Rabbi Noah Weinberg and the Big Six
Date of Passing: 11-Shevat. Rabbi Weinberg was Rosh Yeshiva of Aish HaTorah and one of Jewish outreach’s greatest pioneers. He lists the 6 constant mitzvot.
The world doesn’t yet realize its loss, because its greatest assets are the true tzaddikim of the Jewish people. If the world had any idea that its entire sustenance depended on the welfare of our generation’s spiritual leaders, then the US Congress, the British Parliament, the entire UN, and certainly the Knesset would be mourning the tragic loss of Aish HaTorah’s Rosh Yeshiva, a world leader in kiruv (outreach), Rabbi Noah Weinberg, of saintly and blessed memory. Rabbi Noah was truly an everyman’s rabbi and spiritual guide. Neither the dictionary nor the thesaurus has adequate words to describe Rabbi Noah’s greatness or to express the magnitude of our loss.
As a graduate from the Aish HaTorah rabbinical seminary, I owe Rabbi Noah everything. He instilled in me an amazing love for every single human. He implored me never to rest as long as there remained a Jewish child in the world that doesn’t yet know Kriat Shema. He also urged me to strengthen the observance of the Six Constant Mitzvot wherever I go. Once, Rabbi Noah gave me a pep talk; he put an arm around my shoulder and gave me a fatherly hug. With a big smile on his face, the type of smile that makes a sunrise look dim, he said, “College football has its Big Ten. We have our Big Six. We’re the real winners.”
You don’t have to lift a pinky finger to fulfill the Six Constant Mitzvot. They are all done with the heart and mind. The Chofetz Chaim lists them and elaborates on them in his famed commentary on The Code of Jewish Law (see Mishna Brura on Orach Chaim I:1, Beer Halacha, “Hu klal gadol”).
Rabbi Noah taught me that nothing arouses Divine compassion like kiruv, and nothing gives Hashem so much gratification as seeing His beloved children fulfilling the Six Constant Mitzvot. Therefore, to arouse Divine compassion and mercy our people, we are dedicating this editorial to Rabbi Noah’s legacy by teaching what he implored us to teach – the Six Constant Mitzvot.
1. Emuna – to believe that there is one G-d Who made, makes, and will make everything that exists. Everything which exists now, or existed in the past or will exist in the future forever is His will and exists because He wants it. And, He brought us out of Egypt and gave the Torah to us. And this is an active commandment, as the Torah says, "I am the L-rd your G-d Who took you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery." The meaning of this is, "You must know and you must believe that there is a G-d of the universe Who supervises, just as He took you out of Egypt."
2. Never believe in any other god – the Torah says, "You will not have any other gods besides Me." Even if one acknowledges that the Holy One blessed be He is the ruler over everything, except he will imagine in his mind that He turned over the management of the universe to an angel or a star, this is succumbing to idolatry and violates "You will have not have any other gods besides Me." Instead, each person must believe that the Holy One blessed be He alone personally supervises everything in existence everywhere and that everything else is a creation which has absolutely no power to do anything without His will.
3. To attribute oneness to Him – as the Torah says, "Hear, Israel, the L-rd is G-d, the L-rd is one." The meaning of this is that, "Hear, Israel, and know that it is Hashem Who caused everything in existence to be. He did this with His will and He is our G-d Who supervises everything everywhere in existence. He is One G-d without any partners.”
4. To love Hashem – as the Torah writes, "And you will love the L-rd your G-d with all your heart…". And how will a person come to achieve this love? Through Torah. Through contemplation in Torah, a person will recognize the greatness of the Holy One blessed be He. The point of this mitzva is that a person should channel all of his thinking into the love of Hashem, may He be blessed. And he will cause his heart realize that everything that there is in the universe, whether wealth or children or honor, is all the worthless in comparison to the love of G-d, may He be blessed. The person who devotes his energies and thoughts to materialistic matters and worldly futilities, not being for the sake of Heaven, but rather to please himself and attain honor, nullifies this active commandment.
5. To fear Hashem, in order to remain free of sin. On this the Torah says, "Fear the L-rd your G-d." When a sinful thing will come to a person, he is obligated to arouse his spirit and remember that the Holy One blessed be He is the Supervisor of all deeds of every human being and privy to our thoughts and speech as well as to our deeds.
6. Not to stray after the lust of the heart or the sights of the eyes – the Torah says, "And do not go straying after your hearts and after your eyes." Our Talmudic sages said, 'After your hearts’ means heretical ideologies, and 'after your eyes' means sexual improprieties. This necessitates a constant reinforcement of emuna and guarding of the eyes.
By virtue of the “Big Six”, may we see a mass return to our roots, the full redemption of our people Israel, and the coming of Moshiach very soon and in our days, amen.
May Hashem comfort the Weinberg family among the other mourners of Zion and Yerushalayim, amen.
11/18/2015
The seventh
The seventh constant mitzvah is that of Shmiras Haloshon. Every single moment you are not engaging in forbidden speech, you are performing a mitzvah! I truly wish more emphasis was put on this absolutely Imperative set of laws! Chofetz Chaim for life! Baruch HaShem!
11/18/2015
The seventh constant mitzvah is that of Shmiras Haloshon. Every single moment you are not engaging in forbidden speech, you are performing a mitzvah! I truly wish more emphasis was put on this absolutely Imperative set of laws! Chofetz Chaim for life! Baruch HaShem!