Parshas Pinchas

Don’t Get Hot Under the Collar!

“Pinchas… has turned My anger away from My people by his zealously avenging Me among Them… Therefore, say, ‘I hereby give him My covenant of peace’.” (Bamidbar 25:11-12)

We have no shortage of extremists in today’s world. You are wearing a fur coat and an animal rights activist dumps blood on your coat. You don’t believe the myth of climate change and activists call on everyone to boycott your store. You knew a nice doctor who had to perform an abortion to save the mother’s life. He was killed by an activist who is against abortion at all costs. The activist asks, “How can you kill a fetus which is a human life?” He neglects to realize that the doctor was also a human. Or what about the Jewish activists, the Biryonim, who wanted to fight the Romans (during the siege of Jerusalem, before the destruction of the Second holy Temple) and burned the storehouses of food to force the people to their point of view. This extremism illustrates the power of emotion over reason in shaping our views, and the dangerous lengths those emotions can carry us to.

How was Pinchas any different than these extremists? He violently killed the prince of the tribe of Shimon. Why did Hashem reward such a person with priesthood and eternal peace (Some say he was also blessed with an exceedingly long life-span).

The actions of Pinchas were different in a few ways. He followed the only TRUTH. He was totally calm and not in the throes of emotion. He also asked permission from Moshe Rabbeinu.

There are extremists on both sides – Each side feels that they are correct based on their OPINIONS. The only REAL TRUTH is what Hashem tells us in the Torah. Pinchas followed TRUTH as dictated by the Torah. The Torah says that when a Jew sins with a non-Jew in public, an observer who is truly concerned about Hashem’s honor and so despises evil, has permission to kill him. Pinchas saw a dastardly action being done- a clear chilul (disrespect of) Hashem. He was not swept up in a flood of emotions when he proceeded to impale Zimri on his spear. Rather, he was a true zealot who followed the law of the Torah. He was totally in control of himself. He saw a terrible action and then asked Moshe for permission to act. Moshe gave him the permission he requested. Pinchas’ quick action appeased Hashem’s anger and ended the plague which killed 24,000 other Jews who had sinned immorally.

Pinchas had very strong emotions for Hashem’s honor-Otherwise he would have been forbidden to kill Zimri. Yet he was able to control those emotions and think rationally, “Am I acting according to Hashem’s will?”

Many times, we see or hear things that are very disturbing to us, and perhaps even forbidden by the Torah. Our actions must always be controlled by reason. Otherwise we may act in the wrong way or even do the same thing we are upset about. The person controlled by emotion may be so upset that if someone is talking in shul and disturbing others, that he may scream out, “How dare you disturb the davening of others!” Of course, besides sinning by embarrassing someone publicly, he is doing the very same wrong that he is protesting. In his righteous indignation, he is also disturbing the davening of others- probably even more so than the first person.

During difficult, emotional moments, we must strive hard to maintain our calm and think rationally.
We can’t allow our emotions to control us. We can overcome them and be strong.

Parshas Balak

Be a Say-Little and Not a Do-Little!

“For I will honor you greatly” (Bamidbar 22:17)    “Balak slaughtered cattle and sheep and sent [some] to Balaam” (Bamidbar 22:40)

A small group of tourists wanted to experience the Passover seder of a particular, distinguished rabbi. The rabbi agreed to host them and named a sum of money to cover the cost of the meals. They happily agreed. After the holiday, the tourists thanked the rabbi for a beautiful and inspirational experience. As they were leaving, the rabbi handed them an envelope, containing all the money they had given him for the cost of the meals. “Why are you returning the money? We got more than our money’s worth”. The rabbi replied, “Had I not charged you, you wouldn’t have felt as comfortable eating to your heart’s desire. I returned the money because I don’t want to be paid for the great mitzvah of having guests”.

