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Parshas Chayei Sarah-פרשת חיי שרה

October 28, 2010 // Posted in Weekly Parsha Divrei Torah (Tags: ) |  No Comments

After last week’s spellbinding account of the akeida, this week we start off by revealing the death of Sara Imeinu. The pasuk says (23: 2) ‘Sara died in Kiryas Arbeh……and Avraham came to eulogize Sara and to bewail her.’ Rashi comments that the reason why the parsha of Sara’s death is juxtaposed to the story of the akeida is to tell us that when Sara heard that her son was nearly slaughtered, her soul departed from her body.

The gemarah in Bava Basra (16) relates the conversation the Satan had with Hashem, in reference to the story of Iyov. The Satan tells Hashem ‘I have flown around the world and I haven’t met anyone who served you like Avraham did. There is no one in this world like him.’ What was his proof? The Satan continues, ‘Avraham was told that you’ll give him the land (Eretz Yisroel) and yet, when he had to bury Sara he had to pay for a burial plot.  And throughout the whole ordeal Avraham did not utter a complaint to Hashem.’

When one mentions the holy name ‘Avraham Avinu’ what does a person associate it with? The ten nisyonos, chessed, hachnasas orchim, etc…why did the Satan select this specific episode when he was proving to Hashem that no one in this world serves him like Avraham did?

Rav Leib Bakst Zt’l answers with a powerful point for us all to take to heart.

If you’ll notice, the pasuk ends off with the word ‘V’livkosa, to bewail her.’ In the spelling of this word the Torah uses a small ‘kof’. Why is that letter small? The GR”A explains that Avraham was careful not to cry too much for Sara. He thought if he would wail and moan excessively, it would appear as if he regretted the whole ma’aseh akeida, which ultimately led to Sara’s death!

If we were to study this for a moment and think about what happened, we would find it astounding. Avraham passed the biggest nisayon in the world; almost slaughtering his only son. He had also just lost his wife. Yet, he contemplated that he might lose his reward for having the smallest doubt in what was done, so he made sure not to cry too much!

The gemarah in kedushin (40) says that if a person was a tzaddik gamur his whole entire life and at the end of his life he rebels, he loses all his zechusim he previously accumulated. The gemarah concludes, that this only applies when the person had regrets for all the good that he did. That means, that just like by virtue of repenting one has the ability to totally uproot his misdeeds, so too by a good deed should someone regret what he has done he loses all his reward.

Sometimes a person has a nisayon to do something good and when he finishes it, he feels good. However, the nisayon isn’t over just yet because the Satan comes along and tries to get the person to regret the good they have just done so they can lose their reward. He’ll say ‘look what happened because of the good you have done.”

This is why the Satan used this as his example. Hashem told Avraham that he will have a son; Hashem then gave him a child. He then tells him to slaughter this son and Avraham listens. He promised him Eretz Yisroel for that and then Sara dies. When Sara died, he had no place to bury her. It was at this point that Avraham could have regretted everything he had previously done for Hashem and given up his faith in Him! From the fact that he didn’t, said the Satan, is my proof that no one serves you like Avraham. It was at this moment where the inner strength of Avraham shone the brightest!

This can also explain what we say in Maariv. ‘V’haser satan milfaneinu u’mayacharaynu’; we ask Hashem to remove the Satan from in front of us and from behind us.’ What does it mean from behind us? The Satan tries to highlight all the negative effects of our good deeds, after we do them, in order to bring us to regret what we have done. It is this that we ask Hashem to help us prevent.

May we all be zoche to not only endure all of our challenges but to never regret a good deed we do and in this zechus may Hashem bring the geula speedily in our days!

(Search by: chumash; parsha; chayei sara; parshas chayei sara; rav leib bakst; gr”a; vilna goan; not regretting a good deed; bava basra; kedushin; satan conversing with Hashem; nisyonos; Avraham euligixing Sara; sara’s death; not questioning Hashem; losing ones reward for regretting good deeds)

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Parshas Vayera-פרשת וירא

October 21, 2010 // Posted in Weekly Parsha Divrei Torah (Tags: ) |  No Comments

When Hashem was preparing to annihilate Sedom, He makes a decision to inform Avraham of his plans. He tells Avraham that they are an appalling and corrupt place and the only way to put a stop to this is to obliterate the entire city. Avraham acts as a defender for Sedom, and asks Hashem if he will spare the city’s destruction, if he could find 50 righteous people.  Hashem answers he would, and as we see in the pasukim 50 righteous individuals were not found. He then proceeds to ask Hashem how about 45 people and 40 and 30 and 20 and 10, etc…

There seems to be a discrepancy in the loshon that is used in the pasuk. When Avraham asked Hashem to save Sedom should He find either 40 or 30 tzadikim, the pasuk uses a loshon of ‘lo e’eseh’, I will not do anything. Why? Because the zechusim of 50 tzadikim was significant enough to hold back the wrath of Hashem. But when Avraham asks Hashem if He can find either 20 or 10 people the pasuk says ‘lo ashchis’, I will not destroy. This implies that there will be some type of calamity but that Hashem will not completely wipe out the city. This was due to the fact that there was not a significant amount of tzadikim there to hold back Hashems wrath. However, by forty five people the pasuk uses the same loshon of ‘lo ashchis’, I will not destroy, that was used by 20 or 30 people. Given the amount of tzadikim there, shouldn’t the pasuk have used the loshon of ‘lo e’eseh’, I will not do anything, just as it used it by 40 and 30?

The Meshech Chochma answers with a yesod for us all to learn from.

In Pirkei Avos it says ‘know who will you stand before and before whom you will give a DIN and CHESHBON’. What are these two things? Din, we know, is judgment. What is cheshbon? The GR“A writes that cheshbon is,  that you get punished not only for the misdeed you committed but also for the mitzvah you could’ve done and did not carry out. These are the two elements in every judgment. One is that you did the actual misdeed and the second is that you did not do a mitzvah.

Now make the following computation. Avraham says ‘maybe there are forty five tzadikim in Sedom…’ forty five divided by five, for the five cities within Sedom, comes out that there are nine righteous people for each of the five cities.  Says the Meschech Chochma, if that scenario is true that there were only nine tzadikim in their city, then they are only one short. Every person, besides those nine, could have been the tenth man had they  applied themselves. Becoming the tenth tzaddik, could have saved an entire city. Yet, nobody moved and no one changed! At forty five people the punishment was more severe, because the Ribono Shel Olam took into consideration that each person had the responsibility to be the tenth tzaddik. From the fact of reality that they didn’t, their penalty was much greater. If there were forty people and each city only had eight tzadikim then people can say even if I’m the ninth, how do I know there will be a tenth? But by nine tzadikim, no one felt the urge and desire to improve themselves and to save the city. Therefore, their punishment was greater.

Every person has to understand, that what he does can affect more people than he thinks. If someone has the opportunity to participate in the enhancement of kovod shem shomayim and its attainable, yet he decides to pass on it, that creates destruction. They had nine people in the city! There should have been one person there who felt a responsibility to be the tenth to be mekadesh shem shomayim!

May we all be zoche to not only realize when opportunities are knocking at our door but to also grab and act on them; and IY”H by doing so we can prevent future misfortune in the world.

Search by: torah; chumash; parsha; parshas vayera; vayera; meshech chochma; vilna goan; gra; kovod shem shomayim; applying yourself; destruction of sedom; taking responsibility; having an effect on others; feeling a responsibility)

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Parshas Lech L’cha-פרשת לך לך

October 14, 2010 // Posted in Weekly Parsha Divrei Torah (Tags: ) |  No Comments

The parsha begins with Hashem telling Avraham to leave his land, his place of birth and his father’s house to travel to an unfamiliar destination. Rashi comments on this and says ‘Liha’anascha U’litovascha; for your pleasure and enjoyment.’ The understandable question is, what type of pleasures can Avraham Avinu possibly experience? He was to leave his comfort zone and live amongst strangers, away from his family and away from the land that he was familiar with. What type of benefit and good can he gain from this?

Rav Moshe Leib שחור, Zt”l, (in his sefer ‘Avnei Shoham’) brings down the following story, and based on this we can appreciate the answer.

There was a Rav in a certain city that would devote much of his valuable time tending to the noble mitzvah of Pidyun Shvuyin, (releasing prisoners from jail). One evening, when the Rav was home, there was a knock on his door. When the Rav opened it, he found himself standing in front of two policemen. Without any explanation they told the Rav that he must come with them and they proceeded to read him his rights. They whisked him away and off to jail he was escorted.

As mazel would have it, he was sharing his jail cell with a wise old man. The man came over to the Rav and proclaimed the following: ‘the reason why Hashem made this happen to you was that you should really feel like a prisoner. You can now actually feel what real prisoners go through. In order for you to have a greater appreciation for your righteous work and understand the mindset inmates are feeling when you visit them. He wants you to appreciate what you do even more!

Avraham Avinu was the pillar of chesed. His entire life was dedicated to hachnasas orchim, inviting in guests. Hashem wanted Avraham to see how appreciative people are of his work. He wanted that Avraham Avinu should taste what it was like not to be at home. Through this, Avraham had the authentic feeling of what a guest feels like! He can now have an even bigger appreciation for the mitzvah, which he perform ed so blissfully, permitting him to achieve this on a higher level.

