The Torah is replete with words that are Chaseir or Malei. A word that is Chaseir is a word that seems to be missing a letter while a word that is malei is written with all its letter’s intact. Generally speaking there are two letters in the Hebrew language, the Yud and the Vav, that can be added to a word but yet seem to be expendable as well, meaning that the word will read the same way with or without these letters. We are all aware that there are no extra words or any extra letters in the Torah. Therefore if a word has the vav and could be read without it, there must be a reason that it is there or not. There are hundreds of examples of this throughout Tanach. The question then arises as to why sometimes the very same word is written full, Malei or Chaseir, missing. Even more challenging are the situations when a word is mentioned twice within a passuk and one time it is written one way and the second time the other way.
In the opening passuk in this week’s parsha B’Haaloscha it says “Dabair el Aharon V’Amarta Aleihem, B’Haaloscha es HaNeir`s (without a Vav) el Mul Pnei HaMenorah Yairu Shivas HaNeiros (with a Vav). *RABBI YISRAEL BE’ERI KOLODNER in his commentary Zahav B’Miluasam on Chumash explains the Chaseir/Malei phenomena in Tanach. The Vav in a word is a sign of completeness and wholesomeness, and its absence connotes that it is lacking in something. In our case of the candles, the word Neiros is first written without a vav because the candles at that point are not set into the candelabra. Rather they were taken outside and lit and are therefore considered incomplete. They can only be complete when they are lit in the holders of the Menorah itself. The Ohr Hachaim HaKadosh explains that when the candles were taken down to be cleaned and then lifted back up to be arranged again in the Menorah the word Neiros is without vav. The Neiros/candles are only a part of what their potential is supposed to be. The second time the word Neiros/candles are mentioned in the passuk is when they have been lit and are IN the Menorah. The candles together with the Candelabra is now Shaleim, it is now complete, so the word Neiros is full with the vav. If one was to analyze each time the word is used you can decipher whether or not it is being used in its full or partial form.
There are times when a person is preparing something to be baked. Even if all the ingredients are mixed together but it’s not yet been in the oven it is not ready to be eaten. So too when it comes to learning and doing of Mitzvos. There are times when we prepare to do a Mitzva but we never finish it off. We go out erev Sukkos and purchase a lulav and esrog and all its trimmings, but when it comes to the last component of actually doing the Mitzva we sometimes fall short. There is a certain excitement in getting ready and preparing for the Mitzva but we sometimes slack off when it comes to finishing. If we only buy the lulav, or clean the chanukiah, practice blowing the Shofar but don’t use it properly at the right time in the right place then we are lacking in the vav of that mitzva. We in our every day lives get bogged down with all the prep and hype of an event, or a mitzva, and never fully appreciate or complete the task at hand. One of the major benefits in completing something is the accompanying feeling of peace and tranquility that comes as a result of our finishing. We find this in that city in Israel known as Yerushalayim, or Ir Shalem and it is the city of peace. Let us all share in the enthusiasm to prepare the mitzvos and have the wherewithal to complete them and bring forth light of the full Neiros (with a vav) that we shall merit to light once again in the Bayis Shlishi B’Meheira V’Yameinu, Amen.
Ah Gut Shabbos
Rabbi Avram Bogopulsky
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***Rabbi Yisrael Be’eri Kolodner was born in 1911 in Drohitchin. His father, known as “R. Shmuel Getzel’s” was from a wonderful family in Antopolia. His mother, Sarah, who died when he was only seven years old, was the daughter of an important Drohitchin businessman, R. Getzel Kaplan, who was the father of two rabbis: Rabbi Shmuel Yisrael Kaplan, the rabbi of Kolna (near Lomza), and Rabbi Avraham Yehuda Kaplan, the rabbinical judge of Yanovo.
R. Shmuel strove to maintain the tradition of the family, and provided his son Yisrael with a sound religious education under the teachers in town. At 17, young Israel was sent to study elsewhere. He spent three years in the Novardok yeshiva, Beit Yosef, in Pinsk (headed by R. Moshe Reiz); six months in the Novardok yeshiva in Byalistock under R. Avraham Yaffen; ten years in the Kamenitz yeshiva, Knesset Beit-Yitzchak, under Rabbi Baruch Ber Leibovitz and his son-in-law, R. Reuven Grozovsky.
After receiving ordination from Rabbi Baruch Ber and Rabbi Weinstein (who headed Yeshiva Beit Yosef in Pinsk), Rabbi Kolodner moved to Palestine in 1933, where he spent several years studying in the Hevron Yeshiva in Jerusalem. In 1938, R. Yisrael became the son-in-law of the famous Jerusalem rabbi and kabbalist, R. Yaakov Moshe Charlap, and with the help of his wife, Chana Dina, R. Yisrael was able to devote himself to his studies under his father-in-law.
In 1943, R. Yisrael was appointed a rabbi in the old colony of Nes Ziona, where he excelled in various areas. He taught Talmud to elderly men and was concerned with the education of children; he founded a charity fund for residents of the colony, and created a charity fund for visitors. He also assisted new immigrants to find places to live.
In 1940 he published his first book, Mishnat Rishonim (Part 1), which was well received by the press in Palestine. The second part of his book is to be published shortly. Another book, Higyonei Kedem is still in manuscript form, and he is working on a fourth book on part of the Shulchan Aruch. R. Yisrael also writes Torah articles in various publications in Israel.