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Parshas Vayakhel-פרשת ויקהל

February 24, 2011 // Posted in Weekly Parsha Divrei Torah (Tags: ) |  No Comments

The gemarah in berachos (55a) states that at the time Hashem commanded Moshe to build the Mishkon he told him “go to Betzalel and tell him to build the Mishkon followed by the Aron and kaylim. But Moshe went to Betzalel and reversed the order that Hashem told him. He commanded Betzalel to “make the Aron, kaylim and Mishkon. Betzalel then says ‘Moshe, shouldn’t the proper order be to first build the house (Mishkon) and then bring in the furniture (kaylim) and you’re telling me that I should first build the Aron and kaylim and then the Mishkon? Where am I going to house the kaylim that I am going to build? Maybe Hashem meant to first build the Mishkan and then the Aron and kaylim?’ It was at this point that Moshe responded שמה בצל א-ל היית וידעת, maybe you really knew what Hashem meant originally; and it was in that order that Betzalel did actually built the Mishkan.

What exactly was the reasoning behind what Moshe did on what Hashem had asked him to relay to Betzalel?

The Meshech Chochma tells us the fascinating reasoning into the thought process of Moshe rabbeinu.

What made the Mishkon so special? What was distinctive about it? The uniqueness was that it was comprised of donations made by all of klal Yisroel. But not just regular contributions; it was donations made by people who were beyond ecstatic.  They couldn’t hold back their joy and emotions; they were so contented to donate. It was the work; the art; the labor of klal Yisroel as a whole that made up the Mishkon. It took a group of individual gifts that made up one brand new entity.

The Meshech Chochma points out that every single yid is holy. There are things that are holier than a yid (man) too, like the Aron. The Aron by itself is much holier that a yid by himself. However, the kedusha of klal Yisroel as a whole exceeds all other kedusha in the world.  There is nothing holier than klal Yisroel as a whole. This is what the Mishkon symbolized; klal Yisroel as a whole, together. If all the individual donations weren’t built with that kavanah, then the Mishkon would lack representing klal Yisroel as a whole and the kedusha wouldn’t be there which would ultimately mean that something would be missing from the Mishkon.

Moshe was concerned that Betzalel lacked the ability to unite and to unify klal Yisroel by virtue of building the Mishkon. He felt he didn’t present that talent; that secret. So he first told him to build the Aron and the kaylim and then the Mishkon because he thought perhaps if Betzalel lacked the proper kavanah then the Mishkon would not be holier than the Aron and the full potential of the Mishkon wouldn’t be brought out.

From Betzalel’s response Moshe understood that he had the talent and the chochma, once he heard his response. To that, Moshe replied you are right… שמה בצל א-ל היית וידעת.

One can understand from here that when klal Yisroel is united and klal Yisroel is together in unity there is no greater kedusha in the world that can surpass that! Being b’achdus is the holiest thing in the world; holier than the Aron itself. The level that we, as a people, can reach when we are united with every Jew is unparallel to anything we can comprehend. We see what can happen on the contrary-with today’s current events-if we are chas v’shalom not. May we all be zoche to reach that level where Hashem will see that His nation is like one single person which will prompt Him to send Moshiach b’karov.

(Search by: chumash; parsha; vayakhel; pekudei; vayakhel-pekudei; building of the mishkon; betzalel; torah; meshech chochma; moshe and betzalel;achdus; staying united to reach the highest level of kedusha; klal yisroel as one person; the kedusha of the mishkon; berachos)

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Parshas Ki Sisa-פרשת כי תשא

February 17, 2011 // Posted in Weekly Parsha Divrei Torah (Tags: ) |  No Comments

In this weeks parsha we read about the sin of the Egel,  a nadir in our illustrious and rich history  Chazal tell us that this sin was so severe, that it was like being ‘mezaneh tachas chupa’. Hashem couldn’t punish us all at once for the sin, for that would work by annihilating the entire nation. Rather, He had to spread out the punishment throughout the future generations. It is extremely difficult to understand the mind set of klal Yisroel at the time of the Egel. Here was a nation that just experienced the greatest revelation in the history of the world with Matan Torah, yet they so quickly danced around the Egel saying ‘this is our god?’ How is it possible for klal Yisroel to do something like this?

