The publishing of this volume in the Vedibarta Bam series represents a milestone. This volume, along with the ones on Tishrei, Chanukah, Purim and the Haggadah of Pesach, completes the Holiday series. I am profusely thankful and indebted to Hashem for His kindness in granting me the opportunity to see this come to fruition. In addition, I must also express sincere thanks to you, dear readers, for your support.
Feedback from readers and encouragement to provide them with more and more material in the reader-friendly style of the preceding Vedibarta Bam volumes gave me the strength and resolve to continue the project initiated more than a decade ago.
But this is not all. As explained in a forward to a previous Vedibarta Bam, the goal of these books is to bring our family generations together via Torah: my grandfather Harav Tzvi Hakohen z”l Kaplan, my father Harav Shmuel Pesach z”l Bogomilsky, myself and my wife, Brachah, and our children and grandchildren. For this reason an effort was made to include some of the Torah thoughts of my father and grandfather in every book. We pray that our family read and become well versed in them as well as with the multitude of other Torah thoughts contained in the volumes.
At times a grandchild calls me and excitedly says “Zeide, my teacher gave the class a challenging question for homework or extra credit. When I came home I looked it up in your sefer and found the answer.” It is also enjoyable when a grandchild calls to question something they read, or with much concern tells me, “Zeide, I found a typo in your sefer” — then I know that they really care and are reading it meticulously. These pleasant voices are the best indication that, thank G‑d, my dreams are materializing and reaching fruition. These words and comments give me the strength and stamina to continue writing and publishing.
There are varying opinions whether an author should recite a Shehechiyanu upon completing the writing or the publication of a sefer (see Sha’arei Teshuvah to Orach Chaim 223:10). Hence, to satisfy all opinions, I humbly express, (without Sheim Umalchut) my thanks to Hashem for granting me life, sustaining me and enabling me to reach this occasion.
Simultaneously, I utter the prayer recited traditionally at a siyum — completion of a Talmud tractate, “May it be Your will, G‑d my G‑d, that just as You helped me complete this sefer, so may You help me to begin other sefarim and to complete them, to learn and to teach, to safeguard and to perform and to fulfill all the words of Your Torah teaching with love.”
May we, our immediate family, and extended family of readers merit the traditional blessing kabalat haTorah besimchah ubepnimeyut — to receive the Torah with joy and inwardness.
Acknowledgments
Out of a small cramped room less than 200 square feet, two unsung heroes, Rabbi Yonah Avtzon and Yosef Yitzchok Turner, run one of the largest Torah book publication operations in the world, known as Sichot In English. It started more than three decades ago with the noble intention to translate and disseminate to the English reading public, the Sichot — Torah talks — of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Today, they have published hundreds of volumes, which are either translations of the works of the Rebbe’s dissertations or books based on the Rebbe’s teachings. In addition they have also published many volumes on general Torah subjects of interest to the Jewish community at large. Besides the publications carrying their logo, to their credit are also some major undertakings, including, but not limited to, the monumental work of translating into English the Shulchan Aruch HaRav of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of the Chabad Chassidic movement.
I am grateful to them for taking the Vedibarta Bam series under their wing. Thanks to their efforts these books have been graciously accepted in various Jewish communities in the USA and abroad, and they have, thank G‑d, became well-read sefarim in many homes by young and old.
It would not be an exaggeration to describe the Avtzon-Turner team as a Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, respectively, of Sichot In English. Yosef Yitzchok Turner was blessed with an artistic gift and possesses exceptional expertise in typographical layout. Sitting in front of his computer he manages to produce books that are eye-catching and reader-friendly. Yonah Avtzon is the one who makes them accessible to the Torah community at large. May their efforts to disseminate Torah works bring them and their families the blessing of the Giver of the Torah in abundant measure.
In view of the saying of our Sages “Commensurate with the painstaking effort is the reward” (Avot 5:21), the reward due Yosef Yitzchok Turner is immeasurable. To struggle with reading my handwriting, constant changes, corrections, deletions and additions is not an enviable task, to say the least. Cognizant of his unassuming and refined character and his reluctance to hear me sing his praise, I will just suffice with saying “Thank you and may Hashem bless you with good health, success and nachas.”