This rabbi exhibited the trait of tzadikim, as Shamai said, “Say little and do much”. As the Maharsha (B.M. 87A) explains, sometimes a potential guest won’t want to bother or burden a host. If the host initially offers a little, the guest will more readily accept his offer. The host can always offer more later.

This is exactly what our forefather Avraham did when he was visited by three “Arab travelers” soon after he had a circumcision. Avraham realized that the travelers didn’t want to bother him. Therefore, all he offered them was some bread to refresh themselves. That, they were willing to accept. Once, the guests were already seated, Avraham prepared a magnificent feast for them. They were already seated and were not expecting so much, so they stayed.

Contrast this behavior to that of two wicked people who exhibited the opposite trait- Say much and do little. Avraham wanted to buy the cave of Machpelah to bury his wife, Sarah. The owner, Efron originally offered it to Avraham as a gift. When Avraham refused, Efron hinted at the price he wanted. Efron eventually asked for payment in special, more expensive currency.

In this week’s parsha, Balak hired Bilaam to curse the Jews. Balak said “I will honor you very much”. Yet, when Bilaam arrived, Balak didn’t invite Bilaam to feast with him. Not only that, he sent over a very meager meal. This was not the honor that he had promised.

In these two instances, people were swayed by the dishonest promise of receiving more.

The Kisei Rachamim (Avos d’Rav Nosson Perek 13) has a novel approach. A person should not explicitly say that he wants to learn “this” many areas of Torah. That will awaken the Evil Inclination (Satan) who will then try to make his task more difficult by placing distractions in his way.

Similarly, King David said that tomorrow he was going to see a nice house instead of saying he was going to go to the beis medrash to learn Torah. That was so as not to awaken the Satan who would try everything in his power to make the learning more difficult. Likewise, the Torah was given unbeknown to the Satan who had tried to convince Hashem to keep the Torah for the angels and not to give it to us.

Perhaps this also explains what happened with Efron. The Avos dRav Nosson states, WHILE Avraham was weighing the coins, he heard Efron’s desire and ended-up giving him the better currency. Perhaps, the Evil Inclination had caused Efron to become dazzled by the money and ask for more than he originally intended.

If we are a say-little type of person, we have a better chance of accomplishing more mitzvos. People will be more willing to accept our favors and we won’t awaken the Satan who tries to distract us.

Parshas Chukas

For Want of a Nail the Kingdom was Lost

“Miriam died and was buried there. There was no water for the people”. (Bamidbar 20:1-2)

There is a 13th century proverb:

For want of a nail the shoe was lost,
for want of a shoe the horse was lost,
for want of a horse the knight was lost,
for want of a knight the battle was lost,
for want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
So a kingdom was lost—all for want of a nail.

During 40 years of wandering in the desert, the Jews had ample water. Three million people and their animals were miraculously provided with enough water to satisfy their daily needs. The water came from a rock which was known as the Well of Miriam since the well was in Miriam’s merit. When Miriam passed away the well hid amongst other rocks. Without their source of water, the Jewish people felt as if they were dying of thirst. It reached the point that they actually quarreled with Moshe. Hashem told Moshe to find the Rock, speak to it, and it would once again provide a miraculous quantity of water. We all know what happened then. Moshe spoke to the wrong rock and nothing happened. When he found the correct rock, he hit it (which he wasn’t supposed to do) twice and then the water started gushing. Hashem told Moshe, because you did not bring about a proper sanctification of My Name, you will be punished and will die before entering the Land of Israel. Had Moshe entered the Land of Israel, the Temple would have been built, Mashiach would have come, and we would have never been exiled. All the tragedies of Jewish history would never have occurred.

This whole progression started because the source of water disappeared. Why did it disappear?

The Kli Yakar explains that the Jewish people were being punished for the infraction of not expressing enough sadness upon the death of one of their leaders, the righteous Miriam. Although they felt sad, they didn’t express it in a torrent of tears, which they did upon the deaths of their other leaders, Moshe and Aharon.

