Parshas Shoftim

Let’s Use The Power!

 

“She called the Name Hashem Who had spoken to her. You are Almighty Who sees ….” (Bereishis 16:13)

In the city of Ofakim, there was a couple who were not blessed with children for many years. Many years of treatment and visiting doctors in many parts of the world did not bring the desired results. One day, the rav of Ofakim, Rav Shimshon Dovid Pincus zt”l told the husband to come to his house after midnight. He did so. Rav Shimshon ushered him outside and into his car. Rav Shimshon drove for a long time. Finally, he stopped in the middle of the desert and told the husband to leave the car. “Right here, right now, you will be alone in the desert. Just you and the Ribbono Shel Olam. Now is the time for you to break down and cry real tears. Daven to Hashem like you’ve never davened before. Hashem wants to hear your t’fillos – and in the merit of this s’gulah, you will see a salvation. I will come back for you in a half hour.” The man got out of the car. All alone, in the pitch darkness, he davened. He begged and screamed and davened like never before. Thirty minutes later, Rav Shimshon drove up and rolled down his window. “No, you did not cry enough,” said the Rav to the astonished man. “This is not how to cry. Cry! Really cry! Beg and plead and cry from the depths of your heart and soul! Give it every, last ounce of energy. Use all of your remaining strength! Then, you will see salvation!” Rav Shimshon rolled his window back up and drove away a second time! The young man walked back into the desert night and let it all out. He screamed at the top of his lungs and cried to the point of total exhaustion. When Rav Shimshon pulled up 30 minutes later, he got out of the car and smiled. “Yes! This is what I meant by crying!” The man’s face was bright red and he was soaked through and through from perspiration and buckets and buckets of salty tears! “Now, you will surely see Hashem’s salvation,” concluded the Rav. Nine months later, almost to the day, the couple was blessed with a beautiful, healthy baby boy!

How great is the power of true t’fillah from the depths of one’s heart! (Queens Jewish Link by Rabbi Dovid Hoffman)

Teshuvah, Tefilla and Tzedakah annul the evil decrees against us.

We are already in the month of Elul, preparing for Rosh Hashana, Yom Hadin. Prayer is one important area to strengthen. We can reap great dividends from it!

v The Talmud (Brachos 28B) tells us that each time Rabbi Necḥunya ben Hakana entered the beis midrash to learn Torah or exited the beis midrash, he recited a brief prayer. When he entered, he prayed for Divine help that he should not make a mistake in his learning or teaching Torah.  Upon exiting he thanked Hashem for giving him the great privilege of learning Torah.

Rabbi Menachem Meiri, a Rishon from the 1200’s, says we can learn from this that anytime we need any type of help we should compose a prayer, in our own words, asking Hashem for what we need. This will help us always feel connected to Hashem.

v Hagar, our Matriarch Sarah’s maidservant who also became our Patriarch Avraham’s wife, ran away from Sarah to the desert (Bereishis 16:6). Angels appeared to her, each one giving a different message. They told her to return to Avraham and Sarah and that if she showed proper respect to Sarah then she would become pregnant and have a son, Yishmael.

Rashi says that Hagar understood that the angels were representatives who were sent by Hashem. She had been used to seeing angels coming to Avraham’s house. She was surprised that she saw them in the wilderness. She responded by offering a prayer to Hashem, “She called [She prayed in] the Name Hashem Who had spoken to her. [She said] You are Almighty Who sees [everything]….” (Bereishis 16:13)

Sforno explains that Hagar’s new insight caused her to daven to Hashem. In her tefillah she praised Hashem for noticing her pain. Until now she had assumed that revelations from Hashem were confined to Avraham’s house. Now she learned that Hashem may reveal Himself in any location. She learned that Hashem notices people’s pain. That inspired her to increase her level of tefillah as she praised Hashem. 

Rav Henach Leibowitz zt”l said when we daven, if we would realize the extent of how much Hashem cares about us and how much Hashem feels our pain, it would inspire us to daven with complete kavana, concentration!

v Before Moshe passed away, he criticized Klal Yisroel for not davening to Hashem to remove the decree that forbade him from entering Eretz Yisroel. The Midrash (Devarim 7:10) states that Moshe told Klal Yisroel that he davened to Hashem to save them from annihilation due to the sin of the golden calf. Moshe said, “One person could redeem 600,000 by the egel but 600,000 could not redeem one person?” Rav Henach Leibowitz zt”l said that it is not logical to say that the Jewish People did not daven at all for Moshe. After all, he had done so much for them.  The Jews did daven! However, the decree was very strong, and it required a very strong prayer to remove it. Prayer comes from the heart and there are different levels of intensity that are possible. Moshe was telling the Jewish People, had you davened with even more intensity and with more tears, then the decree against me would have been removed.

Maharzu says (Devarim 3:11) in order for Klal’s Yisroel’s tefillah to have been effective to remove the decree against Moshe, they would have had to initiate the tefillah on their own. They did not. Even had Moshe told them explicitly to daven for him, the tefillah would not have been powerful enough to have their request granted.

The power of our prayers is increased by the level of sincerity of our tears and the deep feeling in our hearts. An added nuance of feeling can make the difference in how our tefillah is answered.

Anytime we need any type of help we should compose a prayer, in our own words, asking Hashem for what we need. The realization of the extent of how much Hashem cares about us, will inspire us to daven with more kavana, concentration! Prayer comes from the heart and there are different levels of intensity that are possible. Every added nuance of feeling can make the difference in how our tefillah is answered. We have the power of prayer. Let’s use it!

 

Parshas Shoftim

Don’t Judge a Book By Its Cover. It Is What Is Inside That Counts

“Do not plant an Asheirah for yourself [or] any tree near the altar of Hashem….” (Devarim 16:21)

The Talmud relates an interesting story (Ta’anis 7A-7B and Nedarim 50B). Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya was not good looking. The daughter of the Roman emperor said to him, “You are the epitome of magnificent Torah, but it is stored in an ugly vessel”. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya responded by asking, “Does your father keep his wine in simple clay vessels? Is there no distinction between the emperor and ordinary people? You should place your wine in vessels of silver and gold.”  After hearing this, the emperor’s daughter had her father’s wine placed in vessels of silver and gold. A short time afterwards, the emperor tried drinking the wine, but it had all turned sour. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya wanted to demonstrate that fine material is best preserved in the least of vessels. Rabbi Yehoshua said to her, “The same is also true of the Torah. It spoils if it is contained in a handsome person”. She asked him, “But are there not people who are both good looking and learned in Torah?” He replied, “If they were ugly, they would be even more learned.”

 

The Torah (Devarim 16:21) prohibits the planting of an asheirah (a tree devoted to idolatry) on the Temple Mount, near the mizbayach for Hashem. The Rambam (Laws of Avoda Zara 6:9) explains that it was the practice of idolators to plant trees near their altars, to attract attention and encourage people to come and serve the idol. The Da’as Zekainim says that the idolaters brought sacrifices on their altars in honor of those trees.

The Ba’al HaTurim says that the gematria, the numerical value, of the word asheirah (506) is the same as the value of the phrase, “a judge who is not fitting” [dayan she’aino hagun]. That indicates that anyone who appoints a judge who is not fit, is considered as if he planted an asheirah tree near the mizbayach. Rav Chaim Soleveitchik zt”l quotes the Talmud (Sanhedrin 7) citing Raish Lakish who says that whoever appoints a judge who is unworthy, is considered as if he had planted an asheirah. What’s the comparison? An object that is worshipped as an idol, is evident that it is an idol. It is obvious to any Jew who sees it that it is an idol, and he knows to move far away from it. An asheirah is different. To the naked eye, it looks like any beautiful tree. In reality, the tree is an idol. This is comparable to the appointment of an unworthy man to be a judge. His outward appearance may be regal, befitting a judge. Inwardly, however, he is unfit for the job. He will have a negative impact on truth and justice. (quoted in Ituri Torah by Aharon Yaakov Greenberg).

Similarly, the Sforno says that an asheirah is something beautiful and decorative. Yet, at the same time it is, in actuality, something ugly from the vantage point of holiness, since it leads to idolatrous practices. When choosing a judge, we should choose one who possesses positive spiritual qualities rather than an unworthy one who only makes a good superficial impression.

According to the Talmud (Sanhedrin7A), the appointment of a judge in a Jewish court has major repercussions for all the Jewish People. Any judge who does not render a judgment truthfully, causes the Divine Presence to withdraw from the Jewish People. Conversely, any judge who does render a judgment honestly, causes the Divine Presence to rest among the Jewish People.

Reuven visited older adults in a nursing home. Initially, he felt that these were simply “old” people. When he spoke to them, he realized that they were much more than that. Many of them had accomplished much in their lives. Some were even heroes. One lady had fought in the Resistance, fighting the Nazis. One man had been a principal of a Jewish school and had encouraged thousands of children to draw closer to Hashem. One man was a firefighter who had saved numerous people from burning buildings. When Reuven left the nursing home, he had an entirely new perspective on life. He understood that just as you can’t judge a book by its cover, you can’t judge a person by what they look like.

We should not label others and judge them by the way that they look. There can be great people, righteous people, and accomplished people sitting right next to us, unbeknown to us. There can be people who maintained faith in Hashem through difficult challenges, thus making them very special people. There can be someone who merely did one good deed; yet that deed was very precious to Hashem. We are incapable of “rating” others, as only Hashem knows one’s abilities and what he is capable of. We should not be arrogant. The person upon whom we are looking down, may actually have a greater portion in the World to Come than we have. We must have respect for all people. Our mutual respect for one-another will foster feelings of love and respect. May these actions help speed the coming of Moshiach.