ עמנו למען שמו הגדול אחר שיגקומ באויביו
כמבואר שם ולמען ארצו וגחלתו ויקרא שמו עליו ועל עירו כמ״ש כי שמך גקרא
על עירך ועל עמך. ולזה גתחזק ר״ע בראותו שועל יוצא מבית קה״ק
שאף אם אין ישראל עושין תשובה נגאלין, דהיינו שיעמוד להם זכות הארץ הנשמה
וצרת גפשם שהם בזוים מכל אומה, וכ״ד המדרש מתיך צרה כוי ובצרוף כיז יזכו
לגאולה אף אם לא יעסוד בידם תשובה גמורה.
[Footnote by Zeide SF: אשפ״ר: ובזה יבואר הימב לשון הכתוב (מיכה ג, ) לכן בגללכם ציון שדה
חחרש שאמר לשון בגללכם דמשמע למובתכם דאס למנש ורמתם היה צ״ל
בעבורכם ובםבתכם. END FOOTNOTE]
יש לנו לקוות כי יצורף מעלת ארץ הקדש השוממה
וחרבה ויעלה זכרונה לפני השי״ת לצרף לתשובה ולהביא גאולתנו וכמו שאמר לנו
שני פעמים עקיבא נחמתנו, עקיבא נחמתנו.
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Other family members are invited to add material from the sefer, as well as their own explanatory & background information, translations, reference material etc.
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As it turns out, I gave my own drush on the gemoro which formed the basis for elter-zeide's דרוש נחמת ישראל as part of the siyyum we made for my father's first Yahrzeit (in Yerushalayim, within sight of some of the places mentioned in the story brought in the gemoro): To view it,
watch minutes 22:00-32:00 of the video.
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אמרי שפר
Reading the sefer's Introduction and the lengthy 'drush' titled "Imrei Shefer" will give you an insight into who Zeide Shraga Feitel was, what mattered to him, what he felt deeply about. It is largely a Torah-based social & philosophical commentary on the turbulent times, on materialism, war and human suffering, all expressed in a literary style; a passionate cry from a questioning mind in parts very much in the style of kohelet and Iyov, and the condemnations of the nevi'im, spotted with poetic sections, and suffused by the intellectual, scientific and technological currents of that era. (Perhaps it also provides some insight into why he decided to leave Europe for the USA?)
FEEL FREE TO ADD YOUR OWN SUMMARIES, TRANSLATIONS, NOTES ETC; you can email them to me to insert here, or add them in the 'comments' section below.
Preface/Introduction: "Mavo"
Table of contents/basic outline:
A discussion of the function of an introduction, and various types of introductions; for example the antechamber of a home as introduction or preface to the home, the creation during the 6 days as an introduction to the creation of humanity etc.
An interesting discussion about the desire of people to write books and how a book offers a glimpse into the soul of the author; the Universe and the Torah as God's books, the study of which allows for an understanding of ruach Hashem.
Description of the content of the book, and of the manuscripts not yet published.
An account of the ravages of WWI on Jewish communities in Europe, on Zeide's family, on his parents, and on him - specifically his depression as a result, and the role of this sefer in bringing him back to himself.
Part I: מאמר ראשון
מעלת האדם ותכליתו
12 chapters
Part II: 5 chapters
Part III: 1 chapter
Part I chapter 1:
Summary: A pasuk in Pirkei Avos is presented, leading to a discussion of the position of humanity: In Breishis God doesn't say 'vayar ki tov' after creating Humanity. However, at the end of all the creation 'God saw that it was very good' 'tov me'od", and chazal say that "me'od" is "adam" (same letters). Why do they not just interpret tov meod literally, that God saw each thing was good, and the totality was very good?
And if one thinks it worth questioning why the chumash doesn’t say "vayar ki tov' about the creation of humanity, and answers that 'meod' was instead of that - well, this is a good question (better than the answer); even if at the end of the story of creation there is a roundabout hint via the changed letters of 'adam' into 'me'od', this is not sufficient – why indeed didn't the creation of humanity merit saying 'and God saw that it was good'?
In fact, another opinion in chazal is that "meod" means death or the malach hamavet!? How could it be? And how can two such different interpretations be offered?
Answer: The universe is good, life is good, the problem is only when people start looking to make it 'very good', tov meod, then they get into problems - seeking material wealth, luxury, which is all emptiness. Wealth and poverty both have their problems, but the worst is when one turns into the other: poor who become wealthy become drunk with it, wealthy people who become poor get despondent and can even commit suicide.
Questions: The end of that pasuk (tov meod) is "vayehi erev…yom hashishi" - why "yom hashishi" not "yom shishi" as with the other days?
Chazal say it hints at the torah, and that God made a condition with the universe that it would continue to exist only if (2,000 years later) the Bney Yisrael would accept the Torah; God made a condition with the Bney Yisroel that if they didn't accept the Torah, they would die right there.
However, why does God make conditions, God is able to do anything without conditions. And why should the universe (heaven and earth) suffer if Bney Yisrael don’t accept the Torah, it is not up to them?! And what does all this have to do with the droshos regarding 'meod' – both droshos relate to the same pasuk, surely there should be some connection between the them.
This will be all explained in the coming chapters.
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My method of preparing the condensed version: After reading the three ma'amarim and obtaining an understanding of what Zeide was saying, I went through each chapter to determine the briefest way to make the point, while hopefully maintaining the style and the charm. Using a pencil I underlined - in my copy of the sefer itself - specific words and phrases and sometimes complete sentences and paragraphs. On occasion I created sentences by combining individual words or phrases taken from several sentences or paragraphs. The sentences thus constructed reflect the meaning of the full sentences or paragraphs, but in briefer form.
Some years later, I photocopied the underlined pages and gave them to a typist, and then edited the result. Since I felt that it is not my place to change his words, I generally only added a few necessary 'linking words' here and there, with all of the additional words indicated. On occasion I placed some sentences in parenthesis, but noted where I did so. A series of semicolons ;;;; or other such symbol signifies that a lengthy piece was skipped at that point. Of course a condensation of necessity cannot contain everything, and so interested readers are referred to the original after reading this version. Especially-interested readers can compare this condensation to the original and offer constructive critique/suggestions.
I also added section-headings and explanatory footnotes, some of which provide historical background, and then asked an editor to go through the material, recommending changes, adding form the original as needed if the reading was too terse or omitted a phrase too beautiful to skip, and creating additional section headings. I hope to add other comprehension-aides, for example a glossary of Yiddish words, translation of unusual Hebrew words, and references for some obscure quotes.
There will also be biographical information taken from Zeide's other sforim, and from various other sources. I hope at a later stage to add brief choice excerpts from various other sforim written by him containing chidushim of his father Yosef Yitschak, and written by other family members, for example by Mordechai Eliyahu, brother of Yosef Yitschak (see photo of his wife Zlateh Rivka's matzevah, which I found on my visit to Zablin).
My intention is to make the condensed version with my notes available on the internet, perhaps eventually with an English translation, howeverI would not think of doing so without first allowing family members to offer critique and suggest changes, and so what I present is only a preliminary version.
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Below are photos of pages; for the text version see the attached files (also at the bottom of the webpage).
This is the opening page of Imrei Shefer, the 1st page of a 9-page Introduction (this is the original text); below it you can see the 3-page condensed version:
