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Parshas Eikev-פרשת עקב

July 29, 2010 // Posted in Weekly Parsha Divrei Torah (Tags: ) |  No Comments

ואכלת ושבעת וברכת את ה’ אלוקיך (ח, י)

And you should eat, be satisfied and bless Hashem your g-d.

The gemarah in berachos asks: how do we know that one makes a beracha before he eats and not just after he eats? The halacha is brought from the following kal vchomer: ‘k’shehu soveh mivarech-k’shehu ra’av lo kol shekein’? If one makes a beracha when satisfied should he not be logically obligated to do so, even more, when he is hungry?

This kal v’chomer needs explaining. Normally, it would seem just the opposite: The measuring standard should not be when a person is full, because it is not the way of a person to thank Hashem when he is full. He may have forgotten how he got the food altogether because he is already done with it. He is satisfied, and at times we are complacent when we are comfortable. Rather, it would seem more sensible that the psychology of a beracha acharona should be based on that of the beracha rishona.

This concept can be explained as follows. The loshon of ‘hoda’a’, thanks, is explained to mean that one is grateful for a past event.  But the loshon of ‘beracha’ implies that one is praising Hashem for constantly bestowing good upon you, in the past present and future. When one makes a beracha one should believe that the beracha is applicable to the ‘current good’, the ‘tov b’shaas ma’aseh’. Giving thanks for something after it already happened is not the level we aspire to, because all the other nations do the same.  As soon as something good is needed most people, of any language, religion or origin, say ‘please god…help me. ..make it happen.’ After it happens, they forget all about it. As the chosen nation, however, we thank Hashem on everything that he does, in the past, present and future.  And that’s pshat in the pasuk in tehillim that says, ‘yoducha Hashem kol ma’asecha’, speaking of everyone (even the other nations) that thanks Hashem for all that he did for them (past tense). However, as the pasuk continues it shows how we differ from the other nations, as it says ‘vachasidecha yivurchucha’, the chessed that Hashem constantly does for us is blessed by his nation.  We bless Hashem for the good he continuously does for us.

In bentching it would’ve made more sense to say ‘v’achalta, v’savata, v’hodaat Hashem’. We ate, we are satisfied and we thank Hashem. Why does it say ‘uveirachta’, and we bless Hashem? The Torah uses a language that’s more specific, to encompass all the good Hashem did, does, and will do for us, not just the meal we finished eating. This is the beauty of the nusach of bentching. We say ‘lo chaser lanu, v’al yechsar lanu mazon l’olam va’ed’. Meaning-we are not missing anything and we won’t be missing any food forever!!

Let us try to remember to thank Hashem not only what he did for us but for what he constantly does for us on a daily basis. Many people are healthy, have children, have parnassah, etc…. we don’t need a ‘wake up call’, chas v’shalom, in order for us to start davening with more kavanah. We’re able to use the bathroom by ourselves? Let’s thank Hashem…how many people unfortunately can’t? We have food to eat? Let’s thank Hashem…how many people don’t? Let us daven and thank Hashem right now for the good that he bestowed on us, right here right now; today.

With this in mind may Hashem accept and answer our tefillohs and may we see the coming of moshiach b’karov; in our days.

(parsha; chumash; eikev; ekev; parshas ekev; parshas eikev; thanking Hashem; hakaras hatov; bentching; making brachos; berachos; thanking Hashem before eating; thanking Hashem after eating; gemarah in Berachos)

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Parshas Va’eschanan-פרשת ואתחנן ושבת נחמו

July 25, 2010 // Posted in Weekly Parsha Divrei Torah (Tags: ) |  No Comments

שמור את יום השבת לקדשו כאשר צוך ה’ אלוקיך (ה, כ

(קודם מתן תורה) במרה (רש”י)

We mentioned last week that sefer devarim repeats most of what already happened to klal Yisroel through Moshe’s writings. You’ll notice that in the first “set” of the aseres hadibros, in parshas Yisro, there is no loshon of ‘k’asher tzivcha’ like the above pasuk is written. In parshas V’eschanan, it only says these words when talking about Shabbos and kibud av v’aim.  What is the significance of mentioning the loshon of ‘k’asher tzivcha’ only in the second writing of the dibros and why is it only mentioned by these two dibros? Furthermore, why does the Torah tell us how and when we were commanded to do this mitzvah? This is not a common lashon, and it requires a deeper understanding.

The explanation here is beautiful:

We know that Hashem commanded us to rest on shabbos and not to do any work. All we should do is relax, daven, eat seudos and be ‘misaneg al Hashem’. However, this leaves room for a person to misunderstand the true purpose of shabbos.  Even a non-Jew needs a break.  It’s impossible for one to work twelve to fifteen hour days in an office, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty-five days a year.  From a purely physical standpoint shabbos is a logical and generous gift, but there is room to misconstrue its true meaning and depth.  During shibud mitzraim, Moshe asked Pharaoh to give him at least one day a week off so bnei Yisroel would be able to keep up their strength and rejuvenate themselves. The truth is, however, that this is not the focal point of Shabbos.  Rather shabbos is a time for menuchas hanefesh and it’s the yesod of emunah, as we say in Kiddush ‘os hi beini u’veneichem’. In the first set of aseres hadibros, we were commanded to keep shabbos when were in the midbar. There was no ‘work-week’ in the midabar, and we were sustained through constant miracles. We didn’t need a break from work and it was at that time, when we were in the desert, that we kept shabbos like we were supposed to. Not because we worked hard, and were tired and not because we realized we needed a break from the whole week. We kept shabbos because we were commanded to do so. That was our only reason and that was the example of bnei Yisroel keeping shabbos like they were supposed to. This is why it says a loshon of ‘k’asher tzivcha’. The Torah is telling us to keep Shabbos because Hashem commanded us to.  Not because of our physical cheshbonos, and exhaustion, but because of the spiritual power of the day, and because it is a mitzvah.

The same lesson is applicable to the commandment of honoring one’s parents. We can say that it’s normal for a person to respect his parents.  After all, they raised him, educated him, brought him up properly, paid all his expenses, fed him, clothed him, funded all his trips, maybe even went beyond what we consider these basics with luxuries and a life of ease. It is easy for one to think that this mitzvah is a logical commandment. The truth is, though, even if your parents didn’t get you the car or they didn’t fund your vacations and they didn’t do half the things they promised, you would still have to respect and honor them. Why? Because the pasuk says, you were commanded to do so. In the midbar did your parents cloth you? No. Did they feed you? No. All our food, clothing, and physical needs were straight from Hashem. So it couldn’t have been that they honored their parents because of what they ‘gave’ to them. And yet they were honoring them. So it has to be they were doing so because that’s what Hashem commanded them to do so.

That’s the pshat in this loshon. Kibbud av is not because of hakaras hatov. It is because we were commanded to do so.  This is what the Torah is emphasizing here.  Do the mitzvah like you were originally commanded to, like they did it in marah- for the sake of a mitzvah.

Many a time we often find ourselves in a position where we do chessed because it is convenient and easy.  But how many times do any of us really go out of our way for someone else?  For a small chessed or for a favor?  For someone who’s not your friend? Doing the mitzvah because you were commanded to do it is extra special to Hashem. Try taking someone out of your way when you’re in a rush.  It might be extremely frustrating, but only the first time.  Then you realize the little time-minutes- that you are losing in exchange for doing a mitzvah.  It’s a whole different approach to things-try it. It is extra special to Hashem when you do a mitzvah bein adam l’chaveiro not because it seems ‘nice’, but because it is a commandment.

May we all be zoche to be mekayeim the mitzvohs to its fullest and for the reason no other than ‘k’asher tzivcha hashem elokecha’.

(Search by: parsha; parshas va’eschanan; chumash; va’eschanan; nachamu; kibud av vaim; Shabbos; doing a mitzvah because you were told to; doing a chessed for the sake of the chessed; not doing a favor for personal pleasure; doing a mitzvah the right way; resting on Shabbos because it’s a commandment)

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Parshas Devarim/Shabbos Chazon-פרשת דברים-שבת חזון

July 15, 2010 // Posted in Weekly Parsha Divrei Torah (Tags: ) |  No Comments

At the end of this week’s parsha the Torah relates how Moshe split up eretz Yisroel amongst the shevatim. The pasukim start off telling us that Moshe gave a certain amount to bnei Reuven and bnei Gad, and then gave a significantly larger portion to chatzi shevet Menashe. The pasuk then goes back and discusses what Moshe gave to bnei Reuven and bnei Gad. There are three questions that come to mind when reading through these pasukim. Firstly, why does the pasuk “squeeze in” which portions were given to chatzi shevet Menashe while relating what Moshe gave to bnei Reuven and bnei Gad? Secondly, we find that Moshe made a condition with bnei Gad and bnei Reuven that they may only cross back over the yarden after they fight together with the rest of klal Yisroel to enter into eretz Yisroel. Why were there no conditions made with chatzi shevet Menashe? And lastly, as we mentioned above, chatzi shevet Menashe seemed to have received a significantly larger portion than bnei Gad and bnei Reuven. How did they merit such a large parcel of land?

The Netziv answers that Moshe looked across the yarden, where bnei Gad and bnei Reuven wanted to dwell, and realized that the Torah there was very weak. They were setting up homes and a community across the yarden, but they were neglecting Torah study. He understood that they wouldn’t last there without Torah. It was known that shevet Menashe produced eminent Torah scholars; tremendous talmidei chachamim. Moshe wanted to ensure the spiritual success of this community so he convinced chatzi shevet Menashe to stay behind, be ehrlich and help revitalize this new community on the other side of the yarden. However, they didn’t want to move there. Why should they? So Moshe had to convince them to move there by offering them a larger portion of land. He placed them right in the middle of the areas of bnei Reuven and bnei Gad because it was this shevet, chatzi shevet Menashe, which strengthened and molded the spiritual aspect of this new community.

There’s a Yerushalmi in Bikkurim that says one may not bring Bikkurim from across the yarden. The two reasons given are: 1) Because the pasuk says it must be from a land where ‘milk and honey flows’ (i.e. eretz Yisroel) and this is not considered eretz Yisroel; 2) because the pasuk says ‘from the land that I have given to you,’ and we deduce from here that it excludes the, ‘land that you took’. What’s the difference between these two reasons?

The answer is chatzi shevet Menashe! They didn’t TAKE the land; they never took it. They were convinced to accept it. Based on the second reason given, they could very well bring Bikkurim.

Moshe knew that bnei Gad and bnei Reven were settling the land anew and it wouldn’t have been possible to survive there without them being shown how to guide and lead their lives.

In parshas Vayetzei when the Torah how mentions Yaakov left his hometown, Rashi asks why the Torah feels the importance of mentioning this. He answers that when a tzaddik leaves town he makes an impact on the town and on the people. Reb Shmuel Berenbaum Zt”l asks, what about Avraham and Yitzchok? They were also our forefathers AND tremendous tzaddikim and yet when they left their hometowns there was no mention of this? Shouldn’t the Torah have said it by them as well? The Rosh Hayeshiva answered that Avraham represented chessed and Yitzchok represented gevurah while Yaakov represented ‘ish tam yoshev ohalim’! He sat in his tent and learned Torah. One may think that this effect is minimal because he is in his tent and is not seen. Same thing goes for all Torah scholars: All they do all day is sit inside and learn Torah and are not actively involved with the community or in chessed. What type of impact can they have on a town? Says Rav Shmuel it’s these people that make an impact and it’s these people that hold up the town! It needs to be mentioned by Yaakov specifically because he represents this idea of Torah scholars and their importance to the community.

The gemarah in Shabbos says that Yerushalayim was only destroyed due to the talmidei chochomim who were being disgraced. What about all the other reasons we’ve learnt, such as sinas chinum and the like?

The answer is when you have talmidei chochomim living amongst you, they can ensure that your city stays alive; they’re like a shield which protects your city. But once they’re disgraced and belittled, they lose their shield and their ability to protect. One of the ways, we can start to rebuild the Bais Hamikdash is by appreciating talmidei chochomim and realizing the positive effects and the benefits we all have from them in our midst.

B’ezras Hashem, if we all work on ourselves, and attempt to be mesaken the various aspects and reasons for the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash, we will then help in rebuilding it and we will once again be zoche to turn this day of aveilus into a day of simcha.

