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Rabbi Chaim Coffman
Rabbi Coffman has helped people from all across the spectrum to prepare themselves properly for Orthodox Conversion to Judaism. His students admire his vast knowledge and appreciate his warm, personal attention and endearing sense of humor.
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Welcome to Rabbi Chaim Coffman's Blog!

I would like to thank you for visiting my blog, Beyond Orthodox Conversion to Judaism.

The conversion process can be a lengthy and daunting one to say the least and I want you to know that I am here to help you through it.

I have been teaching newcomers to Judaism for over a decade and over the last few years I have seen that conversion candidates really lack the support and knowledge they need to navigate the conversion process and successfully integrate into the Orthodox Jewish community.

I created my mentorship program in order to help make this whole experience as smooth and as painless as possible! (Can't do much about the growing pains, though ;)

Feel free to get to know me a little through the posts on my blog and visit the mentorship and syllabus page if you are interested in possible joining us.

I sincerely wish you all the best in your search for truth and spiritual growth.

Looking forward to meeting you,
Chaim Coffman

My Rebbe, Rav Moshe Sternbuch

In case you were wondering why I have all of these articles written by Rav Moshe Sternbuch, he is my Rebbe, and one of the gedolei hador (greatest Rabbis of our generation).

Rav Sternbuch fully endorses me and supports my mentorship program.

He is the address for all of my halachic or hashkafic (practical and philosophical) questions that I or my students may have.

The articles are based on his weekly talks on the Torah portion that the Rav gives in Jerusalem in his kollel. As a member of the kollel I get first dibbs on the photocopies and I type them up for my blog so you can all benefit from the Rav's erudition and insight.
Thursday, August 6, 2015

Ethics of our Fathers: Chapter 5 Mishna 8: Things Created at Twilight: The Bigger Picture

"Ten things were created o Sabbath eve, at twilight. They are: The mouth of the earth; the mouth of the well; the mouth of the donkey; the rainbow (which was Noach's sign that there would be no future floods); the manna; the staff; the shamir worm; the script; the inscription; and the Tablets. Some say also destructive spirit, Moses' grave and the ram of our forefather Abraham, and some say also tongs which are made with tongs"

The obvious question with all these things is why didn't G-d just create all these things with creation instead of creating them at twilight? Rabbenu Yonah explains that everything that G-d created on condition would change their nature at some future date in history when G-d needed them. He also tells us that there is nothing in the world that G-d did not think about creating or using in this world that didn't enter His mind by creation.

He uses the example that on the fourth day G-d decreed that there should be heavenly lights, i.e. the sun, the moon...and in the future the sun will stand still for Yehoshua and Chizkiayahu. The seas are also created and in the future the Red Sea will split for the Jewish people is yet another example of this! This is why they needed to be created before shabbos at twilight because in the future they would change their nature as G-d chose fit. What is the deeper meaning here?

Anything that was needed for creation G-d did within 6 days and rested on the seventh. This means He set the world in motion and continually keeps it running smoothly as we say everyday in our prayers that G-d renews creation; in the present everyday, not just He created it all and let nature take over. Everything else that would be needed in the future but was created on condition was created just before shabbos.

Twilight is that time which is neither day nor night, an in between time so to speak. In this case before shabbos, we are not allowed to do any melacha (those categories that are forbidden on shabbos) but it is not quite shabbos yet unless we take it on either with candle lighting or with the evening service. Therefore since we have this in between state it would seem that if it was needed for the future and its nature would change then this would be the best time to create it.

Yes it is part of creation and like everything else that was part of creation certainly was on G-d's mind during creation. It's just that it wouldn't be solidified until a future time later .Twilight is also not solidified because it is neither day nor night, therefore these things were created at that time.

Another interesting thing we learn from this and that there is nothing new under the sun. This means that there will be no new creation in history that G-d did not have in mind during creation; it just depends when it will be discovered. A case in point is about the reason we keep kosher.

Many commentaries explain that we are what we eat and Jews are not allowed to eat carnivorous animals because of the bad character traits that we will ingest from them. We don't want to eat predators because their actions have the ability to contaminate a person and therefore stop them from reaching their true potential while at the same time dulling their senses.

You may ask though that this has not been scientifically proven so how can we make such an assumption? The answer is that just because science hasn't discovered it yet, doesn't mean that they won't in the future discover it. Even though science has uncovered and discovered many things, it has only begun to scratch the surface!! It is not a big leap of faith to say that is true and eventually these things will be proven, again showing how true the Torah is!!

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