We find an identical idea in the sefer Hachinuch. The sefer Hachinuch writes that one of the mitzvos is ‘V’ahavta es HaGer; to love the Ger’. Interestingly, the Torah tells us the reason of this is ‘because we were Geirim in the land of Mitrayim.’ The sefer Hachinuch points out that we already tasted first hand living in discomfort. Once we have this understanding of what that uneasiness is like, we are now compelled to reach out even more and to love the Ger.

Many a time a person is inflicted, lo aleinu, with a terrible nisyon. Be it work related, in learning, in marriage, or in any other field. One must keep in mind that everything happens for a reason and that might just be the reason of Hashem, for us to feel what it’s like. Perhaps, in the future, the tables will turn and we will be able to look back and be of assistance to another person.  As you will be able to conjure up the memories and feelings in your mind and say ‘I remember what this was like when I was going through this’,  perhaps, it will enable you to help that person overcome their challenge.

May we all be zoche to only experience nisyonos that will elevate us to a higher level of serving Hashem until the Cohanim will ultimately do the avodah in the Beis Hamikdash speedily in our days!

(Search by: parsha; torah; parshas lech l’cha; lech licha; rav moshe leib schur; welcoming guests; tables turning; feeling like a stranger; loving thy Ger; chumash; parsha; doing chesed; appreciating what you do even more)

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Parshas Noach-פרשת נח

October 7, 2010 // Posted in Weekly Parsha Divrei Torah (Tags: , ) |  No Comments

When the flood was over and the land dried up, Hashem tells Noach that he, his wife and sons should depart the teiva. Upon exiting, the pasuk (8: 21) says “Then Noach built an altar to Hashem and took every pure animal and bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. Hashem smelled the pleasing aroma and proclaimed: ‘I will not curse the ground anymore, because of man, since man’s heart is evil from their youth; I will not continue to smite every living being as I have done.’”

Noach spent one hundred and twenty years building the teiva. He took care of the all the animals needs, day and night. After the mabul was over, when he finally has a chance to let everyone go free and take a breathier, he brings a korban to Hashem. It seems that this was a major turning point in the parsha. This act seems to have appeased Hashem tremendously. As the pasuk says, after smelling the Korban, Hashem says ‘I will not curse the ground anymore, because of man, since man’s heart is evil from their youth’.

Firstly, what was so unique about the korban that it, k’viyachol, ‘convinced’ Hashem to change his mind-set, that He says He won’t destroy mankind anymore?

Secondly, the aforementioned pasuk (8: 21) says that Hashem stated ’since man’s heart is evil from their youth.’ Meaning a person has an inkling of wickedness instilled in him from the get go. The Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh asks, in Bereishis, if Hashem knew that the yetzer hara is detrimental for us, then why did create it all together?

The Ohr HaChaim answers that Hashem created the yetzer hara for our benefit. It was instilled in all of us in order to obtain schar when we perform a mitzvah. Imagine if we didn’t have a yetzer hara…there would be no challenge to perform mitzvohs. Hashem in his infinite wisdom fashioned us with a yetzer hara opposing our every step not to do the mitzvohs. Life is one big test! When we overcome this obstacle our reward will triple, as the mishna in Avos tells us ‘l’fum tzara agra.’

When Noach departed from the teiva, let us try to understand what his mind set was. He was bottled up in the teiva for a year; surrounded by animals and garbage. What would be the first thing any of us would do if we were in that situation? Either we would get away for a bit (vacation) or at least take a long hot shower! But that is not what Noach did! The first thing Noach did was bring a korban to Hashem.

Hashem saw a person who just experienced a very hard ordeal and had every right to tend to his own needs, but not Noach. His top priority was not himself; his actions exhibited a tremendous strength of character. To show Hashem that serving him is what was important to him, even before tending to his own basic needs. When Hashem saw this and He smelled the aroma from the korban He said it’s these people that I want to build a world with, despite the fact that they have an inner yetzer hara which makes them ‘evil from their youth.’

We find a similar idea by the holocaust where millions of yidden were destroyed and witnessed the annihilation of the eastern European Jewry. Yet, what did these survivors do- they rebuilt a new world; they came to a new place, a new land, and started from scratch in rebuilding communities and families. This teaches our generation, that even in the most difficult times one must understand that Hashem is the most important factor and we serve Him no matter what. They learnt this lesson from their parents, who learn it from their ancestors, who were imbued with this middah from Noach.

May we all be zoche to show our hidden strengths and to always serve the Ribono Shel Olam, even in our most trying times.

(search by: parsha; chumash; noach; parshas noach; torah; ohr hachaim; knowing Hashem the main factor; showing your hidden strentgths; mabul; teiva; noach brining a korban; serving Hashem in a difficult time; fighting the yetzer hara; the aroma of the korban)

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