(Search by: parsha; chumash; devarim; chazon; tish b’av; 9 av; bais hamikdash; reb shmuel berenbaum; netziv; splitting up eretz yisroel; talmidei chochomim; gemarah in Shabbos; yerushalmi; bikkurim; vayetzei; yaakov leaving his hometown; sinas chinam; learning torah; chatzei shevet menashe)

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Parshas Matos/Massei-פרשת מטות ומסעי

July 8, 2010 // Posted in Weekly Parsha Divrei Torah (Tags: ) |  No Comments

When talking about a lady who makes a neder, a vow, the Torah notes that if she was to make a vow and her husband was to nullify it, even if she didn’t know that it was nullified, or she says ‘I don’t care’ and she breaks her promise, she still needs to get a kapara from Hashem - ‘vaHashem yislach la’. The gemarah in kedushin (81) wonders about this and asks why she needs atonement if there is no misdeed?  The gemarah answers, because she had intended on sinning and did not know that her husband had nullified her vow. Since she thought she was sinning, she requires atonement. The gemarah continues and makes a kal v’chomer: If someone who thinks they sinned has to ask forgiveness from Hashem, how much more forgiveness must one ask from Hashem for ACTUALLY sinning?

We learn from here a tremendous lesson. If someone intends to sin - even if he doesn’t actually do anything wrong - he still needs atonement. With this concept in mind I would like to share with you a powerful story on this subject.

There was Rosh Hayeshiva who would travel throughout the year to collect money for his institution. He would travel to many different out of town states and had specific people with whom he would stay by and with whom he would collect by. He would travel for a few days at a time and then come home to his family.

On one of his trips out of town, he would stay by a religious man who ate kosher, kept up with the daf hayomi and seemed to be a pious Jew. It happened that he was scheduled to fly home on a Thursday night but due to poor weather, his flight was canceled. With no way to get home, he phoned his host and asked if he would mind if he joined him for Shabbos. His host responded that it was not a problem, but there is something he must know. The Rosh Hayeshiva asked what it was and the man replied, ‘I just want to let you know that I desecrate the Shabbos.’ With complete shock the Rosh Hayeshiva asked him how this can be so. The man began with a story…

When I was just a young boy, in my teenage years, I found myself away from my family, in a country called America.  I was sent by my family to my relatives with whom I was to live by. When I arrived, they told me that they couldn’t just have me hang around because it was too expensive to support a teenager, especially when money was so scarce.  They told me I would need to chip in by going out and getting a job to help pay for my stay, food and upbringing.  With no other choice I set out and found myself a job.

That Friday afternoon, as I was getting ready to leave work, I told my boss to enjoy his weekend and that I would see him on Monday. With a puzzled look he asked me what I meant. When I told him that I keep Shabbos, he told me ‘no work Saturday means no work Monday. We’re operational six days a week here.’ Not wanting to desecrate Shabbos, I left and lost my job.

When I came home to my cousins they said to me that in order to stay with them they would need me to get another job to help with the expenses.  So I went out and looked for another job the following week, and I got one.  Unfortunately, the same thing happened at this job, too.  After my third job, I realized that I’m young and if I want to live and have a place to sleep at night and food to eat, I would have to work on Shabbos.  With that in mind, and with no other choices available, the following Shabbos morning I davened early and headed to work. I decided to minimize my desecration as much as possible and I walked twenty blocks to shul and then up six flights of stairs to my work. As I reached for the door I stretched out my hand and touched the doorknob. Upon feeling the cold knob, I let out a shriek and I yelled SHABBOS! I turned around and ran from the building as fast as my feet could carry me. I continued running and running until I had run out of breath and I literally fell on top of a bench and passed out.

When I awoke, I found a Jewish man with a beard sitting next to me. He asked me what I was doing there and I explained to him what had happened.  I told him that I came to the realization that in order for me to have a bed at night, and food to eat, I would have to work on Shabbos. He told me he would take care of me and that I didn’t need to work on Shabbos. He took me in to his home and watched over me until I got older.

Upon hearing this story, the Rosh Hayeshiva was confused; hadn’t the man told him that he desecrates the Shabbos?

The man answered, “On Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I was m’chalel Shabbos! When I made that decision, on every single one of those days, to go into work and desecrate the Shabbos, I was in essence m’chalel Shabbos every single day!” This man felt the need for atonement for intending to desecrate the Shabbos many years earlier.

That is the meaning of the pasuk; ‘vaHashem yislach la!’ Atonement for a sinning intention.

There are two elements to sinning. One is to sin and the other is to rebel. If a person has the intention to sin, then he is also rebelling. One must have an understanding that all Jews are servants of Hashem and we must recognize that our purpose on this world is to make Him proud.  Not only to stay away from sin, but to have no desire, no intention of ever considering a sin, even for the sake of our livelihood or even if we find out later that perhaps we didn’t actually sin. As we can see, even those ’sins’ need atonement.