Look at the progression of events that followed from this (“For want of a nail the shoe was lost”). One infraction “snowballed” and changed the course of Jewish history.

We must be “Thinking People”, constantly evaluating and re-evaluating our actions. Are we doing the right thing? Are we showing proper sensitivity to others? What does Hashem expect us to do in any given situation? We can’t act blindly and say that it’s not such a big deal-we don’t know if it will begin a progression of events that will “snowball”. We don’t want the “kingdom to be lost—all for want of a nail”.

Similarly, with a small gesture a “Thinking Person” can bring happiness to others.
A smile or kind word, or just listening to a person who needs a good listener,
can “snowball” into something beautiful and special.

Parshas Korach

Do Nothing and Get Everything!

“The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them… and their entire wealth.” (Bamidbar 16:32)

Dan loved money. His entire goal in life was to make money. He worked very hard in life and achieved his dream. He made lots and lots of money. Many worthy organizations approached Dan for a donation. The response was always the same- “I worked hard for my money. You should work hard for yours”. Dan never gave a donation-not even a penny.

Dan had no living relatives. When he died, his neighbors wondered if his will designated money for any charitable cause. When they heard about the will, they were in a state of shock! Dan did not leave any money for charity. What was worse, was that Dan’s instructions were to burn all his money! Not a cent for anyone. “What a waste”, they said to each other. “Think of the numerous people and organizations that could have benefited”.

Hashem’s actions were as unusual as Dan’s. One of the richest people who ever lived was Korach. He had found part of the treasure that Yosef had collected and concealed in Egypt. He had become fabulously wealthy from it. Korach was also brilliant and had a distinguished job (to help carry the holy aron). However, it wasn’t enough for Korach. His jealousy led him to the worst argument in history. He disputed Moshe’s honesty and claimed that the Torah Moshe taught was not from Hashem.

Korach’s punishment was severe. The earth opened and Korach was swallowed into it. Some say he was burned as well. Korach’s followers were also swallowed, as well as their houses and all their possessions. The Midrash tells us, even small items that had been lent to other people, were miraculously drawn into that hole. Korach’s name was miraculously erased from any legal document that he had signed. Hashem didn’t want any trace of Korach remaining.

The Sforno asks the obvious question- Wouldn’t Korach’s vast wealth have been useful and helpful to others (as Dan’s could have been)? Why did it have to get swallowed? The Sforno answers that if a righteous person would have benefited from Korach’s wealth, it would have been a merit for Korach. Clearly, that was a merit that Korach didn’t deserve. Even though Korach would not have actively given it, it would still have been a credit for him. That would have been a merit that Hashem did not want him to have. Similarly, the Sforno continues, if a person loses money and a poor person finds it and benefits from it, the original owner of the money gets the mitzvah for giving tzedakah. The owner of the money did absolutely nothing and did not even intend to do anything good. Hashem, in His kindness credits him for doing a mitzvah.

Hashem gives us credit for any positive deed that results that comes-about from our actions. Rabbi Krohn tells a story about an irreligious Jew who visited the Western Wall for the very first time. He watched a Yerushalmi Jew daven with such intensity, as if Hashem was standing in front of him. The visitor was so moved by this that it led him on the road to becoming observant and becoming an active member of an Orthodox shul. The Yerushalmi Jew will be credited by Hashem for all the mitzvos done by this newly observant Jew and all the mitzvos done by his future descendants. The Yerushalmi Jew did not go out of his way to influence the irreligious Jew, yet the Yerushalmi also gets credit for his actions.

Whatever you do, make sure to make a kiddush Hashem; you don’t know who’s watching you!
If you facilitate a mitzvah, even unknowingly, you get a share in the reward.

This is the story of our organization, JEP Queens. We have already influenced multiple generations to become Torah observant. Both our volunteer staff and you – our donors who help enable our many programs to happen, share in all the mitzvos that are generated for eternity. Our success is your success.

Parshas Shelach

In G-d We Trust!

“All the People cried that night” (Bamidbar 14:1)

Sam was very excited. He was going to Great Adventures amusement park for the very first time. He was also going to the Safari, where you can drive your car through a jungle, where the animals roam free, without cages. The Safari was very exciting as all sorts of animals literally came right up to Sam’s car. Suddenly, three lions ran up to the car and gave the loudest roars Sam had ever heard. He was petrified and almost lost control of his car. When he realized that the lions couldn’t hurt him while he was safely in his car, his heartbeat slowed, and he felt calm.

Sam had a similar response when he visited the Land of the Giants. It was a terrifying experience as he felt like an ant compared to the giants. When Sam’s family heard about his experiences, they totally understood his fear.

In this week’s parsha, The Jewish People also felt fear. The spies that were sent to scout-out the Land of Israel returned with a terrifying report. They said that the people were very tall. In addition, there also were giants roaming the land. The spies heard the giants describe them as ants- that’s how tiny they were compared to the giants. The fruit of the land was also unusual. At one point, the spies entered a cave. Imagine their fear when they realized that the “cave” was really a discarded pomegranate shell. The enormity of the fruit was also disconcerting to the spies. In addition to all that, the spies saw that death was rampant – they witnessed many funerals, as a result.

When the spies reported their findings, all the Jews cried in fear. They were terrified what would happen to them and their children if they would attempt to enter Eretz Yisroel.

Seemingly, the Jews were justified in feeling fear. The Jewish People’s response seemed totally normal – they cried due to their terror.

Yet, the Midrash says that Hashem viewed their crying as “for nothing”. “Tonight, they cried for nothing. I will cause them to cry for generations.”

That night, the 9^th of Av was designated as a night of sadness (Many sad things have occurred on that night in history, including the destruction of the Temple).

Why didn’t Hashem justify their fear? Why were they punished for it?

To understand this, we must remember what the Jewish People had just experienced first- hand. They saw how Hashem changed nature in bringing the 10 plagues upon the Egyptians. Hashem took them out of Egypt and split the Red Sea for them, as the walls of water divided and rose miles, up towards the sky. There were 100 different miracles at the sea, including the sea splitting into 12 different see-through tunnels, walking on marble instead of mud and getting fresh water or fresh fruit from the walls of sea water. When in the desert, 3 million people and their numerous animals got water from the miraculous well and received miraculous food daily-the mun.

The Jews should have had the highest level of bitachon, trust in Hashem. They should have felt that there was nothing Hashem couldn’t do. They shouldn’t have felt any fear at all. Feeling fear showed a lack of faith in Hashem, on some level.

We say in our Havdalah after Shabbos, “Hashem is my salvation, I shall trust and not fear…. Hashem was a salvation for me”. When we have trust in Hashem and when we look back at His past “track-record” of how he saved us in the past, then there is no need to feel fear, at all.

When we find ourselves in difficult life-situations, we must remember:

1) Hashem loves us more than a parent loves a child
2) Hashem is All-Powerful and can do anything for us
3) Hashem has a track record of helping us in the past

Parshas Beha’aloscha

Here Comes the Judge

“Miriam and Aharon spoke against Moshe, regarding his wife…They said, Did Hashem only speak to Moshe? Didn’t Hashem speak to us as well?” (Bamidbar 12:1-2)

Moshe was looking for a good photographer for an upcoming simcha. He asked his friend Shmuel, “Do you have a good photographer to recommend?” “Sorry but I don’t”. Moshe suggested, “What about Chaim Klein?” “Don’t even think of him” replied Shmuel. “He isn’t reliable. I heard that he came late to the Schwartz wedding and missed most of the chuppah”. Shmuel thought to himself, “That doesn’t sound like Chaim Klein. I know that he is a responsible person”. Moshe looked-into the matter and found out what really happened. The photographer that the Schwartz’s hired never showed-up. Panic-stricken, they quickly called Chaim Klein and asked him to do them a favor. He said, “I will come as soon as I can”.

It was “very obvious” to the onlookers at the wedding that Chaim Klein was very irresponsible. They couldn’t believe that the photographer came so late. To those who knew the true story, Chaim Klein saved the day by rushing to the wedding.

We are not permitted to jump to conclusions. That causes strife and ill-will. We have a mitzvah to judge others favorably. The guests at the wedding should have judged Chaim Klein favorably.

If an action is done by the average person who sometimes sins, we must judge him favorably only if it is 50%-50% if his action was correct or improper (although it is meritorious to still judge him favorably). If it is more likely that his action was proper, we are obligated to judge him favorably. If we don’t, and subsequently speak badly about him, that is considered as if we spoke loshon hara. If a G-D fearing person does an action, we are obligated to judge him favorably, even if appears strongly that he did the wrong thing.

Miriam heard Tziporah (Moshe’s wife) remark offhandedly that Moshe stopped having marital relations with her because he had to be ritually pure before speaking to Hashem. Miriam felt Moshe’s actions were not appropriate. She and Aharon were also prophets yet they did not have to abstain from marital relations with their spouses. Miriam discussed the matter with Aharon. Miriam was punished for that by contracting leprosy.

The Chofetz Chaim zt”l explains what Miriam did wrong. Had Moshe truly acted improperly, Miriam would have been correct in zealously trying to correct the situation (however, to properly give reproof, she should have spoken to Moshe directly). That would not have been considered loshon hara (speaking negatively). Miriam’s mistake was that she did not judge Moshe favorably and then spoke about it to Aharon. Moshe was a G-d-fearing person and even though it really seemed that he did the wrong thing, Miriam was obligated to judge him favorably, (Miriam was not aware that Moshe was following Hashem’s instructions). Since she didn’t, it was considered as if she had spoken loshon hara.

The Gold’s were too poor to make a wedding and purchase items for their soon-to-be-married daughter. Their neighbors raised money to help them make the wedding. When the neighbors arrived and saw such a lavish affair, they were deeply offended and felt resentful. They felt that a poor family should not have used their tzedakah money in such a manner.

Did the neighbors act properly in feeling the way they did? After all, didn’t the Gold’s take advantage of them? Would they have been obligated to judge the Gold’s favorably in such a situation?

Had they known the true story, they would have felt differently. When the caterer realized that Mr. Gold’s father saved his life from the Nazi’s, he offered to make the wedding himself. The Gold’s, themselves, were shocked when they saw how lavish the affair was.

How often do we unfairly judge others in an unfavorable light? Won’t there be less strife and more happiness when we think of acceptable, albeit far-fetched, explanations of actions that our friends did? Often, these explanations are the reality of what actually happened. Our rabbis tell us, if we judge others favorably, Hashem will also judge us favorably. That is something that we all want!

Don’t be so quick to judge. Often, truth is stranger than fiction.

Parshas Naso

How Valuable is it?

“The one who brought his offering on the first day was Nachshon son of Aminadav of the tribe of Yehuda. And his offering was…” (Bamidbar 7:12-83)

At the dedication of the Mishkan, all 12 nesiim offered korbanos to Hashem. All the korbanos were identical; three vessels of a specific weight, containing flour, oil, or incense and 21 different animals. There are 72 psukim in the Torah – repeating over and over the exact details of each identical korban from all of the nesiim.

Rabbeinu Bechaya questions this oddity. The Torah is always careful to be very brief- Why did Hashem include in the Torah, so many psukim? It could have been written once and indicated that this is the same korban that all of the nesiim bought?

The Midrash explains that the “intent” of each nasi was different. Each tribe had a tradition from our forefather Yaakov what their specific destiny was. At this auspicious time, at the dedication of the mIshkan, when bringing the korbanos, each nasi had in mind the destiny of their tribe. Since each intent was different, each korban was, in reality, different. Thus, the Torah listed each one separately.

Two people can say the exact same bracha or do the same mitzvah, yet qualitatively their actions can be miles apart because their intentions are different. The value of each mitzvah is determined by the act of the mitzvah, the way it is done (quickly, happily, etc.) and by the intent.

1) Let’s do our mitzvos with the highest quality, by elevating our intent, acting purely to serve Hashem.

If we can’t elevate our intent and even if our intent is self-centered, it is still important and still productive to do a mitzvah. On the way to the Land of Israel, the Jews had to battle two very powerful kings, who were also giants. Moshe had no problem with the first battle against the mighty Sichon. Before battling the next king, Og, Moshe felt a sense of fear. What was the basis of Moshes’s fear? He knew that Og had performed a good deed and was concerned that this good dead may protect Og and make it difficult or impossible to defeat him. What was that good deed? Og was kind enough to tell our forefather Avraham that his nephew Lot was captured. This information enabled Avraham to mount a rescue mission to save Lot – which he did. It was this good deed that Moshe feared. How could Moshe possibly have been afraid of this deed? Og’s intention when he performed this good deed was not very nice. Rashi tells us that he hoped Avrohom would die while trying to rescue Lot. Then Og would marry Avrohom’s wife, Sarah, himself. What an evil intent! Yet the deed was still credited. Moshe feared that the reward for this deed would protect Og, until Hashem told him not to be concerned.

2) Doing a mitzvah, even without pure intentions, still has some value.

As he was about to die, the great tzadik Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai started crying. He explained his emotions, by showing his students his tzitzis and saying that this easy mitzvah costs pennies to do, yet after death, one can no longer do it.

We are born to develop a close relationship with our Creator. The way to do that is by learning Torah and performing mitzvos (between us and Hashem and to between us and our fellow man). We must grab every single mitzvah we can, while we still can. Every single mitzvah we do is precious.

Parshas Bamidbar

Stand Up and Be Counted!

“The entire assembly were gathered together…and they established their genealogy according to their families, according to their fathers’ household, by number of the names, from 20 years of age and up…” (Bamidbar 1:18)

Hashem commanded Moshe to take a census of the Jewish People by “counting the number of the names.” The pasuk should have only said “counting the number” – the word of the names, appears to be extra. The Ramban (on pasuk 45) explains what Hashem meant by “counting the number of the names.” Hashem was commanding Moshe to count every Jew with honor. It wouldn’t be good enough for Moshe to pass each house and ask the head of the house for a total number of occupants in the house. Moshe was required to count each Jew personally and individually.

The Rosh HaYeshiva of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim, HaRav A. Henach Leibowitz zt”l questioned this and derived a very important lesson for all of us:

The purpose of a census is to determine a total number of people. The most efficient way of accomplishing this is to ask each head-of- household how many are in his family. It would be very time-consuming, tiring, and inefficient to count every person individually – especially since there were three million Jews! Yet that is exactly what Hashem required Moshe to do. Why?

Hashem was teaching Moshe and the Jewish People the importance, value, and uniqueness of every individual. Every person is an important person and not just a number. Everyone must be treated with honor and respect. We must learn from Hashem’s example to show love and concern for each person.

We often deal with groups of people- co-workers, family members, students in a class, or people in our communities. We must remember that each group is made-up of individual people, each of whom deserves our personal attention. Every individual is worthy of having the entire World exist for his/her sake (Talmud: Sanhedrin 37A). When we spend a few moments speaking with each person, or even just smiling and saying good morning, we make people feel good. We can even uplift a sad or discouraged person and help him through his day.

A Jewish lawyer who lived in Germany benefited from following this lesson. He regularly noticed and paid attention to an individual – the elevator operator of his office building. This lawyer was the only person to be friendly, show concern, and offer advice to this solitary, “unimportant” person. When the Nazis stormed the office building, looking for Jews, it was this elevator operator who saved the life of this Jew who had made him feel like a valued person.

Every individual counts! We should treat every person with courtesy and respect.