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Torah Tavlin by Rabbi Dovid Hoffman (Israel Bookshop Publications) has become a weekly “must-read” in shul and at the Shabbos table for thousands of people around the world! Whether it is via his weekly newsletter, which is available by email and printed out for shuls and batei midrashim, or by opening one of the four previous English books or two Hebrew volumes in the Torah Tavlin Series, there is a little “spice of Torah” there for every member of the family to enjoy! A mashal? Drush? Story? Mussar vort? Chassidishe Torah? Whatever your “taste” in Chumash, Torah Tavlin’s got it! And now, this newest release hitting the stores this weekend, includes a new feature: concepts in Haftorah and Tefillah as well!

Below is a sample story from the latest volume of Torah Tavlin, available in your local bookstore or here:

והארץ היתה תהו ובהו וחשך על פני תהום וגו’ (א:ב)

And the earth was unformed and desolate, and darkness covered the surface of the abyss… (1:2)

Over half a century ago, in the early years of the State of Israel, Mapai, a far-left Zionist party, was very powerful. A leading member of the party also served as the director of a large Mapai library in Tel Aviv, and he would frequently travel around the world in search of books, funds and supporters. On more than one occasion, his travels brought him to the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York, where he stayed at the home of a prominent Lubavitcher chassid, Rabbi Binyamin Klein, who often hosted important Israeli guests.

One year, his visit coincided with Yom Kippur, and although he was entirely non-religious, he was an intellectual and a bit of an adventurer. He put on a tallis, took a machzor, and joined the Jews in the large shul. He found it a bit amusing that people in the twentieth century still prayed, and while the others were davening and weeping, he was examining and analyzing each idea in the machzor. He found that most of the ideas were very similar to the concepts in the siddur, but when he reached the section about the Ten Martyrs he stopped.

“What?!” he exclaimed out loud. “This is insane!”

The machzor tells of how Rabi Akiva and nine other great rabbanim were publicly tortured to death by the Romans, each in a different way. But the part that shook this man most was when he read how the Heavenly angels complained to Hashem bitterly, saying, “Is this the reward for learning the Torah?” Hashem answered them, “Be quiet. One more word and I’ll return the world to tohu vavohu—unformed desolation.”

The man was indignant. “Is it forbidden to ask questions? Is G-d so cruel that He would destroy the entire world just because of a complaint? What sort of religious suppression is this?”

The men around him could not answer his questions, and he was directed to an old chassid sitting in a corner for a proper answer. The chassid listened to the question. “Ahhh! Excellent question!” he said. “And for every good question, there is a good answer.”

The old chassid began to speak and the non-religious Jew listened avidly.

“Let me tell you a parable: Once there was a great king who had a Jewish tailor. He loved this tailor very much and valued both his talent and his opinion on all matters.

“The local bishop, however, couldn’t stand the Jew. He hated him with a passion and longed for the moment he could eliminate him without angering the king. The bishop was very clever and thought up a scheme to do away with the tailor. He bought a large piece of the finest white satin and personally presented it to the king, claiming it was a holy cloth from the church, sanctified by Heaven. The finest garment may be fashioned from this cloth, he explained, however, the law of the Scripture is that if even a single thread of this holy cloth would be missing from the finished garment, then the responsible party must die!

“The king took the cloth and admired it. He then gave it to his faithful Jewish tailor without even bothering to tell him of the bishop’s warnings. He trusted him completely and felt that such a threat might make him nervous and disturb his work.

“Two weeks later, the garment was finished and presented to the king. It was even more exquisite than he had imagined and so expertly sewn that not a stitch could be seen anywhere; it was the ultimate in beauty and elegance. The king was overjoyed and rewarded the Jew handsomely.

“That very evening, the bishop paid the king a visit, accompanied by ten priests of high rank. They swore upon all that was holy that there was conclusive proof that the tailor had appropriated several small scraps from the garment for ritual use. As a result, they intoned solemnly, the tailor must die!

“The king now had no choice; he was bound by their holy oath. With a heavy heart, he had the tailor bound in chains and presented with the sad news; he was to be killed for the theft of holy cloth. The tailor tried to protest, but to no avail; his fate was sealed. With nothing to lose, the tailor made one last plea. ‘Your Majesty, may I have one last request before I die?’ he asked.

“The king agreed and the tailor asked for a pair of scissors. The king warned him not to damage the garment and then warily gave him the scissors. The tailor proceeded to delicately take apart the entire garment stitch by stitch. He laid the pieces side by side until he had restored the entire cloth to its original shape. Not one thread was missing.

“‘You see, Your Majesty,’ said the tailor, bowing deeply, ‘the bishop thought that it was impossible for nothing to be lost in the cutting, but he was wrong. My G-d helped me and I used every bit of cloth. See for yourself; not one bit is missing!’

“That,” concluded the old chassid, as he looked at the spellbound Israeli guest, “is the end of the parable and the answer to your question. Hashem wasn’t telling the angels not to ask questions. Rather, He was telling them that when He created the world He did it with a plan, and nothing is missing from that plan. But in order for anyone to understand His plan, it would be necessary to ‘take apart everything.’ For the malachim to understand the reason for the tragedies, Hashem would have to undo the entire creation and the world would have to revert to nothingness, and that needn’t be done for anyone!”

Torah Tavlin is available at your local Judaica bookstore, or by clicking here.