(Search by: parsha; matos; parshas matos; chumash; torah; nullifying vows; making a vow; breaking a vow; needing a kapara; intending to sin; thinking about sinning; punishment for breaking a vow; rebelling; atonement for a sinning intention; desecrating Shabbos; kedushin)

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Parshas Pinchus-פרשת פנחס

July 1, 2010 // Posted in Weekly Parsha Divrei Torah (Tags: ) |  No Comments

We find in this week’s parsha that Moshe Rabbeinu requests from the Ribono Shel Olam to appoint his successor for klal Yisroel. Moshe understands he is not entering Eretz Yisroel and Hashem tells him to appoint another leader, as the pasuk says (27: 20) v’nasata mei’hodcha mei’alav…You shall place some of your majesty; not all. Rashi quotes a gemarah that says the face of Moshe was like the sun while the face of Yehoshua was that of the moon. The gemarah concludes (not quoted in Rashi) that the elders of bnei Yisroel said ‘woe unto us is the embarrassment- woe unto us as a k’lima‘.

The basic understanding of the aforementioned gemarah is that these elders who were zoche to live under the leadership of Moshe Rabeinu saw how the leadership diminished with the replacement of Yehoshua as their new leader. For this reason they let out a sigh.

The first question here is Yehoshua was also a respected person. Yes, he was not on the level of Moshe Rabbeinu, but he was still a navi and a tremendous talmud chochom. So why would the elders call it a busha, an embarrassment?

Secondly, Chazal say that the elders said ‘oy vey’ (so to speak) look at our new leader. It doesn’t seem appropriate for our elders to say such a thing? Why the negativity and the saddened heart by such a change of leaders?

The Chofetz Chaim answers with a powerful parable:

There was a small city that was mostly comprised of poor people, but there was one wealthy person who was in the diamond business. He wouldn’t just go to a wholesaler to buy diamonds; he would travel the world for long intervals. He knew how to dig, cut, polish and sell them. He knew it all, everything from A to Z. On one of his overseas trips home he put up a letter in the local town square advertising for an assistant. He needed help with his business and was looking to hire a competent individual. There were a lot of applicants who wanted the job, the reason being they wanted to be wealthy, like him. However, none of them liked the travelling schedule. Finally, one man who applied for the job was accepted. After a full year on the job watching his superior tend his affairs this man picks up the business quite quickly. He can do everything just like the boss. He expanded his boss’s business, opened new locations and made his boss even more successful than he already was. He not only became wealthy himself but he has also made a name for himself as a diamond expert. He was no longer an ‘assistant’ he was now his own established person bringing in plenty of money on the side as well.

When he returned home to the town where he originated from, the other people see him and they realized the missed opportunity they squandered. The owner was already established and he was already a powerful and wealthy businessman.  But the assistant, he was one of us! He was just like us and look what he became. He himself is successful, wealthy and well established now. Look at what we could’ve become!

So too is p’shat with the elders of klal Yisroel. They weren’t chas v’shalom upset by the fact that Yehoshua was becoming the leader or at the fact that their leadership diminished. They were saying that Yehoshua was on their level, he was just like them. He was one of the spies just as we were. At one point we were both equal but he studied and served Moshe Rabeinu and he slowly distanced himself from others and ultimately rose to becoming the manhig of klal Yisroel. They realized the missed opportunity that each and every one of them too had to become the future leader of klal Yisroel. Look what we could have become is why they were sighing.

There’s no greater frustration than growing up with someone and being equal with them only to later watch them grow and prosper to become something great. Only then will a person realize and see the opportunity that they too had to become a great person and yet they wasted it away…

Friends and classmates that rise through the ranks, be it in Torah or in any other matter, when a person looks back and says ‘we were equal; he was no better than me’-look what I could have been had I not wasted and passed up the opportunity back then. Only then will a person realize what he could’ve become.

Lets not wait for that to happen and each of us should open our eyes and look for the opportunities knocking at our doors constantly.

(Search by: torah; chumash; parsha; parshas pinchus; pinchus; chofetz chaim; seizing opportunities; not blowing opportunities; yehoshua leading klal Yisroel; elders of klal Yisroel; diamonds; bava basra)

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