To a large degree the success and acclaim of a sefer is due to the editor. When I started putting together the first volume of Vedibarta Bam, I was fortunate to be introduced to Dr. Binyamin Kaplan of Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana. He worked with me since then and I am always in awe for his keen insight and invaluable comments. His schedule as an English instructor allowed him time to enhance my books with his literary expertise and dexterous editing.
In recent years he moved to Los Angeles, California and became a Rabbinic Field Representative for the O.U. By nature, whatever he undertakes he gives his best and approaches it with sincerity. Going beyond the call of his duty to assure that the highest standards are employed, and attending to the needs of his growing family leaves him with very little time for extra curricular activities such as editing. Nevertheless, to further our friendship he somehow managed to find a twenty-fifth hour in the day to give my writing the benefit of his pen.
May his wife and children be showered with Heavenly blessings for allowing me to snatch away some of Binyomin’s time which they rightfully deserve. For his indefatigable efforts to bring Torah to the public in a beautiful style, may he and his wife be rewarded to see their offspring engaged in Torah and grow to be chassidim, G‑d fearing people, and Torah scholars.
About the Book
I was hesitant to write on Shavuot out of concern that I would not have sufficient material for a complete book. In Vedibarta Bam on Bamidbar I included twenty pages on Shavuot and Megillat Ruth and considered that a large amount.
Slowly but surely I realized that the description of Torah, “Its measure is longer than earth and wider than the sea” (Job 11:9, Eiruvin 21a), is true also about the Festival that commemorates the giving of the Torah. It turned out that the Vedibarta Bam volume on Shavuot is the largest in the festival series. Publishing deadlines compelled me to put my pen to rest and put away some notes for the next printing, please G‑d.
The narrative in Megillat Ruth is fascinating and sometimes puzzling and I searched for clarifications of the various issues suggested by the text. I humbly hope that I managed to capture, somewhat, the profound beauty of the “Mother of Royalty” and to clarify some of the mystifying episodes which lead to the development of the Davidic kingdom dynasty and which will ultimately bring the redeemer of our people — Mashiach.
More than half of this volume is an anthology on Shavuot. It contains a wealth of knowledge which, hopefully, will enlighten the readers and keep them intrigued. It is my prayer that this book should be a medium through which the reader will experience what King Shlomo, the wisest of all men, said “Give the wise man [words of wisdom] and he will become even wiser” (Proverbs 9:9).
Included herein is a fascinating sichah from the Rebbe in which he explains, in his brilliant way, the unique significance of the second day of Shavuot and the passing of the Ba’al Shem Tov. This novel analysis appears in Likkutei Sichot, vol. 4 and was masterfully translated by the prolific writer and scholar Rabbi Eliyahu Touger.
The Name Vedibarta Bam
It was explained in a previous volume that the name Vedibarta Bam was chosen because the word Bam (ב"מ) is an acronym for my name, Moshe, and the name of my wife, Brachah. Her encouragement and creating the ambiance necessary for me to devote myself to learning and writing make her an equal partner in the development of the Vedibarta Bam volumes.
As was not the case with other volumes, now, however, her share is not just for being supportive, but rather for being active. She is actually a co-author.
Let me explain: More than four decades ago, the Rebbe encouraged the Council Neshei Ubnos Chabad to issue the bi-lingual (English and Yiddish) quarterly magazine “Di Yiddishe Heim.” The Rebbe valued their undertaking and it is known that he would personally review and edit it.
After our wedding, my wife contributed an article in the Winter 5722 edition, titled “May Woman Study Torah?” Shortly afterwards, she had the zechut of having Yechidut — an audience — with the Rebbe in honor of her yom holedet — birthday — during which the Rebbe encouraged her to write more articles. Thus, she followed up with an article in the Summer 5722 edition titled “Ruth was not the only one” and another in the Winter 5723 edition under the title “Must Mothers Teach?”
Her article “Ruth was not the only one” is a treatise on geirut and giyorot in general and Ruth in particular. According to others, besides myself, it was a well-written, informative and enlightening article. The fact that the article was an outcome of the Rebbe’s encouragement and was under his scrutiny makes it of special importance to our family. Therefore, it was decided to reprint it in this book as a supplement to the section on Megillat Ruth. This is being done with confidence that after reviewing it, you, dear readers, will share my admiration of the erudition and talent of the writer.
Rabbi Moshe Bogomilsky
2 Iyar, 5766
Tiferet Sh’betiferet
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