Sheva Brochos Preshel

Mazal Tov

We read the following week’s Parsha Toldos and tonight is Motze Shabbos when we sing Zemiros about Elijah the prophet who as the words go: has a leather girdle on his loins which according to Chazal was from Esau’s clothes.

We also learned in Daf Yomi about a certain Rabbi Yehuda who took his time making an entry into this world when his mother was in labour for a long time and here we’re sitting at a Sheva Brochos a certain Rabbi Yehuda who also took his time...

Which is just right as I have had enough time to prepare for this speech.

פותחים בכבוד אכסניה: ר׳ מחותן

His name is coded in the ברוך שאמר: the word “שאמר” contains the letters “אשר”.

The same can be said for this point in time, when we read the weekly Parshiyos of Bereshis:

בראשית: ברוך עושה בראשית

נח: ברוך מרחם על הארץ - ויזכור ט׳ את נח ואת כל אשר אתו

לך לך: ברוך מרחם על הבריות - אברהם עשה חסד

וירא: ברוך משלם שכר טוב ליראיו -  פחד יצחק

תולדות: ברוך חי לעד וקים לנצח - יעקב אבינו לא מת

משיח: ברוך פודה ומציל

When making Sheva Brochos for a Choson who’s a Talmid Chochom there’s no need to say Droshos. However in our case I’m unsure whether the Choson is a Talmid Chochom or not, as his father in law cannot test him.

The story has been told of the Rov of Leipnik  he wrote the book “Boruch Ta’am” - who wanted to have the best Bochur for his daughter.

When he met young Chaim Halberstam who was only twelve years old and realised what a great Talmid Chochom he is he agreed to the match immediately However just before starting the engagement party he requested that he be allowed to talk in learning with his future son in law once more and test him further when the Choson to be heard the request he responded that if this is the case then he wants to test his future father in law the Boruch Ta’am was aghast at the audacity of the request and demanded an explanation. The Divrey Chaim answered(*) by the way when I was young I used to go to Reb Saul Huterer and was told by my friends that he had a Chumash with stains on them from candles with blood: the Gemoro says that one should seek to marry a daughter of a Talmid Chochom. How can one be certain that his future father in law is really a learned man only by testing his knowledge. However we rely on the fact that the father in law of the future father in law has already tested him before giving him his daughter. Now that you want to test me again this means that you are not completely satisfied with the first test. If this is the case then the whole Chazoko falls away and so I have to test you too the Boruch Ta’am smiled and conceded defeat at this argument.

I’m not sure if what I’m going to say are considered Divrei Torah but at least I tried.

The Segula to become rich is to be happy with his portion - literally. The Gemoro says in one place that even for burning his broth may a husband divorce his wife. The Mussar great explain that when a man comes home and there’s this smell of burnt food in the air he deserves an apology form his wife for burning his supper however if she sits down to a plate of hot soup and in between one spoonful of delicious soup and the next she manages to tell him that she managed to salvage her portion form the top of the pot and only his portion at the bottom of the pot became inedible - if he makes peace with the situation and overlooks this blatant indifference on his wife’s part he will become rich. As the Gemoro says אוקירו לנשותייכו כי היכי דאיעתרו keep your wife’s respect do that you’ll become rich.

The Gemoro says נולד בן זכר נתרפא כל המשפחה and here we are welcoming a new Ben Zochor - the Choson. Let’s hope this will bring good tidings Amen.