The Bais Halevi says that one of the biggest criticism against klal Yisroel, was ’suru maher min haderech’ the fact that bnei Yisorel strayed and fell from being on such a high to stooping to such a low level in such a short amount of time. But the truth is that there is a Chazal that says Hashem told Moshe that ‘yesterday bnei Yisroel said naaseh v’nishma and the next day they called the Egel ‘ele-h elokecha Yisroel; that this calf took us out of Mitzrayim.‘ Chazal continue and say that the complaint of ’suru maher’ was that Hashem said ‘they misled me with their mouths, lied with their tongues and their hearts were not with me’. This was proof that the contrast from yesterday to today was a sign that yesterday wasn’t really legitimate when klal Yisroel said ‘naaseh v’nishma.‘

The pasuk in tehillim says ‘mi ya’aleh b’har Hashem, umi yakum b’mkom kodchoy’-who climbs the mountain of Hashem and who’s place is it next to the place of Hashem? The answer is he who climbs the mountain and stays there can say that he climbed the mountain of Hashem.

When a person tries to climb the har Hashem he has to do it in a slow pace so that they will remain there forever. Similar to climbing a ladder; a person needs to step up one rung at a time. If one tries to jump from the bottom of the ladder to the top and they can’t, that indicates that they were never ascending the ladder to begin with.

Hashem tells Moshe (32; 9)‘I have seen this people, and behold! It is a stiff-necked people’. What Hashem was saying is that had it just been the actual aveirah perhaps Hashem would have been able to deal with it. However, once Hashem said ‘am kishey oref hu’-He was saying that they are a stubborn nation; they would refuse to accept mussar.

The Chazon ish was often asked what to look for in a shidduch. His response was that one of the most important things to make sure of is that the other party is not stubborn. It is extremely unsafe to create a family with a person who cannot be mevater and give in, as there is only room for disaster.

The lesson we can learn from the parsha is a twofold approach to life. Firstly, a person has to take steady steps; steps that would ensure they won’t fall and to take them when they are ready. People will help as to which steps to take at which point of the game. We want a person to take the steps and be able to stay there.  Secondly, a person has to have the ability to accept and to listen. The combination of someone going at his pace and how he wants to do things, will lead to success.

When we said ‘naseh v’nishma’ did we really mean it? Not really. How do we know that? It is evident how things transpired with the Egel. Had we been sincere it would have never happened; we were stubborn and did not listen.

One summer Friday, Reb Shlomo Freifeld, Zt”l was once asked to bring a sefer Torah to the mountains. He agreed and it was placed in his car. While on the way up he got stuck in some heavy traffic. By the time he got to the bungalow colony it was only twenty minutes to Shabbos. As soon he pulled in, he asks a boy to take the sefer Torah and bring it to the shul instead of taking it himself.

After Shabbos he felt terrible about the way he had mistreated the sefer Torah-for he did not escort it to the shul himself.  From there on, every time he would get an aliyah he would hold the sefer Torah with his tallis-not actually touching the Atzi Chaim of the sefer Torah. He felt it wasn’t befitting for him to touch it after he treated it the way he did. He felt he hadn’t treated the Torah properly.

One day he saw a bachur doing the same. So he admonished the talmid and said, ‘Daniel, that’s not for you-that’s for me!’ He felt that he had to do something for his lack of kavod for the Torah. But he felt that he was on the level to do that. He felt others didn’t belong doing such a thing. Everyone has to know their place and to know how and when to do things. By realizing these two nekudos it will only cause one to succeed in their avodas Hashem.

May we all be zoche to grow by taking baby steps and even more important-we should be zoche to maintain the new levels that we aspire to and reach every day.

(Search by: parsha; chumash; ki sisa; parshas ki sisa; chazon ish; reb Shlomo freifeld; beis halevi; sin of the egel; chait ha’egel; how klal yisroel stooped so low so quickly; not being stubborn; willing to accept mussar)

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Parshas Tezaveh-פרשת תצוה

February 10, 2011 // Posted in Weekly Parsha Divrei Torah (Tags: ) |  No Comments

The name of Moshe Rabbeinu is omitted throughout the entire Parshas Tezaveh. Various rishonim offer different explanations as to the omission, since the name of Moshe is mentioned in every parsha from Shemos though Zos Habracha

The Meshech Chochma, at end of parshas Terumah, quotes a gemarah in yoma (38a) that seems irrelevant to this parsha. The gemarah states that one of the entrance ways to the Bais Hamikdash was named Sha’ar Niknur. The reason was because when a man named Niknur went to purchase these doors from Miztrayim, his ship encountered a terrible storm on the trip home. The crew decided to throw one of the two doors overboard to help save them. When that didn’t work, they decided to also throw over the second door. To their amazement, Niknur stepped forward and said if it goes over then I am going with it. Niknur was moser nefesh in order to save the doors. In the end, they did not throw the second door overboard and the storm calmed down.  Hashem performed a miracle that the door that was thrown overboard traveled on the bottom of the boat. The gemarah concludes that all the doors of the Bais Hamikdash were covered in gold except for this gate, the gate of Niknur, because of the miracle it experienced.

Continues the Meshech Chochma with a gemarah in bava kama (69) that whenever we quote a source from someone who risked their life for learning Torah, we do not acknowledge their name. The reason being is because we are not proud of what they did as one is not obligated to risk his life for that. The only time a person should risk his life, is for the three big aveiros (to murder, have immoral relations and serve avodah zara). For everything else we do not risk our lives.

According to the answer given above that Niknur was moser nefesh, and shouldn’t have, we should not have publicized his miracle! But, says the Meshech Chochma, the reason we do publicize the story with Niknur is because it was different. We may not publicize someone when he is moser nefesh for his individual learning-but for talmud Torah d’rabim one may and must give up his life; and for that we do publicize! The proof to this is from another gemarah, that Yehoshua was punished for not learning Torah during the war. It is for this reason that we refer to the Torah as ‘zichru Toras Moshe’, since Moshe risked his life to go up to shomayim and learn the Torah. We learn from here that for talmud Torah d’rabim there IS a concept of being moser nefesh.

The Meshech Chochma states this in parshas Terumah, but what’s the connection? It seems that it is in the wrong parsha?

In reality, this vort should have been the first piece in parshas Tezaveh, because some want to say that this is why Moshe’s name is not mentioned in the parsha. Being that he risked his life for Torah-and he shouldn’t have, he wasn’t mentioned in this weeks parsha. It is for this reason that the Meshech Chochma begins parshas Tezaveh by saying that one who is moser nefesh d’rabim-the law of not acknowledging their name is not applicable. Really it was supposed to be in parshas Tezaveh and not Terumah, but this proves the notion that Moshe’s name was omitted because he risked his life for Torah.

There’s another beautiful idea mentioned in the Ba’al Haturim. Initially, Moshe was supposed to receive the kehuna and it was to remain in his family forever. However, it was taken away from him as a punishment when he attempted to get out of his shlichus by trying to avoid taking the yidden out of Mitzrayim. In addition to that, this parsha also deals mainly with the halachos pertaining to kohanim. The Torah was so sensitive to the feelings of Moshe Rabbeinu that in order to avoid the pain he would experience, it avoids mentioning his name in this parsha; to spare him the anguish and pain.

There was a bachur learning in Eretz Yisroel by Harav Moshe Shapiro, and there was a recently widowed lady whom with her five yesomim was to spend Succos in Eretz Yisroel. She called this bachur and asked if he could arrange for her a meeting with Reb Moshe. The bachur went back and asked Reb Moshe if he had time to meet with her. He approved, but with two conditions. First, the bachur had to be present and second, I don’t want to bother her so tell her I will come to her. The bachur said fine and arranged a meeting to be at 11am in a hotel lobby.

Reb Moshe makes up with this bachur that he will come to yeshiva and meet him so they can walk together to the meeting. At 10 am the bachur goes to hotel to remind this widow of the meeting but she is nowhere to be found. He calls; checks the dining room; knocks on the door…to no avail. For forty five minutes he’s running around looking for her to make sure she’s on time to the meeting. He finally returns to yeshiva to greet his rebbe and informs him of his unsuccessful attempts of finding her. Needless to say, this bachur felt humiliated with the absence of this ‘friend’. Reb Moshe said that he will stay a while in yeshiva and learn. Meanwhile, the bachur returns to the hotel and again she is nowhere to be found. Upon returning to yeshiva he apologizes profusely to the Rosh Hayeshiva for having wasted his precious time.

As he leaves, he turns to the bachur and says ‘when you see her don’t even mention my name, because she will have tzar that she made me wait and did not show up; forget this whole thing even happened!’

The sensitivity that Reb Moshe showed was exactly this Ba’al Haturim. Here we have an adam gadol who runs many kollelim throughout Eretz Yisroel, saying thirty shiurim a week, only davens vasikin and the list goes on and on! His forty five minutes is very valuable! Yet, he made this bachur promise not to even mention his name! We don’t even mention Moshe’s name here because we don’t want to cause the slightest bit of tzar. That is how a yid thinks.

(Search by: parshas tezaveh; meshech chochma; yoma; bava kama; reb moshe Shapiro; moshes name omitted; niknur; Talmud torah d’rabim; being moser nefesh; being sensitive towards another person)

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Parshas Terumah-פרשת תרומה

February 3, 2011 // Posted in Weekly Parsha Divrei Torah (Tags: ) |  No Comments

This week’s parsha discusses the building of the mishkan. The Ramban raises an interesting question. Sefer Bereishis is called sefer Hayetzira (the book of birth) because it contains the creation of the world, the history of the avos and the historic foundation of the universe. Sefer Shemos, however, is referred to as the sefer Hageulah (book of redemption). In reality the geulah was put on hold in parshas Beshalach. The rest of the sefer has nothing to do with the geulah; we have matan Torah, the mishkan, etc…. Why then, would we name the entire sefer after the geulah?

The Ramban answers that while klal Yisroel was in Mitzrayim and enslaved to the Egyptians, there were two distinct types of enslavements. One was a physical enslavement and the other was a spiritual enslavement. Until klal Yisroel actually built the Mishkan they were enslaved spiritually; up until that point, the bnei Yisroel were not on the lofty level that their forefathers had achieved. The avos had the ability to live with the Shechina on a daily basis; we were able to reach that level too, but only once there was a Mishkan. The presence of the Shechina was a permanent presence, and elevated us to the madrega of the avos. It was at that point that we were considered completely liberated from Mitzaryim.

When the Ribono Shel Olam appointed Moshe as the chosen one to lead the bnei Yisroel, he responded by saying why would they believe me? Hashem told him that klal Yisroel had a mesorah that the redeemer was going to use the words ‘pakod pakadity’. If he says those words klal Yisroel would know that he is the real redeemer sent from Hashem.

Asks the Ramban, if this was so well known, why wouldn’t an imposter get up and say those magic words and have the entire klal Yisroel thinking he is the redeemer?

Reb Shea’la Kutna Zt”l explains that it wasn’t the mere fact of saying these two magic words that would make them believe he was the redeemer. The redeemer would have to show signs and promises of redeeming them from both elements of slavery-hence the double loshon in the pasuk. Moshe came and told them that Hashem would take them out of Mitzarayim and then he give the mitzvos, the Torah, etc; he was addressing both aspects of the geulah. The real redeemer had to be willing to save them from both a spiritual and physical destruction .

The level of Shechina in the homes of the Avos was the same in the Mishkan. The Meshech Chochma says that after Eliezer realized that Rivka was the one for Yitzchok, the pasuk says that he bowed to Hashem. However, when he comes into Lavan’s house it says ‘va’yishtachavu artzah l’Hashem’. Why was there a change in loshon? The reason was that outside there were stones and it was assur to bow on the ground but once he entered Lavan’s house he was able to bow fully on the ground. He was teaching us a lesson: we don’t bow on the ground when there are items around us that may imply as if we are bowing to anyone other than Hashem.

Comments the Meshech Chochma that this lesson is taught to us by Eliezer and not by the avos themselves because the house of the avos was like the Bais Hamikdash and you were allowed to bow down on the floor! But once Eliezer left their house he couldn’t bow on the ground anymore! That’s why the lesson had to be taught davka now and davka through Eliezer; it couldn’t be taught in the house of the avos because it was permitted to bow there just as it was permitted to do so in the Bais Hamikdash! Such was the atmosphere in the house of the avos.

The lesson we must take from here is that we have to attempt to make our homes a haven where the Shechina is comfortable resting. We must strive, at all costs, to keep our homes a safe haven for Hashem to be comfortable resting in. We must be careful of  what we say and read as we try to maintain a certain level of kedusha because we all want the Shechina to reside in our homes.

(Search by: terumah; reb shea’la kutna; meshech chochma; sefer hageulah; ramban; spiritual enslavement; two slaveries; pakod pakadity; redeemer of klal yisroel; making our homes a haven for Hashem; maintaining kedusha in our homes; attaining the level of the avos)

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